Second Opinions

Evaluating Practice Management Software

By Wells Anderson

BEFORE looking at the strengths, weaknesses and costs of practice management products, first consider what they offer your organization. Descended from personal information managers that handle calendars, contacts and to-do lists, case management software adds an important missing function: tracking information about specific cases and matters. Practice management products go several steps further, integrating such features as timekeeping, document assembly, e-mail, file management, messaging, scanning, and accounting. A lot rides on your choice.

Your practice management product can serve as more than the foundation of your office. It can accelerate and improve practically every function that lawyers and staff perform.

Version Per User Price1	1-User Lite / Full	Firm 1st user/ added users	Large Firm4 1st user/ added users
AbacusLaw	199 / 299	299	299
Amicus Attorney	99 / 299	299	499
ProLaw2	795	795	795
Time Matters	150 / 350	350 / 150	1,000 / 400
WestWorks3	60 per mo.	60 per mo.	--

Total Cost1	5 Users	15 Users	50 users4
AbacusLaw	1495	4485	14,950
Amicus Attorney	1495	4485	24,950
ProLaw2	3975	11,925	39,750
Time Matters	950	3150	20,600
WestWorks3	300 / mo. per mo.	900 / mo.	--

Whether you choose to do all the research yourself or work with an expert, do not become overly focused on the features battle among competing products. The best ones have more than enough features. You need to do three important things:

1. Identify the best opportunities for improvements specific to your organization.

2. Evaluate how each product performs the functions most vital for you.

3. Understand how each product integrates with other systems you use or need.

Differentiating Factors

No product can be all things to all offices. Your particular circumstances influence the value of a product's advantages and the significance of its weaknesses. How one product stacks up against another in popularity is less important than how it fits your organization.

These firm-specific factors will help narrow the choices:

Key firm objectives: Every product has all the basic features you will need, but some may handle your highest priorities much better than others.

Integration with other programs: Most practice management programs link well to Corel WordPerfect, MS Word, and HotDocs, but your firm may rely heavily on some special legal software package. Find out how well they will work together.

Scope of project: Does your firm management want to invest seriously in technology as a strategic move to attract and keep clients? Or is the firm looking for a modest change that won't require much customization.

Strengths and Weaknesses

Time Matters, Amicus Attorney, and AbacusLaw lead the competition. They have achieved their successes by taking different paths to offering full sets of practice management features. If your firm is willing to invest in tailoring and automating the product to your particular requirements, Time Matters, from Cary, N.C.'s DATA.TXT Corp., will give you greater flexibility and more choices.

If you want a more attractive, intuitive program, Amicus, from Toronto's Gavel & Gown Software Inc. has the edge.

AbacusLaw, from San Diego's Abacus Data Systems Inc., falls somewhere in between, providing more customization than Amicus and offering some useful special features, such as easy display of photographs along with contact information.

Though not used by so many firms as the first three, the namesake product of Albuquerque's ProLaw Software Inc. is rising fast, incorporating accounting, financial reporting and document management functions not found anywhere else.

Time Matters

Creating documents containing names, dates, and other data drawn from contact and matter records is a Time Matters strength. The program has a simple tool for tasks ranging from addressing a letter to creating a medical authorization form incorporating a client's name, address, and medical providers. Called the "Formattable Clipboard," it offers a fast way to paste boilerplate language and variable text into word processing documents, forms and envelopes. For more sophisticated document creation, Time Matters ties into the mail-merge features of Corel Corp.'s WordPerfect and Microsoft Corp.'s Word and also to HotDocs.

Some have criticized Time Matters for the unimaginative layout of its screens. Opting for consistency from view to view, the uniform look of the product helps users learn features beyond the basics. But Time Matters loses the beauty contest when screens of competitors are compared side by side.

E-mail has become increasing important to the legal profession. Time Matters currently offers a basic, built-in e-mail feature using on Internet standards, as well as a clever method of integrating with Microsoft's Outlook and Exchange. What distinguishes Time Matters e-mail is the capability of linking incoming and outgoing messages to specific clients and matters.

Other Time Matters strengths include top-notch support for synchronizing information between a different offices, laptops, and Palm organizers. Time Matters' calendar views are second to none.

The product has perhaps the most reliable underlying database technology. The "enterprise" edition leverages Microsoft's SQL Server so that hundreds of users in multiple locations can enjoy fast access to shared information. Time Matters is backed up by a customer service team that stands above the competition in its ability to solve problems.

