As I am currently a solo practitioner, I have not put the multi-user version through its paces. I do religiously use Billings 3 for my billing needs, though, and highly recommend it. Time capture could be a little easier, but it is a solid program that has my full confidence otherwise.

The Pro, multi-user, version requires you to set up a “server” version of the application on any “stationary” mac. Billings Pro uses a web-based “Switchboard” to solve the problems related to “opening ports, worrying about static IP’s, or crawling on the floor in search of your router’s model name. Switchboard is the middle-man for your database connection.”

The system establishes a web-based Timecard interface that Marketcircle describes as “a simple and intuitive web interface for Billings Pro with a laser focus on active projects with quick time, expense and mileage entry. We built it for non-management staff and have kept out the stuff they don’t need such as financial data, reports, estimates and more.”

Whereas Billings 3 will set you back $39.95, Billings Pro will set you back $199.95 per user. An upgrade for one user to go from Billings 3 to Billings Pro is $174.95. This means, if you’re a solo using Billings 3 and you want to upgrade to Billings Pro to use with a partner or associate, you’re going to have to fork out $375, minimum. That’s quite a jump.

Of course, in light of the alternatives, the price-point probably makes sense. You can avoid the up-front cost by opting to go “Pay As You Go” and pay $24.95 per user per month. Of course, at $50/mo, after 8 months, you’ll be paying more than if you just bought two licenses.

That said, Freshbooks is $39.95/mo for two users, and Harvest is $40/mo for up to 5 users. Freshbooks and Harvest have their own benefits, but with Billings Pro, the data is always yours and always stored only on your own “server.”

Naturally, Billings Pro will sync with your iOS device via their app. Though, at the moment, it’s not clear whether there will be a new “Billings Pro Touch” as is referenced on their website, or whether it will sync with the existing “Billings Touch.” Presently, there is no “Billings Pro Touch” in the App Store.

Anyway, go check it out!

The developers are looking for a “limited number of beta testers,” and you can apply for the beta here. They say they’ll contact you “within a month or two.”

The new application will include a server piece (like Daylite), a way to use the application offline and then sync to the server (once again built upon Daylite), over-the-air sync (as with Daylite Touch), and Marketcircle’s expertise in desktop and mobile user interfaces.

Good luck if you apply to get in on the beta. I won’t be applying for this one since I just went solo!

Early on, I would write my time down here and there, and at the end of the month, I would be gathering my snippets of billing information from all over my office and my computer – even going back over my recent emails and documents to forensically reconstruct my billable time for the month. As you can imagine, you lose a fair amount of billable time that way – both for time it takes to recreate the month, and for the work that ultimately never gets billed for because it was missed in the reconstruction.

Obviously, I needed to find a system for capturing my time contemporaneously with the work I was billing for. For a while, my solution was to keep a legal pad next to my computer and jot down my work as I was doing it. That’s not a terrible solution, but it left me at the end of the month with a good bit of work still to do. I would go over the pages of chicken scratch (yes, surprise, my handwriting is horrific), and try to give a client-by-client report to our secretary who creates and sends out our billing invoices.

Eventually, I realized that by using a spreadsheet, I could capture my time as I do the work, and, at the end of the month, we can manipulate the data in any way we want. Specifically, the data can be arranged by client or matter to give our billing secretary easy access to copy and paste the relevant information.

As most firms do, our firm bills by the tenth of an hour.

It is easy to type in the start time and end time for your tasks in the spreadsheet. The hard(er) part is to do math with the time, convert it to tenths and round it up to the next tenth. Of course, this can be done manually, which is how I used to do it, but the with power of Numbers and Excel, it can easily be done automatically – if you know the right formulas.

First, you need to make sure your start and end time columns are set to the Date and Time format. The next step is intuitive enough: subtract the start time from the end time. If that is all you do, however, your result will be something like “0.0″ because the spreadsheet doesn’t fully understand what you’re up to. Multiplying the whole answer by 24 will give you a decimal representation of the time. But, you’re not done yet. At this point, you may get an answer like 0.717. You could just set the decimal places to 1 in the cell format settings, but that would round to the nearest tenth, rather than rounding up. The solution is to add the ROUNDUP operator to the beginning of the formula. To tell the spreadsheet what decimal place to round up to, add a “,1″ to the end of the formula.

In the end, your formula for calculating time to the tenth of an hour, rounding up, is “=ROUNDUP((B1-A1)*24,1)” where B1 is your end time and A1 is your start time.

