Case Management Software:
Not Just For The Big Firms Anymore by Mitchell A. Greenberg
If you’re a lawyer who works with cli-
ents, you already have a case management system. Your existing system may be as archaic as handwritten notes taped to the front of your files or as technologically sophisticated as the most expensive soft- ware and hardware on the market. No matter where you fall on that continuum, if your present system allows you to ad- equately handle the present and anticipated demands of your practice, stick with it. However, in the increasingly competitive legal profession, growing or even just maintaining one’s practice most often entails a perpetual search for greater efficiency and effectiveness.
Rising from humble DOS-based be- ginnings, modern case management software systems (CMS) often take full advantage of powerful, relatively low-cost computer hardware and the omniscient, omnipotent lord of the new millennium, the Internet. CMS should be the hub of your law office technology system. Be- cause it will be the foundation for efficient coordination of nearly every facet of your business, a wise attorney will carefully re- search which software is best for his/her unique needs.
Although small and lesser known ven- dors could possibly create high quality CMS at bargain prices, it’s a risk which might not be worth taking. Successful integration of CMS into a law firm re- quires more than just good programming. Continuous software development, train- ing and customer support are crucial, and smaller companies may lack the resources and manpower to provide them. There- fore, to narrow the vast field of competing software, this article will discuss CMS from successful, established companies and which were designed to meet the needs of small firms: Time Matters, Am- icus Attorney, ProLaw and Needles.
NEEDLES In late 1984, the staff at Owings Mills, MD-based Chesapeake Interlink were approached by a group of personal injury attorneys in need of software to help them run their law firms more efficiently. In a collaborative effort between the lawyers and the company’s own systems designer (who also happened to have a law degree),
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CMS was specifically designed to meet the needs of law offices. The end result was PINS, a DOS version of the current Win- dows application, NEEDLES. Although developed for the personal injury practi- tioner, Needles is flexible enough to serve litigators in other areas. The strength of Needles lies in its abil- ity to be customized. Unlike most CMS, Needles is not intended to be used right out of the box. Purchasing Needles is more like buying a custom made suit. New clients are assigned a trainer who, from the moment of purchase, assumes the role of advisor, teacher and technical supporter. My office uses Needles and I have personally experienced the thorough- ness of the training process. Working with the trainer, the lawyer develops a check- list for each type of case handled by his office. That checklist becomes the back- bone of the CMS and allows for the use of personally-set time limits to prompt action on each case file. Here’s how it works. As with Amicus, when you log into Needles, you are im- mediately asked if you want to review your checklist for the day. With Needles, you are then presented with a “checklist sum- mary criteria” screen that lets you set the parameters. You could, for example, check just your own personal items within a given time frame or limit the checklist to a specific case. A single mouse click on a checklist item can activate the automatic document assembly feature, synch your case information to a document template and send it to the printer. Most of your checklist items will be triggered by up to six key dates which you have set for each case. Needles opens to display six, large but- tons labeled “names,” “cases,” “directories,” “calendar,” “messages” and “reports.” Opening the calendar allows daily or monthly views and, in the latter, colored dots indicate whether appoint- ments are scheduled for the morning or afternoon. Needles makes good use of the network environment and allows all us- ers to view each other’s calendars and to send messages that pop up on the recipient’s screen.
The contact manager works very well and offers several unique features. Needles
Trial Reporter
reflects the personal injury roots of the product as entering a party’s date of birth automatically calculates both the current age and age on the date of injury. There are fields for up to ten phone numbers, but only one address, for each person. There is a place to indicate whether the person should be added to the firm’s mail- ing list.
The case file view makes good use of a tabs arrangement to organize all of the case information in an easy to retrieve man- ner. Selecting the notes tab provides a list of one line entries, showing all notes en- tered, when and by whom. There is also a topics field that makes it easy to scan for the desired information. Needles supports the following fea-
tures: Laptop synchronization, Internet program access, Palm OS link, Workgroup scheduling, Date calculator, Alarms and ticklers, Document assembly with Word, WordPerfect. HotDocs and Adobe PDF files, Links to Quickbooks, Timeslips and PCLaw, Integrated e-mail through Outlook or any MAPI-compli- ant program.
AMICUS ATTORNEY, IV (By Richard C. Belthoff, Jr. This article originally appeared in February/March 2000 Law Office Computing.)
Amicus Attorney IV is the latest ver- sion of Gavel & Gown Software’s venerable case-management program. There are now three versions of Amicus Attorney: Organizer Edition, Advanced Edition and Client/Server Edition. Orga- nizer is for single users and includes the essential Amicus Attorney case manage- ment tools. The Advanced Edition is network ready for a maximum of 29 us- ers. It includes the improved DO button, synchronization with Palm organizers and other useful features. The Client/Server edition is geared toward firms with up to 200 networked users. It includes support for WANs and remote update via modem or the Internet. Gone are the old Assistant Office and
Lawyer Office. Today’s users enjoy both programs’ full capabilities, although not all users can be installed as “timekeepers.” There’s no longer a separate team prod-
Spring 2001
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