Software Solutions for Your Small Business or Law Practice

December is Small Business Resource Month at the Harris County Law Library. All month long, we're featuring resources, tailored for solo and small firm attorneys, who own, operate, manage, or advise small businesses. 

Finding the best law practice management software to meet the needs of your small firm can be a challenge. There are many different options to choose from at a range of prices and levels of sophistication. The Legal Tech Institute at Harris County Law Library provides links to several law practice management software packages, along with a link to the American Bar Association Legal Technology Buyer's Guide. While we do not endorse any particular product or service, we do list a limited number of affordable options.

Features offered by the various programs are similar. In general, they offer functionality for client communications, billing and accounting, task management, document automation, time tracking, and calendaring. Comparing how the programs differ is key. The following are good questions to ask when deciding which law practice management software is best for you?

• Is it a cloud based system? How much data storage is provided? Is access secure for you and your clients? 
• Is there a mobile version for access on the go? How good is it? Does it provide access to all features or is it limited?
• Does it integrate with any third-party programs such as Box, Dropbox, Fastcase, Google Drive, Office 365 or Quickbooks?

After exploring your options, contact the chosen providers to request a free trial and/or a guided demonstration. Then, let the software work for you. Using a law practice management program to automate routine tasks will boost your business, giving you more time to focus on serving your clients' needs. 

Legal Tech Institute Event - Legal Practice Technology

Please join us on Monday, December 18, 2pm-3pm, for Legal Practice Technology. Emily W. Lawson, Law Reference/Research Librarian at the O'Quinn Law Library, University of Houston Law Center, will highlight technology of interest to lawyers, such as legal apps and software.  Information about how to research legal technology options and stay up to date on technology trends will also be provided. For further details, and to register for this event, please visit the Legal Technology Insitute Events page. 

MyHein, A Personal Research Tool for HeinOnline

HeinOnline is one of several legal research databases available at the Harris County Law Library. Its digitized collection of law journals is the very best source for comprehensive, up-to-date, full-text legal scholarship. It's an excellent resource for a number of other publications as well, including United States Congressional documents, federal legislative histories, state session laws, legal classics, treaties and agreements, restatements, and so much more. If you haven't used HeinOnline, we'll be happy to help you navigate the available content and to take advantage of all the database's best features, including a relatively new tool called MyHein.

MyHein is a personal research tool that allows you to bookmark articles, save search queries, and set up eTOC alerts. The MyHein User Guide is a four-page document that details (1) how to set up your MyHein account and (2) start using it to create personal libraries of saved content for later access and retrieval. Content includes any of the articles, documents, books, reports, or journals available in HeinOnline. That means the entire database is yours to bookmark, track, and save. Additionally, MyHein is portable, meaning that you can log on to your personal account at any subscribing institution and still have access to your bookmarked items and saved search queries wherever you are. If you've dowloaded the HeinOnline app for your iPhone or Android device, you can even access the database -- and your MyHein account -- remotely. 

To gain remote access to HeinOnline via the HeinOnline app, first download the program to your device. Click here for Android or here for the iPhone. Then, visit the Harris County Law Library to authenticate your device through our HeinOnline subscription. Once IP authenticated, your device will be able to access the database from any location for 30 days. At the end of that period, visit us again to re-authenticate and never be without access to MyHein and HeinOnline!

Maker, Breaker, Tinker, Try: The Right to Repair

Today is not just Tech Tuesday at the Harris County Law Library; it's Giving Tuesday all over the world. This global movement of sharing and collaboration is designed to kick off the charitable giving season.  It's also the perfect chaser to a full week of enthusiastic discount holiday shopping, often for the latest laptops, TVs, and smartphones. 

Little do we realize that, in buying the latest and greatest tech gizmos, we’re not only acquiring new gadgets -- in many cases, we're also subjecting ourselves to the proprietary grip of the designers and manufacturers who make the products so irresistible.  According to consumer advocates, we're being manipulated, while manufacturers would argue otherwise. This disagreement, at the heart of the “right to repair” movement, has been the motivation behind proposed legislation in a dozen states.

Lawmakers of all political stripes and consumer advocates who are driving much of the legislation claim that all individuals have a right to make, break, hack, fix, or mend their personal property -– everything from farm equipment and automobiles to smartphones and home appliances. The issue is this: even when you own the item in need of repair, you may not own the internal software that allows the equipment to function. Moreover, technical information about the design of the item may be withheld, service manuals might not exist, and replacement parts could be unobtainable. Proprietary repair tools may be equally hard to come by, further complicating the ability for do-it-yourselfers to fix and maintain their own property.

To learn more about the “right to repair” movement, including the manufacturers’ equally legitimate claims to maintaining proprietary integrity and ensuring security and safety, please visit the links below. Learn why environmentalists, farmers, copyright reformers, hobbyists, staunch private property rights advocates, and others all feel passionate about the right to repair. Also, explore the future of ownership in an age when manufacturers increasingly limit our ability to manipulate or adapt the things we buy.

• "A 'right to repair' movement tools up" in The Economist, September 20, 2017
• "You bought that gadget and dammit, you should be able to fix it" in Wired, March 22, 2017
• "No, you shouldn't be able to fix your own phone, 'right to repair' is a dumb idea" at Mashable, February 16, 2017
• "The Fight for the 'Right to Repair'" at Smithsonian.com, July 13, 2016
• The End of Ownership: Personal Property in the Digital Economy by Aaron Perzanowski and Jason Schultz

 

Upcoming Courses from the Legal Tech Institute at Harris County Law Library

The Legal Tech Institute at Harris County Law Library has a complete lineup of events planned for the next few months. Please visit our LTI Course Catalog to view the upcoming programs and to register for each course. The following are currently scheduled.

• Vendor Visit - Lexis Advance: November 30, 2017
• Legal Practice Technology: December 18, 2017 (Please note the new date.)
• Vendor Visit - Westlaw: January 18, 2018

Through its course offerings, the Legal Tech Institute introduces you to trends in law practice technology. LTI helps you become more proficient legal researchers using the tools freely available in the Law Library, including Westlaw and Lexis Advance. Whenever possible, the LTI provides Texas CLE credit for the courses offered, and we bring this all to you free of charge.  In addition, we also record the courses and make them available via our website within a few weeks of the live presentation. Those who view the videos can claim CLE credit for up to one year after the courses are presented.

If you have an idea for a legal tech topic that you would like to see presented, please let us know. We welcome suggestions and feedback, and we appreciate your involvement in making the Legal Tech Institute the best that it can be.