Complex client demands and frequent policy changes drive the priorities of an insurance defense law firm, particularly in the areas of administrative and matter processes. Handling these challenges requires comprehensive legal practice management software that offers the features necessary to successfully handle all the pressure points of insurance defense legal practice.

This post will delve into some of those issues and suggest how the right software features can help firm attorneys and administrators effectively address them.

The Unique Challenges of Insurance Defense Law

Insurance defense generally involves the representation of various legal matters related to the insurance industry. In more specific terms, these firms are retained by insurance companies to represent their insured clients who face lawsuits related to their insurance contracts. For instance, an insured restaurant owner is sued by a customer who allegedly slipped and fell inside of the restaurant. The insurance company hires the law firm to represent the restaurant owner.

While this may seem like a pretty straightforward legal arrangement, it can quickly become complicated because of the three-sided relationship that exists. Unlike other practice areas where attorneys typically further the interests of one easily identifiable client, insurance defense attorneys are forced to balance their responsibilities to the insured with their responsibilities to the insurance company.

This situation begs the question, “Who is the client?” The insurance company pays the legal fees for representation, but the firm has a professional responsibility to the insured. Oftentimes, the interests of the insurance company differ from the interests of the policyholder, leaving the law firm in the middle of the conflict. Faced with these unique challenges, in addition to standard administrative and client tasks, insurance defense law firms need specialized tools that will help them manage complex matters while maximizing productivity and promoting profitability.

Billing Tools

Billing poses a challenge to insurance defense practices due to the variety of specific guidelines and restrictions that insurance companies may place on invoicing processes. For example, insurance defense law firms may be forced to contend with restricted billing rates or fixed fee billing arrangement requirements. These types of constraints make efficient billing processes extremely important.

When working with numerous insurance companies, an insurance defense firm may need to navigate numerous billing arrangements. One insurance client may require the firm to work under a fixed fee arrangement, while another may allow for traditional hourly billing. These variations require a legal billing platform where firms can easily invoice for a variety of arrangements by customizing billing options for each individual matter.

Insurance companies often require law firms to use Legal Electronic Data Exchange Standard (LEDES) invoicing codes, which can be a difficult task without the right legal billing software in place. This type of billing is primarily used to promote uniformity within the legal industry and assist insurance companies in their processing of law firm invoices. Insurance defense law firms need systems that offer the ability to easily generate LEDES invoices in .dat or .txt file formats for proper online submission. They should also have UTBMS codes already in place and LEDES formatted templates for faster invoicing.

Document Management & Automation

It is not unusual for a single insurance defense matter to include volumes of documents. From medical records and witness statements to policy documents and insurance company communications, these case files can be quite extensive. This is why insurance defense firms need document management software that helps them easily store and organize all matter-related files and documents in one central location.

With the right software, credentialed users can efficiently view, edit, and share documents as needed. This makes collaboration internally within the firm, as well as externally with the insurance company, much easier to accomplish. Some other useful document management tools include:

Using a legal practice management software that integrates with a cloud-based document management system, like NetDocuments, allows insurance defense law firms to organize, secure, and find all of the documents they need right from the practice management platform.

Case Management

The intricacies of insurance defense law require a superior matter management system that tracks every aspect of these complex cases. When choosing a legal practice management system, law firm administrators need to look for features that address the specific needs of their practice area, such as:

Under some circumstances, insurance companies may call in a third-party auditing firm to conduct an audit of a particular matter. Having an organized case management system saves the extra time and resources that would otherwise go into preparing for the audit. It also presents every aspect of the matter, from intake to final billing, in an organized and structured manner, increasing the likelihood of a successful audit.

Client Management

This goes back to the most complex aspect of insurance defense law. Competing interests between the insurance company and the insured can bring up ethical uncertainties for the firm and its attorneys. The appropriate strategy for handling these sticky situations largely depends on state rules. For instance, the North Carolina State Bar deems the insured as the "primary" client in an insurance defense case, whose "best interest must be served at all times." According to the Bar, the attorney owes the insured a heightened duty of communication and loyalty at the least.

To best serve their clients and protect themselves from potential allegations of wrongdoing, law firms need a foolproof method of managing, storing, and organizing all client communications. Tools like in-app text messaging, client portals, and conversation tracking help law firms securely maintain and manage client communications directly within the matter for future reference at any needed time.

Intuitive email management is another tool for elevating client management. With email integration options, firms can save client emails to matters in a matter of seconds. Advanced email search tools help firm members quickly locate emails using properties like subject, sent/received date, or email content without the hassle of manually searching through a crowded inbox. Billing is also made easier with an email management feature that automatically creates billing entries for sending or reviewing client emails.

The Takeaway

If you're an insurance defense firm or you're looking to expand into the practice area, the goal of your operations should surround agility and organization. Specialized tools will help you manage complex matters while maximizing productivity and promoting profitability.

For more than a year now, the practice of law has looked vastly different than any other time in history. From Washington DC to Arizona, courthouses were shut down to the public and attorneys for common proceedings, greatly affecting the traditional law firm environment.

For some firm leaders, less time in the courtroom resulted in more time spent on administrative tasks, especially in situations where downsizing needs impacted support staff numbers. Attorneys found it necessary to take on a larger percentage of law office management duties.

With the world starting a slow return to normal, court systems nationwide are beginning to open up, welcoming attorneys and the public back into courthouses for in-person appearances and other court-related business. While some jurisdictions remain at partial or limited capacity, others have made the transformation to 100%, forcing many attorneys to make a quick transition.

For attorneys handling more of their firm’s administrative duties, returning to the courtroom can feel stressful. They may worry about balancing an increased workload and more time away from the office with their increased administrative duties. But legal practice management software offers these attorneys the help they need to provide clients with quality legal service while also handling law office administrative needs. With tools like automation and legal billing, attorneys can stop worrying about their long list of administrative tasks and focus on a successful return to the courtroom.

Here are some specific ways that legal practice management eases the transition back to the courtroom:

Accounting

Many law practice management software options contain accounting features, but not all platforms are the same. Law firms should have accounting tools that can manage both general firm finances and client billing tasks. General firm accounting needs help law firms with:

These tasks are typical to most accounting software and don’t necessarily require an accounting system specific to the legal industry. However, attorneys returning to the courthouse need maximum efficiency and a software that goes beyond the accounting basics to handle client invoicing.

