What to do with Gmail’s “Star”…
I have long wondered what people actually do with the “star” feature in Gmail. Unless you just like to have things waiting on the back-burner to bite you in the butt, I think it’s always a bad idea to simply flag an email to do later and leave it in your inbox.
Personally, I use Outlook for my emails needs (but I use Gmail when I’m away from home). My emails only have two statuses: read or unread. If an email is read, it is completely done and filed away, only to be needed again for some later …
New Law Firm Recruiting Tactic: Podcasts
As any person who has looked for jobs at major law firms can attest, the recruiters are always looking for new ways to make their firm stand out. On paper, Firm X looks virtually identical to Firm Y. Likewise, firm websites provide basically the same content, just in a different design.
Recently, LexBlog discovered, the Boston firm of Goulston & Storrs has become what seems to be the first firm to provide information to recruits via downloadable podcasts. A quick look at their listing …
Online Conferencing & Collaboration for Small Firms
I just ran across an interesting online service that allows people to collaborate and conference online. It is called Central Desktop, and it looks like a good option for small law firms or other teams that need to plan projects over distances. From the Web Worker Daily article I read, here is a short synopsis:
Creating wikis or microsites is as easy as selecting a template. Calendars, task lists and other team management tools are just a tab away from your dashboard, where you can manage multiple workspaces, communicate with others and schedule …
Excel in Spreadsheets with these Excel Tips
This list of a few tips for Microsoft Excel should help you manipulate those legal spreadsheets with ease. My favorite one:
Press Alt + Enter to force a new line in a cell.
I don’t know about you guys, but this new line tip has come in handy many times for me.
[tags]legal andrew, excel, microsoft excel, spreadsheet, new line[/tags]
Outlook Tasks Are a Lawyer’s Best Friend
Of all the busy lawyers that I am working with this summer, I do not think many (if any) of them utilize one of the powerful tools available in their computer arsenal: Outlook tasks. As a mere law student (and husband), I live out of my taskpad. Everything that I have to do (or am waiting for someone else to do) resides there. In my opinion, Outlook tasks are critical to organization and knowing what needs to be done. If you’re not familiar with tasks, this article will give you a quick primer and show you some of the cool benefits to using them.
Intro to the Taskpad
If you are using Outlook 2003, all you need to do is click on “Tasks” in your left pane or folder list. The taskpad should display in your right pane. Or, if keyboard shortcuts are your thing, hit CTRL + 4. Your screen should show something similar to this:
Map the Firm, Attorneys, and Clients Online
With today's growing law firms, and even for solo practitioners, keeping track of locations can be a challenge. Sure, you could just keep all your addresses in Outlook or some other contact manager. The better ones will provide you with a nifty little "Map This" button that will pull up an online map for the location. Today I want to propose a better solution for your mapping needs: online community maps.
Community maps have now become a staple on the internet, and I think law firms should take advantage of this great technology. With a community map, you can plot the firm's offices, all of the attorney's homes, client offices, favorite restaurants, etc. The possibilities are endless. The benefits are great: quick and easy directions from place to place, everyone mapped in one bookmarked location, and an easily sharable mapping interface. Now that you are convinced you need an online map for your firm, how do you start one? Keep reading to find out…
Open Source Software at the Firm: Closer Than You Think
What could save law firms thousands of dollars every year? Well, cutting back on the recruitment gifts they send to people like me (:)), but more importantly using open source software.
What is "open source software" you ask? From The Free (Computing) Dictionary:
Refers to software that is created by a development community rather than a single vendor. Typically programmed by volunteers from many organizations, the source code of open source software is free and available to anyone who would like to use it or modify it for their own purposes.
Basically, it …
VoIP in the Law Office: Polycom Communicator
I am an avid VoIP (voice over IP = phone over the internet) proponent, so naturally this announcement (great review from MobileWhack.com) from Polycom and Skype got my attention. They are rolling out a new device by the end of June that connects via USB and will allow Skype users to have speakerphone capabilities. Of course, this also frees the user from a headset and wires (me gusta wireless). More than that, the device also doubles as a regular computer speaker, but I have …
Kill Your Mouse: Automate Mouse Clicks
This is the final installment of the Kill Your Mouse series.
By now everyone should have a firm grasp of keyboard shorcuts that save clicking with the mouse. Also, hopefully you have taken the few minutes necessary to get a grasp of our new best friend, AutoHotkey, which can launch programs as easy as pressing a key on the keyboard. The final step in killing your mouse is to take AutoHotkey to the next level. Hold onto your chairs, since you will be amazed …
Review: T-Mobile Blackberry 8700g
Gizmodo posted a pretty thorough review of the T-Mobile Blackberry 8700g. All in all, it looks like a pretty good device. The reviewer sums it up pretty nicely:
Really, on the whole, I liked the 8700g quite a lot. I could imagine getting a wee bit possessive of it had I been using it in the context of a more BlackBerry-friendly email account, one with junk mail filtering and folders that the unit could understand. It’s definitely worth a look for most folks, which is higher praise than I can give to most mobile devices.
Do …
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About Andrew Flusche
Lawyer, bicyclist, husband.
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