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As the legal landscape becomes more complex and competitive, adopting modern law practice management software is one of the best ways to help your law firm keep up. Legal technology can greatly increase your competitive advantage, make your operations more efficient, and continuously enhance client service.
However, this journey isn’t as simple as purchasing the first legal software you come across online. It involves a step-by-step process of assessing your firm’s needs, conducting due diligence to select the right vendor for your firm, and implementing the software.
Based on the latest insights from Centerbase's 2024 Guide to Buying Law Practice Management Software, this article will help you navigate and simplify the path to selecting the best legal practice management software for your firm.
Law firms turn to technology for a variety of proactive and reactive reasons. Proactively, firms seek opportunities to increase efficiency, improve client service, and maximize cost savings. Reactively, they are compelled to switch software when faced with challenges such as missing functionality, the need for remote work capabilities, system consolidation, data security issues, or the need to retire an old server.
Before embarking on the legal technology journey, take an inventory of your firm’s current technology infrastructure. Then, ask your team to identify gaps your current tech stack doesn’t fill to understand their vision to optimize law practice operations.
By building a cross-functional team to represent your law firm's software user base and setting expectations for what the new software should accomplish, law firms can outline a clear vision for their technological needs. Be sure to consider budgets during this assessment, too.
Once the technology needs have been assessed, the next step involves selecting legal practice management software that's right for your firm. This process requires a comprehensive review of potential vendors based on selection criteria that go beyond cost.
Now that you've researched various software vendors' offerings, make a short list of finalists, send them a request for proposal, and set up demonstrations.
Collect your findings on how well each legal practice management software meets your team's expectations, conduct reference checks, and review terms of service and service level agreements.
You're now ready to score the proposals, run pilot tests of the best options, run the numbers, and make a choice.
With a vendor selected, the next step is implementation. This process may include stages like data migration, setup, configuration, and testing.
Training is also indispensable at this stage as it is vital for maximizing the return on the investment in law firm technology while also driving successful software adoption.
Just as you're evaluating the software's overall ability to meet your firm's needs, you should put equal emphasis on understanding the vendor's process for creating a smooth legal software implementation.
Keep in mind, legal technology isn't a one-size-fits-all solution. It needs to be the right fit for your law firm to truly optimize operations and stay competitive in the fast-evolving legal industry.
With the meticulous planning, careful selection, and continuous learning we've outlined, you'll be on your way to using technology as a powerful tool to enhance efficiency, improve client service, and contribute to your firm's overall success.
Get our complete guide to buying legal practice management software for detailed tips and considerations to choose the right technology for your firm.
In today's legal landscape, staying competitive and efficient is crucial. If your firm isn’t using an all-in-one legal practice management software to streamline firm and client operations, you’re missing out on the highest level of efficiency and competitive advantages to set your firm apart. The cost of not having such software is too great to not act.
Multiple types of productivity software exist to improve law firms’ efficiency with certain tasks, such as client intake, case management, and timekeeping. But having multiple disparate systems requires opening each one, toggling among them when switching tasks, leading to less efficiency overall, not more.
Yet, many law firms hesitate to adopt legal practice management software that could solve their efficiency woes, underestimating what law firms stand to lose by choosing the status quo. Just like neglecting IT infrastructure, ignoring legal technology can lead to significant financial and operational downsides.
But why do law firm hesitate to adopt legal software? According to Forbes, choosing not to upgrade software is rooted in common fears, including:
Without legal practice management software, you’ll miss out on operational efficiency, best practices, and firm culture benefits that optimize your law practice. Let’s dive into some of the greatest potential costs associated with not implementing an all-in-one legal technology platform.
Building your general ledger accounting into your timekeeping, billing and accounting operations in one platform gives you the most efficient and accurate accounting operations.
Integrating data for each of these processes means you enter the data once, and it populates everywhere. This helps your firm avoid double-entry recordkeeping between multiple software systems, and it ensures consistent data across the entire system.
Without the right legal practice management software, you might even miss out on the ability to integrate general ledger firm and trust accounting in one place, which enables reconciliation across your client and firm accounts. With such a system, you can track every dollar in and out of your law firm.
