Legal Wit
"It ain't no sin if you crack a few laws now and then, just so long as you don't break any." |
|
Mae West as Peaches O'Day
in the film Every Day's a Holiday |
[Return to top]
How ProDoc Can Help You Cope with the Tough Financial Times
These are scary times and it's even more so for solo and small firms when it seems like it's only you against the world. We hear from enough of your colleagues to know that you're facing difficult and trying times.
And, we want to remind you of some of the ways that ProDoc can help you weather the times:
- Keep matters that you may have formerly referred out - Our subscription program provides you access to the forms you need for many areas of law in which you formerly may not have an interest. While we cannot make you an expert in those areas of law, our automated forms will help you tremendously in those areas that are not as familiar to you.
- Add new areas of law to your practice - We've heard of litigators adding family law cases to their practices, of family law attorneys adding estate planning to their practices, of real estate attorneys adding probate to their practices, etc. Visit here to see all the areas of law that ProDoc covers.
- Use ProDoc to your advantage in your marketing - Take advantage of the incredible efficiency ProDoc provides you for rainmaking purposes. For instance, when marketing your legal services to small businesses, you might offer to provide greatly-reduced-rate wills packages to the firm's employees in return for all of their legal business. This is a win-win for everyone because you can generate the documents so quickly and the business has another benefit for its employees.
- Consider alternative billing that is more consumer friendly - As consumers are squeezed more and more they will shop even more for their legal representation. For many consumers, flat fee billing is very attractive because it limits their risks and enables them to compare lawyer fees. And, while flat fee billing can be daunting to you, the efficiency ProDoc provides your firm reduces much of the risk to you. ProDoc provides you a major competitive advantage over non-ProDoc firms when it comes to enticing new clients.
And, if you are going to rely even more on ProDoc, we suggest that you invest some time in our free training to squeeze all the efficiency you possibly can from your ProDoc investment. Call 800-759-5418, option 1 to schedule training for yourself or for you and your staff.
You can also go to our training page, review the available topics, and register to take view any that interest you.
Or, review our self-running video training offerings and invest a few minutes any time of the day or night in learning some new skills in ProDoc.
[Return to top]
Update Review
This being a Texas legislative year, you will receive a massive update from us in late August containing all the changes that are effective September 1. We will also send you an update in December containing changes that are effective January 1, 2010. Our attorney-developer team and our Texas Jurisdiction Lead are already monitoring the
early bill activity. As always, you'll have all of the changes reflected in your ProDoc forms prior to the date that the underlying legislative changes take effect.
Both of those updates will probably come to you via CDs.
Child Support Calculator Update Reminder - We updated these files with the Attorney General's 2009 tax charts and they came to you in the late December Web Update. Now, you need to update the Child Support Calculator files on your Palm® and/or Windows Mobile® PDA. If you subscribe to the Family Law PowerPack, you have access to files for your Palm or Windows Mobile PDA that install on your device to calculate child support obligations anytime and anywhere. To install or update them, go here for instructions. Sorry, but this is not presently available for Blackberry® or iPhone® applications.
WebUpdates - You can expect several this year as local and agency form changes occur. Our WebUpdate feature enables us to provide you updates almost as quickly as the changes occur. This is what we will WebUpdate to your ProDoc early this year:
January
- Family Law - We're updating the Request for Copy of Tax Return and the Change of Address forms to match the versions promulgated by the IRS. The title of the Notice/Order to Withhold Income for Child Support is changing to Income Withholding for Support, matching the new title promulgated by the federal government. The form itself has not changed. References to the old title are also being replaced in the Request for Issuance of Order/Notice to Withhold Income for Child Support (Judicial Withholding), the Request for Issuance of Order/Notice to Withhold Income for Child Support (voluntary) and the Request for Issuance of Order/Notice to Withhold Income for Child Support (agreed). We updated the Request for Process, a local Bexar County form, to match the new version promulgated by Bexar County. Similarly, we updated the Tarrant County Child Support Office Record of Support to match the version issued by Tarrant County.
- Real Estate - The Texas Real Estate Commission (TREC) has updated the Consumer Notice Concerning Hazards or Repairs and we are matching our form to theirs. TREC has also issued two new forms: the Addendum for Reservation of Oil, Gas and Other Minerals and a Short Sale Addendum, which we are adding to the volume.
- Litigation - We're updating the Proof of Claim for use in the United States Bankruptcy Court.
- Business Organizations - We're updating five Certificates of Reinstatement (for profit, for non-profit, for a professional association, for a limited liability company and for a foreign entity) to include changes published by the Texas Secretary of State's office. We're also changing the Certificate of Merger and the Certificate of Conversion to match changes published by the Secretary of State's office.
February
- Real Estate - The HUD-1 and HUD-1A have been replaced and we will send the new versions in this WebUpdate. This includes all three versions of the HUD-1 which we offer: Standard, Borrower Information Only, and Seller Information Only.
