<i><b>Product Review</i></b> Is There Really Such a Thing As Social Practice Management?

In the cloud-based law practice management (“LPM”) arena, there is no shortage of new and innovative platforms to choose from. Time and billing, matter management, CRM: these features have become standard, meat-and-potatoes stuff in LPM technology. Developers are now moving far beyond them, to incorporate some pretty exciting functionality, streamlining not just your matters' documents and information, but also the organizational, communication and workflow components of your practice: Your law firm, and everything that happens in it, wrapped up in a single application. What more could you ask for in seeking the most efficient way to run your practice? Law practice management, meet legal productivity, or, as the San Diego developers have dubbed it: social practice management. Welcome to MyCase (www.mycaseinc.com).

Overview

Social practice management is a clever catch phrase for a product that performs practice management functions in a social networking environment, thereby streamlining the process and maintaining an overview of the matters in your office at all times. Each matter is entered into the system with the standard features. MyCase adds the ability to create a group, comprised of attorneys, clients, necessary staff and any others involved in the case (i.e., expert witnesses), for the matter.

The platform enables anyone in the group to communicate each and every action quickly in the case to other applicable group members. This information is also automatically displayed in a recent activity screen that sits on your home page in a Twitter-like format, keeping everyone continuously current, tracking the matter's progress and streamlining workflow. Put another way, the design facilitates law to be practiced in a social networking environment optimized for interaction, collaboration and simplicity.

Since there is unlimited data storage, every e-mail, scanned letter, document and legal form related to that matter can be easily uploaded into the system. MyCase accepts every document extension, and makes the data searchable (or not, if you so choose).

With every twist and turn of navigating around this application, there are shortcuts to accomplish any task. Send a note, upload a document or add a contact; all without needing to leave the current page. This is only one of the many ways MyCase makes the daily routine efficient.

In fact, MyCase exhibits the first glimmer of a marriage between practice and project management platforms. In comparing MyCase with Onit, a fully developed legal project management application, MyCase is missing only two of Onit's main functions: Project Planning and Budget Estimating. MyCase can be easily adapted to perform these functions and track them in its existing communication framework. By creating this social environment in which every action in a case is being digitally managed, MyCase developers have added to productivity in ways I'm not sure even they envisioned.

The Design

Opening a new case is done in four steps:

1. First screen: Basic case information. Name, type of matter and short description.
2. Second screen: Staff link. Create groups and designate members' permissions.
3. Third screen: Contact information. Creates the client link, which populates all other necessary fields.
4. Fourth screen: Billing information. Includes hourly, contingency or fixed-fee billing options as well as payment options.

One of the first results of your input, besides automatically populating the necessary fields, is that everyone whom you've linked into the case will receive notice in their recent activity stream, as well as a little red comment bubble on the case tab. (And yes, it looks just like the notification bubble on Facebook.) In this scenario, all communications among the group regarding the case will occur within the secure environment. Once your case input is complete, you can filter information on the case anywhere you are in the system by using the case name.

To ensure all bases are covered, an e-mail is also sent to advise anyone working outside the platform that the case has been added. In order to preserve the security procedures put in place by MyCase, the public e-mail simply notifies you to log into MyCase to receive an update. This occurs not just when the case is input, but whenever anyone is alerted to an event within the system. The notification system can also be adjusted manually when you want to choose who receives the communication.

This design underlies all the functions performed in MyCase. Whether uploading a document, setting a deposition, requesting someone's presence at a court appearance, or creating a discussion around certain topics or events in the case's progress, it is accomplished through these processes. The efficiency of this model seems self-evident. Like a project management format, MyCase simplifies the task of documenting ideas and events, and communicating them to all the necessary collaborators. And like social networking, everyone is invited to comment, respond or engage in an immediate, real-time environment.

Document Storage

The good news is that document storage is unlimited and can be uploaded using any file extension, so you can store photos, video and audio content. There are two potential upload categories: case documents (anything linked to a case) and firm documents (anything that can be used globally throughout the firm, such as templates). All documents can be tagged for search. The notification processes alert you to any document that may be uploaded by a client or witness so it can be properly tagged and filed. The system has versioning capability and retains an audit trail, enabling you to search back through a document's evolution.

