Office Phone Systems

For two decades we ran our office with a reliable phone system from Nortel Networks.  The system included an big, impressive phone switching box, and another big, impressive box that housed the voice mail system.  Both hung from the wall in our junk room.  At every desk sat a handsome Nortel desk set filled with fun buttons to push.  The system was very expensive, and worked very well.  We could call out, people could call us, we had voice mail, etc., etc. (although I never quite got the hang of transferring calls or making conference calls).  You needed to be a computer programmer to make any adjustments to the system, but that was the price for technology. 

The Nortel hardware cost thousands of dollars.  The hardware was supported by four voice land lines, and one fax land line, for which we paid the phone company a hefty check each month.  On average our phone bill (including long distance) was running $300 to $500 per month.

With time, the system began to wear down.  Handsets started losing their connection.  Buttons on the desk sets didn't always click.  Voice mail messages began disappearing.  I had heard of VOIP technology as the latest, greatest thing in telephones.  I did not know much about it other than the fact that you make phone calls over the internet via your computers internet connection, rather than over phone company landlines.  I was already paying for internet service, so a new VOIP system would not add to my internet cost.  However, I might be able to eliminate my bill from AT&T.

After some light research I called a company named 8x8.  I spoke with a very helpful sales guy named Jonny Manik.  He explained he could sell me a phone for each person in the office for about a hundred bucks.  Then for $45 per person per month we could have unlimited local and long distance calling.  On top of that we would have efaxing capability, and call recording.  The system would support computer chatting amongst all the people in the office.  We would each be able to forward calls to different telephone (our cell phones for example).  We could keep our advertised phone number, and cancel all the AT&T landlines.  All we would have to do is plug the phones into the back of each person's computer, and we would be off and running.  Are you kidding me?  I would have all of those features, and be able to reduce our monthly phone bill by at least 66%!

I jumped at the hook.  A few days later the slick Polycom telephones arrived.  We spent about a half hour on the phone with 8x8 tech support, and lo and behold Jonny's promises were realized!  The system works great.  Sound quality is perfect.  There are more bells and whistles then I think I will ever be able to use.  The learning curve is modest.  We can send faxes right from our computer rather than walking down the hall to a fax machine, and we received faxes right at our computers, rather than walking down the hall to the fax machine.  Plus, I have severed all ties with the more expensive AT&T. 

We have no regrets.  The new system works brilliantly.  If you are looking to make a change, get touch with Jonny at 8x8.  Remind him that I am supposed to get a $100 credit for every referral!

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eFax Software

Our fax machine is part of a business hub copier, scanner, fax unit.  Wouldn't you know it, the fax part of it went down this week.  We are still trying to figure out what the problem is?  Phone line is live.  We can receive faxes.  Unfortunately we cannot send anything out.  When you lose the function, you appreciate how much you actually use it.

Coincidentally, I just received a press release from eFax, an online fax service provider touting its service.  I have actually been contemplating such a service for some time, but I am not fully understanding how it works.  Perhaps the answers lie in this release.  Admittedly this is blatant advertising from the provider.  That does not mean that it is automatically inaccurate.  Here we go:

The halls of justice are increasingly being taken to the streets as legal professionals use cloud computing and mobile solutions to un-tether from the traditional law office. According to the 2012 survey from the American Bar Association's Legal Technology Resource Center, 38 percent of lawyers have already migrated to laptops as primary computers. And with today’s feature-heavy, app-ready tablets and smartphones, legal professionals may no longer even need a laptop to conduct business on the fly.

eFax^®, a provider of online fax services since 1996 and a brand of j2 Global, Inc. (NASDAQGS: JCOM), understands the critical business needs of on-the-go legal professionals and provides the ability to send, receive and manage faxes from anywhere. According to the 2012 National Study of Employers, 77 percent of companies surveyed allow or encourage flextime and nearly 66 percent let employees sometimes work from home. While working remotely, it is essential for legal professionals to have access to critical documents and the ability to receive and respond to communications from multiple devices.

“Using eFax, I’m able to stay on top of developments in legal matters from my smartphone anywhere in the world, any time” said Scott Brenner, Esq. “Since I’m constantly working on the go at client offices and remote locations, I’ve found that eFax is an indispensable tool. It enables me the important convenience of sending and receiving critical documents and correspondences from my mobile device and tablet when I’m working away from my office.”

eFax has many features and benefits that eliminate the paper chase for busy law professionals and help them work efficiently while on-the-go:

·         Freedom and flexibility — The eFax Mobile Apps enable legal professionals to send a fax of any photo from their iPhone or other smartphone. The simplicity of point, shoot and fax allows busy legal professionals to send critical documents to clients, staff, counsel or even the court, whether or not they are in the office. Learn more about the eFax mobile app for iPhone in this YouTube video.

·         Easing the burden of e-discovery — Complying with e-discovery requests can be time-consuming and costly for busy lawyers. eFax incorporates search tools into faxed documents, allowing a proactive approach to managing information to handle any potential e-discovery requests. Lawyers can search for faxes using names, topics or other keywords to find a specific document or group of documents. Tags can also be used to support a records classification scheme so that documents are retained or properly disposed of according to policy. Learn more about how to tag and search faxes in this YouTube video.

