MyCase Launches 'App Bar' and Open API as One-Stop Practice Management Marketplace

March 27, 2012 - PRLog -- MyCase, Inc., a social practice management™ platform for legal professionals, today launched its Open API and the MyCase App Bar, a practice management marketplace specific to MyCase users as well as a technology platform for legal product and service providers. While the Open API enables third parties to develop technologies for the MyCase technology platform, the App Bar leverages My Case’s sharing and collaboration features to provide one-stop access to important firm data as well as popular third party apps.

Centralized access, streamlined workflow
MyCase, which originally developed its cloud-based law practice management platform as a way for legal professionals to better communicate and collaborate, both among themselves and especially with clients, quickly realized that attorneys are spending more and more time in their practice management system, making it prudent to provide a ‘one- stop’ marketplace destination for legal products and services.

The one-stop/central hub approach evolved into a strategic development theme and as a means to bring the various fragmented pieces of a typical firm’s less than streamlined workflow into the MyCase system – best achieved via an App Bar, giving users a central location to productively accomplish their tasks.

The MyCase App Bar further enhances the user experience by allowing law firms to directly access and interact with other programs without leaving the MyCase application. The solution also allows firms to install third party applications directly onto mobile device, providing a central place to access all firm software and work flows.

The MyCase App Bar, which is the first of its kind among legal practice management companies, provides users with a variety of benefits, including:
•   Centralized and consolidated task management: Today, law firms are using many pieces of disparate software to manage their day-to-day workflows and tasks so bringing all the disconnected pieces of the firm’s workflow into the MyCase App Bar is critical to increased productivity and efficiency.
•   Collaboration: All important firm data lives in MyCase, so it makes sense to integrate third party apps with the existing practice management system. With MyCase, useful features such as information sharing and collaboration, can now be leveraged and utilized with other third party apps.
•   Apps developed for firm needs and requirements, not for apps sake: Since its inception, MyCase has worked hard on listening to user needs and providing a social media-minded platform from which to operate more efficiently. For example, with the new MyCase Draft application, firms can utilize word processing and document generation capabilities within MyCase and or access it from anywhere, in court, the office, or from home.
•   Integration: Third party applications can directly tie into custom field information entered into MyCase. This creates a seamless two-way flow of information and eliminates the necessity of cumbersome work-arounds and time draining date imports.

Growth-focused, flexible technology platform
According to MyCase COO Alex Dikowski, the App Bar is designed to increase the intuitive nature of the existing MyCase application and afford other companies the opportunity to develop technologies on the MyCase platform. “The MyCase App Bar creates a collaborative technology platform that other legal technology companies can leverage to develop additional applications and service offerings. The App Bar will become the one-stop marketplace for MyCase clients looking for integrated applications to meld with their existing practice management workflow.”

While the initial app focus is on core workflows and tasks such as seamless synchronization (between MyCase, Outlook and Google) and integration (of emails into specific MyCase case/client folders), social media management apps such as twitter and popular legal productivity apps will follow. The MyCase App Bar and marketplace, which over time will include a wide variety of legal services and applications, is focused in the short-term on third parties that are already popular among existing firms and that help enhance clients’ ability to manage their practices and better serve clients.  

MyCase provides a comprehensive and intuitive cloud-based law practice management system coupled with a private portal that enables secure client communications. Lawyers can access their documents, emails, client contact information, billing data and other core applications through a secure web-based interface or the MyCase mobile app.

If your company is interested in developing an App for MyCase, please go to http://www.mycaseinc.com/developer for more details.

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MyCase, Inc. was founded by Matthew Spiegel, a San Diego-based criminal attorney, who has been on an ongoing mission to leverage technology, in particular the web, to streamline and accelerate client communications and collaboration. After an extensive, yet unsuccessful search for existing technology that would meet his and his clients’ need to more efficiently communicate on cases and files, he assembled a core web development team and introduced the MyCase platform. It provides a comprehensive and intuitive cloud-based law practice management system coupled with a private portal that enables secure client communications. Lawyers can access their documents, emails, client contact information, billing data and more through a secure web-based interface or the MyCase mobile app. For more information, please visit www.mycaseinc.com.