3D"http://www.legalsuite.co.za/newsletter/20050223/newsheader.jpg"

= Issue 2/2008

29 June 2008

A Newsletter from LegalSuite Software

= We pride ourselves in providing our clients with the best possible backup = and support and we would like to extend a big "Thank You" = to all of you who recently sent us compliments regarding our service. It is nice to get some positive feedback from time to time. Our support staff really value your comments.

= We recently revamped our LegalSuite web site. Not only does it look neater= and cleaner, but it also contains a lot of useful documents in the form of White Papers and Frequently Asked Questions. You can visit it by clicking here.

In this issue:
Tip of the day - Cutting do= wn on telephonic enquiries
Know your program - <= /span>Advanced Email Design
Important Notice <= /span>= - New Module - Sanlam
Riddle
Bits and Pieces
Humour Dept
LegalSuite Training

Tip of the day

Cutting down on telephonic enquirie= s

Numerous telephonic enquiries are not only disruptive, but they can can also be a real productivity killer. How often do we get a phone call from a Mr. Smith,= for instance, and we are not sure who Mr. Smith is, where his physical file= is or what the latest progress is on his Matter. In cases like these, we w= ould more than likely have to phone him back once we had found the file, read through the contents and updated ourselves on the progress of the Matte= r.

This is highly ineffeci= ent, costs the firm money in terms of an outgoing call, but more importantly= , it does not leave the Client with a very good impression of you or your fi= rm.

LegalSuite offers a number of ways to reduce the number of telephonic enquiries and keep your Clients updated at the same time.

One method is to make regular File Notes on every Matter you or your colleagues work on. I= f a someone calls, make a File Note. If you have an appointment with someon= e, make a File Note with a brief description of the meeting. If you have secretaries or assistants working for you, insist that they make File N= otes too.

Many File Notes, are also created automatically as you work on the Matter. For instance when a document is generated or when a certain stage in the process is reached, a File Note is added au= tomatically.

Gradually, a detailed history of the Matter will be built which can give you an excellent overview of what has happened on the Matter and its current status.

The Document Log is ano= ther useful way to gather information about what has happened on the Matter.= It should contain all outgoing documents, letters, emails and SMS messages, i.e. those produced by the program. It should also include all incoming docum= entation. Incoming mail can be scanned and saved in the document log and emails or electronic faxes should be dragged and dropped into the Document Log as well.

= By having this information at your fingertips you are able to see at a gla= nce what the status of any Matter is.

= Another way to cut down on telephonic enquiries is to be proactive and = keep your Clients informed of the progress of their Matters by sending them Emails and SMS messages. The easiest way to do this is to use the Autom= atic Notifications feature in LegalSuite. In the Address Book you can specify how a Party will receive their progress messages.

= You then need to setup an Event and add a Notification task to that Event. = The Event can then be linked to a certain Stage so that when that Stage is reached, the Event is triggered and the Notification is sent out. See o= ur White Papers on the LegalSuite web site (www.legalsuite.co.za) for a mo= re detailed explanation of this process

= Once this is setup, the Client will get an SMS message (in this example) eve= ry time their Matter reaches a critical Stage.

= The benefits of this system are that it is cheaper, reduces telephonic enquiries, increases productivity and your Clients are continuously bei= ng updated on their Matters' progress. It is actually a great marketing to= ol.

= The above is called the "push method" of information flow, i.e. y= ou are "pushing" it to the Client.

= Another option is to use the "pull method" by giving your Clients (and other Parties) access to their Matters via the Internet so they can "pull" the information off your system when they want it.

= This is especially useful for Estate agents, Mortgage Originators, Property Developers etc. who need constant feedback on the progress of a transfe= r, for example. You can give each of them a login code and password which = will allow them to access basic progress information via the Internet using = the LegalSuite Online (LOL) module. It can be accessed through any Internet browser such as Internet Explorere *and from anywhere in the world 24/7= ). The login screen looks like this:

= When the user clicks on "Login", the LOL program will authenticate= the user (i.e. check the user name and password) and extract the progress information for their Matters directly from your computer system. In other words, the progress information the Client sees is real time. It is then displayed in a user friendly format like t= his:

= This should also help reduce the constant telephone calls from anxious Parti= es asking for updates on certain Matters and hopefully reduce your telepho= ne bill as well. Your Clients should be impressed by the service you provi= de and get the impression that they are using the most up-to-date and soph= isticated law firm in the country!

= Please see the White Papers on our web site for more information on LegalSuite Online.

