Huge Legal Software Merger

Big news from the law practice management software world.  Abacus Law has acquired Amicus Attorney.  That's right, the two biggest providers are now One.

Way back when Amicus Attorney was founded by Toronto lawyer Ron Collins, and Abacus Law was founded by San Diego lawyer Judd Kessler. They are now in the rear view mirror as Wall Street takes over law practice management.  Heck, "Law" does not even appear in the name of the new company!

Here is the email I received from the New, Combined Abacus Data Systems:

Dear John

It is our pleasure to share some exciting news with you!  

For over two decades AbacusLaw and Amicus Attorney have stood together in the legal space as the pinnacles of case management solutions. Today, we are delighted to announce that Amicus Attorney will become an integrated part of the Abacus family. 

With our combined technology and expertise we will continue to expand our Best in Class practice automation solutions powered by compliance-ready, Desktop-as-a-Service (DaaS) workspaces designed to eliminate capital expenditure and the burdens associated with IT management.

Our Clients are at the center of everything we do! We will continue to offer and support all products and services. Our commitment to YOU is to consistently raise the bar and provide you with the most comprehensive, fully managed, legal technology solutions that cater to the success of your practice in today’s highly digitalized world.

As always, we thank you for your continued patronage and remain at your service.

Click here to read the full Press Release

Warm regards,

  
Alessandra Lezama
CEO

On to the Press Release:

Abacus Data Systems and Amicus Attorney Join Forces to Transform Practice Automation

Two of Legal Tech Industry’s Most Influential Players Together Deliver One-Stop-Shop Legal Technology Solutions

SAN DIEGO, CA, May 17, 2016 -- Abacus Data Systems, Inc. (Abacus), the premier provider of fully managed legal technology solutions, today announced that Amicus Attorney® (Amicus), one of the world’s leading practice management solution for lawyers, will become an integrated part of the Abacus family.  

Abacus and Amicus serve hundreds of thousands of attorneys in the US and around the world. By combining their collective technology and expertise, the newly integrated group will deliver the widest range of Best in Class practice management, time, billing and accounting applications powered by compliance-ready, Desktop-as-a-Service (DaaS) workspaces designed to eliminate capital expenditure and the burdens associated with IT management. 

“We’re proud of Amicus’ strong innovation history and the extraordinary work of the Amicus team to provide award winning practice management software,” said Alessandra Lezama, CEO of Abacus. “This transaction is the culmination of those efforts and the logical next step for Abacus. In joining forces with Amicus, our customers, employees, and stockholders will benefit from being part of a more diversified industry leader with significantly greater market opportunities. Our combination creates a more influential industry player with a commitment to product innovation and integration, which is key to the success of legal professionals in today’s highly digitalized world that has redefined the practice of law.”

Amicus’ CEO Ron Collins stated, “For over two decades Amicus and Abacus have stood together in the legal space as the pinnacles of case management solutions and superior customer service, and now together, this group will create synergies that will bring even greater benefits to attorneys all over the world.”

Abacus recently announced a majority investment of Providence Growth Equity and the opening of its new Headquarters in La Jolla, California adding more than 50 new technology positions. The integration of Abacus and Amicus reflects their commitment to the fast-paced technological evolution of the legal market and to providing unparalleled resources in support of its customers’ ever-changing practice automation needs.

“Both companies will continue to offer all products and services with no changes made to either company’s staff or management team,” explained Lezama. “The joint strengths and values of both our companies equal a superior breed of service provider and will benefit our customers, partners, and employees across the board. We are proud to welcome Amicus’ talented team into the Abacus family,” Lezama concluded.

About Abacus Data Systems, Inc.

Abacus Data Systems is the provider of the first to market case management, time billing and accounting software designed to easily automate law practice operations, ensure best possible outcomes, and increase profitability. In 2014 Abacus launched Abacus Private Cloud, a compliance ready, Turn-Key Desktop-as-a-Service solution (DaaS) to help attorneys bridge the gap to private cloud environments that guarantee security and ultimate performance to help legal professionals and others alike quickly build and grow their practice successfully.
 