Time and Billing

This function is almost a stand-alone module, yet in an equally collaborative design. As mentioned above, there are three billing models you can choose for each matter: hourly, contingency or flat fee. If you choose hourly billing, a question will appear regarding the use of a trust account. If you are billing as a flat fee, you can input what the total price is, and how much the client has on deposit. This information is incorporated into the invoicing function.

Billing entries include expenses as well as time, and allow you to customize your activities. You can view the billing status by matters that have open balances, have been invoiced, or both. These screens give you a quick overview of the firm's billing status, as well as the client's. Invoicing allows you to set up payment plans. You can create an invoice and notify the client or save, print and mail.

There are also several payment options. The client can:

• Auto-pay via his merchant account that is linked in MyCase;
• Pay through a merchant service account created in the system; or
• Pay upon receipt by cash, check or credit card.

Future Upgrades

Like every product launch, MyCase has not integrated all of the envisioned functionality. Two upgrades that are front and center are:

1. Bi-directional calendar syncing. Currently you can only sync from MyCase to your public calendaring system; soon, you will be able to go either way; and
2. Adding a task widget on the home screen sidebar. This will appear in line with the important alerts and upcoming events on the right side of the home screen.

There are more, but they are not being made public yet.

What I Expected to Find, But Didn't

A developer has to pick and choose among design priorities, but MyCase misses some biggies that I hope will be considered for later versions. They are:

• Conflicts checking system;
• Web site portal integration; and
• Separate billing discussion tab.

Because the system is designed for solos and small firms, its conflict checking system relies on the ability to search within the system. However, a more robust system is called for as cases and their associated personnel begin to build. Given the ABA's Ethics 20/20 Commission's investigation into the use of cloud systems, I suspect there will be a recommendation or demand for this sometime in the future.

The Web site portal (a bridge that enables a client to access the system through a link on your Web site) is one of the key components of a virtual law practice, or e-lawyering, as defined by the ABA-LPM's eLawyering Task Force. Examples are VLOTech (currently in private beta through TotalAttorneys.com), DirectLaw.com and Wizilegal.com. Although MyCase is not configured in this way, the developers will work with you to design a link for your Web site to their system branded for your firm.

The system enables you to bill on a fixed-fee basis, but does not provide a place to separately store discussions, notes, drafts, change orders, or anything related to the process of arriving at a negotiated fixed or customized billing agreement. This would be helpful in tracking costs and reviewing the steps taken when attempting to formulate a similar billing arrangement in the future.

Security

Lawyers using cloud-based products for their practice management solution know they must perform due diligence before retaining a cloud vendor to be certain their data is protected using best practices and specific security standards. The legal profession has a higher duty of care to protect its clients' data in order to retain the attorney-client privilege and duty of confidentiality. It has the additional burden to insure against prohibitive jurisdictional regulations where the data resides, as well as the ability to authenticate documents as evidence if necessary. As a result, the terms of the Service Level Agreement (“SLA”) must include more than the standard provisions of a click-wrap agreement.

If the vendor does not own or control the servers on which your data will reside, law firms must extend that due diligence to include information about the server host. The terms of the SLA between the host and the vendor must mirror the important terms of the agreement between the firm and the vendor.

MyCase is built on Amazon's EC2 platform and is backed-up using Amazon's S3 storage. Using global hosting for data storage has not been well received by the legal technology community, primarily because clients have little leverage to negotiate any special terms in their SLA. A global host's servers are generally located internationally, and your data can be dispersed to various locations. That being said, MyCase and Amazon provide a greater-than-usual degree of transparency with respect to the security practices they employ, and they are impressive. Additionally, Amazon's policy is to locate your data in the same country in which you do business.

Conclusion

MyCase represents another step in the progression of law practice cloud solutions. The product is a powerful tool: a uniquely seamless way to run your practice that enables you to document and communicate every event involved in each legal matter. It is that seamlessness that creates the efficiency and level of productivity you need to provide cost-effective and quality services to your clients. It is your ability to provide cost-effective and quality services to your clients that make your practice successful.

