Practice Blawg » Developments

This Year’s practicelaw Survey Results

Nancy Hupp — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 17:01:18 +0000

I must confess that I almost never take surveys. I am the person who regularly folds the CLE survey, sticks it in my materials binder, and heads for the door. So I am both surprised and appreciative of the 773 practicelaw users who took a survey on practicelaw sent in early January. We look at survey results in making decisions on content, budget, staffing. Thank you for not being me. Here’s what you told us.

Who responded
Of the 773 respondents, half had over 21 years of experience. Interestingly 72% were in solo or small firms (2-5 attorneys), down from 80% last year. 14% of our users now come from firms with more than 20 attorneys, up from 10% last year.

practicelaw use is spread out among those with different levels of experience:

What you told us about practicelaw

Over half of the respondents indicated that practicelaw is “important or very important” in their decision to maintain their MSBA membership. In addition, 81% of respondents are “satisfied or very satisfied” with the materials available on practicelaw, with 89% indicating that the materials or services on the site are “good or excellent.”

Why you came to practicelaw in 2010
Real estate forms continue to drive traffic to the site, with 65% and 62% of respondents, respectively, indicating that they used or relied upon the Uniform Conveyancing Blanks and Residential Real Estate forms in the past year. In addition, 49% indicated use of the Editable Conveyancing Blanks we added to practicelaw in the last year. 51% of those polled stated that they utilized the probate materials.

Forms are, by far, in the most demand, with 92% of those polled indicating forms are the most important offering on the site.

How you work
Internet Explorer continues to dominant the browser competition; 65% of those polled use IE as their browser, followed by 22% using Firefox. The biggest gainer? Google Chrome, up to 8% from 2% last year.

64% of respondents have made the leap to Microsoft Word 2007 or 2010, braving the ribbon interface. Alas WordPerfect use dwindled to 11%, down from 15% of respondents last year.

Use of social media such as Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter was about the same as last year. About a third of respondents are holding firm that they will not use any of these sites in the next year; 8% expressed an interested in dipping their toes in the water in 2011.

Approximately half of respondents use Westlaw and half, Fastcase.

What do you want?
In a word – more. Lots more forms, checklists in almost every practice area. We’re working on it.

All in all we were overwhelmed with the response. Last year 276 responded and this year, 772. We received lots of suggestions on new content, how to improve existing content, and some pats on the back. Thank you. And remember, it’s never too late to add your 2 cents. We welcome emails and calls from users anytime throughout the year.

© Nancy Hupp for Practice Blawg, 2011. | Permalink | No comments yet | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Developments, practicelaw

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

Happy Birthday practicelaw

Nancy Hupp — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 13:45:24 +0000

Too bad Joe Mauer and his mother are tied up with Kemps; they’re not available to plug practicelaw.org. I have calls into Justin Bieber and Lady Gaga but haven’t heard back and need to get this blog post published because today is practicelaw’s one year anniversary of the big redesign. So, in lieu of high powered celebrity endorsements, I will have to take matters into my own hands. Here goes:

Try practicelaw.

Why? Well it isn’t the cows, rather it is the fact that we have good, solid resources that make your practice more economical and efficient. Since its inception in 2001, practicelaw has grown steadily and substantially in use and content, and now includes more than 750 peer-reviewed or court-approved practice forms, dozens of checklists and practice aids, and more than 300 links to additional attorney-selected resources available on the internet. All free to MSBA members. (If you’re interested in a peek backwards, read our previous post discussing the Way Back Machine, an internet archive of old web sites.)

We knew we had good resources before, but after our redesign we have more of them, they are easier to find, and they are updated more quickly by staff attorneys and editors and your peers.

Take a look of what we’ve done over the course of the last year. If Marilyn Monroe could sing Happy Birthday to practicelaw, that would seal the deal.

The question isn’t really “Why use practicelaw?” rather, “Why not?” I know Justin and Lady Gaga would agree.

© Nancy Hupp for Practice Blawg, 2010. | Permalink | No comments yet | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Developments, practicelaw, Updates

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

Even More New Criminal Defense Forms

Andrea Hable — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 18:05:44 +0000

We rolled out the third set of of new criminal law forms on practicelaw, following the first and second sets in June and July. The new forms are courtesy of criminal defense practitioner Frederic Bruno, who has generously agreed to share his forms. Forms will be added in stages throughout the summer, and practicelaw’s existing criminal law forms may be revised or renamed to fit in with the new set. The end product will be a foundational set of criminal defense forms, adding significantly to our existing set of DWI forms.

