Like many industries, the legal profession isn’t immune to the rapid changes in technology. Constant developments in legal automation have made scanning documents, finding case matters, and handling client communication a whole lot more efficient – but at what cost, really? How is the legal industry rising to these new challenges in automation, and what ways can you stay ahead of the curve?

We’re glad you asked. In this blog, we’re going to discuss the ways legal automation tools help bolster operational efficiency in a way that benefits your firm, and doesn’t add unnecessary steps or complications.

What is Legal Automation?

For context, legal automation is the process of using software to help organize and manage all tasks in a firm.

What does that mean, exactly? Things that attorneys and other firm employees used to do via a physical paper trail are now all (or mostly) accomplished digitally. Many common tasks attorneys performed twenty years ago are now automated – a whopping 23%, according to McKinsey – which has undoubtedly raised new disruption challenges throughout firms. Ensuring these legal tech systems are secure, adopted by everyone, and made for efficiency are essential. For many firms, adopting new technology while maintaining a profitable level of operations feels incredibly daunting, which is why resistance may occur.

From employees touting the age-old “I’ve always done it this way,” to partners feeling reluctant to invest in a technology they may not feel comfortable in, there’s plenty of worries about stepping into the nascent world of automation. But when you dive in, there are double the amount of benefits to doubts if implemented correctly. Not only does it help mitigate human error, but it also saves considerable time, which is the biggest benefit where automation is concerned. The very definition of efficiency denotes organization and orderliness – two things legal automation is primed to accomplish for you.

The above are just a few reasons as to why it’s essential to choose software that ticks all the boxes on efficiency, and gets everyone onboarded in a way that rewards adoption, not rejection.

4 Ways Legal Automation Increases Efficiency

The nice – not to mention extra efficient – thing about practice management software is you can customize these actions to your firm’s needs. That admin work of endless data entry is greatly reduced with the proper set of rules established while onboarding your software.

Whether it’s generating a monthly report on case matter stats and what stage they’re all in, these workflows are a huge time saver that we’ll expand on more later. Or if you're very intrigued, you can check out the blog, Everything You Need to Know About Legal Workflow Automation and Why You Should Have It.

The biggest takeaway here: workflows are both customizable and easy to use, which yield themselves to increasing efficiency in any firm.

2. Auto Triggers and Task Automation Boosts Accuracy

We’ve all been there – moving too quickly between tasks, trying to check off as many things on our to-dos as possible. It’s unfortunately the prime opportunity for mistakes to occur, and we all know mistakes are costly in time and money, not to mention inefficient.

Auto triggers are a form of workflow, and fire off whenever you create or modify a record or when a given set of criteria is true (usually taking the form of a query). This lets you automatically transfer information from Centerbase into your matters, which is extra convenient if you’re trying to send correspondence or follow an exact timeline for litigation. Legal automation makes everyday data entry and updates simpler than ever before.

Want to see how Centerbase does it?

Here’s a use case where we assign a client email address to their matter that generates if the query is blank.

3. Reduce Time Spent Generating Documents for Clients

Templated documents for clients is a tale as old as time, but legal automation takes it one step further with merging queries and data en masse. The ability to create document templates by merging information stored in your legal software cuts down on data entry and the chance to make mistakes.

Even better – you can easily open and save client documents from Microsoft Word in Centerbase, making it easy to work within the programs you and your employees are comfortable in. The idea of bolstering efficiency is not reinventing the wheel and having software that doesn’t overcomplicate, but empowers people to work efficiently. Integration with Microsoft and NetDocuments is one of the many ways Centerbase strives to take the curve off learning something entirely new.

4. Automate Client Emails

Client reminder emails become effortless with legal automation. You can kiss goodbye the days of sticky notes and harsh dings on your calendar reminding you to send update emails. With the proper legal tech, an automatic email notification can be sent every time a case matter moves to a different stage, meaning everyone stays informed and up-to-date on the case in real-time.

Less manual project management means more time back in everyone’s day to focus on staying profitable and delivering above and beyond customer service that creates rapport, referrals, and client retention.

