Automation occurs when law office processes and procedures are performed with minimal human assistance, using technology-enabled systems. With automated processes, attorneys can streamline their businesses to achieve maximum efficiency and improved service delivery, which also promotes greater profitability.
Lawyers who fail to automate their processes lose out on a valuable opportunity to bring more revenue into the firm. In this post, we will look at three specific types of law firm automation, including how each of them saves law firms money and the missed benefits when firms fail to implement these technologies.
Automation in Case Management
For busy law practices, manual case management can quickly get out of hand, resulting in disorganized files, lost data, and inefficient processes. These time-consuming manual processes can negatively impact a law firm in a number of ways:
- Paper records are vulnerable to loss, misfiling and security breaches. It only takes a moment for important case information to be misplaced or even destroyed in the hustle and bustle of a legal practice.
- When client files are disorganized and missing important data, the firm’s highest fee earners can end up wasting valuable time chasing down information that has been misplaced within the office internally or even going out externally to re-retrieve lost data.
- Clients expect their attorneys to be organized and ready to assist them in a productive manner. Poor case management gives clients a negative impression of the practice.
- Data sharing can be frustrated by manual file processes. Attorneys and staff members are forced to shuttle files back and forth between collaborators, which can significantly slow down the progress of the case.
Automated case management addresses each of these problems by using smart technologies that allow for greater organization, increased collaboration, and improved case management processes. It helps promote consistency throughout law firm systems and drives down costs. Staff members are no longer stuck with inefficient manual processes that waste time and energy.
With a combination of digitization and innovative software options, law firms can transform the client management experience to save costs and increase profitability in the following ways:
- Automation streamlines law office operations, increasing staff member productivity. When law firm members work in a more productive manner, they are able to devote more time to billable tasks.
- The provision of more responsive and reliable service delivery. For example, mobile access capabilities allow users to review information remotely. Clients have come to expect this level of technological connectivity. It makes for better client experiences and when clients are satisfied, they become return clients and also bring in more referrals.
- Case management systems generally have integrated security measures to keep law firm and client data safe from breaches. Security hacks can prove extremely expensive for law firms, so the use of case management can save law firms these extensive costs.
Law firms that fail to implement case management automation lose money through inefficiency, client dissatisfaction, and reduced productivity.
Document Automation
Document automation is the process of automating the drafting and assembly process of document creation. There are numerous benefits for law firms that implement these processes over manual drafting, including time savings and reduced errors.
With document automation, law firm members no longer have to engage in the tedious tasks of constantly updating reused documents or repeatedly going through the steps of document drafting. Less errors result in lesser reviews and rewrites.
Document automation involves the use of specific templates that law firm members can easily complete without constantly reinventing the wheel. With these technologies, legal documents can be drafted in minutes, instead of days – saving valuable time.
Many of the first-generation document automation tools were difficult to use, they did not meet the growing demands of clients to increase efficiency and offer innovative legal services. But newer technologies are helping attorneys meet these expectations, allowing them to pass on the benefits of savings and efficiencies to their clients, while also promoting increased profitability.
Firms that fail to implement document automation lose money by wasting the unrecoverable hours and costs associated with document drafting. They also lose out on valuable opportunities to retain existing clients and attract new referrals. These firms lose the ability to retain knowledge within the practice. With document automation, attorney expertise is captured in the automated templates. So, even when attorneys move on, the expertise is retained within the firm.
Automated Legal Invoicing
With automated legal billing software, attorneys can effectively capture all of their time and expenses accurately and quickly. Invoices go out in a timely manner, leading to all types of benefits for law firms.
These software systems alleviate the need for manual time tracking and invoice creation. The goal is for law firm members to spend as little time as possible working on non-billable administrative duties, so they can focus on profitable tasks.
TImeSolv legal billing software offers law firms an elevated invoicing experience, providing such benefits as:
- Efficiency
Many attorneys hate the tasks of time tracking and legal billing because of the time these tasks can take. TImeSolv’s automated services allow for greater efficiency to make these tasks less time consuming. Without the added responsibility of manually recording times and creating client invoices, attorneys can focus on more productive tasks. Automated invoicing also provides an accurate overview of where firm hours are actually spent, so practice leaders can make decisions and implement strategies for greater profitability.
- Improved Client Communications
Automated legal billing helps law firms get their invoices into the hands of clients in a faster more efficient manner, which leads to faster bill payment. TimeSolv can also help improve client communications through the provision of detailed billing statements that allow clients to see exactly what’s happened in their cases.
- Mobility
TimeSolv was designed to meet the mobile needs of modern law firms. With the convenient time tracking app, attorneys can quickly track time spent on client matters from virtually anywhere in the world. This promotes accurate time tracking and timely invoicing.
Automated legal billing offers law firms the ability to increase their profitability through productive time tracking and invoicing, increased mobility, and greater client communications.
Automation is the present and future of legal technology. When law firms take advantage of these innovations, they can see the benefit in higher profits. Click here to learn more about the automation offered by the TimeSolv legal billing system.
