Today, Virtual LOOP welcomes Legislative Research Inc aboard as a Strategic Partner. LRI has a great reputation as a research company for attorneys who need legislative interpretations. Below, the copy is taken from their home page.

ABOUT US

Experience Delivers Quality Legislative Research, Inc., was co-founded in 1983 by Carolina Rose, a Stanford Law School graduate.  This was preceded by 7 years of intense, hands-on work in the California State Legislature, during which time she had personal responsibility for over 200 bills.  After answering countless questions about the legislative history and intent of her office's legislation, she decided to start her own legislative research company with a strong focus on quality and depth.  Ms. Rose directs a talented team of researchers and personally designs and oversees all of LRI's research methodologies.  Her commitment to excellence remains the driving force behind every LRI research report.      Customized Research LRI specializes in providing high-quality, custom research on the history and intent of: Constitutional provisions Statutes and codes Rules and regulations Local ordinances All states and federal   Other Governmental Research LRI provides a number of options for historical research affecting the enactment of laws.  This has a beneficial, collateral affect on our general knowledge of governmental processes and activities across the board.  LRI makes this collateral expertise available for any government related research project.   Expert Witness & Consulting Services LRI's clients benefit from Carolina Rose's rich depth of experience.  Not only is she available for expert witness services, she also provides: Guidance in refining the research focus Points and authorities for gaining judicial notice of the records MCLE services Complimentary research and advocacy aids   Depth Delivers Success LRI kudos include this thanks from prevailing counsel in Courtesy Ambulance Service of San Bernardino v. State Compensation Fund (1992) 8 Cal.App.4th 1504: Please accept our gratitude for the terrific research and analysis you provided us... [The Courtesy] court, relying heavily upon your analysis, ... ruled [in our favor]. Better yet, this victory paved the way for two others: Maxon Industries, Inc. v. State Compensation Fund (1993) 16 Cal.App.4th 1387, and Security Officers Service, Inc. v. State Compensation Ins. Fund (1993) 17 Cal.App.4th 887.   Customer Service Leads to Savings LRI assists you in quickly narrowing your research focus to only those enactments affecting the language of interest.  Why order unnecessary research, especially if it can cost substantially more?  We also offer a wide variety of turn-around times - eight different options, to be exact.  You will find the perfect fit for your budget.   Choices, Choices, Choices LRI is the proved leader of innovative customer service in our field.  We believe in exceeding expectations by offering a multitude of choices. Internet Accessibility.  Our most popular report format is an Internet PDF download, which features the newest generation of technology.  By harnessing the power and speed of the 21st century for the benefit of our clients today, LRI offers many of the advantages that everyone has come to expect in the digital world, such as optional keyword searches with copy and paste capability, bookmarks and links. Hardcopy and CD.  On the other hand, if hardcopy in a 3-ring binder or a CD suits your better, we can certainly meet your needs. Budget Sensitivity.  LRI provides numerous service options that are linked to budget sensitivity.  Your needs are our priorities.   User-Friendly All of our reports are formatted like a book - making them exceptionally easy to use - and include: A court-ready, signed authentication Bates-stamped paging for easy reference A table-of-contents style, annotated index which cites sources for all records Points and authorities for gaining judicial notice

WHITE PAPER

The advantages of being a paperless Law Firm

Including a

 Case study of Velez PA and Miranda PA

03/09/09 

Paperless ?     What does it mean to go “paperless”?  The correct term should really be to go with “paper reduction”.  When a client’s case is put together, there is a certain amount of original paper documents that are necessary for documentation.  However, when a document is handled and stored and retrieved and then stored again, the chance of human error slips into the equation, i.e. it gets put in wrong file or section or worse, shredded by accident.  The original papers can only be in one place at one time.  You make copies, you mail, you fax and get paper confirmations, and then, you put papers in folders with tabbed pages and in-house paper forms to track your work and your conversations. Law offices today are experiencing a paper blizzard of biblical proportion. It is also not being eco-friendly.  Where does it all end?

