News from Affinity Consulting Group

June 2010

Feature - Is Your Copier a Security Risk?

Escape the Paper Jungle - Moving Toward Paperless

Affinity University Classes in June

Events in June

Time Matters Workshops in Columbus, June 15

Affinity Roanoke Celebrates 10th Anniversary

Custom Report Designs with Crystal Reports

Microsoft Word 2007 Tip of the Month - View Two Sections of Document Simultaneously

PracticeMaster Tip of the Month

Free Speech Recognition Apps for Smart Phones

Philips Updates SpeechExec Pro Software

This Month's Promotions - Amicus Attorney, Naturally Speaking, pdfDocs

Affinity Names HotDocs Platinum Partner

Discount Registration for PMACC Expires June 15

Green Corner - Manage Power Settings in Windows 7

Current Versions of Law Office Software

Greetings!

Data security isn't something you should think about only occasionally. It must become a way of life. Perhaps too much focus is placed on protecting your confidential firm and client data from cyber-attacks while not enough attention is given to the risk of data theft or compromise in the physical realm.

Yes, you should have comprehensive cyber-protection in the form of anti-virus and anti-malware software along with firewall software and hardware. But also protect your firm against data breaches caused by physical means such as theft or accidental loss of a notebook or netbook PC, smart phone, flash drive, or even the hard drive in your digital photocopier. In previous newsletters, we've looked at securing your mobile and office data. This month we describe the risks associated with digital photocopier hard drives and tell you how to minimize those risks.

We also bring you our regular newsletter features this month. Included are several cost-saving promotions and software tips for MS Word and PracticeMaster. You will also find our complete Affinity University Schedule and other events for June. We conclude with a comprehensive listing of the Current Versions of law office software we support.

Feature Article - Is Your Photocopier a Security Risk?

In many cases, yes. It may surprise most lawyers that today's digital multifunction photocopier is a much more sophisticated device than the simple copy machine of the past. Nearly all modern copiers contain a hard disk drive that can store data for weeks, months, or years. Often this data includes images of sensitive or confidential law firm or client documents. In this month's feature article, we describe the risks and make recommendations for minimizing those risks.

Read this month's feature article.

Visit the Affinity Consulting Group Law Office Technology Blog

The Affinity Consulting Group Law Office Technology Blog has up-to-date information on hardware, software, and tips for using technology in your practice. Click on the icon to your right to visit now.

Escape the Paper Jungle - Save Time and Money By Moving Toward a Paperless Office

Affinity Atlanta partner Steven J. Best wrote a terrific article called Escape the Paper Jungle - Reducing Your Firm's Hard-Copy Immersion for the Best Practices column in the May/June 2010 issue of Legal Management, a publication of the Association of Legal Administrators (ALA).

Steve's article describes 10 practical steps your firm can take to move in the direction of a nearly paperless office. Don't miss this introduction to the benefits of going paperless - productivity gains, cost savings, reduced storage requirements, more effective information sharing, and reduced environmental impact.

Affinity University
Classes in June

Affinity University is the leading source for web based training sessions for the legal community. All of our classes are one hour, making it easy and affordable for lawyers, paralegals and support staff to take time from their day to improve their efficiency and productivity. No software is required and sign up is simple. View all of this month's classes here.

6/4 - PCLaw Productivity Tracking and Reporting
6/4 - PCLaw - Firm Financial Reporting
6/8 - PracticeMaster Word Document Assembly
6/10 - PracticeMaster Basics
6/10 - PracticeMaster Productivity
6/15 - Microsoft Word - Introduction to Styles
6/18 - Adobe Acrobat for the Law Office
6/21 - Amicus Attorney Small Firm Edition Basics
6/21 - Amicus Attorney Small Firm Edition Productivity
6/21 - Microsoft Word for the Law Office
6/22 - Time Matters Basics
6/22 - Time Matters Productivity
6/25 - Tabs3 Billing
6/25 - Tabs3 Reporting

Events in June

6/3-4: Affinity Tampa's Debbie Foster speaks on "Practice and Technology Management" in Missoula, Montana, for the State Bar of Montana as part of the ABA Tech Road Show.

6/3: Barron Henley and Paul Unger from Affinity Columbus help members of the Ohio State Bar Association reduce the mountains of paper in their law offices. Their "Paper Reduction, Document Management & PDF Workshop For Lawyers" seminar takes place in Cleveland.

6/9: Barron Henley of Affinity Columbus presents "Tips & Technology to Avoid Malpractice Disaster & Increase Profitability" for West Virginia Continuing Legal Education in Charleston, WV.

6/9-10: Debbie Foster of Affinity Tampa speaks about law office technology at the Arkansas Bar Association annual meeting in Hot Springs.

6/10: Cindy Emmerson of Affinity Naples will present a FREE webinar for LexisNexis on "Managing Trust Accounting for Compliance." Register here.

6/10: The June 3 "Paper Reduction, Document Management & PDF Workshop For Lawyers" seminar is repeated live in Columbus.

