TechnoLawyer

Originally published on May 17, 2011 in our free SmallLaw newsletter. Instead of reading SmallLaw here after the fact, sign up now to receive future issues in realtime.

The number of Web (aka cloud computing or SaaS) applications for the legal industry is growing — document assembly, document management, practice management, time and billing, you name it. As you may have seen via the May 2nd issue of BlawgWorld, Luigi Benetton writing for Lawyers Weekly recently provided an excellent roundup of the current products.

At the same time, the multi-day outage of Amazon's Web Services (aka Elastic Cloud computing or EC2) server farm in Northern Virginia caused up to 45% of its clients to lose service for up to several days — some of them legal Web applications. According to Amazon's lengthy and very technical explanation, the outage was caused by a routine network update that malfunctioned. Two elements of the explanation are key: (1) Amazon services are clustered (i.e., a given application may not have its "own" server), and (2) Amazon does not always replicate services across different data centers (in some cases this feature is an extra option).

What's the Upshot for Small Law Firms Like Yours?

If you Google "Amazon outage," you will find entries for 2009, 2010 and 2011. However, on average, although there are no hard statistics, Web applications are likely to provide better uptime, better security, and certainly better backup than most small law offices experience using their own servers running traditional software.

So, yes, these Web services will crash, but so do in-house servers. The weakest link of a cloud solution is more likely to be your Internet connection. The United States ranks only 27th in the world in terms of download speeds, after powerhouses such as Lithuania, Latvia, and Romania.

If you opt for a Web application, part of basic due diligence should be to find out whether your data will reside on its own server or is part of a cluster, and whether it will be replicated geographically or only within the same server farm. Obviously a dedicated server is better as is geographic replication.

The Future of the Cloud Is Now for Some Small Law Firms

A recent TechnoFeature article by TechnoLawyer publisher Neil Squillante entitled The Looming Battle Between Traditional Legal Software and Web Applications speculated as to the relative future of traditional PC-based applications versus Web applications.

I see the problem from a slightly different perspective than Neil. He is looking at the "big picture." As a consultant, I get the question "What should I do right now?" This question is coming particularly from law firms that are running old versions of various software and are upgrading to Windows 7 and Word 2010. The older versions of their programs were integrated with older versions of these programs, but when Windows and Word are upgraded, the older integrations may no longer work. So upgrading to Windows 7 (especially 64-bit Windows) is likely to require upgrading many other programs, sometimes at substantial expense.

From this perspective, what the future holds may take second place to other considerations, in particular speed (response time of the application) and feature set (whether it will handle the tasks your current software handles). Firms that migrate from desktop applications to Web applications (particularly at the lower end) are likely to be upset by the slowness of the application. So you may wind up paying to upgrade your Internet connection for more bandwidth.

Also, the Web applications may not have the feature set law firms expect. For firms that have performed minimal or no customization of practice management programs such as Amicus Attorney or Time Matters, the lack of features may not be an issue. But firms that have highly customized desktop applications may find that the Web applications do not meet their needs. However, many of the companies behind these Web applications are adding features rapidly. Make a careful review of exactly what features of your current program you actually use, and then see if they are available from a prospective Web application.

Your Options and the Timing of Your Choice

Your choice at this particular point in time boils down to the following:

1. Should I spend money to upgrade all my hardware and desktop programs, and keep all my data onsite?

2. Or should I switch to a Web application knowing that it is likely to be slower and less feature-rich than what I have know, but that it represents the "wave of the future"?

SaaS vendors like to advertise that their Web applications will save you money. I seriously doubt these claims are true (as Neil noted in his article, no one has published a definitive study of these claims). Using these products is like leasing a car. It is likely to cost you more than just purchasing, but on the other hand you benefit from less investment up front, the security of fixed monthly payments, and fewer surprises down the road.

For a while now, I have recommended to law firms "Keep what you have if you are not unhappy with it, and see what the future brings in 2-3 years." However, not only is this timeframe collapsing, but the split seems to be approaching 50-50 for small firms making the above choice.

