Question: My question has to do with the availability of software. We are using a form of custom software that manages our client matters. It is based on Microsoft Access in combination with Microsoft Word 6.0. In this program, we create a client and enter the requisite client information. Then we create a matter for that client.

The client matter window allows us to enter all relevant information as to other counsel, phone numbers particular to that matter, etc., create documents which are attached to the client matter and available for review editing, etc. through the client matter window. The program has a time and billing package which is accessible through the client matter window. There is no general accounting package.

What we like about the system is that all documents, relevant information and time records are available on our network through the client matter window. Unfortunately, the company that designed the program is out of business and there is no support for current problems.

I have looked at PCLaw and its related programs for a possible replacement. It appears to have almost all of what we have with the exception of maintaining all internally created documents through the client matter window.

Is there some program out there that does all of the above? I would call it an integrated word processing, document management, case management, time and billing and general accounting package.

Rocco J. Tedesco
Vineland

ANSWER: You are far from alone in searching for the “software holy grail.” Virtually every lawyer I have met would like to have a system that combines all the critical functions in the office in a single package. Unfortunately, the major stumbling block in reaching that goal is that no two lawyers’ dream system is identical.

For example, in a small firm, there may be little or no overlap of clients or cases among lawyers while in a medium or large firm, there will be different combinations of teams to service different needs. Similarly, the data intake forms for a real estate matter are very different from those for a personal injury case. To gather the basic data you need for a real estate closing, you would focus on the property that will be changing hands and the documents required to make it happen. In contrast, when collecting information on a personal injury case, you need to know such things as the date and nature of the accident, insurance company, etc. Financially, these cases would be handled differently as well.

The variations required by lawyers in different practices and firm sizes present a huge challenge for software developers. Another humbling fact is the legal market, while extremely important to us, is a very small part of the overall software market. As mega-corporations continue to merge, there now are single companies that have more employees than all the law firms in the United States combined! For software developers, it makes much more sense economically to create products that have a wider appeal. When looking for a fully integrated solution, law firms will never get all the pieces from vendors like Microsoft, Corel or IBM-Lotus. We will always have to combine some products from multiple vendors to approach our own personal dream system.

The good news is that despite those obstacles, there are many companies with products designed to meet some or all your needs. Most small firms, such as yours, tend to specialize in several practice areas. As a result, products aimed at automating a single practice area, such as bankruptcy, won’t meet the needs of a firm that also does real estate or trusts and estates.

The core component you need is a case management program. The battle for market share is between Time Matters (DATA.txt Corp., 104 New Edition Court, Cary, N.C. 27511, 800-328-2898, www.timematters.com) and Amicus Attorney (Gavel and Gown Software, 184 Pearl St., Suite 304, Toronto, Ontario M5H 1L5, 800-472-2289, www.amicus.ca). Abacus Law (Abacus Data Systems, 6725 Mesa Ridge Road, Suite 204, San Diego, Calif. 92121, 800-726-3339, www.abacuslaw.com) had a large following as a DOS-based product, but is lagging behind the other two in both market share and features.

Office centerpiece

Case management programs handle many functions you seek and work well with the other key software components needed to run a modern law office. When well-implemented, they serve as the centerpiece of your office. Since they function as an office-wide calendar and Rolodex, and allow you to monitor “to do” items and notes for your firm’s cases, they quickly become essential tools to manage your practice. \

While there are some totally integrated solutions that include billing and other components, these case management programs have tight connections to the other popular applications in law offices, including word processors, time and billing, and document management. This means you can use the information stored in your case management program to prepare documents directly in your word processor or using a document assembly program like HotDocs (Capsoft Corp., 2222 South 950 East, Provo, Utah 84606, 800-500-3627, www.capsoft.com).

As an added benefit, the case management products share information with many popular time and billing programs so you don’t have to worry about updating clients’ names and addresses in both programs. You also can record your time in the case management program and transfer that data to your billing program.

TimeMatters and Amicus Attorney keep adding other vendors’ applications with which they can share information. For example, the current version of Amicus can be used in conjunction with Worldox (World Software Corp., 124 Prospect St., Ridgewood, N.J. 07450, (201) 444-3228, www.worldox.com), a document management program that tracks your firm’s documents. Both programs also will handle many document management functions directly, but do not include the search and archiving features of programs like Worldox.

My March 9 New Jersey Lawyer column compared these programs. You should take a look at it for specific differences between them. Since that column was published, Gavel and Gown released a new version designed for the Windows 95 environment. It now has a two-way link to the Palm Pilot, added fields to accommodate e-mail addresses and web sites, better document creation and management, support for long file names, and a new multimedia calendar (you can include verbal reminders). DATA.txt recently made available a free maintenance release (2.04) on its web site, which boasts a bi-directional link to PCLaw billing and accounting program and an enhanced link to Timeslips.

Both Amicus Attorney and Time Matters work closely with PCLaw and Timeslips to allow you to choose the case management system best-suited to your practice as well as the time and billing program that best fits your needs. PCLaw and PCLawJr (Alumni Computer Group, 506 Consumers Road, Suite 600, Willowdale, Ontario M2J 4V8, 800-387-9785 ext 5576, www.pc.law.com) is an appealing billing and accounting solution since it combines time and expense entry with billing and accounting. Its major strength is the integration of the accounting component, so as you write a check to a vendor like Federal Express, the program provides the option to create expense slips for clients to whom overnight mail packages were sent through that transaction.

