I got an email from a guy who wanted to know what kind of a technology set up I have in my office. So here we go. This should be some fun, light reading for you all on a Friday afternoon! The way I'll do it is just go from initial client phone call all the way through resolution of the case. Here we go.
All of my client engagements start with a phone call or email from my website. Let's talk about the phone first. My set up is like this. I have a google voice number, which I've had for about two years now. I'll probably never get away from it. What I like about google voice is that I can take it with me wherever I want to go, it's free, and it's easy to set up and maintain. I've never had a problem with it. Ever.
I've also got the Google Voice App on my iPhone, which lets me make calls from my phone like I was calling from the work number. Makes it easy and convenient to make "work calls" from anywhere in the world without the other person getting your cell phone (and if they've seen your number before they know who you are).
When you call the google voice number, depending on what time of day it is, one of two things happen. If my assistant is in the office, the phone is forwarded to her number. That number is a Skype number. We have no physical phones in the office (except for our cell phones). When the skype number rings she answers it and the person on the other end of the line has no idea it's not a real phone. I think the cost for Skype with outgoing call is something like 4.99 per month per number. We both have a number. The reason I use Skype, in addition to it's cost, is it has many, if not all, of the conveniences of a typical office phone, and then some. It's possible to do conference calls, forward calls, mute calls, etc. And, on top of that, you can do videoconferencing if you want. It's great.
If the email option is chosen, then we obviously get an email alert that someone has filled out the form. We use the Google suite for our mail and calendar. It isn't necessarily as efficient as Outlook (I've tried both extensively), but it gets the job done. The only thing I really hate about gmail is that I haven't yet found a way to share all of our contacts with each other absent exporting a .csv file and importing them in. I'm sure Google will fix this soon, because I'm not the only one to complain about it.
With Google calendar and Google docs we have the ability to share all the information we need to without a bunch of fuss. It's really pretty easy to do. I've also got me email and calendar synced with my iPhone so I can immediately tell if I have conflicts with meetings or other court dates when scheduling something is necessary.
Once someone hires on we enter them into our client management system - highrise. Highrise is not necessarily set up for law firms, but I like it. It's simple, it's intuitive, you can collaborate with everyone in your office easily, and it provides an electronic "file" that everyone can work on and monitor progress on at the same time. You can attach documents, include contacts, copy emails, add notes, add tasks and assign them to people, and much much more. It's a great hub for all of our work.
My office set up is pretty straightforward. I have a laptop that I dock in a docking station. The laptop is a Dell latitude E5400. I've always worked with Dells and never had a problem. That's why I bought the one I have now. The dock is hooked up to two 21 inch monitors that I've pushed together. This allows me to view two documents at the same time, write a motion or email while referencing documents, and keep from having to open and close browsers over and over again.
I have a wireless mouse and keyboard by microsoft that I just picked up at the local Best Buy or Office Depot, I have a pair of Logitech wireless headphones with mic that I use for skype, and I have a logitech hd webcam that I use for video conferencing (which I don't do often).
Our printer is a wireless hp LaserJet P1102w that is about a year old. I bought it after my other one broke and it works like a dream. It's black and white only, doesn't seem to through ink too fast, and prints nice documents. And having it wireless means I can stick it anywhere in the office and my assistant and I can both use it as much as we want.
I keep all of my documents electronically using a Fujitsu ScanSnap S510. It's awesome. I've had it since I started my law firm and have never had any problems (it occasionally gets grumpy but has never broken down - sometimes you have to turn it off and then on to scan, particularly if it's been sitting idle for a long time). I've scanned hundreds of pages of documents at once (it's sheet fed so you just drop them in and let the scanner do the work). This is definitely something you should get.
For fax services I use efax. I think I spend about $25 a month on it. Never had any problems so never had a reason to look for something else. The price is worth it for a service that always works. There may be cheaper out there - Google internet faxing and you'll find plenty of options.
For electronic file storage (where I put everything once I scan it in) I use dropbox. You get 2 gigs for free and 10 gigs for 9.99/month. You can access it wherever you want and share folders with everyone in your office. This means you can all work on the same document, save all the changes in one place, and pull them up whenever you want. People always ask about security when it comes to this stuff and my stock answer is security is a concern for dropbox. If it wasn't secure no one would use it. There is nothing that is 100% secure. Not even your office. If you want something to be ultra safe, spend the money necessary and do it. In reality, very few people care about what you do, and even fewer want to steal what you have.
My legal research tool is LexisNexis. I think I pay $135/month for my state, my federal, and supreme court access. There are certainly cheaper, this is just what I locked myself into when I first started.
I have a physical office location. I have since the day I opened. I started by renting a single office from an established law firm, moved out and got a pretty small stand alone office with shared conference rooms, and in a couple of weeks will be moving to a stand alone office with my own conference room (app. 700 square feet).
That's about all I can think of right now. I'm considering getting an iPad for help with trial, but I'm not going to until I've done a little bit more research and know it will be useful.
If I've forgotten something leave a comment and I'll tell you what I do for it. Good luck starting a law firm! You can do it.
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