Written by John Heckman of Heckman Consulting.

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Originally published on March 21, 2011 in our free SmallLaw newsletter. Instead of reading SmallLaw here after the fact, sign up now to receive future issues in realtime.

Operating a law firm from your home is not for everybody. Two basic prerequisites exist for successfully setting up a home office.

First, if you enjoy day-to-day contact with colleagues, you may find yourself going stir crazy. On the other hand, if you just like to hole up and get your work done, it can be an ideal situation.

Second, you need to be reasonably computer literate. When working from home you will not have any onsite support. You can waste a tremendous amount of time trying to find a solution on the Web. After 14 years of working from my home office, I have many tips for lawyers considering this path. Below you'll find the five most important.

1. Use an Actual Room With a Door That Closes

Especially if you have kids, you need actual office space. You need to be able to leave all your papers and go have lunch and not have to clear off the dining room table. You need an "office environment" and avoid giving the impression that since you are "home" you can be interrupted at any time. If you have kids, you may actually want to post "office hours" on the door of your office.

2. Clients and Home Offices Don't Mix

Do you need to meet clients in your office? Obviously, if you plan to meet clients in a home office, you need to set it up much differently. Most people will have neither the space nor the desire to meet clients at home (and your clients probably feel the same way). You're better off renting an executive suite from companies such as Regus or subleasing unused office space in a local law firm. If you don't have many meetings, you can work from home and use an executive suite as a virtual office for its conference rooms and perhaps its call answering service as well.

3. Get a Virtual Assistant (Secretarial and/or Paralegal)

Investigate using online secretarial and paralegal services. They're widely available and frequently locally. Used in combination with Web-based collaboration tools such as Box.net you can easily share, edit, revise, and track documents. You upload documents to a secure shared space for editing. You receive an email message about any changes, etc. This arrangement is much more efficient than sending documents via email.

In a recent issue of BigLaw, Escape From the AmLaw 100, former Latham & Watkins partner Joshua Stein extolled the virtues of his virtual assistant when he set up a solo practice (though he leases office space and does not work from home).

4. Comfort First, Looks Second

Law office furniture is usually designed for show, not for functionality. Buy ergonomic and computer-friendly equipment. The ideal height for a computer keyboard is about 2" lower than the standard desk height. The "under the desk" drawers for keyboards are often flimsy and unproductive. Humanscale makes some of the most highly-rated keyboard systems.

Buy a good computer chair. TechnoLawyer publisher Neil Squillante (who does not work in a home office) uses a Herman Miller Embody chair (pictured above — the chair, not Neil), which he describes as "expensive but worth every Benjamin." He purchased it with a few non-standard options for $957 from WB Wood, a local office furniture dealership. While online stores often offer the best deals, that's not true for Herman Miller chairs according to Neil. He suggests finding a local authorized dealer.

My fellow SmallLaw columnist Yvonne Renfrew used to sit on a Herman Miller chair in her home office, but praises her new Verte Chair in her recent column, Under the Technology: Desk and Chair Recommendations for Small Offices.

Some work is better suited for other chairs so in addition to a computer chair, consider buying a comfortable armchair for reading final drafts, using your iPad, or simply taking a break. Finally, don't miss Marin Feldman's evergreen BigLaw column, Top Five Ergonomic Problems at Large Law Firms, which applies equally to home offices.

5. Reliable, Secure Telephone Service

Consider me old-fashioned, but I still find landlines the way to go. About 75% of the time I can tell if someone is using a cell phone or even VoIP by the quality of the call. A crackly line, dead spots of a second or two, a call that sounds under water, etc. makes you seem and literally "sound" unprofessional. So I stick with my cordless Plantronics telephone and headset and nationwide calling plan. That said, many other options cost less.