Without streamlined processes, you and your attorneys are wasting time on administrative tasks. Legal practice management software automates billing, scheduling, and document management, freeing up time for billable work. This directly impacts revenue, as even a small increase in billable hours can lead to substantial financial gains over time.
Without robust software solutions, your firm could be at risk of data breaches. With the high degree of sensitive client information you handle, a data breach can be costly and damage your firm’s reputation. Legal practice management software often includes secure data storage and encryption, ensuring client confidentiality and compliance with legal standards.
Efficient case management is key to client satisfaction. Manual processes can lead to delays, missed deadlines, and errors, frustrating clients. Legal practice management software enhances communication, tracks case progress, and ensures deadlines are met, leading to better client relationships and retention.
Law firms that use technology risk falling behind competitors who are more tech-savvy. Legal practice management software enables firms to leverage analytics and reporting, improve marketing efforts, and offer better services, helping them stay competitive in a crowded market.
Investing in legal practice management software is not just about improving efficiency; it's about protecting your firm's financial health and reputation. The cost of doing nothing can far exceed the investment in the right software solution. If you're considering enhancing your practice with technology, now is the time to act. Don't let your firm fall behind — explore the benefits of legal practice management software today.
As you search for new law practice management software, you shouldn’t settle for a painful implementation process — which is the largest obstacle preventing law firms from embracing new and better software.
With the right components in place, a legal software platform can provide an accurate and efficient implementation with minimal business disruption — so you can start making strategic and profitable business decisions immediately.
Here’s what you should look for in a well-mapped legal software implementation process when searching for the right vendor.
As you’re narrowing down your law practice management software options, ask each vendor if they have a dedicated team that will focus on delivering an exceptional implementation.
A comprehensive implementation team should include project managers and data specialists that organize your implementation and deliver accurate data imports, and support, training, and customer success teams that champion your firm’s success throughout your firm’s experience — including post-implementation.
What is the actual implementation process for each vendor? You’ll want to understand how thoughtfully they’ve mapped each phase of implementation, and what tools will be used to migrate your firm’s data to the new software.
Any software implementation must deliver correct data in the way you intend to use it and do so with minimal business disruption. Ask the vendors specific questions about each phase of the implementation process to understand if they can deliver on this expectation.
The early stages of an implementation process should:
Accurate data migration is critical to successful implementation of law practice management software that your team wants to use. Look for the following in vendors’ data migration phases:
Having accurate, ready-to-use data in the system allows your team to start learning how to use the new software. Ask vendors how they handle:
When the official switch to the new software begins, you’ll want it to be as seamless as possible. Vendors should have plans to minimize business disruption by walking your team through:
Of course, you also need to feel confident a vendor will continue to help your team reap the benefits of the new software as your firm grows and changes.
Your new legal technology investment should help your firm become more efficient and profitable. If it offers the features to help you accomplish your firm’s goals, ensuring it also has an efficient and accurate implementation process will allow you to extract that value from day one of using the software.
Be selective, and hopefully you’ll experience a software implementation that minimizes business disruption like Susie Saldivar, Office Manager at Gaido & Fintzen.
“The onboarding process [with our legal software vendor] could have been terrible and glitchy, but, instead, it was super dreamy," she says. "I couldn’t have asked for a better onboarding experience. Everything went great."
Get all the details for what makes an accurate and timely implementation here.
Every service-based business wants to get paid faster, and law firms are no different. Imagine getting paid 20 percent faster. What kind of a difference would that make to your law firm’s cash flow, profitability, and ability to invest in growth?
One of the best ways to ensure an efficient billing and payment cycle is to make it easy for clients to pay — and that requires having a modern legal billing solution with embedded payments processing in place.
This allows your clients to pay directly from within their digital invoice and gives them options for payment types, such as credit and debit card payments, automated clearing house (ACH) and eChecks.
The ability to get paid on time requires efficient processes and software to support them — timekeeping for billable hours, effective billing templates, accurate billing cycles, and the list goes on.
But even with processes and systems in place, be aware of common bottlenecks that can slow down legal billing processes and negatively affect your clients’ on-time payment rates — and your firm’s profitability.
Your law practice’s monthly billing process likely begins with compiling billed time and related expenses for each client into a pre-bill. If your attorneys have tracked their time diligently, this part of the process should be smooth.
