Technology for the Small Law Office

Necessary Software Applications

by

Glen R. Pritchard

Clark, Perdue, Roberts & Scott 
471 East Broad Street 
Suite 1400 
Columbus, OH 43215

grp@cprslaw.com
http://home.columbus.rr.com/glensworld

Contents Client Information  Random Information  Research Information  Activity Information

Return to Glen's World

Client Information (TOC) 

For me, the goal of the client information program is to allow me to do as much work as possible without the need to obtain the physical file. At a minimum, you need basic case information, rolodex information for clients and everyone associated with the case, and a place to record and review notes.

^*Reviewed in Law Office Computing, December/January 1997, p.42.
^**Reviewed in Law Office Computing, October/November 1996, p. 78.

Random Information (TOC) 

Client related information is relatively easy to manage and store -- you put it in the file. However, attorneys encounter large amounts of information which is unrelated and random information which is more difficult to store and retrieve. There are a couple of programs which are very good at keeping track of this unstructured information such as phone calls from potential clients, bar association activities, ideas for trial techniques, unusual points of law, etc. I use Info Select, but both programs listed below allow very fast word searching on random information.

Research Information (TOC) 

Keeping track of original legal research can be tricky, especially when multiple lawyers want to share work product such as memoranda of law, depositions of expert witnesses, written material from legal seminars, etc. Although neither of the following software packages were intended to track this type of information, they could be used to do so. We use Summation which is intended to track deposition transcripts. Summation will read ascii text files provided by many court reporters. Once the deposition is imported, Summation allows the user to conduct sophisticated word searchs on any number of depositions at once. Summation also allows the creation of user defined databases. We have created such a database for research. Each attorney enters a brief description of each item in their own research files. These descriptions can then be searched by everyone in the firm.

ZyIndex is intended as a document managment system. ZyIndex can search an entire computer hard drive looking for and indexing files in a variety of text and word processing formats.

Activity Information (TOC) 

Putting your calendar, personal rolodex, and to-do lists into a computer program can have its advantages. But before you make the leap, you should have a good answer to the question, "Why is it better than my Daytimer?" You may want to share your calendar with other users over a network. You may want to synchronize the calendar on your desktop computer with a PDA (palmtop computer such as the Palm Pilot from US Robotics, http://www.usr.com/palm/). You may want the ability to word search your calendar to quickly find scheduled events. You may want to avoid the need for re-writing all of your appointments every month as you replace the Daytimer's monthly calendars. However, if you are happy with a paper based system, you may not want to change.

If you do decide to change, there are a zillion PIMs (Personal Information Managers) on the market from which to choose. These programs generally offer a calendar, contact manager, and to-do list functions. They range from very sophisticated (and complicated) to very simple. For a review many of the major PIMs available, see Life After PIMS (http://www8.zdnet.com/products/pimuser.html) at the ZDNet Web site.