6/15: Time Matters workshops presented by Affinity Columbus at at the Ohio State Bar Association Headquarters in Columbus.

6/17: The June 3 "Paper Reduction, Document Management & PDF Workshop For Lawyers" seminar is repeated live in Akron.

6/24: The June 3 "Paper Reduction, Document Management & PDF Workshop For Lawyers" seminar is repeated live in Toledo.

6/25: Paul Unger from Affinity Columbus speaks on "Litigation & Trial Presentations For Every Lawyer" in Shepherdstown, WV.

6/29: Barron Henley from Affinity Columbus speaks on several topics at the NACUA 2010 Annual Conference in Washington, D.C., including:

Legal Technology Tips, Tricks, Gadgets, and Other Cool Stuff - 2010 Edition!
The Paperless College or University Law Office: 2010 Technology at Your Service
Electronic File Management: Streamline Your Office With Better Document Management
PDFing for College and University Lawyers Using Adobe Acrobat

Time Matters Workshops in Columbus June 15

Are you a Time Matters user looking to learn more about this powerful software, or, do you have a new staff member who needs to get up to speed on the system they use every day? Join us Tuesday, June 15, at the Ohio State Bar Association Headquarters for a Time Matters Workshop.

Our morning session (8:30AM - noon) will focus on Time Matters Basics. We'll cover key functionality that will allow you to maximize this software including: Calendaring; Contact Management; Matters Navigation; Basic Document Assembly. The afternoon session (1 - 4:30PM) will cover Time Matters Advanced features including: Accounting Integration, QuickTabs, Scheduling, Templates, Indexing, and Advanced Document Assembly.

More details and registration information.

Affinity Roanoke Celebrates 10th Anniversary

June marks the 10th anniversary of Affinity Consulting Group's Roanoke Office! Since opening their doors in 2000, they have provided a full range of technology services with a special focus on the legal community.
We at Affinity Consulting Group celebrate their accomplishment and look forward to the continuation of their dedicated service in the coming years.

Affinity Reporting Design Services - June Promotion

Do you need customized reports from your Amicus Attorney Premium, Time Matters or PCLaw Enterprise databases (SQL)? Let Affinity Consulting Group provide customized reports that are meaningful for your practice. Our customized reports work with Crystal Reports, the standard in Windows program database reporting. In fact, Amicus Attorney Premium Edition includes special Crystal Reports drivers which will allow you to run our customized reports right from the Amicus Attorney PE database. Reporting capabilities include - files, contacts, time entries, expense entries (PCLaw), communications entries, comparison tools between databases, reporting Amicus people by group that will push to a spreadsheet, graphic comparison tools and more.

For more information and a quote on specialized, customized reports for your firm, contact Affinity partner, Steve Best (sbest@affinityconsulting.com) or call our Atlanta office at 770-998-3800. And, if you contract for one or more specialized reports during the month of June 2010 and we'll take 10% off of our normal hourly rate for report design services.ead the Tabs3 Tip of the Month.

MS Word Tip of the Month - View Two Sections of a Document Simultaneously

There are often circumstances when you're drafting one part of a document but need to see another part of the document as the same time for reference purposes. For example, while drafting, I might need to see the names of all of the parties in the first paragraph or a definitions section at the end. This month we show you how to do this.

Read the MS Word Tip of the Month.

PracticeMaster Tip of the Month - Customize Its Everyday Features
Most PracticeMaster users are familiar with the high level of customization the software

offers. However, many don't realize just how easy it is to facilitate powerful new uses of PracticeMaster by focusing on the simple customization of its everyday features. This month's tip will show you how to customize several of PracticeMaster's most-used features.

Read the PracticeMaster Tip of the Month.

Nuance Offers Free Smart Phone Speech Recognition Apps

Nuance, the makers of Dragon NaturallySpeaking, recently released Dragon for E-mail. This application makes emailing on the road a lot easier; now you can simply open the e-mail client and start talking. It is up to five times faster than typing on the keyboard, and best of all, it's FREE! Dragon for E-mail is available on the BlackBerry Tour, BlackBerry Storm (as well as the Storm2) on the Verizon network; as well as the BlackBerry Bold and Curve series on both the AT&T & T-Mobile networks.

Nuance has also released Dragon Dictation for use on the iPhone and iPad. Dragon dictation allows you to use your voice to control the iPhone and the iPad several different ways. Copying and pasting, composing emails, and updating your status on Facebook are just a few of the things you can do with Dragon Dictation on your iPhone or iPad!

Philips Releases Version 6 of SpeechExec Pro

Philips has released a new version of their popular digital dictation management software, SpeechExec Pro. Version 6 of SpeechExec^SR Pro now seamlessly connects to Dragon NaturallySpeaking Professional Series Editions from Nuance. Users are now able to control the entire speech processing workflow within a single application. SpeechExec^SR Pro allows for a wide variety of workflows and input devices to suit each users' needs. User may select to integrate with Dragon now, or down the road and each audio file can be processed as you deem appropriate.

Read the details here.

This Month's Promotions