So, without further ado, here are two templates for tracking your billable time:

• Numbers Billing Template
• Excel Billing Template

One final tip: I have found that in order for me to practically capture my time as I do the work, I need to have the spreadsheet very quickly accessible. The way I accomplished this was to put the billing document in my dock. Just drag the document from where ever you keep it to the right side of the dock (where your “stacks” folders are kept), and it will stay in the dock for one click access to your timesheet.

The beta download was version 0.9, indicating a more or less mature app. In fact, Andy Kim has stated that while he is very interested in hearing new feature requests, he is trying to get version 1.0 out the door quickly, and will give greater weight to feature requests in future versions. Thus, the 0.9 beta version I’m playing with is essentially feature-complete.

The Hit List is set to compete directly with OmniFocus and Things. You may recall that I compared the two and came out heavily in favor of Things.

I am impressed with The Hit List. This is one heck of a task management application. Of course, it has all of the basics you’d expect a competent GTD app to have: tags, contexts, quick entry method. Beyond the basics, The Hit List has a lot of polish and is very well thought out.

Check out this screen shot (click to enlarge):

Some of my favorite features:

Quick Entry with system-wide keyboard shortcut

Like Things, The Hit List gives you the ability to assign a system-wide hot key to call up a Quick Entry window so that you can quickly and easily enter a task without the need to leave whatever application you’re working on and call The Hit List into focus.

Start Date, Due Date, Estimated Time

When adding a task, you can specify a start date, due date, and the kicker is that you can enter an estimate for the time it will take you to complete the task. This will help you plan your activity for the day a little better.

Tabs

The interface exists in one main window, with the ability to have multiple tabs. This works much like a standard web browser, and you have the ability to drag the tabs around to re-order them.

Sub-Tasks

While other GTD apps allow you to have at least one or two levels of sub-tasks, The Hit List offers virtually unlimited sub-tasks and sub-sub-tasks, etc. I actually got bored creating nested tasks before it ever stopped me. (click to enlarge)

iPhone version

Evidently, an iPhone version that syncs with the desktop version is on the way:

No annoying floating palettes

One of my main complaints about OmniFocus was the annoying floating palettes. As I recall, I said:

The other big pain I found about OmniFocus was the inspector window that always hangs around. That does not make for a clutter-free desktop environment. [rant warning] I know you can get rid of it, but so much of your necessary and mundane functionality is in the inspector window that you can hardly do anything without it open. To me, the inspector window is like using footnotes in legal writing: Sometimes they’re great to use, but for the most part, you should say what you need to say in the body of your work. If it’s important, don’t bury it in a footnote. OmniFocus, to me, feels like a brief that is written with 30% of the text in the main body and 70% in the footnotes.

Timer (one exception to the no floating palettes)

You can click on a task and type “B” or just hit the begin button, and a timer window will pop up. Handy if you want to track your time on a particular task.

Keyboard navigation

Virtually every control necessary to use The Hit List has an intuitive keyboard shortcut – even things you might ordinarily drag and drop. Some people will use this, some people will not. For myself, the longer I use a computer, the more I find myself using keyboard shortcuts. Being that I have used a laptop as my full-time computer for the last 6 years now, I think using a traditional mouse is a huge drag (no pun intended), and much prefer the convenience of a trackpad right below the keyboard. Even so, I often find keyboard shortcuts to save time even as compared to the relatively short venture down to the trackpad.

/Tags, @Contexts

Of course, no GTD or task management application would be complete without contexts and tags. The Hit List makes tagging and context-ing dead simple. To start tagging, just type the “/” key and type whatever tag you wish to assign. The Hit List will automatically predict what tag you are trying to type. To assign a context, just type the “@” key and it will similarly start automatically predicting the context you are trying to type. Even cooler than that is The Hit List’s predictive tagging and contexts. As you type out the task you are entering, The Hit List predicts based on your prior entries what tags and/or contexts to assign to the task. This is done before ever stroking the / or @ keys. Way cool!

Ultra-Customizable iCal syncing

The Hit List allows you to sync specific iCal calendars with tasks marked with specific tags and/or contexts. I imagine this could come in handy.

Attach files and emails by drag-and-drop

One of the greatest and most essential features I love about Things is its ability to attach files and emails to tasks by dragging and dropping them (sometimes awesomely referred to as “dragon drop”). The Hit List features this functionality as well, however, in this Beta version, there are a few bugs. Don’t worry, Andy, I’m sending in those bug reports!

