Yesterday, I saw a somewhat misguided blog post on the risks of moving to a paperless law office. Basically, the author suggested that going paperless would be inherently more risky than sticking with a traditional paper office because you could lose electronic documents in the event of a technological glitch or human error. But running a successful paperless office is not about just scanning all of your case files to your desktop computer, labeling computer files, throwing all of the originals in a recycling bin and crossing your fingers that your server won’t crash or a virus won’t take over your hard drive.
It is important to recognize the risks involved in any document storage system that you use in your law firm, but with the right tools, a paperless office can be as safe as (if not safer than) a paper office for managing your documents and case files. Here are a few ways to set up a successful paperless office:
This one is simple but important: Always back-up your files, and keep your backups somewhere other than in your office next to your main computer. If you lose your laptop or a virus destroys your desktop computer, you will always have another copy that you can easily retrieve. If you are keeping your files strictly in a physical cabinet or in a pile on your desk, there will be no way to retrieve them if something gets lost or destroyed. Better yet, invest in a web-based storage system that allows you and other authorized users to access your files from any computer with an internet connection.
One argument against a paperless office was the fact that some clients may miss emails, but what happens when the post office loses a letter or your client suddenly moves to a new apartment? In both paperless and paper offices, there is always a chance that your client might miss a message, so be sure to follow up with a phone call or request confirmation upon receipt of important messages.
If you are worried about confidentiality, a virtual law office platform can provide you and your client with a secure, central location for sending and receiving messages and storing files, client data and case documents. In addition, some virtual law offices allow you to track any changes to the case file and restore pre-edited documents and forms. Both you and your client can view all of these updates and changes, so sharing a centralized, web-based storage and communication system can facilitate transparency and cooperation in the attorney-client relationship.
Another argument against a paperless office was human error. However, in a paperless office, you can use your search engine to pull up files that have been misplaced. This might not be so easy when you are sifting through boxes in a storage room in your office basement. With a paperless system, you can search files according to dates, names, contents, updates and a variety of other options.
In the end, it is important to choose a document management system that works best for your office and your comfort level, but with the right planning for backups, communication, collaboration and file searches, a paperless office can be secure and beneficial way for attorneys and clients to monitor their case files.
Total Attorneys is dedicated to helping small firms and solo practitioners grow and manage their law practices. In addition to the technology-enabled services that we provide our clients, our other mission is to provide attorneys with educational resources and a source of support in an ever-changing legal market. The Best Practice Series, presented by Total Attorneys President Kevin Chern, will give you tips on how to market your law practice, manage law firm staff, build client relationships and utilize technology and the web to create a successful legal services business. Take a look at our first video, Understanding the Immediacy of the Web, and check back next Thursday for new tips on how to create your Best Practice.
Do you remember the movie Groundhog Day that came out in 1993? It featured Bill Murray as a burned-out weatherman named Phil Connors who had to cover the annual events in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. In the movie, this was the one job that Connors hated to do most, but when he finished the job and went to sleep on February 2, he woke up then next day only to find himself repeating the same dreaded February 2 day over and over again in a seemingly endless loop.
After numerous suicide attempts and hedonistic indulgences, Connors begins to reexamine his life and priorities in an effort to break the chain. He stops focusing on the monotony of his job and depression, pulls himself away from his autopilot approach to life and uses his vast experience of a single day to help people in his community, strengthen personal relationships and learn how to do a number of new things. After Connors learns to focus more on the things that really matter most—getting involved in his community, spending time with loved ones and working on his personal growth—he is able to wake up the next morning to find that the time loop is broken.
Almost twenty years later, the plot of this movie rings true for many people working in the legal industry. As an attorney, do you see yourself going into the office, dreading the day, and working on autopilot, only to find yourself stuck on a loop that has you missing out on the things that matter most to you in life? If so, I urge you to do take a tip from Bill Murray’s character and find ways to break the loop by making more time for yourself and those around you.