How Automation will Change Legal Jobs

Technology is changing the legal landscape for everyone involved, and now’s the time to put plans in motion for boosting efficiency. In order to adapt, great software and great people are going to be your best resources for saving time. The automation features discussed are among the few benefits that encompass legal software – there are many more. These powerful additions will help improve day-to-day processes and ensure your staff get things done faster and more effectively.

Due to this technology, everyone’s jobs are going to change in ways that require more people interaction. Technology will become a bridge toward helping us interact without a computer screen being a barrier. If nothing else, it will be an invitation to ensure communication and relationships get built, and that everyone at your firm can be ready to adapt – attorneys, accountants, legal assistants, and all working together toward a common goal. It’s this ideal we strive for with legal technology and software.

Still wondering how to save time and increase efficiency in the form of billable hours and extra time back in your days, weeks, and months? (That’s another benefit of legal automation – you’ll continue to see the time saved compared to when you didn’t have it.)

Our mission is to help you serve your clients better – whatever that looks like. Every area of law and its requirements are different, after all, but the right software system adapts seamlessly to what you need. At Centerbase, our technology adapts to fit your needs, not the other way around. Feel free to schedule a free, no-obligation demo with Centerbase to see how we can boost efficiency in your everyday processes with legal automation.

Throughout the course of history, technology has been a disruptive force that has completely changed the landscape of many industries. Technology continues to reshape the way the world works and that is no exception for the legal space. The emergence of the technologies we’re seeing today, such as A.I., virtual law, and integration tools are a few of the disruptors that will most likely change the trajectory of the next generation.

The bad news is, if your firm can’t keep up with technology, you will quickly lose your competitive edge. But don’t worry, there is good news. Adopting this technology is not as dreadful as it sounds, in fact, once you get over the mental hurdle, the actual implementation and utilization will have you regretting that you didn’t make the jump sooner.

We are in an era where the shift to mobile and cloud computing for small to medium firms is as far-reaching as the shift to adopting computers was over 30 years ago. At the end of the day, the technology that is available now will allow you to provide better client services and attain higher revenue-driven results. Additionally, you will begin to notice that technology becomes an integral part of attracting new clients. Technology has the power to improve an organization’s efficiency if used appropriately. Most traditional law firms are gradually losing ground due to increased competition put on by the digitally advanced firms.

If that made you start to sweat, don't worry! The simple answer to this is to be open to new technology and avoid resistance to change. The return on your investment will be far more impressive from an operational and financial standpoint than the risks associated with pursuing the technology needed to remain competitive. As the adage goes, work smarter, not harder. Implementing legal technology at your firm will allow you to focus on your clients and generate more revenue without increasing your workload. If you think that sounds too good to be true, you better believe that in 2020 it’s an attainable reality.

Let’s take a look at some of the ways firms can successfully operate in this new world and meet the pace of demand that the younger, tech-savvy consumer base is expecting.

Prevalence of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and automation

With the introduction of AI and automation systems, law processes are being simplified. Today, legal documents are being recorded, physical paperwork is being organized and converted into digital files, search and discover features are increasing efficiency, automated workflow engines are assigning tasks for team members, and much more.

AI has not made a huge splash in the marketplace just yet, as rigorous testing and experimentation is still being conducted. However, let’s take a look at some of the features this type of advanced technology could offer your firm in the future. Currently, what many researchers are talking about is AI’s ability to assist in the discovery phase of a lawsuit. AI’s ability to rapidly confirm facts expedites the process of finding background information, which can accelerate arbitration and litigation proceedings. According to an article from Forbes, AI “can review documents and flag them as particular to a case. Once a certain type of document is denoted as relevant, machine learning algorithms can get to work to find other documents that are similarly relevant.” This type of AI and automation can often help sort out problems faster with fewer mistakes that are often overlooked by the human eye. In general, automation enhances consistency in contract and document creation and streamlines your client intake process.

As research and development continue, AI and automation will become increasingly more prevalent with many more functions than the ones just listed. Artificial Intelligence can’t take the place of a lawyer, but law firms today can choose more tech-savvy professionals over others. Doing so will significantly decrease the learning curve and informed pessimism of technology adoption in the future. For now, this type of technology may not be widely used, but one day it will be.

