****** - Verified Buyer
4.5
Attorneys are in the business of collecting, sorting and using great quantities of facts, opinions, and data to help solve their clients’ problems. As we have moved from organizing that information, all found in print, in three-ring binders, to organizing information found mostly in electronic format in some type of electronic format, we have struggled to find an effective mechanism to do so. A few web-based services have jumped to the forefront in helping us accomplish our goals, including one of the leading contenders, Evernote®. Fortunately, my friend Heidi Alexander has written the definitive book on how attorneys can effectively use Evernote, across platforms, to accomplish this most important task of effectively organizing our electronic data in an effective and time efficient manner. Heidi provides us a simple framework to learn how to use Evernote® to take notes, save, store and organize data, annotate the data, and share and collaborate on the stored information. Within the law firm Evernote® provides a core tool to allow the firm to organize its management or to manage its cases.One thing that I know from practicing law, managing a law firm, and working with countless attorneys is that any book aimed at attorneys must give practical, easily achievable advice that makes it easier to practice law. This book succeeds in all three categories!Let’s be clear, if you need to organize your electronic information then Evernote® is a great starting point because you can begin with a free version that works on both your desktop (P.C. or Mac) and your mobile devices. This book is ideal for the attorney that wants to quickly get started and become more efficient by using Evernote®. Therefore, the book focuses on the more robust desktop version, but also allows the reader to have a limited preview of the extended power of the mobile versions.One of the biggest roadblocks to adopting and using new tools, like Evernote® is the learning phase. Heidi’s book simplifies this phase by quickly explaining key language, functions, and the most basic “how to” instructions which allows the new user quick access to the power of Evernote®. The book’s practical approach continued in what I considered the key chapters, Chapters 3 and 5. After reading Chapter 3, which focuses on how to effectively input and organize the content, and Chapter 5, which takes the next step and gives specific methods of using Evernote® for law related purposes such as case management, legal research, and firm management, I concluded that this book is worth the purchase price for both the novice and experienced Evernote® user.I will take a second to note the specifics of Chapter 5 which I personally found useful, and believe will be useful for most attorneys. Here, the details on how to start a case management system using “stacks and notebooks” to organize pending, open and closed files simplified the process and will save any reader substantial time in creating a process that works. I also found the advice on using Evernote® to become more productive helpful. For those of us who obsess over productivity we must be able to create checklists and implement David Allen’s Getting Things Done system are critical. Heidi takes the work out of figuring this out, and again gives us simple steps to use both. I already feel more productive.Taking the next step of giving the reader useful, practical ideas on implementing Evernote® Heidi interviewed practicing attorneys who use Evernote® in their practice. Each of the nine attorneys give best practice tips and how they use Evernote® in real life to improve their practice. here were several who used Evernote® in ways that could immediately be implemented by readers, and while each practice is unique, reading this chapter is sure to spark ideas on how the reader can best implement Evernote® for a better, more efficient and profitable practice. My review copy of the book has not sat unread, and will get dogged eared as I glean the helpful information provided.