Reviewing, revising and finalizing the prebills is where slowdowns occur. A lead attorney must review the prebill, add notes, and adjust costs as needed before the bill can be finalized and sent to the client.
If you have electronic pre-bill functionality in your legal billing solution, you can speed up this process by automatically moving pre-bills through the approval chain.
Jennifer Landrum, office manager at Griffith, Jay & Michel, LLP, estimates it used to take her about two weeks to complete her firm’s billing cycle. Using the pre-bill feature within Centerbase, she now saves a minimum of three days each month on billing alone.
Hopefully, your law firm’s billing software automates many of the routine billing and payment functions, such as calculating billing interest and tax, applying existing client funds to bills, and sending overdue bill reminders. If you conduct these manually, however, you’re missing out on significant efficiencies.
Electronic legal billing and payments software can make your billing process more efficient by generating draft bills, taking your firm’s fee structure into account, and customizing the billing and payment process to your firm’s needs.
Jane Corser, firm administrator at Latham, Luna, Eden & Beaudine, LLP, says that when her firm switched to the Centerbase platform, her billing cycle improved from 10 days to just three days.
To get paid faster, use immediacy to your law firm’s advantage. The sooner a client receives an invoice after services are rendered, the sooner they’ll pay their bill because the services are fresh in their mind.
Even if you send invoices soon after providing services, however, the likelihood of clients paying their bill on time drops significantly if you don’t make it easy for them to do so.
It’s important to offer flexible payment options that fit your clients’ needs. Offering billing arrangements, printed or digital bills, online payments and multi-payor functionality for clients to choose from increases their on-time payments.
When it comes to law firms’ billing and payments processes, efficiency and flexibility are key. The best way to achieve both is to have a legal billing solution with an embedded payments feature. Embedded payments can:
When researching legal billing and payments solutions for your law firm, consider these features to help you select the right solution:
Embedding payments into your billing solution makes it easy for clients to do business with you and allows you to manage the business of your firm with automation and simplicity. Learn how you can accomplish all this with Centerbase Payments, embedded in the Centerbase platform.
Modernizing your law practice management software is an enticing — and strategic — end goal. Whether that means moving your firm’s data from a server to the cloud or upgrading to an all-in-one law firm management and growth platform, you can significantly enhance efficiency and client service with modern software.
But all the features within law firm management platforms mean nothing if you find yourself questioning the accuracy of your firm’s data. Christopher Holmes, Chief Operating Officer at Hackett Feinberg P.C., knows this reality all too well.
In 2020, Chris led the charge to modernize his firm’s operations. A long-time user of Timeslips, Hackett Feinberg was eager to upgrade from an on-premise server to a cloud-based solution.
The firm decided on practice management software that seemed to fit the bill, as it offered the integrated practice management documents, email, and accounting capabilities Chris and his team wanted.
“The goal in moving to that system was to have a modern platform that would better serve our clients, be user friendly, and improve our firm’s efficiency,” he says.
After three years with the software, Hackett Feinberg learned its limitations. Primarily, the firm encountered data integrity issues in its accounting, where a deposit would have a date different from other deposits made the same day, throwing off the firm’s bank records.
In other instances, the system showed that clients’ payments were due, even though they had been paid.
“These issues were alarming, and they made us wonder what we might be missing,” Chris says.
The firm recognized other limitations, too, namely a lack of robust, customizable, user-friendly reporting.
“The reporting dashboards were not useful,” Chris says. “They were templates that couldn’t be customized, weren’t based on user roles, and they didn’t have proper user-based restrictions.”
Eventually, it was time to explore other options.
“I got a demo of Centerbase and saw the difference immediately,” Chris says.
Centerbase’s advanced reporting and customizability now give Chris the information he needs.
“I love that I can customize our dashboards by user roles, so we can have a managing partner dashboard, a new associate dashboard, etc., with information that’s relevant to them, and they can do what they need to,” he explains.
He especially appreciates not having to enter data and calculate compensation manually, thanks to Centerbase’s Production and Origination report. “I can let attorneys know their compensation on a daily basis if I need to,” Chris says.
Chris particularly appreciated Centerbase’s focus on data integrity during the onboarding and implementation process.
Centerbase has been in communication with us during the entire data conversion process, working with us to overcome the limitations of the data available from our prior software.