Virtual law practice

In The Disadvantages of Working Remotely: How Legal Professionals Can Overcome Them, we discuss the challenges of working outside of the office and the solutions to mitigate some of those pain points. Our new normal includes this transition between working at the office and at home, and there are a variety of drivers, such as work-life integration, travel requirements, and cost-of-living management that all come into play. Working remotely, however, means that technology needs to be used to facilitate business activity in an effective and professional manner.

Some firms are starting to support their teams bringing their own electronics and devices, like personal tablets and laptops. This requires implementing controls to configure and protect noncorporate devices and reimbursement protocols. This also implicates document sharing technology to discourage local storage and encourage central document management.

The younger generations are contributing to this trend as they strongly identify with specific tools and technology, and prefer to continue using tools familiar to them when joining a new company.

Corporate cultural norms are also changing. For example, remote employees are encouraged to turn on their cameras in video meetings so that others on the call may personally interact with them. Because of this, anyone who works in an office must still adapt to virtual practices when working with outside counsel or business partners. Right now, and for the foreseeable future, there will be a mix of remote versus in-office staff, and technology is the only link between them.

Norms also include the prevalence of instant messaging or chat capability, which fosters less stringent communication protocols — which as a result may lead to increase council involvement in potential risk situations stemming from hostile work environments, generally inappropriate discussions, or communication surrounding IP.

With all this being said, the virtual work environment is a tremendous advantage to business continuity and emergency activities. With technology, firms can easily manage workload while remote, stay abreast of litigation matters, and sign documents — without these capabilities, moving forward through the future would be much tougher.

Life integration tools

Given the prevalence of virtual workstyles, globalization, and scope of work, lawyers seem to never be away from work. Newer generations of lawyers — digital natives — grew up managing communication channels. Their integration of tech into their workflow is more natural than for those who are just learning to maximize technology.

Many mobile devices and apps now include virtual assistants that can add tasks and calendar slots based on email or oral statements. At times, this may seem intrusive, but the convenience is real. Smart homes that integrate with your car, phone, and emails can truly simplify everyday items, such as displaying the security wait line time for your flight or order groceries to be delivered right as you arrive home. These same luxuries can be put into context for your firm. With a click of a button, you can deliver anything you want to your front door. With that same click, you can seamlessly send your clients their bills, and everything related to their matters are now in one easy to access place. View deadlines, parties, documents, emails, and outstanding bills from one screen with your deadlines automatically generating and populating your calendar.

It is also common for people to have two or more email accounts on their phones that allow easy navigation between work and personal messages. Unfortunately, apps also make it easy to save documents to an online service for anywhere-access. This makes it too easy to commingle work and personal documents, so firms should remember that convenience comes with a cost.

Managing your work-life balance is crucial. Cloud-based practice management technology is the best way to keep you organized and connected. And best of all, it will always be available when you need it, where you need it. As we look to the future and how the world is developing, having a cloud-based practice management software is a simple advantage you can’t afford to look past.

Law industry falling behind the curve – why it matters

Technology is so advanced these days, almost everyone has a smartphone, most corporate offices are tech-savvy, and even children are given more technical educations.

In a world that breeds competition, clients only continue to lean towards the tech-savvy law firms who meet their needs in the most modern and advanced ways possible. Because of this, there is an undeniable threat to the existence of the law firms who choose not to take advantage of what technology offers them.

At the end of the day, all the legal processes become very time consuming when technology is not used. Introducing automation can help in various small to large scale problems and cloud-based technology provides users secure access to their data whenever and wherever they are.

The bottom line

Change is the only constant in the world, and technology, in large part, is what drives that. Emerging digital technologies like AI are uniquely positioned to disrupt how law firms conduct their businesses today. This, coupled with the fact that client’s needs are changing and the younger generation is inherently more immersed in tech means that Law firms need to be constantly innovating and should invest in technologically driven infrastructure to keep up with the pace of the economy and these customers.

The nonstop progress in technology is changing how many lawyers work and how firms operate as a whole. Between changes in their working style and enhancements that improve efficiency, the field is evolving. The legal industry and all its parts must advance along with the rest of the world because the innovation and change we are seeing right now is only the beginning, and it won’t stop for anyone.