Vonage is the leading VoIP company. VoIP services have the advantage of call hunting — ringing your smartphone and other phones when you're not in your home office. If you make a lot of international calls, Skype can save you a lot of money. I have used Skype for technical support and demonstrations with people in Egypt, India, and Vietnam. Given that the calls are free, the quality was perfectly acceptable. Lastly Google's Google Voice offers an array of services plus you can now port your Google Voice number to your smartphone. Yvonne covered these and other services in more detail her SmallLaw column, Everything Law Firms Need to Know About Switching to VoIP Telephone Service.

A variety of answering services exist — at a price. Decide what functionality you need before spending money on such services. Your practice may require nothing fancier than voicemail.

A related issue concerns the question of a fax line. With the importance of faxes declining rapidly, you probably will be better off with a scanner and an email/fax solution such as MyFax. I pay $10 a month and have yet to exceed the page limit. That's much less costly than a dedicated fax line.

Conclusion

As for everything else you need, don't skimp. When you hear yourself thinking "I can manage without that," stop. Within a very short period of time you will discover you can't manage. For example, you can't have a law practice today without a Web site. For email on the go, a smartphone is essential. Buy a dedicated laser printer and scanner rather than a multifunction inkjet printer. You get the idea. Considering what you'll save on rent, go for the best when it comes to the rest of what you need.

Written by John Heckman of Heckman Consulting.

How to Receive SmallLaw
Small firm, big dreams. Published first via email newsletter and later here on our blog, SmallLaw provides you with a mix of practical advice that you can use today, and insight about what it will take for small law firms like yours to thrive in the future. The SmallLaw newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

Originally published on January 25, 2011 in our free SmallLaw newsletter. Instead of reading SmallLaw here after the fact, sign up now to receive future issues in realtime.

As more and more functionality moves to cloud-based (SaaS) products, the question of how to deal with your data becomes critical. It's one thing to have your calendar available online, but quite another to move many gigabytes of files. Typically, document storage is one of the weaker elements of SaaS programs such as Clio, Houdini, Rocket Matter, and even AdvologixPM.

So it is important to look more closely at exactly what functionality you want to accomplish. Four different kinds of Web-based storage exist — backups, synchronization, productivity applications (e.g., Google Docs), and document management. Let's explore each of these in the context of small law firms.

Backup Services

A central problem is the simple volume of documents. Even a small firm can have 30 GB of documents, especially if it does a lot of scanning into PDF format. To back this up to the Web or restore it in the event of a crash can easily take several days or even longer.

The best-known backup programs, such as Mozy, Carbonite, or SOS Backup are aimed at home users. If a Web site tells you that a given program lets you store photos and music, it is probably not industrial grade or robust enough for a law firm. In addition, these consumer programs backup data files, not programs. They generally will not backup your settings, programs, or server as such. So in the event of a catastrophic disk failure, you won't lose your files, but you'll have to rebuild the server and install your programs from scratch.

A small law firm should look for the "Pro" version of these programs. Better yet, look at JungleDisk (a front end to Amazon Simple Storage "S3" and Rackspace), Barracuda Backup, or Iron Mountain.

Here are some of the questions that you should ask when evaluating a backup service:

• Will it back up network drives (some home versions do not)?

• How often can you schedule backups (from weekly down to increments of 15 minutes)?

• Will it back up open files? Many lawyers keep Outlook and multiple files open over night. Will these be backed up?

• Will it support both PCs and Macs (if relevant to your firm)?

• What kind of restore does it offer? In particular, will they ship you a DVD or USB key overnight to avoid the problem of taking up to a week to restore a total crash over the Internet?

• What kind of security/encryption does it offer (this hurdle has largely been overcome at this point)?

• Does it offer access from a smartphone (iPhone, Droid, etc.) or an iPad?

Synchronization Services

A second form of online storage is file synchronization. In this scenario, you identify a specific folder (and sub-folders) to be synchronized with a Web location. You drag a file to the specified folder and it is synchronized with the Web and to other computers if you wish (e.g., your home computer). You might call these services "selective backup." In addition to backup options, these programs may let you share files or entire folders with others (think Facebook for documents).

