The legal profession is rife with stress. Between working on dozens of cases every day and managing stacks of case files, lawyers clearly don’t have it easy. Their workload frequently requires them to work after hours, which experts cite as affecting their mental well-being.
It’s reasonable for lawyers and law offices to seek ways to save resources and time. One example is designating repetitive tasks such as client onboarding and data entry to the best legal practice management solutions. The benefits they bring are too tempting to pass off.
1. Organized Client Information
Lawyers, whether private practitioners or law firms, generally attract clients either by being discovered or referred to. On one hand, search engines and legal directories are a great way to find the right one within the client’s vicinity. On the other hand, every case that’s successfully settled brings word of the lawyer’s expertise to more potential clients.
Every potential client or “lead” goes through what’s known as client intake. It’s a thorough process that not only gathers key information about a client but also screens them to see if they’re fit for engagement. It’s in a lawyer’s best interest to check for things like conflicts of interest and long-term profitability.
Given the importance of client intake in growing a lawyer or law firm’s clientele, there can be no room for error. With so many steps involved, such a task can benefit from legal client intake solutions doing most of the heavy lifting. Proper information organization, from the client’s details to the schedule of fees, promotes transparency by avoiding inaccuracies.
2. Improved Case Management
Public defenders in the U.S. suffer from dealing with too many cases than they can ideally handle. A multi-organizational study led by the RAND Corporation last year revealed that the current National Advisory Committee (NAC) standards for devoting time to a case are too short: 13.9 hours per felony case and 5.2 hours per misdemeanor case.
The ongoing shortage of such legal professionals doesn’t help. Pennsylvania only has 70% of its required number of public defenders (as per a University of Pennsylvania study last May), while thousands with criminal charges in Oregon have no one to represent them in court. As any lawyer would tell their clients, self-representation is a bad idea.
Naturally, the solution to the shortage is to increase the number of available professionals, but that’ll take time. Available solutions like legal case management systems can help ease a lawyer’s workload. Some of their key functions include case monitoring, scheduling, research, and legal document management.
With a legal case management system handling most of the work, lawyers are free to spend the limited time they have studying the case and preparing a strong defense. Other lawyers like prosecutors can also benefit from this system.
3. More Robust Data Security
As lawyers and law firms move their assets to the digital environment, they should expect to be targeted by cybercriminals soon. A data breach in the legal field can be as damaging as one in any other industry.
Last month, a Florida-based law firm had to pay USD$8.5 million in compensation for a data breach in 2022. As the plaintiffs stated, the firm’s failure to take appropriate security measures compromised the information of around 10,000 current and former clients and employees. Several months ago, a different firm paid USD$8 million for a similar breach.
Ensuring confidentiality of client information is obligated under Rule 1.6 of the American Bar Association’s (ABA) Model Rules of Professional Conduct, apart from other applicable laws. Only the client can give their consent to disclose their personal information, save for specific circumstances covered by said rule.
Legal practice management software implements data security to varying extents, though less extensive than dedicated cybersecurity suites. Nevertheless, a multilayer defense can make any tech stack harder to penetrate and less worth the effort for hackers. At the bare minimum, the ABA advises that a solution’s security measures should include:
- Restricted access to some information to select personnel
- Regular password resets and password policy evaluations
- Real-time activity tracking through IP addresses
- Multi-factor authentication (two being the minimum)
- Safeguards in case of multiple failed log-in attempts
Law firms also need to train their staff in proper usage and cybersecurity awareness. Even as attacks become more sophisticated, the best approach cybercriminals use still entails old-fashioned trickery.
4. Increased Productivity, Decreased Costs
Human labor is an indispensable form of capital, which would be wasted on monotonous or repetitive tasks. This is more evident in professional fields such as law. A lawyer’s time and effort are better spent preparing for trial or settlement than manually manage client records and case files.
Additionally, studies show that the quality of work decreases as time spent on performing repetitive tasks increases. As cognitive fatigue sets in, a person can find it more difficult to focus and struggle to maintain consistent work quality. Errors become more likely, which can cost a lawyer or law firm dearly down the line.
Embracing technology is one of the most practical ways to streamline law firm processes, with a legal practice management system at the forefront. A single tool enables one user—especially a private practitioner—to complete an entire team’s worth of work in less time. Meanwhile, law firms would need fewer people to sustain their operations.
Technology also saves on office supplies, as lawyers and law firms can submit electronic documents instead of paper ones. Hard copies can then be provided upon request instead of being standard operating procedure.
5. Improved Collaboration
Lawyers and law firms specialize in one or several legal fields, ranging from personal injury to intellectual property. While this system is still working today, demand for their services is expanding to the point that more than a single discipline is required. As such, more and more lawyers are working beyond their specialties, often with fellows or partners.
Collaboration in the legal field brings a wealth of advantages, from increased revenue per client to fostering trust between lawyers. More complex cases even require a legal team comprising lawyers from various related practice areas.
Naturally, a successful collaboration requires lawyers to pull their own weight and work together. One key responsibility is sharing information about their client, which can be made seamless through legal practice management solutions. Secure chat and efficient document management are among the many things lawyers need for this.
Conclusion
Investing in legal software is inevitable for modern law firms or lawyers, given how much they need to make their jobs more manageable. While they might not solve the overarching issues facing the profession, they’re invaluable in that they give lawyers elbow room to do what they do best: representing their clients in court.