If you’ve ever braved the cold winter in Chicago to attend the ABA TECHSHOW or if you plan to attend in the future, you’ll quickly notice that over half the vendors tout themselves as ‘Practice Management Software.’ But, as hot as the practice management space is in legal tech, less than 60% of small-to-midsize law firms actually have practice management software. The vast majority of firms primarily still rely on their billing software to store client information, Outlook to archive emails/calendar/store contact information, and a folder on their firm’s 'x drive' to manage all case documents.

Change can be hard, that’s not a new fact. But what could be even harder is getting partner buy-in to pursue and adopt that change. Over the years, we have compiled some tips and tricks on how our clients have successfully pitched purchasing practice management software to their law firms. We found that the firms who have adopted new technology look for the best ways, venues, and times to voice their ideas and concerns—using rhetorical skill, driven data, and interpersonal connections to move the right leaders to action. These internal change-drivers are seen to employ specific tactics significantly more often than individuals who don’t succeed in gaining firm buy-in.

Evaluate Your Current State

Before you even begin thinking about shopping for software, you need to clearly understand the pain points your firm is experiencing. Are you having a hard time managing your matters? Do you have a slower intake process? Poor internal and external communication channels? Identifying your weaknesses and eliminating waste should be your first step. Take time to do your research. Speak with multiple people from different departments, different positions, and different tenures at the firm. Try to be open-minded and listen to all the issues your staff is having, even if they don't directly affect the decision to purchase new software. The more pain points you can find, the more open ears you’ll have in the room eager to hear a new solution.

Involve Others

Building a task force generates organizational buy-in more quickly and on a larger scale as more people contribute energy and resources. Negotiation experts would tell you to mobilize your allies, persuade your blockers to support the software or at least back-off, and show the fence-sitters why they should care about what you’re presenting.

If you are a small firm, it might only be one or two people, but having a few people on your side is always helpful. Creating a task force also offers you multiple perspectives when you are meeting with software vendors.

Frame the Issue

A problem’s place on your firm’s list of priorities depends heavily on how you package the idea. A new software might seem like techie trivia until you explain how it supports a strategic goal. For example, if your team is losing notable time manually sending out bills, legal software can completely eliminate that wasted time by allowing you to email bills out to your clients in one click. Now, that problem is a priority to solve. Once people in your firm see how your initiative fits into the big picture, they’ll be more willing to devote resources to it.

Similarly, if you’re a firm administrator presenting a use case to your partners on the benefits of financial reporting software, you can describe how transitioning to the new software will enable you to quickly generate the reports they need. It will allow you to understand what receivables are due to be collected, pinpoint who the high revenue clients are, quickly build general ledger budgets to identify trends, timekeeper budgets to hit more targets, and matter budgets to keep clients satisfied. By highlighting specifically what would be gained from the software, you create a sense of urgency for partners.

Although focusing on business benefits is often safer, also consider presenting the software as an opportunity that shouldn’t be missed. Present what your firm stands to gain from your ideas and emphasize the positives. This will work to inspire optimism and buy-in. Additionally, highlighting a threat—a consequence of not adopting your idea—can also create pressure to act. But take note that it can also backfire: The person who created or currently implements the method of operation may be sensitive to your critiques and proposal for change. It may be hard to predict whether it will spur action—the classic “fight” response—or result in “flight.”

Manage Emotions on Both Sides

Because selling your firm on a new software is an interpersonal activity, often involving financial and cultural change, it will inevitably stir up some emotions. Passion, if appropriately expressed, will improve your chances of gaining attention and triggering action. There’s a fine line, however, between passion and anger. You may be proposing a new cloud software because your hard drives are simply not cutting it, or you’re just fed up with existing inefficiencies. And as you encounter roadblocks to your selling efforts, your frustrations may intensify.

Though strong emotions can be channeled into a rousing appeal for action, when unregulated, they’re more likely to diminish your influence. Unfortunately, managing partners who detect negative emotions from associates offering input may tend to perceive those employees as complainers, not as change agents.

Time the Pitch Appropriately

It’s critical to find the right moment to pitch the new software. That moment might be when organizational priorities shift, when certain players leave or join the firm, or when a partner’s preoccupations change. Take notice of when more and more people are beginning to care about a larger topic or trend that’s related to the issue they face. For example, if you notice that your attorneys are becoming increasingly annoyed with having to repeatedly print pre-bills to make corrections, that could be a good time to bring up features like electronic pre-bill approval that will help streamline your billing process and improve cash flow.

In addition to keeping a close eye on larger trends and events, it’s important to be mindful of deadlines and initiatives too. If your firm is looking to improve its client intake process and focus on client conversion rates by a certain time, then that would be an optimal moment to highlight the benefits of a software that includes custom contact forms, automated intake processes, and comprehensive conflict checks. Conversely, when a deadline is far away and partners are still in exploration mode, open-ended inquiry can be more effective than proposing a specific solution.

Gear Your Pitch to the People in the Room

Tailor your findings to the people who you’re pitching to. At the end of the day, everyone’s end goal at the firm should be the same, but every team has their own day-to-day objectives and priorities. For example, a partner is most likely concerned with growing top-line revenue, while a paralegal may be more wrapped up in client and matter onboarding. If you’re pitching a new software to your firms managing partners, frame the obstacles in a context that would most pique their interest. If you know they are worried about ensuring costs get billed back to clients, bring up features where integrated credit card feeds and account payable modules are available to make it easier to bill expenses back to clients as they’re being entered. Or if you know management's top priority is automating non-billable activities, show them workflow engines that make it easy to automate non-billable, administrative work such as sending follow-up emails, updating client information, or calendaring tasks. You will have greater success if you familiarize yourself with your audience’s unique blend of goals, values, and knowledge and to allow that insight to shape your pitch.

The Take-Aways

There are many types of legal software to choose from. Evaluating where your firm is will be critical in not only selecting one, but then proving to your management team why the firm needs it. Your pitch will fall flat if you can't articulate what is needed and what is not. Locate your pain points, assemble a task force, and identify the right time and emotional setting to present your findings and solutions to your partners.

There are no set prescriptions that can capture the nuances of every environment or remove the risks and potential difficulties of pitching a software. If you can give actual ROI numbers, you have a better chance of selling partners that aren't totally sold. Bring literature from the practice management software providers you've chosen, include pricing quotes, and have some success stories in your back pocket. Arming yourself with as much information as possible will greatly assist you in selling the adoption of the software you want.

Traditionally, law firms only replace their practice management and billing software every 10-20 years, so evaluating new products after all that time can be overwhelming.

Not only have all the software products changed since the time the firm purchased their current system, but the underlying technology has also changed; so the questions they should ask a software vendor have changed as well.

Over the past few years, I’ve put together a list of ‘gotcha’ questions I provide law firms transitioning to new legal software. Firms usually only ask a few, if any, of these questions when they’re speaking with software companies, but it’s important you ask each software vendor ALL of the questions below:

1. Is the software fully cloud-based?

Some cloud-based practice management and billing software packages require you to install applications on a computer for administrative purposes or in order to use specific tools. Make sure you understand the technical specifications for using their software. For instance, at Centerbase we have Microsoft Outlook and Word add-ins to track time that only work in a Windows environment. If a firm uses Mac computers, they won’t be able to use this feature properly. If you want more information on cloud-based software, check out our white paper 10 Mistakes to Avoid When Choosing Cloud-Based Software.

2. Do a vendor’s security and data redundancy policies match the law firm’s clients’ requirements?

Make sure you fully understand how the software vendor works to protect your client data. Request a security and data redundancy whitepaper. If you work with large corporations, insurance carriers, banks, or health care providers, check if the software vendor’s security and data redundancy practices match the standard practices you’ve agreed to with your clients. Also, look into your liability insurance and the level of data security they require.

3. How can we import our current data? And better yet, how can we export our data from your system?

If your firm is like most firms, you’ve used your current software for 10-20 years and over the years, you’ve built up a lot of historical information on your clients. Talk to the sales representative (or better yet, have someone from their implementation team on the call) about what information they can import into their software.

