Current Versions list on our web site.

choice so that the energy you put into maintaining your online presence is valuable.

WHAT SOCIAL NETWORKING IS RIGHT FOR ME?

When you're ready to set up your social media accounts there are a few things you want to consider. Of course you can look to the most prominent services and try them out: Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn are all popular services that will give you access to a large number of people simply by "being there". But the trick with social media is that you are only relevant if you are current - so any social media channel you choose to use should be one that you can easily maintain. When you think about social media channels ask yourself some key questions:

• What channel is easiest for me (and my staff) to use?
• What kind of information do I want to put onto social media?
• Who am I trying to reach?

Depending on your answers, you may find yourself on different social media channels than you expect.

Read the complete feature article on putting social networking to work for you.

Attend a free one-hour webinar on social networking for lawyers - Friday, October 5 at 1 p.m. EDT.

October 9, 11 a.m. - Adobe for Legal Professionals with Jennifer M. Ramovs, Esq.

In 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.

We are proud to announce that two of our Affinity University webinars have been approved for Florida CLE credit.  The October 31 webinar on Time Management for Lawyers taught by Debbie Foster and Jennifer M. Ramovs, Esq., has been approved from 2.5 hours of CLE credit.  It will began at 10 a.m. and continue until noon.  The webinar will also be presented on December 12 from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.

In addition, we are offering Getting the Most from Your Staff - Understanding Motivation and Improving Employee Productivity on December 14 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.  This webinar will be taught by Liz Lamar, JD, LSSS.  It has also been approved for 2.5 hours of Florida CLE credit. 

The cost for each webinar is only $79.00.  This is an inexpensive, convenient, and highly informative way for Florida lawyers to earn CLE credits.

During October, Affinity is presenting a series of FREE educational webinars covering important law office technology topics.  Here is the schedule:

October 2 - 2012 Bankruptcy Institute, Brooklyn Park, MN - Barron K. Henley, Esq., speaks on Maximizing Technology in Your Bankruptcy Practice, Managing and Producing Documents in a Bankruptcy Practice, and Disaster Preparedness for Small Firms.

October 3 - Start it Up, Reboot or Reload - The Technology You Need for The Law Society of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba - Barron K. Henley, Esq., speaks on a wide variety of law office technology topics.

October 4 - Strategic Solutions to Law Office Technology for The Law Society of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba - Barron K. Henley, Esq., speaks on a wide variety of law office technology topics.

October 4 - Cloud Practice Management for the St. Pete Bar, St. Petersburg, FL - Debbie Foster discusses the practical and ethical issues of using Cloud-based practice management systems.

October 9 - Document This! Best Practices for Lawyers - Creating, Managing, and Negotiating Documents for Virginia CLE, Fredericksburg, VA - Barron K. Henley, Esq., speaks on all aspects of creating, automating, managing, and negotiating documents.

October 10 - Legal Technology and Practice Management: Future Trends and the Best of What's Out There Now for Virginia CLE, Fairfax, VA - Barron K. Henley, Esq., speaks on many aspects of law office technology.

October 12 - iPad for Lawyers for Michigan ICLE, Plymouth, MI - Paul J. Unger, Esq., shows how to use an iPad as an essential tool in your daily practice.

October 12 - Practice Management & Technology Solutions for a Family Law Practice for the New Hampshire Bar Association, Concord, NH - Barron K. Henley, Esq., speaks about technology for family law firms that won't break the bank.

October 16 - iPad for Legal Professionals for the Ohio Bar, Cleveland, OH - Paul J. Unger, Esq., shows how an iPad can become an essential part of your daily legal workflow.

October 16 - Your Law Office: Don't Leave Home Without It! for the Ohio Bar, Columbus, OH (and live Webcast) - Barron K. Henley, Esq., demonstrates how, with the right hardware, software and business practices, lawyers can work from anywhere.

October 18 - Think Digital:  Delivering Legal Services with Technology for the ABA Law Practice Management Section, Reno NV - Paul J. Unger, Esq., explores current options and best practices for delivering great client service through the use of technology.

October 18 - Legal Technology & Practice Management for the Erie County Bar Association, Sandusky, OH - Barron K. Henley, Esq., speaks about document automatic, document management, email management, and several other technology topics.  Contact Kelly Del Vecchio at eriecountylawlibrary@gmail.com to register.

