*BETA TESTERS NEEDED!*

Attorney's Back Office, Inc. is pleased to announce that the BETA release of Attorney's Back Office 2.0 is scheduled for March 20, 2015. This BETA release will be made available to allow users to test and evaluate the next major version of the Attorney's Back Office application.

Here's a great opportunity to help us make the upcoming release even better.

What's new in Attorney's Back Office 2.0?

The most immediately visible change to Attorney's Back Office 2.0 is the new, redesigned and dynamic calendar with the ability to sync with Google Calendar. A closer look shows that V 2.0 has a myriad of new and greatly improved features. Notable improvements include: custom created filtering for calendar events, a "search & report" processing component, a newer version of the Menu Editor, support for better collaboration through document sharing via the Client Portal, improved Tag Cloud search functionality, an addition of Tasks and Attached Documents in the Client Portal, a "new document folder" creation process, internal document attachment to outgoing emails, increased document size upload capacity to 25 MB, a streamlined accounting process, an addition of different field types in the Module Studio, and much more.
Behind the scenes, Attorney's Back Office 2.0 will support the new OpenDocument Format (ODT) standard, which will drastically improve the Document Generator's capabilities, and its ability to accept files in different formats (.docx, .xlsx, .pptx, etc.). This is in addition to other notable enhancements to the Client Portal. V 2.0 comes also with enhanced login security - it disallows 2 users to be concurrently logged in with the same user name. We’ve also made smooth upgrades from Ext JS 4 to Ext JS 5 in order to improve the application's functionality in the IE browser, and much more.

Bilingual BETA Availability

Attorney's Back Office 2.0 BETA will be immediately available in both US English and Spanish for the front-end and Client Portal.

Help us catch the bugs!

In order to release Attorney's Back Office 2.0 on schedule in July, users of the BETA release are encouraged to report any bugs, issues or errors to the following e-mail address: support@attorneysbackoffice.com

Special Incentives for the testers!

Those who join us in the testing of Attorney's Back Office 2.0 BETA version will be automatically eligible for our very special offer: a one-year, free-of-charge subscription to our services with no limit on the number of added users - an annual value of $360.00 per user. But hurry! Only the first 250 applicants will be eligible for this offer. If you are interested in participating in the BETA testing, please email us with your contact information (first & last name, title, company name and phone number) at support@attorneysbackoffice.com (include BETA TEST in the subject line).

Help us improve Attorney's Back Office!

If you are fluent in Portuguese (Portugal or Brazil), please contact us, as we are looking to add a Portuguese version of Attorney's Back Office by the end of this year. If you're willing to help us, please e-mail us:  info@attorneysbackoffice.com

Our developers look forward to receiving your feedback on this beta release of Attorney's Back Office 2.0!

Thank you.

Sincerely,

Attorney's Back Office
www.attorneysbackoffice.com

What Do You Need to Know About the Rules and Guidelines that Apply to a 

Virtual Law Office – Part 1

In our previous publications, we’ve talked about how a virtual law practice, or a virtual law office, an on-line (“cloud”) software application, like the Attorney’s Back Office, is becoming increasingly popular as an alternative to the traditional, physical law office. The most important components within these software applications are the modules that help manage the entire law practice, including matters, clients, document management, calendaring, e-mail, tasking, accounting, time & billing, and reporting, as well as others. These modules provide an attorney/paralegal access to the software in order to run daily business operations and handle other business transactions related to the delivery of the legal services. 
A virtual law practice, or a virtual law office, also typically involves the use of a secure internet portal to render legal services, communicate with clients on the matters, and exchange documents and information within a digitally secure on-line environment with an end-to-end encryption.

Advocates of this type of approach emphasize decreased office rent and other overhead costs. They say that it helps increase productivity and the attorneys' ability to find that so called “work-life” balance allowing them to spend more time with their families and work from home. 
Critics of this approach stress the need for in-person client meetings to collaborate with them, to manage the firm’s staff on-site to resolve day-to-day issues and problems, and to run daily business operations. 
However, advocates and critics agree on one thing: attorneys practicing in a virtual law office must be in full compliance with the employment laws and the rules of professional conduct.

Under the employment laws, issues related to the operation of a virtual law office are similar to the policies that apply to telecommuting. Law firms that use the virtual law office software should adhere and implement practices and policies to address the following:
• Firm’s clients’ and staff's privacy and safeguarding of confidential information;
• Well-defined methods for time tracking, billing, and reporting;
• Firm’s staff's access to the Internet, computers, and the use of other equipment;
• Firm’s staff's compensation and safety issues.