Here are a few examples of ‘gotcha’ situations:

• Emails – Most software companies can’t import emails from a previous practice management system, so you’re left with referencing the old system or losing that history. If this is something your firm uses heavily, make sure you understand the options.
• Calendar – Do you need your current calendar entries synced with the new system? A lot of software vendors can only link your software with new entries created after you move over. This means you’re stuck looking at two calendars for a few months or even years.
• Billing History – Do you need all of the billing history from your previous system? Many vendors won’t bring over history, instead they’ll bring over starting balances. If you’re tracking compensation or origination from reports in the software, you’ll have a hard time calculating those numbers without the billing history.
• Accounting Data – I can count on one hand the number of legal billing software vendors who can bring over accounting data from a previous system – this includes journal entries or accounts payable history. Most small firms don’t bring this type of information over, but midsize firms sometimes want to.

Take a deeper dive into what features you'll want to consider importing in: What Should Be Imported Into Your New Legal Billing Software

Now on the flip side, what does an export from the new software look like?

This is a question many firms forget to ask or overlook when speaking with a practice management or billing software vendor. When you’re evaluating new software, you’re typically excited and not thinking about the potential breakup. With a cloud-based system, you don’t have access to the database (for security purposes), so the export is only as good as the tools the vendor provides you to export data.

We’ve dealt with a lot of firms migrating to Centerbase from our competitors and we routinely run into issues with billing data. Does the system link billing entries to bill records in a way that you can reconstruct bills with history? Typically they don’t, but it’s worth asking and understanding ahead of time.

4. What integrations do I need to purchase in order to do everything you’ve shown me in the demo?

I once had a client tell me they started a game while evaluating practice management and billing software. Every time they heard “we offer an integration for that” or “we have an open API” they’d take a shot (I don’t think they actually took shots since the demos were in the morning, but it makes a good story).

Sales representatives are trained to show you a cohesive demo and if the demo is going well, they sometimes forget to mention that what they’re showing you is an additional integration that requires you to pay more. At the end of the demo, make sure to ask them about all the different software they’ve shown you and how much each piece costs. Integrations can be game-changers if they’re done right (shamelessly throwing in a sales pitch: check out the Centerbase and NetDocuments integration) but typically, you have to buy both software packages in order for it to work. But don't stop there! Check out What Features Do I Need In a Billing Software.

5. How do you do [fill in the blank] in your software?

Make sure you think through all the firm’s processes and needs before your demo (or request additional demos). Then go over them with the legal practice management software vendor.

DO NOT let them tell you they can do something, instead make them show you how they do it. I’ve personally seen this happen many times, especially around billing requirements and features. If they don’t show you, there might be a difference in how their software operates and how your client needs to see something. A good example is how the software handles flat fee billing.

Overall, you’re making a big decision and you want to make sure you’re covering all the bases. No question is a bad question and a good sales representative should be willing to find the answer for you. Your legal practice management software is central to the entire firm’s operations, so make sure you do your homework.

A few years back, I was at a conference discussing legal practice management software with a payment processing vendor. She was on their partnership team, which focused on developing relationships with legal software vendors. I was shocked when she told me she had 90 new practice management products to evaluate…90!

What if I told you about a technology that would relieve 50% of the administrative burden from your legal operations job. Would you be interested in hearing what I had to say?

Of course you would!

And that’s why many in the legal tech community have become fascinated by workflow technology. For many attorneys, finding tools to free up more time to bill is essential to growing their practice. Based on a recent report, law offices surveyed responded that they spent 40% of their time on administrative or manual tasks.

In this article, I will introduce you to workflow, explaining what workflow is, some of its benefits and the different workflow tools available in legal practice management software.

1. What is legal workflow?

If we go back to the basics, workflow itself is defined as the sequence of industrial, administrative, or other processes through which a piece of work passes from initiation to completion (thanks Google).

2. Process vs. automation vs. workflow

Process, automation and workflow are terms you’ll hear people refer to as synonyms or married together such as “workflow automation” or “process automation”.

In my opinion, the three terms refer to different things:

• Process refers to the act of defining a series of steps to reach a desired outcome or goal.
• Automation is the use of technology to complete tasks.
• Workflow brings process and automation together. Workflow takes a process, adds highly defined inputs and outputs and uses automation to complete the tasks on your behalf.

For example, if you’re trying to improve your client intake, here’s how each term would be defined:

Process: A prospective client contacts the website > someone from the firm contacts the prospective client > an initial consultation is scheduled > an attorney meets with the prospective client

Automation: A webform populates a database, a personalized email is created and sent from information stored in the database and a document is automatically generated based on information stored in the database.