Two of the best-known applications offering this functionality are DropBox and Box.net. One problem area is that in some cases (DropBox), if you share a file/folder with someone, that person can share it with someone else. While the owner of the share can reverse additional shares, basically this means that there is no expectation of confidentiality with shared files (shades of Facebook).

Again a small law firm is likely to want the "Pro" versions of these programs as they offer additional features such as full text search and limited version control (only four versions in the case of Box.net).

One use case for these services is to create an online war room for litigation in which you share documents with various co-counsel.

Productivity Applications

Google Docs is the king of productivity applications online. You edit and store documents using an online word processor, (or spreadsheet or presentation program). Google recently announced a beta version of Google Cloud Connect for Microsoft Office, which will sync a Microsoft Word document with Google Docs, which significantly expands the functionality of Google Docs.

You will be able to edit a document in Word and have it synch with Google Docs. Apparently, the beta is full, but you can sign up to be notified when it is more fully available.

Document Management

Lastly, there are document management programs in the cloud. These services have features most of the backup and synchronization services lack, including search, version control, indexing by client/matter (more efficient than a simple directory tree), and so forth.

There are two types of programs that generally refer to themselves as "document management" programs. What I consider a "true" document management program requires you to save files you are working on to the system in a single step. Other programs "store and forward" — first you save the file and then you choose whether or not to upload it to the document management system.

Industry leader NetDocuments has evolved into a mature program, and can be set up as a true document management program. It also has an option (at additional cost) to "mirror" the documents in the cloud back down to a server at your site. This function is the opposite of the usual backup program that copies files on your server up to the cloud. But it does ensure that you have a backup of your data onsite at all times.

Newer programs include M-files ("Simple and Easy Document Management"), which mirrors Windows Explorer (rather than an indexed search capability). M-files is an example of a "store and forward" application that advertises how easy it is to "Drag and drop documents, email messages, and other files into M-Files."

Conclusion

Given the many options for backup, synchronization, and online storage of your data, it is important to determine exactly what you want to accomplish (and what you can live without) before selecting a specific service.

Written by John Heckman of Heckman Consulting.

How to Receive SmallLaw
Small firm, big dreams. Published first via email newsletter and later here on our blog, SmallLaw provides you with a mix of practical advice that you can use today, and insight about what it will take for small law firms like yours to thrive in the future. The SmallLaw newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

Originally published on November 29, 2010 in our free SmallLaw newsletter.

Over the last ten years or so, the drive toward integration/synchronization has increased. Remember when Alt-Tab showed your open programs and you could switch from one to another? Today, we want one-click integration — send your time entry to the accounting program, save that PDF to your document management system, use information from your practice management program to generate documents, send an email message from any program, etc. With security concerns largely resolved, the future of Web-based (SaaS) practice management systems will depend not only on their maturing feature sets but also integration.

The Two Flavors of Integration

Whether server-based or cloud-based, "integration" comes in two flavors: synchronization of two applications or realtime direct access via an API/SDK. Synchronization — the transfer of information from one program to another, or bi-directionally in more advanced solutions — is easier to write, but realtime links are more powerful and usually more stable. Most of the mature desktop practice management and time billing programs now sync reasonably well with each other, and with Word and Outlook. Worldox, the leading document management program for small and midsize firms, will link with just about anything that generates a document. Realtime links remain a minority, but everyone seems to be developing them.

There is a lot of pressure on vendors to develop additional modules so that realtime integration takes place within a single code base and hence is presumably faster and more reliable. Examples include Tabs3 and PracticeMaster, Time Matters' now abandoned experiment with Billing Matters, PCLaw's basic front office module, and Gavel & Gown's ongoing development of a billing program that will become part of a single code base with Amicus Attorney. The problem with these efforts is that while the core programs are very good, the "add-on" modules are lacking.

