Law Firm Automation Quick Start Guide
When you think about automating your firm, it can become overwhelming! That's why we created this Quick Start Guide.During your search, you've likely asked yourself more than a few questions:- Why automate - what are the benefits?- What does automation in the law firm really mean?- How difficult will it be to automate my firm?And, of course, the big question:- Is it really worth the time, effort and cost?
3 Main Benefits of Automation
- Efficiency When your firm transitions to a legal case management system, the automation itprovides will immediately reduce the amount of time and effort that menial, non-billabletasks require. An automated law firm capitalizes on that time by increasing their entirestaff's productivity. This can be your firm.• Accuracy The more times a task is repeated, the more likely mistakes can occur.Automation guarantees completion of tasks, to the exact standards you specify. Strongcase management software, built around automated procedures, makes relentlessaccuracy the norm. This can be your firm.• Client Satisfaction Keeping current clients satisfi e d i s c ritical, b ut y our b ottom l inedepends on a balance: Your attorneys also need to bring on and foster new clients, andnurturing a positive attorney-client experience requires careful attention. Automationassures more of this follow-up without having to dedicate more time, which translates intoincreased revenue. This can be your firm.
What Does Automation In The Law Firm Really Mean?
Today, using technology to your advantage is the norm. Automation, which is theimplementation of technology to a law firm’s data management, communication, and allrelated tasks, is a necessary foundation for any firm to stay competitive. It guarantees all tasksare done accurately and efficiently, so that firm can focus on the work that truly adds valuefor its clients. Firms that fail to consider automation and its functionalities, are bound to lose theircompetitive edge. It is crucial to think about your firm’s current position and where you need to be,in order to improve your bottom line, maximize productivity of your staff, and elevate your clients’experience with your services.When you think about automating your firm, it can become overwhelming! That's why we created this Quick Start Guide.During your search, you've likely asked yourself more than a few questions:- Why automate - what are the benefits?- What does automation in the law firm really mean?- How difficult will it be to automate my firm?And, of course, the big question:- Is it really worth the time, effort and cost?3 Main Benefits of AutomationWould't it be convenient to have a case management system that made each facet of your firm fitseamlessly together? SmartAdvocate has the tools to make sure that every stage of every case is handled inan appropriate and consistent way. Here's what makes SmartAdvocate superior to other systems:- WorkPlans are like a checklist that can automate routine processes. They allow you to have everything inone place so that you can see all of the items needed to complete a project: Teams will no longer need tospend time figuring out what needs to be done, who needs to do it, and what is the next task..- Automated Procedures enable you to create repeating tasks, send automated text messages or emails toclients, create multiple reminders, or automatically generate documents. These can be triggered by variousevents in the case.- Dashboards & Reports help you track critical case information, (SOLs, medical records requests, etc.)plus vital firm financial and operational details (including advertising campaigns, outstanding fees,calendar reports, etc.). Reports can be set up to automatically be emailed to your team, so you never haveto remember to run them again.- Document Templates can easily be created from your existing Word, Excel or PDF documents andforms, which are then available for use in all of your cases. Once these templates are created,SmartAdvocate can begin to automatically insert information from cases into those documents using morethan 2,500 standard and custom merge codes. Templates can also be copied from case to case as needed.- Extensive Office Calendaring enables your firm to easily maintain and view the full calendar for aspecific case, the entire office, any group, or a single individual. SOLs, Critical Deadlines, andAppointments are pushed to your staffs Outlook® calendars.- We work with 125+ Integration Partners. Numerous software and service providers deliver seamlessintegrations with different types of software, like accounting, intake, chat, texting, e-signature, phone,court docket and reporting, medical record retrieval, and lean negotiations utilities.-The Client Portal provides clients instant access to their case information, including documents, casecalendar, notes, and more, freeing up staff time for other responsibilities. Your firm maintains completecontrol over what the client can see on the Portal.- Our iPhone and Android apps provide on-the-go access to your case information on your phone ortablet from virtually anywhere. Send a text or email, view a document, view the calendar and addappointments, and much more.
How Difficult Will It Be To Automate My Firm?
Implementation of a new legal case management system can take time, but the payback is that youget out of it exactly what you put into it. It's important to implement a true data conversion,which is the process of transferring the data from one system to another. This means mapping fieldsto capture all your data, which will maintain your data integrity.
Is It Really Worth The Time, Effort And Cost?
The most frequent rationale for automation is to save time, but how much time does itactually save? And, what does that time saved mean for your firm? It is easy to underestimatethe value, because common tasks like sending an email to a client or merging information into adocument, and completing a template, do not take long to accomplish manually. While those fewminutes do not seem critical, when you multiply them by the number of tasks like these that you doacross the course of a day, or a case, or a year, it adds up.Imagine a system in which routine emails are auto-generated, all repetitive pleadings arecreated through near-instantaneous merge functions and scanned documents automaticallyattach themselves to the appropriate case files. You do not need to imagine this; yousimply need to research your options and then choose to implement it.What Our Clients Say
Steve Malman
President, Malman Law - Chicago
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."If you are ready to maximize efficiency within your law office, reduce your costs of operation,cut down on the opportunity for error, and provide improved client satisfaction.About SmartAdvocate®SmartAdvocate is a fully integrated, award-winning legal case management system made to handle the challenges of today’s fast-paced, highly competitive, and technologically demanding world. Initially designed by and for, personal injury and mass tort litigation firms, it is now used by a wide range of practices. SmartAdvocate’s robust, exclusive Internet-based features, will enable firms to manage, store, track, classify and communicate like never before, ensuring that they achieve the highest level of success. Plus, with 125+ integration partnerships, firms are able to customize SmartAdvocate to achieve exactly what they need. This revolutionary software will increase your practice’s efficiency and profitability.
