Criminal Defense Law With An Apple

Veronica Belmont of Mahalo Daily takes a look at the Axiotron Notebook. Nice to see it in action. I need to put my hands on one to be sure. 

Is like shooting fish in a barrel.  But if you want to make fun of smug Steve, go here. Or, for video just go here. If you are looking for a two-for-one slam (with a political slant) go here. 

Look, I know that Pages gives you all kinds of options for importing images and spicing things up. Just be careful. 

Here we are. What do you think of the new place?  

If you have something in DVD format and need to have it in Quicktime for editing, Handbrake can do this with simplicity. And it is still free! An exceptionally straightforward program with plenty under the hood, if you want to drill down. The program can also be used to move data from DVD to your iPod or Apple TV. Go here for a nice tutorial of the program. Go here to view some other alternatives for obtaining digital content. This is not a call to engage in any behavior that is deemed illegal. Behave.

Head over to the Trial Technologist’s View for a review on Mac’s in Trial 2. He has been providing a day-by-day overview of the seminar.

Last week I contacted Rocket Matter to learn more about this new software solution that was getting so much attention. Larry Port returned my call and we met using Glance.net. In essence, we discussed many of the features you can find by clicking the preview button here.Like any proper, full-featured practice management system, Rocket Matter has Calendar, To-do and Billing. Here is a quick overview of what I learned in our meeting. This doesn’t cover everything that Rocket Matter can do, just the highlights.

Billing

One of the most feature rich areas of Rocket Matter is the integration between billing and everything else. If you provide how long a “to-do” item is going to take, and for which client the task was done, this time will be swept into billing. The same thing is true if you calendar an event and provide the amount of time and the client/matter that the calendared event is for. Also, there is a integrated “timer” that includes notes and client matter. The timer also allows items to be swept into billing. All of the billing data can exported as a bill in Word, Word Perfect, PDF. Or, if you have a preferred accounting program you can export to Excel.

Calendar

The integrated calendar allows you to view a firm-wide calendar that provides all the different calendars of attorneys and/or staff in the firm. The view is easily customizable, allowing you to change it according to which person(s) you wish to see in the calendar.Import/ExportAs it stands, one can import or export to/from Apple Mail and iCal, as well as Outlook (csv files). Mr. Port added that in the near future they anticipate creating additional formats for import/export (for programs such as Time Matters). I also asked the rather awkward but necessary question, what would happen to my data if Rocket Matter went belly-up? Mr. Port explained that if you wish to leave the Rocket Matter or Rocket Matter should cease to exist, Rocket Matter clients will be provided with a data file in a recognized standard format.

Extras

Rocket Matter’s has what it calls a “global intelligent search”(akin to Spotlight) that will quickly access all the information in your database as you type it. The focus of Rocket Matters is simplicity and providing quick links to the information you need. It is worth noting that as you view the web pages they do not refresh the entire page constantly (Westlaw, can we talk about this?) but, rather, refreshes only when you make changes, and does so incredibly quick.

My Biggest Concern

I called my State Bar Ethics committee to find out what their position on data being held off-site. As of the date of this article, my bar did not take an active position but set forth that I had a duty (of due-diligence) to determine what the security of the provider was and make sure that was reasonable to protect attorney-client privilege. I asked Mr. Port about this and he explained that all communication to/from Rocket Matter is done on a 128 bit encrypted channel (going above most government standards for encryption). He added that most security concerns regarding low-tech hacks would be eliminated since the data would be held off-site.

Pricing

Is fairly reasonable and can be set on a month-to-month basis. Each plan comes with a 60-day, money back guarantee.

Final Thoughts

I really think that Rocket Matter is on to something here. This case management solution looks slick, simple and well thought out. It reminds me of a product designed by Apple. Plus, having all the features of your case management system on your iPhone would be brilliant. Still, this was not a 30 day trial, it was a one hour review of the product. If you want to learn more head over to their site and send them an email. They will be happy to meet with you and discuss whether this is the right program for you. If you have started using Rocket matter in your firm, let us know what you think.