When you consider an integrated solution like PCLaw, you may have to compromise on some components. For example, data entry screens for time entry may be harder for attorneys to master than those available in other billing programs. Similarly, some shortcuts available in check-writing programs like Quicken (Intuit Inc., 2535 Garcia Ave., Mountain View, Calif. 94043, 800-446-8848, www.intuit.com) are not yet included in PCLaw. Other differences among the billing programs are how they manage clients and matters, billing formats, and mass editing of records, i.e., changing a billing format for a group of clients or cases, or changing the billing rate for a group of slips.

Doing it all

There are a number of case management programs that are marketed as integrated do-it-all products. These programs’ functions tend to be more comprehensive, but also are more expensive. I suspect, although it is nearly impossible to confirm, that there are fewer installations of these companies’ products than lower priced options aimed at smaller law firms.

Among the better known of this group is ProLaw (ProLaw Software, P.O. Box 20628, Albuquerque, N.M. 87154, 800-977-6529, www.prolaw.com). The product is divided into Front and Back Office components. The Front Office includes a central address book, conflict checking, creation and management of documents including document assembly and indexing, calendar and docket, and integration with Microsoft Outlook and Novell’s GroupWise electronic mail and groupware products. The Back Office includes time entry, billing, integrated trust accounting, and settlement analysis tools. Be warned, though, ProLaw requires an NT network along with an SQL server, which, in addition to more expensive software, will be a costly solution for a small law office.

There are several other integrated solutions to compare before committing your dollars. These include TimePro (TimePro Legal Software, 1476 Arroyo Verde Drive, Henderson, Nev. 89012, (702) 837-6389, www.TimePro.com); Attorney TOM (Total Office Management, P.O. Box 869, 103 W. Vandalia St., Suite 301, Edwardsville, Ill. 62025-0869, (618) 659-9276, www.tominc.com); 21st Century Lawyer (Computerized Litigation Control Systems, 800-492-5279, www.21stcenturylawyer.com); ARIS Simplicity (ARIS Legal Management Systems, 2405 Grand Ave, Suite 500, Kansas City, Mo. 64108, 800-995-ARIS, aris-lms.com/arissym.html); Time and Profit (BytePro available through the Blumberg Excelsior legal software catalog, 62 White St., New York, N.Y. 10013, 800-221-2972); PerfectLaw (Executive Data Systems, 2100 Ponce de Leon Boulevard, Suite 1200, Coral Gables, Fla. 33134, 800-749-6200, www.perfectlaw.com); and Gryphon (Poseidon, Gryphon Law, 187 Coast Village Road, Suite 1-138, Santa Barbara, Calif. 93108, 800-547-9746, www.poseidon.com/gryphon.html).

Financial viability

As you undoubtedly have learned, there are no assurances about the long-term financial viability of software companies. Over the years, there have been many companies that made a big splash when they introduced their products. They had fancy booths at legal technology trade shows, ran lots of expensive advertisements in the legal media, and sent lots of mailings. Then they disappeared, leaving customers stranded. The legal software market is particularly subject to these orphans because the companies very often are small, under-capitalized and beholden to investors expecting a quick payback. I cannot think of a week this year when I haven’t heard a rumor about the possible demise of a well-known legal software vendor. Few of these companies are publicly held, so it is extremely difficult to get a clear picture of their financial health.

The lack of information about the financial viability of vendors makes choosing software much more difficult. Before choosing a product, it is a good idea to try to ascertain how many installations the company has had, how many years it has been in existence, and whether it has local trainers and resellers who may be able to support the product even if the company disappears.

Even these questions may be subject to interpretation. For instance, will Gavel and Gown, which makes Amicus Attorney, include anyone owning the Corel Legal Suite as one of its users? The goal of doing a background check about a company is to offer some reassurance that there is safety in numbers. Even if a company goes under or changes direction, its customers can share their expertise to extend the life of the product. Years ago, when Wang abandoned its word processing business, its legal customers continued to meet and share resources. The presence of local support also is helpful if you are abandoned by a vendor and need to convert data to a new product.

System conversion

The other major issue is how best to convert your existing information to one of these case management solutions. You are fortunate that your primary data is already in a well-established data base format. Other software orphans might face a greater challenge in exporting information from their existing product and importing into something new. A common trick is to print the information in the old program to a file. The next step is to massage the data in either a word processor or spreadsheet to ensure the fields are consistent in both field order and lengths. An additional benefit of working through a spreadsheet or word processor is it is easy to create a small subset of data to import into the new program to determine which options give the best results.

You have probably gathered there are no easy answers here. As you look for a replacement, you might keep in mind the problems you currently face and learn from that experience. Make sure the new product has lots of options for moving the data to another program should the new vendor go out of business.

Update: In my June 1 column, I discussed products that assist in comparing versions of documents and preparing a table of authorities. If you are considering either of the Corel legal suites, you should be aware there are two different sets of products for these functions. Corel Legal Suite 7, which is intended for use in Windows 3.X environments, includes Full Authority and CompareRite from Lexis-Nexis. In the newer Corel Legal Suite 8 for the Windows 9X operating system, Corel Corp. has implemented its own red-lining solution and incorporated the West Group’s Legal Citation generator.

Carol L. Schlein is president of Law Office Systems, a Montclair-based training and consulting firm specializing in law firms. She formerly chaired the Computer and Technology Division of the ABA Law Practice Management Section. A lecturer for ICLE, she can be reached at (973) 746-6454 or carol@losinc.com.

Questions for Carol Schlein on law office technology may be faxed to New Jersey Lawyer at (732) 750-0010 or mailed to “Law Technology Questions,” New Jersey Lawyer, Koll Corporate Plaza, 485B Route 1, Suite 100, Iselin, N.J. 08830.