On a Windows platform, integration is "relatively" straightforward, since the underlying platform is the same for all programs. However, it leaves out Mac users. And when you get to the cloud, the problem is compounded as the application must integrate with a local server or another cloud-based application. Despite the supposed openness of the Web, many Web applications are essentially closed because they lack APIs or SDKs.

Platform Fragmentation and Microsoft Outlook

The synchronization most in demand is between Outlook and various smartphones. When Palm was dominant, many software companies wrote direct links to their devices. However, as platforms multiplied (iPhone, BlackBerry, Android, Windows Phone, etc.), it simply became too expensive for companies to maintain links to all the available platforms, with the result that today most software links to Outlook and then from Outlook (or Exchange) to the smartphone. Some links are realtime — email and calendar items get pushed to the smartphone as they arrive.

Outlook has becomes the "glue" that holds integration together. Those who do not use Outlook are frequently left out in the cold, although syncronization with Google Apps Gmail (the enterprise version) is on the rise. And there is a little program called GmailDefaultMaker that will let you set Gmail as your default mail client.

What Links Do You Need?

So where do the various SaaS practice management programs stand in terms of their ability to link to other programs? They are developing links so rapidly it's difficult to keep track.

The big four SaaS offerings — AdvologixPM, Clio, HoudiniESQ, and Rocket Matter — started out as relatively self-contained and limited: Contacts, Matters, and Calendar. Integration with other programs, especially email and documents, was at best limited. The exception here is AdvologixPM which was built on Salesforce.com's Force.com platform so it already had some links available through the Force.com AppsExchange.

When looking at a SaaS product, how do you want to expand its capabilities to other programs and functionality? The following examples are not intended to be exhaustive by any means. For a more extensive review of the capacities of various programs, see Seth Rowland's TechnoFeature reviews of AdvologixPM, Clio, HoudiniESQ, and Rocket Matter (all available in the TechnoLawyer Archive).

1. Smartphones

Lawyers love smartphones so a dedicated app is a plus. Yes, you can always just log into the product via a Web browser, but Web sites don't often translate well to the small screen plus they're slower than dedicated apps. None of the big four currently offers dedicated apps, but AdvologixPM, Clio, and Rocket Matter offer mobile versions of their Web sites.

2. Document Management

Investigate links to a document store. How do you get your Word documents or Outlook email into your practice management system? Do you have to resign yourself to using a totally separate area? At present, document management is lacking, although AdvologixPM and Clio both offer synchronization with Google Docs (Clio places a "Clio" button into the Google Apps toolbar). If you are not ready to move to Google, HoudiniESQ offers plugins for Word, Excel, and Outlook that enable you to send documents to the cloud. AdvologixPM offers integration with NetDocuments, which is arguably the most robust option available, but it means an additional monthly charge for NetDocuments (a SaaS document management application).

3. Outlook

The big four provide a bi-directional synchronization of contacts and events between Outlook and the program. What about email? AdvologixPM installs a mini-app directly into Outlook that gives robust access to the main program. HoudiniESQ also automates integrating Outlook emails into the program. Clio's Outlook integration is limited and clumsy.

4. Client Access

Can you grant specific clients partial access to some of their matters? Both AdvologixPM and Clio offer this extranet functionality.

5. Offline Access

What happens when you are totally disconnected from the Internet (say, on an airplane)? Does the application have a desktop module with which you can work "offline" and synchronize when you again have contact? Clio has a desktop module with which you can enter time remotely.

Conclusion

If you are considering switching to a SaaS practice management program, pay particular attention to integration. Will you be forced to abandon Word for Google Apps? Will you be able to link the SaaS application to other specialty software you use?

The good news is that features offered by one application are often matched by the others. Also, since these programs were written using Web technologies, they can be updated and expanded much more rapidly than traditional desktop programs. Finally, these companies are "hungry" — that is, they tend to be much more responsive to customer needs than vendors with a large installed base. If a given program does not have a feature you want, discuss it with them. Generally speaking, you can still easily reach the founders and lead developers. You may be pleasantly surprised.

