Effective law firm management is a complex undertaking combining the financial and staffing requirements of business with the complex requirements of legal matter management. The stakes are high with greater competition, more demanding clients and global shakeups that require the ability to manage cases and share data in a remote, virtual workspace.
“Workflow” seeks to identify how processes and information within the firm can be connected and how next-step and sequences of tasks can be predicted and automated. In addition to eliminating data handling redundancies and upping accuracy, workflow addresses a broader picture. Automated tools providing greater clarity into workloads and output, allowing senior management to better identify departmental, staff and financial performance.
Single department solutions require managing partners to piece together data with no cohesive, uniform view of the entire practice. But the advantages of fewer integrated systems to learn and support can be easily offset by a lack of flexibility where a “one-size fits all” approach simply doesn’t suffice for the attorneys and paralegals who handle the cases.
Today’s technology offers an incredible opportunity for firms to much more effectively combine the business of law and the practice of law. A firm wide solution that can handle case level intricacies for most or all departments as well as management analytics, HR/Compliance and financial management can be a game changer. And systems with both server and cloud installations offer options for virtual operation.
For the most part, “enterprise” level systems are long on financial information but short on case and workflow tools which is a non-starter. But systems are available that can deeply automate multiple practice areas while providing insights that only a comprehensive program can achieve. True workflow tools can guide and adjust all case activities from intake through final billing/collections, and ongoing CRM activities.
Pre-client – Workflow can begin well before a client/matter relationship is established. For example, estate and tax planning firms may manage email and mailing campaigns for educational seminars. These functions can be part of your practice management software, enabling prospective clients to later convert to “clients” within the system.
Automated Intake – From having in-office clients enter their own data on an iPad (much as your doctor does), to automated matter setup involving hundreds of cases electronically transmitted daily, your system can be configured to receive and setup case data, automatically storing opening documents and linking to the case. Furthermore, it can initiate the correct rules based workflow task list, making selective staff assignments, all based on the client. This virtually “touchless” approach ensures accuracy while requiring significantly less data entry staff.
Intelligent Task Management – Any system can enter deadlines or deadline chains at the onset of a case. But dynamic changes throughout the case are vital for effective management. For example, a workflow task list may be initiated on a matter, but certain events can change the workflow chain. The system needs to be smart enough to identify the obsolete task assignments, cancel them out and create new ones. This can be done solely by recording a pivotal event. Any activity or data entry should be able to initiate brand new workflow chains. Most importantly, the system should be able to look to the matter or client’s data to determine which staff member should be assigned to the various tasks. Effective workflow means an orderly case transit, allowing the system to highlight out of tolerance conditions requiring staff intervention.
While all litigation firms and most others could benefit from improved workflow management, some practice types such as Creditors’ Rights Law/Collections firms, cannot function without automated systems. Fees are heavily negotiated and rapid case throughput is a requirement for doing business. These firms typically have high caseloads, multiple sets of rules and complex task routing, where constant manual intervention is not feasible. Complicating matters, each client (bank/lender) has their own specific timelines, compliance requirements, data transfer and reporting protocols. Different workflow tasks lists are required based on loan type, investor and county. Events such as a bankruptcy filing requires the cancellation of the entire task list and the initiation of an entirely new one.
Well automated workflow requires software to be tightly molded to the firm, even though firms, clients and culture vary widely. Being able to use standard software features and macros to configure your system is essential, rather than altering the software’s programming code, which can render the software non-supportable. For the same reason, hiring programmers to custom design a program is usually risky and much more expensive in the long run.
Client Billing related Integration – Hourly and Contingent billing firms, particularly those with caseloads requiring rules based deadlines (such as litigation, insurance defense, PI and family law) can benefit significantly by combining case management workflow with cost and/or time billing. Not only do they maximize accuracy and contain risk with regard to work product, they also reduce overhead required for front office functions. For example, filing dates, discovery and information requests can trigger time entries, notes and associated task deadlines. Marking task as completed can generate the next task and automatically trigger note and time entries. Shared matter and vendor information allows staff to easily request cost checks without duplication of data. Firms that can utilize unit billing have every incentive to work as efficiently as possible. And even if you bill by the hour you are not able to bill for billing/accounting staff time. Hourly billers should keep an eye on competition, price pressure and the growing practice of larger clients using in-house attorneys or exclusive arrangements based on price.
Client Interaction – From the onset of client contact to ongoing communications, your CRM efforts are more efficient and better documented with the right software. Emailing of bills and the ability to batch upload bills to institutional clients is standard fare. Client Portals lets you offer clients limited access to information about their account and the status of cases based on rules you set for each client.
Firm Financial Analytics – The principles of workflow apply to every business and even more so to the practice of law. Being able to truly understand the data from your own system allows managing partners to see the big picture, find out what departments and practice areas are profitable and make better informed decisions moving forward.
Linda Chadwick
PefectPractice.com
info@perfectpracticesoftware.com