Abacus Personal Injury Special Edition Getting Started Guide Practice Control Fast & Easy
Last updated September 1, 2007 Copyright Trademarks Special thanks To contact us 2007 Abacus Data Systems, Inc. All rights reserved AbacusLaw, Laser Calendars, E-Calendars and Smart Screens are trademarks of Abacus Data Systems, Inc. Other trademarks are owned by their respective manufacturers. To all our Abacus users (now more than 100,001) for their suggestions and recommendations. Abacus Data Systems, Inc. 9191 Towne Centre Drive, Suite 180 San Diego, CA 92122 Administration 858.452.4280 Sales Info 800.726.3339 Facsimile 858.452.2073 Customer Support 800.488.3334 Support e-mail: support@abacuslaw.com Website: http://www.abacuslaw.com
Contents Welcome to Abacus Personal Injury Special Edition Introduction... 1 Installation and Setup... 2 Updates... 5 Using Abacus Personal Injury Special Edition Opening a New Personal Injury Case... 6 Creating a Personal Injury Matter record... 7 Vehicle Accident Screen... 8 Insurance Page... 9 Damages Page... 9 Litigation Page... 10 Witnesses Page... 10 Injury Incident Screen... 11 Creating a Personal Injury Name record... 11 PI Client Name Screen... 12 PI Defendant Name Screen... 13 PI Attorney Name Screen... 14 PI Insurance Name Screen... 14 PI Health Insurance Name Screen... 15 PI Health Care Provider Name Screen... 15 PI Witness Name Screen... 16 PI Expert Witness Name Screen... 16 Set your Default Name Screen... 17 Link Matters to Names and vice versa... 17 Smart Screens... 18 Assign a Screen to a record... 19 Using Rules Calendaring Linked Events using a Rule... 20 Customize Rules... 23 Rule Sets... 24 Document Control and Form Generation Linking Documents to Names and Matters... 25 Starting a Letter... 27 Form Generation... 28
Setup of Forms... 28 Printing Calendars and Reports Printing Calendars... 29 Printing Client and Matter Lists... 30 Printing Reports... 30 PI Special Edition Reports... 31 Firm Productivity Report... 31 Case Phase Report... 33 Statute of Limitations Report... 33 Client Origin Report... 34 Other Case Control Tips from our Users... 34 Setting Up AbacusLaw Your Way Setting Up Your Office... 37 Backing Up Your Data... 41 Creating a Supervisor Password... 41 Setting up New Users... 41 System Requirements... 42
1 Welcome to Abacus Personal Injury Special Edition Introduction Congratulations! You ve purchased the first practice control software specifically designed for the personal injury practitioner. This guide will help you get going quickly. For in-depth discussions of all the powerful capabilities of AbacusLaw, please review the Reference Guide, or press F1 for context sensitive help. Abacus Personal Injury Special Edition is a turn-key case management and workflow solution. With the custom features, smooth integration, and short learning curve of the new Abacus Personal Injury Special Edition, you can maximize the powerful case management functions of Abacus and handle more personal injury cases with your existing resources. Abacus Personal Injury Special Edition seamlessly integrates into your AbacusLaw v2005 installation without the need for additional equipment or training. Leverage Best Practices Abacus Personal Injury Special Edition is specifically designed to capitalize on the best practices for quickly and efficiently handling personal injury cases by streamlining information collection, automating deadline, to-do, and milestone reminders, and accelerating cases towards settlement. Practice-specific Vehicle Accident and Injury Incident Matter screens, Name screens specific to Clients, Defendants, Insurance Adjusters, Doctors, Witnesses and others, as well as PI specific Rules, Reports, and Documents enable a firm of any size to make best use of the powerful functions of AbacusLaw through all phases of a personal injury case. Manage Entire Personal Injury Claim Process Clients complete a personal injury interview form alone or with a member of your staff Quickly review the interview form and assess the claim s merit Abacus Personal Injury Special Edition Guide Welcome 1
Start a new Personal Injury Special Edition (PISE) Matter record as the hub of each PI case Create Name records for the vital parties using screens specifically designed to capture useful information on Clients, Defendants, Attorneys, Witnesses, Insurance Adjusters, etc. Schedule Events using PISE Rules to calendar to-dos, demands, response deadlines, information requests, and settlement conferences and trigger reminders for milestones in each phase of a PI case Link Notes with detailed descriptions of incidents, injuries, treatments, and property damage Link Documents to collect all the witness statements, narrative reports, bills, accident reports, etc. Link Rules to Forms to automatically generate correspondence to your Clients, Defendants, Opposing Counsel, Doctors, etc. Use Reports to quickly generate attorney and/or firm calendars, and to access business intelligence for your firm including productivity reports and client marketing information Customize for Your Practice (AbacusLaw