A few weeks ago, I started using Google Calendar to publish a free/busy version of my calendar on my website. I am so glad I did.

Scheduling—especially for busy attorneys—can be a royal pain. It often involves several phone calls or e-mails, at least, and it can be much worse when you are trying to schedule something with an attorney who sends scheduling information like “I am free at 2:00 on the 3rd” and nothing else. As if it is inconceivable that you would have anything on your calendar at that date and time. All that back-and-forth is a big waste of time.

Now, I just point opposing counsel, potential clients, and others to my public calendar and ask them to give me a couple of options when I am free.

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As most readers of this blog know, I am in a constant search to find the “best” way to manage my practice. As everyone knows, there is no “best” way to manage a law practice, but there is always improvement. So here are the bits of technology and old-school hardware I am using to manage my practice.

As you may also know, I use Linux for my operating system more than half the time. But since I still use Windows at the office, all the software I use is available for both Linux and Windows. There are two exceptions: Outlook, which I don’t really use any longer, and Acrobat.

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Zimbra is a bleeding-edge Web 2.0 project. It is similar to Google Apps, but built with the business and enterprise user in mind. It is also a competitor to Microsoft Exchange, but goes well beyond Exchange’s capabilities.

While there is an open source edition of Zimbra, it was not released under the GNU GPL, but instead the Yahoo Public License, which is more limited. Further, Microsoft does not have a very good track record on open source software, and there is no guarantee that Zimbra will stay open, even in its current, limited form, if Microsoft purchases Yahoo.

I was hoping to use Zimbra myself when I finally get around to setting up a server, so I am hoping the project survives somehow.

[via Groklaw]

I just came across an impressive–and free!–timekeeping and billing utility, FreshBooks. I gave FreshBooks a test run, and it is pretty smooth. It includes a timer for timing tasks, which is a wonderful feature. And it generates nice invoices that your clients can access online, another nice touch.

The only downside, as with all web apps, is that you must be connected to the internet to use FreshBooks. This is not a big deal for most, though, and a big advantage for many.

Check it out.

[via Codswallop]

Chris Monaghan, the creator of Time59, asked me to review his product. He writes:

It provides time tracking, invoicing and accounts receivable functions. It even handles retainer billing. There is a free 30 day trial. One year of service is only $19.95.

The price is certainly right, especially compared to RTG Bills. From what I can tell, Time59 offers similar functionality for significantly less.

Since I just started a contract brief writing project with a very quick due date, I decided to sign into Time59 and give the 30-day trial a go. My project is a summary judgment memorandum, due to my client by Saturday and to the court on Monday, so I should be able to give the full features of Time59 a try.

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A colleague recently pointed me to RTG Timer and RTG Bills. RTG Timer is an online timekeeping solution that integrates with RTG Bills, a Windows-only billing software. RTG Timer is online, so it is platform-independent. At $95/license, RTB Bills is a pretty hefty price for what looks like a fairly simple piece of software–at least compared to the options. But then again, it is also quite a bit cheaper than time and billing solutions from bigger companies.

Might be worth a look.

I have been peeking at Zimbra lately, a hot networked personal information manager. But instead of being run from your computer, it is run remotely (think Gmail+Google Calendar+Skype, and then some). There are serious advantages to this, starting with platform independence and reduced load on your local system resources. It also has advantages for collaboration, since all users are essentially working from one calendar and task list. And using the internet allows Zimbra to incorporate things like VOIP calling and shared documents.

As an enterprise solution, or even for a large law firm, Zimbra seems like a pretty great solution. But what about the solo or small-firm practitioner? Some of the above advantages are still there. Platform independence is a big one, for example. Zimbra also would allow a solo practitioner to more easily employ temporary or remote employees by making communication easy. Why run five programs to stay in touch when Firefox will do it all?

It also helps further the mobility dream. With Zimbra, you can even keep all your files on the server. Just log in from wherever you are (Portable Firefox should ensure sufficient security) and go to work.