Conclusion

With The Hit List, the Potion Factory has taken the best features of OmniFocus and Things, learned from their mistakes, and added some great new features and interface and usability enhancements to come up with a task management app that is truly a step ahead of the competition. The Hit List will set the new standard for task management applications for the Mac. I share in TUAW’s prediction that The Hit List will “storm the gates.”

Potion Factory announced the private beta of The Hit List here. Unfortunately for those eager to try out The Hit List, at just over 300 beta testers, Andy has closed the door for the time being, but has indicated he may approve more people as needed.

How will The Hit List be priced? The Potion Factory is shooting for a $70 price target. This places them on the higher end between Things ($49) and OmniFocus ($79.95). It is my opinion, so far, that The Hit List outperforms both Things and OmniFocus and is the best looking and easiest to use of the trio. I consider the $70 price point to be very competitive in light of the quality of the app.

I have toyed with Bento v1 in the past, but I never gave a serious attempt to organize our practice with it.  This is a product that seems to have a lot of promise – but, at the same time, seems very time consuming to set up.

FileMaker’s “Top Ten List” of new features:

1. New! Apple Mail integration – Get instant access to related messages

   • Link Apple Mail email messages, notes and RSS articles directly to information stored in Bento with a simple drag and drop.
   • View messages instantly from within Bento using Quick Look.
   • Open selected messages in Apple Mail with a single click to easily reply or forward.

2. New! More Spreadsheet-like Behavior – Includes familiar features you already know how to use

   • Use the new fill down feature or copy and paste to enter information faster and easier than ever before.
   • Just click, type, and tab to enter data just like you do in Microsoft Excel or iWork Numbers.
   • Plus, you can now add new fields and change field types right from the Table View with a few simple clicks.

3. New! Direct Numbers and Excel Support – Work with Numbers and Excel seamlessly

   • Directly import Microsoft Excel or iWork Numbers spreadsheets. You no longer need to save spreadsheets as CSV files first.
   • Directly export Bento libraries to Microsoft Excel or iWork Numbers format. You no longer need to export libraries as CSV files first.
   • Copy and paste selected blocks of Microsoft Excel or iWork Numbers data into Bento to view information in beautiful Bento forms, get easy iTunes-style searching, quick sorting and instant summary stats.
   • Copy and paste Bento data back into your spreadsheet for further analysis and charting.

4. New! Import and Export Tab-Delimited Files – Great news for AppleWorks Users

   • Now you can do more with the AppleWorks information you already have on your Mac by bringing your databases and spreadsheets into Bento with a few clicks.
   • Simply export your AppleWorks data into text file and then import into Bento.
   • You can also export data just as easily to get it back to AppleWorks or any program that supports tab-delimited files.

5. New! Template Import and Export – Exchange Bento Templates

   • Now you can exchange your favorite Bento library templates with other Bento users by simply exporting individual templates.
   • Plus you can get templates from other Bento users by importing them with a simple drag and drop.
   • Note: Individual Bento library templates contain the fields and forms from a library, but not the data.

6. New! Split View – See summary and details together

   • The new hybrid Split View shows summaries and details together on one screen to make viewing and editing information easier than ever.
   • Now you can see lists of information in Table View on top and details in Form View below – all on the same screen.

7. New! Faster Form Customization – Say “Goodbye” to customize mode

   • Now you can change a form layout instantly without having to enter Customize Mode.
   • Simply click near a field’s edge to select it. You can move or resize it, or change the font size, shading and more.
   • When you need to edit the data, just click inside the field. It’s that simple.

8. New! Built-In Links to Maps and Chat – Get maps and start chats from Bento

   • Just click the new button near any address to automatically display maps or driving directions from the Web.
   • Even start a chat session with your IM buddies right from within Bento. (Requires an Internet connection and iChat account.)

9. New! More Printing Options – Print lists and forms easier

   • In Form View, you can now print more than one record per page.
   • In Table View, you can use the new ‘Fit to Width’ option to make your columns automatically fit the width of the page.
   • This is great for phone lists, sales reports and more!

10. New! Ten More Themes – Make your forms look even better

You may also want to check out Apple Briefs’ reviews of Bento v1 here:

• Apple Briefs | Bento: FileMaker “Lite”
• Apple Briefs | Mini-Review: Bento

Bento 2 will set you back $49 for a single license and $99 for a family license.  Enjoy.