Classic and Gold Customers) Abacus Personal Injury Special Edition will improve your personal injury practice out of the box. However, it also offers easy to use tools that Gold and Classic licensees can use to further customize the program to: Add, remove, relocate, or rename any field on any screen Tweak the included Rules to track the requirements of your state or county Modify the included Forms or create your own to automate document production Installation and First-Time Startup These instructions assume you have installed and updated the latest version of AbacusLaw on your system. If you do not have AbacusLaw installed, please refer to the AbacusLaw Reference Guide or the AbacusLaw Getting Started Guide for complete program installation instructions. Once AbacusLaw is installed, please update your version of AbacusLaw by selecting Help/Check for Update. Abacus Personal Injury Special Edition Guide Welcome 2
To install a Special Edition Practice Pack: 1. From the Menu Bar, select File/Setup/Practice Packs/Install. The BackUp files window appears. 2. In response to the " BackUp now?" prompt, select Yes When the backup is finished, the Select Practice Pack window appears. 3. Click the Practice Pack File button. The Select Practice Pack browser appears. 4. Select the Abacus/Practice Packs folder, the PersonalInjurySE.ppz file in the folder, and click Open. Abacus Personal Injury Special Edition Guide Welcome 3
5. The Select Practice Pack window reappears with the Pack now selected. In the Code box, enter your Practice Pack license code. Abacus Personal Injury Special Edition Guide Welcome 4
NOTE: Practice Packs have an accompanying text file that states whether the Pack is licensed. Practice Pack license codes are specific to each firm and may not be used by another firm. 6. Click OK. The Pack will install. Updates Using the Slide Rules Updater already available in AbacusLaw, you can automatically download and install updates to Abacus Personal Injury Special Edition as they become available. As a result, you: Stay current Stay productive Stay focused on your caseload NOTE: You can customize Abacus Personal Injury Special Edition screens, rules, reports, and forms. Just save the files you change with a new name. That way, when you download and install updates to an AbacusLaw Special Edition, those updates will replace the original template files, and your customized files will be retained. Abacus Personal Injury Special Edition Guide Welcome 5
2 Using Abacus Personal Injury Special Edition Abacus Personal Injury Special Edition gives the personal injury practitioner a comprehensive, easy to use personal injury workflow solution. After installing the Abacus Personal Injury Special Edition, you will have fine tuned AbacusLaw to accelerate your personal injury practice. To fully reap the benefits of the Abacus Personal Injury Special Edition, you should familiarize yourself with the advanced features and customizations of the special edition. This chapter will show you how to use the special edition to organize, automate, and improve the handling of a new personal Injury case. Opening a Personal Injury Case Gather Information: The first phase of each personal injury case begins with gathering information and assessing the merit of a prospective client s case. 1. Use the included personal injury client questionnaire, found in the Abacus/forms/Personal Injury folder of your AbacusLaw install directory, to efficiently collect and organize vital information about the prospective client(s) and the injury causing incident at the heart of the personal injury claim. Abacus Personal Injury Special Edition Guide A Quick Look 6
2. When a prospective client completes the questionnaire and returns it to you, or your staff completes it during an initial client interview (in person or by phone), you will have a wealth of information to help you make a quick judgment regarding the merit of a personal injury claim. When you are ready to take on a client, the next phase is to create Matter and Name records in AbacusLaw. Creating a Personal Injury Matter Record Personal injury attorneys understand that each case centers on the harm caused to a person or to property. With that in mind, we designed Abacus Personal Injury Special Edition to use a custom Matter record as the hub of your personal injury practice. When you ve reviewed a completed personal injury client questionnaire and decided to take the case, you or your staff will create a Matter record for your client s claim. The Matters database contains information on every matter (case) in your office. Once entered, Matters can be linked to any number of Names, Notes, Events, and Documents for easy retrieval. Matter records are extremely useful as a concise case summary that you and your staff may reference while drafting case correspondence, conducting settlement negotiations, and planning litigation strategies. To access information on a specific case at any time, click the Matter button on the Tool Bar and double-click a Matter name to view the record. Vehicle Accident Screen The first page on the Vehicle Accident screen is designed with fields that neatly organize and display information germane to a vehicle injury accident case. The custom fields on each screen are easily updated by you or your staff as specific information regarding injuries, medical treatment, and property damages is compiled. Abacus Personal Injury Special Edition Guide A Quick Look 7