Christopher Holmes, COO, Hackett Feinberg
Centerbase’s proprietary implementation methods deliver accurate data imports by mapping and validating the firm’s data, ensuring it is accurate, organized, configured to fit the firm’s needs, and ready to use on day one.
Chris also likes that his team has an organized implementation process to follow with clear expectations, accountability, and target dates for completing tasks. Additionally, thorough live and online training give them the support they need.
“I’ve been part of software conversions before with larger law firms, and Centerbase’s implementation process brings back those previous positive experiences. The Centerbase team has been great and very helpful. They are magicians,” Chris says.
Efficiency and precision are the hallmarks of legal billing software. Having the right tools can make the difference in streamlined processes and faster collections.
But while most legal billing software can help you accomplish these goals, top-of-the-line legal billing tools go above and beyond with a comprehensive suite of features that transform the way your legal professionals handle your law firm billing.
Here are the key features to look for in a game-changing legal software solution.
Precise timekeeping is crucial for legal professionals, and top-notch billing software recognizes the significance of accuracy. From tracking billable hours to capturing every minute detail, top software ensures that timekeeping is not just a task but an art form.
The right technology makes it easy to bill directly from the legal tasks being completed, whether that’s drafting a document, sending a text, having a phone call, or responding to an email — even when attorneys are out of the office. With these features, automated time tracking helps law firms eliminate time leakage and inaccuracies.
Good billing software automates routine tasks, but the best billing applications take it to a whole new level. Leading legal billing software integrates robust automation capabilities, reducing manual input and minimizing errors. From time tracking to invoice generation, automation ensures that your billing processes are not only efficient but also error-free.
For example, some platforms automatically create invoices for clients billed biweekly or monthly, pulling the data from a particular time range and eliminating the need for manual entry. These platforms can also send automated reminders to clients when payment is overdue, eliminating the need to chase payments. Finally, advanced tools track edits to pre-bills, then automatically forward them through the approval chain, so your bills are more accurate while wasting less time and paper.
Transparency builds trust. Instead of the traditional manual process of printing bills and stuffing them in envelopes, modern law firms have switched to online billing platforms. These platforms strengthen client relationships through clear and comprehensible billing practices.
For instance, top software provides a secure portal where clients can have 24/7 access to view, pay, and download their bills. It can also help reduce the need to answer client calls and emails about billing questions with detailed breakdowns of charges, making it easy for clients to understand the services rendered and to review their payment history.
While good billing software may support various payment methods, exceptional platforms go the extra mile by offering seamless online payment options, including ACH, credit cards, recurring payments, and more. Leading legal software platforms allow clients to view and settle invoices with just a few clicks, providing unparalleled convenience.
Integration with tools such as LawPay lets clients receive bills in their email inboxes and allows you to check the status of the email: whether it’s been ignored, read, or paid. This feature not only accelerates the payment process but also enhances overall client satisfaction. Additionally, it can ensure that funds are allocated to the right trust account so you don’t have to manually record each payment.
Compliance is a non-negotiable aspect of legal billing, but we all know how complex billing can be. Each client has specific preferences and requirements for how they’re billed, whether it’s an alternative fee arrangement, special discount, or unique invoice template. Then there are also the headaches of split billing, which can be incredibly difficult to track.
Leading legal billing software makes it easy for timekeepers to customize billing templates for each client and to split bills between different payors. Top software also incorporates LEDES (Legal Electronic Data Exchange Standard) and LSS (Legal XML Standard) codes, making it easy for firms, insurance companies, and other third parties to track legal work by task. Top platforms have built-in templates that make creating invoices in the LEDES or LSS format simple.
Good billing software may generate basic reports, but the best software takes reporting to new heights with centralized reporting capabilities and helps eliminate the silos that often exist between billing, accounting, and practice management. Advanced legal billing software provides a unified view of financial data, allowing law firms to analyze performance, track revenue, and make informed decisions all in one platform.
More advanced billing software offers easy-to-read reporting templates and dashboards for quick review plus unlimited ways to slice and dice your firm’s data with custom reporting that includes complex features like pivot tables. With these tools, partners can assess matter budgets, marketing teams can determine where to allocate advertising funds, and accounting professionals can calculate sales and other applicable taxes.