·         Eliminating document disorder — The paperless office is a reality with eFax. Rather than carting around large boxes of files of critical documents, eFax offers legal professionals unlimited lifetime storage and securely archives faxed documents online. Documents, which can be digitally stored on secure file servers, can be retrieved at anytime from anywhere.

·         Confidential and secure — eFax Secure^™ encrypts faxes and stores them as a TIFF or PDF in a secure inbox. eFax improves the privacy of critical documents from lawyers’ clients by eliminating the risks inherent in having confidential faxed documents sitting next to a traditional fax machine.

·         Signed, sealed and sent — Time is money and in today’s environment there is no room for waste. eFax eliminates the need to print, sign and scan documents by providing digitized signature capabilities. Client engagement letters, contracts, or other documents that need a signature, can be faxed to a user’s eFax account where a digitized signature can be added in a snap from a computer, tablet or smartphone. The approved document can then be sent along via email or fax. Learn more about how to use eFax digitized signatures in this video.

With eFax, busy legal professionals are able to easily send, receive and access critical documents on demand. eFax supports the move to a paperless office with time and resource-efficient features that make it easy to store and access documents. For a free trial of eFax please visit www.efax.com/Free-Trial.

The eFax branded service is a pioneer in the fax business, with a string of technology and business firsts dating back to 1996. Individuals and small businesses can learn more about sending and receiving faxes online at www.efax.com. For medium to large businesses with 10 to 10,000 employees or high volume faxing needs, more information is available at www.efaxcorporate.com. 

For more information please visit the eFax blog at http://blog.efax.com/ or watch these videos on the eFax YouTube channel. To listen to a Podcast interview with Scott Brenner, Esq. go to http://home.j2.com/podcasts/scott_brenner.mp3.

About eFax

eFax is a brand and registered trademark of j2 Global, Inc. (NASDAQGS: JCOM) and is online at www.efax.com.

About j2 Global^™

Founded in 1995, j2 Global, Inc. provides cloud services to individuals and businesses around the world. j2 Global's network spans 49 countries on six continents. The Company offers Internet fax, voice and email solutions. j2 Global markets its services principally under the brand names eFax^®, Onebox^®, eVoice^®, FuseMail^®, Campaigner^®, KeepItSafe^® and CampaignerCRM^™.

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Calming The Angry Client

Family law is an emotional practice area.  Our clients are going through a nightmarish experience.  It is common for their frustrations to erupt, and for those frustrations to be targeted at the lawyer who is working them through the process.  Being on the receiving end of the need to blame is an all too frequent event for family law lawyers.  As family law lawyers we are going to experience them, and they do take their toll on us.  How can we make it better?

At the attorney@work blog Marilyn Astin Tarlton has a great post on just this topic!  Here is how Marilyn sets it up:

You know the scenario. It’s the end of the day. The phone rings and you pick it up knowing you really shouldn’t. You should just let it go to voicemail, pack up your laptop and go home.

“What the bleep is this?” are the first words you hear. It’s your client. The one for whom you’ve worked like a dog, around the clock, for the past two weeks. It seems this month’s bill has arrived and he’s in flames! Now what?

Her advice:

First, just breathe. Then try not to:

• Argue with him about it
• Tell him it is someone else’s fault
• Ask him to call you back tomorrow
• Hang up on him

The article continues on with more great advice that we can all use.  Please click here to read the entire post.

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Deposition Transcript App

I think depositions are a great tool for family law lawyers (provided your client can cover the costs).  They allow for spontaneous questioning.  They commit the witness then and there, without time for lawyer assistance and reflection.  In California, with our liberal discovery rules, depositions can avoid a lot of the objection games that goes on with written discovery.

Deposition practice has long been the beneficiary of innovative technology.  The transcription machine is the perfect example.  The list goes on:  real time; video depositions; remote depositions and depositions by Skype; transcript review and annotation software.  This evolution of technology has now come to the tablet platform.

My virtual friend Ted Brooks, at his Court Technology and Trial Presentation Blawg, has written another great app review.  This time he looks at  TranscriptPad.  Ted introduces the app as follows:

If you’re in need of a quick and easy method of reviewing depos, running searches, assigning issue codes, adding notes and marking designations with your iPad, Lit Software, makers of the popular TrialPad app, have another nice app for you. In addition to managing the transcripts, TranscriptPad allows you to import related depo exhibits, so you can take a look at them as well. “You can drive in a nail with a brick, but a hammer will do a much better job” according to Ian O’Flaherty, Managing Partner at Lit Software, LLC.

I have taken a look at TranscriptPad, and I like it.  I haven't shelled out the $50 for it yet, but I like what I have seen.  To get a real feel for it though, you need to read Ted's review.  Please click here for a look.

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Skype in the Law Office

I have an accountant that I work with who is even more high tech than me.  His office is at one end of the state, and mine is at the other end.  We teleconference frequently on our cases.  Recently we conducted our first video conference, and it really added to the experience.  Telephones are a great tool, but I feel communication is more effective when you can see the other person's face.