Case information: Matter name, lead attorney, case phase, file no, dates opened and closed, court and case number etc. Client/Defendant Information: hyperlinks to detailed Name records, insurance status fields, and multiple plaintiffs and defendants checkboxes. Accident Information: Quick reference to location, date, time, outstanding issues, police report number, and other helpful data fields. Settlement Information: Settlement totals are calculated from Damages page, damage amounts are summarized, important dates are listed, and demand and counter-offer amounts and dates are displayed. Whether you are an experienced AbacusLaw user or a brand new licensee, you can use this screen to efficiently collect, organize and display vital information about each vehicle accident case. NOTE: PI cases often involve multiple plaintiffs and/or multiple defendants. When handling such cases, create a Matter record for each plaintiff s case and link the other party plaintiffs Name records to that Matter record using the Party Plaintiff Link Type (PP1, PP2, etc.). To save time, use the Clone feature to copy the first Matter screen you create that contains information that applies to all plaintiffs (e.g. accident location, date and time). Save each cloned Matter record with a consistent naming scheme such as Client v. Defendant. (e.g. Smith v. Avery, Jones v. Avery, Williams v. Avery). Using this method, each client/plaintiff will have his/her own matter record containing information specific to their settlement while sharing common accident information with the other party plaintiffs. Abacus Personal Injury Special Edition Guide A Quick Look 8
Insurance Page The Insurance screen has fields that neatly organize and display information about the insurance coverage carried by the parties involved in the vehicle injury accident. Policy information: view policy numbers, claim numbers, adjuster names and additional insurance coverage details. Party Hyperlinks: one-click access to party contact information. Additional Coverage: Include information about parties supplemental insurance coverage. Damages Page The Damages screen has fields that neatly organize and display information about damages, treatment, and the demand for compensation. Specific damage amounts entered on this screen are summarized on the first page of the Matter screen. Damages Summary: Enter medical costs, property damages, wage loss and intangible damages. Negotiation record: Track demand letters and counter offer dates and t Medical Treatment: Record treatment status, record gathering, and costs. Abacus Personal Injury Special Edition Guide A Quick Look 9
Litigation Page The Litigation screen has fields that neatly organize and display information about ongoing litigation for a personal injury Matter. Court Information: trial date, case number, and judge name fields. Court Filings: track complaint, pleadings, important dates, and court disposition. Discovery: record discovery requests, responses, and actions. Witnesses Page Client history: track client s previous personal injury litigation and injury history. The Witnesses screen has fields that neatly organize and display information about up to ten witnesses to the accident. Use the included PI Witness Form to collect witness statements. Names: hyperlink to detailed Name record. Response information: dates when statement requested, refused or provided. Statement Details: written, recorded, favorable and consistent checkboxes. Abacus Personal Injury Special Edition Guide A Quick Look 10
Injury Incident Screen The Injury Incident Screen includes fields that collect and display information highly relevant to an attorney handling a fall down, workplace, or wrongful death personal injury case. Use this screen to efficiently collect, organize, and display vital information about the client, the defendant(s), and the injury incident itself. Case information: Matter name, lead attorney, case phase, file no, dates opened and closed, court and case number Client/Defend ant Information: hyperlinks to detailed Name records, insurance status and multiple plaintiffs and defendants checkboxes. Incident Summary: fields display location, date, time, weather, premises condition, and other relevant issues. Other Injury Incident Screens The Injury Incident screens use the same Litigation and Witnesses pages as the Vehicle Accident screen (see above). The Damages and Insurance pages have very similar layouts with slight differences corresponding to the different information collected. Creating a Name Record Settlement Information: Damage amounts, settlement amounts, important dates, demand and counter-offer information is readily accessible The next step in using the PISE to control a personal injury case is to create Name records for the relevant parties to the injury incident and link those records to the Matter using an appropriate Link Type (e.g. client, party plaintiff, defendant, insurance, etc.). Once linked, you can access any Name record from the Linked Names tab in the Matter record, and vice versa. The PISE custom Names database stores contact information on any contact you Abacus Personal Injury Special Edition Guide A Quick Look 11
