Newsletter Header, 12-2013
April 2015
YourBusiness
Notice for PCLaw and Time Matters Users
Steve Best's New PCLaw Book
Affinity at ABA TECHSHOW 2015
April Speaking Engagements
Bootcamp Schedule for 2015
Affinity Sweeps Awards
Word Tip of the Month - Mastering Word
MacCorner - Office for Mac 2016
Amicus 2015 Premium Upgrades Underway
Meet Our Client Services Team
Newsworthy - Links of Interest (April Fools Edition)

Join Our Mailing List
New on the Affinity Consulting Group Blog




YourBusiness
- Finding and FIXING root cause issues for the long term

The practice of law is not for the faint of heart. Your clients are your priority but on a daily basis you are confronted with a barrage of decisions - are bills ready to go? Do you know how you're doing financially? Why is there so much paper everywhere? Is it time to replace my computer - it's so slow?


These are real issues that force us to think about the underpinnings of our firms almost daily. However, when caught up in the day-to-day, we often don't have time to stop and think about fixing a problem so that the solution has benefit to everyone involved and so that it is something that will last.


There's a difference between replacing your computer, and building a long-term, cost-effective technology strategy. There's also a difference between buying "one more file cabinet" and going paperless - but the right things to do are often the things that we think we don't have time for when a client is calling, a response is due, and bills have to get out the door. The problem is if we don't take time to address the real issues we have, we just keep facing the same questions and concerns again and again, and perhaps spending money and time where we don't have to.


With our YourBusiness service, we have worked with many of our clients to take a step back and look at the big picture: business process, technology, financial, document management and more. We come on site and talk to you and your people about the challenges you are facing today and then we analyze all that we learn from you in conjunction with industry best practices and decades of experience helping law firms and legal departments with all areas of their practices.


Read the rest of our YourBusiness Feature Article.

FREE YourBusiness Webinars in April



Notice to PCLaw & Time Matters Users
You may have received an email from LexisNexis asking you to confirm your current CIC (Certified Independent Consultant). This is just a reminder to please contact dfaries@affinityconsulting.com to make sure your account is tagged properly.
ABA Publishes Affinity Partner Steve Best's PCLaw Book
Affinity Partner Steve Best's new ABA book, The Lawyers Guide to PCLaw, is now available at the ABA's online bookstore.  The book will also be available at ABA TECHSHOW 2015 in Chicago April 16-18, including a "meet the author" session on April 17 at 11:45 am at the Hilton Chicago.

PCLaw is a great tool to manage the financial aspects of your law practice. But even the best tool can be limiting without the proper guidance and support. Steve's new book delves into the intricacies of PCLaw and gives you the knowledge you need to take control of your practice with maximum results. 
Affinity Partners at ABA TECHSHOW 2015
Several Affinity Partners are speaking at ABA TECHSHOW 2015 in Chicago April 16-18. Affinity Partner Steve Best is Vice-Chair of the TECHSHOW Planning Board. Steve will be speaking on Document Management. 

Affinity Partners Debbie Foster (Process Management, Mobile Device Security), Barron Henley (MS Word), Britt Lorish (Alternative Fees, Law Firm Efficiency), and Paul Unger (iPad, Cloud Collaboration, PowerPoint) are also speaking. 
April Speaking Engagements
The weather is (finally!) warming up, and so is the speaking schedule for our Affinity Partners and Consultants. This month we have speaking engagements from Oregon to Washington, D.C., with several stops in between. 

Bootcamp Schedule Announced
- PCLaw Bootcamp May 4-5 in Columbus, OH
Affinity's comprehensive Bootcamp training series resumes on May 4-5 with a PCLaw Bootcamp in Columbus, Ohio, at the Ohio State Bar Association.

Here is the Bootcamp schedule:
  • Columbus PCLaw Bootcamp, May 4-5, Register HERE.
  • Boston Worldox Bootcamp, June 2-3, Register HERE.
  • Raleigh Tabs3/PracticeMaster Bootcamp, July (Date, Time, and Location TBA)
  • Atlanta PCLaw Bootcamp, August 11-12. Register HERE
  • Denver Worldox Bootcamp, Sept. 15-16, Register HERE.
  • South Florida, Tabs3/PracticeMaster Bootcamp, Sept. (Date, Time, and Location TBA) 
  • Phoenix Worldox Bootcamp, December (Date, Time, and Location TBA)

Details for the Raleigh, South Florida, and Phoenix Bootcamps will be announced in an upcoming newsletter.

Affinity Sweeps Consultant Awards at 2015 Tabs3 and PracticeMaster Forum
The Affinity team is once again proud to have swept all of the awards in its categories at the 2015 Tabs3 and PracticeMaster Consultants Forum in Lincoln, NE, on March 20-21. 

We won the overall Consultant of the Year award plus awards for Tabs3 Consultant of the Year, PracticeMaster Consultant of the Year, and Platinum Consultant of the Year.
Word Logo
MS Word Tip of the Month - The Importance of Mastering Word
- Barron K. Henley, Esq.
The ability to beat text into submission via formatting work-arounds and hacks does not indicate that you know how to skillfully use Word. Here are two important facts about Microsoft Word:

Fact 1: 100% of the formatting problems you've experienced when drafting new
documents can be completely avoided before they occur.

Fact 2: When editing a document someone else drafted, any formatting glitches can be resolved in just a few clicks, no matter how bad of a mess it is.

Unfortunately, the foregoing facts are true only if you have mastered Word. 

MacCorner
MacCorner - Office for Mac 2016 Preview
- Jeffrey Schoenberger, Esq.
In the past, we Mac users were accustomed to getting short shrift from Microsoft. While iOS is changing that - if you haven't looked at the breadth of MS apps for iOS, it's really impressive - Office for Mac remains the runt of the litter. 

The last time we got a new release of Office for Mac was 2010, when Office 2011 shipped. Since that time, Windows received Office 2010 and Office 2013. We got Office for iPad and then universal versions that included Office for iPhone. Microsoft is finally coming around and has released a preview version of Office 2016 for Mac.

 

Amicus Premium 2015 and Small Firm to Premium Upgrades Underway Now!
Affinity is now upgrading its Amicus Premium clients to the new 2015 version. We are also encouraging Amicus Small Firm clients to upgrade to Amicus Premium for all of the valuable new features it provides 

Amicus Premium 2015 adds the Amicus Client Portal. It gives clients real-time access to select Amicus matter information through a secure online portal. There is also a new Exchange email link to synchronize your email directly with Exchange. See the Amicus Attorney site for the full list of features.

If you are interesting in upgrading to Amicus Premium 2015, please contact Danielle Faries by email or telephone at (727) 544-5400.
Meet Affinity Consulting Group's Client Services Team
Serving our clients as efficiently and effectively as possible has always been a priority for each of us at Affinity. With that in mind, a few years ago, Affinity created our Client Services Team that is dedicated to being a first line of support for your legal software needs.  We wanted to take a moment to re-introduce you to this team and make sure that you understand how they can help you.

Newsworthy - April Fools Edition
Each month we bring you quick links to a variety of newsworthy items dealing with technology products, services, and other topics of interest to lawyers as they seek to better manage their practices. The first day of April is a time for a bit of fun, so we lead with a link to some tech humor (but the other links are useful).