Founded in 1983, Abacus has over 250,000 clients worldwide, is headquartered in San Diego, California, and operates three fully redundant data center footprints in the United States specifically engineered to host and safeguard sensitive data for professionals. Robust security and compliance policies, including two-factor authentication, five tiers of physical, network and data security and information handling and data privacy protocols in accordance with NIST standards ensure a safe and compliant environment for even the most confidential data. Please call 1-800-726-3339 or visit http://www.abacuslaw.com/ to learn more.

About Amicus Attorney 

Amicus Attorney is practice management software that works the way lawyers do. It’s an easy, lawyer-friendly solution that serves as the hub of a law practice. Founded in 1993 and headquartered in Toronto, Amicus is made by Gavel & Gown Software. Tens of thousands of law firms worldwide use Amicus Attorney. Gavel & Gown's numerous achievements are recognized through the success of its customers and through its alliances with key strategic partners. As a measure of this phenomenal success, Amicus Attorney has won more than 30 prominent industry awards, has been endorsed by major law societies and has been recognized by independent surveys as one of the most widely used practice management software in the USA. For more information, please call (800) 472-2289 or visit www.amicusattorney.com.

About Providence Equity 

Providence Equity Partners is the world’s leading global private equity firm focused on equity investments in media, communications, education, and information companies. The firm manages funds with over $40 billion in commitments and has invested in more than 140 companies globally since its inception in 1989. Providence is headquartered in Providence, RI and also has offices in New York, London, Hong Kong, Singapore, and New Delhi. Visit www.provequity.com for more information.

- See more at: http://www.abacuslaw.com/resources/blog/abacus-data-systems-and-amicus-attorney-join-forces-transform-practice-automation#sthash.gvkEIrZs.dpuf



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Dropping AbacusLaw

Unfortunately my recent misgivings about AbacusLaw seemed to have been warranted. The sales department recently contacted me to advise that my annual service agreement would be expiring and that renewal would be at at roughly a 100% price increase!  Also quite frustratingly the tech support department has taken a rapid turn for the worse. Four of my last five calls to tech support have been answered by brand new techs who know nothing about the program. My calls have resulted in me sitting and watching the remote sessions as the techs clicked around my computer learning the program, and repeatedly putting me on hold so they could (presumably) receive training from a supervisor. Suffice it to say that in the last two months my customer satisfaction quotient has gone way, way down.

That got me looking for other options.  I called colleagues for recommendations. I skowered the internet. I came up with a list. It included MyCase, CosmoLex, HoudiniEsq, Rocket Matter, Clio, Practice Panther, Perfect Practice, and Firm Central.  All of these are cloud based products, as compared to the AbacusLaw that I am currently running from my own server. Given that maintenance on the AbacusLaw that I have installed on my server would soon cost more than any of the above listed cloud products the time finally seems right to move my practice management to the cloud.

Next I started signing up for trial versions and demos (or at least trying to sign up, as I shall explain).

Clio is a program I have been following for years. I love the interface, and it has rules based calendaring which is a HUGE plus. Unfortunately the on line reviews I found were not encouraging: repeated price increases and abysmal customer and technical support. My call to the sales department did nothing to contradict those reviews. I contacted the sales department to do a little brain picking, and to find out if they have hosted demos, or if I could have a conversation with someone about the product.  I was told they don't do either, and that I should just sign up for the free trial and play around with it for a while. Scratch Clio from the list.

Firm Central is the product Thomson Reuters has released. From what I could see on the website it looked awesome. The reviews I found were also very flattering. I called TR sales. I was told that no questions could be answered overe the phone and that my dedicated sales rep would have to call me. I then asked how I could make that call happen. The telephone sales rep asked for my account information and then put me on hold. I am not kidding here, 5 minutes later he got back on the line, told me he could not figure out who my sales rep was and then suggested I call back later when they were less busy.  Wow! Being determined, I did call back. The second time the telephone sales person took down my number and said my sales rep would give me a call. A week later, still no call. Scratch Firm Central from the list.

CosmoLex, HoudiniEsq, and Perfect Practice all looked like great products, Each was a bit more complicated than I would like, and I just didn't comfortable as I was playing with them. Scratch them from the list.

That left me with live, sales department hosted demos of MyCase, Practice Panther, and Rocket Matter. Each of the demos was great. The sales reps working with me were all top notch. They knew their products, they wanted to help me, and they were each very enthusiastic.  I could have easily settled on any of the three products.

