Is It Time to Upgrade Your Case Management Software? 8 Clear Signs to Look For

1. You are worried that some of your cases are in “limbo” and nobody has looked at them in months or even years.

A good case management system will have reports and dashboards that will let you quickly see what’s going on, or not going on, in your firm.
Generating a list of cases that have been sitting too long without updates or a change in the status should not be a complicated task. It is important to be able to quickly identify staff members who have not been in contact with clients in the prescribed period that is set by the law firm, and identify what cases have been neglected – in what specific areas and for how long. More advanced applications on the market will even let you subscribe to reports and receive them via email on a schedule that you set. In today’s technology-advanced landscape, you should not need to worry about lost cases, missed SOLs, or clients who are angry due to a lack of communication. The best applications will provide dashboards and reports so all this information is available at a glance.

2. Your current software doesn’t support document assembly.

Creating documents is one of the most frequent tasks in your practice, and it should be automated as much as possible, so your office is operating at its maximum efficiency.
If your staff is still creating documents from scratch, by copying and pasting new information into an old document, or by global search and replace – your staff is wasting a lot of time. Most modern case management systems support document assembly based on templates, but the problem is that many applications are not easy and intuitive to work with. The best programs offer seamless creation of templates by using specially design tools, such as an Add-on to Microsoft Word, enabling your staff to turn their most frequently used letters, forms, motions, oppositions, etc. into “what you see is what you get” templates for your case management system. In addition, better applications will offer you an option to generate the same document for multiple cases at the same time and file a copy of the document in each case automatically. This can offer you dramatic time savings when dealing with multiple cases that require similar letters, as well as enhance the organization and productivity of your firm.

3. You are still doing your intakes on paper or in an app that is separate from your case management software.

Your case management software should have an integrated case intake module.
Writing down your new case intakes on paper and then entering them into your case management system is not only a waste of time, but is likely to result in errors. Also, buying separate technology just to handle your new case intakes and having to download that data into your case management software is cumbersome and costly. A good case management system will have a robust intake module that will guide you through the creation of a new case. You should be able to customize the intake questions based on the case type – which will ensure that your intake staff asks the questions you want them to ask for each type of case. If the system is browser based, you will be able to use a tablet while working off-site and can submit cases directly into your case management system. Advanced systems will also integrate with your web site, chat, and answering services, so your staff won’t need to manually enter new case inquiries received from those sources.

4. Your current software doesn’t support text messaging (sms) to your clients/ contacts.

Law firms need to keep up with the fast-paced technology of today. Text messages are now a preferred way of staying in touch with clients.
Having your office staff text clients from their personal cell phones is not desirable for many reasons. In order to help your firm to keep up with technology, good case management systems should have the ability to text contacts, especially clients, from within the application. The best software will automatically file the outgoing text into its respective case file and automatically log the reply in that same case file without human intervention.

5. Your current software doesn’t support document barcoding for document filing.

Automatic filing and categorizing documents into a case file is critically important as the number of documents per case increases.
Older case management systems force you to manually upload documents to a Windows file structure, which is not even in the case. Some applications may offer a manual way to move the documents to the case. Most do not create file names automatically. All of these issues significantly impact your ability to create a paperless office. With modern case management systems that support document barcoding you can dramatically streamline the scanning process. Barcoded documents can be scanned together without having to feed them into scanners individually. Documents are then automatically named with uniform file names to match the type of document being scanned (i.e. case name, case #, date, document type.pdf). A top case management application will also automatically file the document into correct case, and notify staff assigned to that case via email. Further, the notification email can include the scanned document as an attachment, so paralegals and attorneys can review it immediately without having to go into the case.

6. You can’t email directly from your case management system or you can’t easily file your emails and email attachments into a case.

Customer communication is a key in today’s modern world and the software you are using should make it easier.
Good case management systems will have an Outlook integration that will enable you to file emails and attachments in just a few clicks. It should also allow you to email directly from the case and automatically file those emails. The best case management systems will even allow you to define email templates that will automatically be populated with relevant information from the case. You can use this functionally to create welcome, follow-up, referral, and other emails in seconds!

7. Your current software doesn’t have a referred-out case follow-up system.

Facilitating follow-up on cases your firm refers out to other law firms will not only let you to be on top of those cases, but will likely allow you to pay more attention to your cases.
If you don’t know what’s happening with the cases you referred out, you are probably losing money. More importantly, you are exposing your firm to unlimited liability and ethical issues. The best case management systems will have specially designed follow-up systems that make it easier to request and receive the information on your referred out cases. A specially designed Excel spreadsheet can be updated by the law firm you referred the cases to and then the updates can be automatically inserted into your case management system.

8. Your current software hasn’t released any new features in the last year.

If you are not moving forward, you will fall behind.
No feature updates means that the software manufacturer is not listening to suggestions from its customers and is not interested in improving their product. Customers are a great source of meaningful suggestions that oftentimes make the application easier to use and more efficient. A good vendor will implement many of their customers’ suggestions and release new versions frequently. Also, they will invest the money necessary to keep its software at the forefront of technology, so its customers are also at the forefront.

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customizable, fully integrated legal case management software

SmartAdvocate And Our Team Continue To Outperform All Expectations

The concept for SmartAdvocate was first created by a national plaintiff’s personal injury law firm. In their search for a software product to help resolve many of their specific case management challenges, they realized there were none on the market.

Comprehensive and Reliable

As a truly customizable, fully integrated legal case management software, SmartAdvocate is as comprehensive as it is reliable. It provides you with valuable information about every aspect of every case you have. With SmartAdvocate, your firm can:

Unite clients and attorneys through the powerful Client Portal

Save precious time through robust Mass Communication capabilities

Increase overall efficiency and accuracy through customizable Automated Procedures & WorkPlans

Seamlessly work together, no matter where staff is located, with SmartAdvocate’s browser-based interface and Mobile App

Personalize overall operations through 135+ Integration Partnerships, including Outlook, Microsoft Word, and multiple services for litigation support, e-signature, texting, medical record retrievals, and more

A Smarter Way To Manage Your Cases and Your Firm

With dozens of customizable dashboards and reports that you can subscribe to and automate a delivery schedule for, you’ll be able to monitor all aspects of a case and operational details.When you sign on with SmartAdvocate, not only do you gain access to a robust, state-of-the-art legal case management system, you gain a team of dedicated and experienced professionals to help you implement, train, and grow your practice, which will contribute to an increase in your firm’s bottom line.Our unique beginning is what sets us apart from every other option on the market. We look forward to working with your firm to see how SmartAdvocate can be customized to your specific needs.

Process Automation

Exclusive features ensure each stage of every case is handled appropriately.

Server or Cloud

Choose what works best for your firm. Either the ease and affordability of the Cloud, or integrating SmartAdvocate with your own server. Our team is ready and available to help with either choice.

Dashboards & Reports

Track critical case information, (SOLs, medical records requests, etc.) plus vital firm financial and operational details (including advertising campaigns, outstanding fees, calendar reports, etc.).

Document Creation

Create your own templates or our Specialists can build them from your existing forms.

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Steve Malman

"SmartAdvocate has all of the tools necessary to successfully operate a personal injury law firm with incredible efficiency. The ability to text and esign right from within the program is a game changer in terms of client satisfaction. Ordering medical records is simplified to a few clicks and tracking those requests is totally transparent. A huge benefit of SmartAdvocate is that they are not new to the space which gives them a huge advantage over their competitors because they know what makes a PI firm tick. The SmartAdvocate support team is amazing and very responsive. You have to be patient with any software product that you launch, but the team at SmartAdvocate has seen it all and they will solve any issue quickly."

President

Malman Law - Chicago

Michael P. McCready

"You guys are the best. I can’t begin to tell you how terrific your program is. I love to show my colleagues how I now manage my cases. Unbelievable. I am working with a law office consultant who has been blown away by the functionality of the program. She is recommending it to all her law firm clients. I am loving SmartAdvocate and I have customized it substantially to suit our needs. Great work. I’ve recommended it to several colleagues. A product I can believe in. Thanks again."

Owner

McCready, Garcia and Leet, P.C. - Chicago

Philip L. Franckel, Esq.

"SmartAdvocate, the most powerful personal injury software available constantly gets more powerful, yet it's most powerful feature is that it's simple and quick to learn how to use by the technology challenged user, new users and users coming from other software. My partner who is computer challenged instantly took to it and is still amazed at how easy it is to use." "There are so many favorite features but my most favored is the unmatched template document system which lets me easily insert merge codes into a template document in just 1-2 minutes and save the template document in 10 seconds. It even works with PDF forms. The template document system allows us to run a busy personal injury practice with just two lawyers without any secretaries or paralegals. For larger firms with secretaries and paralegals, using the SmartAdvocate template document system will allow your employees to multiply their caseload many times. Because it's so quick and easy to create template documents, this one feature can be used by every law firm to cut overhead and increase revenue with larger caseloads." "SmartAdvocate moves cases faster with less work, does everything, tracks everything and is easy to use even by the technology challenged."

Lawyer

1-800-HURT-911®

Stuart L. Finz

"When you bear the enormous responsibility of managing a dynamic law firm, it is essential that you employ the most up-to-date, state-of-the-art, efficient, creative, and intuitive case management software on the market. For decades, I have searched for the highest-level software available, but have found significant negative aspects with each. On a positive note, several years ago, I was introduced to SmartAdvocate. Finally, and to my great satisfaction, I found a case management system that fulfilled all of my expectations, and beyond. Smart Advocate is a platform that is easy to use, dramatically increases productivity, tracks daily staff production and critical deadlines, proficiently generates documents, is continually updated implementing new and creative features, and much, much more. Without reservation whatsoever, I highly recommend SmartAdvocate."

Partner & CEO

Finz & Finz, P.C. - New York City

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