The third set was a potpourri of forms, including a re-release of most of practicelaw’s existing DWI and forfeiture forms, plus new Certificates of Representation, Assignment of Bail, and a Jury Questionnaire.

Roughly, the final set will include:

14 intakes, affidavits of service, and letters
11 opening forms (petitions, complaints, bail)
7 guilty pleas and demands for speedy hearing
22 pre-trial motions, demands, and notices (generic, procedural, discovery & evidence)
10 juvenile pre-trial forms (and additional juvenile forms are included in other categories)
3 trial and post-trial (motions, sentencing)
9 closing and miscellaneous forms

And I have to give credit to practicelaw’s Leslie Matton-Flynn for helping me out with this project, and to attorneys Jason Kohlmeyer and Tom Gallagher for answering my questions on some of the finer points of criminal defense.

© Andrea for Practice Blawg, 2010. | Permalink | No comments yet | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Criminal Law, Developments, DWI, practicelaw, Updates

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

More New Criminal Defense Forms

Andrea Hable — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 15:05:46 +0000

We’ve rolled out the second set of of new criminal law forms on practicelaw, following the first set last month. The new forms are courtesy of criminal defense practitioner Frederic Bruno, who has generously agreed to share his forms. Forms will be added in stages throughout the summer, and practicelaw’s existing criminal law forms may be revised or renamed to fit in with the new set. The end product will be a foundational set of criminal defense forms, adding significantly to our existing set of DWI forms.

Yesterday’s second release included 16 informal discovery forms, affidavits of service, post-trial motions, and some miscellaneous forms. Plus we revised and re-released three of practicelaw’s existing forms: Preliminary DWI Defense Checklist (CRIM-050); Stipulation of Dismissal (CRIM-620); and Letter to Prosecutor: Request for Materials (DWI).

Roughly, the final set will include:

14 intakes, affidavits of service, and letters
11 opening forms (petitions, complaints, bail)
7 guilty pleas and demands for speedy hearing
22 pre-trial motions, demands, and notices (generic, procedural, discovery & evidence)
10 juvenile pre-trial forms (and additional juvenile forms are included in other categories)
3 trial and post-trial (motions, sentencing)
9 closing and miscellaneous forms

And I have to give a huge thank-you to practicelaw’s Leslie Matton-Flynn for helping me out with this project, and to attorneys Jason Kohlmeyer and Tom Gallagher for answering my questions on some of the finer points of criminal defense.

© Andrea for Practice Blawg, 2010. | Permalink | No comments yet | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Criminal Law, Developments, DWI, practicelaw, Updates

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

New Criminal Defense Forms

Andrea Hable — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 20:41:05 +0000

Last week we rolled out the first set of new criminal law forms on practicelaw. The new forms are courtesy of criminal defense practitioner Frederic Bruno, who has graciously agreed to share his forms. Forms will be added in stages throughout the summer, and practicelaw’s existing criminal law forms may be revised or renamed to fit in with the new set. The end product will be a foundational set of criminal defense forms, adding significantly to our existing set of DWI forms.

Last Friday’s first release included 21 pre-trial motions and discovery and evidence forms, plus a revision of practicelaw’s existing form for Notices of Defenses and Defense Witnesses (was CRIM-540, renumbered to CRIM-490). Roughly, the final set will include:

14 intakes, affidavits of service, and letters
11 opening forms (petitions, complaints, bail)
7 guilty pleas and demands for speedy hearing
22 pre-trial motions, demands, and notices (generic, procedural, discovery & evidence)
10 juvenile pre-trial forms (and additional juvenile forms are included in other categories)
3 trial and post-trial (motions, sentencing)
9 closing and miscellaneous forms

And I have to give a huge thank-you to practicelaw’s Leslie Matton-Flynn for helping me out with this project.

© Andrea for Practice Blawg, 2010. | Permalink | No comments yet | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Criminal Law, Developments, DWI, practicelaw, Updates

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh