For the legal professional who must manage a variety of cases. Demonstrates the creation and maintenance of PC-based case management systems.

I. Why would anyone want a PC-based case management system?

A. We all have case management systems of one sort or another.

1. Writing on the file folder
2. Yellow pads with notes of things to do
3. Post-it notes
4. Desk calendars
5. Client lists of names and addresses
6. To-do lists

B. The need for a PC-based system arises when we find that we need information in a different way than it is otherwise available: who all is involved in the Smith Case? What statutes of limitations run in April?

1. In my estate administration practice, I used to keep lists of cases by status: needing a tax return, needing an inventory, needing an account, and so on.

a. This required multiple lists.

b. This did not furnish other status information, such as the last time work was done on the file.

c. So I created, in 1983, a database of my cases, with name, type, and status fields, which would easily give me the information I needed.

2. But an estate-administration database is not suitable to other types of cases.

3. So some more general-purpose system is indicated: case management software.

II. What is a case management system?

A. Should handle the desired relevant information about a case

B. Ideally, should permit merging the case-specific data into standardized forms of documents. But because there are not many case management systems, that meet the other requirements, this is an optional feature.

C. Probably will provide a calendar

D. Should provide a date-based to-do list

E. Should have some facility for showing completed status of items

F. Ideally, should integrate with time and billing systems. However, because there are not that many systems, and not all of them do this, this must be optional. Very large firm systems, that are very expensive, do this, but not all smaller systems do so.

G. Should be Windows-based.

1. For the DOS-familiar attorney/assistant team, a DOS-based system could suffice. However, most of the standard applications used in the law office should be Windows-based, now, for a variety of reasons, and therefore the case management system should be, also, for consistence.
2. If you're running Windows, many non-WIndows DOS-based systems will not operate properly under Windows.

a. They may not run.

b. They may not permit other programs to continue without crashing.

c. They may cause network and printer conflicts.

3. Why Windows?

a. Windows is intuitive, easy to learn, presents a more-or-less consistent user interface with other programs (you will need someone to be able to minimally use the system when your assistant is ill, or on vacation), and is the de-facto standard. For the non-DOS familiar, Windows is the only choice that makes sense today.

b. Windows is multi-tasking, in a limited way. That is, you can have multiple applications open and running at the same time. You do not have to exit a program to run another.

c. WIN95 is perhaps an emerging standard, but there are few if any legal applications that take full advantage of WIN95 at this time.

4. Not all case management systems (or other legal practice software) are Windows applications. We must remember that legal applications lag behind the rest of the world of computer applications by 3 to 5 years. That means that we are just now finding an assortment of Windows-based systems of case management software specifically for lawyers.

H. May be general-purpose, lawyer-specific, or practice-area-specific. The first two will be demonstrated briefly today.

III. What are the hardware, software, and time and work costs of such system?

A. Hardware. If you grant my initial assumption that a Windows environment is needed, then our hardware requirements will entail

1. A Pentium computer (If you have 486's, they may work with some software, but should not be purchased now)
2. A 1,000 MB drive or larger (1 GB) (smaller drives may work, but should not be purchased now)
3. 8 to 16 MB of memory (less may work, but should not be purchased)
4. A Digital-Audio Tape backup system (older systems may work but should not be bought now)

a. The drives cost more but the tapes cost less

b. They're fast

c. And they're digital

5. A 15" SVGA monitor

6. If more than one computer is in the office, an appropriate network (if for no other reason than to back up the hard drives automatically, at night, in full (yes, all of them, every night). (Other systems can work, but most users lack the discipline to make them reliable)

B. Software. In addition to the case management system itself, you will need

1. Windows for Workgroups, or equivalent. It comes on the computer, if you request it, rather than normal Windows or WIN95. The network software is included in the system.
2. Microsoft Word for Windows, or equivalent
3. Tape backup software for WIndows (it costs extra)
4. A good anti-virus program
5. A good disk diagnostics program

C. Multiple separate installations. If more than one lawyer is to use the system, I recommend separate installations for each lawyer/assistant practice group, even if your network would accommodate a larger work group.

D. Consultation. A consultant and a hardware installer are a good idea.

E. Work and effort.

1. Initial. It will take several person-days of your and your assistant's time just to install the hardware and software and become marginally familiar with it.
2. Early. You will be maintaining two systems for a while, until you are confident in the system you have installed.
3. Ongoing. You will be spending time, and your assistant will be spending time, every day, inputting data into and retrieving data from the system. Be careful you do not expect to place too much data in the system. It will become too burdensome and will not be used.