In the cloud-based law practice management (“LPM”) arena, there is no shortage of new and innovative platforms to choose from. Time and billing, matter management, CRM: these features have become standard, meat-and-potatoes stuff in LPM technology. Developers are now moving far beyond them, to incorporate some pretty exciting functionality, streamlining not just your matters' documents and information, but also the organizational, communication and workflow components of your practice: Your law firm, and everything that happens in it, wrapped up in a single application. What more could you ask for in seeking the most efficient way to run your practice? Law practice management, meet legal productivity, or, as the San Diego developers have dubbed it: social practice management. Welcome to MyCase (www.mycaseinc.com).

Overview

Social practice management is a clever catch phrase for a product that performs practice management functions in a social networking environment, thereby streamlining the process and maintaining an overview of the matters in your office at all times. Each matter is entered into the system with the standard features. MyCase adds the ability to create a group, comprised of attorneys, clients, necessary staff and any others involved in the case (i.e., expert witnesses), for the matter.

The platform enables anyone in the group to communicate each and every action quickly in the case to other applicable group members. This information is also automatically displayed in a recent activity screen that sits on your home page in a Twitter-like format, keeping everyone continuously current, tracking the matter's progress and streamlining workflow. Put another way, the design facilitates law to be practiced in a social networking environment optimized for interaction, collaboration and simplicity.

Since there is unlimited data storage, every e-mail, scanned letter, document and legal form related to that matter can be easily uploaded into the system. MyCase accepts every document extension, and makes the data searchable (or not, if you so choose).

With every twist and turn of navigating around this application, there are shortcuts to accomplish any task. Send a note, upload a document or add a contact; all without needing to leave the current page. This is only one of the many ways MyCase makes the daily routine efficient.

In fact, MyCase exhibits the first glimmer of a marriage between practice and project management platforms. In comparing MyCase with Onit, a fully developed legal project management application, MyCase is missing only two of Onit's main functions: Project Planning and Budget Estimating. MyCase can be easily adapted to perform these functions and track them in its existing communication framework. By creating this social environment in which every action in a case is being digitally managed, MyCase developers have added to productivity in ways I'm not sure even they envisioned.

The Design

Opening a new case is done in four steps:

1. First screen: Basic case information. Name, type of matter and short description.
2. Second screen: Staff link. Create groups and designate members' permissions.
3. Third screen: Contact information. Creates the client link, which populates all other necessary fields.
4. Fourth screen: Billing information. Includes hourly, contingency or fixed-fee billing options as well as payment options.

One of the first results of your input, besides automatically populating the necessary fields, is that everyone whom you've linked into the case will receive notice in their recent activity stream, as well as a little red comment bubble on the case tab. (And yes, it looks just like the notification bubble on Facebook.) In this scenario, all communications among the group regarding the case will occur within the secure environment. Once your case input is complete, you can filter information on the case anywhere you are in the system by using the case name.

To ensure all bases are covered, an e-mail is also sent to advise anyone working outside the platform that the case has been added. In order to preserve the security procedures put in place by MyCase, the public e-mail simply notifies you to log into MyCase to receive an update. This occurs not just when the case is input, but whenever anyone is alerted to an event within the system. The notification system can also be adjusted manually when you want to choose who receives the communication.

This design underlies all the functions performed in MyCase. Whether uploading a document, setting a deposition, requesting someone's presence at a court appearance, or creating a discussion around certain topics or events in the case's progress, it is accomplished through these processes. The efficiency of this model seems self-evident. Like a project management format, MyCase simplifies the task of documenting ideas and events, and communicating them to all the necessary collaborators. And like social networking, everyone is invited to comment, respond or engage in an immediate, real-time environment.

Document Storage

The good news is that document storage is unlimited and can be uploaded using any file extension, so you can store photos, video and audio content. There are two potential upload categories: case documents (anything linked to a case) and firm documents (anything that can be used globally throughout the firm, such as templates). All documents can be tagged for search. The notification processes alert you to any document that may be uploaded by a client or witness so it can be properly tagged and filed. The system has versioning capability and retains an audit trail, enabling you to search back through a document's evolution.