want to track every client, party plaintiff, defendant, insurance adjuster, employer, attorney, expert, or health care provider. To create a new Name record, click on Names/Add a new Name in the File Menu or simply click the Name button (rolodex) on the Tool Bar and click Add. Introducing Abacus Personal Injury Special Edition Names Screens Abacus Personal Injury Special Edition includes numerous advanced Name screens: PI CLIENT, PI DEF (Defendant), PI ATTY (Attorney), PI MED (Health Care Provider), PI INS (Insurance), PI H INS (Health Insurance), PI EXPERT (PI Expert Witness), and PI WIT (Witness). These screens will become an important part of your practice as they have been customized to capture necessary name, address, and phone information along with specific details relevant to each Class Code. PI Client Name Screen The PI Client Name screen includes home and work contact information along with D.O.B, SSN#, Driver s License #, marital status (with spouse hyperlink), and an emergency contact hyperlink. We recommend that you select the PI Client screen as your default Name Screen. ID Fields Client age, D.O.B., Gender, SSN#, Driver s License, Marital Status and spouse link. Preferred Communication Note client s preferred contact method. Contact info Client home and work contact information. Source - Referral and Source information. Emergency Contact: Record your client s emergency contact. Status Lookup the Lead Attorney, Abacus Operator, and Client status information. Abacus Personal Injury Special Edition Guide A Quick Look 12
Name Screens include tabs labeled Notes, Linked Matters, Linked Events, Linked Docs and Linked Names. You can keep unlimited notes for each name. Just click the Notes tab, and then click Add Link. Each name can be connected, or linked, to as many matters as you like. Click the Linked Matters tab, and then click Add Link. Track the letters and other documents you ve created for this name on the Linked Docs tab. Linked names give quick access to multiple parties within the same personal injury case. Just link them once, and they ll show on the Linked Names tab of all related records. PI Defendant Name Screen The Defendant Name screen includes contact fields with the addition of a hyperlink to the defendant s attorney s Name record and the defendant s insurance company s Name record. To use this screen, simply create a Name record and assign Defendant as the Class Code. (See the smart screen instructions below) Legal Representation: Defendant s attorney is a convenient hyperlink. Insurance Co.: Defendant s insurance company is a convenient hyperlink. Abacus Personal Injury Special Edition Guide A Quick Look 13
PI Attorney Name Screen The PI Attorney Name screen includes contact information customized for an attorney and/or firm. To use this screen, simply create a Name record and select Attorney as the Class Code. State Bar ID: Attorney s state bar identification number. PI Insurance Name Screen The PI Insurance Name screen includes contact information fields customized for an insurance company. To use this screen, simply create a Name record and select INSURANCE as the Class Code. Insurance Company Name Adjuster Name Abacus Personal Injury Special Edition Guide A Quick Look 14
PI Health Insurance Name Screen The PI Health Insurance Name screen includes contact information fields customized for a health insurance company. To use this screen, simply create a Name record and select HEALTHCO as the Class Code. Company Name Agent Name PI Health Care Provider Name Screen The PI Health Care Provider Name screen includes contact information fields customized for a doctor or other health care provider. To use this screen, simply create a Name record and select DOCTOR as the Class Code. Specialty Area Abacus Personal Injury Special Edition Guide A Quick Look 15
PI Witness Name Screen The PI Witness Name screen includes contact information fields customized for a witness to an injury scene. To use this screen, simply create a Name record and select WITNESS as the Class Code. PI Expert Witness Name Screen The PI Expert Witness Name screen includes contact information fields customized for an expert witness. To use this screen, simply create a Name record and select Expert as the Class Code. Expert s area of expertise Abacus Personal Injury Special Edition Guide A Quick Look 16
