Unit 4: Electronic Documents and the Paperless Office

Office Management Software• To have a law office run properly certain basic

activities have to be set up and monitored• These include timekeeping, calendaring,

accounting/billing, and payroll, contact lists• The bigger the staff and great the number of

clients, the more sophisticated the management software needs to be.

SmartDraw and Abacus Law• In Unit 8, we will spend time looking in depth at

two specialty office management software programs: SmartDraw and Abacus Law.

• These programs help organize things like client contacts, events, files and projects, and documents and help to make everything look professional and organized.

Calendaring ProgramsThe law office calendar programs generally contain information

about1. Appointments with clients and others2. Litigation deadlines (like discovery deadlines)3. Filing deadlines4. Court appearances5. Statutes of limitations6. Reminders

Calendar Database Programs• These organize the information stored in the

database in one of three ways:1. By office every day, every week, every month,

or every year2. By individual every day, every week, every

month, or every year3. By important dates (statutes of limitation etc)

Alarm Signals

• In most calendaring database/software programs there is an alarm or sound/signal or popup to let staff know of a specific event, like a filing deadline.

• In Abacus, a time setting is designated.

Timekeeping• This is how all of the time that lawyers and

paralegals spend on cases gets recorded.• Some law firms keep track of only billable hours• Others have lawyers and paralegals record all of

the time that they spend working each day.• Sometimes the time of legal secretaries and file

clerks is kept as well.

Timekeeping Software

• Automatically stores and processes time spent and converts to bills that are sent to clients

• This is the way that law firms get paid for the work they perform.

• This type of software also helps to keep records of just how much work everyone has done each year.

Accounting Software• These accounting programs record assets, liabilities, equity,

revenues, and expenses.• Charts of accounts, fees received, etc ., are examples of

some of the information that would be recorded in this software.

• One item of particular concern for law offices is keeping track of escrowed funds for clients. This information has to be kept properly with accurate records to protect the client’s money.

Computerized Checkbooks

• Most law firms pay their bills with a company checkbook.

• The computer program Quickbooks uses a check register to maintain one or multiple bank accounts in one program.

• Ledgers and journals can also be maintained in this type of program.

Examples

• Your text, in Chapter 10, has a lot of great visual examples of the different types of screens and fields that you will see when you are using some of these electronic document software programs.

• You will get some practice with Abacus and Smartdraw in Unit 8, but it will draw on the information that you are learning this week, so if you have questions, please ask!

Ethical Consideration

• Particularly when it comes to inputting time (because this will be converted to a bill for the client), there are ethical implications to consider.

• For example, a lawyer can bill a client for how much time it would have taken to draft something from scratch, even though he did not have to “reinvent the wheel” (value billing)

• In addition, the lawyer can bill two different clients for the same work (double billing)

Ethical Considerations – Value Billing

• What do you think the ethical considerations are for “value billing?”

Ethical Issues – Electronic Document Delivery

• What types of ethical considerations are there when client documents are transferred electronically as opposed to via regular mail?

Ethical Issues – Removing Metadata

• What is metadata? What ethical considerations do you think are involved with removing metadata in a law firm? Are there any ethical considerations for not removing it?

Ethical Considerations – Double Billing

• What do you think the ethical considerations are for “double billing?”

This Week’s Assignment

• Ethical Violations For this assignment, assume you are working as a paralegal and consider the following scenario:

• In January 2008, a prospective new client, Paul Jones, meets with your supervising attorney. Mr. Jones is considering seeking a divorce from his wife, Melanie. Mr. Jones told your supervising attorney that he would think about what they discussed and get back with him.

This Week’s Assignment

In May 2008, Melanie Jones makes an appointment to meet with the attorney about a possible divorce from her husband, Paul. No conflict of interest check is run, so your supervising attorney meets with Melanie. Neither you nor the attorney recalls that Mr. Jones was in the office several months earlier.

Later that week, you attend a PTA meeting at your son’s school. You run into Paul there and realize that your attorney met with both Paul and Melanie, potentially opposing parties in a divorce. You mention to Paul that Melanie came in to your office to talk about the divorce.

This Week’s Assignment

• First, in a 1-2 page analysis, explain the ethical issues raised by these facts, as well as the ethical violations and the consequences of the violations. Second, identify what the firm should have done to avoid these ethical violations.

• In your analysis, consider how Microsoft Outlook or similar technology can be used as standard protocl to avoid future violations.

Practice Questions

Practice Question # 1

• Explain what office management software does and how it works.

Answer to Practice Question # 1

• Office management software helps an office, such as a law firm, perform administrative activities that are needed to keep the business running. These include timekeeping, calendar maintenance, and accounting.

Practice Question # 2

• What are the functions of calendaring software in a law office?

Answer to Practice Question # 2

• Schedule appointments with clients and others, meet litigation deadlines, meet filing deadlines, schedule court appearances, note the statute of limitations dates, and schedule reminders.

Practice Question # 3

• What is the importance of accounting records in a law firm?

Answer to Practice Question # 3

• Accounting records are vital to a law firm because this is the way time will be inputted and converted to a bill for the client to pay. This keeps the law firm operational and ensures that staff gets paid. In addition, it ensures that client escrowed funds are kept separate and accurate records of their money are kept.

Practice Question # 4

• What are the obligations of a paralegal that, while inputting time records, sees that the same law firm employee is billing two clients for the same time (double billing)? Are there ethical issues for the paralegal or the law firm?