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Visit Our 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 above to visit now.
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Feature Article: Uniting Mobility and Productivity
Mobility takes multi-tasking to the next level. We can communicate with and serve our clients from our mobile device from just about anywhere in the world. We can send emails, make calls, schedule appointments, create contacts, review documents, and in many situations, all of the information can be "synced" back to our office. But there is much more. There are hundreds of apps specifically designed for the legal environment; research, jury selection, document prep, case presentation, note taking, etc.
While mobility very much helps to improve client service, without capturing the time you spent providing these services you are actually being unproductive. PRODUCTIVITY ≠ DOING PRODUCTIVITY = DOING + RECORDING
Without productivity, you can wave goodbye to profitability. In most law firms, productivity is measured by the billable time that can be attributed to a particular firm member. It isn't always fair, and it isn't always right - but it is how it's done.
If, while sitting in the bleachers waiting for your daughter's volleyball match to begin, you returned 6 client emails, reviewed a settlement agreement, and scheduled a deposition, you might feel as if you were productive. But if you didn't capture your time for those services, nobody else will ever know how productive you were...and you won't get paid for it, either.
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Affinity University - Classes in August 
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. If you "attend" a live AU webinar, you can watch it again within 30 days of the original live date at no additional charge.
* New AU Class.
** Firms that have recently upgraded to the new versions of these programs will especially benefit from these webinarsIn addition to our live AU classes listed above, classes are available " on-demand" for viewing individually as your schedule permits. Many of our most popular AU classes are available for on-demand viewing as part of discounted bundles. We offer discounted bundles for Microsoft Office, Microsoft Word, Microsoft Outlook, Amicus Attorney Premium Edition, Amicus Attorney Small Firm, PracticeMaster, and Tabs3. Special Notice to Local Bar Leaders and Members: Contact us to learn more about our local bar program. Send an email to training@affinityconsulting.com. |
 Upcoming Speaking Engagements
August 7 - Minnesota 2012 Strategic Solutions For Solo & Small Firms, Duluth, MN - Barron K. Henley, Esq. speaks about scanners, offers tech tips, and how to use MS Word effectively. August 14 - Using Excel in a Law Practice, Columbus, OH. - Barron K. Henley, Esq. August 14 - PowerPoint 2007/2010 for Legal Professionals, Columbus, OH. - Paul J. Unger, Esq.August 15 - Using Excel in a Law Practice, Cleveland, OH. - Barron K. Henley, Esq. August 15 - PowerPoint 2007/2010 for Legal Professionals, Cleveland, OH. - Paul J. Unger, Esq.August 21 - Using the iPad in a Law Practice: Introduction & iPad Basics, Columbus, OH - Paul J. Unger, Esq.August 21 - Using the iPad in a Law Practice: Advanced iPad Topics, Columbus, OH - Paul J. Unger, Esq.August 24 - Taming the Technology Dragon, Macon, GA - Steven J. Best, Esq., and Alex Macdonald, Esq. (see detailed article below). |
 FREE Educational Webinars in August Beat the summer doldrums by geting up to speed on the latest on law office technology. This month, Affinity offers a series of FREE thirty-minute educational webinars covering important law office technology topics and software. Here is the schedule: August 9, 10:30 a.m. - Mobile TimeKeeping: Turning iPads, iPhones, and Droids Into Mobile Productivity Powerhouses (Affinity Consulting Group - Presented by John Kuntz of Bellefield
August 14, 12 noon - The Case for Practice Management: Why Outlook is NOT Enough - Presented by Jennifer M. Ramovs, Esq. August 15, 1 p.m. - Mobile TimeKeeping: Turning iPads, iPhones, and Droids Into Mobile Productivity Powerhouses (Affinity Consulting Group - Presented by John Kuntz of Bellefield August 16, 12 noon - End to End Efficiency: Add Practice Master to Tabs3 and Optimize your Practice - Presented by Jennifer M. Ramovs, Esq. August 17, 11 a.m. - Worldox GX3: New Features - Presented by Greg Bray August 17, 1 p.m. - Know What You Own: Why You Need to Invest in a Technology Audit - Presented by Debbie Foster August 20, 1 p.m. - Legal Specific Time, Billing and Accounting Programs vs. QuickBooks - Presented by Debbie Foster August 21, 1 p.m. - Our Top Ten Reasons to Move to Word 2010 - Presented by: Barron Henley, Esq. August 22, 1 p.m. - Model Rule 1.15 - Safekeeping Property with a Fully Integrated Time, Billing & Accounting Program - Presented by Alex Macdonald, Esq. August 23, 10:30 a.m. - Mobile TimeKeeping: Turning iPads, iPhones, and Droids Into Mobile Productivity Powerhouses (Affinity Consulting Group - Presented by John Kuntz of Bellefield August 24, 10 a.m. - Worldox GX3: New Features - Presented by Greg Bray August 24, 1 p.m. - The Paperless Office: How to Make it a Reality in your Practice - Presented by Greg Bray |
 Georgia Legal Technology CLE August 24 in Macon - Register Now! Affinity Partner Steven J. Best, Esq., and Affinity Consultant Alex Macdonald, Esq. will be speaking at Mercer University School of Law in Macon, GA, on August 24. The program is called Taming the Technology Dragon. It is sponsored by Mercer University School of Law, the Macon Bar Association CLE, and the Institute of Continuing Legal Education in Georgia. Steve will be speaking on "The Forecast for Legal Technology - Partly Cloudy." Alex will be speaking on "Top Ten Technology Mistakes Law Firms Make." For registration information, contact Nancy Terrill, Coordinator of CLE Programs at Mercer Law School/Macon Bar Association, at (478) 301-2204 or terrill_n@law.mercer.edu. |
 PCLaw Version 12 User Training in August
- Atlanta, Tampa, Ft. Lauderdale and Columbus
We are excited to announce our PCLaw two-day User Training class that will help maximize the use of your firm's time, billing and accounting software. The instructors, Cindy Emmerson in Tampa and Ft. Lauderdale, Steve Best in Atlanta, and Alex Macdonald in Columbus will detail everything from PCLaw's basic features to tips and tricks that you will use daily.