Legal billing software is no longer a luxury; it’s a necessity. But you don’t need to settle for a billing platform with bare-bones features that creates more work — and more headaches — for your timekeepers, accountants, and billing team.
Make sure your legal billing software offers these features. If not, sign up today for a free demo of Centerbase and discover how exceptional legal billing software can revolutionize the way you handle billing and position your law firm for success.
Let’s face it: there isn’t enough time in the day for attorneys and staff to complete all the work that has to be done in a law firm. That’s why so many firms have turned away from manual processes toward law firm management software.
But not all legal practice management software platforms are created equal.
Almost every platform has basic features, including collecting client information, checking for conflicts, storing documents and templates, recording billable hours, tracking expenses, and managing invoicing.
Industry-leading law practice management software is different. Not only does this software take manual work off your plate, but it also streamlines the practice of law, improving productivity and smoothing operations.
Here are just some of the many ways that advanced legal technology can help your law firm simplify operations and optimize its overall productivity.
Too many law firms have multiple systems to corral their data and documents, including client details, case documents, emails, and more. Advanced software platforms centralize information, allowing firms to store and manage all client and matter-related information in one place, from client lead through intake, matter creation, invoicing, and payment. No more clicking tabs to piece matters together. Plus, using a single repository for the entire client lifecycle eliminates the redundant work of maintaining data across multiple tools.
Users can create, track, and organize cases, manage deadlines, assign tasks to team members, and send conflict checks and bills from a matter, ensuring everyone is on the same page regarding case progress and upcoming deadlines. Version control and audit trails help maintain the integrity of legal documents, ensuring that the latest versions are always accessible.
Many timekeepers don’t record their billable hours as they work. When they record their billable time days later, they lose up to 50% of their hours.
Market-leading legal software offers automated time capture that automatically records time for every minute spent on a matter, including phone calls, emails, and texts, even when you’re away from your desk. Leading platforms also coordinate time entries with matters, expediting bill creation and improving billing accuracy.
Advanced platforms enable law firms to automate repetitive tasks, such as document assembly for frequently used documents, client intake, and billing. For example, firms can automate workflows that send client reminders and follow-up emails for overdue invoices.
And configurable billing workflows can be customized to match your specific billing requirements including approval workflows. This flexibility ensures that the billing process aligns seamlessly with your needs, reducing the time you spend on manual adjustments and reviews.
Online invoicing and billing helps you meet client expectations for a seamless customer experience while shaving weeks off your billing cycle. Automated billing solutions like ePre-bills help your firm review, approve, and send out bills up to 20 times faster. Plus, solutions that integrate time and expense tracking make it easier to capture billable activities, costs, and expenses, reducing the time spent manually reconciling hours and expenses.
On the client side, leading platforms offer self-service portals that allow clients to access electronic invoices and make online payments. This convenience not only enhances the client experience but also accelerates the payment collection process. Clients can ask questions and make payments seamlessly, reducing the time spent on follow-up calls and emails.
The practice of law is complex enough — there’s no room for additional chaos. A commitment to leveraging law practice management software to its fullest potential can transform how your law firm operates.
Get a free demo to learn how Centerbase can help you hit your productivity and profitability goals in one fell swoop.
Written by Robin Neill
More and more law firms are recognizing how important it is to manage themselves like a business to survive in today’s competitive market. Businesses operate with efficiency, strategic planning, and a keen eye on the bottom line — principles that law firms can adopt to enhance their operational effectiveness. By embracing business management practices such as budgeting, law firms can optimize their resources, streamline processes, and invest in technology to improve their service.
A budget provides a structured roadmap for financial stability, strategic decision-making, and sustainable growth. Creating a law firm budget requires careful planning, collaboration, and attention to detail. Here are seven steps that can help your law firm create an effective budget.
Budgeting shouldn’t be a last-minute task. Law firms should initiate the budgeting process well in advance, ideally in the third quarter. Starting early ensures firms have ample time to assess their current financial standing, analyze past spending patterns, and anticipate future costs.
A fundamental step in budgeting is examining the firm’s profit and loss (P&L) statement from previous years. By comparing actual expenditures with previous years’ data, law firms can identify trends and patterns.
Areas to focus on include salaries and rent, which tend to be the largest expenses in a law firm budget. Don’t forget to consider inflation.
