Getting the Right Software to Get the Work Done
This week we are going to continue to talk about "getting the work done," as one of the five things that makes up every businesses in the world. The other four things are: "clients or customers," "administration," "billing," and "getting paid."
In "getting the work done" in this technological age, you have to have the following technology available to you at a minimum:
1. Easily operated phone system;
2. Relatively easy to use copy machine;
3. Computer or computer network with various software applications;
4. Fax machine; and
5. Scanner.
However, it is necessary to talk about the various software packages that are available. Suffice it to say, if you are looking for a place to spend a lot of money, computer hardware and software is an easy place to spend money. As I previously indicated, my philosophy is to spend as little money as possible on hardware and software, but to spend enough money to "get the work done."
Some of this software has CD-ROM capability and is outdated, but I am going to discuss all of it here so that those of you who may still want to use CD-ROMs will not be left out.
I am not a computer geek, and so my explanation of all these operating systems is going to be in laymen's terms. In fact, I may even mutilate the advertisements about how these operating programs can be utilized, but nonetheless, I think my explanation and understanding of them will be far more helpful to people who have a working knowledge of these operating systems.
Adaware/Spyware - This keeps your computer clean from people who are trying to get information off your computer and other internet information gathers;
Adobe Acrobat 5.0 - If you practice in any court that has electronic filing, it is mandatory that you have Adobe Acrobat in order to be able to file various pleadings and to be on the notice list involving various cases. Federal bankruptcy courts and many federal district courts are now operating such electronic filing systems. This also allows for secure document exchange.
Corel Suite 8 - Main word processing system that we use is Corel Word Perfect 8. I know that many companies and law firms are moving to Word, but I still find that until Word improves their reveal codes, Word Perfect is still probably going to be the word processing system of choice.
Firewall - Although we were advised by our computer consultants that such security software is not really totally necessary in our type of practice, there are other consultants and lawyers that would tell you that it is unethical to not have such security in place.
Form 14 Software - We do a lot of family law work in our office and we find that the Form 14 software is incredibly helpful. There is also software like this available for the Kansas child support calculations.
Internet Explorer - Internet Browser - We have gone from hard cover books to CD Roms to the utilization for the internet for access to all of the local rules and forms and to Westlaw. You can see from the above list what we have available to us and I think you will see that it is a very helpful list of things to have in your office if you have a varied practice. In particular, the Missouri Practice Series, which formerly was available only in books can now be gotten on disk, but through Westlaw you can get it online. It is incredibly more practical. Additionally, Amjur pleading and practice and Amjur business forms will allow you to handle almost any kind of litigation and any kind of a business transaction with their forms that are available online.
Jackson County Local Rules - Having to have the individual local rules on a jurisdiction by jurisdiction basis based upon where you practice is no longer needed as you can now get all of these local rules and forms through Westlaw or through the separate court's websites.
Lotus 123 - Spreadsheet - This spreadsheet system is somewhat outdated in that Microsoft Office 2003, is now available with a spreadsheet capability. Our bookkeeper though has been utilizing Lotus 123 Spreadsheets for approximately eleven years, and our philosophy is "if it ain't broke, don't fix it."
McAfee Virus Scan - You have to have some antivirus software or you simply will always be dealing with a lot of junk. Get one that works and keep it current.
Microsoft Office 2003 - The reason we got Microsoft Office 2003 was that it had the word processing system on it. We do not extensively use the Excel spreadsheets. We do though use outlook for our contact list (mailing list) for our email and for our individual calendaring system that is Time Matters and is integrated through Outlook into this system. I think we should be using Power Point more than we do, but it does take someone who is a little bit of a computer geek and gets a buzz out of putting together presentations to work with it.
Missouri Rules of Civil Procedure Forms - This form book obviously is one of my favorites, because I co-wrote it. This form book is available from the UMKC continuing legal education department and is also available on disk. You can download the disk to your hard drive and utilize it on your network. I believe that these forms are good forms to use concerning the Missouri Rules and you can use the West Missouri Practice Series and the Missouri Bar Black Books series as further supplemental materials.
MoBar CLE - Family Law Forms Disk '99 - We are no longer using this forms disk as we now have access to the same information online through the Missouri Practice Series.
Netscape 7.1 - Internet Browser - This is another software that is necessary for electronic filing. We practice in bankruptcy court and in the federal district courts and this browser is mandatory.
Outlook Express - This is what we use for our email and it seems to work incredibly well. It is compatible with our Microsoft Office 2003 software.
Palm Software/ActiveSynch - Several people in our office are now utilizing palm pilots, and we find that being able to synch the palm pilot both with our contact list and calendar is incredibly helpful.
Remote Access Software - We have utilized an off-sight time input individual and this software has allowed us to have this person work out of their home and to access our computers through the utilization of this software. We will talk more about this concept in the next section of the five things that make up every business when we talk about "billing."
Scanner - OCR Software - We recently acquired this scanner and have already found it incredibly helpful. We were holding off in getting the scanner because our impression was that they were not really that accurate and often times they would pick up, or not pick up as the case might be, things on the document that you are attempting to scan that you would then have to go in and modify with individual keystrokes. Now that the scanner software has gotten more sophisticated, we thought it was finally worthwhile to purchase one. Not to mention, the prices dropped to under $500.00.
TABS III Version 9 - I cannot sing the praises of the TABS billing system enough. I have been utilizing the TABS system for billing starting with the original version that I think goes back to the early 1980's. Wow! Any system that can stand the test of time over twenty-five years by simply updating the versions that become available is certainly "my cup of tea." You are going to hear a lot more about what we do with TABS III in the next section regarding "billing."
Time Matters 5.0 - We recently went to Time Matters with regard to a calendaring and contact system because we believed that it was the simplest and easiest system to use. We have certainly not been disappointed. I believe that it is absolutely necessary that you have some type of firm wide calendaring system and to have everyone be able to get contact information on both clients and non-clients so that you can contact those individuals when you need them or whether it be their name, their address, their phone numbers, their fax numbers, their emails, or any other relevant information regarding both clients and non-clients.
United Missouri Bank Will and Trust Forms Disk - This and one other disk are the only disks that we use in our office because everything else is available online. United Missouri Bank is a local bank in our city and their trust department has developed a will and trust form book we use extensively in our practice in the area of estate planning.
Windows XP Operating System - We have found this operating system incredibly helpful and easy to work with, and it has helped us maintain a network system that seems to operate very well.
Word Perfect Clip Art - Because I have a lot of activities that require information that needs to be put out in hard copy format, I have found that word perfect clip art is incredibly helpful to have available so that you can put objects in flyers and in other papers to be passed out that allow for eye catching, persuasive and fun additions to the types of hard copy documents and flyers that you want to pass out.
Next week we are going to be talking about "office procedures for establishing a work flow process." We are going to try to talk about what is what is a priority, how to establish a priority and why and how priorities change and how to deal with the changing nature of priorities. I think you will find some of my comments quite interesting and give you some type of a system where you might be able to get your arms around how to deal with the changing work flow process and the priorities for the same in your office.
Talk with you next week.
Jim Wirken is a civil trial attorney and the Chairman of the Board of The Wirken Law Group in Kansas City.