---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Florida SunFlash SUN ENTERS LEGAL MARKET SunFLASH Vol 26 #11 February 1991 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Fifteen New Third-Party Legal Applications Ported to Sun MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. --February 11, 1991-- Based on its recent successes in commercial markets -- accounting for 30 percent of revenues -- Sun Microsystems is aggressively pursuing the legal market, particularly large law firms that need higher-performance computing solutions. Sun is winning sales with its powerful, networked hardware and growing base of third-party software for the legal profession. For example, 15 new third-party software applications for legal market users have just been introduced for Sun's SPARC(R)-based UNIX(R) workstations and servers. Among Sun's newest customers are five of the nation's leading law firms and a prominent California law school. The 15 new third-party software solutions encompass document creation and management, litigation support, legal research and financial management. Companies selling and supporting new Sun-based solutions include WordPerfect, Legal IMS, Liticom Limited, Advocate Systems, West Publishing, DocuFind, Micro Dynamics, Peat Marwick and Information Dimensions. This brings the total number of third-party solutions available for Sun in the legal market to 37. "In an effort to improve client service and reduce costs, large law firms are turning to Sun because of its open architecture, document/image management solutions and superior networking," said John Lynch, director of business market development at Sun. A Sun workstation with its easy-to-use OPEN LOOK(R) graphical interface, running third-party software, allows legal professionals to easily conduct research with an external database in one window, review an existing document in a second, generate a new WordPerfect document in a third and read an electronic mail message in a fourth. The applications can be run simultaneously. This allows law firms to handle larger case loads in less time and more productively, positively impacting the bottom line, Lynch noted. In addition, the advanced networking capabilities of Sun workstations enable law firms to cost-effectively expand a network by interconnecting and sharing resources with existing Macintosh(R), PCs, mini and mainframe computers. "Law firms are moving from proprietary minicomputers to open computer systems so they won't be locked into expensive single vendor solutions," said John Muscarella, vice president of marketing at Legal IMS, Inc. "Sun is clearly the market leader in providing open UNIX-based workstations. The company delivers a powerful range of products that will satisfy the computing needs of large law firms today and in the future." Vendors offering new legal applications for Sun include: WordPerfect Corporation -- WordPerfect(R) 5.0 for UNIX systems utilizes the easy-to-use OPEN LOOK graphical interface. Features of 5.0 include pull-down menus, mouse support, integrated graphics, styles and a selection of more than 400 printer definitions. Version 5.0 for UNIX is similar in features to version 5.1 for the PC and is now shipping. Legal IMS -- Project Case Master(TM) offers lawyers and support personnel simple, cost-effective management, tracking and interrelating software that let them search for client names, people and key information. It includes outside counsel management, time allocation and billing, and file and record management. The application is currently being shipped and will be available on OPEN LOOK in March 1991. Add-on modules for Project Case Master include: Scheduling and Calendar, a powerful, single tool to track information about a specific task and generate a list of actions using a "tick" list of tasks or dates. The application is now shipping. Document Assembly, a document precedent library and document generator. The program manages, tracks, searches and assembles contract documents, documents of precedential value, standardized responses to queries and legal analysis. Document Assembly is now shipping. Words-in-Text (WIT) Search, allows legal professionals to find and retrieve information by predefined topics through an index of document titles and by combinations of words appearing in a document. WIT is currently shipping. Liticom Limited -- BEST ACCESS(TM) is an integrated system for law office management offering systematic control for document creation, storage and research. It incorporates WordPerfect 5.0, time keeping, conflict checking, litigation support, a rolodex, report writing and access to external databases such as WESTLAW. BEST ACCESS uses a text accelerator to increase text search speeds beyond those available from any other text searching software. Text can be loaded into BEST ACCESS from word processing documents, optical scanners and from other commercially available sources of machine-readable text. The application uses the OPEN LOOK interface and is now shipping. Advocate Systems -- Advocate(TM) Litigation Support manages documents and depositions for medium- to large-sized litigation and is fully customizable to meet specific case needs. Additional modules include trial exhibit tracking, trial preparation, document coding and data entry management. This OPEN LOOK application is currently shipping. West Services, Inc. (WSI) -- WESTMATE(R) is software that customizes computers for access to WESTLAW(R), the computer-assisted legal research (CALR) service by West Publishing Company. WESTLAW is the only CALR service that adds synopses, headnotes, key numbers and corrections prepared by lawyer/editors to the full text of judicial opinions. WSI now has a version of WESTMATE software for Sun workstations. DocuFind Corporation -- DocuFind(TM) is a full text retrieval package that allows a law firm or department to build a database of its documents. It includes modules for database design, data entry, importing WordPerfect documents, modifying records and adding comments, sorting and report generation. DocuFind for Sun will be available March 1991. Micro Dynamics -- Micro Dynamics MARS(TM) is a multi-user imaging system for litigation support that stores and provides high-speed access to every page -- and every word -- of case related documents. MARS is currently being ported to Sun. BRS Software Products -- BRS/SEARCH(TM) is a flexible database management program for storing and retrieving textual information. The application is now shipping. Peat Marwick, Stevenson & Kellogg -- LegalPower(TM) is a completely integrated management and financial system for law firms. Components include client and matter record keeping, professional record keeping and skills inventory, time and disbursements, billing, accounts receivable and payable, general ledger, marketing information and trust accounting. All information is kept in a relational database and can be accessed through standard screens and reports or via a report writer. The application is now shipping. Information Dimension -- BASISplus(TM), a market leading text information management system provides efficient collection, organization, access, retrieval and delivery of enterprise documents. BASISplus is now shipping. Virginia Systems -- Sonar Professional(TM), a text search and retrieval system, uses advanced keyword searching techniques including synonym and associated word searching. Search speed can exceed 10,000 pages per second. This OPEN LOOK application is now shipping. Some of the other applications already available for Sun SPARC systems include Lotus(R) 1-2-3, JustLaw's Evidence(TM) litigation support, the Kodak Legal Management System, Verity's TOPIC(TM) text search and retrieval, and Precise/Review(TM) Document Management System by Precise Systems Corporation. Sun Microsystems, Inc., headquartered in Mountain View, Calif., is a leading worldwide supplier of network-based distributed computing systems, including professional workstations, servers and UNIX operating system and productivity software. ### SPARC is a registered trademark of SPARC International, Inc. OPEN LOOK and UNIX are registered trademarks of UNIX System Laboratories, Inc. All other products mentioned herein are identified by the trademarks as designated by the companies who market these products. Inquiries concerning trademarks should be made directly to those companies. PR contact: Whitney Greer (415) 336-0598 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ For information send mail to info-sunflash@sunvice.East.Sun.COM. Subscription requests should be sent to sunflash-request@sunvice.East.Sun.COM. Archives are on solar.nova.edu and paris.cs.miami.edu. All prices, availability, and other statements relating to Sun or third party products are valid in the U.S. only. Please contact your local Sales Representative for details of pricing and product availability in your region. Descriptions of, or references to products or publications within SunFlash does not imply an endorsement of that product or publication by Sun Microsystems. John McLaughlin, SunFlash editor, flash@sunvice.East.Sun.COM. (305) 776-7770.