1. We're Now Part of LexisNexis!

On this past Tuesday the 16th, CaseSoft became part of LexisNexis.  You've of course heard of Win-Win situations.  Well, we believe the LexisNexis acquisition of CaseSoft is a Win-Win-Win situation.  

• Win One:  It's a winner for us at CaseSoft.   Everyone on the CaseSoft staff is becoming part of LexisNexis.  We’re getting great benefits, great career opportunities, and the chance to be involved with a much wider set of litigation tools and services.   The acquisition certainly also confirms our vision of the importance of fact analysis and provides the way to leverage that vision.

• Win Two:  It's a winner for LexisNexis.  They get a great new team, our rock solid products, and our wonderful clients.  Our CaseMap fact analysis tool is going to become the glue that ties together a host of LexisNexis tools and content offerings.

• Win Three:  Finally, and certainly most importantly, the acquisition of CaseSoft by LexisNexis is a winner for our clients.  You’re going to get our tools and support as backed up and enhanced by LexisNexis' wide array of products, services and resources.  As we trust you're well aware, LexisNexis offers litigators a vast collection of content, tools and services, including access to Shepard’s Citation Service, analytical treatises from Matthew Bender, thousands of interactive forms and more than 3.6 billion public records.

 

Okay, so what's Changing? 

• Again, we're becoming part of the LexisNexis team. We’re excited to be part of the strategy LexisNexis has put in place to serve the litigation market by providing solutions that give our customers strategic insight and greater control throughout the entire litigation process.

• We're being asked to contribute to brainstorming on LexisNexis litigation tools and services.

• We're receiving additional development resources so we'll be able to speed up work on some very cool new enhancements to our tools and also on additional integrations with other products, including LexisNexis offerings like LexisNexis Total Litigator and Applied Discovery.

• The CaseSoft trade name may eventually sail into the sunset (not CaseMap, TimeMap, et. al. ... just the company name).

And what’s not changing? 

• Our staff isn’t changing.  Everyone on the CaseSoft team is becoming a LexisNexis litigation services staff member.  Key CaseSoft staff members are becoming important players in the LexisNexis Litigation Services organization.

• Our commitment to fantastic client support and training isn’t changing.  All support and training will remain exactly as it has been.

• Our passion for innovation isn’t changing.  For example, CaseMap 6 and our new PDF Bates Stamper tool are being released very, very soon.

• Our integration with other fine products won’t change.  Being part of LexisNexis Litigation Services won't change the fact we link with dozens of other tools, primarily developed by companies other than LexisNexis.  In fact, new integrations with several more tools/companies are currently in development.

• Our offices won’t change.  You're still welcome (encouraged!!) to visit us anytime in sunny Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida.

Obviously, we don’t know everything yet about how the integration will work. But we do know that we are going to work really hard to make this exciting relationship a winner from your standpoint.

 

5. Getting Ready For CaseMap 6

Here's an FAQ that reviews details on preparing for CaseMap 6 . . .

What are the operating system requirements for CaseMap 6?

Enhancements in CaseMap 6 take advantage of improvements in Windows operating systems.  Therefore, CaseMap 6 requires Windows XP or Windows 2000.  Please don't run CaseMap 6 on older machines that have Windows 95, 98 or ME on  them. 

Do TimeMap, TextMap or other vendors' programs that integrate with CaseMap need to be upgraded due to the release of CaseMap 6?   Does the linking between CaseMap and these other programs change with CaseMap 6?

With one important exception, the answer is no.  The exception is Adobe Acrobat.  The greatly enhanced integration between Acrobat and CaseMap that's part of CaseMap 6 requires Acrobat 6 or later (Acrobat 7 is the current version that's been out for over a year now).

There's certainly no requirement that you upgrade to Acrobat 6 or Acrobat 7, but you won't be able to take advantage of the new integration without doing so.  Please also note that you can use the current version of the free Adobe Reader, but some of the new integration features require a full version of Acrobat.

