LexisNexis last week rolled out two significant enhancements to LexisNexis Firm Manager, its Web-based practice management application.  (See my earlier posts about Practice Manager here, here and here.)

The first is a new Client Center feature. It allows lawyers to share information from within Firm Manager directly with their clients or others outside the firm. The feature can be used to share documents, case calendars and other information. Nothing is shared automatically — the attorney decides what to share and who to share it with. The person you share with is given a personal, confidential password and logs in through a secure, encrypted connection.

For now, the sharing is one way, from lawyer to client. Within a month, an enhancement will be deployed that will allow clients to share documents and information with the lawyer.

The second set of enhancements are to the “contacts” feature within Firm Manager. Now, users can create relationships between contacts; add appointments, tasks or memos directly from contacts; and view these items from a new “Attached Records” section in the contacts tab. That should make it easier for a user to retrieve all the pieces of a matter, no matter where they start.

As I have noted before, I was and remain part of a 15-member advisory board that provided LexisNexis with feedback on the development of Firm Manager. I received no compensation for my participation but was reimbursed for travel to two meetings.

By the way, for a recent detailed review of Firm Manager, see Firm Offer(ing): LexisNexis Cloud-Based Practice Management Suite Arrives, by Jared Correia at the Mass. Law Office Management Assistance Program.

Photo of Bob Ambrogi Bob Ambrogi

Bob is a lawyer, veteran legal journalist, and award-winning blogger and podcaster. In 2011, he was named to the inaugural Fastcase 50, honoring “the law’s smartest, most courageous innovators, techies, visionaries and leaders.” Earlier in his career, he was editor-in-chief of several legal publications, including The National Law Journal, and editorial director of ALM’s Litigation Services Division.