Workflow:

• A client fills out a form on the website which triggers a potential client record to be populated in the database.
• Once a new record is created in the database, an email is automatically generated and emailed to the prospective client thanking them and letting them know someone from the firm will be in touch with them shortly AND a task is created and assigned to the firm administrator to contact the potential client.
• Firm administrator contacts the prospective client then completes the task, updating the potential client status to “initial consult scheduled” AND the system generates a merged fee agreement letter.

3. Benefits of workflow in a law firm

For many law firms, workflow can be a game-changer by creating structure and efficiencies within their practice.

Although the list is long, here are some of the most important benefits workflow can bring to a law firm:

• Free up time to bill: Workflow can take over a lot of your administrative load freeing up more time for your attorneys to focus on billable work.
• Clean database: It’s common to hear a law firm say their practice management database is a mess. If you’re using workflow, the system can keep records up to date so your staff doesn’t have to manually do it.
• Make your small law firm feel big: Building out your process into a workflow software will increase your staff efficiency, allowing you to accomplish more with less staff.
• Speed up onboarding staff: If you use workflow correctly, staff will be walked through different processes and prompted to enter important information. This means less training up front for new hires because your staff has less to remember or be trained on.

4. Areas workflow can be used in a law firm

Workflow can be used in any area of your practice that requires administrative work but the majority of the legal practice management programs will focus on automating one of three areas:

Intake

74% of all legal consumers visit a law firm’s website to first take action. This means if your firm has a high volume of website form submissions you need a process for managing your pipeline.

Today, many firms receive an automated email from their website’s form tool with the prospective client’s information, but that doesn’t get the information into your practice management software to begin managing the intake process.

These days, many legal practice management software have workflow tools to help you manage your intake.

This includes sending personalized response emails out once someone contacts the firm, scheduling follow-up tasks, merging new client agreement documents or keeping the status of the potential client updated.

Matter

If your firm deals with a high volume of matters, such as an insurance defense or personal injury firm, workflow can be used to help you juggle all the balls in the air.

On a matter, you can use workflow to do things such as schedule follow-up tasks if a member of your staff hasn’t touched a matter within a certain number of days, automatically email updates to clients or generate/email medical records requests for you with the click of a button.

Billing

Using workflow to manage the pre-bill process and collections can help dramatically improve cash flow.

Pre-bills

For pre-bills, workflow can flow the pre-bill through an electronic approval process. If your firm requires the associate then responsible attorney to review a pre-bill before posting it, the workflow can move the bill from one person’s approval list to the next, before finally updating the status once all the approvals are completed. Your billing team can then receive a notification that the bill is ready to post and send out.

Collections

Collections is another pain point for a lot of law firms. It requires the staff to constantly manually send out reminders to your clients. With workflow, you can have reminders automatically sent out to your client once a bill is overdue and continue sending the emails until the balance if paid off.

5. Types of workflow found in legal practice management software

In the last section, I discussed the practical uses for workflow in a law firm. In this next section, I’ll discuss the technology offered within many legal practice management applications.

Calendaring workflow

The first type of workflow I am going to discuss is calendaring workflow. This type of workflow is for task management and calendar appointments.

Task workflow

If you work with a team, there is a good chance that you assign tasks to different staff members at different stages of a case.

Think about when you open a new case. If you don’t have activity workflow, you either:

• Manually assign tasks to your staff.
• You send an email out to inform your staff of a new matter and everyone hopefully remembers their tasks.
• You do everything yourself.

This can be automated using a calendaring workflow within a practice management software.

Some legal practice management programs will let you create a prebuilt lists of tasks and then quickly assign them out.

Other programs will automatically assign tasks to different staff members you’ve designed once a matter is open..

Or finally, programs will give you a list of tasks and let you fill in the staff you want to complete the task.

This is helpful to any firm, but especially firms that have a high volume of cases, new potential clients contacting the firm or if you have a high staff to attorney ratio on your team.

Appointment workflow

Similar to tasks, many firms have a set of internal deadlines or meetings they want to schedule once a new case is opened or reaches a certain stage.

