“As an attorney fascinated by legal software solutions, I can’t overemphasize the rapidly-growing importance of legal software to all types of law practice, driven by the inexorable increase in the ratio of software/internet era attorneys to older, computer-phobic lawyers.

And now, LexisNexis has stunned the legal community by its July 24th acquisition of CaseSoft and its product lines: the legal killer app CaseMap and its sister applications TextMap, TimeMap, DepPrep, etc. Product info available at: www.casesoft.com CaseMap is unique. It’s not a Business of Law product like case management software (Amicus Attorney, etc.); it’s a PRACTICE of law product. I used a couple of the earlier versions for awhile, years ago, and knew it was going to be big eventually, and I’ve wished I still had it ever since (It’s potential uses go beyond law [think Writing, Science, Financial, Education, Pharmaceutical….]) Imagine being able to dynamically database all the facts, legal issues (and their elements, sub-issues, and more), the pinpoint-cite-applicable laws/cases/authorities to each of those (sub)issues (positive & negative), evidentiary sources, witnesses, parties, specific claims, filings, page-cited discovery documents/ transcripts, etc., and imagine being able to interconnect them all in the hyperlinked analytical way that an attorney’s brain must (if successful) do. Imagine the result in a quickly accessible, comprehensively reviewable, and easily understandable computer database, as opposed to the lawyer’s typically chaotic row of crammed accordion files full of scribbled notes, clerk memos, pleadings, thick transcripts with post-it notes, etc., all in linear format (no hyperlinking) and hard to carry. And it’s not just a few attorneys making reference to CaseMap–per their website: The United States Attorney’s Office has 15,000 CaseMap and TimeMap license sets and the US Securities and Exchange Commission has a CaseSoft Product Enterprise License for 1,100 users. LexisNexis is going full force with this software assault on the legal market, also launching Time Matters 8.0 and Billing Matters 8.0, the latest versions of their popular case management and billing software, respectively. However, the case management/Business of Law software field is full of rapidly evolving competition, so this second blast from LexisNexis’ double-barreled software shotgun is not as big a deal as their CaseSoft coup. Now that there’s a big name behind CaseMap, it’s revolution will finally be getting underway, and developers better be working on something to compete with it. How? Duplicate the functionality, of course, even improve on it, but focus on Ease of Use, make it Intuitive to begin with, as CaseMap’s biggest weakness (only weakness?) is its frustratingly steep learning curve and rather demanding data-entry requirements. The software should also Look Better, but that’s just my opinion, and I could be wrong.”