Invoicing takes up a significant amount of valuable time when not handled efficiently. It can also lead to troublesome inaccuracies. Maximum law firm efficiency requires legal practice management accounting that saves valuable time during the invoicing process and promotes billing accuracy. Other useful legal accounting features include real-time financial insights that provide law firms with data about the firm’s financial wellbeing and vendor tools that help automate third-party vendor payments.

Trust/IOLTA Accounting

Trust/IOLTA accounting is another extremely important law firm duty. Firms need a legal practice management system that streamlines the various trust accounting processes and promotes compliance with state regulations. Accurate trust accounting requires the ability to keep record of client funds held in trust and accurately track all deductions from these accounts, including payments automatically applied to bill balances.

Some necessary duties specific to trust/IOLTA accounting include:

Calendaring

A return to in-person court hearings makes accurate calendaring an absolute necessity. Some attorneys have been attending virtual court hearings for more than a year. Making the transition back to physical appearances requires some challenging adjustments.

A firm-wide calendar helps keep all firm members in sync and on the same page, even those working remotely or temporarily away from the physical office. Personal viewing options allow individual firm members to view the day ahead with a single glance. Lawyers need a legal practice management software that offers a variety of calendaring features, such as:

Matter Management

Legal practice management software makes it easy for law firms to track all things related to each firm matter. Real-time dashboards provide accurate updates pertaining to trust balances, billed fees, billed expenses, and outstanding accounts receivable. Spending reports and email alerts help keep matters within established budgetary limits. Firm leaders can also review work completed on a case by various categories, including specific timekeepers, fees, or expenses.

With some legal practice management software options, law firms can work within the system to build out a matter. The system can then automate the case by assigning tasks or even completing some tasks. This adds up to valuable time savings for the entire firm, and especially attorneys returning to the courtroom. Legal practice management workflow systems can also keep law firm teams updated, as well as clients.  Firms can set automated emails to be sent to clients as their matters reach specific milestones.

Document Management

Moving away from the office and back into the courtroom means that firm attorneys routinely need remote access to documents. Law firm management software can maintain firm documents in a safe and secure environment while also allowing for easy sharing with credentialed parties. Firms can organize documents by matter and save administrative time by creating standard folders to be generated for every new matter.

There are also document management options that allow clients to securely upload documents to the firm, which clients appreciate because it saves them time and effort as well. The legal practice management system notifies the appropriate firm members when clients upload documents, as well as when they download documents shared with them.

Other useful document management features include:

The Takeaway

Navigating the legal landscape since the start of the pandemic has not been for the faint of heart. From work from home to Zoom, and virtual courtrooms, firms are having to quickly learn to balance a different kind of workload.

The functionality and purpose of legal practice management software are to offer attorneys and their firms a means to provide their clients with the quality of service they expect while also juggling the back office, behind the scenes needs in whatever environment they may be faced with. As we begin to focus on a successful return to the courtroom, you can rest easy knowing that no matter where you are, you will be able to get your job done and keep your clients happy.

The cloud has become a standard part of our lives. From streaming video platforms to smartphones and smart home devices, we rely on cloud computing to make our days exponentially more convenient. But individuals are not the only benefactors of cloud computing. Over the last 10 years, business leaders around the world have incorporated cloud-based technologies, recognizing their greater efficiency and cost savings potential. Though it has taken a little longer, the legal industry has also started embracing the cloud.

As reported by the American Bar Association’s 2018 Legal Technology Survey Report, less than 55% of all surveyed law firms utilized some aspect of cloud computing. The hesitation among law firms typically stems from three main reasons: worries about security, limited understanding about how the cloud operates, and ties to traditional methods of practice management. Many of these law firms still rely on filing cabinets and in-office servers, but the disruption of service that took place over the last couple of years made the drawbacks of this decision painfully clear.

Legal Practice Management Meets the Cloud

Legal practice management software helps law firms keep all aspects of their practice organized and running efficiently. Firms have been using them for years to handle such needs as document storage, contact management, calendaring, and task management. They become the backbone of a practice, and when they are not available – whether due to a server crash or office inaccessibility - firms can experience debilitating process failures. After all, practice management software is only beneficial if a law firm can actually use it.

With in-office options, the practice management software is installed on a local computer or server located within the physical office space. Those servers are usually only accessible from computers also located within the same space, which limits the capabilities of the practice management software.

Cloud-based legal practice management software is not installed locally on your office server. Instead, it is web-based, using a remote server maintained by the software provider. Access occurs through the internet, which makes the software convenient and virtually 100% available for use.

If you are a law firm leader or administrator who is frustrated with the inconvenience of premise-based software, this post is for you. It will explore 4 reasons why your law firm needs cloud-based legal practice management.

1. Consistent Availability

With cloud-based legal practice management software, law firms can access all of their data at any time and on any device. This includes everything from documents and emails to time tracking tools and invoices. It eliminates the need to be located within the physical office because all data is stored in the cloud, which can be accessed remotely with the right credentials.

Even when a firm member makes changes to a client file or administrative document, other firm members maintain access to the most recent version. Working with a cloud-based legal practice management software gives attorneys and legal support staff the ability to retrieve case data and work on matters in a secure environment without the need for those antiquated network connections that confine them to the four walls of the office. Remote work becomes easier, with greater efficiency, productivity, and accountability.

2. Decreased Downtime and IT Issues

Law firms need an IT infrastructure that they can consistently rely on to meet their practice management needs. Recurring problems and excessive downtime limit productivity. They can also threaten a firm’s ability to maintain confidential client data in an adequately secure environment.

In-office servers are notorious for their unreliability. They break down often, especially without regular maintenance and updates. They are also known to be extremely glitchy which frustrates firm members as they try to complete time-sensitive tasks.

Firm administrators that choose an on-premise legal practice management software must prepare for continuous maintenance needs and repairs. Many firms find these tasks so challenging that they either keep an IT expert on staff to address server problems, or they contract with an outside IT consultant. Yet, even with the most proactive measures in place, servers can still go down, leaving firm members unable to use them.

