The National Creditors Bar Association Law Practice Management Blog

Many law firms are holding tight to traditional forms of payment: like checks, or bags of cash .  The problem with that, of course, is that it’s not so easy for legal clients to make payments via those methods .  It’s much easier for them to use a debit or credit card to pay for legal services.   Now, some law firms don’t offer electronic payments, because of the processing fees associated with those transactions .  Those transaction fees are right around 3%, on average - but, you’ll probably do more than that in terms of additional volume, because of the speed and ease with which your clients will pay you .  Of course, if you’re still bent out of shape about the processing fees, you can simply raise your rates by 3%, to cover for that.     But, moving to electronic payments also opens up further flexibility, in terms of how you manage your law firm finances .  It makes it possible for you to automate payments .  It also makes it p...

After a while, using generative AI tools becomes sort of annoying .     Honestly, it’s like having another kid.     I want you to do this .  OK, not quite that – can you change this piece of what you’ve done .  Now, tweak this part .  That’s not quite it , change this little thing.     Iterating is helpful, until it feels like babysitting.     That’s why agentic AI is so promising.   It’s like stepping up from manual task management to automated workflows.     AI agents allow users to automate entire processes, projects , jobs .  They’re a game changer.     You can build your own agents, or utilize the ones accessible via software you can buy – or, maybe already use.     One of the reasons Clio acquired vLex was to take a step forward in agentic AI .     It only cost them $1B – it’ll cost you less.     . . .     Check out AI agents now, to get ahead of ...

Most business softwares that lawyers use, include some kind of generative AI feature.     Honestly, that’s probably tables stakes, at this point.     But, that’s just the tip of the iceberg .   Lots of major products now feature an AI ‘overlay’ upgrade, which means that you can access a higher (priced) subscription level, that will load a variety of AI features, into the tools you use every day.     There are some prominent examples (not an exhaustive list):     - Microsoft 365 for Enterprise   - Google AI   - Clio Duo   - FileVine’s AI for Law     It’s probably past time to check on what AI tools lay hidden in the software products you use every day.     Even if you don’t pull the trigger – it makes sense to grab a demo or test out a free trial, if only just to see what you’ve been missing.     . . .     There’s a whole new world of AI software options out there for lawyers,...