Existing users will have the opportunity to enhance their PCLaw skills and new users will get an excellent overview to begin using the software. Regardless of what version you are currently using, this class is sure to help you make the best use of PCLaw.
Attend one of our upcoming 2-day sessions:
Atlanta - August 16-17, 2012
Lexis Nexis, Marquis One Tower, Suite 1900
245 Peachtree Center Ave., Atlanta, GA 30303
Tampa/ St. Petersburg - August 20-21, 2012
Office of Affinity Consulting Group
11370 66th Street N., Suite 132, Largo, FL, 33773
Ft. Lauderdale - August 27-28, 2012
Hyatt House
91 SW 18th Avenue, Dania Beach, FL 33004
Columbus - August 27-28, 2012
Office of Affinity Consulting Group
1405 Dublin Rd., Ste. 100, Columbus, OH 43215
For the complete agenda and to register, click here.
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Affinity Offers Live Webinars for You and Your Staff During the RNC 
The Republican National Convention will bring tens of thousands of people to Tampa this August. If you are a Tampa-area law firm (or even if you are not), avoid the logistical obstacles and keep your staff productive by having them join our live, web-based training August 27-29. We'll be offering a variety of courses - some of which may be eligible for CLE credit - focused on helping you reach the highest level of efficiency within your firm. ALA Members: These courses are also eligible to be used towards CLM credit. Our classes are designed to help you make the most of technology. For a one-time, per-person fee of $169, your team members can attend as many courses as they choose. Why not register today? Consider August 27 - 29 the time to finally make the most of technology in your daily practice. Click here for the registration form. |
 Ask Barron
- Affinity Partner Barron K. Henley, Esq., Answers Your Law Office Tech Questions Dear Barron: I'm going to buy a new Windows computer for my office, but I'm not sure how much memory (RAM) to get on it. Do you have any advice? Read Barron's Answer. |
 Atticus Practice Builder Workshop Coming to Orlando in OctoberIf you are working as hard as you can, putting in 50 to 60 hours a week, working weekends, missing vacations, ignoring your family, but you still can't get your practice on track, there is something you can do. Attend the next Atticus Practice Builder workshop in Orlando, FL, on October 26 and 27. This two-day intensive workshop is designed to reduce stress, eliminate interruptions, increase revenues and improve client service while allowing you to get home on time! Atticus asked attorneys attending a recent workshop how they felt about the Atticus Practice Builder. Listen here to this short 2 minute video to hear what they had to say. For more information, contact Bob Zamarra at 352-383-0490. To register, click here. |
 Dragon NaturallySpeaking 12 Announced Nuance announced the latest and greatest version of Dragon NaturallySpeaking speech recognition software. NaturallySpeaking version 12 will be available this month. It delivers a 20% increase in out-of-the-box accuracy over version 11. The improvement over earlier versions is even more dramatic. If you tried or are still using version 8, the new version offers a whopping 75% improvement in accuracy. If you haven't tried NaturallySpeaking recently, you haven't experienced how it can improve your productivity. There will be special upgrade pricing in effect only during August and September. Call Affinity's Speech Specialist, Phil Metcalf, at (540) 767-7633 for details. |
 Microsoft Word Tip of the Month - Try Word 2013 for Free The release of a new version of Microsoft Office is a huge event for everyone in the business world, including lawyers. Most law firms depend heavily on Word and the other MS Office applications for day-to-day office productivity. Once we get used to a version of Word, we don't like to switch, at least without a full understanding of what the new version is like.
