Legal Ease Marketing Database

Legal Ease Marketing Database

Most law firms store their marketing data in a database or word processing merge file. Although this provides the ability to print labels for mailings, it offers very little ability to leverage this information. Cole Valley Software fills this automation need with its Legal Ease Marketing Database, a program that provides easy access to addresses, client information and marketing data to everyone in your firm.

Legal Ease installs from three disks that run in a DOS window. This installation previews the 16-bit underpinnings of the product.

Legal Ease 4.4 is written in FoxPro, a popular database program. The first time you open the program, it requests a user name and password. The initial screen displays a button bar on the left hand side with titles: Help, Lookup, Address Book, Marketing, Attorneys, Copy to Clipboard, Mail Merge, Update Calendar, Print and Statistical Summary. As you select a button, a new window is opened. For example, the Address Book displays individual and company information on each of your contacts. Unfortunately, the button titles disappear after any window is opened, and no pop-up hints are available.

Records are displayed in a View mode so you can retrieve the information you need without accidentally changing a record. To modify records, you have to click on the Change button.

Phone numbers can be recorded in four fields: Company, Fax, Direct or Other. You can call clients using your modem by clicking on the phone icon to the right of the number. A log of the phone call can also be recorded.

Legal Ease provides quick access to the contacts you have worked with most recently. Under the File menu, a list of your last 10 contacts is displayed.

Tracking the source of your business is important. Legal Ease does a fine job of tracking referral sources, attorneys and mailing lists. You can also capture client information such as client number, type of business and other contacts.

Legal Ease can provide a significant boost to your marketing efforts via the client information it captures. The program stores information on each client in four areas: Activities, Plan, Matters and Billing. The Plan button provides a convenient place for you to detail an individualized marketing plan for that client. Be aware that the Matters button may return an error message, causing the program to abort prematurely.

In certain situations, you may want to keep information private. Any notes in the program (including activity notes) can be kept private by checking the "Private" box on the screen.

The latest version of Legal Ease provides integration with GroupWise and other e-mail clients. Store the e-mail address for your clients and send them a message from within Legal Ease to invoke your e-mail client. A log of the e-mail message can also be entered. Similarly, Web site addresses can be stored in Legal Ease. Clicking on a Web address will bring up your browser.

Legal Ease can be integrated with your other applications (e.g., a word processor for mail merge), but you need to set up the location for the applications (to do this, look under Utilities, Setup, Users). It would be nice if you could just browse to the application's location.

New to this version is Query-by-Example, a feature that lets you search for information by building your query directly from the Address Book, Marketing or Attorney screens. Choose the fields for your query and use the drop-down menus to select specific items. The search results are returned in a separate window. The query is retained and can be modified for a new search.

Legal Ease also has text searching across the database, and you can search in all tables or limit the search to selected tables.

Legal Ease is great for tracking clients, contacts and marketing information. However, experienced computer users will find it awkward to use, particularly in Windows 95. Each time you access a module, a new window is opened. Unfortunately, how to exit these windows is not obvious. Generally, you have to click on the program icon in the upper left-hand corner and choose Close. You can't close things the Windows way because the "x" in the upper right-hand corner is greyed out. Take heart, however, because Cole Valley is currently working on a 32-bit program that should be available in the next few months.

Cole Valley Software
(415) 759-8878
www.colevalley.com
Windows

$995 and up

Reviewed by J. Michael Jimmerson, attorney, author and technology consultant, Altman Weil Inc., Chicago, Ill.

Aug/Sep '98 Issue

PROS
Marketing program written for the legal market. Customization available but not required.

CONS
16-bit product that shows its Fox Pro roots. Awkward to navigate through screens.

VERDICT
Legal Ease can provide a significant boost to your firm's marketing efforts, but those using Windows 95/98 may want to wait for the upcoming 32-bit version.