Setting the PI CLIENT Screen as your Default Name Screen To use the custom screens in the Abacus Personal Injury Special Edition you will need to select them in your system settings. To select one of the Abacus Personal Injury Name screens: 1. Open a new Name Record and select Window/Screens/Select a Screen (browse). 2. Choose PI CLIENT (or any other Name screen) and click OK. 3. When prompted Do you want PI CLIENT to be the normal Screen? select Yes. Now, all future Name records will use the PI Client screen as a default, helping you to collect client contact information in an intuitive process. Link Names to Matters and Vice Versa To ensure that you have quick access to any relevant record pertaining to your client, each Name may be linked to any number of Matters. Abacus Personal Injury Special Edition allows you to link Name records with Matter records so that you can: Review your client s insurance company, spouse, or other parties contact information quickly and easily Quickly access linked Notes or Documents that detail injuries, damages, witness statements, and other records Link Name records for easy document production Also, because a witness in one Matter may become a client in another or an expert or health care provider may be involved in multiple Matters, Abacus Personal Injury allows you to specify the linked parties relationship with each Matter to avoid confusion when you link a that party to multiple Matters. Another benefit is creating Name records for the insurance companies you deal with on a regular basis. That way, you need only link the already existing Name record from your short list of insurance companies and agents to have their contact information at your fingertips and their data ready for merging into Forms. Abacus Personal Injury Special Edition Guide A Quick Look 17
Keep Notes on Names and Matters Smart Screens You can add Notes to any Matter, Name or Event. Name and Matter Notes are saved in the same database, so you can attach a single note to both a name and a matter without duplicating it. You also simplify future searches if you: Categorize your notes by specifying a note type code Standardize where you keep certain types of notes To streamline your notes, you can: Enter personal information notes into each name record Keep notes about correspondence or actions with each matter record Use the Call Manager to handle notes for phone conversations, and identify incoming and outgoing phone calls with the standard PHONEIN and PHONEOUT codes Smart Screens give you the ability to automatically change the appearance of AbacusLaw windows based on the type of Name or Matter displayed. For example, you will want to use the PI VEHICLE Matter screen for the personal injury vehicle accidents that you handle. However, you would not want to use the vehicle accident screen when dealing with all personal injury matters because not all of its fields are relevant to other cases, such as slip and falls. When you assign the PI VEHICLE Matter screen to the PI-VEH Case Code, then the vehicle accident Matter screen will be used automatically every time you create a new record. To enable the Smart Screen feature, you must assign codes to screens. You can assign a Name screen to Class Codes or a Matter screen to Case Codes. To assign a screen to a code: 1. From the Screens browse window, highlight the screen to which you want to assign a code or codes. 2. Click the Assign Codes button. Abacus Personal Injury Special Edition Guide A Quick Look 18
The Valid CLASS Entries window appears if you are working with a Name screen; the Valid CASECODE Entries window appears if you are working with a Matter screen. 3. Select (click in the checkmark column) the code or codes you want to assign to the screen and click OK. For example, check PI-INJ for Personal Injury Incident to assign the Personal Injury Incident custom screen to all slip and fall cases. Assign a Screen Directly to a Record You can make sure a particular record will always appear in a selected screen regardless of the case code or class code entry in the record. To assign a record directly to a screen: 1. With the name or matter record open, select Window/Screens/Select a Screen (browse). 2. Select the screen you want to assign and click OK. An example of the usefulness of this method is to assign the PI Doctor screen to a Client who is also a physician. That way, you can use the PI Client screen as the default for the majority of your Client Name records with only certain records having other custom Name screens assigned. If the current record has been directly assigned to a screen, you can identify which screen it is by selecting Window/Screens and then looking in the message bar. The screen name only appears when this menu is open. Un-assign a Screen for a Record If the current record has been directly assigned to a screen, you can un-assign it by selecting Window/Screens/Un-Assign screen for this record. This menu option is only enabled if the record is directly assigned to a screen. Abacus Personal Injury Special Edition Guide A Quick Look 19
Restore Screen Defaults To restore screen defaults: 1. From the Screens window, select the screen you want to restore to default (the state of the screen when you first installed the product). 2. Click the Use Default button. A window appears asking you if you want to restore the default for the selected screen. 3. Click Yes. Abacus Personal Injury Special Edition Guide A Quick Look 20