Cloud-based practice management platforms obviate all of these headaches. There is no requirement to manage expensive servers because the software provider automatically performs all necessary updates, regular maintenance, and backups. They also quickly address any repair needs, often before firm members even recognize that a problem occurred. Every technical task related to cloud-based practice management software is supported by one centralized team solely dedicated to its performance.

3. The Right Tools for Internal Changes

Changes within a law firm require a practice management system that is flexible and quick to adapt. Whether you are the administrator of a mid-sized firm that is scaling up or you are downsizing your firm’s physical office space, cloud-based legal practice management software adjusts with the changing landscape of your law firm.

Cloud-based practice management software offers a variety of modules and features, and many providers allow administrators to choose which options best meet the needs of the firm. This means that as the firm grows, so can its practice management software. There is no need to start from scratch with a new system when you can easily make adjustments to what already works.

It’s no secret that office relocation can be a pain in the neck. But it’s even more challenging with an on-premise server. Moving the server from one location to the next will likely require the assistance of an IT technician. It can also result in a period of inaccessibility to important firm and client data.

With a cloud-based system, your firm’s practice management software remains intact and ready to access throughout the entire move. Unlimited storage capabilities alleviate the need for heavy file cabinets and multiple servers. With everything stored in the cloud, firm members can settle into their new digs and get right to work without costly interruption.

4. Improved Security

Many lawyers still doubt that cloud technologies can offer the level of security that they are ethically obligated to provide their clients. Yet, the real dangers of theft and security breaches are much more prevalent with in-office systems. A single fire or natural disaster can decimate physical documents in a matter of seconds. In addition, the responsibility to protect an on-premise server from cyberattacks falls on the firm, and that can prove very expensive. Cyber experts and server updates cost money, but law firms must take on these costs to keep their physical servers secure.

When using cloud-based legal practice management, data is continuously saved and stored within the cloud, protecting it from physical threats like fire or natural disasters. Law firm leaders also control which members of the firm have access to the software. Some systems even offer security measures that limit the accessibility of induvial cases or firm records.

Cloud providers maintain a team of security experts who are on constant guard against cyber threats and attacks. They take on this expensive responsibility so that law firm administrators feel comfortable trusting them with their law firm data.

Law Firms Need the Power of the Cloud

Law firm administrators that understand the power of cloud-based legal project management provide their firms with a valuable resource that streamlines and protects numerous aspects of legal practice. When choosing the right cloud-based option, look for features like:

As your law firm evolves, cloud-based legal practice management software can provide the continuous support and stability that your firm needs.

As law firms prepare to turn the corner and head back to normalcy, flexibility is playing a major role in the execution of their plans. Return-to-office announcements from the nation’s largest law firms range from a 100% workforce return to continued remote working arrangements, but they all include a higher level of flexibility than traditionally seen within the legal community.

Over the last decade, remote working arrangements became quite commonplace within corporate America. A growing number of companies began offering their workers the opportunity to work from home, recognizing the financial savings and employee satisfaction that resulted from these arrangements. Even federal and state government agencies made significant strides towards remote work in recent years. Yet, even as these changes took hold, many members of the legal community routinely resisted the widespread move to remote work preferring a more traditional view of the legal practice.

While recent changes are partially driven by the pandemic, they also stem from evolving attitudes about what law firm offices should look like. An increasing number of law firm leaders and administrators have recognized the value in accommodating at least some level of flexibility within the workplace. They found that productivity actually increased instead of the decline that they anticipated. For years, law firm leaders centered their objections to remote work on declined productivity assumptions, but for some, seeing it in practice debunked that theory.

In addition, a growing number of law firm employees feel more comfortable voicing their preferences for flexible working conditions. With negative views that clouded remote working arrangements, many firm members felt it best not to make these requests, even though they wanted these options. Now that real-world experiences have changed leadership attitudes, attorneys and support staff feel empowered to request and advocate for greater flexibility.

Lastly, many law firms have enjoyed the overhead savings that resulted from reduced in-office use. Leaders are increasingly questioning whether, and to what extent, physical office space will be necessary for their firms to sustain going forward.

In a recently published email sent to employees by one of the Am Law 100 ranking law firms, a co-managing partner stated, “A key takeaway from the survey we conducted last year is that you want flexibility in where you work. We are working on the parameters and protocols for our return, including developing a flexible work policy that will address the expected number of days in the office per week and many other details. We are planning for our attorneys to be able to work some days in the office and some days remotely on average each week. Where roles and responsibilities permit for our staff, we are also developing flexibility arrangements.”

This sentiment echoes across the legal industry, indicating a major shift from traditional law firm standards. The following are direct quotes from return-to-office policies being put forth by some of the largest law firms in the country:

From the minimization of in-person interaction to the continuation of 100% remote work, these variations exemplify the different perspectives and interests of law firm leaders. The traditional law office environment will continue to look very different over the coming months.

Law Firm Administrators Need Practice Management Tools in A Flexible Work Environment

Law firm administrators will most certainly bear the lion’s share of responsibility as firms implement these flexible work arrangements. To do this in an effective manner, they need technologies that support firm members, promote consistency in the face of transformation, and ensure the uninterrupted continuance of client services.

Practice management software offers law firms the resources and capabilities they need to continue operating at a high level in spite of various phases of office returns. As many firms moved to remote work arrangements in 2020, cloud computing and storage were integral tools for the continuation of business through these transitions. These same technologies will also drive firms into their new normal in the months and years to come.

Here are some ways that legal practice management will help law firm administrators meet the needs of a flexible work environment:

Many of these cloud-based technologies include document storage, which minimizes the need to transport physical files back and forth between work locations. It also makes remote collaboration seamless, which is especially useful with firm members working staggered in-office schedules.

With custom, real-time dashboards, firm administrators and members can quickly view a variety of case details. From matter ledgers with complete billing histories to matter budgets with customizable budget alerts, these tools help law firms stay on top of client matter details even in the midst of transitioning back to the office.

With court rule and deadline management tools, firm members no longer have to rely on the manual calculation of court rules and deadlines. Court date calendaring systems calculate litigation, transaction, or administrative deadlines and automatically add them to the firm calendar. This promotes greater organization, planning, and accountability throughout the entire firm.

The Takeaway

As law firms announce their respective return-to-office strategies, flexibility appears to be a common theme. To best handle these transitions, law firm administrators and members need a comprehensive practice management system that promotes consistency while minimizing potential roadblocks.

