New Address

Hello NetLegal users,

Just a short note to let you know that the web address for the NetLegal application is changing as of Friday September 24, 2010. From that date forward, please log in to the NetLegal application by going to https://www.netlegalsystems.com instead of https://app.netlegal.ca. You can also log in to the NetLegal application by going to www.netlegal.ca and clicking on the Log In button.

If you have any questions, we’ll be glad to answer them. Just email us at support@netlegalsystems.com or call us toll free at 1-888-808-3302.

Sincerely,

Krista
NetLegal Customer Support

Filed under: New Functionality

Visit us at the CALL/ACDB Conference

Hello Readers!

NetLegal is going to be at the upcoming CALL/ACBD conference in Windsor, Ontario.  We encourage you to visit our booth and learn more about NetLegal. One lucky booth visitor will win an Apple iPad!

One of the great products being showcased at the CALL/ACBD conference is the NetLegalIndex. The NetLegalIndex helps to organize a firm’s memos and briefs by linking them by cases cited, author, and category. It’s easy to install on your machine and uploading your documents is simple.

If you don’t get a chance to see us at the CALL/ACBD conference, please feel free to call us at 1-888-808-3301 or email sales@netlegal.ca for more information.

Until next time,

Krista

NetLegal Customer Support

Filed under: New Functionality

Happy New Year

Happy New Year! The NetLegal team hopes that 2010 is off to a good start for each and every one of you. There are some great new changes to the NetLegal application that I would like to share with all of you.

Improved User Interface – Functionality has been merged and navigation has been streamlined to make it even easier and quicker to use NetLegal.

Secure Serve Document e-Filing – Serve and file your documents online with bank grade security using NetLegal Secure Serve.

Subscription Based Pricing – Convenient to use and easy to keep track of. Contact us for a free 30 day trial of Secure Serve.

These great changes are in addition to the features included on NetLegal:

Free registration for all firm members

• Docket data searches using the Federal Court Docket Monitor
• Firm profile on www.netlegalfirms.com at no charge
• Stay connected anywhere by using NetLegal for BlackBerry

There’s more to come from NetLegal in 2010 and we hope that you’ll be part of it! Stay tuned to the blog for updates or email us to join the mailing list. Please feel free to contact us with your thoughts and ideas by calling us toll free at 1-888-808-3301, by emailing feedback@netlegal.ca or by posting a message here on elegalideas.

Until next time,

Krista

NetLegal Customer Support

Filed under: New Functionality, Process

Federal Court Docket Monitor

This week we launched the newest NetLegal product: the Federal Court Docket Monitor.

Creation of this was based on feedback from a number of our law firm users who are already receiving the free Federal Court Case List on a weekly basis. While the data has been useful, many of them were asking if we could provide a means to focus the results given the amount of new cases filed every week at the Federal Court and Federal Court of Appeal.

Instead of creating a number of canned weekly emails, we decided to create an online application that provides a law firm user enhanced searches and the ability to filter their results. Each user can save up to three searches and set a daily or weekly notification of any new cases that match the search.

We moved away from transactional billing to office-based licensing to make it accessible – now every user in a firm can access it and save up to three searches/notifications for the one flat subscription rate. The cost is $250 per year with a discounted rate of $150 per year of law firms with 10 or fewer lawyers.

We would love to hear what you think (feedback@netlegal.ca). Based on feedback during the pilot, we created a way of grouping the Federal Court nature of proceeding codes into practice areas, such as Aboriginal, Administrative, Immigration, Intellectual Property Law, etc.

To subscribe, you can find out more information at www.netdockets.ca.

Thank you for your interest and we look forward to seeing you on NetLegal.

Mike Ives, CEO

Filed under: New Functionality

Want better FCC case data?

Do you want better access to case data from the Federal Court of Canada?

We have a new product launching for lawyers, media and other organizations who rely on case docket data from the Federal Court of Canada and are looking for feedback prior to launching it.

This feedback is key to us and it is your chance to make this application work better for you. Whether you are a NetLegal user or not, please contact me at feedback@netlegal.ca if you are interested in joining our beta test group.

Filed under: New Functionality

NetLegal Dev Labs and You

Here at NetLegal in our development lab, we’re always busy thinking up new ideas and new ways to help you do your business faster, smarter, greener and cheaper.

We have a number of great products in the works and I wanted to share a few of these with you today. Your feedback on these new products will help us to create the tools that you need – not the tools that we think you need.Some of our favourite products are a direct result of your involvement.

We’ve recently launched some new products to our line of Docket services, both in the Federal arena and

Filed under: New Functionality, Process

Going Green in Your Litigation

Our "Green" ad from 2007

First off, I have to admit to being somewhat remiss in my postings in December – trying to get clear of work before the holidays and then the holidays themselves are a brutal combination for getting things done in that month.  If I still made New Year’s resolutions, I no doubt would have already broken the one to “Be more consistent in updating my blog.”

During a brief lull in the insanity, my 10 year old daughter was asking some questions about what we are doing with NetLegal. In explaining it to her, I mentioned how we can reduce the amount of paper that law firms and courts use. Being a strong advocate for the environment, she suggested that I should put more emphasis on this aspect of what we are doing. While we did do a little marketing in this regard before (see image at top right) she got me thinking that we should revisit it.

Filed under: New Functionality, Process

To Law School Students and Faculty

We want your input. NetLegal is in the process of designing the next version of the system that will allow lawyers and law students to more easily interact over the Internet.

Register for free by clicking here and look around the application. Let us know what you like and don’t like. Most important, please tell us what you would like to see as a student/future lawyer or professor.

In addition to general thoughts on the use of technology in the practice of law, we will be posting ideas for future functionality and welcome comments on how to improve it.

Thanks in advance for your thoughts and comments. We can make NetLegal even better with your help.

Mike

Filed under: Law School, New Functionality, law schools, Law Students, Legal, legal technology, netlegal

Social Networks and the Practice of Law

We all know that Facebook and MySpace have changed how we interact with each other. We can view pictures of our friends (or potential employees), see who they know, become their friends, etc. 

The growth of Facebook has been staggering – in the fall of 2007, over 1 million new users signed up on Facebook every week. During that time, Facebook received 40 billion page views per month and it has continued at 100% growth between March 2007 and March 2008 (Neilsen’s March 2008 ratings).

This phenomenon has expanded into the business world, with Neilsen reporting that LinkIn experienced 319% growth with users over 45 now accounting for over 31% of its user base. This trend has moved into the legal sector with sites like LegalOnRamp providing an online community targetted at in house counsel.

NetLegal focusses on the long existing “social” network between firms and courts allowing lawyers to join for free and to build a directory by inviting other lawyers to join. However, instead of sharing pictures of your last Halloween party, NetLegal lets you share documents by electronically serving the other counsel in the case and creating a secure online case repository.

Judges can also be invited to join the case so that lawyers can electronically serve and file the document with the click of a button. Judges can also set up e-filing for free on a case-by-case basis and then invite counsel for the parties to join.

I doubt that there will be much demand on NetLegal to send a gift or a drink to each other but is there any other functionality would you like to see. For example, should we have a “wall” for a case? What about a Wiki on certain legal issues?

Post your comments on these and any other ways law firm users, court users and students can interact.

Filed under: New Functionality, Process, Social Networking, lawyers, legal technology, netlegal, Social Networking