Written by John Heckman of Heckman Consulting.

How to Receive SmallLaw
Small firm, big dreams. Published first via email newsletter and later here on our blog, SmallLaw provides you with a mix of practical advice that you can use today, and insight about what it will take for small law firms like yours to thrive in the future. The SmallLaw newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

Originally published on November 1, 2010 in our free SmallLaw newsletter.

I've often heard lawyers say "I would have switched from this lousy program years ago if only I hadn't invested so much time and data into it." If you haven't said it yourself, you have likely read many such complaints in TechnoLawyer not to mention elsewhere on the Internet. When a particular program is driving you nuts, how do you rationally analyze your options? Or as I like to say, is the grass really greener or just astroturf?

Analyze Your Existing Software

As a first step, make a list of the top 10 issues that drive you crazy. Then divide them into the following categories:

1. Deal-Breakers: What functionality does your firm needs that the program doesn't provide? For example, if you recently acquired clients that require electronic billing, and your billing software doesn't feature electronic billing, you have a serious problem. Issues like these fall under the "deal-breaker" category.


2. Nice to Have: What functions do you wish the software included? The company says its software is "WAD" (that's Working As Designed), but you think it is WAPD or even WAVPD (Working as Very Poorly Designed).


3. Workflow: You wish the software included a keyboard shortcut for a given function but it doesn't. Or, the software requires three steps to do something you wish you could complete in one step.


4. Bugs: The software doesn't work as advertised, and you can't get the software company to admit to a "known issue" (aka bug).

Rate Your Problems

Next, create a point system to rate your dislikes. Assign numbers to categories — say, 5 for deal breakers, 1 for workflow issues, etc. Then add up your numbers: if you come up with a high point total, you may have good reason to ditch the software. But if you only have a low point total you are probably being irrational.

Training can solve certain problems. Most software companies from Microsoft on down find that a high percentage of requests for "new features" are for functions already included in the program. Or as I tell clients: If you find yourself thinking "I wish the program could do X," call me because it probably can.

Comparison Shopping

If you still think the grass is greener, create a second list of the 10 features you most like about your existing software or features it has that a replacement must have. When evaluating new software, ignore the vendor checklists. Use your like and dislike lists as a basis for comparison shopping.

Obviously you want to keep all the features you like and avoid features you dislike. Shopping gets complicated when circumstances force you to make a tradeoff. Are you willing to give up a preferred feature to fix a particular problem? If the proposed new software will not remedy your existing problems or if you have to give up too much, switching may not be a good idea (remember, making the switch is very expensive).

What About My Data?

If you decide to switch, you'll likely ask, "What about my data?" First, ask whether you need to convert your data and move it into the new program. How often do you actually consult items (appointments, notes, etc.) more than six months old? If you handle complex litigation, your answer might be "All the time." If you primarily practice real estate, your answer might be "almost never."

If you leave a "legacy" installation of the old program that's still accessible by one or two people but is not active, after six months or so you will find you hardly ever need it.

If conversion is necessary, make sure your new software can import all your data and ask how much it'll cost. You should be able to convert most of your data — although billing systems typically do not convert historical data.

Conclusion

Years ago — in Atlanta, I believe — folks frustrated with intractable technology could take their old computers to a shooting range and blast away their frustrations. Talk about catharsis! While yelling and screaming may help you blow off some steam when you're facing a technology challenge, it's not very productive in the long run. Whether you decide to fight or switch, quantifying the problems you face as described above should help you put these issues into perspective.

Written by John Heckman of Heckman Consulting.

How to Receive SmallLaw
Small firm, big dreams. Published first via email newsletter and later here on our blog, SmallLaw provides you with a mix of practical advice that you can use today, and insight about what it will take for small law firms like yours to thrive in the future. The SmallLaw newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

Originally published on October 4, 2010 in our free SmallLaw newsletter.