3 Using Abacus Personal Injury Special Edition Rules This section assumes you have installed and configured AbacusLaw and have completed the Short Calendaring Tutorial of the AbacusLaw Getting Started Guide. Calendaring Linked Events using a Rule Often, you ll want to calendar a number of related events. To calendar these related events automatically, you ll use a rule. The custom rules in Abacus Personal Injury Special Edition enable you to schedule specific practice area events that are linked to all other related events. For example, when you start a new personal injury case and assign a Personal Injury Special Edition rule, you will calendar the event and receive automatic notification of upcoming deadlines, appointments, tasks and reminders. Rules dynamically adjust based on attorney actions, using a trigger event that calendars all related events. For example, if you schedule a deposition using the PI DEPO rule, Abacus will remind you to meet with your client, prepare for the deposition, and follow up after the deposition to get a copy from the stenographer for client approval. When you have received the deposition transcript, you make a note and the rule adjusts and prompts you to send a copy to your client for review and signature. AbacusLaw Rules help you control your practice by tracking what events are scheduled, what events need to be done, what events are complete, and when each event was completed. The rules functionality in Abacus Personal Injury Special Edition help you manage your calendar by: Automatically adjusting linked events when the date of a trigger event changes. Providing a range of customization options. Use sample rules, set up your own rules, or obtain additional rules from Abacus Data Systems. Enabling you to clone, rename, and modify rules in accordance with local requirements and individual preferences. Abacus Personal Injury Special Edition Guide Using Rules 20
With Abacus Personal Injury rules, you can schedule client meetings, settlement negotiations, discovery requests, and court filings, with the confidence that no deadline will be missed. Knowing that no event will pass without a reminder frees you from constantly having to check and update your calendar. The result? You gain time to focus on other valuable firm matters. To calendar an event using a rule: 1. Click the Monthly Calendar button on the toolbar. 2. Click a day on the Monthly Calendar to highlight it. You will calendar the trigger event for this selected day. 3. Right-click and select Add Events From a Rule from the pop-up menu. The Rules list appears. Choose a day Click on a day to select it. Right-click menu Click the right mouse button to display the pop-up menu. Select Add Events from a Rule. 4. Select PI Case (the description says Personal Injury Case ) and click OK. Abacus Personal Injury Special Edition Guide Using Rules 21
Pick a Rule- Select PI CASE and click OK. The Event window appears with the Rule name PI CASE in the What field. Choose a Who for the event to connect an attorney s name. Select When the personal injury case was initiated. Select Where the case will be handled. Enter an optional Note. Finish by linking the event to a Name and a Matter record. Abacus Personal Injury Special Edition Guide Using Rules 22
5. Complete all other Event information and click Save. Because the What field contains a Rule name, Abacus asks you whether you want to add linked events. 6. Click Yes and the Linked Events Browse window for this trigger event appears. You may approve this list, make edits, or delete individual events on this list. Customize Rules Use the rules included in Abacus Personal Injury Special Edition as is or as a platform for unlimited customization. Easily clone and edit rules so that they apply to your firm s specific procedures, terminology, case handling timelines, and the court deadlines for your jurisdiction. 1. Select File/Setup/Rules to access a list of all currently available rules. 2. Chose a rule to use as a template and click on the Clone button. Abacus Personal Injury Special Edition Guide Using Rules 23
3. Give the rule a new name. 4. Modify the rule as needed by changing the trigger event, adding or removing events, and adjusting the deadlines for your jurisdiction. 5. Save the customized rule and it will be available for future use. Rule Sets Abacus Data Systems offers the following sets of rules (also called timelines or practice templates). These contain discovery, motions, statutes, judgment, appeal and other deadlines that can save you a considerable amount of effort and setup time: General practice templates covering 20 practice areas Federal rules of civil procedure Civil procedure timelines for most states California fast track rules (all counties, updated quarterly) Additional sets are being developed all the time. Contact Abacus Data Systems at 800-726-3339 for further information. Abacus Personal Injury Special Edition Guide Using Rules 24