So, you can only imagine our surprise last night when the latest issue of TechnoLawyer’s excellent SmallLaw column, titled “Ending the SaaS Stalemate In the Small Firm Market”, arrived in our inbox.

Having heard enough of the rhetoric, and sufficiently debated the issues of accessibility, ethics, and security, Ross, like many others, has grown weary of the moot debate over the validity of SaaS in the legal space, and called for the industry to shift its discussion towards more relevant topics:

This debate is perpetually mired in concerns about accessibility, ethics, and security. It’s time to move past these nonissues and focus on more relevant issues that will enable SaaS products to mature into mainstream small firm products.

We’ve written extensively on the topics of accessibility, ethics and security on this blog, and while they remain  important issues that should be properly investigated before selecting a SaaS provider, it is refreshing to see a call from an industry stalwart such as Ross to advance the discussion from hypothetical risks to how SaaS can truly help users:

The small firm legal SaaS world can most certainly succeed. SaaS vendors should focus on promoting functionality first, while methodically shoring up their services’ perceived and/or real weaknesses in the two fundamental areas of platform criticism. Address and end the current stalemate and grow up SaaS — the small firm market is ready for and needs you.

The small firm legal SaaS world can most certainly succeed.

SaaS vendors should focus on promoting functionality first,

while methodically shoring up their services’ perceived

and/or real weaknesses in the two fundamental areas of

platform criticism. Address and end the current stalemate

and grow up SaaS — the small firm market is ready for and

needs you

Let us be among the first to welcome this breath of fresh air to stale discussion. Thank-you Ross.

Although Ross rightly points out that the ethical and confidentiality considerations inherent to “the Cloud” should always be properly weighed, we heartily agree with Ross’ acknowledgement that “SaaS makes sense” for small firms, and that it is time both SaaS cynics and vendors shed the trappings of a debate over “non issues” and concentrate on “shifting the debate to what really matters to users”. On this note, we’re eagerly awaiting the host of new innovations that will undoubtedly be revealed by SaaS vendors at this year’s ABA TechShow, and look forward to a 2010 that’s focused on customer-centric product development with an emphasis on functionality over familiarity.

2010 is shaping out to be an exciting year for legal SaaS.

The interview touches on a wide range of topics including why Clio was founded, why Clio decided to go the SaaS route, adoption of technology by lawyers, and how the iPad will impact the legal industry. Read the entire interview here.

While we’re on the topic of the iPad we’ll take the opportunity to point out a few of our favorite blog posts on the iPad:

• Josh Barett at TabletLegal has written extensively on several aspects of the iPad, including its ease of use being appealing to lawyers, the freedom it promises, and how the “less is more” design ethos of iPad applications is good for lawyers.
• Reid Trautz suggests the iPad will be the tipping point that sees the cloud go mainstream in 2010 on his Reid My Blog! site. Reid astutely points out that the explosion in mobile devices and their capabilities, coupled with the increasing need for lawyers to access practice information anywhere, on-demand, will help drive cloud computing applications like Clio into the mainstream.
• Jeff Richardson writes on the iPhone implications of the iPad at his fantastic iPhoneJD blog.
• Victor Medina points out several key design decisions Apple has made that may make the iPad the “ultimate machine for lawyers” on  the MacLovin’ JD blog.
• Ben Stevens sums up his impression succinctly on The Mac Lawyer: iPad = iWow.
• Joe Ficocello wires on how the iPad will be rolled out in law firms at The Rung.
• TechnoLawyer speculates the iPad will become the legal pad, reinvented.

In redesigning the Clio calendar we incorporated the feedback we’ve received on what our users would like to see in an improved calendar. The new calendar incorporates a host of new features while also improving ease-of-use and performance:

• A new firm-wide “Firm Calendar”
• Easily view multiple calendars simultaneously
• Support for drag & drop of calendar appointments
• Support for adjustment of appointment length by click & drag
• Support for full screen mode
• New “Agenda” view
• New “Year” view

The following overview video provides a good summary of the new features in the Clio calendar:

Enhanced Calendar from Clio on Vimeo.

