Are you looking for great software for your virtual law office or virtual paralegal / legal assistant business?
Through my years working as a virtual contract paralegal and legal assistant for attorneys in all different jurisdictions, I have come across a vast amount of software that can make collaboration between the virtual paralegal and your law office almost seamless. Whether you are an attorney stumbling across this free software or an idividual looking for great virtual software ideas, you have come to the right place.
Quickbooks Simplestart 2010 - This is a free version of Quickbooks by Intuit. This version allows you to record your expenses, invoice your clients, record payments on account and more. You can also run expense and income reports. Great free financial software to use to keep your business organized with your financial information for tax day. You can also create a backup so you never lose your important information. You can download this program free at Free Quickbooks Download
Wordprocessing
Open Office - This is a great completely free program that provides features similar to Word products such as Word processing, Excel, and PowerPoint. Open Office products are compatible with Word products and Wordperfect. You can save documents created in Open Office in word and wordperfect format so your client's can still access the information. Go to OpenOffice.org
Ebook Software 1 - This is a free, powerful and user friendly ebook creator.
CutePDF - Free PDF creator all for free. This is a great alternative if you cannot afford to buy Adobe Acrobat.
Dropbox.com - Dropbox offers 2 gig of free space that you can share files with others if you wish. Very easy interface. The program is set up to look just like any other folder in your Windows Browser. It is a very secure alternative for sharing files. There is also an Ipod app available.
Syncplicity.com - Syncplicity offers 2 gig of free space to share files with others. Syncplicity is similar to dropbox.com. I use both since my clients all don't use the same file sharing tools. There is also an Ipod app available.
Box.net - Offers 5 gig of free space to store and share files.
Google Docs - Offers for free 1 gig of space for storing and sharing your files. However, this is a great document storage option and if you want to purchase additional space it is very cheap. You can purchase an additional 20 gigs for only $5.00 per year and 80 gigs for only $20.00 per year. Google Docs also serves as a great alternative to backing up your files. ( You will need to sign up for a google account for free.)
Windows Live Skydrive - Skydrive gives you 25 gig of free space to upload, share and organize. It also acts as a great back up for your important office files. It is web based but there is a program called Gladinet Cloud Storage (which is also free) that allows you to create a mapped drive on your hard drive so you can access your account through your windows explorer. All you need to do for a free Skydrive account is sign up. And yes, that's free too.
Mozy.com - Backup for your files. Make sure you sign up for the "MozyHome Free" version. You can store up to 2 GB for free.
Yousendit.com - You can send large files for free to colleagues and clients. The free version allows you to only send one file at a time so I bundle all the info I need to send into one (1) .pdf before sending.
Calendars
Google Calendar - Google Calendars. Simply the best on the net. You can share your online calendars with clients and colleagues and you can access your calendar anywhere. Great for calendar collaboration with a client when you manage their appointments. Go to Google to sign up for your free account.
Airset - This calendar offers online collaboration with your clients, contact list, photo album, web site, messaging and more. Go to Airset to set up your free account. Recently Airset also started offering cloud storage and sharing options, also free.
EFax - You can sign up with EFax for a free fax number that allows others to send you a fax and you receive the fax in your email. Does require software download, but that is free too. You can upgrade if you wish to have a fax number that looks local or if you want to purchase an outgoing fax number. But the incoming fax number is free. Go to EFax to sign up for your free account and get your free inbound fax number.
K7 - K7.net offers free inbound faxes to your email and voice mail.
Fax Zero - Fax Zero allows for you to send two (2) free faxes per day. Only catch, it does have a small bit of advertising. But if you are not sending many faxes, this is a great place to send a fax from, especially if it is a personal fax. Wouldn't use so much professionally for a virtual office.
Remote Access
Work directly online with colleagues and clients with these great free remote access sites or access your work computer from any other computer in the virtual world wide web.
Logmein (Simply the Best) - There is a free version of Logmein that suffices my needs to access my office computer from a remote connection and also from my Ipod Touch. Yes, there's an app for that.
Teamviewer - You can't be without free Teamviewer if you want to remotely collaborate with your team members in your law office or with your virtual legal assistant. It is completely free. TeamViewer connects to any PC or server around the world within a few seconds. It allows you to remote control your team members computer as if you were sitting right in front of it. Great for presentations and meetings.
Free Legal Documents for your business
Docstoc - Docstoc is a great free resource of legal and business documents that others have uploaded to share with you. You can find anything from sample business plans to simple correspondence examples.
Free registration.
File Converters
Zamzar.com - No software download required. Just go to Zamzar.com, select your file to convert, choose the format, enter your email address where you want to receive the file, then convert. (This has come in handy throughout my virtual days.)
Primo PDF - You can download a free version that allows you to create PDFs from any file, even Excel and PowerPoint. Go to PrimoPDF to sign up for your free account. This is one of my favorite free tools my virtual paralegal office uses every day.
Time Tracking and Invoicing
Skype - I use Skype in my virtual paralegal office as my main office telephone. It is cheap and free for PC to PC calls. However, I purchased for $2.95 per month, the ability to make long distance calls to anywhere in the United States and Canada and I purchased my online telephone number for as little as under $60.00 per year. So for approximately $95.00 per year, I have an office telephone versus the cost of long distance charges, a seperate phone line, ect. It would have cost me hundreds per year for installing an additional business line and phone charges each month. Way cost effective for any virtual office. You can use a headset or any Voice over IP telephone that hooks into your usb port. My phone is wireless.
Just Plain Fun Stuff to Waste Your Time
Smilebox - All free - create free cards, slideshows and scrapbooks with your photos.
