43% of litigators who participated in a recent ABA survey say that they use litigation support software. As for the 57% of you wondering what exactly litigation software is, this is your lucky day. The term litigation support software refers to an entire subgenre of database software for storing, searching, and reviewing discovery and evidentiary material. Way better than manually going through a physical file, that’s for sure! Here’s a helpful chart produced by the ABA of the different litigation software out there. For more information on the respective companies and how their software can facilitate your your litigation practice, take a look at the websites below and decide for yourself (this applies to both the 43% of you already familiar with the systems as well as the 57% of you who may be interested in making the switch):
1. Anacomp CaseLogistix
2. Lexis Nexis Concordance
3. ILS Edge
4. iCONECT
5. ImageDepot
6. IPRO eReview
7. Lexbe
8. MasterFile
9. Nextpoint
10. CT Summation iBlaze
SEO consultant Indu Priya recently wrote a post for the site Quick Online Tips about measuring return on investment (ROI) when it comes to Twitter. While the piece was not directed at lawyers, its messages were well taken and certainly apply to our practices. As the author notes there, it is notoriously hard to measure results on new-media platforms like Twitter; to discern what works from what doesn’t. But there are a number of tools available for those who want to measure their Twitter results and extrapolate their ROI.
Obviously, to assess how close you are to your destination you must know where you’re going. Some firms have gone to the length of assemblying a marketing plan in order to set goals for themselves – but if you ask me a simple outline will do until you find out whether your aims are realistic, achievable, or economical. Consider these well-known Twitter success stories:
Dell famously uses Twitter to disseminate offers and discounts, as well as to listen in on market chatter. To guage success Dell counts the number of Twitter-based discounts redeemed by consumers, comparing those figures with the number of purchasers overall. The difference should represent the difference that Twitter makes in its customer-count.
Barack Obama’s Twitter account is the stuff of history – launched during his lightning 2008 presidential campaign, its goal was simply to touch as many people as possible and allow them to communicate with one another. Once their common Twitter friend (the Obama campaign) brought them together, the key metric measured b y the campaign was the number of posts (tweets) that were circulated (retweeted) by followers. After that the multiplier effect took over and delivered the vote.
Of course not all goals are measurable or even achievable; but most can be reached following some creative planning. In the meantime, consider these ROI measurement tools for Twitter and find more on OneForty:
From Reid Trautz, Attorney and friend to Practicehackers everywhere, comes this handy article, which begins:
Here is the short-version of what Reid is talking about:
AppBoxPro. Multi-function apps for iPhone including currency converter, date calculator, translator, etc. $0.99
Bento. Simple, powerful database. Looks like iTunes and is designed to be easy to use. Syncs to desktop. Templates for common tasks included as well. $4.99
Bump. Open the app on iPhone, select how much to share, gently bump with another iPhone, and viola – the information has been shared. $free
Documents to Go (Premium Ed.) Create, edit, and view Word, Excel and PowerPoint’s, plus view PDF’s and other formats. Essential for most every lawyer.
Dragon Dictation. Free, easy-to-use, and accurate voice-recognition on your iPhone. Quick alternative to typing e-mails, texts, tweets, or FB updates.
DropBox. File sharing service providing online storage and access from multiple devices. Get up to 2 gigs of storage for free and 50 gigs for just $10 per month
Google Mobile. Google’s mobile app does much more then find stuff, but the voice search feature is extra cool and easier than typing.
People. Free “White Pages” database and reverse phone # directory.
ScanR Business Center. (See also DocScanner and JotNot) Similar apps may cost less but ScanR is worth the price. Create PDFs using your iPhone camera or a picture.
Skype. You already know what this does. It works great on the iPhone as well as the Mac.
According to Read/Write/Web, stealth startup Path.io describes itself as a website that “facilitates the creation, sharing and correlation of lists.” So … a list of lists, apparently. Sounds dull, but if you look at the screenshot below you’ll notice that is has a kind of Craigslist/37Signals/Flickr vibe. Very minimalist and (hopefully) user-friendly. for lawyers it could still be quite useful – and God knows we can use all the innovation we can get. I for one would be willing to try it immediately, and I’ll share my views when I do. Until then, enjoy this screen shot.
I’m a real fan of apps, applets, add-ons, and other bite-sized web-enabled tools that make life easier. List.it is a perfect example. It’s super-simple and enables you to do one thing easily: take notes in any browser, organize them fast, take them anywhere via mobile device, or just check them out on any computer. Notes are securely stored remotely, and accessible through any browser. Sure, there are already a lot of free bookmarking services, note-taking services, and list services such as
But list.it goes the extra mile to be simpler, easier to use, and a cinch to manage. So what’s not to like?
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