MyCase was my leading contender heading into the demos. I have many friends who swear by it. The company is a real moving and shaker in tech circles. I wanted it to be my winner. Two things eliminated MyCase. First it has also (like AbacusLaw) gone through the merger and acquisition cycle recently. The parent company has also gone public. That usually means dollars before customers while it finds and solidifies itself. I don't need that anxiety. Second the email integration components of the product were lacking. Given that probably 90% of my law firms communications are by email, that was the real deal breaker. Scratch MyCase from the list.

Practice Panther was the real surprise! It is an easy to use, graphically pleasing program that I really liked. I scratched it from the list because, unlike MyCase and Rocket Matter, it does not include document storage as part of its program.  Instead you have to integrate with box, and use it as your storage portal. Criticize me if you will, but I just don't like box. It does not play nice with me. I have repeatedly tried to make it work for me (including while testing Practice Panther) and it just has not worked. Plus I did not fancy the idea of paying for a box subscription in addition to the Practice Panther subscription. Scratch Practice Panther from the list. I will say this though, had it not been for the box issue Practice Panther likely would have been my winner.

That leaves us with Rocket Matter, and that is the company I signed up with.  How is it going? That is for future posts. Stayed tuned....

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Attention AbacusLaw Users!

What do AbacusLaw practice management software, a home shopping network in Europe, PADI - the world's largest scuba diving organization, and a Brazilian wireless tower provider have in common?  As of December they are all companies owned by Providence Equity.

According to the December 15th press release:

“Abacus provides peace of mind for legal professionals confronted with data privacy vulnerabilities and rigid compliance regulations in today’s fast-paced digital world” said Alessandra Lezama, CEO of Abacus. “Our partnership with Providence will allow us to continue to transform our company and execute on the strategy to quickly scale up our technology infrastructure to meet the ever-growing demand for secure DaaS, extending our offering to other verticals that share risks associated with technology paralysis and that are subject to compliance regulations such as legal professionals.” Providence is a leading global private equity firm with over $40 billion in commitments and a focus on media, communications, education, and information investments. Providence is making the investment in Abacus from its Providence Strategic Growth (PSG) fund.

 “Abacus has proven industry expertise and their continued commitment to advancing their technology and servicing their customer base has been a major driver of the momentum and success they have experienced,” said Marco Ferrari, Managing Director at Providence. “We are excited to partner with a management team that has proven its ability to operate a world-class organization and help further accelerate their success and growth."

What does this mean for us lawyers depending on AbacusLaw in our practices?  The skeptic (nay realist) in me says nothing good.  An East Coast investment house probably does not invest in a San Diego law practice software company unless the software company is in financial trouble, or has a core product that can be thinned out and sold to other industries. A software company tightly focused on law firms only is never going to be a venture capital profit powerhouse as there just are not enough customers.  Look at the language in the press release: transform, strategy to scale up, extending our offering to other verticals. Nothing in there to suggest law practice is going to stay on the top of the pyramid.

I took a look at the management of Providence.  Very impressive roster of Ivy Leaguers.  While there are some law school grads amongst them, with the exception of the general counsel of the company I am not seeing too many lawyers with actual law practice experience.  Not a good omen for a law practice software company. I predict that with the company now being run by investment bankers the cost of Abacus will go up, the customer service will go down, the focus on law practice management software will disappear. I hope I am wrong, but me thinks it won't be long before we may be shopping for new systems if we truly want to keep using software dedicated to law practice management,

Please visit hardinglaw.com for more information about Harding & Associates Family Law 

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Our Technology

I am crazy for technology. It makes me a better lawyer. It makes it easier for me to practice law. It allows me to do a better job for my clients. You would be hard pressed to find a family law firm that has embraced technology to a fuller extent than Harding & Associates. Colleagues are always asking me which technologies we utilize at our law firm, so here's a sampling:





Our system set starts with the hardware. We have lots of computers. Servers, PCs, notebooks, iPads. We have super sized monitors, and multiple monitor configurations.









The stars of our technology systems are the software programs. Without the software, the hardware does no good. Our software starts with Windows. Also from Microsoft, we make extensive use of Office, including Word, Outlook, and Excel. Power Point gets occasional use.







