Amicus Attorney Link Guide: CompuLaw

Transcription

1 Amicus Attorney Link Guide: CompuLaw Applies to: Amicus Attorney 2010 Small Firm Edition The Amicus Attorney-CompuLaw Link lets you create and modify CompuLaw Court Rulesbased Events directly from your Amicus Attorney Files and Calendar. Creating a CompuLaw Event requires a different procedure from the regular way of creating Amicus Attorney Appointments and To Do s. CompuLaw Events are created and modified using menu commands in the Amicus Attorney Calendar and Files modules. These commands are only available if the required software has been properly installed and configured (see the following section for more information). CompuLaw Events are treated as a special class of Calendar Events in Amicus Attorney. Each set of CompuLaw Events is treated as a group. Each Event in a group contains information that relates it to the other Events in the group. CompuLaw Key Events assigned a time in Amicus Attorney (for example, 9:00 AM to 11:45 AM) are scheduled as Appointments. Key Events that are not assigned a time are scheduled as To Do s. When linking Events in Amicus Attorney, CompuLaw Events can be used as master Events. However, they cannot be used as dependent Events. Amicus Attorney and CompuLaw do not share holiday information. It is technically possible to create CompuLaw Events on dates that Amicus Attorney considers to be holidays. However, if you have correctly set up statutory and court holidays in your Amicus Attorney, then this should not be a problem. Contents What you need...2 Installing...2 Creating CompuLaw Events...3 Step 1: Generate dates...3 Step 2: Change Key Dates...4 Step 3: Assign Team Members to the Events...4 Step 4: Create the Events...4 Modifying CompuLaw Events...5 Deleting CompuLaw Events...6 Working with the CompuLaw Date Maintenance Feature...6 Amicus Attorney Link Guide: CompuLaw 2010 Gavel & Gown Software Inc. 1

2 What you need To use the Amicus Attorney with CompuLaw, you must have: Amicus Attorney 2010 Small Firm Edition CompuLaw Date Calculation Software (V10) installed on your workstation Installing/upgrading Before you can use Amicus Attorney to create CompuLaw Events, the CompuLaw Date Calculation Software (V10) must be installed, along with the appropriate Rule Sets for your jurisdiction. IMPORTANT: Effective December 1, 2009, the U.S. Courts have made some major changes to the way State and Federal holidays are handled when computing time deadlines. These changes have required CompuLaw to make significant modifications to their court rules engine software and court rules databases. If you are currently using CompuLaw with Amicus Attorney 2009 or an earlier version, you will not be able to process any Rules Updates received from CompuLaw after December 1, 2009 unless you upgrade both your CompuLaw and Amicus software. For install/upgrade instructions, see our website at CompuLaw licenses The firm must obtain a sufficient number of CompuLaw licenses equal or greater than the number of Timekeepers who are licensed users in Amicus. Licenses are available for purchase through the Gavel & Gown Customer Account Services Team ( ). WARINING: If you add additional Timekeepers in Amicus Attorney before sufficient CompuLaw licenses are obtained, no Team Members will be able to use the CompuLaw features. CompuLaw Court Rule Sets Sample Rule Sets are available for use while evaluating the Link (see the install instructions). After your evaluation period, the firm must have at least two Rule Sets with valid Access Codes. Appropriate CompuLaw Court Rule Sets for your jurisdiction(s) are available for purchase through the Gavel & Gown Customer Account Services Team ( ). Need help with installing or upgrading? Gavel & Gown Software offers an installation service designed specifically for its customers that need to install or upgrade to CompuLaw (V10). For details and pricing, contact Amicus Services at Need help with CompuLaw? If you have problems with the CompuLaw calculations or validations, please contact CompuLaw, LLC. Gavel & Gown is not responsible for these procedures and cannot provide technical support for any problems with the CompuLaw Date Calculation Software and its associated data files. Amicus Attorney Link Guide: CompuLaw 2010 Gavel & Gown Software Inc. 2

