For those keeping track (but why would you?) I’ve been on hiatus lately. And by lately I mean the past year. I won’t bore you with the details. Of course I have been Twittering from @practicehacker (blogging lite, if you will). I plan to jump back into the deep end of the blogging pool. Watch this space for more details… seriously, watch this space. It’ll be worth it. Would I lie?
@Practicehacker
It’s not often that I’m impressed, but I recently came across a SaaS product that had all the usual bells and whistles, as well as something different. ActionStep has what I expect in a practice management app, but instead of focusing on features it organizes everything around goals, objectives, and tasks. This means I can focus on doing my part while everyone else involved in that project is automatically kept informed of my progress and prompted to stay on the same page. Here’s how it works:
ActionStep is now ready to spring into action. In addition to launching tasks when the specified condition comes to pass, the program can notify team members of each other’s progress automatically. My favorite feature is the way ActionStep coordinates the whole process by letting me make tasks mandatory or optional, then making them dependent on the completion of prior milestones. So I define the steps to be followed, stay informed of everyone’s progress, and prevent anyone from getting around the rules.
For example:
ActionStep’s document automation features let me customize standard intake forms to include the type of matter and prospect contact information.
Once I indicate that the document is finished, my paralegal is prompted automatically to call or e-mail the prospect. ActionStep even auto-generates the e-mail message.
The calendar feature pings me to attend the meeting. Once I indicate the meeting is over, ActionStep automatically bills the time and sends any notes or uploaded documents to my paralegal so she can take the next step.
So far so good. But here’s the real difference between ActionStep and existing systems:
If I indicate the meeting resulted in a hire, then ActionStep adds tasks like creation of physical and electronic files, customization and enclosure of a Retention Letter, and creation and enclosure of an e-mail to the new client.
If I indicate that the meeting did not result in a hiring decision, ActionStep can prompt me to follow up in time or send out a “No Hire” letter.
The system is competitively priced on a subscription basis and you can click here for a free 30 day trial.
P.S. If you try it out, post your impressions in the comments , share them by e-mail, ping me on Twitter, or post on my Facebook wall. I’d like to know what you think. Cheers.
Asking for Help ... Hat in Hand
A good start! But seriously: according to this piece in the Wall Street Journal new law grads continue to enter the workforce faster than Starbucks can hire them. To quote the article:
According to jobs site SimplyHired.com… the hardest-to-place industry [is the] the legal field. Unemployed lawyers now find themselves in the country’s most cutthroat race for a job, with less than one opening for every 100 working attorneys.
But what makes us so hard to employ? Maybe the answer can be found in the 50 (and counting) comments to the ABA Journal’s anemic coverage of the topic, which is all of a paragraph long and is no more than a rehash of the original mention in Above the Law. Or maybe the answer is written into the Economist’s riotously off-target piece Not Enough Lawyers, which posits that we have uh, too few lawyers. But after all is said and done the truth is that lawyers are hard to employ for the same reasons we’ve known about for a good 20 years:
For the great mass of new lawyers in the market and those displaced due to the systemic shakeup in the law, the odds are lower than newly hatched turtles trying to make it out to sea. And it just breaks my heart to see that happen to such a nice bunch of baby turtles.
TechnoLawyer ABA Techshow
