LawStream Pro
Sales Questions and Answers

Your question:

All I really need, is a basic system that does everything I want it to do, exactly the way I want it to do it. Can LawStream Pro do that for me, at a low price?

Or, to put that question another way...

... essentially all that I need is for software to track clients and contacts; matters (or projects or cases - pick your own terminology) and work done for each client; time and expenses / disbursements booked for each client / matter; invoicing, payments and trust accounting; and for all the financial details to be exportable to my accountants and auditor (who have not seen the light yet, and are stuck in a Windows-centric universe - so using Quickbooks or similar!!). I also need the client and contact database to be searchable so that I can conduct conflict searches, and the whole must operate on a Mac network, but this is, essentially, it.

Our answer:

That type of question is one of the most common ones we see. It's reminiscent of the sign in the garage, which says:

CHEAP GOOD FAST

A lot of folks want their cars repaired cheap. If they want the job done cheap, it ain't gonna be good and fast; maybe it'll be good, but it sure won't be fast. Other folks want their cars fixed good; them folks might get the job done good and cheap, or they might get the job done good and fast, but they ain't gonna get it done good and cheap and fast. And then, there's folks who want the job done fast: they might get the job done fast, but it ain't gonna be cheap and good at the same time; cheap maybe, but not good, or good maybe, but not fast.

With software development (and with software marketing that can keep a software company in the black), an application can be cheap, but cheap software usually means it won't last, or it won't work, or it won't do what you want it to do the way you want it to do it. Custom software, on the other hand, can often give you exactly what you want, and it can do things exactly the way you want them done: it's a great solution for firms that are prepared to spend between $20,000 and $100,000 to get the work done, and who don't mind waiting for six months to two years to get the job done.

We developed LawStream Pro, to provide a solution that can satisfy most of our users most of the time. It started as a basic timekeeping and billing system, and originally fit on a 400K floppy disk. Before long, users wanted more, so we added more ... and more ... and more...

After several years of development and enhancements, LawStream Pro was able to provide solutions for all the major areas mentioned in the "essentially all" paragraph quoted above. Those functions appear to be too much for some prospective users, and too little for other prospective users; others, though (shall we call them the "Goldilocks users"?), found the feature set just right. Even those users, though, have continued to ask for more, and we have continued to provide extensions to LawStream Pro, that go beyond the core functions.

Recent enhancements have included document management, trial preparation, word processing, email, web site tracking, multiple contacts for files, and much more. We are planning to add improved (two-way) synchronization, and many other features. Each time we consider adding a new feature, though, we have to ask ourselves:

• is this a feature that will make the interface look complicated, so users might not want to spend the small amount of time necessary to understand it?
• is this a feature that has been requested by someone who might never buy the software?
• are there extensions to our core functions, which have been requested by our users, and which should take priority over extras that aren't essential to the management of time and money?

Specifically, with reference to the list of functions described above: LawStream Pro can track:

• clients
• contacts
• matters
• work done for each client (for each matter)
• disbursements booked for each client (for each matter)
• invoices
• payments
• trust transactions

LawStream can also export accounting data (and produce reports for auditors or bookkeepers working for the firm), and it can to conflict checks, and it works on a Mac network. Some people like its interface, and some people don't like its interface; but consider this: if you wanted to hire an attorney who could get you the results you want, would you criticize the furnishings in that attorney's office?

Need more information?

Contact PowerSoft Innovations Corporation,
for LawStream Pro sales/support information.