Time Matters training, Case Management support services USER GROUP

The McNeill Group, Ltd.
2570 Windy Oak Court
Crofton, MD 21114
Phone:
301-502-7209
Fax: 202-517-9153
info@mcneillgroup.org

Time Matters Users Group

Join the MD-DC-VA Time Matters Users Group here

Dear TM User Group Members:

It looks like there is a groundswell of support for another MD-DC-VA Time Matters Users Group meeting. The last one was held in April, 2002 when I knew that Tom Rowe, who was then the TM Sales VP, was going to be in town because he and I were speaking at the National Association of Elder Law Attorneys annual meeting. Although it covered several topics, the main one was how to reduce the paper chase by scanning incoming mail and other documents into TM, i.e., the "paperless office" concept.

When Mike Oliver and I started this users group last fall, we did so in conjunction with holding TM training under the auspices of MICPEL (the Maryland Institute for Continuing Professional Education for Lawyers) in December. Mike is the president of MICPEL, as well as a TM user. We did not have any specific plans for meetings or listserv traffic, but planned to let the users' desires dictate the type and level of activity.

The unofficial TM listserv takes care of the need for a Q&A listserv very well, and there is no need to encourage a separate list here. If you are interested in participating on that listserv, you can sign on using the above URL.

Face-to-face meetings are a different kettle of fish, however. You don't need them to ask a question, a la the listserv, but they are better for hour-long meetings and demonstrations. Meetings take time, however, and as Abe Lincoln supposedly said, that's a lawyer's stock in trade, and it's limited.

With that in mind, I'd like to pose several questions:

1. Are you interested in attending a user group meeting (assuming good date, time, location, and topic)?

If you would like to attend the meeting, but can't due to geographical or time limits, it is possible we can broadcast this over the Internet using new (video conferencing) and old (conference calling) technologies. This runs about $50 per hour per user, so if you want to pony up $50-$100 to participate over the Internet and save the hour or two or three you'd spend commuting to and from the meeting, thereby billing another $250-$750, let me know.

2. What topic(s) are you interested in? Since we've done the paperless office, I think we should do one or two others. Here are some suggestions:

A. How to handle email using Time Matters so that you can relate it to a contact or matter, and automatically create Contact, Event, and ToDo records. I did a program on this subject at Legal Works in San Francisco in April and can bring those materials. Tom Rowe and I wrote white papers on this subject, and I can bring those. Mine is here. His is on the TM Service Center, for which you need a password to access (you can sign up using your TM registration number) so it's not directly accessible with a URL.

B. The TM Delegation System, which uses ToDo's to track not only your own deadlines, but also tasks you've assigned to others or those that others have assigned to you. It also lets you track the status of matters without having to view one matter at a time.

C. Using TM to do your research using the LexisNexis research portal. This is an extremely powerful tool, and one few firms are using. Although the basics can be used with any web browser, the most powerful tools require a LexisNexis account.

D. Document assembly. This has a huge return on investment for most firms, but also requires some up-front time and expertise, either learning on the job or retaining a document assembly expert to code complex or many documents. For basic document assembly, however, the TM Formattable Clipboard can be used by anyone with basic word processor skills and a few hours of training.

E. The new Toshiba server appliance running Linux. Smaller than a VCR, this unit gives a small firm (10 or fewer concurrent users) access to their TM data over the Internet from anywhere with just a web browser. In other words, you can be at home and see all your TM contact, matters, calendar, todo's; add, change, and delete records; download documents, make changes, and upload them back to the office; and do almost everything you can do at the office. Previously, this required special hardware and software, and was not cost-efficient for most firms. It also doubles as a file and print server and includes a firewall. More information is available here. I can have a unit running our training network of laptop computers to play with.

Those are just some suggestions that I see firms wanting to utilize. I would like to hear what others are interested in, and therefore ask that if you are interesting in attending you post a response with your thoughts and any other ideas you may have.

Time: We could hold the meeting in the neigborhood of 10am-12noon to give everyone a chance to travel as we did last time, or at 6pm as bar meetings are scheduled so as to not interfere with the work day. Thoughts?

Date: Friday mornings or Thursday evenings seem to be popular for meetings. Any other thoughts? Maybe a Tuesday or Wedesday so as to not interfere with all the other meetings that are scheduled at these popular times?

Location: This should depend on where everyone is coming from, so please indicate what area you're in. Although the MSBA HQ should be available, it is not the most convenient location for many. If we don't hold it there, however, we have to find another location that can host a meeting of x people, which I think means either a law firm with a large conference room (last time we had 30-35 people attend) or a restaurant with a meeting room, which then gets into financial issues that I'd rather not have to handle. So, I'm open for suggestions here. It's also possible to have more than one meeting if the group is split widely. There was interest from some users in VA a few weeks ago on the list. Please indicate whether MSBA HQ at 10am is okay, or whether you have another suggestion.

I will try to synthesize the responses and do another post in the next few days for a final tally, so vote early and vote often!

On a related note, I get many requests from people who want to attend TM or other legal-specific software training classes locally. Normally, we do training at a firm rather than have open classes. If you are interested in attending basic, intermediate, or administrator TM (or other software) training, indicate that in your email, or send a private email to me, and I will see what I can set up.

We did this training last year for MICPEL, but it does not look like MICPEL will sponsor the training because to do hands-on training limits the number of people in the class and does not fit their business model. We use a portable training lab consisting of laptop computers and LCD projector. We may be able to put something together with the MSBA if there is sufficient interest.

In order to respond, please cut and paste the "ballot" below into an email and send it to mtug@micpel.com if you want your comments to be public or to Bob@TMtraining.net if you don't want your comments to be public.

1. Topics:

2. Time of day:

3. Day of week:

4. Location:

5. Training (optional):