For example, the last thing you want is for 20 different employees to submit their time tracking in 20 different formats. The same principle applies to all legal tasks and workflows in your law firm. If you want to successfully transition from a small law firm to a medium-sized law firm, you need to look for process and system solutions that work for your law firm. Most case management software provides turnkey systems and processes for many daily office tasks – legal time tracking software, calendar software for law firms, legal invoicing software, automation and compilation of legal documents, etc. What kind of time tracking system do you need? If your growing law firm uses a manual time tracking system, it`s time to make a change. With Smokeball, you never start and stop multiple timers with our automatic lawyer time tracking software. Now that you`re managing a staff, you need to know how they spend their time, what they charge, and where they can improve. Mid-sized law firms that rely on manual time-tracking systems can get bogged down in dealing with too much paperwork and errors. That`s why the automatic time and activity tracking in Smokeball makes it easy to track what your employees are working on, because everything is done automatically and everything is linked and recorded.
This means there are fewer errors and less time wasted due to misplaced time tracking notes, which means more billable hours and revenue for your business. Training your employees is one of the most important parts of a successful transition from a small law firm to a medium-sized law firm. However, what often happens is that trainers and trainees are frustrated during the transition because too many assumptions are made about a new employee`s knowledge and training is not structured to keep pace. For this reason, there are common mistakes that law firms should avoid and some best practices they should use. With the increasing shift to remote work, cloud-based law firm management software has seen explosive growth in recent years. This allows businesses to operate and serve their customers in today`s world, even during a pandemic or natural disaster. If you`re wondering how to effectively run a small law firm, you`re not alone. Managing a small law firm presents lawyers with unique challenges compared to large law firms, where administrative staff perform many day-to-day tasks.
In most small businesses, these administrative tasks fall on lawyers and paralegals. It takes time away from the billable and direct work of the customer to be the “chef, cook and bottle washer”. One of the best benefits of using technology that we often forget is that it helps build scalable systems. As the business and the customer base grow, the complexity of running a business increases exponentially. Adopting technology helps mitigate manual errors and create systems that work regardless of the size of the client or team. A law firm is a professional services organization, but it is also a business. Modern law firm management therefore encompasses all the business processes that make the business run smoothly, including marketing, finance, accounting, human resources, policies, procedures, and workflow. Make an appointment with a member of our team to learn how we help hundreds of small law firms around the world. When a law firm decides to move from small to medium-sized, it`s not just about becoming big, it`s also about increasing profitability.
But law firms that want to make this transition a success must consider how the way they do business today will affect their firm`s transformation. Did you know? The most successful law firms are based on 75-90% on reference. From organizational leadership to administrative work and everything in between, effective law firm management goes far beyond the practice of law. There`s no one-size-fits-all solution to running a law firm, but practicing one of these seven habits will help your law firm stand out from the crowd. One of my law firm`s clients realized that the time it took to add contact information to his case management system and VOIP phone system was wasted, causing not only additional delays, but also potential errors. We enabled a connection between the two programs and this had an immediate impact on its functionality. In Clio, you can use the Vonage integration for similar functionality. Once a new contact was entered into their phone contact list, they were also synced with their phone system. This allowed him to make and receive calls directly from his phone system. For both companies, automating this process would have a direct and immediate positive impact on their cash flow.
Technology is transforming the legal industry in powerful ways. From legal research, discovery, e-filing and virtual meetings to chatbots, technology can fundamentally change a growing law firm. If you run a small law firm, it`s important to have a clear understanding of your firm`s finances. Law schools are known for training lawyers who know the law, but not how to manage their law, especially their firm`s finances. While you don`t need to be an accountant, it`s important to understand key metrics to make decisions for the business. And it`s beneficial for all practice areas covered by your business. It doesn`t matter if you`re just starting out, you`re already making seven-figure sums at your own law firm or somewhere in between. If you run a solo law firm and you`re serious about growing your business, making more money and having more fun doing the same, then you`ve come to the right place. A paperless law firm is an achievable goal.
But realistically, most of us still have to deal with incoming mail and paper customer documents. Scan as much as possible. By digitizing documents in digital formats, they can be stored in the firm`s practice management software, shared with clients on a portal page, and archived efficiently. Payment plans, fixed-fee billing structures, subscription services, and unbundled legal services benefit not only your small firm, but also your clients: most of the time, we`re caught up in mundane and trivial things where it`s easier to forget about the bigger picture. Knowing what`s important to your law firm will help you anchor your business and team when things get out of hand. In addition to the above, leading a small team in a law firm presents unique challenges. Here are some important ways to effectively manage a small team: Clients interact online with law firms and lawyers through multiple touchpoints – through an initial review of a clear and attractive website, a simple client onboarding process, electronic signing of documents, or online access to a client portal with important information about their case. If a customer can access the information they need with ease and minimal friction, they will have a more positive experience. How will they change the way they recruit, hire and train new employees? And how are they going to implement effective systems, processes, and technology solutions so they can serve new clients professionally and efficiently without getting bogged down in time tracking, billing, and general case management systems that don`t work for a law firm with more than a few employees? Your team is the backbone of your small law firm.
Without a strong team, it is difficult to effectively support customers. So, prioritize the mental health and well-being of your employees in addition to their professional success.