Welcome to AbacusLaw 2012

AbacusLaw 2012 introduces many new, highly requested features, such as wireless smart phone synchronization, new calendar views, prospect management, new databases (Exhibits, Facts and Discovery), forms program enhancements, integrated credit card processing and ACH billing and more.

Key New Features

Practice Management Features

Remote Access to Your Calendar and Contacts

Wirelessly synchronize your AbacusLaw calendar and contacts to your mobile device with the new AbacusSync app. No matter where you are you always have up-to-date schedule and contact information with just the push of a button. Never dock your device or go through other applications to sync. AbacusSync requires an annual fee per phone or tablet. If you already have AbacusLaw 2012, call 800-726-3339 to activate AbacusSync.

Learn more at www.abacussync.com

Data travels through the Internet to send changes made on your phone back to your office and changes made in the office to your phone.

Email and Note Search Bars

Need to find an email or note? Now, instantly retrieve and review linked emails and notes using the new full-text email or note search bars. To find an email, from the Linked Emails tab simply enter desired keywords and a list of all the emails that include those words in the subject or body will appear. To find a note, enter desired keywords into the search bar on the Notes tab and a list of all notes containing those words will appear.

Keep your client database clutter-free to get more good clients

Keep prospective clients in the new, separate, prospect database so you can track and market to them without cluttering or confusing your client work. When someone becomes a client, one-click easily moves them into your client database.

It’s important to know which marketing is the most effective to ensure you’re spending your marketing dollars in the right places. The new prospect database combined with Abacus Rainmaker enables you to do just that. Abacus Rainmaker captures important prospect data to help you understand where your prospects are finding you and what messaging is causing them to contact you. Reports show you how many prospects (and ultimately clients) each marketing effort produced. Knowing this information can help you fine-tune your messaging to make sure you’re reaching your target prospects with the right message and in the most cost-effective way possible.

When a prospect becomes a client, one-click easily moves them to your client database.

New Extra Database Tabs

Extra databases are for when you have information that does not belong with your Abacus calendar, notes, emails, or linked documents tabs that you use for case management.

An extra database is better than using a Word document, a spreadsheet, an Access database, or any other standalone program. Each extra database is a tab on your matter window. It comes with a standardized data entry screen, at no added expense, and is backed up along with Abacus, uses Abacus reports, can be customized, and the extra database information is available for output to document templates and court forms.

Like many of the powerful features in AbacusLaw, extra database reports can be created from scratch, customized with new fields, or used as a template to create a new extra database for a completely different purpose. Do you have an extra database that you would like to use in AbacusLaw? Let us know. We developed the Facts and Exhibits extra databases in response to requests from our users and are looking forward to the next great idea from you.

Facts Tab

Enter case facts into the Facts Extra Database so you can review their chronology and analyze whether they help or hurt your case. Abacus will group facts by issue on the Issues report to help you prepare for an appearance on a specific issue (e.g. a motion to modify a custody agreement). Run a Key Facts Report to focus on the pivotal facts. The Chronology Report helps you see case facts in chronological order, with issues, sources, and legal analysis attached to each fact record. You not only know what happened when, but why it matters to the case, making your analysis of the fact’s value and its impact on your client’s rights much easier.

 For example, you could use the Facts Grouped by Issue report in a family law matter, to see all of the case facts that pertain to custody grouped together, with the next group pertaining to property settlement, and the next group pertaining to mental or physical abuse. Use the Chronology Report to establish the timeline of the case as it pertains to two distinct issues, custody and domestic violence. Facts extra database entries would include incidents of abuse, visits by the police (including linked police reports), photographs, videos, medical records, reports from child protective services, children’s names and birthdates, current custody arrangements, and more. The analysis field on each fact record captures the lawyering involved in handling a domestic violence and custody case. Key facts can be designated as such so the firm can focus on those most important facts with the click of a mouse.

Keep all case facts organized in the custom Facts tab.

