3 Unique Practice Management Challenges for General Litigation Law Firms

Attorneys at general ligation firms juggle too many balls.

If you’re like most firms, practice management is a challenge. You’re responsible for an avalanche of data, tasks, projects and procedures. As far as practice areas are concerned, litigation is fast paced.

Your margin of error is slim.

Your timing must be precise. The wording in your communication, exact. A single slip up, a minor mistake, could be the crack opposing counsel needs to take the upper hand against your client.

Practice management is challenging for general litigation firms

It doesn’t have to be, but it is.

Why is practice management so challenging for so many litigators? What struggles are the these litigation firms dealing with on a daily basis?

It comes down to fundamentals.

The litigators with a strong foundation and rock solid business processes do well. The ones lacking this strong foundation… they struggle.

Here are some of the unique challenges they’re facing.

Challenge #1: Inefficient, manual workflows

Litigation cases all follow the same basic structure. It includes a mix of routine (e.g. demand letters, deposition summaries, case timelines, etc.) and challenging elements (e.g. client advocacy, trying a case in court, etc.).

But routine isn’t automatically efficient.

Many firms struggle as a result of poor workflows. Firms may not have enough of the right people on a particular case. They may have too many senior attorneys/partners on a case when a more conservative mix is appropriate.

Then, there’s project management.

Who is responsible for what specifically? When is it due? What are the project/task dependencies? If you were to ask most firms this question about a particular case, most wouldn’t have an answer.

Challenge #2: Information overload/scarcity

Gartner found that most law firms are missing almost 50 percent of their data. Eighty percent of the intellectual property a firm handles is communicated with or stored via email.

Litigators struggle with too much or too little.

They either have a mountain of data to sift through to find the documents and information they need or the documents they need have gone missing. Even worse, they’re completely unsure about the status of their individual documents.

• Is this document current?
• How many revisions or amendments were made to this document?
• Who made these changes? When?

As a result, litigators end up trying cases without the adequate data they need. If you’re working with a standard fee arrangement (i.e. retainer) you may be able to keep your head above water. If you’re paid on contingency, not so much.

Challenge #3: Lengthy timelines

Litigation takes time.

You’re well prepared for that fact but your clients aren’t. Most lack the mental and emotional fortitude needed to stay the course.

This is understandable.

It often takes one to three years for a case to reach trial. Once it does, litigation can continue for several more years. It makes sense then, that client interest begins to wane over time.

Here’s why this is a problem.

Desires and expectations. Your clients expect you to communicate with them regularly. Even when you have nothing to report. Clients expect that you’ll consistently provide them with a steady stream of information communicating that their case is proceeding as expected.

This rarely happens.

More often than not, clients hear from the attorneys on their case when there’s something pertinent or noteworthy to share. In the meantime, clients are left sitting on pins and needles as fear, insecurity and uncertainty wears them down.

This leads to unmanageable clients.

The kind of clients who are so focused on achieving a particular outcome (emotional or financial) that they become unwilling to listen to you.

Firms that provide clients with (a.) consistently clear communication (b.) clear options to follow and (c.) a secure communication system that gives them a modicum of control will find their clients are easier to manage. Which is something most firms don’t have.

Practice management is difficult for litigators

It doesn’t have to be, but it is.

Your timing must be precise. The wording in your communication, exact. A single slip up, a minor mistake, could be the crack opposing counsel needs to take the upper hand against your client. As a litigator, you’re forced to juggle a growing number of demands on your firm.

Your margin of error is slim.

As pressure from external sources begin to mount, more firms are finding they’re unable to keep up with the demand. You have an opportunity to change that for your firm.

With the right foundation, you’ll find practice management provides the stability, profitability and success your litigation law firm needs.

They’ve given you a mission.

You have to increase the firm’s hourly billings by a minimum of 10 percent in three hour’s time. What would your answer be? Where would you start?

Could you do it?

Many general litigation firms are facing an incredible amount of pressure. More and more they’re expected to deliver incredible results – all while being handicapped by clients and court officials.

The handicap: A sign of disruption or desperation?

There’s an alarming trend that’s gaining traction.

The Great Restraining.

Morris Ratner, Professor at UC Hastings College of Law, mentions this in the Fordham Law Review. There’s a continuing shift of authority away from lawyers and towards courts and clients.

The reason?

Courts and clients are eager to control litigation costs.

It’s… unexpected.

Ratner goes on to explain:

“The shift has been accomplished in part via an unbundling of “cases” into “tasks,” by virtue of which courts and clients have greater opportunities to demand that each task adds sufficient value to justify its cost.”

He continues…

“That judicial management involves unbundling “cases” and converting them into “tasks,” from motion practice to discovery, where the judge prioritizes and sequences each task to find the most efficient route to a resolution, e.g., by dispositive motion or settlement.