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Know your program

Advanced Email Design

INTRODUCTION

= Emails are fast becoming the standard form of communication between attorneys = and their clients. As a result, it is important that emails sent to Clients give a good impression of the firm and ultimately assist in the marketi= ng of the company by portraying an upmarket corporate image.

Previously, you could only send text-based messages out of LegalSuite. = In Version 4.1078 we have added the ability to send out HTML based email messages which allow you to customise the layout and format of the text= and include images such as the company logo.

CREATING HEADERS & FOOTERS

= An email message in LegalSuite can now have a Header and/or Footer. Headers appear before the Body of the email and Footers are inser= ted at the bottom.

= These must be in the HTML file format. The easiest way to create an HTML file= is to design it in Word and then save as an HTML document (use File | Save As). For example, you could design something like this:

= Choose “File | Save as” and save it as a “Web Page, Filtered” file. This is important – other Web Page formats = may not work and they also create large files that are not suitable for emailing. In this example, we saved the file as “Email Header.htm”.

= If you also wanted to add a disclaimer at the end of the email message, you co= uld type it out in Word and save it as a “Web Page, Filtered” document, e.g. Disclaimer.htm

INSERTING THE HEADERS & FOOTERS IN THE EMAIL MESSAGE

= To include these HTML files in your email messages, go to Setup | Employee= s in LegalSuite and edit your Employee record. On the Email tab, click on the lookup button next to the Header field and choose the Email Header.h= tm file.

= Click on the lookup button next to the Footer field and choose the Disclai= mer.htm file.

= Your screen should look like this:

= Note, you can also specify the Font of the body of the email. In this case it= is Arial 12pt.

= Press OK to save your settings.

VIEWING AN EMAIL MESSAGE

To see what the email message will look like, go to the Parties screen and click on the Email i= con.

= Type a few lines of text in the body of the email and then press the “View” button.

= This will load the email message in Outlook without sending it. It should lo= ok something like this.

= As you can see . . .

·<= span style=3D'font-size:7.0pt'> &nb= sp; The heade= r was inserted before the Body

·<= span style=3D'font-size:7.0pt'> &nb= sp; The body = is in Arial 12pt

·<= span style=3D'font-size:7.0pt'> &nb= sp; The Endin= g was inserted after the Body

·<= span style=3D'font-size:7.0pt'> &nb= sp; The Foote= r was inserted after the Ending

= Note: If you are going to use a graphic in your email (like the LegalSuite lo= go in this example) ensure that the JPG file is as small as possible, pref= erably under 100 Kb.

CONCLUSION

= These enhancements to the email functionality in LegalSuite should go a long = way to improving the look and feel of the emails sent out by the program and make them almost identical to those sent manually.

= The Client should now be unable to differentiate between mass emails genera= ted by the program and those written personally by the attorney. This should therefore create a favourable impression of the firm and its ability to communicate effectively with its Clients and in a format that upholds t= he image of the firm.

= To view the complete whitepaper, click here.

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Important Notice

= Sanlam Bo= nds Now Available

= We are pleased to announce that we now have the Sanlam bond documentati= on available in LegalSuite.

= If you wish to make use of this module, please contact your LegalSuite sales a= gent to obtain a quotation.

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Riddle

Q. How many lawyers does it take to change a light bu= lb?

A: Twenty-eight:

2 to argue
1 to get a continuance
2 to object
3 to research precedents and legislative history
2 to stipulate
1 to depose
1 to write interrogatories
1 to move for costs
1 to order a secretary to change the bulb, and
14 to bill for professional services

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Bits and Pieces

LegalSuite Seminars

LegalSuite Software is hosting a series of seminars around the country which are aimed at improving the profitability and business management of legal practices in South Africa.

We will be discussing some interesting management concepts and will be demonstrating some practical management techniques that can be applied by a legal practitioner who wants to increase profitability, decrease costs and improve disbursement recovery at their firm. =

Some of these topics include:

*	How to double your profi= ts within the year:	Setting 3 easily attaina= ble goals will almost guarantee a doubling of profits within 12 months.
*	Managing a Law Firm effectively:	Practical tips and techniques on how to manage a law firm like the profit-based busine= ss it should be.
*	Striving towards a paper= less office:	Boost your productivity = by placing electronic information at your fingertips.
*	Effective Reporting to Client:	We will show you how to automate this tedious yet essential function.
*	Disbursement Recovery:	Recording every disburse= ment is a daunting task faced by every law firm. We will discuss methods= to track these costs and ensure they are billed for.
*	Managing your (business) debtors & creditors:	How to ‘collect ea= rly and pay late’ - the secret to improving your cash flow.
*	Break free from the cloc= k:	Increasing productivity = is one way for a time-based professional to earn more by working smart= er, not harder. We will discuss ways to achieve this.

The seminars that were held during 2007 and the first half of 2008 got ra= ve reviews and should not be missed.

If you would like to know more about the Seminars or would like to atten= d, please contact us on: 0861 711 150 as soon as possible because seats are limited at some of the venues.<= span style=3D'color:blue'>

* * * * * * * * * *

Live Updates

We are constantly adding new features to the LegalSuite Program. It is therefore important to do a Live Update on a regular basis - we suggest= at least twice a month. This will ensure that you always have the latest version of the program and will assist us in supporting you. If you are= on an older version, it is sometimes difficult for us to re-create your er= rors as we don't keep copies of the older versions. In this instance, = we will often advise you to run a live update before we will be able to as= sist you.

Please do n= ot hesitate to contact our Call Centre on: 0861= 711 150 should you have problems running your live updates or if you= are not sure how to run them.

ATTORNEY CIRCULAR NO. 2/2008

COMMERCIAL PROPERTY FINANCE GHOSTINSTRUCT AND OTHER ISSUES EFFECTIVE 10 APRIL 2008

Ghostinstruct:

Attorney Circular No. 8/2007, dated= 30 November 2008, refers. Our plan to use ConveyCentral as a reporting function was foiled by the unstable nature of the platform. We have thus been in negotiation and planning sessions with Korbitec to come up with= a different system, and after much development we are happy to advise that from 1 May 2008 we will be in a position to go live with automation.

Amendments = and Variations

A gentle reminder – when amendments to the loan agreement are requested by clients, please use the relevant e-mail addresses provided for such requests. Amendments are requested when changes need to be made to a loan agreeme= nt which has not yet been signed by the client.

= To view a copy of this circular, click here.

SEARCH WORKS

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Humour Departmen= t

GRANDMA GOES TO C= OURT

3DGrandma <= /p>

Lawyers should never ask a grandma a question if they aren't prepared for the answer.

In a trial, a small-town prosecuting attorney called his first witne= ss, a grandmotherly, elderly woman to the stand.

He approached her and asked, ' Mrs. Jones , do you know me?' She responded, 'Why, yes, I do know you, Mr. Williams . I've known you since you were a boy, and frankly, you've been a big disappointment to me. You lie, you cheat on your wife, and you manipulate people and talk about t= hem behind their backs. You think you're a big shot when you haven't the br= ains to realize you'll never amount to anything more than a two-bit paper pusher. Yes, I know you.'

The lawyer was stunned. Not knowing what else to do, he pointed acro= ss the room and asked, ' Mrs. Jones , do you know the defense attorney?' <= /p>

She again replied, 'Why yes, I do. I've known Mr. Bradley since he w= as a
youngster, too. He's lazy, bigoted, and he has a drinking problem. He c= an't build a normal relationship with anyone, and his law practice is one of= the worst in the entire state. Not to mention he cheated on his wife with t= hree different women. One of them was your wife. Yes, I know him.'

The defense attorney nearly died.

The judge asked both counsellors to approach the bench and, in a very quiet voice, said, 'If either of you idiots asks her if she knows me, I= 'll send you both to the electric chair.'

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L= egalSuite Training

Training COURSES AND Workshops

= Training your staff is an essential part of running your office more productively and effectively. We have various training CD's as well as printed manua= ls available to our users that can assist in getting to know the program better. These are available free of charge via our Call Centre on: <= span style=3D'color:blue'>0861 711 150

= The following people can be contacted for more information about training in your area:

Area:	Contact Person:	Contact Details:
Durban & General Enquiries	Susan Brown / Dale Button	0861 711150
Johannesburg & Surrounds	Wide Network Consultants	016 362 0289 / 082 460 5663
Johannesburg & Surrounds	Law - Way Accounting	083 530 6512
Free State, Eastern & Northern Cape	Prokrock Konsultante cc	082 782 8834
Pretoria & Surrounds	Protext Office Automation CC	012 - 346 2782 / 083 272 1014
Western Cape	PM&A Consulting & Marketing CC	021 - 531 1136

= Alternatively call our Support Call Centre on: 0861 711= 150 or send E-mail queries to: info@legalsuite.co.za

Yo= u can view back issues of our Newsletter and the Attorney circulars from the financial institutions on the website at www.legalsuite.co.za.

If= you have any questions, queries or comments about this newsletter, please con= tact Susan Brown: susan@legalsuite.co.za =

= To unsubscribe from this newsletter click here

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