Exhibits Tab

Enter exhibits into the Exhibits Extra Database so you can generate exhibit lists for depositions or trials in the approved format for your jurisdiction with a click of your mouse. The Exhibits Extra Database stores exhibit numbers, the offering party, Bates numbers, authors and signatories, marked and admitted dates as well as your legal analysis of why the exhibit is important and how it impacts the case (helpful, harmful, neutral, etc.) and status (confirmed, contested, etc.).

 Exhibit records also have document hyperlinks so you can access the document that the exhibit record refers to with a mouse click. The Exhibits extra database gives you consistent data entry with drop down menus and helps you prioritize exhibits as you build your case.

 For example, a litigation firm representing clients in a product liability dispute would use the Exhibits database to assemble purchase documents, warranty information, invoices, internal memorandum, emails, research reports, insurance documents, photographs, service bulletins, depositions including page and line numbers, medical diagnoses and medical bills including amounts. Entering that information into the Exhibits extra database means the firm can generate an exhibit list at any time, and run an Exhibits analysis report to see what items help or hurt the case.

Organize and analyze all exhibits from the new Exhibits tab.

New Calendar Views

Now you can see all linked events for one Matter in a week and month calendar view to visualize what is coming up.

All scheduled case events on your month-view calendar.

Keep Better Phone Records

The Call Manager (AbacusLaw’s phone message center) allows you to track all incoming and outgoing phone calls so you never miss a critical message about a conversation or a voicemail. The Call Manager now accepts all notetypes, making it even easier to keep detailed records of your phone interactions.

New notetypes for phone calls makes it easier to track important conversations.

Easily Jump From a Matter to its Linked Names

See both a matter record and related contacts at the same time. From the Linked Names tab on any Matter screen, the right-click menu has the option to jump directly to the Linked Names tab of any linked name.

For example, if you’re on the Linked Names tab of a Matter and need to get a hold of the opposing counsel’s secretary to reschedule a meeting, you can simply right click the name of the firm and the Linked Names tab (of the Name record) will open in a new window, giving you easy access to the secretary’s information.

From any Matter’s Linked Names Tab, easily go to the Linked Names tab for any listed name.

Make Abacus Easier on Your Eyes

You can now select the font type, style and size for Name, Event or Matter notes, making it easier to read.

Easily choose your font settings for all notes

Forms Enhancements and New Features

New and improved forms designer and forms filler features make it intuitive and convenient to use AbacusLaw to automatically fill out your court forms and other documents.

Click for list of forms enhancements >

Accounting Management Features

Credit Card Processing & ACH Billing

Never chase fees by instantly and easily collecting credit card and ACH (electronic check) payments from your clients. Included in AbacusLaw 2012 is the premier payment processing system, X-Charge. Once enabled, you can easily accept all major credit cards while properly handling funds in both trust and operating accounts so you never comingle funds or overdraft your client’s trust account.

Learn more at www.abacuslaw.com/getpaid

Accounting Reports for Closed Years

You can now run two standard reports on all accounting years closed in Abacus. The Closed Years General Journal Report shows you a listing of all journal entries from a selected time frame. The Closed Years Account Activity Report shows you a listing of all entries for a specified time frame and the one account selected.

The Account Activity Report shows you all account activity for a designated, closed year.

Easily Take “Action” on Matters

The new “action” button in both the names and matters browse lets you take actions (print a bill, look at billing activity, etc.) for a highlighted name or matter.

From the Matters browse in AbacusLaw Gold, easily perform designated actions such as printing a bill.

Bill for Emails in TimeSlips

If you use TimeSlips, you can now bill for the time you spend writing emails.

If you use Timeslips you can now easily bill for emails as you generate them.

Deposit Breakdown

Need to see a list of all deposits for a specific time frame? The new Deposit Breakdown button gives you a list of all deposits, broken down by client, matter, matter description and invoice.