 Microsoft seems to recognize this and is for a limited time allowing users to try MS Office 2013 for free without uninstalling or disabling your current version of Office. Of course, if your copy of Word or Outlook links with other software, such as your practice management or document assembly programs, caution is advised to avoid disturbing those links. If that is not issue in your software configuration, visit Microsoft's web site and download the free Office 2013 Customer Preview. |
Use Dropbox to Sync Dragon NaturallySpeaking User Profiles 
- Phil Metcalf, Affinity Speech Solutions Specialist Dragon NaturallySpeaking gets more accurate the more you use it because Dragon stores your voice information in a user profile on your computer. It uses the information in that profile to improve speech recognition. Unfortunately, profiles are stored locally on your computer. If you use Dragon on more than one computer, you won't get the full benefit of Dragon's ability to learn how you speak and the resultant increase in recognition accuracy. There is a solution. I found an interesting way to synchronize updates to a Dragon profile for users with computers in multiple locations. The file synchronization service Dropbox can be configured to synchronize Dragon profiles across multiple computers so that each one always has a current updated version. Of course, each PC must have Internet access for this to work. In the past I have exported the profile to a USB thumb drive for the user to take back and forth between the office and home or satellite offices. However, using a USB drive to update Dragon profiles can be confusing and is not nearly as elegant as an automatic Dropbox sync. If you are a Dragon user with multiple computers and are interested in maximizing recognition accuracy, contact me at pmetcalf@affinityconsulting.com or (540) 767-7633. There is a small charge for the consulting time to download Dropbox and handle the configuration of the profile sync on each computer. There is no charge for the first 2GB of Dropbox storage used. |
iPad vs Nexus 7 as a Law Practice Tool - First Impressions
- Scott Bassett, Esq., Senior Editor, Affinity Publications
 My iPad 2 (16GB Wi-Fi only) and I have been inseparable for the year we've been together. It goes everywhere with me and is an essential tool in my appellate law practice. It even displaced my trusted ThinkPad notebook PC for most tasks, particularly reading and annotating transcripts and other trial court documents. Then a newer, sleeker model caught my eye. It is the Nexus 7 Android tablet made by Asus for Google. I've had Android tablets before and they were awful. So what made me think the Nexus 7 would be any different? Well, I had read about the newest version of the Android operating system, called Jelly Bean (officially 4.1), and how Google instituted Project Butter to make the user interface as buttery smooth as using iOS on the iPad. Did it work? Read the Complete Article. |
 Affinity Offers Managed IT Services
In addition to our expert consulting services in the area of law office software, Affinity Consulting Group offers a fu ll 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. |
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Affinity and the ALA
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News Updates
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Affinity University Live Webinars Qualify for ALA CLM Credit 
Whether you are in the process of applying or re-certifying to become a Certified Legal Manager (CLM), Affinity University Live Webinars are a great way to get relevant training on the software you use every day. And the best part is - you get CLM credit. New Applicants may use any Live Webinar towards their Information Technology education requirement, and CLMs going through recertification can use any Live Webinar towards their Operations Management education requirement. And remember, ALA members receive a 25% discount on al AU courses. Contact Jennifer M. Ramovs, our Director of Education, to find out how. |
Know What You Own - Barron Henley and Jennifer Ramovs Collaborate on Article for ALA Magazine
Affinity Partner Barron K. Henley, Esq, and Affinity Director of Education Jennifer M. Ramovs, Esq., collaborated on an article for the upcoming edition of ALA's Legal Management magazine. Barron and Jenn discuss how technology can boost efficiency and how to make sound decisions with your IT budget so that you get the technology you need and the training necessary to ensure that you can get a solid return on your investment. Read the complete Know What You Own article. |
Affinity Sponsors ALA Chapters
Affinity is proud to expand its already strong relationship with the ALA by serving as a sponsor of both the Atlanta and Pittsburgh ALA Chapters. Are you in the Atlanta area? Visit us at the Atlanta Business Partner Expo, August 8th |
Green Corner - Paper Saving Tips
Americans are huge consumers. That can be good and bad. Consumer spending boosts the economy. But we consume some things, particularly natural resources, entirely out of proportion to our population. For example, with less than 5% of the world's population we consume 30% of the world's paper.
At Affinity, we work very hard to help law firms reduce their use of paper through a variety of digital technologies. Many of those technologies are consistent with recommendations from Reduce.org. These include using editing documents on-screen instead of printing drafts, using email instead of printed memos (and don't print those emails!), and filing documents electronically instead of on paper.
For more ideas, watch an interesting 8-minute video on how to use less paper in your office. |
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Current Versions of Law Office Software
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Make sure you stay current by checking out the
Current Versions list on our web site.
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