“Clients looking to control legal spending are [also] unbundling legal work to assign tasks, rather than cases, to individual lawyers or firms, applying procurement principles to source legal projects to the most cost-efficient providers. These same forces have increased the prevalence and commitment to litigation budgets and have pushed flat and other “value based” pricing into a variety of litigation settings. Both mechanisms better align the financial interests of lawyers and clients while facilitating client input into the tasks undertaken to achieve litigation aims. The result is an erosion of the traditional division of authority between lawyer and client along the means-ends continuum”

This seems unreasonable.

But is it really? Is it a sign of disruption, desperation or something else? Perhaps this is simply disruption, a change in the way clients do business with litigators.

Change could be good.

But the fact of the matter here is these changes aren’t good. They strip firms with the autonomy and trust they need to advocate on their client’s behalf. Clients don’t see it that way of course. These cost-conscious clients are simply doing what they can to minimize financial requirements while maximizing their results.

Are they though?

Are they really maximizing the results they’re able to achieve by simply “unbundling” cases?

Not at all.

The assumptions clients make here is a faulty one. That the parts (tasks) are equal to the whole (cases). But this is far from accurate. You know it and I suspect your clients know it.

The case is greater than the sum of its tasks

It’s common sense.

Top performing litigation firms, they focus on cases in its entirety. There’s a massive amount of nuance, background information, history and strategy to be gleaned from these cases.

A piecemeal approach isn’t the answer.

So why bother then? Why would courts and clients choose to take an approach that’s far more likely to produce lower quality work and inferior results?

Poor realization.

Wait a minute here. Isn’t poor realization the firm’s problem? Why would courts and clients be focused on realization?

They’re not.

Not directly at least. They’re focused on the symptoms of a poor realization rate. What are the client-side symptoms of poor realization?

1. An expectations mismatch. Your client has a desired budget or price range or they expect a specific rate. They miscalculate the amount of time and effort it takes to resolve their matter properly. Naturally, they’re surprised when they see your invoice, impacting realization rates.
2. Clients are dissatisfied. They believe you failed to follow their billing guidelines. As a result, they’re dissatisfied with your work on their matter. They’re unhappy with the amount of value your firm delivered in comparison to the value they’ve paid (in cash) to your firm.
3. A failure to communicate. Clients have asked for more help than their budget allows. Their occasional inflexibility, their unwillingness to negotiate, it’s created a bit of a mess. They’re now desperate for you to resolve their matter but they’re unwilling, for whatever reason, to pay for your team’s continued help and support. Often times they’re also unwilling to bend on the rigid terms they’ve decided to adhere to.
4. Inaccurate time tracking. Are your employees tracking all (billable, non-billable) of their time? Are they tracking it accurately? Poor time tracking means less-than-ideal realization rates. These poor habits produce time leaks (e.g. an associate completes 12 hours of work but only reports 8) which leads to under or overbilling.
5. Poor systems and procedures. Have clients received their invoices? Are they aware of your payment terms or client expectations? Do you have follow-up systems and procedures (e.g. phone calls, payment reminders, late fees, etc.) to deal with delinquent clients? Is it easy for clients to pay you for your work/time?

These are the broad strokes.

I’ve covered these realization issues in detail in a series of posts designed to illuminate the problems clients typically deal with.

It’s a quandary.

Even if your firm works on a contingency basis (i.e. many personal injury firms), you still need to track your time and bill appropriately.

Why?

You need answers to very specific questions.

• Was this case, matter or set of tasks profitable for the firm? Why or why not?
• How do we improve firm profitability and quality of work/outcome?
• Was under/overbilling a problem?
• Did we have trouble collecting our fees from clients in a timely fashion or at all?
• Did they receive invoices and statements at the appropriate time?
• How many invoices were flagged/rejected by clients?
• How many write-offs/write-downs did we issue to dissatisfied clients?
• How did these write-offs/write-downs affect our realization rate?
• Are we tracking all of our billable/non-billable time?
• What is the firm’s utilization rate?
• Is our utilization rate optimized around best practices?
• How do we handle unruly clients who refuse to settle/negotiate but then balk at our invoice?
• Do we know which clients or type of client is most profitable for the firm?
• Which practice areas or subcategories are most profitable/satisfying for the firm?

Does this really matter?

Shouldn’t your focus, as an attorney, be focused on the advocacy, on serving and protecting your client’s best interests?

Absolutely.

Here’s the issue with that motivation.

Poor time tracking & billing practices = poor advocacy

You’ve read that right.

If you’re like most other attorneys, you struggle with volume. You struggle to (a.) attract the kind of clients/cases you need (b.) you struggle to produce the amount of billable work (or efficient work), your firm needs to survive.

It’s a common problem.

I’ve mentioned this before. Attorneys lose six to eight hours a day on non-billable work. They’re paid for (less than) 30 percent of their time. How do you ensure your firm is the exception to this unpleasant rule?

Just follow two simple strategies.