Staying current with technology can be an expensive undertaking. Software is constantly improving, and firms that continue to use server-based software are finding it impossible to keep up with advancing technology. If a firm wants to take advantage of the latest and greatest, it must be willing to adopt a cloud-based system. By asking the right questions on the front end, your firm can rest assured that a cloud-based system is a safe and viable option.

Advantages of Cloud-Based Systems

There are innumerable advantages to a cloud-based system that goes above and beyond the fact that you will always have the most updated version of the software you select. It is impossible to list all of the advantages here, but below are a few:

Economical

The use of a cloud-based system allows the firm to pay-per-user fees in a monthly fashion – there is no longer the need to shell out tens of thousands of dollars in order to purchase a server-based software that will soon be outdated. There is also no need to pay for IT support to maintain servers, address security concerns, and stay on top of software updates.

Low Risk

With server-based software, the firm spends an enormous amount of financial resources to put the software in place. While it certainly performs its due diligence before making a software selection, firms are still faced with holding their breath and hoping for the best, sometimes finding that once the software is in place it does not perform as the firm had hoped. While no one wants to make a change once a decision has been made, with a cloud-based system where the firm is paying for the system in small monthly increments, if the software does not meet the firm’s needs as expected or the firm outgrows the software sooner than expected, there is the ability to pivot if necessary.

Scalability

Cloud-based systems can expand as the demand increases, so as the firm grows, it only has to pay for an additional user license. There is no need for the firm to purchase additional servers, etc. to accommodate growth.

Increased Flexibility

As we all learned this past year, the ability to access our files from any location is imperative to today’s practice. By having all file information hosted in the cloud, firm attorneys and staff can access the files from any location. Firms that were paperless before the pandemic were able to continue their practices without missing a beat. This advantage is valuable even outside of a pandemic, though. The mobility of your case files allows your attorneys to access the entire file wherever they are – in court, in a client’s office, etc. In addition, multiple individuals can be working on a client file at the same time. In the old practice of paper files, only one person could have access to the file at one time.

Increased Efficiency and Productivity

One of the most valuable advantages of using current technology is your ability to perform some tasks faster. Good case management software can lay out the steps of certain types of cases, provide you with the status of a case at a glance, and provide a list of follow-up items and checklists. The billing side of your software can make it easy for your attorneys to enter their time, encouraging concurrent timekeeping, which will always be more accurate and prevent lost time.

Asking the Right Questions

It was not that long ago that many law firms were leery of taking their technology to the cloud. Despite Ethics Opinions of the American Bar Association and many state bars that approved the use of SaaS systems in law firms, firms were hesitant to move in this direction. There were many concerns that contributed to this hesitation to jump on board with other industries, but with the appropriate due diligence on the front end, firm partners can rest assured that they can take advantage of cloud-based systems and their many advantages. Here are some questions you should ask:

Who Owns the Servers that Will House Your Data?

Does the provider own or lease the servers? The more companies that are involved in the storage of your data, the greater the risk that security may be compromised.

Where Will Your Data Be Located?

It is important that your data does not leave the United States. Otherwise, you run the potential risk of your data being held “hostage” in the EU.

How Is Your Data Backed Up?

What is the frequency of backups? Where are the backups stored? Are there multiple locations? (If a natural disaster occurs at the location of a backup supply, is it geographically distant from another location so that the data is not lost?) Are there redundant power supplies?

How Is Your Data Encrypted?

The provider should use SSL encryption to ensure that communications between your computer and the cloud server are secure.

Who Owns the Data?

Your agreement should clearly state that the firm owns the data. You will want to know how the data can be extracted should you decide to change services in the future. In what format will the data be provided? Will it be readable by other programs?

The Takeaway

It is not as foreign for law firms to use cloud-based software today as it was even five years ago. By asking the right questions, you can ensure that you are confident in the security of the software you choose and take advantage of the many benefits of having a cloud-based system.

Law firms are entities built on tradition, where the experience that comes with aging is revered and often celebrated at the highest levels of the firm. But in today’s legal environment, technology and innovation rank just as high as maturity. Change has become a constant within the industry and law firms must keep up in order to remain relevant.

Unfortunately, getting every member of the firm on board with tech changes can be challenging for firm administrators. Some more seasoned employees may resist new ways of handling business, or they may find it difficult to grasp unfamiliar technologies.

But these difficulties don’t mean that administrators must abandon the firm’s technology plans. It also doesn’t mean that seasoned members of the firm will be left behind. With the following tips and strategies, law firm administrators can get all members of the firm onboard the technology train.

Why the Pushback

Legal technology is transforming every segment of the legal community, including the workforce, the delegation of tasks, economics, skillsets, and client expectations. Many attorneys don’t like these tech advances because they recognize their effect on the traditional roles of practicing law. As new legal technologies emerge, the profession transitions from its lawyer-centric traditions into a more tech-driven competitive marketplace. And it's not attorneys who are pushing these changes. Clients are also consumers and they bring their consumer-driven expectations with them when seeking legal representation.

Law firm administrators must also consider the generation gap that may be at play within the firm. Young legal professionals cannot imagine a workplace without technology, so they often welcome and adapt quickly to new innovations. Their other colleagues remember, and may even long for, a time when the only technology an attorney needed was a telephone and a typewriter. When this is your perspective, the prospect of new technologies can be terrifying.

Put Away the Misconceptions

To start promoting the use of technology among more seasoned members of the firm, administrators must first put aside misconceptions about this segment of their workforce. Preconceived doubts about their abilities and willingness can disadvantage the firm as a whole. The truth is that most baby boomers don’t fear tech, they just see it differently than younger workers do.

Here are some additional misconceptions that law firm administrators may have about seasoned workers:

Law firm administrators must have honest discussions with the hesitant members of the firm so that they understand the value of new technologies. Help them understand how they can benefit from new innovations. Then, provide them with the type of training they need to actually learn.

Use Various Training Options to Bridge the Gap

One training method may not fit all. Firm administrators should think outside the box and consider alternative training methods like online tutorials and mentorships. Mentoring can consist of formal partnerships or informal training between members of the firm who are more tech-savvy and members of the firm who are tech-challenged.

The most effective strategy will look at training options from different perspectives to consider what works best for individual members of the firm. For example, human resources can craft individual tech development plans for each stage of the firm’s career cycle.