3 Creating CompuLaw Events You can create CompuLaw Events in the Files and Calendar modules in Amicus Attorney. Step 1: Generate dates 1 If you are working in the Files module: Open the File in which you want to create the CompuLaw Events. Choose Create CompuLaw Event(s) from the FILES menu. If you are working in the Calendar: Choose Create CompuLaw Event(s) from the CALENDAR menu. You see a list of your Files. Select the File associated with the Events you are creating, and then click OK. 2 If a Rule Set has not previously been selected for the File, the Rule Set Selection dialog appears. You may assign a Rule Set in either of the following ways: To select a System Rule Set (and Rule Set Code) provided by CompuLaw, click the Select a CompuLaw Jurisdiction option. The Jurisdiction Selection Expert appears. In the tree structure, navigate to the jurisdiction that contains the Rule Sets that you wish to use by clicking the plus (+) signs or by highlighting an item and clicking the Expand button. Select a Rule Set by double clicking on it. To select a User Rule Set (and Rule Set Code) created by your firm, click the "Add a User rule set to the list" option. In the User Rule Sets dialog that appears, double-click the desired Rule Set. Then click Apply. A dialog for the Rule Set Code appears automatically once you select a System Rule Set Code and click Apply. (If not, choose Create CompuLaw Event(s) from the FILES menu or CALENDAR menu again, as described above in step 1.) If a RuleSet has previously been selected for the File, a dialog for the particular Rule Set Code appears. See the following step. Note: The Rule Set you have selected will be used for every CompuLaw Event on this File from this point forward, and the Rule Set Selection dialog will no longer appear when creating subsequent CompuLaw Events. If you wish to select a different Rule Set at a later time, you must do so by choosing Set CompuLaw Jurisdiction from the FILES menu. 3 In the dialog for the particular Rule Set Code, navigate to the desired rule and then doubleclick the desired Key Code. 4 The CompuLaw Add a Key Date dialog appears, from which you may specify the Key Date. Click the Date icon and choose the Key Date from the mini-calendar. If necessary, you can also specify a Key Time. Click the Time icon. In the schedule that appears, drag and resize the box to set the key time, then click OK. Click the Generate Dates button. The CompuLaw Court Rule Database dialog appears, showing a list of the dates that have been generated by CompuLaw based on the information you have specified. Note: The process of adding Key Dates when creating CompuLaw Events is done automatically. During this process, Amicus Attorney will automatically group the dates of Key Events with existing Key Events as appropriate. If any ambiguities are found between new Events and those Amicus Attorney Link Guide: CompuLaw 2010 Gavel & Gown Software Inc. 3

4 that already exist, you will be prompted to select the appropriate group for the new Events you are creating. Step 2: Change Key Dates Before you create the CompuLaw Events, you can change Key Dates, if necessary. CompuLaw Key Events assigned a time will be scheduled as Appointments; Key Events that are not assigned a time will be scheduled as To Do s. 1 To set the Key Date, from the CompuLaw Court Rule Database dialog, click the Change Key Date button. 2 The CompuLaw Change a Key Date dialog appears, showing a list of Key Codes derived from the group of generated dates. Select the Key Code for which you want to change the Key Date. 3 To change the Key Date, click the Date icon and choose the desired date from the mini- Calendar. 4 If necessary, you can also change the Key Time. Click the Time icon. In the schedule that appears, drag and resize the box to set the desired time, then click OK. 5 Click the Change Key button to return to the previous dialog box, which now shows the recalculated dates. IMPORTANT: You cannot change the Key Date for more than one Key Code at a time. If you need to change more than one Key Date, you must repeat the above procedure for each Key Code with a date you want to change. Step 3: Assign Team Members to the Events You can assign other users to the Events you are creating. 1 Click the Select Team Member icon. 2 In the list that appears, select the names of the Timekeepers you wish to assign to the Events, and click OK. Step 4: Create the Events You can now create CompuLaw Events from the generated dates. 1 The entire list of generated dates is pre-selected. If you want to create Events for only some of the dates in the list, select these dates by clicking them. To select dates that are contiguous in the list, hold down the Shift key as you click the first and last date in the range. To select dates that are non-contiguous, hold down the Control key as you click each desired date. (If you change your mind and decide you want to create Events for all the dates, click the Select All button.) 2 You can specify when the To Do s that will be created should appear in the Calendar. If you want the To Do s to appear in your list starting on the present day, click the Today button (in the lower-left corner). If you want the To Do s to appear in your list a certain number of days before the deadline, select the days before the deadline option, then type the desired number of days in the box provided. 3 Click the Create Events button to schedule the CompuLaw Events in Amicus Attorney. Amicus Attorney Link Guide: CompuLaw 2010 Gavel & Gown Software Inc. 4

