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A Final Post

This will be my last post to this blog, as I am no longer using Linux in my law office.

First, I have to thank everyone who still follows this blog despite my inactivity. I hope some of the information posted here has proven useful (or at least interesting).

Now, on to my decision to stop using Linux:

I’m happy to report that, after less than 10 months, my solo practice has taken off. I have a steady workload balanced between public defense work, bankruptcy, and general civil cases. Overall, I’m very pleased.

In late February, I got busy enough that I had to hire a part time legal assistant. I was very fortunate to have access to an experienced part-time assistant. However, my assistant was using her own Windows based computer, and I did not have time to deal with the various compatibility issues which would undoubtedly arise, nor did I have the time to teach her Linux and Openoffice.

Regardless, I had already begun to re-think my Linux office prior to hiring an assistant. My Dell Vostro was not performing optimally; specifically, sleep mode did not work, some applications seemed to respond slowly, Evolution had some nasty bugs, and Openoffice lacked features I really missed with very slow development.

The real deal killer was my inability to obtain bankruptcy petition preparation software for Linux. This forced me to use a VM to run Windows XP within Linux. I used it so much that it began to beg the question: why not just run Windows? Another major issue was PDF editing, which is absolutely necessary for doing bankruptcy work.

Of course, things always look greener on the other side of the fence. So I installed Vista on my laptop back in February and gave it some time.

After 3 months, I can say for certain that it was a good switch. My laptop is much more functional with a working sleep mode, proper web-cam drivers, and optimized display drivers. Adobe Acrobat 9.5 Pro is a dream: fast, easy, and really powerful. My bankruptcy petition software works great, and I find Microsoft Office to be more stable than Openoffice.

I still believe Zimbra is an excellent solution for law office email, calendar, and contacts. When I made the switch, these stayed synced with my server and I had no data loss fears. Although I no longer use the briefcase feature of Zimbra (webdav is too buggy), the email and calendar features are outstanding. It also incorporates seamlessly into Outlook 2007 (although the Zimbra desktop client is as good or better in certain ways).

To be fair, I do have to worry about security issues with Windows, and I do run into occasional minor frustrations.

I still believe Linux is ready for the law office; however, it has to be a personal decision. If you have older hardware and a small budget, it’s an outstanding option. In my case, it kept initial costs low, and allowed me to transition to Windows later when I was sure it was necessary. Cross-platform applications like Zimbra or Google Apps can really help bridge the gap and make later conversions nearly trivial.

Of course, as Linux continues to improve and more software becomes available, I’ll be re-evaluating the best OS for my office. For now, I’ll be focusing my blogging time on marketing my growing practice.

Thanks for reading, and always feel free to email me with comments or questions.

What I Use to Manage My Practice: Zimbra by Yahoo!

Sam Glover has posted an invitation on his excellent Lawyerist blog for other attorneys to post about their case management setups.  I’ve been planning to post an update to this blog for a long time about mine, and so this presents an excellent opportunity.

I use a program by Yahoo!, called Zimbra.

But before I explain what why I’m now using Zimbra, I should talk about why I’m no longer using SugarCRM.  I stopped using SugarCRM a number of weeks ago because I ran into a number of problems.  In my last post about SugarCRM, I mentioned some of the annoying issues which I had worked around: slow response times, inability to quickly upload files, and inability of SugarCRM to sync with my cell phone.  After a few weeks, I realized I wasn’t using the documents feature because it took so long to upload every individual document in my practice.  I also tried converting a long time “Lead” into an “Opportunity” only to find that all the tasks and calendar dates for that contact had been duplicated in triplicate. This was a “feature” of SugarCRM, not a bug.  For me, it was the last straw.  I had to find something that fit my practice better.

I haven’t posted much lately because I’ve been extremely busy.  In January I received two sub-contracts as a public defender.  This work ensures the survival of my new solo practice for the foreseeable future.  But it also keeps me in court for two to four days per week with limited access to my computer and no secretary.  Fortunately, this hasn’t been a problem thanks to my mobile phone and new case management system.

My Case Management Setup

Following Sam Glover’s template, here’s how my case management system works:

• Calendar: Zimbra.  Zimbra has an excellent integrated AJAX calendar with as many features as Google Calendar, including iCal export and import, syncing to a WM or blackberry phone, group scheduling with free/busy and calendar sharing, all integrated with contacts and mail.

• Tasks/to-dos: Zimbra.  This is a newer feature in Zimbra and is improving fast.  It currently supports multiple task lists, due dates, completion status, reminders, and email integration; everything you’d expect in a standard task list.  Upcoming in version 6.0 this summer is mobile task sync and calendar integration.
• Contacts: Zimbra.  Contacts are integrated with email and calendar, supports LDAP, vcard import/export, multiple address books, over the air sync.
• E-mail: Zimbra.  Hosting with over the air “push” to my mobile device, ability to quickly add calendar dates, tasks, and contacts from within an email.
  