Setting clear, measurable, and realistic goals is fundamental to the budgeting process — and those goals must align with the firm’s overall strategic objectives. Whether the aim is to sustain current levels of success or to expand to new locations or practices, having a well-defined vision guides the budgeting process effectively.
For instance, a law firm planning to increase its partner count from 10 to 20 in the next year needs to account for higher advertising costs, additional attorney salaries, and potential increases in professional dues and liability insurance.
Successful budgeting necessitates collaboration between key stakeholders. This includes financial experts, managing partners, human resources professionals, and accountants. Each participant brings a unique perspective to the table, ensuring that the budget addresses all aspects of the firm’s operations.
Regular consultations and brainstorming sessions with these stakeholders can provide invaluable insights and foster a culture of financial transparency within the firm.
While analyzing the P&L statement, law firms often overlook certain unexpected costs. Items such as professional liability insurance, litigation expenses, or regulatory compliance costs can fluctuate, impacting the budget unexpectedly. By accounting for these variables and having a contingency fund, firms can avoid financial strain when unforeseen expenses arise.
Recognizing that employees are a firm’s most valuable asset, law firms should offer a competitive salary and benefits such as health insurance, retirement plans, and professional development opportunities. A comprehensive benefits package can attract top talent and ensure staff retention and satisfaction. Additionally, employee well-being initiatives such as mental health support programs or flexible work arrangements can enhance productivity and foster a positive work environment.
Law firms must factor in the costs of these employee benefits while budgeting. Firms should also take into account salary increases, such as cost-of-living adjustments, to stay competitive in the market.
Law firms should invest in advanced legal software with accounting features to track expenditures efficiently. These legal technology tools provide detailed reports on profitability based on various parameters, such as attorney performance, case type, and office location. Implementing artificial intelligence-driven tools can deliver insights into future financial trends and assist firms in making proactive budgeting decisions.
Transforming a law firm into a business entity demands a proactive approach to budgeting. Law firms can use budgets to position themselves for sustainable growth, client satisfaction, and long-term success.
Centerbase has a robust suite of tools designed to optimize law firm financial performance. Get in touch for a free demo of our tools and learn how our software can improve your law firm’s profitability.
Written by Carson Bailey, M. Ed.
Before you can implement new legal software, you must convince your lawyers and staff to adopt it. And to adopt new technology, legal professionals must understand its features and functions — and how they will benefit from them. That requires in-depth training.
But training can’t be one size fits all. After all, no two people learn the same, and you need to cater to their learning preferences to maximize their information intake — and the return on your technology investment.
The success of your new legal software hinges on user competence and confidence. In this article, we’ll share how to design a training program as part of your change management initiative when adopting new software that will appeal to your team and ensure your new solution achieves its expected returns.
But first, let’s explore why you should invest in training.
While balancing employee training and billable hours can be challenging, the rewards that stem from well-trained staff far outweigh the initial resource investment. Here are just some of the benefits of prioritizing staff training.
To achieve these benefits, you must ensure that your training follows best practices.
Setting up training for lawyers and staff on new law practice software requires a strategic approach to ensure a smooth transition to new software. To encourage lawyers and staff to engage with training, you must align it to their needs and make it valuable and motivating. Time is precious, so training must be efficient and effective, given the responsibilities already filling legal professionals’ plates.
Consider following these best practices to strengthen your next software training:
The successful implementation of new software in a law firm requires a comprehensive training strategy. Adult learners have distinct needs and preferences, and tailoring training to meet those needs is critical for a seamless transition.
By adopting the right training methodologies and involving the right stakeholders, law firms can navigate the challenges of software implementation and equip their teams with the skills needed for a competitive edge in the legal industry.
Contact us today to learn more about how Centerbase training is designed to ease the transition to new technology and accelerate your law firm’s productivity.
Attracting and retaining top legal talent is critical in today’s competitive market. A team of top attorneys gives your firm a competitive edge and ensures your firm will continue to impress clients with quality legal work.
In this article, we’ll cover four ways to attract (and retain) top legal talent, with an emphasis on how legal technology can help you do both.
With recent layoffs at large law firms and the incoming classes of law school graduates, there are great opportunities for smaller and midsize firms — if they can compete effectively in the job market.
