Choose Wisely

Here is a link to an article in the October 2010 Law Technology News.

http://www.law.com/jsp/lawtechnologynews/PubArticleLTN.jsp?id=1202472611638&Choose_Wisely

Extranet - Coding Strategies

If you are considering building your own legal extranet, here are some quick do's / don'ts.

• Do be sure to manage your source code with a source code management system.
• Do be sure you have a strategy to manage and control software versions.
• Do be sure you have strong technical specifications written.
• Do be sure you write reusable objects to perform common system functions.
• Don't allow a single person to code the system without adequate backup.
• Don't forget to put together a solid project plan.
• Don't forget to have a skilled and knowledgeable technical professional perform code reviews.
• Don't forget the need to have developers perform unit tests that they prepare and are approved by a project manager.

They are many other considerations when running a software development project, these are just a few of them. More to follow in the future.

Collaborative Case Management

Sharing case management information among many local counsel and clients is often difficult.

It is even more difficult to provide a common database tool that allows all appropriate parties to update litigation case management information that needs to be maintained based on information each respective party obtains.

Litigation support legal extranets help address this issue. These systems can be deployed in a manner that allows the appropriate data points for a litigation to be tracked, and so that appropriate counsel and client contacts can update the database as needed. Master, administrative type users are granted the ability to run standard reports which are distributed amongst appropriate staff. The same administrative type users maintain the picklist information available within the legal extranet.

Properly deployed and managed, legal extranet systems make all litigation case management information instantly available to all members of a litigation support team. And, the information is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, regardless of where one is at (e.g. there is no need to be in the office to access a local case management database containing this information).