The complexity of practising law and running a law firm requires an automated approach to time, billing, accounting and calendaring. Without an automated system for each of these operations, you risk making serious errors, losing valuable billable time, lagging in your billing and collections and operating without knowing your productivity rates. Lawyers and law firms are known for their plethora of paperwork. Their operations heavily rely on legal records containing client details, confidential information, sensitive documents, etc., which may jeopardise them into legal ramifications if not managed and stored correctly. Therefore, purchasing a Legal Practice Management System is a significant step for your business that cannot be overlooked.
Legal software systems can help law firms maximise staff productivity and efficiency by streamlining several crucial areas of operations, such as conflict avoidance, data collection storage, calendar management and profitability. Legal software has numerous benefits; the main advantage is that it saves time. This time saving can allow the law firm to become more efficient and grow because of the increased level of productivity. However, you must make your selection mindfully to reap the benefits. When choosing legal software for your firm, you must look for a few key things. Continue reading to find out what they are!
Outstanding features of a good legal practice management system
As said, keeping a law firm up is no cakewalk. It requires you to develop a mechanical approach in dealing with critical factors such as accounting, time, billing and calendaring. An effective law practice management software would be your best guide to help you manage all these tasks perfectly. Hence you must choose the best available in the market.
Here are some characteristics you need to consider when choosing legal practice software.
Make sure you buy law practice management software from a trusted and reputable company. You must talk to their project manager, who will look at your firm’s specific needs and guarantee that the installation, training, modifications, data discussion and systems will work well. Purchase software that is truly compatible with your office hardware
The next thing you need to check is that the system you are getting caters to all your particular demands. It should allow you to change the screen layout, intake and name, as well as modify reports, files, forms, inquiries, and workflow regulations as per your case’s demand.
You should buy software that is designed to be paperless. Automatic documentation is an essential feature of a law practice management system. So you should ensure the system you choose has an automatic document organisation feature that creates a customary naming conference and path for saving PDF forms and Word files. This will help you automate the manual system of case folders and the naming of case papers.
Another crucial thing to look for is the system you choose should be a one-stop solution for all your legal practice needs. It should allow you and your staff to handle every aspect of the law practice quickly and conveniently.
By ‘one-stop-solution’ it means that the system must have all the following features:
Rule-based calendaring
Reporting
Phone and instant messaging
Legal calendaring
Document assembly
Cost and time tracking
Contact details
Conflict checks
Case intake forms
Case and document management
Billing and accounting
Lastly, make sure that the Legal Practice Management System you intend to buy has intake and matter screens that contain essential details regarding your clients, defendants, defendant’s insurance, settlements, and medical and salary sum, just to name a few. Moreover, the software must offer document templates and forms, case studies, state-specific civil procedure rules, workflow rules, etc.
To sum up
Law practice management systems are no longer just for large law firms. Today there are affordable and effective systems available for firms of all sizes. Any law firm can invest in a valuable tool that helps run practices more efficiently and serve clients better. So what are you waiting for? Contact a legal software provider and invest in reliable, suitable and efficient management software that helps you deal with your firm’s multifaceted yet essential tasks.