5 When multiple CompuLaw Events are associated by a common Rule Set, the Events constitute a CompuLaw group. When adding new Key Codes to a File that already contains CompuLaw Events, an automatic verification is done to ensure that the new Key Event being created is grouped with any appropriate existing group. If more than one group is found in the verification process for the new Key Event, then the user will be prompted to select the appropriate group to associate with the new Key Event. Once an existing group is selected to associate with the new Key Event, all Events, including those newly created, will be displayed. Modifying CompuLaw Events You can make changes to the details of CompuLaw Events that are scheduled in Amicus Attorney. Most changes (for example, editing the title or associating a Contact) can be done in the same way you modify regular Amicus Attorney Appointments and To Do s. (For more information on working with Appointments and To Do s, please consult the Amicus Attorney documentation.) If, for example, a trial date is delayed by a week, you need to reschedule not only the Appointment for the trial but also some or all of the related To Do s leading up to the trial date. The Amicus Attorney-CompuLaw Link makes this easy and quick. When you change the Key Date for the trial, all of the To Do s that are dependent on the Key Date are rescheduled for you. To reschedule CompuLaw Events: 1 Open the relevant File folder. 2 From the drop-down list on the right side, choose Events, then All File Events. 3 Find a CompuLaw Event in the group you want to reschedule and select it, then choose Modify CompuLaw Event(s) from the FILES menu. (Or double-click the Event, then click the Modify CompuLaw Events button in the Event Details window.) The CompuLaw Court Rule Database dialog appears, listing the Events belonging to the same group as the Event you selected in the File folder. 4 Click the Change Key Date button. Select the Key Code for which you want to change the Key Date. 5 To change the Key Date, click the date icon and choose the desired date from the mini- Calendar. 6 You can also change the Key Time. Click the Time icon. In the schedule that appears, drag and resize the box to set the desired time, then click OK. 7 Click the Change Key button to return to the previous dialog box, which now shows the recalculated dates. 8 Click the Modify Events button to reschedule the CompuLaw Events in Amicus Attorney. Note: Modifying a Key Event in CompuLaw will affect all linked Events in the group. However, if you change the date of an Event that is linked to a Key Event, any subsequent changes to the date in the Key Event will not affect the Event you have rescheduled. Amicus Attorney Link Guide: CompuLaw 2010 Gavel & Gown Software Inc. 5

6 Deleting CompuLaw Events You can delete a single CompuLaw Event or a series of Events from the Files or Calendar module. Deleting a CompuLaw Event 1 Double-click on the Event to open it and in the Event Details dialog, click the Delete button. Or, right-click on the Event and select Delete. 2 The following prompt appears: Are you sure you wish to delete? Click OK. 3 If you are deleting a CompuLaw Key Event, the following prompt appears: You are about to delete a CompuLaw group for [Name of Event] and dependent groups. All Events for this group and its dependents will be deleted except past Events and Done To Do s. Do you wish to continue with the deletion? If you are deleting a CompuLaw Event that is not a Key Event, the following prompt appears: WARNING, you are about to delete a CompuLaw Event. Do you wish to continue with the deletion? 4 Click OK to delete the CompuLaw Event. You may delete a series of CompuLaw Events provided there is not a Key Event included. Key Events can only be deleted on an individual basis. As is the case when you modify a Key Event, all Events linked to the Key Event are deleted as well, except for those marked "Done" or those dated in the past. Note: If you delete a Key Event that is bound by a Secondary Formula (i.e., an Event linked to the Key Event being deleted is also linked to another Key Event), then that Formula will be automatically recalculated after the deletion. Deleting a series of CompuLaw Events 1 Highlight the Events listed by holding down the Shift key for contiguous Events or the Ctrl key for non-contiguous Events. Provided there a no Key Events in the series of Events you have chosen for deletion, the following prompt appears: "Are you sure you wish to delete?" Click OK. 2 The following prompt appears: WARNING, you are about to delete a CompuLaw Event. Do you wish to continue with the deletion? Click OK to delete the CompuLaw Events. Working with the CompuLaw Date Maintenance Feature After you have updated your Rule Sets, you may use the CompuLaw Date Maintenance feature to initiate changes to your CompuLaw Events according to the updated Rule Sets. This feature automatically changes dates, creates new Events, and modifies the Formula Descriptions in the Event notes. Events in the past and Events on which the Timekeeper has changed the date will not be modified during the Date Maintenance process. Events that are no longer required by the updated Rule Sets will be automatically deleted. Note: We recommend that this utility be run after an update has been applied to the CompuLaw Rule Sets. Amicus Attorney Link Guide: CompuLaw 2010 Gavel & Gown Software Inc. 6

7 To use the CompuLaw Date Maintenance Feature: 1 From the Amicus Attorney Calendar module, choose CALENDAR > CompuLaw Date Maintenance. A warning appears stating that the process of verifying CompuLaw Events may be lengthy, depending on the amount of information contained in your Calendar. 2 Click Yes to continue. Once the process is complete, a dialog appears informing you of how many CompuLaw Event Groups have been verified For further information, contact Gavel & Gown Software Inc. Phone: Fax: info@amicusattorney.com Copyright 2010 Gavel & Gown Software Inc. All rights reserved. AMICUS and AMICUS ATTORNEY are registered trademarks, and AMICUS ACCOUNTING,AMICUS MOBILE, AMICUS MOBILE SERVER, and DO are trademarks of Gavel & Gown Software Inc. All other trademarks referenced are the property of their respective owner. Gavel & Gown Software Inc. disclaims any proprietary interest in trademarks other than its own. January 2010 Amicus Attorney Link Guide: CompuLaw 2010 Gavel & Gown Software Inc. 7