Time ?             If paper shuffling wasn’t enough, what about the physical time requirements to handle all this paper?  The traffic created retrieving and replacing files along with trips to the printer adds up in time.  Writing handwritten notes back and forth, handwritten checklists, emailing back and forth about the notes, and then making copies of everything! What happens when someone can’t come to work?  How many hours or days do you and your staff, spend trying to figure out where that person left off on files and then re-assign the various tasks to someone else in the office?  How many clients can you ethically represent without sacrificing quality or having to add staff? 

The Files          Files grow like gardens, with just a little nurturing they can grow to become big and strong files, growing until they reach maturity where they can be several inches thick.  They can multiply and repeat the growing process. An attorney once told me that she had pondered getting paid by the pound of paperwork because she would probably double her income. Some people refer to files as the “great abyss” and talk about “sending people into the file” like it’s an extra room to retrieve documents.  Legends and bragging rights are written about the size of a client’s file.  Files also tend to gather on desktops like people gathering around the water cooler. I have seen as many as 18 files on a law firm’s desk at one time.

The Office       A typical small law firm will have an office space occupying 1500 to 3000 S.F. with a reception area, a conference area, coffee area and a variety of other cubicles.   Ten to twenty percent of any office is dedicated to the “filing room”. Another, smaller, percentage of the office is occupied by a collection of law books and other related material.

The Technology          Computers are on every desk and have a myriad of applications to assist in the daily operation of the office.  Applications also seem to sprout revisions as fast as the files multiply.  As a Law office you continually update and train to keep up with the latest version #19.03 of whatever software you are using.  More money is spent on upgrades, more downtime with staff training instead of being productive.  What about integrating (putting band-aids on) non-compatible software packages that can cause the crashing of the computer system and sends everyone off on a long coffee break. 

Billing/Invoicing        Manually doing these tasks allows a lot of billable hours to slip through the cracks.  Inconsistencies will cost a law firm thousands of dollars.

The Staff         They were hired by you because they possessed certain skill sets you need in the daily operations of your office.  After the first 90 days they are pretty comfortable with the day to day running of your office.  There is a very high loyalty among smaller law office workers.  There is also a great sense of pride in their work in most small law offices.

The Decision               You hold an office meeting and discuss joining the 21^st century and going paperless by being on the web virtually.  It’s a brave new world trusting some else, a third party, to manage and secure all your innermost documents.  Peace of mind isn’t exactly how you would describe this moment. But, you’ve made the management decision that this is the right direction to go for your law firm, both from a cost standpoint and an efficiency one.  First, you research and find everyone in the market has a great deal, but you have to ask, is it the best deal for your law firm?  What about features and costs, are they fixed or flexible?

Flexibility                    There is one web application benchmark that doesn’t change, it is flexibility.  How much flexibility do you get with the application you are looking at?  In other words, how much control do you retain in your day to day operation?  Is everything fixed, rigid, hardcoded where you can change only a few things?  Does anything you want changed need to be done by the providers programmer and you get billed?

The Clients                 In this study there are two attorneys, Andres Velez PA and Ginger Miranda PA; two legal assistants, Brenda Tapia and Debbie Perez; and a secretary, Barbara Saa.  It is an office with a very active client base.  They take on clients for family, criminal, real estate and immigration cases.  They hold office hours of 9-5PM Monday through Friday in Ft Pierce, Florida. The two attorneys work many after office hours to stay ahead on client’s cases, office paperwork and office management and the client billing.  Technology wise they have online case research, and a computer network within the office and VPN setup to work off-site.

First meeting              In our first meeting in September 2008, Andy Velez and I sat down and went over their office procedures.  Typically, all files start with the Status of “intake”, an information gathering stage to decide whether to take on the client.  Once the client has been accepted the status changes to “New”, more information, contracts and documents get exchanged and retainer fees collected.  Then there are the three stages of “Working”; Working pre-lit, Working lit, Working post lit.  This is the meat of representing clients. Basically, you will negotiate a settlement, argue a case, or appeal a case.  After all this, the last stage is the “Close”, where letters are sent out to all parties and final accounting is done.  We talked about what Virtual LOOP is and does for solos and small law firms.

Virtual LOOP              The word LOOP stands for Law Office Operating Platform.  A web-based secured application that is accessible from any internet connection including PDA’s such as Blackberry and i-Phone.  You can run your office, add clients, do general ledger accounting, do case research, upload documents, check calendars, check on individual tasks within a case, reassign tasks, check on staff workloads, make notes, create time slips, do billing and invoicing, generate reports and much more.  You just need access to the internet. There aren’t any requirements for any software downloads or special hardware.  Updates are done seamlessly and automatically, you are notified through the users blog of any programming changes or new features added.

Implementation         The initial setting up of the virtual account is done in 15 to 30 minutes.  There are 2 installation wizards, one for your web account and the other for the general ledger.  These wizards walk you through the detailed steps and they can be modified easily.  You get to set up your account and accounting system to match what you have been doing all along.

In an October 2008 we had a meeting with the entire office to go over the application, everyone was intrigued as to how this was going to work and annoyed at my distracting them from their work.  They were gracious and once they were shown the application, partner, Ginger Miranda said she understood the concept and could appreciate all the time savings steps.  Everything was so easy to access, even the uploading and downloading was just a few simple clicks according to partner, Andy Velez. Over the next few months they uploaded their cases and really started to apply the application and all its features.   IT person, Iain Low, stated that while visiting their office, “it was the first time he had seen an entire office all working on the same application at the same time”.

The New Office          Months have gone by and on a recent visit I found an office that smiled a lot and had a lot less paper hanging around. Everyone seemed much calmer and more focused.

The Results                 Over the past 5 months, the law offices of Velez PA and Miranda PA have seen the following results.  They have reduced the work week by 10 hours between the two attorneys and they have been able to gain more clients without having to add more staff.  The efficiency of their office has improved by one third.  Financially, they have reduced costs and grown revenues since January 2009.

According to the charts you can see that saving 5% of your time printing is now moved to improving emailing duties.  The file handling savings created a 15% time savings that is now added to CSM phone calls and marketing for the law firm.

Conclusion     The cost savings are enormous.  These clients are able to run their office of 5 for an annual expense of $3,792 (and NO they aren’t going to get any extra frivolous billing from us).  If they had belonged to one of our affiliated bar associations they would have had to pay only $2,832 and saved an extra $960!!  The market shows that they would have to spend for a comparable application between $12,000 and $18,000 per year, if they could even get all the features found in one application such as Virtual LOOP.  This represents a savings to the clients of 68% to 79% (it would be 76% to 84% with the discount)!

By reducing the time spent on file management and printing, the clients were able to free up approximately 20% of their time.  Time savings for this office has allowed them to reallocate time to more income producing activities. Income producing activities such as emailing and calling current and past clients plus marketing to referrals and others about their offering of services.  This will further increase their revenue and increase the cost savings making the clients even more profitable.    

To get the full paper including charts and pics email me at allen@virtualloop.net

                                                                                                                                                                                                03/02/09

Hello everyone,                               

Welcome to the first edition of “In the LOOP”, Virtual LOOP’s Newsletter that will keep cyberspace up to date on everything happening to the virtual law office world. 

People continually ask us how we came up with the concept.  It all started in 1991 when an attorney friend complained about the high cost of online services especially research.  We came up with a prototype and took it to Legal Tech in 1992. The technology just wasn’t there to do it right and the project was shelved.

In 2007, we revisited the legal market and discovered that not a lot of things had changed, only the window dressings.  Technology had matured but not the market, why, because nobody asked the end users what they wanted!  So we began meeting with legal groups and asked them what they did, how they did it and in what order they did their jobs.

In 2008, we brought out the research and presented it to the market.  Everyone thought it was great and did amazing things for the researchers. The general population, however, wanted a more fully integrated application for their law offices.  The birth of the “platform concept” was given to us by Joe Caci of the Massachusetts Bar Association.  We are very grateful for his contributions in the development of this concept.

So, it was back to the drawing boards and in January 2009 we presented the Virtual LOOP (LOOP stands for Law Office Operating Platform).  A single application, web-based, secured, that runs everything a law firm needs in a simple, intuitive system that goes from start up to operational in 15 Minutes! All this is done without the need for extra hardware and software.

Easy to set up and use because of two wizards, the account wizard and the general ledger wizard who guide you through the setup of your personal office account.  There are help screens all along the way to assist you.  There is a Live Chat to instant message your questions and get an answer back in minutes, not hours or days.

 March 11^th 2009 will be the first of many instructional web seminars to really help users to maximize productivity in their offices.  If you would like an invitation, please email us at webinar@virtualloop.net . 

Remember, Don’t blame us if you are “Out of the LOOP”!

Allen Korson, CEO
Virtual Loop, Inc. creators of Virtual LOOP
439 SE Port Saint Lucie Blvd. Suite 101
Port Saint Lucie, FL 34984
772-873-6910 office
772-521-5206 cell

allen@virtualloop.net
www.virtualloop.net

New orleans was a great time. Met some important contacts and made many new friends at the National Ass. of Criminal Defense Lawyers meeting.  I met an attorney who said when shown Virtual LOOP that it was exactly what he had been looking for over the past 5 years! 

We have been using the system now for several months. It has helped us to streamline the work load in the office and made us more efficient. Also the staff at Virtual LOOP are easily accessible. Whenever we have issues, questions, suggested improvements, they get on it right away and usually within 24-48 hours we have our changes. The research tool is great because you can save your research so that if you get a similar issue to research, the research is already there and all you have to do is update it. The fact that you have access through any mobile device is an added plus. And of course, the price is right! No solo practioner/small law office should be without it!!!

SWWEEEET is never having to leave the Virtual LOOP to do research.

we have added task reassignment in the form of email notification!

The requests for time slips, invoicing, billing, general ledger and accounting are answered. Virtual LOOP has created all this plus a wizard to walk you through its set up.

Check out the new logo and website.  We currently have 3 bar associations signed up for member benefits. We have 10 other bar associations reviewing our product at this entry.

GREAT NEWS!!! We have been approved for members' benefit status with the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL).

Hi everyone,

Did you see the blog from Tony "thatlawyerdude"@blogspot.com, how exciting is that! Thanks Tony for your feedback.

I have been using the system now for about 2 months and just want to reiterate what Tony was saying about the product.  This has to be the most user friendly application I have ever used, if you don't believe me try it.  I recommend this to anyone who is looking for a way to simplify their workload and increase productivity.  You won't be sorry!!  Not to mention the affordability of it and these days every penny counts.

Hello everyone from rainy Florida, my stay in the sunshine state has so far been pretty cloudy. It's been raining and some baggage handler stole my computer, which really sux. Anyone who knows me knows that my computer is an extension of my arm. Fortunately my friend Catrina has offered to help me out and is taking this post down for me. (Everybody shout out to Catrina!)

I. One Product,One Price

OK so why am I so excited that I had to get a blog post out? Because about 2 months ago I ran into a new program that is changing my practice and saving me a ton of money. And I wanted to give it a good try out before I told others about it. The product is called The "LOOP" (Law Office Operating Platform)and after 2 months I can honestly say I LOVE IT!!! What I love about the "LOOP" system is:
1. it is easy to understand,
2. it is easy to enter information into,
3. it provides the total package in one complete program, and
4. even though they continue to add new features, they never raise the price. In fact, their business philosophy is one product at one price.

II.What is The "LOOP?"


Now, the "LOOP" is a combination of client management, task management, contact management, and research management, which is about to be combined with an accounting program that will capture all the work performed on a file. Whether one bills on the hour (something I do not suggest)or one handles his work through a value build system this operating platform will cut the back office costs by 30%. That's not even the best part of this program , the best part of this program is I have reduced my legal research costs by nearly $800.00 a month so far. Here is how it works. At a cost of $79.00 per month per user, I now have access to every statue and case law decision of every state and federal court in the country. Now WestLaw and Lexis charge over $800.00 per month for that privilege. Additionally, this program unlike LoisLaw is easily searchable, as easy to search as WestLaw and Lexis using Boolean and Natural Language. Additionally, with 2 clicks of my mouse I can move the case or the portion of the case I need right into the file or document I am working on. I can also permit my client and/or co-counsel to view this file at any time by assigning them the key code that only goes to that one file. In other words, the "LOOP" has the ability to act as an affordable intranet.(Actually that feature is in beta testing so it is coming, but guess what? It won't change the price!!)