Date books, tickler systems, rolodexes, file cabinets, paper time sheets, message slips, are all a thing of the past. We manage our entire practice electronically with Abacus Law practice management software.








Adobe Acrobat Professional is our power platform, and what drives our paperless practice. We scan our paper to .pdf format. We review ad annotate records in Acrobat. We index and Bates stamp records with Acrobat. We text search exhibits with Acrobat.






One of the ways we are innovating with new technology systems is through mindmapping. Our software in that regard is Mindjet MindManager.






For legal research we use the desktop and mobile versions of Westlaw Next, and Attorney Briefcase software.






To calculate child support and spousal support, and to analyze property division in our cases we utilize Dissomaster and Propertizer.




Drafting of settlement documents, no problem with the Lawgic software that we use.





Forms, forms, forms. You have to use them if you are going to practice family law in California. When we prepare forms we use the best forms software available: Essential Forms from Essential Publishers.




Distance is irrelevant in our practice thanks to our ability to remote, or distance, compute with GoToMyPc.



There you have the big hitters in our technology line-up. If you have any questions, please feel free to get in touch. I'll be happy to answer them.

Oh yeah, Apps? We've got a bunch of them, but we'll save them for another post.

Please visit hardinglaw.com for more information about Harding & Associates Family Law

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AbacusLaw Extortion

So, AbacusLaw case management is releasing a new feature. The new feature allows your AbacusLaw software to synchronize contacts and calendar with your iPhone. Nothing really unique about that. In fact last time I checked all of the premier programs provided that functionality?

Here is what is unique about the new AbacusLaw feature. AbacusLaw is going to charge extra for it! That's right. There will be a $250 installation fee, and then an annual maintenance fee of $97! Can you believe it? What are they thinking? In this day and age smartphone synchronization should be an automatic, standard feature. Maybe a one-time charge of $97 to upgrade. That I could live with. But $250 to upgrade and then $97 per year to maintain it? Absurd!

Now I have always been pretty happy with AbacusLaw. We use it in our firm, and I have written positively about it in this blog. But this is outright robbery. Looks like the folks in San Diego are headed down the same path as Amicus Attorney. If you are an Abacus user I suggest to get in touch with your account rep and lodge a complaint.

NOTE: To all of the other case management vendors that read this blog (I know there are a number of you), please post your comments regarding your company's synchronization capabilities and whether you charge extra for them.

Please visit hardinglaw.com for more information of Harding & Associates Family Law

I Am Dumping Amicus Attorney

We have used Amicus Attorney for years. I have always loved the awesome graphics of the program, and the potential it carries. I have always loathed the technical support, and the dubious upgrade process. In my mind Gavel & Gown software, the vendor of Amicus Attorney, has a nasty habit of releasing annual upgrades with only modest little tweaks, then discontinuing reasonable support for earlier iterations of the software. They have also in the last year or two introduced a completely ridiculous annual maintenance plan. They release buggy software, then you have no choice but to spend hundreds of dollars for a support agreement. This strategy is even more offensive in that new product upgrades come with no support! Even if you pay several thousands of dollars to upgrade, you then have to pack on hundreds of dollars more to get the new software to work! That is why I have version 2008 running, even though there is a version 2009, and a version 2010.

I have put up with this shoddy way of doing business for years because of the overwhelming thought of converting to a different system. However, Gavel & Gown has finally crossed the line. We use AA in conjunction with a court rules calendaring program from Compulaw. In the first week in November I received an e-mail from Gavel & Gown that there were going to be problems with the Compulaw add-on because of changes that the Federal Courts have made regarding how dates will be calculated. The theme of the message was "stay tuned." This is important because date and rules calendaring is one of the main reasons we use case management software.

That stay-tune message came about ten days later when I got a letter from Gavel & Gown. That letter explained that date and rules calendaring in any pre-2010 version of Amicus would not work after November 30, 2009, and the only solution would be to purchase the 2010 version. Absolute Piracy! Here's a flip of the proverbial bird at you Gavel & Gown.

Last week I plunked down more than $6000 to purchase an entire new software system from Abacus Law. The software is installed, and we are now waiting for the vendor to schedule our data conversion from Amicus to Abacus. I know that is going to be a challenging and frustrating exercise, but we really have no choice. Gavel & Gown has painted us into a corner, and now we have to work our way out.

Stay tuned.