Instead of heading to the office at 8 a.m. on Wednesday morning, have your virtual receptionist forward your calls to your email while you spend the morning volunteering for a cause that inspires you. Are you sick of looking at your office walls during client meetings? Just upload contracts and forms to your virtual law office and let your client sign and fill out these documents from home. Do you find yourself getting stuck late at the office filling out forms and doing paperwork? Why not take off from work early and send non-billable tasks to a reliable case support staff who can get the job done while you have dinner with your spouse or enjoy a card game with friends?
At the end of the day, take a look at your job and find out which parts of it you can streamline or delegate. This will give you more time to do the things that matter most to you. And if you are doing more of the things you love, you will be able to do your work with more energy and optimism rather than feeling the pains of a monotonous loop like the one Bill Murray’s character suffered in Groundhog Day.
Total Attorneys invites you to join us this Thursday, February 4, on Blog Talk Radio for a new show featuring two leading authorities on law firm management and marketing—PR Strategies on a Shoe String Budget. Listen or call in while your host, Kevin Chern, talks to John Remsen and Larry Bodine about working with the media to build your reputation as a leading attorney and attract desirable clients. The show starts at 11 a.m. Central time, and you can get answers to your questions by listening in here or calling in at (347) 857-1419 during the show. Can’t listen in during showtime this week? Be sure to check out the Total Attorneys Blog Talk Radio page for more information about upcoming shows and recorded archives of all of our past shows.
Today, I ran across a really great article on the Lawyerist blog. The article focused on how to do the things that you can “do now” versus doing the things that are “due now” when you plan your work schedule. So often we tackle our deadlines within minutes of the due date when we could be planning ahead, checking things off our lists early and finding more time to do the things we really enjoy in life.
Sam Glover’s article gave a few great tips on how to make a switch from the “due now” to the “do now” mentality, such as setting aside an hour every week to make a schedule to plan work ahead of the due date. He also gave a work schedule plan that breaks down deadlines into individual tasks that can be completed in advance, and he suggested completing some tasks early when you have time to do so.
I think that utilizing tech resources can be another way to help move from a “due now” to a “do now” schedule. For example, if you hire a virtual receptionist to answer your phone calls, take your messages and schedule appointments, why not add a few other tasks?
Prepare an intake questionnaire for your virtual receptionist to use when answering calls from prospective clients. This will save time and help you evaluate the tasks you need to do before you return the prospective client’s call.
Breakdown messages into different prioritized categories. That way your virtual receptionist can flag messages that are sent to your inbox with different levels of importance and time commitments.
Ask your virtual assistant to rank messages based on clients’ sense of urgency. This will help you rank importance of your call return list, and it will help you determine how much time you may need to dedicate to your next client meeting.
Block off time to schedule tasks at least once a week, and give your virtual receptionists blackout days and times so that they will not schedule appointments during those times.
Another way to use technology to help schedule your workweek is by taking advantage of the features available on a virtual law office platform. Virtual law offices help streamline the administrative side of law practice management using processes that are built into the software.
For example, using the calendar feature in a virtual law office, you can set deadline reminders that will keep both you and your client on pace with case matters.
Does your new client’s case sound extremely similar to something you worked on last year? Use your virtual law office’s search engine to avoid reinventing the wheel. In just minutes, the file, forms and law library will give you the tools to turn a 10-hour task into a 30-minute one.
Do you find yourself waiting until the end of the week to call your clients back to tell them how their case is going? Or do you end up waiting to receive a check in the mail or a signature before you act on a time-sensitive matter? Don’t put off important aspects of your client relationship. Instead, use the automated features in your virtual law office to notify clients of case updates and respond to messages quickly. In addition, stop wasting time waiting to receive checks or signed documents in the mail when you can just have your client pay online, upload signed documents and accept your retainer agreement with the click of a mouse.
After using these technologies to prioritize your to-do list and help you check off the items on that list, you might find that you can add a round of golf, a vacation or at least an hour of relaxation to your schedule with a few days to spare before you head to the court house to file a motion or send a timely response to a USPTO office action.
Join Ed Scanlan as he talks about Total Attorneys' New Practice Management Platform and the status of the Connecticut ethics hearing in this edition of the Insight Newsletter.