Time and Billing

This function is almost a stand-alone module, yet in an equally collaborative design. As mentioned above, there are three billing models you can choose for each matter: hourly, contingency or flat fee. If you choose hourly billing, a question will appear regarding the use of a trust account. If you are billing as a flat fee, you can input what the total price is, and how much the client has on deposit. This information is incorporated into the invoicing function.

Billing entries include expenses as well as time, and allow you to customize your activities. You can view the billing status by matters that have open balances, have been invoiced, or both. These screens give you a quick overview of the firm's billing status, as well as the client's. Invoicing allows you to set up payment plans. You can create an invoice and notify the client or save, print and mail.

There are also several payment options. The client can:

• Auto-pay via his merchant account that is linked in MyCase;
• Pay through a merchant service account created in the system; or
• Pay upon receipt by cash, check or credit card.

Future Upgrades

Like every product launch, MyCase has not integrated all of the envisioned functionality. Two upgrades that are front and center are:

1. Bi-directional calendar syncing. Currently you can only sync from MyCase to your public calendaring system; soon, you will be able to go either way; and
2. Adding a task widget on the home screen sidebar. This will appear in line with the important alerts and upcoming events on the right side of the home screen.

There are more, but they are not being made public yet.

What I Expected to Find, But Didn't

A developer has to pick and choose among design priorities, but MyCase misses some biggies that I hope will be considered for later versions. They are:

• Conflicts checking system;
• Web site portal integration; and
• Separate billing discussion tab.

Because the system is designed for solos and small firms, its conflict checking system relies on the ability to search within the system. However, a more robust system is called for as cases and their associated personnel begin to build. Given the ABA's Ethics 20/20 Commission's investigation into the use of cloud systems, I suspect there will be a recommendation or demand for this sometime in the future.

The Web site portal (a bridge that enables a client to access the system through a link on your Web site) is one of the key components of a virtual law practice, or e-lawyering, as defined by the ABA-LPM's eLawyering Task Force. Examples are VLOTech (currently in private beta through TotalAttorneys.com), DirectLaw.com and Wizilegal.com. Although MyCase is not configured in this way, the developers will work with you to design a link for your Web site to their system branded for your firm.

The system enables you to bill on a fixed-fee basis, but does not provide a place to separately store discussions, notes, drafts, change orders, or anything related to the process of arriving at a negotiated fixed or customized billing agreement. This would be helpful in tracking costs and reviewing the steps taken when attempting to formulate a similar billing arrangement in the future.

Security

Lawyers using cloud-based products for their practice management solution know they must perform due diligence before retaining a cloud vendor to be certain their data is protected using best practices and specific security standards. The legal profession has a higher duty of care to protect its clients' data in order to retain the attorney-client privilege and duty of confidentiality. It has the additional burden to insure against prohibitive jurisdictional regulations where the data resides, as well as the ability to authenticate documents as evidence if necessary. As a result, the terms of the Service Level Agreement (“SLA”) must include more than the standard provisions of a click-wrap agreement.

If the vendor does not own or control the servers on which your data will reside, law firms must extend that due diligence to include information about the server host. The terms of the SLA between the host and the vendor must mirror the important terms of the agreement between the firm and the vendor.

MyCase is built on Amazon's EC2 platform and is backed-up using Amazon's S3 storage. Using global hosting for data storage has not been well received by the legal technology community, primarily because clients have little leverage to negotiate any special terms in their SLA. A global host's servers are generally located internationally, and your data can be dispersed to various locations. That being said, MyCase and Amazon provide a greater-than-usual degree of transparency with respect to the security practices they employ, and they are impressive. Additionally, Amazon's policy is to locate your data in the same country in which you do business.

Conclusion

MyCase represents another step in the progression of law practice cloud solutions. The product is a powerful tool: a uniquely seamless way to run your practice that enables you to document and communicate every event involved in each legal matter. It is that seamlessness that creates the efficiency and level of productivity you need to provide cost-effective and quality services to your clients. It is your ability to provide cost-effective and quality services to your clients that make your practice successful.