According to Accenture’s findings, asynchronous forms of communication such as email are losing favor to instant media such as Facebook, Twitter and IM. Preferences for these technologies is beginning to shift expectations among the Millenials for how businesses will interact with employees, customers, and suppliers. With more than 1 in 5 Millennials spending the majority of time away from the office, there is also additional pressure from this cohort to support predominantly online technologies, such as Software-as-a-Service, that cater to mobility and accessibility. Moreover, given a hallmark tendency for rapid technology adoption and non-conformity, Millennials are increasingly seeking solutions that afford device neutrality, and the ability to choose their own technologies – Macs or PCs, iPhones or Droids etc.

For anyone interested to gain some insight into the generational attitudes that will shape our technical future, the Accenture report is an interesting read, and provides a prescient look into the motivations of the Millennials and the transformative influence this group will have on technology over the next decade.

When we’re not glued to the TV tracking outcomes of sports we know almost nothing about, a few of use have been seen taking in the innumerable festivities, pavilions, and Olympic sites sprawling throughout the city. The city of Vancouver and all of Canada is proud to have  an Olympian event in our own backyard.

We hope all of our sporting followers are enjoying the games as much as we are, and wish everyone’s athletes the best of luck at the podium.

Jack Newton, Clio’s co-founder and President, will be a guest lecturer at Solo Practice University on Tuesday, February 9th at 12:00 PM ET.

Solo Practice University is the leading educational and professional networking community for lawyers and law students, designed by lawyers for lawyers and dedicated to helping solos and small firms build a successful solo practice. We’re honored to be part of the vibrant and diverse range of speakers Solo Practice University students have access to every day.

Teleseminar Topics

• What is cloud computing / Software-as-a-Service?
• What does cloud computing mean for lawyers?
• What are some of the benefits (and some of the disadvantages) of “the cloud”?
• What are the ethical implications of using Software-as-a-Service? Is it OK with my Bar?
• What questions about security and privacy should you be asking a prospective SaaS provider?
• How should you evaluate the costs of SaaS versus traditional desktop software?
• How can you protect yourself against worst-case scenarios?

This guest lecture teleseminar is open to our students within Solo Practice University and will be posted for Solo Practice University fans on Facebook shortly after the live seminar. Join the Solo Practice University Facebook page for free access to the recorded webinar or enroll in Solo Practice University to participate live.

Jack Newton, President of Clio, remarked, “Having information at your fingertips has always been a need for lawyers. The recent advances in the mobile space, coupled with innovative applications, are helping make ‘anytime, anywhere’ access a reality. The iPhone, Palm Pre, and Android-based phones such as the Google Nexus One are helping to revolutionize the mobile market, and we’re happy to provide lawyers anytime, anywhere access to their practice management software via our Clio mobile application.”

Clio’s mobile application for the iPhone was recently highlighted in the iPhone J.D. blog by attorney Jeff Richardson: http://www.iphonejd.com/iphone_jd/2009/11/clio.html.

Customer feedback for Clio’s mobile application has been extremely favorable. Attorney and Clio user Brian Pedigo of the Pedigo Law Corporation (www.pedigolaw.com) comments, “The Clio iPhone application enables me to retrieve key practice data, whether it’s a contact’s address, my calendar, or information regarding a specific matter, in real-time. This gives me the power of accessing information wherever I happen to be, whether I’m on the road or at lunch with a client, whenever I need it. Having access to my practice data on my mobile in real-time is invaluable.”

About Clio
Clio, a comprehensive web-based practice management Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) product, is specifically designed for solo practitioners and small law firms using PCs and Macs. It can be accessed from any Internet-enabled computer or mobile device.

Secure and easy-to-use, Clio provides case/matter management, time tracking, billing/reporting, client contact and document management, task scheduling, trust accounting, and performance metrics for independent lawyers to benchmark their business goals. In addition, Clio includes ClientConnect, a secure portal for document sharing and collaboration with clients, and Clio Express, an offline time capture application.

In 2009, Clio won a Law Technology News LTN Award for excellence in practice management software, a prestigious honor determined by the votes of LTN’s subscribers.

