Cutting-Edge Case Management a Decade in the Making
Cutting Edge Features Tailored For Personal Injury/Mass Torts Firms
SmartAdvocate® is designed to offer the latest features available in case management, all of which have been specifically tailored to meet the needs of the personal injury/mass tort law firm.
While the system started rolling out this year, it in fact has been evolving for the past decade, as that is how long company founder Jerrold Parker and his retinue of lawyers working at the national law firm he cofounded have been focused on developing and improving SmartAdvocate®.
This means the case management system, although among the newest on the market, has depth of years behind it. It was not just slammed together and introduced. Nor was it introduced 20 or 30 years ago and held together via a series of occasional “patches” to help drag it into the 21st century. Rather, SmartAdvocate® was slowly developed and finely tuned while in use within the laboratory of a national law firm for 10 solid years before it was wheeled out for other law firms seeking the latest and greatest in case management.
Key competing case management software systems may tout the occasional update, patch or fix in an effort to address a new need for which the system had not been previously intended, but such quick-fix solutions are not part of the philosophy of SmartAdvocate®, a web-based case management system that features a modular design allowing for integrated enhancements to be created as frequently as requested by users. In fact, SmartAdvocate® is known for adding new features and tweaking existing ones as frequently as user feedback warrants—such “turnarounds” are implemented quickly and efficiently.
SmartAdvocate®, comprehensive case management for the personal injury/mass tort law firm, is a web-based system as timely and cutting edge as is possible—it is in its introduction phase right now, as 2013 slowly slides into 2014.
By way of comparison, Saga was introduced in 1986; Needles in 1985, even boasting on its website that it’s been upgraded “more than 30 times” in the past 28 years (that’s roughly once a year). Trialworks marked its rollout in 1995, noting that it was relaunched with a new name in 1999 (and all its features “have been greatly enhanced”—presumably since the rollout/relaunch). Aderant is perhaps the “most experienced” case management system on the entire market, having been available since 1978—when Jimmy Carter occupied the Oval Office.
Many case management systems are patched and/or tweaked based on updates to Microsoft Windows, the desktop operating system on which these software-based products run. Many such updates were necessary to simply allow the system to continue running on a firm’s computers.
Recall that remaining clients of defunct Saga case management software were told that they had until April 2014 to find a new case management system.
Aderant, the owner of Saga, had previously informed Saga customers that the case management software system would reach its “end of life” in April 2014, meaning Aderant had decided it would no longer support Saga system users in any capacity, including customer service.
And why was Saga marked for death in April? Well, remember that the 32-bit version of Microsoft Windows XP won’t be supported after April 8, 2014, according to Microsoft. This means Windows will no longer issue software updates for XP, including essential security upgrades. Saga is dying in April because of decisions Microsoft has made regarding the continuing growth of its Windows.
Not tied to the whims of Microsoft, web-based SmartAdvocate® is loaded onto a firm’s servers rather than each of its desktops or workstations.
The SmartAdvocate® system can be used in the office or even outside the office—wherever an Internet browser is available, including on a cellphone or iPad. One or two competitors may have a mobile app, but none follow SmartAdvocate®’s comprehensive, browser-based approach.