Today’s top legal talent has high expectations: competitive pay, opportunities for professional development, a meaningful work/life balance, and leveraging advanced legal technology. While meeting these expectations may seem challenging, it’s essential for law firms that want to attract and retain the best lawyers and staff.
Let’s get into some specifics.
Top legal talent expects to be paid what they are worth. Offering a competitive salary and comprehensive benefits package is crucial to attracting new lawyers and staff. A higher starting salary and market benefits (e.g., health, dental, and vision) will translate directly into more applications for open positions and higher retention rates.
Of course, if you get into a salary tug-of-war with your competition, you’ll eventually run out of cash. Increases are only sustainable to a point. That’s why your firm should focus on the totality of what it has to offer, including training, work/life balance, and technology that makes the job easier.
Top legal talent typically wants opportunities for professional growth and development so they can stay ahead of the curve. As a law firm, it’s important to offer these opportunities at all levels of practice.
For both lawyers and staff, constructive feedback and positive encouragement are important. By providing personalized feedback and having one-on-one meetings and not just waiting for end-of-year performance reviews, your attorneys and staff members will feel supported in their learning and will believe that there’s a path forward for them in the firm.
More formal learning opportunities are also essential for attracting and retaining skilled attorneys. Incorporate opportunities for continuing legal education (CLE) sessions and conferences in your learning and development budget. Investing more in learning and offering growth opportunities means your lawyers will be prepared to deliver better work to your clients — and more satisfied clients mean more income for your firm.
Work-life balance is key in attracting top talent, especially if that top talent consists of younger attorneys. Lawyers work long (and often stressful) hours on cases and acquisitions, so offering a supportive environment is crucial in counterbalancing the other demands of the job.
By offering flexible work arrangements — like remote or hybrid work or adjusted work hours — you’ll provide lawyers with the tools to manage their personal responsibilities. This includes flexible arrangements for new parents or employees who might need to work remotely to care for an aging family member. By providing flexibility, your firm will emphasize its commitment to supporting its attorneys and staff, and in doing so will attract the best of the best.
Legal technology can be employed to make it easier for attorneys to get their work done anytime, anywhere. Cloud-based legal software that enables secure remote access of case files, documents, and other client materials means lawyers can work from home or on the road more easily. Leading legal software platforms can enable lawyers to communicate and collaborate seamlessly with team members and clients through document sharing, messaging, and videoconferencing.
Advanced legal technology isn’t only important for offering flexible work arrangements — it’s also an expectation for incoming top talent. Good legal tech makes life easier for attorneys by streamlining work processes and increasing efficiency. It allows lawyers to work smarter by calendaring deadlines, prioritizing billable tasks, and ridding themselves of mundane or repetitive tasks through automation. Time capture tools make it easier than ever to keep valuable billable minutes from falling through the cracks.
While lawyers may be wooed by an attractive compensation package, they won’t stay if they don’t like working for your firm. An important part of your firm’s culture rests on how well you enable your lawyers and staff to work. That requires an investment in the latest legal technology.
This means tools to help with everything from case management to removing the tedium of timekeeping and billing (maybe the most frustrating of all law firm tasks).
And tech that enables internal collaboration, helping teams build a collective knowledge base that everyone can access and improving work quality, avoiding duplicative efforts, and accelerating results. For instance, a fully integrated matter management system will help keep everyone on a team up to date on matter status and highlight roadblocks where someone may be able to offer their expertise. Teams can also collaborate in real-time and track matter status, allowing for greater flexibility while also building a sense of community.
Everything is connected this way: better tech leads to less tedium, allowing lawyers to get their billable work done more quickly, which gives them more time to focus on their personal lives and find their own preferred work/life balance.
Of course, one of the best ways to convey to talent that you are the right choice for them to excel in their legal careers is to have an up to date and professional website. today’s talent expects a robust digital presence, and the first place they go to research employers is online.
Your firm’s webpage should highlight your firm’s culture and include statements or videos on your website with partners, associates, and staff explaining the benefits of working for your firm.
Junior and senior lawyers alike expect access to advanced tools that make work easier, enabling them to deliver exceptional client service and improving their work/life balance in the process. Law firms that invest in legal technology platforms can attract better talent and position themselves as industry leaders.