It's also CRITICAL to note that, when you install CaseMap 6, the installation process will replace your existing Send to CaseMap Plug-in for Acrobat with the new version that works with CaseMap 6.  The new version can not (repeat ... not) be used with CaseMap 5 therefore you should make sure that you and anyone else using CaseMap on a case are upgrading at the same time and don't need to use CM5 anymore.

How do I register/activate my copy of CaseMap 6?

At many organizations, the information systems or practice support staff handles the registration/activation process. If that's true for your organization, please be sure to defer to these individuals.

After you install CaseMap 6, it works for 30 days before requiring activation. Please activate your copy sometime during the 30-day grace period. The easiest way to activate is to do so online. Your CaseMap 6 copy talks to our Activation Server, which stores information about users licensed for CaseMap 6. Once the Activation Server verifies that you're licensed for CaseMap 6, it disables the 30-day countdown timer in your installation of CaseMap 6 leaving you with a full and final copy.

You can use your existing CaseMap 5 registration/activation information to activate CaseMap 6. You don't need new information from us. In fact, if you install CaseMap 6 on a machine that had CaseMap 5 on it, CaseMap 6 finds your CaseMap 5 registration info and is ready for online verification of your CaseMap 6 Upgrade licensing situation.

Can CaseMap 5 and CaseMap 6 open the same case file?

No. The file formats for CaseMap 5 and CaseMap 6 are different. Before a CaseMap 5 case file can be opened using CaseMap 6, CaseMap 6 must convert the file to the new format. And once a case file is converted from CM5 format to the CM6 format, the new CM6 file cannot be opened by CaseMap 5. As such, all CaseMap 5 users should have CaseMap 6 installed before case files are converted.

How do I upgrade from CaseMap 5 to CaseMap 6?

IMPORTANT: At many organizations, the information systems or practice support staff handle the upgrade process. If that's true for your organization, please defer to these individuals.
All versions of CaseMap 5 (5.0 and 5.1) can upgrade directly to CaseMap 6.

To upgrade from CaseMap 5 to CaseMap 6, first install CaseMap 6 on your computer and on the computers of all other licensed users. Installing CaseMap 6 does not affect your current installation of CaseMap 5, i.e., CaseMap 5 remains on the computer after CaseMap 6 has been installed.

Next, convert your existing case files to the new CaseMap 6 format by opening them using CaseMap 6. Additional details below.

Finally, uninstall your old version of CaseMap.

What happens when CaseMap 5 case files are converted to the new CaseMap 6 format?

A conversion utility is embedded in CaseMap 6. When you open a CaseMap 5 case file using CaseMap 6, CaseMap 6 recognizes the old CM5 format and asks you if you want to convert the case to the new CM6 format.

CaseMap does not change anything in your existing CaseMap 5 file. Rather, it creates an exact copy of your CaseMap 5 file and then adds new CaseMap 6 specific features to it.
When CaseMap 6 finishes the conversion process, it changes the file extension of the CaseMap 5 file from .cm5 to .001. This change keeps you or someone else on your team from inadvertently reopening the old case file using CaseMap 5.

The conversion process should take less than a minute for each file. Each CaseMap 5 file must be converted separately to the CaseMap 6 format. There is no batch method for converting files.

CaseMap 5 can be uninstalled without affecting the conversion process. CaseMap 5 is not used during this process.

Once you've converted your cases and see that everything is copasetic with CaseMap 6, you're free to delete the old CaseMap 5 case files that now have the .001 extension. (If you had to, you could regain access to the CaseMap 5 files that were renamed during the conversion process. You would use the Windows Rename function to change the file extension of a case file from .001 back to .cm5. Please note that there’s really no reason to expect this step to be necessary.)

How does someone upgrade from CaseMap 4 to CaseMap 6?

If you're still using CaseMap 4, you can upgrade directly to CaseMap 6 (so long as you've purchase an upgrade or are covered by CaseSoft Extended Maintenance).

Please read the prior three questions and answers. Substitute a 4 wherever you see a 5.