Success Story - PracticeMaster and Tabs3

When the four partners of Garrett DeFrenza Stiepel LLP (an 8 person firm specializing in real estate, tax and corporate law) decided to leave a large firm in February 2002 to start their own firm, they knew they wanted technology that gave them the same capabilities they had grown accustomed to at the large firm. They wanted an advanced billing system, quality case/practice management and document management software. They also wanted this software to be fully integrated and have it work with other applications. In addition, it needed to be fairly easy to install and use since they did not plan to have an in-house technology person on the staff. One of the partners, Don Hickman, was assigned the responsibility of selecting the technology they needed to get up and running. And, they wanted to get it done in less than 30 days!

Mr. Hickman was referred to Baker+Cadence Solutions, LLC to discuss the conversion of their documents to their new document management system, WORLDOX. In his early discussions with Bill Baker and Michael Crouch of Baker+Cadence, he learned that WORLDOX integrated with Software Technology, Inc.’s PracticeMaster Practice Management Software, which in turn was fully integrated with Software Technology, Inc.’s billing system, Tabs3. Since Tabs3 was already on his list of billing systems to review, he decided to review the entire set of systems from Software Technology, Inc. that Baker+Cadence was recommending. Within two weeks of first talking to Baker+Cadence and accepting the recommendation of Tabs3, PracticeMaster, WORLDOX and DeltaView, the firm was operational.

The other attorneys and the support staff learned that being in a small firm did not mean they would have to give up the capabilities they enjoyed at the larger firm. In fact they had more! They had more control over their documents and case information with PracticeMaster and WORLDOX. In addition, they could record their own time entries and know immediately where each billing person stood each day regarding time recorded within Tabs3 or PracticeMaster. When they produced their first month’s bills, they were completed and mailed by the fourth day of the next month and they included all the detail their clients were used to and required. They found the integration between Software Technology, Inc.’s Tabs3, Accounts Payable, General Ledger, and Trust Accounting, so easy that one person was able to do all the billing and accounting. "We never could have accomplished this much in such a short period of time with the software at our old firm, particularly in our first month of operation" says Tamara Wandelt, the firm’s administrative executive assistant.

Mr. Hickman said "we are very satisfied with the integration between the Software Technology, Inc. software and other products such as WORLDOX, Word, DeltaView and Outlook. We now have more control over our applications and enjoy the benefit of having the integration to make it all work smoothly. Even though we had good applications at our old firm, they could not integrate as effectively, were not as user friendly and required more staff to operate. We have that integration now and enjoy the ease of use and control it gives us over our information. We can do what we need, when we need to do it."

Since 1979, solo, small and medium sized law firms have depended on Software Technology, Inc. software to handle their financial and case/practice management needs. Software Technology, Inc. currently has over 275,000 user licenses between Tabs3 and PracticeMaster combined on Software Technology, Inc.’s annual maintenance program in firms across the U.S.

Garrett DeFrenza Stiepel LLP
600 Anton Blvd., 18th Floor
Costa Mesa, CA 92626
dhickman@gdslaw.net

Software Technology, Inc.
1-402-423-1440
1-800-487-7111 ext. 376