The National Creditors Bar Association Law Practice Management Blog

Sure, you might say: because we eventually close every case we work on.     Of course, that’s not exactly the question.  What I’m really asking is:  D o you have efficient processes in place for moving cases forward?  The simple fact is that you probably aren’t as efficient as you need to be.  One thing that law firms often neglect is creating methods for driving  t he right cases  ahead,  at speed.   To that end, I often suggest that law firms institute case matrices.  A simple example of how this can work is as follows: A personal injury l aw firm  builds a case list, and then assigns settlement dates and settlement amounts for each case.  Pretty simple, sure; but, also very powerful, because now the entire law firm (attorneys and staff) have specific goals to work toward.  And then, the data becomes measurable: Did you close the case in time?  Did you settle for the anticipated amount?  If cases aren’t closing as quickly as you want, or for as much as you want, make changes.  If you

One consistent bit of trouble lawyers  have  encountered during this pandemic is adjusting to working from home.   Taking an entire work  process, and  moving it to an out of office location for an undetermined amount of time was never going to be easy.  But, one issue that has been popping up  over and over again  is email management.  Lots of lawyers who have traditionally managed multiple premise-based email systems are now having trouble moving from home to  office, and  transitioning those messages  as they do so .   The problem with premise-based email is that it is tied to the device you’re using  So, if  you shift from using a laptop at home, to a desktop at the office, you’ve  then  got  to  find a way to transfer those messages from one premise-based software, to another.   This is why  offices have for so long been outfitted with servers, because they can connect premise-based  softwares  . . .  as long as  they’re used in the same ,   general  location.     But, there’s a f

Lawyers tend to be inefficient, and have difficulty engaging both leads and clients.  These hurdles are apparent when it comes to the scheduling process.  Attorneys and staff onboard leads for meetings, and schedule appointments with existing  clients,  via strings of emails  --  and, delayed response s  only extend the conversation, and the time frame.  And, while this is detrimental for client s  (who demand speed and convenience), it’s even worse for leads, who may never convert, if they’re not onboarded simply, and easily.   The good news is that modern technology tools allow for scheduling without the intervention of humans, including you and your staff.   That means that you can say goodbye to all those extra emails, and wasted time.  Programs like  Calendly  and  Acuity  allow clients to book appointments directly onto a law firm or lawyer’s calendar, and include buffers and controls, so users aren’t overwhelmed.   LawTap  offers a similar tool focused on the legal environment. 

In a perfect world, law firms would generate, consolidate and convert leads with crushing effectiveness.  In the real world, law firm leads often disappear.  Generally speaking,  law firm response to leads that come in through phone, email or contact form, is woeful -- and, many  law firms  don’t respond at all .     Now, that’s not just one problem.  There are a lot of reasons  why  law firms remain unresponsive to these obvious revenue opportunities.   But,  there is one simple step that law firms can take, that will inevitably improve their responsiveness to leads.   A common problem for law firms is that they lack organization.   This occurs  in  the  document management practices used by small firms ,  especially.  Most small law firms will spread these documents across several places, like specific computers, several online drives  ( like Dropbox or Google Drive ) , and then sprinkled about in paper files , to boot .  There’s no one place where all those documents exist, no singl