Be sure that you have installed the December update before you install the WebUpdate.
[Return to top]
Customer Questions from the Last WebNotes
The following questions were from ProDoc customers like you in response to the last month's ProDoc WebNotes.
Q: ProDoc produces RTF files and not Word files. That means that I have to save the file as a Word file and delete the RTF file. Why does the system not produce true MS Word files?
A: This is an issue faced only by Microsoft Word users. We create the ProDoc master template files as WordPerfect files. The converter that MS uses to convert WordPerfect files to Word files does a rather poor job and document formatting suffers greatly. However, WP files convert quite well to RTF, which is easily read by both Word Perfect and MS Word. So, When Microsoft Word is your default word processor, ProDoc generates your final documents as RTF files to best preserve the original document formatting.
Q: When I discover a mistake, how do I get this information to you? Same for a suggestion?
A: You may send an email to
.
Please be sure to include information about how to contact you by phone in case we need more information from you.
Q: Why won't you add a calendar with a monthly view to SOS?
A: The simple answer is that the database behind ProDoc and SOS is not robust enough to enable us to offer the monthly view. Next month we will tell you about our future development plans for both ProDoc and SOS. Those plans include rewriting both to a more robust database and adding a monthly view calendar to SOS. However, those are major undertakings and will probably not debut until at least 2010. However, we've started preliminary planning for this project. That is why we have not added other enhancements to SOS that have been suggested by users.
Q: Do you have any plans to make ProDoc compatible with Macs®. If so, when? If not why not?
A: In spite of a growing market share, Macs still are a very small percentage of the market. To rewrite, and then maintain, ProDoc to run on the Mac operating system would be a very resource-intensive effort. At the present, time we believe that a wiser use of our resources it to keep developing more products for the Windows® operating system that still enjoys somewhere around a 90% market share.
However, in the long-term (probably four or five years out) we will rewrite ProDoc in a computer language that will be cross-platform compatible. That's computer-geek for it will run on both the Windows and Mac operating systems.
Q: Is there a more user-friendly method for customizing items in pleading form packages such as the firm signature block. I'd like an easy way to insert our usual pleading signature block so that it imports across all the forms in our package and remains through the numerous form updates.
A: Yes, the answer is to modify the import files for your volumes. ProDoc imports the signature block files into your document so you need to edit these files only once and your signature blocks are set for life. For more assistance on this, call our Tech Support team at 800-759-5418, option 4.
Submit your ProDoc question(s) >>
[Return to top]
ProDoc Customer Support: Customizing the Formatting of Your ProDoc Documents
Used as shipped, with preset defaults, ProDoc produces well-formatted and legally precise finished documents. However, if you find yourself adding letterheads or changing formats in your word processor before printing, it may be worthwhile for you to customize the forms before you assemble the documents. You can change margins and fonts, include headers with your firm’s letterhead and even graphics, add footers, change line spacing, or change paragraph justification, to name just a few options. These changes are saved in a configuration file which ProDoc imports into your finished document. You can change these settings once, and the finished documents will always include the changes you’ve made.
View a step-by-step guide on Customizing the Formatting of Your ProDoc Documents >>
[Return to top]
Practice Tip: Your Estate Planning Questions Answered
Ronald L. Lipman, author of our Lipman's Wills & Trusts volume,
moderates our Estate Planning forum on the ProDoc web site.
This is the place for you to ask your estate planning questions and receive an answer, usually within a short period of time. Hundreds of estate planning questions have been asked and answered on diverse estate planning topics. Many questions ask for explanations of the provisions found in the forms or ask for suggestions as to which form to draft. All estate planning topics are open for discussion, however.
You can read past postings or register with the forum (free of charge) and post your own questions. Use the Search function in the forum to more quickly find specific topics. When you post a question, please mention your state of residence when you post your question since that will often influence the answer you receive.
Visit the Lipman's Wills and Trusts forum >>
[Return to top]
Tech Tip: Avoid Wi-Fi Scams
A Wi-Fi Internet connection while you travel is wonderfully handy. The trouble is that it can also be terribly dangerous as scammers use them to gain personal information about unsuspecting users. You'll find a really useful article to help you understand how they operate and how to protect yourself against being victimized by one.
Read Computerworld®'s Don't fall victim to the 'Free Wi-Fi' scam article >>
[Return to top]
Tech Tip: Going Green on Your Computer
Computers and monitors are much bigger energy hogs than most people imagine. But, a few simple steps can save as much as $60 a year in energy costs, equivalent to about a half a ton less in CO2 in our atmosphere. The Climate Savers Computing Initiative web site lists several easy steps for home computers which easily apply to your office computers as well.
Discover simple ways to save energy with your computer >>
[Return to top]
Vent—Tell Us What's on Your Mind
This is your opportunity to
what's on your mind. Email us your suggestions and other feedback.
[Return to top]
|
