LawStream - Integrated Law Office Management for Macintosh and Windows

It's difficult to implement any software. You would have a very hard time finding any application that can please everyone. The first thing to do, is to try to find a program (like LawStream) that is designed for law offices. After that, be prepared to invest the time to learn the program, and to learn its benefits. If you're the kind of attorney who will give up on a case as soon as it looks like it might not go your way, then perhaps you're also the kind of attorney who will give up on software as soon as it behaves slightly differently from what you might expect; otherwise, make an investment of your time, and wait for the rewards.

LawStream automatically defaults to produce bills that contain all unbilled work in progress (fee items and disbursements) on any new bill. Once a bill has been printed, you will normally accept the default action, and make LawStream automatically note that work in progress as billed (so it won't appear on new bills). Of course, you can also select any date-range for the time and entries on any new bill you generate, for individual bills or for a bulk production of bills.

All time entries in LawStream are dated, and the date on each item appears on every bill (along with details of the services, and other optional information). If you prefer, you can instead produce a narrative bill that just shows a description of the work you did, without details or dates.

LawStream's time entry window automatically defaults to the current date, but you can easily expand the basic time-entry window to include a date field (and other optional fields), where you can specify a different date if you wish. If you are entering multiple time entries for an earlier date (e.g., entering your time from Saturday, on a Monday morning), you can leave the time-entry window open, and have the date remain the same until you decide to change it to the current date.

Most law office applications - including LawStream - are designed to handle those sorts of tasks. Each application will be different, and you should try to decide which one works most closely to the way you work. LawStream's data base is file-centric: almost all entries are linked to individual files from your office. After (or while) entering a time record in LawStream, you can also add any other details you might need. Other LawStream data records (e.g., reminders, notes) can also have extra details attached to them. In some cases, the additional information can go beyond extra text: you can link individual files to web pages, images, and other documents, if you wish.

We can't help control the way Address Book behaves, but LawStream does have ways to select names from its data base when you are copying those names and email addresses (and other data) from your LawStream data base: you can select groups of names based on common criteria, and you can add specific names.

When you use the "LawStream To Go" window, you will probably want to start by selecting the reminders you want to export to your PDA (iPhone, Blackberry, etc.); you might want to export all your reminders, or only the reminders for the next couple of weeks, or only your scheduled reminders (appointments, trial dates, etc.). Once you've done that, LawStream will make note of the files related to those reminders; you can then select all the clients for those files, or all the clients and all the other contacts for each of those files. You can also add selected contacts that might not have been automatically selected.

LawStream has a variety of different formats of checks. Each of those formats offers several different format options, and one of them provides complete control over the location of all fields on the check.

Client/case management. Document management. Timekeeping. Invoicing. That's what LawStream does. LawStream does a lot more, and integrates all those functions. Of course it's important to get the best bang for your buck, but remember that you have to get the best results for your own time (not just in your search for software, but also in your use of the software once it is installed). If you find that you cannot afford about $800 for a single-user software package for managing time and money in your office, then you should perhaps be giving thought to the way you conduct your business, and the economic viability of your firm.

LawStream does not focus on any particular area of law: we have always maintained that we should not practice law, just as we believe attorneys should not use their valuable time in developing software. LawStream does, though, have flexible features that allow its use in all types of practice, by offering custom variables and document management for any area of law.

Although there may be some advantages to web-based ("software as a service") applications, there can be significant risks. When any aspect of your software is in the control of an outside business, you lost that control. By having all your program software and data in your office, you can avoid the risk of arbitrary changes to its pricing or availability.

LawStream has no biases toward any particular application. Its export functions use standard formats (e.g., vCard and iCal for contacts and schedules, and text files and RTF for word processor documents). It also communicates through standard links with any web browser.

Date-order is the default sort for items in LawStream bills. You can also sort them first by timekeeper, and then by date.

LawStream has that (as an option), and a lot more if you want it.

Help for a full twelve months for LawStream users is included in the price. Average wait-time for a reply from LawStream support is less than three hours.

This is a clear example of the kind of problem you can get, when you choose an inexpensive application. Remember the saying: "you get what you pay for".

Hmmmm. That's a bit like saying "A new hybrid car would cost me too much, so I found one without an engine, and I've stuffed the 350 cubic inch V-8 engine from a twenty-year-old pickup truck under the hoodl of a hybrid, and hoisted the old truck on top of that hybrid, but now I can't get the car to move at all."

LawStream works natively under Mac OS X (it also works natively under Windows), but we wouldn't expect anyone to use any critical financial software in a "criss-cross" platform environment. You and your clients deserve more than an attempt to use Windows software under OS X.

Enter them as contacts in LawStream, and mark them with the standard "prospects" flag. Enter whatever notes you want, in the personal notes field for those contacts.

LawStream's one-character file-description code is used by many, for that purpose. You can have whatever sources of referral you want (yellow pages, blog, etc.), and then produce reports based on that code. You can also specify individual names for referrals; larger firms will also want to take advantage of the "referring attorney" field, as an aid to income splitting.

LawStream has fields for general status notes, and code-based fields so you can have common descriptions to make it easier to organize and manage files at different stages. New features in LawStream also allow budgeting: at any stage of a file, you can specify an estimate of the expected amount of time to complete a case, and the expected recovery of a claim (great for personal injury or class-action firms).

Just check the difference between LawStream's record of the date you first contacted the client, and the date of file opening.

Use LawStream's file-productivity report, which shows that information, and a lot more.

That's one way to do it. You could also just let LawStream maintain a list of all documents associated with a file (no matter what kind of documents they might be), without having to be burdened by a convoluted naming system.

Links to other applications can be a good thing, but there are limitations to that type of feature.

LawStream approaches document management from the other direction. It maintains its independence from other applications (and it reduces your reliance on other applications), by keeping the control within LawStream: links to other documents are established by identifying the document within LawStream, and managing it from your own LawStream data base. LawStream also enables links to any kind of document at all (not just those that have been created in applications that happen to be able to link to your current law office management application).

With LawStream, it's easy. Just tell LawStream to calculate fees based on specific time/fee values for the file, and then increase your standard rate (or define a new rate and start using it). LawStream will calculate the total suggested fee on your next bill on the basis of the two different rates.

LawStream doesn't come with pre-defined rule-sets, but it does allow your entry of whatever sets of rules you want. Define the sets, as a global entry for your office. Then, when you want to apply a rule to a file, just select the rule-set, and specify a reference date. All reminders (on, ahead of, or after the reference date will be created for the file.

Editing individual time records is easy. You can also augment time on any current time record, by selecting it from a list, and choosing a context-sensitive menu that will let you add details and/or time to the initial entry.

Along with rule-sets (see above), LawStream can also store reminders as "critical" reminders. One of the features associated with critical reminders (trial dates, limitations, closings, etc.) is the ability to choose from a selection of advance reminders, which will also be entered for the file and the individual entering them.

Sorting by last name is one of several ways to organize contact lists in LawStream.

You mean the project that was announced in 2003, with an indication that it would take a couple of months to be complete?

Would you buy a car that runs really well, but has no brakes? LawStream has full trust accounting, integrated with office accounting, file/matter management, and other aspects of your office data.