When workers are approached from a perspective of productivity and skill-building, they will see the firm as being supportive of their growth instead of forcing them to make changes. That type of motivation drives success. When seasoned members have a reason to change, along with real encouragement, they will be more willing to embrace new technologies.

Show Partners the “Cents” of Innovation

If the firm members who resist technology are members of law firm leadership, the financial benefits of technology can be real incentives. For example, in this age of technology law firms are experiencing competition from some new kids on the legal block. Alternative Legal Service Providers (ALSPs) have made gains within such technology-driven market segments as e-discovery or legal research. These providers are taking business away from traditional law firms by offering specific legal services in a more efficient and cost-effective manner. For this reason, law firms must implement new technologies in order to stay competitive and relevant.

A lack of technology skillsets will place lawyers and law firms at a significant disadvantage moving forward. For example, e-discovery has completely transformed the task of discovery over the last decade. Using artificial technology, firms can now search through voluminous documents in a fraction of the time it used to take.

In addition, courts and legal service clients have come to expect certain tech advances from law firms. Courts have increasingly turned to electronic filings and applications over the last few years. In addition, judges are starting to expect the use of technology when reviewing the reasonableness of legal fees. If law firms do not voluntarily implement these changes among their members, outside influences will force them to evolve.

The demand for traditional legal practice is diminishing, while the demand for tech-based legal service delivery continuously grows. Law firm administrators must communicate to their leaders that resisting these changes can have lasting negative effects in the years to come.

Call-Upon the ABA

While the American Bar Association (ABA) has been slow to implement technical training at the law school level, they have addressed the expectation for tech skills and knowledge among practicing attorneys and law firms. In 2012, the ABA modified the Model Rules to extend a lawyer's duty of competence to keep "abreast of changes in the law and its practice," to include knowing "the benefits and risks and associated with relevant technology." A number of state bars have followed, modifying their rules to include technological competence within attorney competence.

These changes are not limited to law firms. Corporate legal departments have been experiencing similar enhancements. The Corporate Legal Operations Consortium, as well as the ACC Legal Operations Group, has designated technology as a multidisciplinary competency optimizing the delivery of legal services.

The Future Success of Law Firms Hinges on the Acceptance of Technology by All Members

As law firm administrators seek to introduce new technologies into their firms, they may find that some more seasoned members resist the changes. But the legal industry is quickly changing, and innovative technologies must be a part of that transition. By implementing these strategies, law firm administrators can encourage older members of the firm to embrace tech advances.

When you think about the function of a law firm, your thoughts probably go straight to the provision of legal services. But law practice administrators must recognize that their firms are also revenue-earning businesses that need money to operate. For this reason, it is imperative to keep tabs on financial performance. They need to know whether the firm is bringing in enough revenue, as well as whether strategies and expenditures benefit or hurt the firm.

With regular reporting and analytics, firms can track metrics that provide valuable detailed financial analysis. This blog will take a closer look at some of those metrics, including what data they provide and how often firms should review them.

Financials

As the name suggests, these reports provide a detailed look at the law firm’s finances, including how much money is coming in, how much is on hand, and how much is being spent. To gain a complete view of a firm’s financial status, administrators can consider the following financial reports:

Firm Productivity

Law firms need to keep an eye on the productivity of the firm in order to promote efficiency, cost savings, and maximized profitability. While we tend to think of productivity as the pace of work being completed, there are a number of additional factors to consider within a law firm environment:

Marketing

Many law firms pour extensive amounts of money into their marketing strategies with little understanding about the effectiveness of their efforts. The following marketing performance indicators need to be part of a law firm’s regular reporting process so that administrators can evaluate what approaches are working and what needs to be tweaked:

Practice Area Performance

Law firms often build their practices around a single niche or a few specific practice areas. But societal changes can result in evolving needs among potential law firm clients. For example, the pandemic brought about a surge in such practice areas as bankruptcy, health law, and employment law.

Firms should take a look at the performance of their practice areas at least annually to determine whether they are still performing at a profitable level. This data can be collected externally from legal industry reports and studies, as well as internally from practice area comparisons of new matters and revenue generation. The information can then be used to make crucial decisions about the firm’s practice area direction.

Law Firms Need Regular Reporting to Stay Financially Healthy

These are only examples of the numerous types of reports that help law firm administrators evaluate the viability of the practice. It’s important that administrators identify metrics that specifically speak to the health of their firms and take steps to monitor them on a regular basis. With weekly and monthly reporting, administrators can promote what is working and make timely changes to address what is not.

Bottlenecks commonly occur within the law firm environment, but certain pain points are specific to attorneys as they provide legal services to firm clients. A single client matter can encompass numerous steps, from developing a strategy and managing client expectations to implementing the plan and bringing the matter to a close. At every stage of that process lies an opportunity for obstacles, especially when lawyers lack the technology they need to handle their cases efficiently and effectively. Add in the unique challenges of remote work arrangements, and the potential for bottlenecks looms even larger.

The following bottlenecks represent some of the challenges that attorneys face in the regular course of serving law firm clients:

A single client matter can encompass numerous steps, from developing a strategy and managing client expectations to implementing the plan and bringing the matter to a close. At every stage of that process lies an opportunity for obstacles, especially when lawyers lack the technology they need to handle their cases efficiently and effectively.

Document Access Delays

Paperwork and the practice of law go hand in hand, so attorneys need immediate access to necessary case documents. Bottlenecks in this aspect of legal practice can occur for a number of reasons. For example, editing delays can leave an entire team of lawyers waiting for one party to make changes to a contract or other document. This can be especially problematic if the editing is being completed by more than one person.

Fortunately, several legal software options streamline the editing process, making it easier and far less time-consuming. With these technologies, all credentialed parties can work within one file instead of repeatedly emailing the latest edited versions of documents back and forth between one another. Some of these tech options also allow for comments and controls on who can edit documents and when.

Remote working arrangements also affect document accessibility. Let’s say a group of four lawyers are working on a client matter, but each of these lawyers works from a different location. Creating multiple paper copies of the client file is not an efficient and effective option. In addition, what happens if one of the attorneys forgets to bring an important document when they come together and work in person?

With a cloud-based document management system, every member of that team has access to all of the case file documents from any place they choose to work, and at any time of the day or night.