In the past year, virtual law offices and cloud-based services have become commonplace in many law firms because they offer attorneys new ways to manage their practice both in the office and on the road, organize documents in a centralized and accessible location, monitor billing and timekeeping and add ways for attorneys to communicate and collaborate with co-counsel and clients. In addition, these web-based services often offer attractive, efficient and economic solutions to practice management and client communication issues that may come up within the four walls of a traditional brick and mortar office. While most internet-based services operate on secure systems and offer regular back-ups and encryption for confidential data, it is still important to be aware of malpractices risks that are unique to virtual practices.
* Keep in mind that rules and statutes of limitation may vary state-by-state if you plan to accept clients from more than one state via your virtual law office. In addition, it is important to avoid the unauthorized practice of law in states in which you are not admitted to practice.
* Be sure to check for conflicts of interest. VLOTech offers a conflict of interest checking system that rates the relevancy of entries so that attorneys can see which cases have names of parties that are similar to prospective clients.
* Be picky when selecting clients. You may never see your client face-to-face, so it is important to choose carefully and reject or refer-out clients that have matters that may be better suited in a traditional law firm setting.
* Always require a retainer or engagement agreement. Be sure to clearly define the scope of your relationship with the client, what services you will and will not provide, and any risks that might exist. This can be done through a signed agreement or via a click-through button on your law office website.
* Do not go out of your comfort zone. If you do not feel that you can represent the client competently because you are not familiar with a particular area of law or you feel that a traditional firm would better serve their matter, you should refer the client to another law firm or collaborate with another attorney.
In addition to some of the issues that can come up when running a web-based law practice, a virtual law office can also help you avoid malpractice with automatic reminders and thorough client communication mechanisms. Virtual law offices have many benefits that are missing in most physical offices:
* You can set up a calendar or ticker system to remind you of important deadlines and meetings.
* Virtual law offices make collaborating easy since you can authorize multiple users to access a case file from more than one physical location. If you plan to collaborate with an assisting attorney, however, it is important that you acquire consent from your clients.
* A virtual law office can help you communicate better with your clients because you can give them 24/7 access to case files and status updates, and you can set up auto-responders to let clients know when you have read their messages or reviewed their files. In addition, automatic time and date stamps will allow clients to clearly see any progress or changes in the case file. This lets clients know that you are working on their case and this type of transparency can helps build up value and trust in your work.
Today, I hosted a Blog Talk Radio show on attorney obligations to comply with the rules of professional conduct that govern law firm marketing. Our featured guests were two experts on ethics and legal marketing: Will Hornsby and Nancy Roberts Linder.
Hornsby is counsel in the American Bar Association’s Division for Legal Services, chair of the Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission Hearing Panel, a Cook County arbitrator and an adjunct faculty member of the John Marshall Law School. Hornsby has written several articles and two books on technology, law firm marketing and legal ethics, and he also teaches a class on the professional responsibility of a technology-based law practice.
Nancy Roberts Linder is the Principal of Nancy Roberts Linder Consulting, a LaGrange, Illinois-based marketing consulting practice for professional service entities, primarily law firms. She consults in a variety of client development and client relationship management areas, including strategic planning, communications development, and attorney skills enhancement. In addition, Linder has written numerous articles on lawyer marketing; designed and implemented marketing databases; advised on website design, content and usage evaluation; taught HTML to marketing support staff; evaluated marketing-related software for law firm applications; and developed curriculum to teach marketing skills to law students.
Both of my guests gave some great tips, and you can access the entire show here, but here are a few highlights from today’s show:
The ethics rules that exist now were written in the 20th century, and many people would argue that they reflect 19th century values, but now we are dealing with 21st century technology, so the ability to apply those rules to current opportunities for client development can create a lot of friction.
Lawyers who use new technology are ahead of the policymakers, so they need to weigh the benefits of using that new technology with the potential risks that their may be issues or unanswered questions under ethics rules.
Generally, issues with ethics rules will not arise from the technology itself but instead from the way you use that technology to present messages and market your law practice.
The ethics game is largely played with semantics, and ethics rules can often rest more on how an attorneys says things rather than what the attorney is trying to say.
There is some subjectivity in the interpretation of rules, but when lawyers understand what the rules say and how they apply they can learn how to use them to their advantage.
