TurboLaw Time and Billing 1.14 Released
March 31, 2009
As always, we are very pleased to announce the release of TurboLaw Time and Billing Version 1.14 today! This new version brings with it a number of changes to help you get your billing done as quickly and easily as possible.
In addition to the change to the way finance charges are calculated that we’ve mentioned previously, this new update includes the following updated features:
- On statements, bills that were for a specific “matter” now have the matter’s name next to the bill number, so your clients can see which bill was for which matter.
- You can now add new time/expense items directly to a new bill.
- You can now select how you would like the program to round time that is recorded with the stopwatch – this option can be found under “General Settings.”
As always, TurboLaw Time and Billing checks for updates automatically in the background, so you don’t have to do anything special to get this update – just keep your eyes open for the pop-up notification, or for this little message:
Watch for this message to appear when a new update is available!
Just click the pop-up notice (or the message) to install the update (it only takes a few seconds to install).
As always, we welcome any feedback you may have, and we hope you enjoy this latest version of TurboLaw Time and Billing!
Change to Finance Charges in TurboLaw Time and Billing
March 18, 2009
If you assess finance charges to your clients using TurboLaw Time and Billing, there’s an important change coming up in the next update that you need to be aware of. (If you don’t assess finance charges to your clients, you don’t have to do anything.)
In the next update of TurboLaw Time and Billing (version 1.14), the finance charge field in your client’s information has been renamed from a “monthly” rate to an “annual” rate (or APR). This was done based on feedback from customers, who said they were used to talking about finance charge rates on an annual (APR) basis, rather than monthly. This will also help to reduce the confusion some people had with understanding how a “monthly” finance charge was applied.
The change that you need to be aware of is that this field has been renamed, but if you had previously entered a monthly finance charge rate for a client, the rate you had entered as a “monthly” rate now needs to be updated to be a “yearly” rate.
For example, if you had entered a 1.5% monthly rate previously, after this update you will need to go and change the number you’ve entered to 18% (1.5% monthly rate x 12 months = 18% APR).
You can find the field you need to change on the Edit Client window in TurboLaw Time and Billing.
The update with this change to the finance charge field in TurboLaw Time and Billing is due out near the end of March, 2009, and will be labeled “Version 1.14.”
As always, if you have any questions about this change, or any other aspect of TurboLaw Time and Billing, please do not hesitate to contact us!
TurboLaw 2.70 Released
March 4, 2009
We are very excited to announce a major new release of TurboLaw Document Software – Version 2.70! The most visible change is the totally new TurboLaw Update Utility, which not only gets a complete face-lift, but has in fact been re-designed completely from scratch to improve your experience while using TurboLaw.
Some of the new features of the completely new TurboLaw Update Utility are:
- Much faster than the old Update Utility – updates now happen faster so you spend less time waiting.
- Greater compatibility with software firewalls – less of a chance that your software firewall will “block” TurboLaw Update from connecting to the Internet in the first place.
- A vastly improved "manual" update mode which allows you to choose specific areas of law to be updated (or not updated – great for users who still have slower Internet connections or dial-up).
- Choices made during the "manual" update mode are saved, so you don’t have to keep un-selecting documents that you don’t want to update.
- New update notification pop-up is less intrusive.
- "Manual" updates now use the new "Aero" style wizard, to match the visual styles used in newer versions of Windows.
- Updates will require fewer reboots of your computer in the future, thanks to the new Update Utility’s method of installing the updates.
Making sure your TurboLaw documents stay up-to-date as they are revised by the courts is very important, which is why we’ve worked so hard to make sure that the experience of updating your TurboLaw software and documents is as simple, easy, and quick as possible.
As always, please don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any trouble getting this latest update. We hope you enjoy it!
Keeping Your Clients’ Data Safe
March 4, 2009
We all know that it’s important to protect sensitive information, but with so much information these days stored in our computers (in files, databases, emails, etc.), it can be hard to know how to protect these digital files adequately. In this article, we’re going to talk about easy steps you can take to protect sensitive client information – client’s names, Social Security or Tax ID numbers, etc. – and the documents that may contain such information.
With the increasingly worrisome trend of “identity theft” (which might be more accurately described as “identity fraud”), comes the need to take steps to reduce the risk of personal information being stolen and used fraudulently. Many states (including Massachusetts) have or are beginning to pass laws to address this issue – but ultimately, if you take and store this sort of information, the responsibility for protecting it is on you.
First off, it’s worth knowing what sort of personal information might be saved, and where on your computer it is saved:
- TurboLaw Document Software stores client’s names, addresses, and in some cases, Social Security or Tax ID numbers. This information is stored both in TurboLaw’s database file and in any document or form you create that calls for that information.
- TurboLaw Time and Billing, on the other hand, does not ask for any personal information beyond a client’s name and address.
So, what can you do to protect this information? There are many different ways you can protect information, but here are some of the simplest:
Using Microsoft Window’s own Solution
Microsoft Windows itself has something built-in that can help you. Windows (2000 or later) has a feature called the Encrypting File System. This feature allows you to “encrypt” files on your computer, so that if your computer is (for example) stolen, the person who stole it won’t be able to read the encrypted files.
Below are two articles which describe how to use this feature and some “best practices” for using it:
- How to encrypt a file in Windows XP (the method described is similar in Windows 2000 and Windows Vista)
- Bets practices for the Encrypting File System
- It is worth noting that this method of protecting your files is only as strong as the password you use on your computer – if you don’t use a password, or if you use a simple, short password, then your files will not be very secure. A full discussion of choosing a good password is beyond the scope of this article, but you can read some tips and suggestions in this article: Strong Passwords: How to create and use them.
Knowing this, and knowing that you can click the “View” menu in TurboLaw and choose “TurboLaw Status” to see where TurboLaw is currently saving your database and case documents, you can encrypt that folder (as well as any other folders on your computer where you store documents that might contain sensitive information) and know that your data is protected.
Other Solutions
There might be reasons why you wouldn’t want to use Microsoft Windows’ own solution. Fortunately, other solutions are available (although they are a little bit more technical).
For example, you might use software such as TrueCrypt to encrypt an entire disk on your computer – or create a “virtual” disk which is also encrypted.
Another option is to store your data on a USB flash drive which comes with encryption options (similar to TrueCrypt).
Final Thoughts
If you have an in-house IT department (or an arrangement with an IT provider or firm), we would generally recommend that you speak to them for advice on how to secure sensitive client data on your computers.
However, if you are a small firm or a solo practitioner, the tips provided above will help you be more proactive about protecting the sensitive information that is increasingly stored on your computer.
Subscribe