About Themis Solutions
Themis Solutions Inc. is based in Vancouver, British Columbia. Its flagship product, Clio, is the leading web-based SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) practice management system for solo and small firm attorneys. The company was founded by Jack Newton and Rian Gauvreau. Visit www.goclio.com, e-mail to info@goclio.com or call 1-888-858-CLIO.

Jack’s talk will focus on the practical and ethical implications of cloud computing for lawyers, and will detail how a cloud-computing-based practice management system such as Clio can help lawyers practice effectively and efficiently while minimizing ethics-related risks:

February 3rd, 5:30PM – 9:30PM: New York County Bar Association
http://www.nycla.org/index.cfm?section=CLE&page=CLE_Detail&itemID=1848&dateID=20100203
14 Vesey Street, 2nd Floor Auditorium
4.0 MCLE Credits

February 4th, 6:00PM – 9:00PM: New Jersey State Bar Association
http://www.njicle.com/seminar.aspx?sid=1010
Crowne Plaza, Fairfield
2.5 PAE Credits / 3.0 NYE (t&nt) Credits / 3.0 NJ Credits (pending)

Jack will be speaking alongside world-renowned practice management export Jay Foonberg as part of their recently announced CLE series that aims to educate lawyers on how to efficiently and ethically manage a practice.

Pedigo sought a new case management product when he needed a streamlined approach to managing all of his information.  After an extensive search, Pedigo chose Clio to manage his practice because of the software’s centralized management approach and mobile accessibility.

Pedigo said, “Clio’s greatest asset is that it keeps all my information centralized and all my matters connected.  Part of that centralization lies in the software’s ability to keep me mobile and agile.  Clio’s iPhone support keeps me organized when I’m on the go.  For example, a few weeks ago I was meeting a client for the first time at court.  I needed to contact him but I didn’t have his phone number stored on my iPhone.  I was able to log into Clio and immediately found the number I needed.”

“Using Clio saves me time, but most importantly it gives me peace of mind.  I never have to worry about forgetting something.  Web-based, Clio provides a central place for all of my information that is accessible from anywhere,” Pedigo added.

About Clio
Clio, a comprehensive web-based practice management Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) offering, is specifically designed for solo practitioners and small law firms using PCs and Macs.  It can be accessed from any Internet-enabled computer or mobile device.

Secure and easy-to-use, Clio provides case/matter management, time tracking, billing/reporting, client contact and document management, task scheduling, trust accounting, and performance metrics for independent lawyers to benchmark their business goals.  In addition, Clio includes ClientConnect, a secure portal for document sharing and collaboration with clients, and Clio Express, an offline time capture application.

Specifications and Pricing
Clio is operating system-independent and can run on PC, Macintosh and Linux computers.  Both systems support Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Safari and Google Chrome.   Clio pricing is $49/month for lawyers and $25/month per support staff member which includes all technical support, maintenance and upgrades.

About Themis Solutions
Themis Solutions Inc. is based in Vancouver, British Columbia.  Its flagship product, Clio, is the leading web-based SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) practice management system for solo and small firm attorneys.  The company was founded by Jack Newton and Rian Gauvreau.  Visit www.goclio.com, e-mail to info@goclio.com or call 1-888-858-CLIO.

About The Brian Pedigo Law Corporation
The Brian Pedigo Law Corporation is a general civil law practice serving Orange, Riverside, and San Bernardino Counties in California.  For more information, visit www.pedigolaw.com. 

We chose LawCharge as a partner because they offer several unique features to attorneys. Most notably, LawCharge allows attorneys to accept IOLTA-compliant trust account transactions via credit card. LawCharge accomplishes this by allowing attorneys to specify, based on the nature of the deposit, whether a given transaction gets deposited into your operating account or trust account. LawCharge also keeps deposits and merchant fees separate, allowing lawyers to properly segregate operating and trust funds, thereby adhering to IOLTA trust accounting rules.

To enable LawCharge for Clio ClientConnect all you need to do is log into your Clio account visit “Settings | Online Payment”. If you don’t have a Clio account you can always sign up for a free 30-day trial – all accounts include Clio ClientConnect.