March 2012
Feature - HotDocs Document Services
AU Classes in March
March Events
ABA TECHSHOW 2012
Dawnese Hawkins Brings QuickBooks Expertise
Word Tip of the Month - Multi-Level Paragraph Numbering
Affinity Women at Disney Half-Marathon
Review of the Month - Worldox GX
Affinity Receives PracticeMaster Honor
ALA Conference in Hawaii
Managed IT Services
Green Corner - Energy Saving Printers
Software Patches and Updates
Feature Article:  Affinity Offers HotDocs Document Services
- John Federico, Esq., Senior Consultant     HotDocs
 
Affinity now offers HotDocs Document Services (HDS).  
HDS is a hosted cloud (web-based) document assembly system based on HotDocs Server.

With HDS, your templates are hosted in your own private and secure portal at HDS. You can log in through your web browser from any location, fill out the interview, assemble your document, and download it from the cloud to your location. Upload your templates once and all of your users will have access to the same templates. Both RTF (Word/WordPerfect) and PDF templates work with HDS.

Read the Feature Article on HotDocs Document Services.  
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Affinity University - Classes in March   Affinity University Logo

 

Affinity University is the go-to resource for online training on the legal software you and your team use every day. Focusing specifically on real world tips and tricks, our certified experts provide training on popular Practice Management, Time/Billing/Accounting, Document Management, Productivity Software and even Microsoft Office.    

 

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In addition to the live AU classes listed above, nearly all AU classes are available "on-demand" for viewing as your schedule permits.  On-demand topics include Adobe Acrobat for the Law Office, Microsoft Word Basics, Microsoft Word Advanced,
Outlook Email Management and many more. Plus, if you "attend" a live AU webinar, you can watch it again within 30 days of the original live date at no additional charge.

      

Special Notice to Local Bar Leaders and Members: Contact us to learn more about our local bar program.  Send an email to [email protected].

EventsEvents in March               

 

March 9-10 - Affinity Partners Britt Lorish and Barron K. Henley, Esq., will speak at the two-day Virginia Association of Legal Administrators (ALA) retreat in Williamsburg.

March 14 - 15
- Affinity Partner Barron K. Henley, Esq., will speak on Strategic Solutions for Law Office Technology for the Law Society of Saskatchewan in Regina (3/14) and Saskatoon (3/15) .

March 21-23 - Several Affinity Partners and Consultants will attend the 2012 Amicus Attorney Certified Consultant Conference in Toronto, Ontario.

March 27 - Affinity Partner Barron K. Henley, Esq., will speak about law office technology, including Technology to Revolutionize Your Practice at the Minnesota State Bar Association's 33rd Annual Family Law Institute in St. Paul. 

March 29-31 - Several Affinity Partners, including TECHSHOW Vice Chair Britt Lorish, will speak at the ABA TECHSHOW 2012 in Chicago (see details below).
ABA TECHSHOW 2012 is March 29-31 in Chicago
- Affinity Partner Britt Lorish is Vice-Chair of Planning BoardABA TECHSHOW 2O12  

ABA TECHSHOW is the premier law office technology event of the year.  Held in Chicago each spring, ABA TECHSHOW helps legal professionals learn what technology is available to meet their firm's needs.  Download the brochure to see the complete schedule

Several Affinity Partners will be presenting at TECHSHOW 2012:

Britt Lorish, TECHSHOW 2012 Vice-Chair, speaks on:
  • The Business Case for Going Paperless (Convincing Your Firm It's Time)
  • 60 Tips in 60 Minutes
  • Awesome Android Apps for Attorneys

Paul J. Unger, Esq., speaks on:

  • Courtroom Technology:  Evidence  and Persuasion
  • iWin:  iPads for Litigators

Debbie Foster speaks on:

  • Is It All or Nothing?  Popular Cloud Services and SaaS Vs. Hosted Infrastructure
  • 30+ Blackberry Apps for Lawyers

Barron K. Henley, Esq., speaks on:

  • Getting the Most from Document Collaboration Tools You Already Own
  • Managing the Information Tsunami    
Dawnese Hawkins Dawnese Hawkins Brings QuickBooks Expertise to Affinity

Dawnese Hawkins joined Affinity Consulting Group in December as a Consultant in the Tampa Office.  Dawnese is a Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor.  Certified ProAdvisors are specially trained QuickBooks experts who have completed extensive coursework and passed a rigorous Certification exam. 

Prior to becoming a Consultant, Dawnese worked as a Controller for a mid-size default services law firm, manufacturing company and rental store.  Dawnese has 13 years of accounting and technical experience with various software.  Her experience in accounting and process management give her the tools needed to support the needs of our clients including those who use QuickBooks for time/billing/accounting.
Microsoft Word Tip of the Month - Multi-Level Paragraph Numbering MS Word
- Barron K. Henley, Esq., Partner

 

We occasionally still see Word documents with manually inserted paragraph numbers.  That shouldn't happen.  Using Word's automatic paragraph numbering is easy.  But there is one trick essential to numbering paragraphs in Word.  Always use multi-level numbering.  Read this month's Word tip to find out why and how. 

