Types of Software Commonly Used in Law Firms

So this month's video is all about the types of software that are commonly used in law firms. And I wanted to do this topic because, well, I wrote a book on it. Book's over here. It's Modernize Your Law Firm. And it's really how are you going to stay ahead of your competition in the future? So you want to have the right software in place to be able to keep you as a modern firm that's ahead of the game of your competitors. You don't want to be that firm, and I see them still today, Where do you keep your documents? Oh, I keep them on my computer. I still mail paper out. I do all these things that are so backwards. You want to be that forward-thinking firm, that future-ready firm of the future, right? That's what we would like to be, to be able to automate tasks, because you're not going to be able to compete if everybody else is automating their tasks and you're still doing it the clunky old manual way. So the first software I'm going to talk about is case management software. So thinking, uh, the obvious one is Clio. It's the biggest in the, in the country and actually probably the largest legal tech software they have out there. It's got a pretty high evaluation. It's a software that lays right on top of QuickBooks. So you take QuickBooks as a generalized platform for all types of businesses, you lay Clio on top of it. Now you've got a system that is specific to law firms and it works with almost any kind of law firm because this software has been around so long. It's got a lot of other softwares that integrate with it. So maybe you have a practice management, you have the practice management tool, but that you are a family law firm and there's other software that you can layer on top of Clio to even get more granular and more intricate in your workflow design. So the things you want to look at as you start to investigate some of the software that's out there, you want it to have secure document management. You want to be able to house those documents under the case or matter. You want to be able to access them with ease. You want some task and deadline management. That's part of a program that's robust with case management. Your case management— you're managing your cases from the beginning to the end. Most of the time, there's more than one attorney working on the case or matter. You want to be able to have a software that everybody can collaborate on, whether it's the— whether it's the legal assistant, maybe it's the paralegal, maybe it's another attorney. You want to be able to have a software where everybody can collaborate, especially in this in this world of remote workers, you want everybody to be able to collaborate together on it securely. You want a communication tool that not only communicates with those other people that work for the firm but also the client. So you want a very secure way to do that where the information is housed, no one else can read it unless you actually offer that up to be read to. You want a document management software that streamlines your workflow. And this is important as you start to work with Some of the software, and I've got a really detailed article that goes with this, with this video. But you want a software. So if you're starting to work with software, I mean, you maybe are using Microsoft Office Suite. That's a perfect example of a document management software tool that you can use to track all your documents. And it's, it's a suite. So you've got the email, you've got everything there. You can actually layer that on top of a workflow with LeanLaw, which is just a billing software, not just a billing software, but it is a billing software. So they don't have all that other pieces that Clio does. And you can create your own tailored workflow based on the other pieces that you add to it to make a complete practice management tool with LeanLaw being part of it. You want document version control. So you want a way to track the versions of the documents in case someone makes a change to the document. You want to be able to look and see who made the change and as things are being reviewed and make sure that you can track that, those changes that are happening onto the document. You want to be able to search for a document and retrieve the document with ease. You don't want to spend a lot of time looking for things. I can tell you personally, I'm the worst when it comes to Google Docs. I create a Google Doc. I say, oh, I save it wherever, generally on the drive, and then I don't ever put it in the file folder. You want a system where all the documents are tracked underneath the case or matter. You want it kept nice and neat and orderly and tidy. That's important. You want to be able to collaborate with other, with other people who are working on the matter as well. You also want to make sure that whatever you choose, whether it's a Clio, whether it's a LeanLaw, that has good time and billing features to it. You want to be able to have automated time and billing. Any time missed, not billed, is an expense to the firm. So you want to have good time and billing software that's automated, that's really easy for the client, the attorneys to use to be able to track their time. And it captures the time spent on a task or any part of the case or matter, whether it's a meeting, whatever they're doing. You want to be able to track that. You want to be able to make an invoice out of that really easy, maybe with a simple click. That's what's available in the software that I'm talking about. It's very easy to manage, and you can use features like in LeanLaw. They have snippets, so you can actually create a kind of a global language around what you do all the time in your firm, and it kind of makes a unified expression back to the client that anybody who works on a matter or the case is kind of using the same language. It's really— I think that's really important, and it saves a lot of time, right? So we're saving a lot of time. Again, this is how you're going to be able to step forward