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| Amicus Attorney IV | Case Management |
 Amicus Attorney IV, the latest version of Gavel
& Gown Software's venerable case-management program, is now shipping -- and replete
with useful enhancements. There are now three versions of Amicus Attorney: Organizer
Edition, Advanced Edition, and Client/Server Edition. Organizer is for single users and
includes the essential Amicus Attorney case management tools. The Advanced Edition is
network-ready for a maximum of 29 users. It includes the improved DO button,
synchronization with Palm organizers and other useful features. The Client/Server edition
is geared toward firms with up to 200 networked users. It includes support for WANs, and
remote update via modem or the Internet.Gone are the old Assistant Office and Lawyer Office. Today's users enjoy both programs' full capabilities, although not all users can be installed as "timekeepers." There's no longer a separate team product. All copies of the Advanced and the Client/Server editions are network capable straight out of the box.
Otherwise, your receptionist can send you a regular message through the program's Call Center. All unreturned messages will be listed on one screen. You can check them off as you return the calls (just like a To-Do). You can also forward them to another user to handle. What's more, "Today's Calls and Messages" are organized together on one screen for easy user access. There are now two views available for each Amicus module: small or large. If you're using a larger monitor, Amicus Attorney can be difficult to see at times. You can now switch to a "large" view, which increases the size of each module as well as the information displayed. The DO button has also been improved. Although a powerful feature, it was somewhat limited in previous versions. Now you can use the DO button to send e-mail, link to Web sites or check a file's status. For those lawyers working in teams, Amicus Attorney now supports customizable groups. There's also a special Workgroup which you can define under Setup for the group of people you work with most. Right-clicking in each module and on individual items now displays more options. For example, printing is now an option when you click a To-Do item. You can now insert a date/time stamp into Notes by pressing Ctrl-T. Thus, you can date/time stamps notes, Stickies, or other entries in Amicus. The date/time stamp also inserts your initials to identify the date/time stamp. A major enhancement is the ability to sort entries in the Files Brad in reverse chronological order. Previously, all entries were sorted chronologically. This meant users had to scroll to the end of the list to view the last entry. Now they can reverse the order and view the newer entries at the top of the list. Amicus Attorney now includes many more custom fields (up to 50), all with customizable layouts. You can have multiple custom pages per file. This allows you to record all kinds of information about a file. I plan to update all of my lease and real estate files to include more custom pages so that the information I need is readily available. This should avoid trips to the paper file. Each file's administrative pages are now accessible on the File Brad instead of on a separate screen. I'm not sure that this is an improvement. Previously, you either viewed the file details or worked with the administrative information, which was all on one screen. Now there are four screens of administrative information available from the drop-down menu on the file brad. There are also new "right-click" options. For example, if you have the Files list displayed, you can right-click a file name and select Time Entry to go right to the Time Sheets module to enter time for the file. Attaching documents to a Files Brad page has also been enhanced. You can now link a file, folder, URL or other document. If you store a URL and click View, you can run your browser to view the link. The Calendar module now includes two small calendars above the To-Do list. By default, it shows the current and next month. There are options for Today, Week, Month, Year, and Events run along the right side of the daily calendar like tabs on a small notebook calendar. In the Month-at-a-Glance view, you can select from a pop-down list to display Appointments and To-Dos, just To-Dos or Appointments. This is a useful enhancement as you generally don't want To-Dos to clutter your screen when you check your Calendar for the month. There are many new Calendar reports and printouts. Several come in color, and you can now print standard Franklin Covey, Day-Timeer and Day Runner formats. I've always found Contacts to be somewhat limited in Amicus because of the three-card display (i.e., Office, Home and Other cards). This once limited the information I could enter about a person. Fortunately, the limitation has now been lifted. There are now more than 20 custom fields with customizable layouts. There are 20 phone number/communication fields available for each contact. Another useful enhancement to Amicus is its improved "right-click" menu. When you right-click on a contact in the program's Contacts Index, a menu pops up that allows you to call, fax or e-mail your clients. (Other options are also available.) Thus, you can call someone and have the New Phone Call dialog pop-up complete with phone number, without ever opening the Contact. However, this "right-click" menu doesn't appear to be available for contacts in other modules. The Time Sheets module includes support for Uniform Task-Based Management System codes. There's also centralized accounting set-up which can be accomplished via the Amicus Administrator, if you are using PCLaw or Timeslips. Individual users on a network don't have to post time. Time can be posted for everyone by the Administrator. There's also an enhanced link with TABS III. Amicus now includes the Seagate Crystal Reports print engine which enhances the reporting capabilities. There are more pre-defined reports, including more than 50 workstation-level reports and more than 35 a dministrator-level reports. Additional report packs are available. You can create your own custom reports if you purchase the Seagate Crystal Reports database reporting tool. Accessing custom fields in document assembly has been improved. Instead of having to insert something like "Custom Field Page 1 Field 2," for instance, you can use the actual name of the Custom Field. Document assembly works with MS Word 2000 and WordPerfect 9. There's a new Custom Fields toolbar for HotDocs. The program's Administrator module has been enhanced for network users. If there is an update to Amicus, instead of each user separately having to install it from disks, it can be distributed by the Administrator and the update will run the next time you start Amicus Attorney. The new version of Amicus Attorney also contains an improved import/export. A really useful feature in the Client/Server Edition is the program's ability to schedule an automatic backup. Also, backups can be stored in more than one location at the same time. Amicus Attorney IV is another winner from Gavel & Gown. It improves network capabilities while adding many useful enhancements for team members. |
Gavel & Gown Software Inc. (800) 472-2289 www.amicusattorney.com Windows 95, 98, NT Organizer: $49; Advanced: $299; Reviewed by Richard C. Belthoff Jr., chief operations officer/director of real estate, Compass Group, Charlotte, N.C. PROS CON VERDICT |
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One major new addition to Amicus Attorney is its Call Center. Instead of using
pink phone message slips, your receptionist can simply send you a phone message through
Amicus. If a call is urgent and the caller is holding, he or she can send you an Urgent
message. A Stickie note will pop-up on your screen and your computer speaker will ring.
You can then decide whether to take the call.