Amicus Attorney

Amicus wins the beauty contest hands down with screens that were born on the Apple Macintosh. The calendar looks like a personal desk calendar. Case files look like tabbed folders in a drawer. Convincing leather and marble adorn the product. As one attorney put it, "I want the sizzle and the steak."

Streamlining tasks is an important aspect of automating a firm with a practice management product. Founded by a lawyer with a vision, Amicus shows its history of development exclusively for the practice of law with its many refinements. For example, it can be set to prompt the user to enter a time record when closing a telephone call window. Going beyond just giving a reminder, Amicus automatically fills out much of the time entry.

A weakness of Amicus is the database that underlies its most popular multi-user version, the "advanced edition." For high reliability a knowledgeable network technician needs to install high quality network hardware and software, making sure they are set up correctly. Too many law offices fall short of this standard. The result can be serious problems with Amicus that cannot be easily resolved over the phone. User satisfaction with Amicus technical support is not very high, as reflected by opinions expressed in e-mail discussion groups. Amicus has a new "client/server" edition that promises increased reliability and performance.

At this writing, Amicus Attorney V is about to be released. Expect significant e-mail enhancements.

AbacusLaw

AbacusLaw has effective document control and creation features. It can convert letters and documents into forms. The forms accept information merged from combinations of standard fields and custom fields you set up for your firm's specialties. Abacus will embed forms into a rule that generates multiple documents.

Calendaring features in AbacusLaw track court dates, statutes of limitations, appointments, meetings, and vacations. You can schedule related events using court rules and practice-mandated timelines. You can set up your own rules for your jurisdiction or take advantage of available federal practice area templates.

AbacusLaw has not received the same level of attention in legal circles as its close competitors that more regularly announce new features and enhancements.

ProLaw

ProLaw does and costs more than any other practice management system. The answer to almost any question about ProLaw that begins, "Does it ... ?" is Yes. ProLaw does more than case management, docketing, and document management. No other products listed here can claim to be so broad and powerful without linking to other software programs. ProLaw's big claim to fame rests on its integrated legal accounting, timekeeping and billing functions.

A downside to ProLaw is the extent of configuration and installation work that must be done up front. That is part of the price of a highly customizable, all-in-one product. Though the prices of its competitors may look enticingly low, they, too, require considerable up-front work to achieve a high level of automation. When the costs and potential hassles of linking other products to ProLaw's competitors are taken into account, the price difference can more wells evaporate.

Lawyers working with ProLaw can see not only the usual information about legal matters but also the accounts receivable balances and work-in-process. Marketing is not an isolated function relegated to a separate product. For example, a firm can select clients to receive a mailing based on their areas of law, the amount of business they have generated, and many other variables.

The "ProLaw Web Portal" can connect the firm with clients and co-counsel through the Internet, opening up part of the firm's information about matters and schedules. The recently announced "Provolution Network" allows law firms and clients to hook their case management systems together over the Internet.

ASPs

Application service providers (ASPs) offer practice management services over the Internet. The big advantage of this approach is outsourcing. Your firm does not need to deal with multiple specialists to maintain all the software and hardware required to run the many functions of practice management products.

With average computers, Web browsers, and a high-speed Internet connection, you can have a practice management system up and running quickly without a large up-front investment.

Some writers criticize ASPs citing privacy, reliability and security fears. We think these concerns are overblown, at least with respect to major, established companies providing legal application services. West Group has announced its WestWorks service that manages contacts, cases, documents, dockets, phone messages, and timekeeping and adds West legal content for some practice areas.

Price Performance

Unfortunately, no one has published research comparing the returns on investment of different legal practice management products. We do know that customization and effective training correlate strongly with technology project success. Plan on spending 30 percent of your total hardware and software budget on training. You face a difficult question in deciding how much to spend on customizing the product and the training course. Customization often consumes the largest share of your project budget.

When looking at the purchase prices of various products, bear in mind that you may need to spend three to five times as much on configuration, customization and training.

The high-powered versions require the significant additional expense of purchasing and installing a Microsoft SQL Server database.

If a firm effectively implements practice management, it can expect the system to pay for itself within six to 12 months. To get there, be sure to identify the best opportunities in your particular office.

Devote customization and training dollars to those areas. Finally, don't overlook the potential for your project to support the firm's plans for the future.

Wells Anderson is a Minneapolis-based independent consultant who works with law offices nationwide to implement legal practice management, training and Internet products and services. He is a Time Matters authorized independent consultant and an Amicus Attorney authorized reseller.