into the future with what you're doing and be able to be competitive. That's a lot of this machine-generated work starts to happen, and you want to be able to have those software at your fingertips as you start to do this work. You want something that gives you good reporting and analytics. LeanLaw does a great job with reporting and analytics. They're geared towards that mid-market firm, 5 employees to, let's just say, up to 100. You want to have some kind of a software that keeps all the attorneys in the software and they're not inside of QuickBooks. That's important too. I see a lot of firms try to skip the billing software and not have that piece, and then they've got users that are inside the customer section. You just want to avoid that if you can altogether. And that's the way to do it. Have a good billing software that you choose. You want to have good legal research software. There's many types out there, but you want to make sure that you want something that will enhance the legal knowledge. It's going to help you be able to search quickly and get some comprehensive— you want something that has a comprehensive legal database behind it. You want something that's going to give you that information you need on other cases, other case studies. You want to be able to get that really quickly. Gone are the days of going to the legal library and digging that out manually. We get— we're able to really grab this stuff more efficiently. You want to have places that you can annotate and make highlights as you're giving your representation and your cases back. And of course, client communication is of the utmost. So you want good client communication. A great client communication is going to give you a great Return and client satisfaction, which is something you should be tracking as a KPI. But you want something that's secure. You want your client to feel very much at ease that none of their stuff is out there in the internet on an email. You want a way to share documents that again aren't just attachments in an email. You want a good way for your client to be able to make an appointment with you and have be able to easily make an appointment with you. Maybe they don't have to call the office. Some people don't like to make phone calls. It's a perfect way they can book it on your calendar. I've seen some really efficient law firms. Firms work that way where it's very easy to make an appointment with the attorney. You maybe want to have something with a client portal. Again, we're going back to Clio. They have that ability to have the documents there where the client can easily retrieve it. I mean, that's a good reason why you see family law firms that need to have a lot of document exchange. Having that ability to be able to retrieve the documents is important. Then I'm going to get down to integrations and compatibility. So you really want to think about where does this software integrate with, especially as you start to layer and add pieces and Does it— is it secure? So you want to know who's behind the software. You want to make sure it's something that wasn't created yesterday. You want to make sure it's a pretty decent-sized firm, been around a while, has a good reputation. You want to have a software that you know that if there's a problem with the software, you can reach out to a client support person very easily and quickly, 24/7. You're not getting a chatbot that doesn't work on the weekends. You want something that has a good return on the client support. You want something that is compatible. All the pieces are compatible. This is why you probably want somebody that has a working knowledge. It's nice to— a lot of times I'll talk to attorneys and they tell me, oh, I talked to my buddy in court and he says I should use this. And then you find out, well, your buddy in court isn't even in the same practice area with you. They heard, oh, I heard this software is really good. And actually speaking to us is not a bad idea. We know a lot of the software that may be doing with the billing. We're not a bad person to have in that conversation. Do your homework, do your research. It's very important. It's really why I wrote that book. And there's some good links in there. I've created some ways that give you like a checklist to go over the software to make sure that it passes all those— it passes all those tests for picking a very good software. So making sure that you choose the best software for your law firm is a critical decision. Analyzing what you have already in place, another critical decision. There's no perfect software out there, folks. You really want to look at what's in the software. Where is it? Where is it lacking? Don't always believe the salesperson trying to sell you that. They say, oh yeah, that's on our roadmap. And then you find out the roadmap never happens. You want to get with a software that has a good reputation. I can't stress that enough. And really take the time to reevaluate your software every year. Look at your needs. Look at maybe things shift or change. Look at what you have existing and see if there's any enhancements or improvements out there. But know that if you're going to make the decision to migrate off of one to another, find a good firm that can do that with you. If it's got anything to do with the accounting, include your bookkeeper or accountant in that decision and the date and the structure around that. Have the bookkeeper or the accounting firm validate the choices and how things are moved, how that data is moved. I've seen enough times and I've had it happen personally where The client doesn't even tell us that they've made a change to their billing software till after the fact, and nobody validated it. They just went by the fact that the, the software provider said it all came over, and a lot of times it doesn't. So you want somebody that knows what they're doing in this. I hope this is helpful. I hope it gives you some good tips. The article is much more detailed, and we'll see you all next month. Bye now.