Recently, I have become a convert, and, although I have never read David Allen’s book, I have become convinced by some of the most rudimentary elements of his methodology (capture tasks, assign them to a context, assign them to a project, and move on)

One day, several weeks ago, I inexplicably became obsessed with finding a solid to do application that would be attractive, powerful, and easy enough to use that I’d actually use it.

To me, the most important element to any GTD application is the ability to dump a thought as soon as it comes to you. You think of something, capture it, and move on with whatever you were doing.

In order to manage my tasks in the past, I’ve used the Sticky-Notes application on my Mac, I’ve used TextEdit files, I’ve tried to use Mail.app’s built-in to do functionality, and I’ve used scraps of paper laying around as well as the palm of my hand. I know, chaos. But, I kind of reveled in my ability to be chaotic.

So, I don’t know what came over me a few weeks ago, but I have found what I think is a great solution for me.

I know a lot of folks are big fans of OmniFocus. I tried it out extensively, and I just couldn’t get into it. The interface felt a little wonky to me. I really didn’t like how the “items” didn’t have any sort of UI that made them feel like “items.” They are just kind of text fields, and you can’t really just click on the item itself without entering into a text field. This is a small complaint, but to me it is significant, and it made the app just feel not right. The other big pain I found about OmniFocus was the inspector window that always hangs around. That does not make for a clutter-free desktop environment. [rant warning] I know you can get rid of it, but so much of your necessary and mundane functionality is in the inspector window that you can hardly do anything without it open. To me, the inspector window is like using footnotes in legal writing: Sometimes they’re great to use, but for the most part, you should say what you need to say in the body of your work. If it’s important, don’t bury it in a footnote. OmniFocus, to me, feels like a brief that is written with 30% of the text in the main body and 70% in the footnotes. A very capable brief can be written that way, but it’s a pain in the ass to read [end of rant]. OmniFocus is plenty competent in terms of functionality, however, and it allows you to manage contexts and projects like any good GTD app. I just couldn’t get down with the feel of it.

Anyway, this post isn’t supposed to be about how much I don’t like OmniFocus, it’s supposed to be about why I have a thing for Things.

Things is a beautiful application from Cultured Code. Currently, Things is in beta, with version 0.9.4 being the latest release. The app is free while in beta, and will cost $49 when it is released “Summer 2008.” If you sign up for their newsletter at their website before its release, however, you can purchase it for $39.

In Things, you can set up a system-wide hot key that will bring up a window that allows you to enter a new to do with as much or as little information as you want. This is awesome for me, because I don’t want to leave whatever application I’m in just to make a silly to do. What is really nice, for me, is the fact that you can drag files into the notes section of the to do item, and it will create a link to that document. That works with emails as well, which is a huge help to me.

If you have been following me on Twitter lately (@esquiremac), you may have noticed me commenting on the zero-ness of my inbox. Now, when I get an email that I need to act on, but can’t or don’t want to right now, I hit command-shift-space and drag that email into my new to do window, make a quick note of what to do, set a due date and click save. Then, I file the email away from my inbox, and the inbox goes back to zero. Now, everything I have to do is in my Things app, and not lingering around haphazardly in my inbox.

The next best thing about Things, and the thing that actually sold me on Things, is the iPhone app and the ability to do two-way sync of your to do’s.  Cultured Code introduced Things for the iPhone and iPod Touch several weeks ago, but it did not allow for syncing. I was definitely not willing to shell out ten bucks for a stand alone to do app on my iPod Touch – especially after I had become proficient familiar with the desktop app. But, then Cultured Code announced that sync for the iPhone app had become their top priority and that it would be included in the next update to the iPhone app.

They delivered. The day they announced that the Things iPhone app would be updated with sync I plunked down my ten bucks and bought it. And, the day Things was updated, I downloaded the update.

The sync interface is actually quite clever. It operates over the local wifi network and requires your desktop app and your iPhone app to be running at the same time. This may be a pain to some, but it’s beautiful to me. I don’t have an iPhone, so I’m not used to ubiquitous internet, and therefore cannot demand that the app be synced whenever the heck I feel like it. I also applaud Cultured Code for not requiring me to sync my iPod through iTunes to sync my to dos. That would have been a huge buzzkill, and they are wise for avoiding that method. I don’t know whether they’re working on cloud-based sync, but I suspect they are.

Once you link your desktop app and your iPhone or iPod Touch through the preference pane of your desktop app, all you have to do to sync your to dos is to open your iPhone app any time your desktop app is running and on the same network. Instantly, the two apps sync.