October 25 - Trial Practice Institute for the Nashville Bar Association, Nashville, TN - Paul J. Unger, Esq., speaks about the latest in trial technology including using video depositions, storyboarding in PowerPoint, using Acrobat for trial prep, and litigation technology for the iPad.

Atticus Practice Builder Workshop Coming to Orlando this Month

If 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.

Leading edge technology, when properly implemented with adequate lawyer and staff training can greatly improve a firm's efficiency and profitability.  However, jumping into unproven or newly-introduced technology, the so-called "bleeding edge" can be costly and frustrating.

How do you know when it is time to adopt something new?  The answer varies by product or service segment.  But there are some basic rules.  For example, we often recommend that desktop operating systems not be upgraded until the first major Service Pack is released.  More on that and how it applies to this month's release of Windows 8 in the full article at the link below.

You should also be cautious when upgrading mobile operating systems.  Apple recently released the latest version of its mobile operating system, iOS 6.  It promises greater features and functionality.  But should you upgrade from iOS 5 as soon as you receive the Software Upgrade notice on your iPhone or iPad?  Perhaps not.  Or at least do so with caution.

Read the complete Bleeding Edge article here.

A bookmark is an invisible placeholder in a document that you create and name for future reference. You can use bookmarks to quickly jump to a specific location, create cross-references, mark page ranges for index entries, and the like. When working in long documents, bookmarks can help you navigate much quicker.

Lawyers are always opening long documents and looking for a specific section. Bookmarks make it easy for you to mark those sections so you can get to them faster. You can have as many as you would like in any particular document and you can name them whatever you want. If you draft by pulling certain provisions from other documents you've created in the past, you can mark them with bookmarks so that when you open those documents in the future, you can "jump" right to the provision you need to copy. Finally, if you're working on a document and run out of time to finish it, use bookmarks to hold your place so you know exactly where to pick it back up again the next day.

 

Read the complete Word Tip of the Month and Learn How to Create and Use Bookmarks. 

 

For more great Word tips, attend one of our Word AU classes with Barron K. Henley, Esq.  Word Basics is October 16, Word Introduction to Styles is October 23, and Word Share and Compare is October 30.     

Affinity Partners Steven J. Best, Esq., Britt Lorish, and Paul J. Unger, Esq., will be attending the Fall Meeting of the American Bar Association's Law Practice Management Section in Lake Tahoe, NV, from October 17-19. 

Paul will be presenting a program called Think Digital: Delivering Legal Services with Technology on October 18.  The program will explore current options and best practices for delivering great client service through the use of technology. 

The LPM Fall Meeting includes a meeting of the planning board for ABA TECHSHOW 2013.  Affinity Partner Britt Lorish chairs the TECHSHOW 2013 planning board and Affinity Partner Steven J. Best, Esq., is a planning board member.  TECHSHOW 2013 will be held in Chicago on April 4-6, 2013.

The conventional wisdom is that we shop on-line to save money knowing that we will wait longer to get the product.  It is an exercise in deferred gratification.  Lately, however, on-line merchants such as Amazon, particularly for their premium Prime customers who pay $80 a year for free two-day shipping, the gratification has not been long deferred.  Some Amazon Prime customers report receiving their product the next day even with what is advertised as two-day shipping.

For the most part, Amazon has accomplished this rapid shipping and delivery system through brute force.  Their system was manual, employing a large number of human "product pickers" to grab items from the warehouse shelves and prepare them for shipping.  A law firm can also speed the work it does for its clients, thereby increasing client satisfaction and loyalty, by hiring more staff to do the work.  But does this make economic sense?  

Read the complete article here.

Mindjet is the leading mindmapping software for lawyers and other business professionals.  It allows you to capture ideas, organize information, visually plan, and coordinate execution.  Mindjet has just released new versions of its software for Windows, Mac, and the Web. 

If you would like to learn more about the premier mindmapping software, contact Affinity Partner and resident Mindjet expert Britt Lorish at 540-767-7600 or via email at

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. 

Affinity Consulting Group will attend and have a booth in the exhibit hall at the upcoming ALA Region 1 Conference in Mashantucket, CT, October 18-20. 

Affinity is proud to be an ALA VIP Partner.  ALA members qualify for 25% off all Affinity University courses (live and on-demand).

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, Esq., our Director of Education, to find out how.