 

Read the March 2012 Word Tip of the Month.

 

For help with other Word questions specific to law offices, attend our Affinity University webinars for Word users of all levels.  The live Word Basics class is March 8 and the live Word Advanced class is March 20.
Affinity Women at Disney Half MarathonAffinity Women at Disney Princess Half Marathon 
  

The last weekend in February, eleven women from Affinity offices around the country came together to share in the experience of participating in the 2012 Disney Princess Half Marathon.

 

The Affinity women came together to get healthier, enjoy some time as a group, and achieve some personal goals. As Partner Debbie Foster said, "The things you learn about yourself when you have to dig really, really deep are the things that make an impact for days, weeks and years to come." Trekking 13.1 miles - and starting at 5:30 AM! - there was definitely some digging going on!  

 

The weekend was a resounding success - celebrated with toasts at the finish line. The more time our Affinity team members spend with each other, the better everyone knows each other and the better everyone can work together. We believe that translates to better service to each and every Affinity client. Now, medals in hand, everyone is back at work to serve our clients while sharing memories of a great time together. 

Review of the Month - Worldox GX3 Initial Impressions
- Greg Bray ,VP, Senior Consultant
Worldox GX3

 

Document Management is the key to better firm organization.  Document Management is the process in which you and your staff store and retrieve any content that can be stored as a computer file.  For many years, World Software's Worldox product line has been a "best of breed" solution for law firm document management.

 

World Software has now released the Professional Edition of their new GX3 lineup of products. The Professional Edition carries on the tradition of the Worldox document management system that is used in over 5000 law firms and companies around the globe.  Our document management guru, Greg Bray, relates his initial impressions of GX3 in this month's Review of the Month.  Join Greg on March 14, 2012 at 12:00 noon Eastern time for a FREE 30 minute demonstration of Worldox GX3.  Click HERE to register.

 

Read the Review of the Month - Worldox GX3.
PracticeMaster Affinity Honored with PracticeMaster Award

Software Technology, Inc, maker of PracticeMaster and Tabs3, recently honored its top consultants.  Affinity's Roanoke office, led by Affinity Partner Britt Lorish, won as top PracticeMaster Reseller for 2011.  The Roanoke office and our Affinity Miami office led by Partner Sandy Adams tied for second place in the race for top STI Platinum Reseller covering both Tabs3 and PracticeMaster.

Congratulations to Britt, Sandy, and their teams for a very successful 2011 using their in-depth knowledge of Tabs3/PracticeMaster products to help law firms with their practice management and time/billing/accounting needs.
ALA Conf Affinity Heads to Hawaii in April for ALA Annual Conference

At Affinity Consulting Group, we are extremely proud of our VIP partnership with the Association of Legal Administrators (ALA). 
Having attended many ALA regional conferences in the last year, we are now gearing up for the ALA Annual Conference in Hawaii from April 22 to 26.  Not only will we be in the exhibit hall each day to answer all of your law office technology questions, we are presenting a business solutions session on April 25 called Know What You Own - The Technology You Need and How to Make the Most of What You HaveWe look forward to seeing all of our ALA friends there.
Managed IT Services Affinity Offers Managed IT Services

In addition to our expert consulting services in the area of law office software, Affinity Consulting Group offers a full range of Managed IT services.  Small and medium-sized law firms can rarely afford a full-time IT staff.  Let Affinity serve as your IT staff - we can manage your technology resources for you and correct any problems, often before you know anything is wrong.

 

For information on the many IT services we can offer your firm, contact your Affinity Consulting Group office. 

New Printers Save Energy with Instant-On Technology
   Instant-On Fuser
If you have an ancient yellowing HP LaserJet or other laser printer in your firm, it may be time for an upgrade.  Not only will a new laser printer improve your office productivity by printing faster, it will probably be more energy efficient. 

Several printer manufacturers such as HP and Samsung are now using an instant-on fuser technology that lets the printer spend most of its time in a low power energy saving mode.  When a print job is sent to the printer, it can power-up quickly and begin printing the first page within a few seconds instead of the 20 to 30 second warm-up wait common with older printers. When replacing your laser printer, look for a model with an instant-on fuser.  You will increase productivity and save money.
Software Updates News About Software Patches and Updates
  • Philips released a new firmware version for the Digital Pocket Memo 9600, 9500, 9380, and 9370 series dictation recorders that adds features and resolves issues.    
  • Gavel & Gown released a patch for Amicus Attorney 2012 resolving several issues including problems with the QuickBooks link and a licensing message error.
  • Time Matters 11.1 has been released.  

Make sure you stay current by checking out the Current Versions list on our web site.