These convenient options allow lawyers to store files and documents in a secure cloud-based environment. They also have easy-to-use search options, so time isn’t wasted combing through pages and pages of documents. Some also offer version management, so that attorneys can easily see what changes have been made since they last accessed the file.

Document management is an essential part of collaboration. Attorneys need the ability to access, edit, and store files without the bottlenecks that can get in the way and impede the progress of a client matter.

Internal Communication Strains

When working within an office setting, it’s easy for attorneys to simply walk into a colleague’s office and confer about a case. Whether asking a simple question, soliciting advice, or collaborating on a project, the camaraderie that an in-person work environment provides can prove extremely beneficial to attorney productivity.

But for firms that operate among different locations, whether by choice or in response to the pandemic, the benefits of regular communication can become lost without the right strategies and systems in place.

It is not uncommon for attorneys in different physical locations to work on firm matters collaboratively as part of a team. When the communication between team members becomes strained, various problems can result, including miscommunications and missed deadlines.

For attorneys working remotely, feelings of isolation may result from their inability to have those valuable impromptu conversations with their fellow attorneys as the need arises. In addition, they may find it challenging to reach support staff when needed, which can also lead to incomplete tasks and process inefficiencies.

In today’s remote working environment, lawyers need communication plans that include useful tech innovations. Regularly scheduled team meetings and check-ins help firm members ask questions, solicit help, and feel connected to the firm as a whole. Additionally, having the ability to chat directly within a matter and track your conversations and directed references will not only keep you organized, but it will also reduce the number of emails flooding your inbox. Bring you internal conversations to chat from wherever you are regarding whatever matter you may be working on.

Tools like Zoom and Cisco WebEx can also help facilitate these regular meetings, while resources like Slack make quick interactions easier to manage and document.

Client Management Challenges

The practice of law is largely about the management of client relationships. After all, attorneys work to further their clients’ interests when taking on a matter, so it follows that managing the client relationships must be an integral part of the process.

As attorneys establish and maintain their positive reputations, they need to build positive relationships with their clients. They can achieve this goal by doing the following:

Legal technology, like CRM, also helps attorneys establish and maintain client relationships. With CRM, lawyers can securely store client contact information and document previous interactions. It offers a quick and easy reference when specific client information is needed. Some CRM software options can also be programmed to provide reminders for client follow-ups and important deadlines.

Client portals also promote positive client relationships. With these tools, attorneys can quickly provide clients with updates on their matters, as well as timely invoices. Clients can independently log into their secure accounts to view notes and review their firm bills. With a client portal, attorneys can efficiently keep clients informed.

Happy clients become repeat clients who refer new clients. By placing the focus on client relations, attorneys can avoid the bottlenecks that arise from unrealistic expectations and poor client relationships.

Legal Case Management Software is the Best Solution to Alleviate Attorney Bottlenecks

Legal case management software offers viable solutions to many of the bottlenecks that attorneys contend with on a daily basis. These platforms often include tools that promote internal communications among members of the firm while also keeping clients adequately informed and up to date.

Case management software may also offer some document management features so that attorneys can quickly and easily edit, access, and store client files in a secure environment. For attorneys that find themselves interrupted by the pain points of practicing law, the right case management software can be the solution to their bottleneck problem.

Law firm administrators wear all types of hats on any given day of the week. Their work impacts the financial health of the firm, while also promoting the efficient provision of legal services. As the link between the legal and business sides of a firm, these professionals need a strong grasp on a variety of organizational concepts. From human resources to accounting responsibilities, administrators handle a wide range of duties as they seek to maintain and grow their law firms.

Some of the most common responsibilities of a law firm administrator include:

Decisions made by law firm administrators greatly impact the financial and operational wellbeing of a law firm. Firm leaders count on administrators to identify existing and potential problems, then implement strategies to properly address them. When the administrator’s efforts result in greater profitability and enhanced productivity, the law firm benefits overall.

5 Administrative Bottlenecks

With so many processes taking place under the umbrella of law firm administration, numerous opportunities for bottlenecks exist. Bottlenecks occur when procedural inefficiencies prevent firm processes from progressing effectively. These inefficiencies may arise for a variety of reasons, including but not limited to staffing issues or procedural deficiencies. Inadequate technology is another common cause for law firm administrative bottlenecks, but with so many tech advances happening within the legal community, these problems should be easily addressed.

Decisions made by law firm administrators greatly impact the financial and operational wellbeing of a law firm. Firm leaders count on administrators to identify existing and potential problems, then implement strategies to properly address them. When the administrator’s efforts result in greater profitability and enhanced productivity, the law firm benefits overall.

Let’s look at some of the bottlenecks that law firm administrators commonly deal with when working to maximize firm productivity:

1. Calendaring

About one quarter of legal malpractice claims directly relate to calendaring failures. Issues such as forgotten deadlines, late filings, and missed appearances can lead to serious consequences for law firms. Judges don’t have much compassion for firms that miss important case events, and many won’t hesitate to dismiss cases when lawyers fail to meet deadlines.

Particularly within larger firms, maintaining an adequate calendaring system can prove challenging. They have significantly more dates and matters to coordinate between a larger number of lawyers. They may also handle a wider variety of practice areas across multiple jurisdictions.

Paper calendaring simply does not offer a sufficient solution, so legal calendaring technology needs to play a central role in any law firm administration strategy. These systems offer numerous alternatives for law practices, including:

2. Document Management

Unfortunately, most law firms have experienced the obstructive delays that accompany missing files and data. Firm administrators recognize that the lack of document management hurts client relationships, damages cases, and leads to potential malpractice claims. Firm attorneys and paralegals need access to necessary case files, but the manual access of physical documents is inconvenient and inefficient.

With cloud-based document storage, firm members have the ability to access necessary documents from anywhere. These platforms use the cloud to offer law firms a secure, orderly, and highly available tool for data storage. Platforms, like NetDocuments, offer a cloud-based document management system that keeps law firms organized and productive.

3. Client Communications

Inadequate client communications also commonly lead to legal malpractice claims. Whether it’s miscommunication, negligible communication, or a lack of any communication at all, law firm administrators must understand the potential consequences of failing to make communication a priority.