  Note too that Zimbra supports a “tag” system, where the same tags can be applied to calendar dates, tasks, contacts, and emails.
• Word processing / document creation: Open Office and Zimbra.  I wouldn’t go as far as to say Open Office is better than MS Office (Word 2007, for instance, is pretty nice) but I do think it’s at least as good for most things once you get to know it.  I have some doubts about the OO project, worthy of another post. 
  
  I also use Zimbra’s internal wiki engine (similar to Google Notebook) for storing research notes and case memos. 
  
  But here’s the real feature that sold me on Zimbra: the Briefcase.  This is essentially a webdrive that you can access within Zimbra to store files in a standard folder structure.  But rather than just uploading files, you can map it as a standard network drive and treat it like any other folder on your computer.  No having to click ten times to upload that file - just save it right to the briefcase into your client’s folder.
• PDF creation: Open Office, PDF Edit, and Adobe Acrobat 8 (via VM).  PDF Edit is OK, but it doesn’t beat Adobe Acrobat, which I still use a lot for bankruptcy filings.  Fortunately, Virtualbox works great for hosting a Windows XP image in Windows, so with a few clicks I can use Acrobat within Ubuntu.  I also use the built in PDF printer in Ubuntu.

• Timekeeping & billing: Freshbooks.  Another vote here for Freshbooks, which I love for invoicing and expenses.  It gives me the ability to accept Amazon and Paypal payments, email invoices, and maintain a simple client extranet to distribute documents.  The time tracking feature is also great.  The API also enables lots of widgets and 3rd party integration.
• Bookkeeping / accounting: Buxfer and ?.   I use Buxfer as my checkbook register, as it syncs to my bank and credit cards to keep all my transactions in a central place.  It also provides nice payment due warnings to my email  What I’m still seeking is an efficient way to combine Freshbooks and Buxfer into a true accounting program that’ll track my income and expenses without a lot of duplicate entry (ie importing bank statements as well as my freshbooks invoices and contacts).  I’m currently evaluating IAC-EZ.
• Backup: Zimbra.  Here’s another awesome selling point to Zimbra.  It’s developed and licensed by Yahoo!, so bug fixes and new features are released regularly.  But, unlike Google applications, Zimbra can either be self-hosted (open source server) or hosted by licensed providers.  These providers charge a nominal fee for hosting.  For example, my host at www.01.com charges $40/year for my single user account and provides excellent 24/7 support, regular upgrades, and nightly backups all from an enterprise data center in Chicago, Illinois.

Still a skeptic of “the cloud?”  Understandable, so was I.  Not for security reasons (as Sam Glover points out, most hosts are more secure than self hosting; additionally, I utilize Ubuntu’s integrated “encrypt” feature for sensitive client data and sign the files with a 256 bit signature).  What I used to worry about was simple: not being able to access my files! 

That is, until I discovered the Yahoo Zimbra Desktop client.  This awesome desktop program runs the AJAX web client locally on your computer and actively syncs with the server creating a local copy of your email, contacts, calendar, tasks, and (most importantly) your briefcase.  In other words, if you lose your Internet connection, you can still access all of your files. It also lets you download your entire account into one massive zipped file of a few gigabytes.  I run the desktop client on my desktop and laptop at home, and create a full backup every month onto an external harddrive to ensure I always have multiple recent backups.

Now for a true story.  A few weeks ago, an odd thing happened: my entire Zimbra drive got deleted.  I’m still not sure if it was due to me messing around with things (I have a tendency to do that…) or some server issue.  But regardless, I think most attorneys would completely freak out if they lost all their files, emails, calendar dates, tasks, and contacts at 11:30pm on a Saturday night.  I, however, was only slightly concerned and mostly out of frustration that I wasn’t sure what exactly I did.  But I had no real fear, since my Desktop clients had everything stored locally, safe and sound.  I quickly made a backup just to be safe, filed a trouble ticket, and a couple hours later my entire law office was restored.

So how does Zimbra work in practice?  Here’s another real life story: during court I got a call from a new client, who left a voice mail on my office phone which was sent as an attachment to an email and pushed to my cell.  Between hearings I listened to the message, returned the call, added the client’s information into my phone address book, and scheduled an appointment on my calendar.  Both the contact and calendar date instantly synced to my Zimbra account.  Later, I needed to find a client’s phone number (who didn’t show for a hearing, grrr), which was no problem since my cell’s address book is always up-to-date.  During hearings, I never hesitate to take out my phone and tell the judge exactly when I’m available,  since my calendar is always current.

The future looks even brighter for this setup.  Task syncing is coming soon (I can’t wait!) and I’m still looking hard for a way to access my entire Zimbra webdav drive from my phone. At that point, my Scansnap shall render me all powerful, and I anticipate an ascension to some higher level of consciousness.

And, of course, I have to note that Zimbra is completely platform independent.  It works in Windows, Mac, and Linux.  It integrates with all major desktop email clients, which allows for nice integration in Gnome (via Evolution).

I hope this article gives you some small idea how absolutely pleased I am with Zimbra.  The desktop client is free, and works with any email account (including gmail).  There is also a great live demo of the server-side version available.  Give it a test drive and see for yourself!