Criminal Defense Law With An Apple

The Small Business and Solo Law Practice Blog wrote this review on MacSpeech.  While you are at the site you can listen blawggers Medina, Griffiths, Price and Stevens in their first Podcast. Nice job guys.

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.

The ambitious folks at A Mac Lawyer’s Notebook have done a screencast this week that takes a look at Daylite. Our narrator, Kevin, is a Time Matters user and he has been making real progress in bending Daylite to his will. The screencast provides a basic overview and also looks at how to use custom forms using a third party add-on (very cool). From my own experience, I can say that any opportunity to familiarize yourself with Daylite before starting the 30 day trial is a good thing.

After reading my post on Notetaker the other day, one of my readers forwarded me this link. So Circus Ponies has some exciting features in store. I look forward to providing a full review of Circus Ponies Notebook 3.0 as soon as it becomes available. If not sooner (wink, nudge).

A few weeks back, someone on the MILO list-serve was asking for opinions on Notebook v. Notetaker. I chimed in that I really enjoyed using Circus Ponies Notebook. What I failed to mention was that I had not tried or used Notetaker. Since I have made it my sole duty to at least try every possible case management option, I downloaded the trial for Notetaker.
Bottom line: This is a rock solid program. If what you seek to do is recreate the 3-ring binder system that so many criminal defense attorneys use, then Notetaker will likely work for you.

From the background research I have done, there was quite a bit that made these product different (especially between 2003-2004). There was also a seemingly strong and unexplained animosity from the two camps of users. It is worth noting that both these programs belong to two former partners.

…a much admired NeXT Notebook outliner called “NoteBook,” from Millennium Software. At some point, the two principals left and started their own companies, those we see here. Jayson Adams is the man behind Circus Ponies NoteBook; Scott Love heads AquaMinds and NoteTaker.

However, at this point. I don’t see a big difference. I also don’t see any recent mudslinging. Many of the things that made the two products distinct, seem to be shored up. That isn’t to say they are not different. They are. However, I think that it will come down to where you start. I started with Circus Ponies. So I will stay with them. I like the way certain features work, such as the style of to-do list and the ability to manipulate docs to a default size.

What can I tell you about my week with Notetaker? The customer service with Notetaker was stunningly fast (often answering my questions the same day), intelligent and polite. Also Notetaker has networking (the important reason I downloaded it) that could be a selling point for many. Notetaker has plenty of likable aesthetic qualities. Finally, I will add that I didn’t use many of the power-user features that might make Notetaker a more stand-out product. Although my loyalties lie with Notebook, I think Notetaker is a top-quality program.

The Mac Lawyer blogged on a new product from Rocket Matter. This is a online case management system. I also found a similar product last week called AdvologixPM. I haven’t had a chance to try either of these systems but I will try and make time to review Advologix in the next few weeks. Notably, they have Mac and iPhone support.

I have sent you over to Hawkwings’ blog if you are using Apple mail. I also wanted to direct you to his list of plug-ins for Apple’s built-in mail client. So go look.

I haven’t embraced the GTD principles or some of the companion software. I have never really had a problem getting things done. Nevertheless, I was really struck by this, from Midnight Beep. Take a look at the video to learn more.

This might be nice, rather than using the rather antiquated “to-do list” that is integrated in iCal.

The folks over at Web Worker Daily have made this list of tools for switchers. Milage may vary.

Here is a more rudimentary introduction from Lifehacker. And a list of useful downloads.

Also on Lifehacker today was this list for Gmail users. You know who you are.