Before I get too far, though, I want to point out that it's important not to lose the forest for the trees. Having a perfect technology set up from the beginning isn't going to ensure success when starting a law firm. It can't hurt, but it won't be a deciding factor. And the great thing about starting out is you are small, agile, and can make changes quickly. Get a system set up and try it out. If it doesn't work, change it. It's really that simple.
First, I want to talk about using gmail and google apps for your law firm. When I wrote last I mentioned that the one major hangup with using Google was that I couldn't get all of my contacts to share between my assistant and I. Well, Barry Hammond solved all those problems with one email. He pointed me to this site, which is a private company that's made an application for google apps. As long as you stay small the application is free. I've already signed up and am using it, and it's great. Thanks!
Second, I got an email from someone who asked the following questions:
1. How do I combine Highrise and Gmail Calendar?Here are your answers.
2. How do I perform conflict checks?
3. What do I use for accounting? How do I keep track of invoices?
4. Why do I use blogger for my blog? (she doesn't like it)
How do I combine Highrise and google calendar in my law firm?
The short answer is that for the most part I don't. All I use the calendar for in gmail is for court dates, meetings, birthdays, etc. I don't use it for tasks. I use Highrise for tasks and to note all of the other things I mentioned (it's always a good idea to keep track of important dates in two places, just trust me on this).
Highrise is great because it can keep track of all of your cases and what is going on with those cases. When you start a case with Highrise it creates a specific email address for that account. Simply add it to your gmail contacts and every time you send and email related to that case blind copy highrise and it will be logged in, in chronological order. Second, whenever you want to assign a task to another person, it will send them an email alerting them to the assignment. And you can check to see if the task has been completed (checked off).
If that didn't answer your question let me know specifically and I'll see what I can do.
How do I perform conflict checks?
Thankfully, in my line of work, I don't need a very comprehensive conflict check. In most of my cases the only witness is a police officer. So long as I haven't represented them before in some matter I'm usually safe. If there are other witnesses it's usually pretty easy for me to know if I've represented them before. I can just search through my old case files.
One thing you might be able to do on Highrise is make sure to attach all the interested parties to the case (witnesses, counsel, etc.). When you get a new case, simply search Highrise for that potential conflict's name and if it pops up check it out.
What do I use for accounting? How do I keep track of invoices?
I use quickbooks for accounting. And I don't do invoices very often. My fee agreements are flat fee. If anyone pays on a payment plan we typically lay that out in the fee agreement and they write me a specific number of checks that I cash each month on a date they have agreed to. I typically don't invoice them for that since it's already "invoiced" in the fee agreement.
Why do I use blogger?
I use blogger because I like it. It's free, it's easy to use, and it's fairly simple to navigate. The stuff you hear about having your own URL for SEO purposes is not that accurate. It might help a little bit, but it's not going to make or break you (I think this blog is a perfect example of that). Bottom line is I like it, it's what I've using for years, and I don't have any reason to switch.
That's it for this post. I owe myself another, so I might get to another today (if there's time).
As always, love to hear what you think. And if you have questions, please let me know.
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