Photofilter - A great and completely free alternative to Photoshop. Create great newsletters, advertisements or create scrapbooks and/or just have fun editing your photos.
Accounting Software
Quickbooks Simplestart 2010 - This is a free version of Quickbooks by Intuit. This version allows you to record your expenses, invoice your clients, record payments on account and more. You can also run expense and income reports. Great free financial software to use to keep your business organized with your financial information for tax day. You can also create a backup so you never lose your important information. You can download this program free at Free Quickbooks Download
Wordprocessing
Open Office - This is a great completely free program that provides features similar to Word products such as Word processing, Excel, and PowerPoint. Open Office products are compatible with Word products and Wordperfect. You can save documents created in Open Office in word and wordperfect format so your client's can still access the information. Go to OpenOffice.orgEbook Software 1 - This is a free, powerful and user friendly ebook creator.
CutePDF - Free PDF creator all for free. This is a great alternative if you cannot afford to buy Adobe Acrobat.
File Storage and File Sharing Software
Dropbox.com - Dropbox offers 2 gig of free space that you can share files with others if you wish. Very easy interface. The program is set up to look just like any other folder in your Windows Browser. It is a very secure alternative for sharing files. There is also an Ipod app available.Syncplicity.com - Syncplicity offers 2 gig of free space to share files with others. Syncplicity is similar to dropbox.com. I use both since my clients all don't use the same file sharing tools. There is also an Ipod app available.
Box.net - Offers 5 gig of free space to store and share files.
Google Docs - Offers for free 1 gig of space for storing and sharing your files. However, this is a great document storage option and if you want to purchase additional space it is very cheap. You can purchase an additional 20 gigs for only $5.00 per year and 80 gigs for only $20.00 per year. Google Docs also serves as a great alternative to backing up your files. ( You will need to sign up for a google account for free.)
Windows Live Skydrive - Skydrive gives you 25 gig of free space to upload, share and organize. It also acts as a great back up for your important office files. It is web based but there is a program called Gladinet Cloud Storage (which is also free) that allows you to create a mapped drive on your hard drive so you can access your account through your windows explorer. All you need to do for a free Skydrive account is sign up. And yes, that's free too.
File Backup Software
Mozy.com - Backup for your files. Make sure you sign up for the "MozyHome Free" version. You can store up to 2 GB for free.
Yousendit.com - You can send large files for free to colleagues and clients. The free version allows you to only send one file at a time so I bundle all the info I need to send into one (1) .pdf before sending.
Calendars
Google Calendar - Google Calendars. Simply the best on the net. You can share your online calendars with clients and colleagues and you can access your calendar anywhere. Great for calendar collaboration with a client when you manage their appointments. Go to Google to sign up for your free account.Airset - This calendar offers online collaboration with your clients, contact list, photo album, web site, messaging and more. Go to Airset to set up your free account. Recently Airset also started offering cloud storage and sharing options, also free.
Voice and Fax Machines
EFax - You can sign up with EFax for a free fax number that allows others to send you a fax and you receive the fax in your email. Does require software download, but that is free too. You can upgrade if you wish to have a fax number that looks local or if you want to purchase an outgoing fax number. But the incoming fax number is free. Go to EFax to sign up for your free account and get your free inbound fax number.
K7 - K7.net offers free inbound faxes to your email and voice mail.
Fax Zero - Fax Zero allows for you to send two (2) free faxes per day. Only catch, it does have a small bit of advertising. But if you are not sending many faxes, this is a great place to send a fax from, especially if it is a personal fax. Wouldn't use so much professionally for a virtual office.
Remote Access
Work directly online with colleagues and clients with these great free remote access sites or access your work computer from any other computer in the virtual world wide web.Logmein (Simply the Best) - There is a free version of Logmein that suffices my needs to access my office computer from a remote connection and also from my Ipod Touch. Yes, there's an app for that.
Teamviewer - You can't be without free Teamviewer if you want to remotely collaborate with your team members in your law office or with your virtual legal assistant. It is completely free. TeamViewer connects to any PC or server around the world within a few seconds. It allows you to remote control your team members computer as if you were sitting right in front of it. Great for presentations and meetings.
Free Legal Documents for your business
Docstoc - Docstoc is a great free resource of legal and business documents that others have uploaded to share with you. You can find anything from sample business plans to simple correspondence examples.
Free registration.
File Converters
Zamzar.com - No software download required. Just go to Zamzar.com, select your file to convert, choose the format, enter your email address where you want to receive the file, then convert. (This has come in handy throughout my virtual days.)Primo PDF - You can download a free version that allows you to create PDFs from any file, even Excel and PowerPoint. Go to PrimoPDF to sign up for your free account. This is one of my favorite free tools my virtual paralegal office uses every day.
Time Tracking and Invoicing
Dictation and Transcription
Telephone Online Solutions
Skype - I use Skype in my virtual paralegal office as my main office telephone. It is cheap and free for PC to PC calls. However, I purchased for $2.95 per month, the ability to make long distance calls to anywhere in the United States and Canada and I purchased my online telephone number for as little as under $60.00 per year. So for approximately $95.00 per year, I have an office telephone versus the cost of long distance charges, a seperate phone line, ect. It would have cost me hundreds per year for installing an additional business line and phone charges each month. Way cost effective for any virtual office. You can use a headset or any Voice over IP telephone that hooks into your usb port. My phone is wireless.Just Plain Fun Stuff to Waste Your Time
Smilebox - All free - create free cards, slideshows and scrapbooks with your photos.
Photofilter - A great and completely free alternative to Photoshop. Create great newsletters, advertisements or create scrapbooks and/or just have fun editing your photos.