Law firm communication problems can cause external and internal issues, and they stem from various sources. Externally, an overwhelming number of incoming calls may result in overflowing voicemail boxes and unanswered messages. Internally, the challenges of remote work may cause barriers to communication between firm members.

Technology provides a solution for both internal and external law firm communication challenges. Law firm administrators should choose software systems that include such coordinated communication tools as:

4. Timely Invoicing

Many law firm administrators identify billing processes as an area ripe for bottlenecks within a law firm. This is partly due to the numerous steps that go into crafting and sending client bills for legal services. For example, the billing process actually begins with time tracking completed tasks. When timekeepers fail to keep accurate records, they risk overbilling clients or shorting the firm of billed hours.

Delayed timekeeping negatively impacts the invoicing process, and delayed invoices mean that clients can’t pay their bills on time, decreasing the firm’s cash flow. Billing inaccuracies also result in delayed payments and strained relationships as clients question the integrity of the firm.

Law firm administrators need to invest in legal billing software options that promote improved invoicing practices. These systems speed up the legal billing process so that law firms get paid faster. With the right platform, law firm administrators can streamline the markups, billing edits, and the approval process. The firm also benefits from e-billing and billing portals that allow clients to quickly view and pay their invoices with ease.

5. Information Systems

The lack of effective technologies causes major bottlenecks in various areas of law firm administration. For this reason, the administrator needs to consistently evaluate and manage all of the firm’s operating and information systems. Administrators need to understand the hardware and software commonly used within law firm environments.

When managing computer systems, law firm administrators should do the following to avoid bottlenecks:

The most valuable computer system that a law firm can implement is practice management software. With it, law firms have a tool that efficiently maintains, organizes, and tracks case information related to client matters. By building case files directly into practice management software, firms can more efficiently update and complete tasks. These tools also help prevent other bottlenecks through document management, calendaring systems, contact management, and billing capabilities.

Successful Law Firm Administration Requires Legal Technology

The law firm administrator keeps the entire firm running with productivity and efficiency. A huge part of that responsibility involves identifying bottlenecks and implementing solutions to address them. The latest technology offers the features that law firm administrators need to address the many inefficiencies that hamper law firm processes.

Over the past few years, automation and technological advancements have been making headlines. Publications from the National Law Review regarding lawyers’ ethical obligation to technology, to articles from Above The Law about how technology can make you a better lawyer, there is no escaping it! Even the New York Times has contributed their thoughts on A.I. and its impacts on our industry. The news of legal technology and its prevalence throughout the industry is becoming more and more ubiquitous every year and there’s a reason why.

Hesitant eyebrows have been raised surrounding automation and A.I., but the consensus remains that human experience is what clients are looking for and willing to pay for. However, what they do not want to pay for is the routine and administrative work. 

So with this in mind, how can you eliminate the need to bill clients at a high rate for routine work? Is it even possible? Let’s find out.

23% of a lawyer’s job can be automated with existing technology. So let’s think about this... if you’re not automating almost ⅓ of your workload right now, you may have some work to do. Throughout this blog, we will be discussing some ideas and tools that will allow you to assess what you’re doing with your practice and how you can get better and be more efficient. 

Automation and Productivity go hand-in-hand. What this means is there will still be a human element to everything we discuss. So while some of the aspects of what we go over today might not be true automation, they will without question speed up your processes and enable you to deliver on your client’s expectations. You are also giving yourself a competitive advantage and in fact, most clients today will demand that their lawyers practice efficiently. On the flip side, if they are not demanding this level of efficiency, this could be a great opportunity to market your service and differentiate yourself. The idea is to allocate the most amount of your time to the tasks that only you, the attorney, can complete. At the end of the day, your job is to use the law to bring a successful outcome for your clients, however, that work is dependent on the backend business and administrative tasks that have to be taken care of.  

Getting Things Done

Attorneys time is their most important asset. It’s what they use and it’s what they bill for. Anything they can do to take that time, preserve it, and use it effectively, and furthermore bill for it, is going to go a long way in making their firm more efficient, more profitable.  

When you think about getting things done, what you should be doing is finding ways to make the mundane or repetitive tasks, be it emails or document creation, and simplify or automate them so they take less of your time.

How Do You Know What to Automate? 

Technology is in no doubt becoming more and more pervasive, and in many cases, it can be overwhelming. It is important to be able to discern what you do and don’t need and educate yourself on all the resources and advancements out there, because as they say, you don’t know what you don’t know.        

To help you with this process, start keeping a log of your firm’s daily activities for one week. This can be done by you, or a paralegal, or any associate you may have. Ideally, it is best to have everyone participate and take note of what they do during the week. This should include everything from standing at the printer making copies, stuffing envelopes, and sticking stamps on, to going back and forth with a client about scheduling a meeting. Everything you do, big or small, should be logged. 

Once you have recorded all those activities, you organize them into areas of work. Areas of work simply mean categories that you can compile each of your recorded tasks into. Then, address each area of work with ideas of improved processes. So if you notice in each area you’re creating the same document 5 times in a week, or you’re spending 20% of your week scheduling phone calls, you may have just identified an area that can benefit from an improved process or automation.

Your next step should be to research technology tools that may ease the administrative burden of each area of work. There are a ton of tools out there that you can evaluate and see if they could be good solutions for your firm. If you need a place to start, check out our Legal Tech Buyers Guide!

While you do this preliminary research, you should consider the costs associated and decide how many resources you’re willing to allocate to improve the areas you’ve identified. Those resources encompass the capital, manpower, and time you have available to spend researching and investing in tools. 

The last step is to set realistic goals for implementation and give each project an owner and a deadline.

Going through this process will help you identify tasks and areas within your firm that you can automate. Improved processes in your firm really do mean more profitability at the end of the day. Not to mention more peace of mind. Work-life balance is crucial and having the ability to get back the wasted time from daily monotonous tasks is the best place to start.  

Areas You Can Easily Automate

Let’s dive into some of the most easily automated areas within your firm and discuss what processes you could put in place to make each of these categories more manageable and efficient. 

Document Generation

Beyond basic drafting, document generation takes up a large part of most law practices. Hopefully, you have already started to build a document database for your practice where you have quick and easy access to commonly used templates. These templates could consist of letters to opposing counsel, intake forms, contracts, estate planning documents, you name it. 