For many firms, this requires a paralegal or assistant to manually calculate relative dates based on a certain deadline. It’s time consuming and error prone.

Many legal practice management software programs have a feature built in to solve this problem.

The technical term for this feature is chain calendar events. These are all appointments with relative dates based on a trigger date such as “date of trial.”

This isn’t to be confused with a scheduling order designed by the courts but rather, a list of internal deadlines.

Automated workflow

Automated workflow expands beyond activities and allows you to flowchart your processes into software automation. This type of workflow will keep your case status up to date and offer your staff different options based on the process you’ve defined for that stage of a case.

Your process for opening a new matter might look like:

1. Run a conflict check.
2. Send then receive the engagement letter from the client.
3. Open the matter in your practice management software and send out the initial retainer bill.
4. Collect the retainer from the client.
5. Set up an initial meeting with the client.

Throughout this process, your system could use workflow to take the burden off your staff by automatically merging the engagement letter, sending out an emailed retainer bill to the client and even opening the matter file in your system.

With workflow, the software will bring you down the path you set up and automate certain tasks, but your staff will still be required to prompt the software to move to the next stage by marking tasks as complete or clicking on the next step.

Advanced automated workflow

Advanced automated workflow is like having a robot assistant.

The difference between automated workflow and advanced automated workflow is in advanced automated workflow, your staff doesn’t have to click a button to make something happen.

Advanced automated workflow can be triggered by creation of a record, updates to a records or queries.

Your possibilities become endless with advanced automated workflow, but it does require the most set up.

6. Legal practice management software that includes workflow

ActionStep

ActionStep is a cloud-based, legal practice management and billing and accounting software. Within ActionStep, you’re able to build a matter-centric automated workflow.

Their tool lets you create different workflows based on the type of matter. The individual workflows are broken into linear stages of a case. Once a matter is moved into a certain phase of the case by a staff member, the workflow can perform tasks such as generating appointments/tasks, creating merged documents or sending emails.

ActionStep also allows you to purchase prebuilt practice packs that have already been set up for you, if you want to plug in and go.

Centerbase

Centerbase is a cloud-based, legal accounting, billing and practice management software. Within Centerbase, you’re able to build advanced automated workflows on any record type.

Each step of a workflow can automatically or manually trigger different events to occur such as creating a record, updating a field, merging a document, sending an email or creating a calendar appointment/task. Workflows in Centerbase are not linear, they instead let you move throughout the workflow based on your needs.

Clio

Clio is a cloud-based, legal practice management and billing software. Within Clio you’re able to create intake workflows.

Clio’s intake workflow allows you to create forms for clients to fill out. Once the form is submitted, internal tasks can be assigned and personalized emails can be sent to the prospective client.

Rocket Matter

Rocket Matter is a cloud-based, legal practice management and billing software. Within Rocket Matter you’re able to create calendaring workflows on matters, based on status updates. These workflows can create tasks assigned to different members of your staff or the workflow can create calendar appointments based on relative dates.

Zapier

As Zapier put it, they’re “the glue that connects thousands of apps.” Their software is used to connect different applications in your technology stack, based on certain events occuring. If you’re using different siloed programs within your firm, this is a great option to integrate your processes and curb duplicate entry.

For instance, if you enter a new potential client in your practice management software, Zapier can create a task in your task management software for someone to follow up and add that contact to a specific marketing bucket within your email marketing software.

7. How to implement workflow software

For most, as soon as you pick a workflow tool, you want to get started right away.

If you can, I suggest taking a slower approach to implementing your new process automation tool. If you’re implementing a new practice management software that includes workflow tools, get into the software first before you start designing workflows.

By delaying your workflow implementation, you’re able to better understand how the new software works. Many firms that jump right into implementing workflow by designing their workflow process around how their previous software worked, which in turn makes the workflow effective.

Also, I recommend building your workflow out in pieces. Start small, use what you’ve built for a few weeks and continue to build from there. It’s common for a flow to sound good during implementation but isn’t practical once you begin using it. If you build your workflow out in pieces, it’s easier to tweak these changes as they come up.

Finally, if you’re new to workflow, work with a legal consultant. There are many in the industry that have spent their careers helping law firms implement workflows and can guide you through designing the right workflow for your firm’s processes.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]