End Divestment

Your small firm is doing everything in its power to thrive in an increasingly competitive legal services market. Not only are you trying to answer every client phone call, follow up with every lead, and review every document that comes in the door — you’re also trying to keep everything organized for each individual file.

For many firms, this means tracking emails in individual folders within Outlook, or saving every Word document in folders on the hard drive. Notes specific to the files are written on classic yellow Post-Its, while phone messages are written on pink sheets. A new client calls in and you feel as though you’ve heard their name before so you perform your version of a conflicts check by shouting out “has anyone worked with so and so before?” Another client calls but you can’t remember the last task completed on their file so you scramble to pull together your word documents, emails, and of course, post it notes. You begin to feel that your practice may not be as organized as you once envisioned it to be.

At this point you wonder if there’s a better way to keep track of all of your information for every individual file in one place.

Tremendous strides have been made in recent years by legal software companies to accommodate the needs of small law practices. Although these firms may be small in personnel, the work load and number of files managed by individuals can be very large.

To meet this need, developers of legal software have introduced case management software that gives these firms the ability to track all case related information within one piece of software. Not only does this give each user the ability to see all email correspondence for that specific matter, but it also gives them the ability to see all parties associated with the matter and see all time and cost entries related to the case.

Firms can also generate workflows that map out each task and to-do item that needs to be completed. Merge form features automatically pull in specific information from a matter into a Word document, and that document can then be emailed directly to the client. Mail and faxes can be scanned directly into the practice management system and routed to the appropriate case and folder that it belongs to. In addition, users have the ability to keep track of changes made to documents by utilizing version control and audit trail capabilities.

With integration functionality built directly into Outlook, users will have the ability to associate emails, calendar appointments, and contacts to matters directly from within the Outlook program. This back-end profiling allows users to continue working within the Outlook environment that they are already accustomed to working in and still contribute information to a given file within the practice management system.

Finally, detailed reports can be generated that show status of cases, time entries, aged accounts receivables or custom made reports based on the firms choosing.

With all of these features and capabilities, one immediate thought that comes to mind is pricing. How can a small law firm pay for a system that handles so much without breaking the bank? Legal case management software firms are providing robust practice management systems that provide many of the same functionality of the more costly enterprise-level systems, at a price structure that works within the budget of the average small practice The costs associated with these systems not only pay for the software but also the installation of the system and training of staff members. For those firms that want to get into the game but have been reluctant to because of cost, there is no better time than now to evaluate case management software systems that not only fit their business operating needs, but also their budget.