5 Benefits of Practice Management for Law Firms
Practice Management (PM) programs allow you to have one program for integrated calendaring, contact and matter management. Add the ability to manage phone calls, emails, documents and billable time, and you’ve taken a major step towards improving efficiency and increasing profitability. Here are 5 reasons every law firm should use a PM system:
1. Avoid Malpractice
There are several reasons to consider implementing a PM program, the most compelling of which is to avoid malpractice. How does Practice Management help you avoid malpractice?
- Don’t Miss Deadlines - A PM program provides you with a way to create appointments and to-do's for upcoming filing deadlines, statute of limitation dates, etc. Since calendars are visible to multiple people in your firm, it is less likely that a deadline will be missed.
- Understand Workloads - By delegating to-do’s to other people, and by seeing what to-do's and appointments other people have on their calendars, you can delegate work to those who are not overwhelmed. Noticing these things in advance will help keep attorneys out of trouble, whether it be depression, alcoholism, substance abuse, or other problems.
- Better Documentation of Work Performed - By keeping track of all the work you do, it will be easy to update your client when they call. It will also be easier to work collaboratively with other firm members on the file since your data is stored centrally. Also, in the unfortunate event of a suit for malpractice, you can very simply provide a list of all the work performed for a client on a particular matter.
- Avoid Conflicts of Interest - You can keep details of everyone you have dealt with on a matter, including witnesses, parties to the case, experts, etc. So when you run a conflict check in your database, it has integrity.
2. Improve Efficiency
Sharing data inherently improves efficiency. A PM program has built-in features that will allow you to more quickly draft standard documents, set reminders, and track the work others are completing on the tasks you have assigned to them.
- Document Templates - All of the major PM programs on the market provide you with the ability to create firm wide templates for the firm’s use. These templates can be as simple as blank letterhead and fax cover sheets, or as sophisticated as a Complaint in Foreclosure or Divorce Petition.
- Avoid Duplicates - Duplicate entry of data has the greatest impact on firm efficiency and profitability. When one person enters information in more than one place, you’ve wasted a firm resource. With a PM Program, your contact information gets entered once. It can be synched with programs like Outlook and handheld devices like the iPhone, Palm, and Windows Mobile devices.
3. Improve Profit
When your firm resources are utilized in an efficient and consistent manner, your profit will increase. The less time your billable staff spends on non-billable tasks, the more time they have to spend on billable tasks! Avoiding conflicts of interest will protect you against the expenditure of firm resources with the unfortunate result of not being able to collect your fees for work due to a conflict of interest that is discovered after work has begun. Utilizing document templates will streamline and speed up the process of document generation. All of these things, among others, combine to improve the firm’s profit.
4. Provide Clients with Better Service
The more efficient your firm is, the better the service you can provide to your clients. A PM program gives you have the ability to store all of the data for your client’s matters in a central location. You can create records for every phone call, phone message, email, file note, calendar entry, etc. You also have built in reminders to help you accurately bill your time, and to create detailed time entries based on records in the database.
5. Save on Professional Liability Coverage
The next time you complete an application for malpractice insurance, look at the questions you are being asked. Most of the questions are essentially tailored to see whether you have implemented technology to help guard against malpractice, conflicts and missed deadlines.
Your Options
Practice Management (PM) systems are designed to help you manage data, share information and reduce the reliance on paper files within your office. They are sophisticated database programs that use database records and relationships to provide you with an electronic version of your paper files. Try to keep this mindset: If you have it (phone call, note, printed email, phone message or document) in the paper file, you would have it in your PM system.
There are many options on the market. Here are 3 industry leading Practice Management systems:
Accellis Technology Group is certified in many industry leading practice management applications. If you're interested in installation, customization or training, or to schedule a personal demonstration, contact Michael O'Neill at (216) 662-3200 x109.