While practicelaw has several hundred practice forms and resources, very little of it is developed with or directed toward open source software. We use Dreamweaver to design and manage the site, Microsoft Word (see “Kicking This Word Addiction Ain’t Easy”) and Adobe Acrobat for our forms, and other proprietary software, such as Lexis-Nexis’ HotDocs product.

That’s now changed with the lastest of practicelaw’s four client trust accounting guides. While produced as an Adobe Acrobat file, the newest guide is intended for the relatively few attorneys out there using open source accounting software. Specifically, GnuCash, a free and open source financial software application.

Like prior accounting guides for QuickBooks and Microsoft Office Accounting, the newest guide walks the attorney (and this is directed specifically at Minnesota attorneys) through the requirements and general principles of client trust accounting. Mike Trittipo, the MSBA’s director of technology and the author of the guides, then turns his attention to using GnuCash as your financial accounting software and walks you step by step through setting up asset and trust liability acccounts, adding entries and transactions, transferring funds, and reconciling the accounts each month. It’s a great guide, even if you read only the first part to understand the general requirements of client trust accounting.

Does the release of an open source software resource signal additional OSS resources coming to practicelaw? While I’m a big proponent of OSS, it’s unlikely additional significant OSS resources will be coming out in the near future. But, at least with the critical task of balancing and reconciling your client trust accounts, you have at least one open source alternative to consider, with guidance now available.