I will admit that there are some bugs and limitations. For instance, there are no “Areas” in the iPhone app, and I have seen duplication once or twice. That said, it’s still very useful, and I have a ton of confidence in Cultured Code, and I know they are working on these issues as I type.

To put things in perspective for Things, they have been pushing towards a 1.0 release for many months, and then this iPhone thing came up, so they diverted their attention to build a great iPhone app. Now that they have gotten the basics of sync down, they are reshifting their focus to rolling out the 1.0 release. I cannot wait, and I wish them the best.

For more about Things from another Macs in the law office kind of guy, check out Jeffrey Kabbe’s fantastic write-up about Things here at Apple Briefs.

Now, I get to check off the “blog about Things” item on my to do list.

I was impressed by the streamlined interface and ease of use.

Unfortunatlely, however, there are a few significant downsides which make it likely Rocket Matter won’t be an ideal solution for us.

No Document Management. Unfortunately, Rocket Matter does not currently offer a way to manage your documents. For me, this is a required function. I don’t like to have to have too many applications running at the same time. As of now, I have one of the fastest Macs available, but that won’t be the case in a couple of years. It’s not really fair to fault Rocket Matter for this, as this is just something it simply doesn’t do. But, for the kind of cashola required for the web-app, I need it to do more…which leads me to my next point…

Cost Prohibitive. I found that Rocket Matter is just too expensive for our needs. Even with the special rate given to early adopters, you have to pay $50/attorney and $15/support staff. For our firm this would cost us easily over $1,000 per year, every year. I explained to Larry on the telephone that, while I believe their product has a lot of value, that is a lot of money to be guaranteeing to spend every year on software. Even if you went with high end products like FileMaker Pro, Daylight, Quickbooks Pro, etc, you’re not likely to spend $1,000 total, and that cost is not recurring. Surely, there will be upgrade costs for these products, but they are not going to be anywhere near $1k/year. Of course, Rocket Matter offers something those big boy products don’t – simplicity.

Web-Dependent. I’m not one of those paranoid types about having your information in the cloud. I mean, my email’s been up there forever, my calander is web-based (albeit with localized syncing), and using SugarSync, my files are securely stored both locally and online. I am fairly comfortable with stuff being on the web. What I don’t like, however, is the fact that I’m bound to the web with Rocket Matter. So far as I can tell, there’s no offline access. Although I am rarely without an internet connection, I am without often enough for this to be a problem for me. Today, in fact, our internet went out at work today. I almost didn’t know what to do with myself! After the initial bouts of sweating and shaking, I called my sponsor and he told me to go to a meeting and take it one day at a time. Thank God elixer of life internet came back after about a half hour.

(Hint: Relevant Joke is at 3:25ish to 4:00ish)

Notwithstanding all of these things that will ultimately prevent our firm from taking the Rocket-plunge (for the time-being, anyway – sorry Larry), I have the utmost respect for this outfit who has been building a great product designed for lawyers. Rocket Matter doesn’t seem to be for us, but they are definitely changing the game by creating a solution that is simple yet powerful – something that has been lacking in law office management software, period – PC and Mac. I wish nothing but success on the folks at Rocket Matter, because regardless of whether we ever use it, their innovations will drive the industry to compete. And competition is teh awesome!!1!

In my view, at a minimum, a lawyer needs the following functions in a single software solution:

• Client/Contact Management
• Case/Matter Tracking and Management
• Document Management
• Calendaring/To Do Tracking (GTD)
• Billing

There’s a lot of great applications out there that have some potential for being used as law office management solutions. I like to see how actual lawyers are using these programs in their actual law practices. To that end, I’ve gathered a pretty significant cache of lawyers’ writings on how they actually use these applications in their practices. I hope you find this to be a useful resource in your quest for law practice management nirvana.

Daylite

Perhaps the lawyer who’s told us the most about using Daylite is Kevin Morton from A Mac Lawyer’s Notebook.  He has posted excellent write-ups and screencasts about how he uses Daylite in his law practice. Check the link below for his great tutorials and reviews.

• A Mac Lawyer’s Notebook: Case Management

Ben Stevens, from The Mac Lawyer, has written about his use of Daylite here:

• Using Daylite as Case Management Software
• Productivity Programs for Mac Lawyers

Grant Griffiths, from Home Office Lawyer, wrote about his use of Daylite here:

• Programs to Help the Mac Lawyer Be More Productive
• Calendar and Contact Management

Kern Lewis, wrote this post at the Texas Lawyer:

• Trial Preparation Made Simple With Macs

Daylite looks like a pretty useful solution. Frankly, though, it is too complicated to set up for my tastes, and is not particularly well-suited for the kind of document management I’m looking for.