That got me thinking about communications within our law office.  Rather than pick up the phone and intercom my colleagues I usually walk to that person's office for a fact to face.  My colleagues, on the other hand, are apparently not as motivated to look at me.  They either yell across the hall or call me.

We have now installed Skype on everyone's computer, and we have installed high-def webcams at everyone's desk.  Right now it is as much a novelty as anything else, but it is also impressive technology.  Picture quality is great, sound is great, convenience is great.  Plus, it is fun to click a button and have a video call with a colleague.

There is more.  I have Skype installed on my iPad, and I can now engage in video chats with my colleagues wherever I am.  A  wi-fi connection is not required.  The regular data connection also works great.  Finally, I have installed a webcam on my home office computer so that when I am working from home, face time is possible with everyone at the office.

Skype also allows for text messaging.  It is the complete office intercom system.  As our clients catch on to the technology I can also see having video conferences with them.  Further, as a family law firm we can use our system to educate our clients about Skype for virtual visitation, which is becoming more and more popular.

Of course cost is always an issue.  The high-def web cams?  Less than $75 each.  Skype?  Free!  A minor investment for impressive technology and functionality.

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

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LinkedIn in One Hour for Lawyers Now Available as iBook

I am shamefully cutting and pasting the text below from Dennis Kennedy's DennisKennedy.com blog.  I am assuming he won't mind since I am advertising his book for him:

Allison Shields and I are grateful for the overwhelmingly positive response we gotten to our book, LinkedIn in One Hour for Lawyers. A big thank you to everyone who has purchased the book.

I’m pleased to announce that the book is now available as an iBook in the iTunes store. The price of the iBook is $17.99, a nice discount from the price of the traditional paperback version.

Allison and I have also started a LinkedIn Group in connection with the book (and the upcoming Facebook in One Hour for Lawyers book that we anticipate being published in August) called “Social Networking for Lawyers. Please consider joining the group to continue the conversation about the use of LinkedIn by lawyers.

We have been (welcomely) surprised by the interest by law firms in using the book as part of their internal LinkedIn training efforts. If your firm might be interested in exploring that route, we can help you get in touch with ABA Publishing about volume discounts. And, if you are an ABA Law Practice Management Section member (and, if you read this blog, you should be), it looks like there’s still a great discount available on the paperback version for LPM members.
iBook link

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First off, a disclaimer.  I do not like Microsoft.  I think the company creates software that is just good enough to function at a bare minimum.  It releases products prematurely, and before the bugs and kinks are worked out.  It provides terrible support.  Unfortunately for most lawyers it is the only game in town, so we live with it.

Now Microsoft has announced its new line of tablet computers.  Called the Surface, this piece of hardware is Microsoft's competitor to the iPad.  Price point has not been published yet.

Here is what the Microsoft website says about the line:

Advances in Industrial Design

Conceived, designed and engineered entirely by Microsoft employees, and building on the company’s 30-year history manufacturing hardware, Surface represents a unique vision for the seamless expression of entertainment and creativity. Extensive investment in industrial design and real user experience includes the following highlights:

• Software takes center stage: Surface sports a full-sized USB port and a 16:9 aspect ratio – the industry standard for HD. It has edges angled at 22 degrees, a natural position for the PC at rest or in active use, letting the hardware fade into the background and the software stand out.
• VaporMg: The casing of Surface is created using a unique approach called VaporMg (pronounced Vapor-Mag), a combination of material selection and process to mold metal and deposit particles that creates a finish akin to a luxury watch. Starting with magnesium, parts can be molded as thin as .65 mm, thinner than the typical credit card, to create a product that is thin, light and rigid/strong.
• Integrated Kickstand: The unique VaporMg approach also enables a built-in kickstand that lets you transition Surface from active use to passive consumption – watching a movie or even using the HD front- or rear-facing video cameras. The kickstand is there when needed, and disappears when not in use, with no extra weight or thickness.
• Touch Cover: The 3 mm Touch Cover represents a step forward in human-computer interface. Using a unique pressure-sensitive technology, Touch Cover senses keystrokes as gestures, enabling you to touch type significantly faster than with an on-screen keyboard. It will be available in a selection of vibrant colors. Touch Cover clicks into Surface via a built-in magnetic connector, forming a natural spine like you find on a book, and works as a protective cover. You can also click in a 5 mm-thin Type Cover that adds moving keys for a more traditional typing feel.

An Amazing Windows Experience

Two models of Surface will be available: one running an ARM processor featuring Windows RT, and one with a third-generation Intel Core processor featuring Windows 8 Pro. From the fast and fluid interface, to the ease of connecting you to the people, information and apps that users care about most, Surface will be a premium way to experience all that Windows has to offer. Surface for Windows RT will release with the general availability of Windows 8, and the Windows 8 Pro model will be available about 90 days later. Both will be sold in the Microsoft Store locations in the U.S. and available through select online Microsoft Stores.

Do I think it will work as advertised?  Of course not.  Will Microsoft sell a bunch of them?  Surely.  If anyone out there buys one please write us with your thoughts.

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

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