III.Fully Customisable Interface

One of the things I hate about programs that come in a box is that they think one size fits all. There is nothing more annoying than having to try to fit a criminal defense into a client management program that was really designed to be used by personal injury lawyers. Matrimonial cases and Will cases are just fundamentally different. The one size fits all scheme forces me to lose time having to answer a bunch of questions or bypass tasks that have nothing to do with what I am working on. Not the "LOOP"! The "LOOP" system begins by asking you what client information you need and what tasks do you require. Now, I can use some of my buzz words (such as: send a CPL240.20 Notice; as opposed to Discovery Notices, which would be used in a civil case). I can assign tasks to my employees and partners and they can file journal entries as the task becomes completed.

IV. Integration is the Key

By having a platform that customizes all of a clients file within one program, I can easily begin to see patterns among witnesses and cases. The "LOOP" is completely searchable so I can enter the name of a police officer and find out all the cases I have with him. I can enter notes on Prosecutors and Judges and build "a book" on them just like they do in the big firms. I can easily conflict check and finally, I can review tasks and arguments that worked or did not work in other cases similar to the one I am working on. I have yet to see any program that doesn't cost thousands of dollars per year that does this. Most programs like this are out of financial reach for the small and solo practitioners. Now you know why I am excited.

V. 15 Day FREEBIE On Me!

Ok just so you don't think "That Lawyer Dude" is not looking out for his "peeps", I spoke to the President of The "LOOP" and I have arranged for all of my faithful (and you first timers too) Readers to get a FREE 15 day tryout of this thing. If you sign in using this Promotion Code (SB111111) You get the 15 days free. NO STRINGS ATTACHED. So give it a try on good ole' TLD.

Now don't say I never did anything to help you.

Oh yeah one other thing. All the information you place on the "Loop" is stored on their site and backed up on another site far from the first one... That means when some jackass baggage handler from JET BLUE or the Transportation Security Administration (now there is an Oxymoron) steals your laptop, you can still find and use your files. Why? Because The "Loop" works on PDAs and Smartphones. ALL OF THEM (not just I-phones)

I'll be back soon, as soon as I can find a new computer.

Virtual Loop created and launched the “LOOP” on July 1, 2008 and it is quickly becoming the benchmark in small law office management.  Anyone who has seen the product realizes that for the first time all the components of a small law office operation exist in a single product.   Not only is it PDA compatible, it is also Macintosh compatible.  The “LOOP” is a secured web-based virtual paperless application that only requires internet access.   Being a virtual system the user has a built in disaster recovery plan.  Additionally, starting at less than $100 per month, this product is affordable both to the small law firm and solo practitioner. 

Included in the application offerings are: Client Management, Task Management, Contact Management, Research Management, 3^rd Party Integration, and Time/Billing Entry. Two exclusive features of our product are our notation and multiple research engine option.  Our notation allows the user to add notes to the court cases and have them proprietary to their account only.  The other half of our notation system is an easy to use click-cut-paste system to keep notes on emails, phone calls, letters, and meetings.  The multiple research engine option (i.e. Fast Case, Case Maker, and USCL etc.) allows our users to choose the search engine with any applicable subscription and compare search results.

We have an account wizard available for the initial login and is additionally available under the help tab.  The account wizard will literally walk the user through the set up of a client’s account.  Also, located under the help tab are detailed power point slides aiding the user in all aspects of the “LOOP”.   We also have a live chat available in an IM format to assist any user immediately vs. phone calls to tech support and having to leave messages thereby reducing downtime.

In summary, users who are “IN THE LOOP” will control their costs and be able to budget monthly with certainty because of our one price business model.  With our user friendly system, there will be less stress from downtime and system crashes.  Running your office from your laptop or PDA now makes it possible from anywhere to check on staff, clients, and activities.  So when you are on the beach in Maui, or at the ski chalet in Colorado, don’t be hard on those who are “OUT OF THE LOOP”.

Allen Korson, CEO

Virtual Loop creators of the “LOOP”

Law Office Operating Platform

772-873-6910 office

772-521-5206 cell

allen@onepricelaw.com

www.virtualloop.net

www.onepricelaw.com