IV. Should everyone have a computer-based case management system?

A. Probably.

1. Many clients expect them.
2. Professional liability underwriters like them.

V. Expectations concerning a case management system should be realistic.

A. If your case management is chaotic, a computerized system will not make it nonchaotic. It will only computerize your chaos. Before computerizing it is appropriate to impose some management on your cases.

VI. A decision must be made as to who will be entering the data on a day-by-day basis, and who will be retrieving the data.

A. If you already have a PC on your desk that you are using, and are entering some case data in it, you will probably want to continue doing that, and probably expand your role.

B. If you do not have a PC on your desk now, you may want to put one there, but you probably will not want to start your PC experience with a case management system.

C. If neither your assistant or secretary, nor you, have a computer on your desk, a case management system is not the place to start your computer experience.

VII.. How do you enter the data? There are 2 ways:

A. Just enter the new cases and appointments as you create them

1. Requires looking in different places for different cases
2. Probably not a good idea

B. Enter everything at once

1. Requires paralegal/secretarial assistance

a. May require training and hiring temporary personnel

2. Requires a plan as to what to do first

a. Enter all the clients whose data is to be used in the system

b. Enter all the appointments

c. Enter all the to do items

d. Enter all the documents

3. Each item entered into the system should be checked off on the original source, and initialed by the entering person.

4. New items being entered into the system must be double-entered.

5. Each item after entry should be verified with the original data, and initialed by the verifier.

a. Ideally, this would be a two-person task.

C. In any event, during a start-up period (a month or so, at the least), both systems will be needed to be in operation.

D. Critical dates should always be manually handled, as well as by the software system.

VIII. Who makes this kind of software?

A. Legal-specific. The following vendors, at last count, held themselves out as providing this kind of software that runs under Windows. for users in small to medium sized firms. I make no recommendation for or against any of them, except as noted. And since versions are constantly changing, those recommendations must be taken

B. with due diligence. (My selection criteria are tempered by my requirement that the vendors exhibit at the legal technical products shows)

1. Examples:

a. Amicus Attorney, by Gavel & Gown Software, Inc., Toronto, Ontario

b. "Case Master III", by Software Technology, Inc.; Lincoln, NE. I selected it, somewhat arbitrarily, for demonstration today. It is integrated with Capsoft's Hot Docs, a document assembly system.

c. "Junior Partner", by Legal Edge; Albuquerque, NM

d. "Needles", by Chesapeake Interlink, Ltd.; Owings Mills, MD

e. Powerlaw; Chicago, Illinois. Requires higher than 386 CPU.

2. Advantages:

a. These systems provide linked files with separate data elements.

b. Legal templates for data entry and reports are already created for certain case types, and can be customized from them for others

c. Legal documents can be generated on the fly from standard forms, within the case manager itself, with some systems.

d. Legal concepts, such as statutes of limitation, are handled appropriately.

e. Conflict checking is possible.

f. Integration with time and billing systems is possible.

3. Disadvantages

a. The greater power requires greater data input, and the file separation may be annoying. Setup may be more complex as well.

b. The greater power requires greater discipline in document generation and control. The systems are more structured.

c. Automated document assembly is, in itself, a demanding task. I recommend as a time budget 1 week of attorney time for a minor practice element.

d. The greater power slows down the systems and requires greater hardware resources (i.e., 486 minimally; Pentium preferably).

e. The limited legal market results in greater software cost.

f. Lawyers may not have been sufficiently involved in the development to maximize the usefulness of the features.

g. Statistically, they are more likely to contain logic errors, because of the smaller installed base. This may not be the case, however.

C. Generic.

1. Examples:

a. Lotus Organizer 2.0, , by Lotus Development Company, is one. I happen to use it, and thus it is my example here.

2. Advantages

a. Inexpensive

b. Simple

c. Fast

3. Disadvantages

a. Limited and manual data linking causes inconsistent results

b. No integration possible with time and billing systems

(1) Integration with time and billing saves back-office time, but maybe at the expense of lawyer time.

c. No integration possible with document assembly

D. Common themes in both legal-specific and generic systems

1. Calendars on computers are tedious and useless.
2. The to-do list is the key element
3. Global searches are possible in both

IX. Specific illustrations using the two systems

X. Guidance for the curious

A. Legal Tech and ABA Techshow attendance can be useful if you focus on one product group, such as case management software.

B. Vendors will provide free slide-show demo disks, and nominally priced evaluation systems which are limited only by the number of data elements that can be entered. Call them.

C. Take at least a day or so to evaluate a system you are considering.

D. Involve your assistants and your secretaries, to the extent that they will be using the system.

E. Consider engaging as consultants those who are lawyers as well as computer-expert.

Vance A. Fisher