Ethics rules are very nuanced and can vary widely state-by-state. Attorneys have an obligation to comply with the rules of the states in which they are seeking clients.
Listen to the full recorded show and learn how to do the following and more: use ethics rules to your advantage; create disclaimers for your website that is seen by people in multiple states; prevent conflicts when potential clients send you unsolicited messages through your website or email; maintain client confidentiality and security when communicating online; and write blog posts that subtly promote your expertise and practice without conflicting with ethics rules regarding advertising and solicitation.
Years ago, “legal technology” seemed like an oxymoron for many attorneys, but now more than ever, advanced technology is becoming commonplace in the legal industry for two main reasons: Recent technological advances have given rise to inexpensive, stable and secure software product options, and the present economy has forced attorneys to search for ways to cut overhead costs, such as excessive in-house staffing and added office space. In the past year, “Software as a Service” (or “SaaS”) and “cloud-based software” have become buzzwords on legal blogs, listservs and newsletters.
Whereas other software models require users to load programs directly onto each computer, cloud-based software provides a few benefits, such as automatic updates and security patches, compatibility across multiple operating systems, easier collaboration and remote accessibility. If your law office thinking about taking a jump onto the cloud, here are a few reasons why you should incorporate web-based technology into your legal practice:
Web-based storage applications, such as DropBox and Mozy, allow users to store and sync files online between computers and share files and folders with other people via a centralized, online location. These services work across Linux, Mac, Windows, iPhone and other smartphones, allowing attorneys to access and edit files from any location. In addition, these services support revision history so that attorneys can recover deleted or changed files.
Online notebooks, such as Evernote and UberNote, can be used to corral and organize personal notes, pictures, graphics, and links all in one place. These notebooks will also sync with you smartphones or iPhone, and the application have search engines that make it much easier than sifting through notebooks and paper napkins when you want to recall notes and ideas.
Web-based time and billing software, such as Toggl and Zoho, can help attorneys manage time wisely and take guesswork out of billing by providing services such as time-tracking, invoicing, client deposit management and payment recording.
Online case support services, such as Ringtail Legal and Total Attorneys Case Support, allow attorneys to manage, review and analyze legal documents together via one, convenient interface. Attorneys can organize files, review PDFs, manage evidence, and collaborate with off-site legal assistants and attorneys to quickly fill out forms, gather client information and prepare for transactions and trial.
Virtual law office service providers, such as VLOTech, allow attorneys to save money on overhead and increase revenue by eliminating the need for physical office space and allowing attorneys to work with clients across their entire state, not just within driving radius of the physical office. From each attorney’s virtual law office homepage, he or she can contact clients, create attorney-client agreements, organize case files, provide clients with a centralized location to access forms and contracts, manage calendars, and even provide methods for attorneys to accept payment over the web.
Total Attorneys invites you to join our experts for a live question and answer session on Blog Talk Radio this Thursday, January 21 at 11:00 a.m. CDT. Call in or listen as Will Hornsby and Nancy Roberts Linder discuss attorneys’ obligations to comply with the rules of professional conduct that govern law firm marketing. This show will be a follow-up to their session, “The Jeopardy of Marketing Legal Services,” which was featured at the 2009 Get a Life Conference hosted by the Total Practice Management Association. Categories will include commercial speech, false or misleading communications, advertisements, solicitations and multi-state marketing. Check out the show here and call in with you questions at (347) 857-1419.
Today was a very difficult day for us. We laid off about 50 of our good friends and co-workers as part of a re-organization around our product offerings.
Many companies making the jump from start-up to enterprise have experienced the same pain. History has shown that it is nearly impossible to manage growth perfectly during this transition and we are no exception. The people leaving us today have made tremendous contributions to our products and services, our discourse and our culture and we will be sad to see them go.
This has been my most difficult decision in 8 years as Founder and CEO. I explored every alternative and poured over spreadsheets until my eyes blurred. I've come to the conclusion that this is our best path for continuing to be an effective and efficient enterprise that drives the greatest value to our customers and employees.
We wish a speedy transition to successful new careers for all of our former Totalites.
