Jeff Lewis, one of only 277 certified appellate specialists in California, represents individuals and businesses in complex litigation, both at the trial and appellate levels.

After eight years at a law firm, Jeff left in 2006 to start his own practice. A few years later, Kelly Broedlow Dunagan a former colleague, began serving as Of Counsel for the Law Office of Jeffrey Lewis. And this year, on January 1, 2012, Broedlow Lewis LLP opened its doors.

Keeping up with big firms and tech-savvy clients

Jeff’s clients tend to be high tech, and cutting-edge technology helps him stay ahead of the curve. Pulling out his iPad, powering up Rocket Matter and locating a document on the spot, and performing other powerful tasks helps to keep Jeff and his practice highly productive and as tech-savvy as any lawyer can be.

Once, when I was in federal court and the judge asked about a referenced item, I pulled up the document in Rocket Matter and found the particular note. Quick and easy. And impressive.

Jeff frequently collaborates as co-counsel with attorneys in other counties, and Rocket Matter provides the ability to share notes, calendaring, etc. remotely and instantly.

Solving problems, from conflicts checking to time and billing

One of the challenges Jeff faced was conflicts management. With Rocket Matter, as you create a matter and enter the client name, related matters for the client automatically appears. The best part is your conflicts are built up naturally: just by using Rocket Matter, you’ll build up a history. “Now, when I get a phone call, I can quickly enter names and make sure I don’t have a conflict,” says Jeff, “Real time conflicts checking — that’s huge!”

Another problem was billing. Jeff struggled with billing programs that were tied to a desktop computer. Rocket Matter makes it seamless to bill time while you go about your usual activities. Every activity you perform, whether calendaring, tasks, documents, or other, is captured via a Bill as you Work™ technology. With an iPad or smartphone, Jeff enters time anywhere, waiting in court or in between meetings, on any internet enabled device.

By capturing time through tasks, notes, and timers, I found lost time.

Mac friendly and on the go

The small and mid size law firms where Jeff worked were PC based but he went all-Mac when he branched out on his own. “It allowed me to spend less time wrestling with tech.”, says Jeff. Over the years integrated iPhones and iPads into the practice.

“Rocket Matter is a natural partner for Apple products because it shares the Apple philosophy,” says Jeff. “It just works and it’s fast.”

The ability to call up any pleading, discovery, document or note in a meeting on an iPad or laptop is invaluable.

Jeff doesn’t spend a lot of time in his office, and Rocket Matter allows him to capture time, assign tasks, calendar appointments, and bill on the go.

Seamless integration

Rocket Matter provides seamless integration with Dropbox where you can associate a matter in Rocket Matter to a folder in your Dropbox and have all the files listed in the documents section of the matter. And more recently, with Evernote, the popular cloud-based note taking and collaboration application that allows users to archive, share and organize notes, websites, voice memos and photos from any device and across platform.

Says Jeff, “I have an Evernote notebook associated with each of my cases on Rocket Matter. When researching law on the iPad, I can capture the results using Evernote and the note is then automatically available via Rocket Matter for me or other attorneys at my firm to access at a later time. Same with witness interviews. I can take notes of a witness interview on Evernote and the note automatically appears in Rocket Matter. Best of all it is all seamless, behind the scenes and just works.”

Adds Jeff about his overall experience:

I’m blown away by Rocket Matter. It’s polished and organized and saves my back.

My only regret is not signing up sooner. I cringe to think about the lost time and the lost productivity for the first few years of my practice.

With more control over the types of clients and matters he works on, and the ability to work closer to home and his family, Jeff is enjoying the practice of law a lot more these days!

Sign up for a live demonstration of Rocket Matter, and make your law firm as productive as Jeff and Broedlow Lewis LLP.