Not so long ago, law schools regularly delivered a lecture for new students to the effect that the practice of law was a profession, not a business. Advertising was frowned upon (with severe restrictions imposed by many state bar associations). When Web sites arrived, a debate ensued over whether they constituted advertising. The practice of law today is clearly a business, not a profession. Small law firms must increasingly adapt to business rules if they want to survive. Below, in my first SmallLaw column, I'll tackle the critical issue of return on investment (ROI) analysis.

The Two Pain Points in All Law Firms

Many small law firms do not use ROI analysis. ROI can be very difficult to quantify (if you buy a new server, how do you calculate ROI?), but is not that difficult when it comes to specific types of productivity or lack thereof. The practice of law can be broken down into three activities:

1. Gathering information.


2. Analyzing the information and applying your legal training and experience to that information — i.e., practicing law in the traditional sense.


3. Producing documents based on that analysis.

To the extent that technology can be used to decrease the amount of time spent on activities 1 and 3, a lawyer has more hours in the day to spend on the actual practice of law. With that in mind, lets look at some types of ROI, both positive and negative.

Basic ROI Analysis

Basic ROI analysis goes like this: If my firm adopts (and implements properly, including training), practice management software, document management software or similar programs, and each user saves 12 minutes a day (a conservative estimate) that they would otherwise waste hunting for documents, finding paper files, and so on, that amounts to an hour a week. Multiply that 50 hours per year by the blended billing rate of your attorneys and the number of attorneys and you get your firm's savings. Thus if a firm has 10 attorneys at a blended rate of $250 an hour, that's 10x250x50 or $125,000 a year. Add in paralegals and staff, and this number will far exceed the cost of implementing any system.

Some people object that these are "soft dollars," that is, not actual income. This is true, but even so it adds up. As an additional bonus, your employees will be much happier if they get to leave at 6 instead of 6:30.

Hard dollars (actual income) can be generated by adopting automated time/billing/accounting systems. These systems enable you to track your time more accurately and help prevent time from "falling through the cracks." Do you really remember how long that phone call lasted, how much time you spent on an email, etc.?

People almost always underestimate the amount of time they spend on many tasks. A generally accepted estimate is that the nagging of an electronic time and billing system will help you capture 10-15% more time for the same amount of work. So a conservative estimate would be that an attorney who bills 1,000-1,200 hours a year will capture an additional 100 hours. Again, at a blended rate of $250 per hour for 10 attorneys, that's $250,000 a year in actual billable income.

Beware of Negative ROI

The converse of an ROI analysis is how much time you waste. As one client said to me, "I know that if I don't clean up my system I am just hemorrhaging money." The two most common forms of waste consist of inadequate training and the lack of document templates (the most elementary form of document assembly).

Lack of training not only causes users to lose time by flailing about and not being able to work efficiently, but frequently doubles the waste of time because the flailing user bothers more knowledgeable users to ask them how to do something. Thus, the more productive employee also becomes bogged down by being an unofficial "help desk." One solution to this problem is to sponsor "brown bag lunches" on particular topics. This lets people ask questions and helps ensure that there is a minimum standard of training that lets everyone be more productive.

Regarding document templates, even without integration into a practice management system every firm has a number of form letters that it frequently uses. A simple "fill in the blanks" form is faster than taking an old document and changing the names, pronouns, etc., plus it also prevents errors.

You Don't Need a Degree in Econometrics

Acting on a ROI analysis for software and productivity practices does not have to be an exact science to yield tremendous financial benefits to your law firm.

Written by John Heckman of Heckman Consulting.

How to Receive SmallLaw
Small firm, big dreams. Published first via email newsletter and later here on our blog, SmallLaw provides you with a mix of practical advice that you can use today, and insight about what it will take for small law firms like yours to thrive in the future. The SmallLaw newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.