Selecting The Right Document Management Tools

Attorneys’ time is a precious commodity. It’s a waste of time to search for documents or recreate transactional documents from scratch.

How do you maximize the time attorneys spend on matters that need their expertise and minimize the time spent on administrative or repetitive tasks?

Document management software, simply, helps law firms organize their documents. But, it’s more complex than that. Not only does a document management system store your information, but it provides a way for you to search and index your files and share data with other authorized users. Better document management systems can manage versions of documents, integrate with your email system, and allow remote access. Many are intuitive to use so they require little training.

Document generation software does just what its name implies: It automates document generation, which keeps attorneys from having to reinvent the wheel every time they create a contract or other transactional document.

Because law firms have particular security needs, many document management and document generation applications are built specifically for the legal profession. These big five brands of document management and document generation software have different features and strengths.

Document Management Software

1. iManage
iManage is better for large law firms because it can be hosted in the cloud or on-site and requires maintenance by trained IT professionals. iManage has the advantage of being well integrated with Microsoft Office. That provides ease of use and further streamlines time spent on filing emails or documents into the system.

2. Worldox
Worldox also integrates with Microsoft Office, and it is an appropriate choice for law firms of all sizes. It has a central document control system, which means that information from multiple databases can be combined for greater time-savings.

3. MetaJure
MetaJure also can be used by any size law firm. One of its advantages is the automatic integration of all documents (including image-based documents, such as PDFs).

Document Generation Software

4. HotDocs
Users who want to create a transactional legal document, such as a will or contract, interact with a HotDocs template to input information specific to a case or matter, which increases accuracy.

5. ProDoc
ProDoc generates transactional legal documents by asking questions specific to each situation. It also allows users to further customize documents if necessary.

Questions to ask

Selecting the right document management and document generation software for your firm is of the utmost importance.

Here are just a few questions to ask to make sure you get the best software for your needs:

• Is the application hosted on-premise or in the cloud? Does the cloud provider have experience assisting law firms with your legal and business applications?

• Do you need on-site or on-call IT people to manage the system? Can it be easily installed or must it be completely customized?

• Was the software built specifically for use by those in the legal profession? Does it include standards of security that will keep your law firm from breaking privilege?

• How would you prefer that the document management application structure its organization? By project? By matter? By work group? In some other way?

• How intuitive is the software? Does it require extensive training, or is it simple for users to get on board?

• Does the application allow for offline access? For access across multiple devices?

• Does the software use multiple databases or is the data housed centrally?

If you need assistance determining which type of software has the features you need, or if you would like help integrating new applications with your existing system, Legal Workspace’s application support specialists can help. You can take advantage of Legal Workspace’s Software as a Service licensing model for certain document management or document generation applications. Legal Workspace can also move existing licenses for software to its cloud environment.

Document management and document generation software can act as time-savers—but law firms must put in time up-front to select the program that will work best for their specific needs.

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What Attorneys Need to Know About the New Amicus and Worldox Software

A couple of major updates of popular legal software are being released this year. Amicus Premium and Worldox’s updates set these options apart both from the last version and from the competition.

Amicus Premium 2015

Amicus Premium, a practice management solution, has come out with its new version already, with a re-designed interface and tweaks to file automation and search capabilities. It also features a new module in its mobile app for notes and “precedent workflows that automatically delegate tasks based on each firm member’s role.”

The billing integration of Amicus legal software has been enhanced to give clients more control and customization over their bills, including split billing. Law firms now have the ability to send automated alerts when retainers have reached their limit.

But the most significant change is the addition of Amicus Client Portals, which allows clients to access information pertaining to their case, adds another layer of collaboration and improves the lines of communication between firm and client.

Worldox GX4 2015

Worldox, a document management system, announced its release of GX4 in February. This legal software has been completely redesigned to improve the user experience across desktops, mobile phone and tablet devices.

It, too, has improved search functions, and now allows users to see “snippets” of the items retrieved from the search—which makes it easier to see which item is the one you need. Search is improved because users can now create document tags.

Greater integration with Microsoft Outlook is another bonus. Users are able to search Outlook through Worldox now, so there’s no need to run multiple searches from discrete programs. Users can also now easily move email to Worldox on their smartphones. And the new “active profiling” feature “monitors…emails and assigns client/matter information for end of day, one-click batch filing.”

How to Upgrade

If those updates sound like they’ll make managing your practice easier, Legal Workspace (LWS) can help. Amicus Premium is now obtainable through our law firm cloud solution, and when Worldox GX4 is officially released to the public this year, it too will be made available to clients.

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