Consider the things you do repeatedly, the documents you’re touching all the time like pleadings, collection letters, and letters to clients. Think about what you’re using most often and why you’re using it so frequently. Another thing to think about are commonalities, things you’re doing over and over again, or bits of information that you’re repeatedly using. Begin gathering these things electronically in word documents or notes, and file them accordingly into folders that your staff can access. These files should denote to your team which documents your firm could benefit from if they were automated.

For documents specifically, one of the huge benefits of automation that is definitely worth mentioning is that this streamlined process helps eliminate human errors. Human errors happen, but in your line of work, it is crucial that they are made very infrequently. Automation removes typos and it eliminates missed elements or pieces of a document that you may have merged into another. These mistakes reflect poorly on you and your firm, and if you’re on the receiving end of a document that has the wrong party name on it, you know that someone was not thinking very clearly or proofreading. These simple mistakes can be the difference between a client staying with your firm or moving over to a competitor.  

Now, in some cloud-based systems, you can open and save documents directly in your software from within Microsoft Word and create document templates by merging information stored within your matters. To go even one step further, some platforms even allow you to create time entries in Word as you’re working on documents. So not only can you more effectively manage and log your time, you can do it all concurrently without having to create make a mental note to record your time later on in the week. 

Checklists and Workflows

Do you have a checklist to maintain the organization of your matters or a systematic process that you use to move through new client intake? If the answer is yes, then keep reading because we’re about to go through some tips as to how you can tackle streamlining and automating your checklists.

Gather your paper checklists, or if you don’t have any, think of case types that you handle often and think about everything you need to do to bring a case to a certain point. This could be every checkpoint, every due date, or every reminder needed to propel your work forward. These steps are right for automation, why? Because it is a repeated process. It is a process that you work through for every matter and for every client that walks through your door. 

Once you have this in place, standardize the data fields and each step you take to bring each matter to a successful conclusion. What do those steps look like for your firm? What are you going to call them? Standardizing your data fields are important because in order to pull in data from your matters into your documents (like discussed in the previous section) you have to have a uniform way of identifying what you want to be merged and auto-populated and what you do not. 

Some case management software on the market today will allow you to automate your checklists and create workflows for calendaring, tasks, and matter templates (to name a few). For example, you can build your case flow directly into your case management system and automatically assign or complete tasks for you. Keeping information on a matter up to date is a lot of work, but you can keep matters updated with a workflow system that automatically updates information for your team, freeing up your staff for billable activities. Not to mention, you can keep your clients in the loop by automatically sending update emails to your client as a matter reaches different stages.   

Today’s modern software and technology have really revolutionized the way firms practice. It’s because of this continual innovation and sustained progression that we are able to see the transformation of how the best attorneys in the world capture more billable time. And for those people who are wary of technology, don’t view it as an unconquerable behemoth, view simply as a way to help your firm make more money.    

Billing Procedures

What are some ways you can think about tightening up your billing processes and automating them? 

Let’s do a little exercise…  

Consider optimizing your billing if any of these subsequent points ring true to you:

Automate and Optimize Your Billing

Use your time and billing software to its fullest potential. 

What does that mean exactly? 

If you have a standard rate that you use no matter what that’s fine! You can still use your billing software to send out all of your bills expeditiously. However, if you’re in a situation where you bill different clients at different rates or different matters for the same client at different rates, things get a little more complicated. In these instances, it will be significantly harder to keep track of if you're accurately billing each client.

Your practice management software makes it so much easier for you to plug in those billing rates when they become effective. By doing this you open the door to batch billing which will significantly speed up the rate at which you get bills out the door. Batch billing will allow you to run all your invoices at once, not to mention you can set qualifications on any open matter that is above a certain dollar amount for a specific time period (since you last ran bills) and will allow you to create invoices for them.

And if you’re not billing as you work you should be. And what we mean by that is if you’re not assigning time to everything you do, whether it’s sending client emails, or working on documents, you’re losing money. Some software will give you the ability to run timers while you work. So you don’t have to worry about tracking your time, it will automatically be captured for you and go straight back to that matter. 

A big bear for firms is the pre-bill approval process. In many cases, this is the step that significantly decreases efficiency and timeliness. What happens is firm admins or the billing team print a zillion copies of every bill, distribute them to timekeepers, and wait for them to be edited. Once they're returned (which sometimes takes longer than anticipated), those notes, sometimes legible, sometimes not, have to be retyped and saved as a new bill before getting the final stamp of approval to disperse to clients. Clients or more willing to pay while they feel like their matter is still being worked on. The longer you wait, the more time and distance the client puts between the work you did for them and the close of their case. The solution to this? Get your pre-bill process done faster! And how do you do this? Through solutions like ePre-bill that let you electronically edit a pre-bill! A solution like this will let you flow a bill up a chain of approval, see all previous markups, and get insight into all the previous changes. If you want to keep printing bills that is fine! But now you have an option not to that will save you more time and get you paid faster. That is the beauty of automation and technology!

Ultimately, the goal is to avoid having to piece together everything you’ve done over the course of the month because you have utilized technology that has kept track of it for you.

Let's look at a different example... if you are dealing with a client who pays you a $2,000 retainer every month for access to your services for 10 hours a month, you can set that up so your client is automatically receiving that bill or auto drafting from their account at the end of every month. Setting up this consistency will create a level of expectancy from your client, trust, and reliability. Now, what if you have clients that say hey, I can’t pay this entire invoice right now, I can pay you incrementally over time. Normally, you would have to remember every month that your client promised you a reduced amount, but with payment plans, you can set that up automatically to send the new invoice with designated payment reminders until that bill is paid off.

These are just two examples of how you can utilize automated billing, the possibilities are endless. If you're curious to read more, check out: Staying Ahead of the Curve: Bolstering Efficiency Through Automation.

The Takeaway

If you’re using a practice management system, it cannot be stressed enough how much time you will be putting back into your day. For decades, attorneys would keep time by hand on a piece of paper, or retype every single document that had one small change to it. And many still do that today, but the reason why this technology was created is that it helps you do your job faster, in fewer bottlenecks, and with more accuracy. Sure, adopting this technology is a change in mindset, but once you can get there mentally, you will realize the benefits of utilizing today’s technology far outweigh the initial uncomfortableness of breaking old habits.