Los Angeles-based Kantor & Kantor, which focuses exclusively on representing plaintiffs in denials of their life, disability, long-term care insurance claims, and retirement benefits, needed an efficient way to review 500+ inquiries a week and find the best leads, as well as a configurable CRM that put case data at attorneys' fingertips. They found the cloud-based capabilities and amenable vendor they sought in Centerbase.
Challenges
Cumbersome document management
Any law firm that has handled more than 1,000 cases in its history and recovered more than $600 million for its clients has had to sort through mountains of paperwork. It’s no different for California-based law firm Kantor & Kantor, which focuses exclusively on representing plaintiffs in denials of their life, disability, long-term care insurance claims, and retirement benefits.
The firm had moved to digital document management, using Windows Explorer to store shared files. But it was an inefficient and ineffective system—merely the equivalent of a digital filing cabinet. Their manual document management system had no advanced search or filtering abilities to examine the data within these files.
Partner Tim Rozelle, who oversees technology for the 50-person firm, remembers the difficult, time-consuming tasks of monitoring attorney case loads and connecting data points between cases.
“There was no filtering, there were no advanced search options. We were just using whatever Windows would provide,” Tim says.
Attorneys wanting to compare various elements of past cases would likely have to send several emails—or worse, schedule a meeting that took time away from casework.
The system also made it hard to manage inquiries and intake. Kantor & Kantor receives more than 500 inquiries per week. Reviewing these inquiries to find the best leads is crucial, and Tim says it was an “immense, unwieldy task.”
He knew the firm needed to make their operations—namely intake workflows and referencing past documents—more efficient.
Kantor & Kantor had previously used various technology vendors for other services, but the major companies couldn’t offer a one-on-one, tailored experience.
“Our practice is so niche, we felt customization was our top priority,” Tim says. “We wanted a platform where everyone could monitor certain data points about our cases, intake, and inquiries we received. The hope was to make sure all our attorneys, whether in the office or remote, had access to all that at their fingertips.”
They found the cloud-based capabilities and amenable vendor they sought in Centerbase.
Solution
Configurable user experience continually meets firm needs
Kantor & Kantor formed a committee to explore various case management platforms. They found Centerbase to be the best product, both in its existing capabilities and in its willingness to configure the user experience to fit Kantor & Kantor’s needs as they change over time.
“There aren’t many attorneys in the country that do the type of work that we do on the plaintiff’s side,” Tim explains. “So we really liked the idea of going to a company that was more than happy to work with us directly to customize the things that we wanted.”
Flexible templates ease intake workflows
Adopting Centerbase’s document management platform solved some of Kantor & Kantor’s immediate challenges, including inquiry management. They’ve automated and standardized customer intake workflows and documents sent to potential clients.
Everything is readily available and accessible to the intake team, so they don’t have to start from scratch every time they respond to an inquiry. The workflows ask the right questions and gather the right data points upfront, which helps the firm determine quickly whether the client is a good fit.
“We’re not having to reinvent the wheel every time we try to connect with a potential client,” Tim says. “It cuts down on the amount of time and effort spent connecting, and we can devote that extra time to serving the clients we actually sign up.”
A searchable case library at attorneys’ fingertips
Along with intake management, Centerbase’s flexibility allowed Kantor & Kantor to expand the usage of Centerbase’s customer relationship management (CRM) tool to capture contact and engagement information for judges. They’ve recorded all federal and state judges for their current and past cases, so they can see what judges presided over which cases and how they ruled.
“We’re a consumer-oriented practice, so we are trying to protect consumers. Typically, judges have their own beliefs, and certain types of judges are more friendly to consumers than others,” Tim explains.
With this increased visibility, Kantor & Kantor attorneys can make more informed decisions about the strategy they want to take with a current case based on past actions of a particular judge.
“That’s immensely helpful,” Tim emphasizes. “Rather than large group emails trying to get information from peoples’ fading memories, you can go right to the source.”
Kantor & Kantor also combed important data points from their previous case files, creating an extensive library. Combining this database with Centerbase’s powerful search and filter options increases the accessibility of data so attorneys can find relevant information for their cases, faster.
“Centerbase has really good, advanced search, which puts your entire library of cases at your disposal,” Tim explains. “I can't even value how important that is for any practice.”
Dashboards capture firm operations
The firm’s success with Centerbase is all about productivity. Managing partners need to monitor partner and associate workloads. Centerbase’s customizable dashboards show the firm’s progress along with individual attorneys’ active and past case lists.
“Getting that data into a manageable format helps managing partners better assign cases,” Tim says. “That’s really big for productivity.”
Microsoft integrations create a one-stop solution
Sharing data across tools drives even greater efficiency. Many lawyers are extremely time-conscious, so they want to keep their calendars visible at all times.
Centerbase’s calendaring feature ensures nothing gets missed, syncing attorney schedules directly with their Outlook emails and the larger firm calendar.
“Having tools that make it easier for managing partners to monitor caseload helps immensely with our operations so that we can devote more time to actual case work,” Tim says.
Results
More time for case work and improved mental health
Since 2018, Kantor & Kantor has continued to find value in Centerbase. They’re better able to organize and use data, and making that data easily accessible saves time for everyone.
“Having tools that make it easier for managing partners to monitor caseload helps immensely with our operations so that we can devote more time to actual case work,” Tim says.
More visibility also protects attorneys’ mental health by preventing them from taking on too many cases at once.
Tim recommends Centerbase to other midsize plaintiffs’ firms because the platform is flexible and the team is responsive. There’s still more room for Kantor & Kantor to keep evolving on the platform, with Tim looking into Centerbase’s accounting and AI features.
“I feel optimistic and excited,” he concludes. "Centerbase is the first thing I open up every morning, and it’s the last thing I shut down every night."
"You want a program that looks good and feels modern, and Centerbase certainly fits those bills. It’s a thousand times better than using Windows File Explorer six and a half years ago.”