Billings

Billings is the companion program to Daylite that comes from the folks at MarketCircle. Billings can be used as a stand-alone billing app, without Daylite. Grant Griffiths wrote about Billings here:

• Marketcircle’s Billings 2
• Billings 2 Review

Journler

Peter Summerill at MacLitigator has shared a couple of awesome posts on how he uses Journler as a Case/Document/To Do management solution.

• Journler… but not Journaling
• Case Analysis Using Journler

Personally, I have to say that Journler is so far my favorite solution, but it’s too buggy to be extremely useful for me right now. All in all, though, it’s a superb application.

So you know, the folks behind Journler are working to bring you another program with great promise called Lex. Lex is supposed to be a project based document management solution. I am definitely holding my breath for this one. There’s no word, yet, on when this might be released. You can find information about Lex at the Journler Community Forums.

OmniFocus

When it comes to GTD, it looks like the recently released OmniFocus has captured a lot of attention. Jeffrey Kabbe, of Apple Briefs, reviews OmniFocus here:

• Apple Briefs | Review: OmniFocus

Victor Medina, of the Small Business and Solo Law Practice Blog, reviewed OmniFocus here:

• Fits Like a Productivity Glove

Things

Things is another GTD-type app that Jeffrey Kabbe reviewed here:

• Apple Briefs | Review: Things

Things is not yet complete, and is slated for release in the Summer of 2008 (hey, that’s, like, now!). You can download a beta “preview” version for free.

FileMaker and AppleScript

If you’re really advanced, or have a bunch of money, you might want to look at FileMaker. Larry Stanton, from Scripting for Lawyers has written extensively about his use of FileMaker here:

• FileMaker | Scripting for Lawyers

Bento

Bento is brought to you by the makers of FileMaker, and is a simpler-to-use, more lightweight data manager that has some promise for managing a law practice. Jeffrey Kabbe reviewed Bento here:

• Apple Briefs | Bento: FileMaker “Lite”
• Apple Briefs | Mini-Review: Bento

Circus Ponies Notebook

Notebook can be a good application to manage your documents, notes and to do’s for individual cases, one at a time. Ben Stevens and Grant Griffiths have written about their use of Notebook here:

• The Mac Lawyer: Productivity Programs for Mac Lawyers
• The Mac Lawyer: Software I Use :: Circus Ponies Notebook
• Home Office Lawyer: Programs to Help the Mac Lawyer be More Productive

EasyTime

EasyTime is an application developed by some lawyers who were tired of not having a good practice management solution geared toward lawyers. They’ve made a decent beginning, but it’s not a complete solution at present. Ben Stevens and Grant Griffiths have written about EasyTime here:

• The Mac Lawyer: Top Ten Mac Applications for Solo Attorneys
• Home Office Lawyer: EasyTime – New Mac Billing Program for a Law Office

Rocket Matter

RocketMatter is a new-to-the scene web-based solution that seems to handle about everything but Document Management. Rocket Matter was created for lawyers, so it is pretty well tailored to the relevant tasks. Ben Stevens, Aaron Pelley (of Criminal Defense Law With An Apple), and Finis Price (of TechnoEsq) have written about Rocket Matter here, respectively:

• The Mac Lawyer: Information About Rocket Matter
• A Quick Look at Rocket Matter | Criminal Defense Law With An Apple
• TechnoEsq » Ethics of Web-based Management of Client Records

Basecamp and Highrise

There are other web-based solutions that have seen some use from lawyers, such as Basecamp and HIghrise from 37Signals. Ben Stevens and Grant Griffiths have written about using Basecamp here:

• The Mac Lawyer: Top Ten Mac Applications for Solo Attorneys
• Home Office Lawyer: The Connected Lawyer – Basecamp

Other Resources

For even more Mac business software solutions, check out Ben Steven’s post here:

• The Mac Lawyer: Business Applications for the Mac

Conclusion

I’m still searching for the best solution for our firm. For now, it’s the Finder, iCal, Google Calendar and Address Book. It gets the job done, but I’m dying for a simple-to-use, simple-to-setup, comprehensive solution. In my opinion, nobody’s made that product yet.