What s New in Amicus Attorney Small Firm Edition 2012

Transcription

1 What s New in Amicus Attorney Small Firm Edition 2012 This document describes the new features in Amicus Attorney Small Firm Edition Contents New Documents module... 2 Filtering the list of Documents... 2 Searching for Documents... 3 Working with Documents... 3 File Name hyperlink in Event lists... 4 Contact Referrals view... 5 Send a Phone Message via Better tracking of return Phone Calls... 7 Special Notes for those upgrading... 8 What s New in Amicus Attorney Small Firm Edition Gavel & Gown Software Inc. 1

2 New Documents module The new Amicus Attorney Documents Module provides you with convenient access to a centralized view of your documents. The Documents Module makes it easy to locate and retrieve documents that you have access to. Its flexibility lets you control what documents appear in the list, how they are sorted, and the information that appears about each document. At a glance you can see all the relevant information related to your document including: associated file, author, date, and document group. You can quickly add new documents, delete existing documents, view the document, print the list, or create a time entry for the record. Full text searching and Document Profile searching are also available directly from the index. Search from within all Documents or from a filtered list for a more targeted search. Simply open the Search dialog, type in the text field, and click OK to quickly display documents that match your criteria. Documents Index The Documents Index window appears when you open the Documents module. The Document list shows the Document Title, associated File, Group, Author, and Date. Filtering the list of Documents Using the following options, you can filter the list of Documents shown to suit your needs. This is helpful if you have a large number of Documents. Show Documents for Your Active Files, your Closed Files, or all your Files. File Type Show Documents on all your Files regardless of File Type, or only a particular File Type (e.g. Civil Litigation). What s New in Amicus Attorney Small Firm Edition Gavel & Gown Software Inc. 2

3 Searching for Documents Search for Documents in the Documents module in the same way as from the Files module. Click the Search Documents button. You can search the Documents on all Files, a specific File, Files of a specific File Type, or Files for a specific Client, in either or both of the following ways: Based on the information in one or more of the Document Profile fields (Title, Summary, etc.) Based on the content of the actual documents (Word.DOC, WordPerfect.WPF, HTML, TXT documents specifically referenced by File Document Profiles or in the folders referenced by Folder Document Profiles) The results appear in the Documents Index, showing: rank (for items found by a Content Search), name of the actual file, Document Profile Title, associated File, and date of the actual document. To clear the results, click Clear Search at the bottom of the screen. (Or choose Show All on the DOCUMENTS menu, or press CTRL+A.) You can then do another, fresh search if desired. Or, to do another search within the items found from the earlier search, click Refine Search, choose the Documents in the list option, and enter more search criteria. Working with Documents From the Documents Index, you can use menu commands, right-click options, or buttons to perform the following functions: View (open) the actual document, or open the Document Profile record Create a new Document Profile record Create a Time Entry on an existing Document Profile record Print the Document Profile record list (all or selected items) Delete a Document Profile record (this does not delete the actual document) What s New in Amicus Attorney Small Firm Edition Gavel & Gown Software Inc. 3

4 File Name hyperlink in Event lists Now it s easy to open the File assigned to your Event directly without first opening the Event details. Simply click the hyperlinked File Name. This feature is available in most Event lists, including: Appointments in the Calendar Day view: To Do lists in the Calendar: What s New in Amicus Attorney Small Firm Edition Gavel & Gown Software Inc. 4

5 Contact Referrals view Business development is a critical part of your practice. A new view is available on the Contact details, listing all the Matter Files that person has referred to the firm. Simply choose Referrals from the dropdown list at the top. The list includes the Files in which the Matter Came To Us Because field (in the Administration > Client & Matter brad view) was set to Referred by and this Contact s name was specified. At a glance you can see the matters this contact referred to you. For each item in the list, the File Name, Client/Matter ID, and Client are shown. If you are not assigned to the File, the Responsible Lawyer is indicated. You can double-click an item in the list to open the File detail, provided you are on the File. TIP: If an expected File doesn t appear on a Contact detail, it is likely that their name was typed imprecisely in the Referred by field. For best results, we recommend that names be entered in Files by selecting them via the Select Contact dialog. What s New in Amicus Attorney Small Firm Edition Gavel & Gown Software Inc. 5

6 Send a Phone Message via You can now send Phone Messages via to ensure that important messages are received promptly, no matter where a Team Member might be. In the New Phone Message (or Forwarded Message) dialog, simply click Send & . A new message will appear in your local client, addressed to all recipient Team Members, with all the Phone Message details. Edit the message if necessary, and send it. And of course the Phone Message will also appear in the recipients Communications lists and additionally, if marked Urgent, a Sticky will be sent. Note that if you choose the option while you are working Offline, the will appear in your client as described above. The Phone Message record will be processed in Amicus when you go back Online. What s New in Amicus Attorney Small Firm Edition Gavel & Gown Software Inc. 6

7 Better tracking of return Phone Calls Are you a busy legal professional who receives a lot of phone calls? A new Preference will automatically note the details of the call you are returning in your Phone Call record. Choose File > Preferences > ComCenter > Messages and select the Append to Call Summary option. You can create new Phone Calls by replying to Phone Messages for example, by clicking the Phone icon in the Message, or by selecting the Message in the ComCenter list and choosing Reply Call on the right-click menu. The new Phone Call will indicate that this is a return call, and the date and time the original Phone Message was taken. What s New in Amicus Attorney Small Firm Edition Gavel & Gown Software Inc. 7

8 Special Notes for those upgrading If using Amicus Small Firm Accounting: Integration requires a compatible version of Amicus Small Firm Accounting. To check your version, choose About from the Help menu. Hardware & Software Requirements documents for both products are available from the Support > Technical Resource Guides section of our website. If upgrading from an earlier version where you used Palm OS integration: Amicus Attorney Small Edition 2012, unlike earlier versions, does not provide direct integration with Palm devices running on the Palm OS. Previously, a Palm Link compatible with HotSync Manager 4 was available. It is recommended that the Outlook Contacts & Calendar Synchronization be used as a conduit for integration with Contacts, Appointments, and Tasks/To Do s on mobile devices. This three-way configuration ensures compatibility no matter what device model you have chosen, provided it synchronizes with Outlook. You can take advantage of the considerable effort that manufacturers have invested in ensuring the robustness of their link with Outlook. To enjoy continued synchronization of your Contacts, Appointments, and To Do s with your handheld device, you should first check that your device is properly configured to synchronize with Outlook. Next, ensure that you have installed and configured the Amicus-Outlook Contacts & Calendar Synchronization. Devices that offer wireless synchronization with their Microsoft Exchange Server may have the added benefit of choosing automatic wireless updates, an automated synchronization schedule, or manual synchronization. (Check with your firm s system administrator and device documentation for details.) For more information about the Outlook Contacts & Calendar Synchronization, see the Guide provided in the Support > Technical Resource Guides section of our website. For further information, contact Gavel & Gown Software Inc. Phone: Fax: info@amicusattorney.com Copyright 2012 Gavel & Gown Software Inc. All rights reserved. AMICUS and AMICUS ATTORNEY are registered trademarks, AMICUS SMALL FIRM ACCOUNTING, AMICUS ACCOUNTING, AMICUS PREMIUM BILLING, AMICUS BILLING, AMICUS MOBILE, AMICUS MOBILE SERVER, and AMICUS SMALL FIRM are trademarks of Gavel & Gown Software Inc. All other trademarks referenced are the property of their respective owner. Gavel & Gown Software Inc. disclaims any proprietary interest in trademarks other than its own. January 2012 What s New in Amicus Attorney Small Firm Edition Gavel & Gown Software Inc. 8