Legal Humor

OK, our selection for this month is not legal-specific. It does provide a humorous, tongue-in-cheek view of what customer support might have been needed when the first book replaced a scroll. Our Customer Support Department loves this one.

Watch the Introducing the Book video >>

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No More Manual Installs of Your ProDoc Updates?

We sent you an email a few weeks ago that invited you to update your firm information on our web site so we'll be able to activate our new WebUpdate™ feature for you in the near future.

Soon you will no longer need to manually install routine ProDoc updates. Instead, every time you open ProDoc, and if you are connected to the Internet, ProDoc will “phone home”. It will then download and install any updates we have prepared for you.

We expect that after you set up your account for WebUpdate, you'll only need to manually install a ProDoc update when we make major changes to the ProDoc operating system.

Another benefit to you is that we will be able to provide you some updates more quickly. For instance, we add user-requested enhancements to forms throughout the year. In the past, we waited until the next update shipment to provide them to you. With WebUpdate, you will receive them as quickly as we are able to process the changes into our system.

If you have not already updated your firm information, we encourage you to do so today. If you cannot find the email containing the instructions please call us at 866-299-6608 or email us. Be sure to provide us your customer number or phone number so we can properly identify your account.

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Coming Updates

Listed below are the major enhancements now planned for the listed updates. However, each will undoubtedly contain a number of minor updates in various volumes and other enhancements suggested by our subscribers... like you.

December

Family Law - We’re updating 18 forms in this volume. Many of these changes are based on revisions to the Florida Rules of Civil Procedure, which are effective January 1, 2008.

• We're adding new provisions in multiple forms to provide that a minor subpoenaed for testimony shall have the right to be accompanied by a parent or guardian except under certain conditions and that any minor required to submit to physical examination shall have the right to be accompanied by a parent or guardian except under certain conditions.
• We’re modifying IRS Form 8332 - Release of Claim of Dependency Exemption to match the current IRS form.
• We're updating three local circuit forms for Brevard County.
• Finally, we’re removing the Application for Determination of Civil Indigent Status. This is pursuant to a Florida Supreme Court opinion which approved an updated version of this Florida Clerks of Court Operations Corporation form and in the same opinion noted that only clerks and persons with whom the clerk has contracted to perform functions assigned by the clerk are authorized to assist individuals in completing this form.

Litigation - We're also updating this volume due to changes in the Florida Rules of Civil Procedure. As with the Family Law volume, we're adding new provisions in multiple forms to provide that a minor subpoenaed for testimony shall have the right to be accompanied by a parent or guardian except under certain conditions and that any minor required to submit to physical examination shall have the right to be accompanied by a parent or guardian except under certain conditions.

Lipman's Wills & Trusts - There are two major enhancements coming to this volume:

• We're adding a new series of children's questions to the volume to make it much faster to address your clients' preferences concerning their children in the wills and trusts documents.  It will now be far easier to disinherit a child and to provide for other beneficiaries when your clients have no children (or are disinheriting all of their children).
• We're revising the powers of attorney forms allowing you to give the agent the power to amend or revoke a revocable trust in addition to the power to create a revocable trust.

Probate - We're updating 11 forms in this volume based on amendments to the Florida Probate Rules that become effective on January 1, 2008. The primary changes are adding a paragraph regarding whether domiciliary or principal proceedings are pending in another state or country, and adding the creditors' addresses to schedule A.

Real Estate - We’re updating the FAR/BAR contracts and the federal W-9 to comport with the newly published forms. In the HUD-1s, we’ve updated the signature blocks to match the newly promulgated forms.  In addition, as a result of a legislative change, three line items from the HUD forms are no longer legally applicable when the transaction involves a Florida title insurance company or agent. We’ve automated the HUD forms to remove these items when appropriate.

Florida Criminal Defense - We're modifying the Motion for Postconviction Relief to conform to the Model Form.

Federal Criminal Defense - We removing three Administrative Office forms that are no longer valid, and updating the Civil Rights Complaint for the Southern District of Florida.

We'll also update the tax calculator in the Child Support Guidelines and Financial Affidavit within the Family Law PowerPack.

January

This shipment will contain the 2007 update for the following volumes, based on revisions made by FLSSI:

• FLSSI¹Probate
• FLSSI¹ Guardianship
• FLSSI¹ Real Estate

Thanks for being a ProDoc subscriber!

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ProDoc Customer Support: Setting Default Answers

Setting default answers in ProDoc makes it much more efficient for you to generate your documents. As a quick example, suppose most of your work is in a specific county—Hillsborough County for instance. By making Hillsborough the default answer every time a question arises about the county name, you merely need to click Enter instead of typing in Hillsborough every time. And... that's just a glimpse of the possibilities. So, if you want to stop retyping repetitive information and reduce the risk of errors in your documents...

Read more about setting Default Answers in ProDoc.

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Trial Tip: The Florida Jury Selection Blog

Or, as the blog call itself... "The cure for the Common Voir Doir" and here is how the editor, Robert W. Kelley, describes the purpose of the Blog:

"This blog is designed for my fellow trial attorneys, who, like me, have spent their careers in the courtroom seeking victory and justice for their clients. We know that jury selection is a critically important process and that it can be maddeningly difficult. We walk a tight-rope over a mine-field trying to find jurors who can be truly open-minded; people who will open up their hearts and minds to hear our client’s case. And we know from experience that in order for true justice to prevail, the jury that decides the case must be nothing less than “omni exceptione majores” - above all challenge."

This blog is a repository of my twenty-five years experience in the courtroom as it pertains to voir dire."

Visit the Florida Jury Selection Blog >>

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Practice Tip: Risky Business - Some Thought on Legal Malpractice Insurance

Law Practice Today recently published an excellent article on legal malpractice by Ed Poll. Here's the introduction to the article:

"Malpractice is a predominant concern for the profession, and more so for small firms and independent practitioners. Mandatory disclosure of malpractice liability insurance is a growing trend and with that comes increased risk of malpractice suits. This article investigates these recent trends in malpractice insurance and provides preventative measures you may take to avoid malpractice."

View the compete article >>

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Tech Tip: Take a Second Look at OCR Software

OCR software is that wonderful software that converts written words into digital files. Quality of the various programs has been uneven and many users have been unimpressed with the results.

ABBEY^® FineReader 9.0 just might change your mind. It provides powerful functionality for converting images received from a scanner, a digital camera or by fax, as well as PDF files, into editable and searchable formats. It accurately retains formatting and layout of documents and supports a wide range of recognition languages and output file formats.

And, it enables you to "shoot" documents with your digital camera, export the images to your computer, and then convert them back to electronic documents.

Learn more about ABBY Finereader >>

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Tech Tip: Scared Straight... Dangers of Practicing Unsafe Computer Usage

Perhaps you've heard everyone tell you that you need a good firewall, a good anti-virus program that regularly updates its virus definitions, and anti-spyware on your computer—but you've been too busy to be bothered by it.

If nothing else has convinced you so far, read this article... it'll scare you straight to a computer guru to finally protect your computer from the myriad of miscreants out there.

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View Past Issues of this eZine

Looking for a Tech Tip from a past ProDoc eZine... but can't find that old eZine? We keep recent past issues on our web site for your review.

View past issues of the ProDoc eZine >>

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Vent—Tell Us What's on Your Mind

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