MOVE OVER, NOLO PRESS -- there's a new player in the legal-software arena. Intuit recently acquired Parsons Technology and its It's Legal product. Now renamed Quicken Family Lawyer, this product sports a brand-new, elegant interface and more online legal help than you can shake a gavel at.
Dozens of Documents. Quicken Family Lawyer can prepare 61 different documents that are automatically customized for each state (if necessary), and it includes state-specific notary forms. The documents are grouped according to category -- Estate Planning, Powers of Attorney, Health & Medical, Family/Personal, Real Estate, Employment, Consumer Credit, Corporate, and Financial -- and involve legal matters applicable to both home and business.
There are two ways to create a document: the interview method, where Family Lawyer asks you a question and you type the answer, and the fill-in-the-blank method. The interview provides an easy way for people with little legal knowledge to create a legal document; the fill-in-the-blank method is quicker and is suited to people familiar with law and the legal process. Each method will give you an accurate and legally binding document comparable to any prepared by an attorney. We compared a Power of Attorney document we created with Family Lawyer to one created for us by a practicing lawyer, and the documents were virtually identical.
Family Lawyer's new interface is clutter-free, simple, and elegant, and the help system is extensive and reassuring. When you create a document, you get tips from hint panes to the left of every screen (similar to Quicken's Q Cards) and a Document Reference section, accessible from Apple Guide or the tool bar, that gives advice tailored to the current document. Apple Guide also contains an interactive tour and product support as well as the Legal Reference Help System, for explanations of legal terms and concepts. The program lets you know when you need to consult an attorney, such as when a legal matter is beyond the scope of a basic legal template.
Password protection is available on a document-by-document basis -- we would have preferred passwords for each user. The built-in spelling checker contains 100,000 words, including legal terms, but lacks an Ignore All button.
Problematic Printing. Printing is Family Lawyer's weakest point: You can't edit the Print Preview, and the program doesn't currently support fractional widths. Family Lawyer has several print options, but you can't change a document's fonts or margins. However, you can export a finished file in RTF or text format and open it in a word processor to take advantage of its layout and printing options.
Quicken Family Lawyer offers a plethora of legal documents, a good interface, and an attractive list price of $49 -- enough to challenge any product in the Nolo Press line for the top spot in Mac legal software.
Quicken Family Lawyer 1.0 Rating: Very Good (4 of 5 mice) / Price: $49 (list). Company: Parsons Technology (An Intuit Company), Hiawatha, IA; 800-223-6925 or 319-395-9626. Reader Service: Circle #417.
