Post contributed for HCA Lawyers by Gaynor Cooper.
Busy lawyers are inundated with phone calls and meetings all day long. Fortunately, there are several applications available for lawyers that can help reduce the stress of a busy workday while ensuring that appointments are met and phone calls are returned. Check out this list of useful Android and iPhone time management apps for lawyers that are sure to make life easy.
4 Awesome Time Management Apps for Lawyers
LogMeIn Ignition
This is quite possibly the most powerful mobile app for time management, but it isn’t really a time management app at all. It’s LogMeIn Ignition. This mobile app allows lawyers to access their computers from their mobile phones.
Since there’s no special proprietary software involved, lawyers can use whatever time management system they’re already using (and comfortable with). LogMeIn will allow them to access their Google Calendar, EverNote, or GTD application or whatever else they use for time management.
AbacusLaw
AbacusLaw pulls together features that every lawyer needs to run a successful practice. This program is actually several programs wrapped into one. It’s a legal calendaring, time management, contact management, and case management program.
It also handles legal documents for lawyers, document production, provides conflict checks, phone messaging, time capture, and law office billing and accounting. With 39 core features, and 10 optional features, lawyers can customize the program to suit their needs.
This makes the program rather handy, since the firm can utilize only the features needed while not getting bogged down with unnecessary features.
While this program is a full-featured software program, it can also be run from a mobile device since it comes with mobile device synchronization. This effectively allows the software to function as a mobile app. Lawyers can benefit from being able to take the software with them anywhere they go, while still retaining the benefit of having a full-featured application at the “home office.”
Bill4Time
Bill4Time is a basic billing and time management software program for lawyers. It includes four major features: time and expense tracking, client and project management, and invoice generator, and progress reports.
These features may not be as robust as the features found on higher-end software programs, but lawyers may like the lower price points of the program compared to more sophisticated programs on the market. Like AbacusLaw, Bill4Time also doubles as a mobile application.
Time Master + Billing
This iPhone application is designed to provide a simple solution for lawyers who want to manage their time as well as billable hours.
Lawyers can use “punch in and out” features to accurately record billable time for clients. They can also use multiple running timers and those timers keep running even if the lawyer closes the application.
Time entries are done “by client” and can be sub-categorized by project and tasks. Not only that, lawyers can import clients from the iPhone’s native contacts list.
The app also offers duel taxes for countries like Canada, can import IIF files, and back up critical data so that it is never lost. The app also keeps track of all expenses like mileage and meals or anything else that the user wants to define.
Even though this is an iPhone app, there are optional modules that will allow lawyers to create invoices so that billing can be done directly from the iPhone. Invoices are emailed to the client in a PDF format. Lawyers can also export time entries to QuickBooks if desired, and sync wirelessly between two devices which makes this small little app very versatile.
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