In the United Stated, most of the State Bar Associations have issued their own Rules of Professional Conduct that the law practitioners must consider when using a virtual law office. These Rules are modeled after the August 2012 ABA-approved recommendations. They are based on the recommendations issued by the Ethics 20/20 Commission in order to amend the Model Rules regarding attorneys’ use of technology. 

In California, for example, there are no special rules of professional conduct that specifically address lawyers practicing and using virtual law office software. The chosen approach is simple – the same exact rules of professional conduct that apply to a traditional law firm apply to a virtual law firm.

The application and the enforcement of the rules, however, bring up some unique questions for virtual law office users, such as unauthorized practice of law, safekeeping clients' confidential information, communication and collaboration with clients, and others.

In our next article we will discuss more details related to the Rules of Professional Conduct.

For more information on the features and functions of the On-line Practice & Case Management Software Application visit our site @ www.attorneysbackoffice.com

What Do You Need to Know About a Virtual Law Office in the “Cloud”

Recently, we received a message, or rather an inquiry, from one of the Attorney’s Back Office application’s immigration paralegal professional users and Google + circle members. We would like to share it with you since it is related to the topic that we are discussing today.

“Dear +Attorney’s Back Office. In your recent articles you've shared information about the on-line software applications and virtual law office that operate in the "cloud", and your software program, Attorney’s Back Office, as example for those. I've heard the term "cloud" before since it’s hard to get away from it these days. Trouble is, most of the information out there is written for IT pros who eat, sleep and breathe this stuff. We, legal professionals, are not familiar with it and the terminology that they use for it. Could you please explain what does the term "cloud" mean in a no-nonsense, plain-English? Thank you, Jessica”

So, what's the cloud, where is the cloud, what does it mean? Why it is called cloud and not something else? These are all questions that you, just like Jessica, have probably heard or even oftentimes asked yourself.

The simplest explanation for the term “cloud” or "cloud computing" is as follows: “cloud” or "cloud computing" means computing that involves a large number of computers connected through a communication network such as the Internet. It also means storing and accessing data and programs over the Internet instead of your computer's hard drive. When you store data on or run programs from your PC's hard drive or local network, that's called local storage and computing, and, of course, storing your data on a home or office PC or network does not count as utilizing the cloud. With "cloud computing," you need to access your data or your programs over the Internet, hence, with an online connection, cloud computing can be done basically anywhere, anytime.

So, what do you need to know about the Cloud? One important, irrefutable fact: cloud software is accessed over the Internet. Really, that's all you need to know about it. The cloud software application is accessed over the Internet, using different types of browsers like Internet Explorer, Chrome, Firefox, Opera, etc., or via mobile devices that are connected to the Internet. A good “cloud” software application must be also compatible to be accessed by different devices with different operating systems as well, such as PCs, Macs, Android, Linux, etc.

When using the virtual law office in a cloud, like the Attorney’s Back Office’s on-line practice & case management software application with an integrated bilingual client portal, we strongly suggest that you consider opinions, rules, recommendations and regulations issued by your state’s Bar Associations regarding precautions geared toward client confidentiality and privacy rules. State bar associations point out that attorneys and other law professionals, when using a virtual law office in a cloud similar to the Attorney’s Back Office’s on-line practice & case management software application with an integrated bilingual client portal, should perform their due diligence to understand if all their client data, whether it is related to internal communications, accounting and billing data, or just e-mail, is safe. Taking into considering that computer data and information theft are a hundred times more likely to be physically done by burglary, rather than via an on-line high-tech attack or data hijacking, the physical security of the computers and servers located in your office is your number one concern and worry when it comes to a data breach. Therefore, all data, with no exception whatsoever, whether it is confidential or not, communicated to, from, or within the cloud server, must be encrypted with at least 128-bit SSL encryption. Providers of a virtual law office in a cloud must keep the servers secure, the backups should be performed routinely, and you, as a customer, should be able to retrieve data if you need it because that data is yours. Another big advantage of using a virtual law office in a cloud, like the Attorney’s Back Office’s on-line practice & case management software application with an integrated bilingual client portal, is the ease of its maintenance. You, as a user, no longer need to think or consider software updates or server maintenance – with web-based software the application’s provider updates it and takes care of the servers. You no longer need a costly IT support or additional software installations on the staff’s client PCs or network servers.

For more information on the features and functions of the On-line Practice & Case Management Software Application visit our site @ www.attorneysbackoffice.com