Best practice #1: Optimize firm utilization rates

Your utilization rate is a reflection of your firm’s productivity and billing efficiency. The higher your utilization rate, the more efficient your firm. Here are two ways to calculate this:

1. Billable hours/ total # of hours recorded in a particular time period= utilization rate (e. 25 billable hrs/50 hrs total= 50% utilization rate)
2. Billable hours / fixed # of hrs per wk = utilization rate (e. 15 billable hrs / 40 hrs per wk = 37% utilization rate)

If you’re losing time to non-billable work you’ll need to make some immediate changes.

• Automate, delegate and outsource non-billable work, wherever possible (Read: Ultimate Guide to Automation for Lawyers).
• Remove yourself as much as possible from scheduling meetings or appointments. From time tracking, billing and invoicing (via automatic time tracking). From sales, marketing, client intake and follow-up. Bookkeeping and accounting. Client support, etc. From non-billable work in general.
• Optimize your utilization rates: Your financial goals and billable targets. Administrative and business development tasks. Your team’s performance and work ethic. Client expectations and communication.

Solo firms have a utilization rate of 25 percent. Firms with four to seven attorneys 40 percent. Firms with 10+ attorneys 50 percent. Aim for a 70 percent utilization rate to start. You’ll want to chip away at this slowly, optimizing your firm-wide billable to non-billable ratios.

Best practice #2: Optimize your firm’s realization rates (consistently)

Realization is next.

Your realization rate is a measurement of the amount you bill vs. the actual amounts you collect. What most fail to realize is that there are actually three realization formulas you’ll need to monitor closely.

1. Billing Realization Rate
2. Collection Realization Rate
3. Overall Realization Rate

I cover these details in depth here in the Optimized Law Firm’s Guide to Realization. These realization metrics are incredibly important because they help litigation law firms identify:

• The underlying cause of poor realization rates and sluggish cash flow (e.g. micro or macro causes)
• Whether their problem is internal (e.g. employees, habits, policies and procedures) or external (poor clients, an inability to pay, unmet expectations, poor communication, etc.)
• Specifically where they should begin to make important improvements
• How to make these important improvements

Here’s the core reason realization is so significant to boosting profitability. Firms are able to keep their fingers on the pulse of their billing and time tracking efforts.

Revenue falling?

If you’re consistently monitoring realization you’ll know. Employees neglecting their time sheets? You’ll hone in on these key details immediately. Are you under or overbilling clients? You’ll be able to identify the who, why, when and how much.

Best practice #3: Remove billing/time tracking performance barriers

Time tracking, when it’s done manually, is tedious and miserable. When this happens, time tracking becomes a to-do item attorneys work to avoid. If you’re a regular reader, you know why this is a problem.

• You lose 10 percent of billable time if you record time the day of, once a day
• You lose 25 percent if you wait 24 hours to record your time
• You lose 50 percent if you wait one week

There are lots of attorneys who choose to “reconstruct” their time at the end of every month (or two). These attorneys lose 55 to 70 percent of their time entries!

Remember my comment earlier?

When I mentioned most attorneys are paid for 30 percent of their time? This is why utilization and realization are so important. It sets the tone for your time tracking and billing protocols.

A better alternative?

Make time tracking automatic. Automatically convert appointments into time entries. Use software to automate the time tracking, billing and invoicing processes. Work to eliminate spreadsheets, manual calculations and post-it notes.

Make time tracking a habit.

Best practice #4: Provide strong attorney/support incentives

The keyword here is “easy.”

You’ll want to provide those around you with a strong set of motivators. Scolding and cajoling aren’t effective motivators, especially if you’re looking to attract and retain top talent.

No, you need a system.

With the right system, you make things easy and difficult, all at the same time.

Here’s what I mean.

You make it easy for:

• Employees to do the work you’ve asked them to do, the way they need to do it
• Clients to pay early/on time
• Clients and employees to find the information they need at any given time (via document management)

You make it hard for:

• Employees to go against established boundaries and guidelines
• Clients to pay late or not at all
• Clients and employees to find the information they’re not supposed to have access to

Finally, you reward the behaviors you want, you reject the behaviors you don’t want. How do you reward the behaviors you want?

• Provide early bird discounts
• Create a membership system that rewards your best clients with access to exclusive benefits (e.g. software, services, additional support, etc.)
• Offer vanishing rewards (e.g. exclusive meet and greets, prestigious awards, access to relevant kingmakers) to clients who pay their invoice by # date (a one-time reward for each month)
• Craft irresistible offers for clients who’ve made [#] payments early
• Invite employees and/or clients to events/connections with thought leaders, key influencers or power brokers (e.g. entrepreneur lunch with a key influencer, client workshop with a government regulator, etc.).
• After service support (e.g. bankruptcy clients rebuilding their credit within 90 days).

The sky’s the limit.

Act ethically and honorably, do what it takes to incentivize the behavior you want. Reject the behaviors you don’t want. Give your employees, partners and clients the opportunity to produce the results you need.

You can do it. You can increase your firm’s billables

Many general litigation firms are facing an enormous amount of downward pressure. More and more they’re expected to deliver incredible results – all while being handicapped by clients and court officials.

It’s The Great Restraining.

Courts and clients are eager to control litigation costs. They’re “unbundling” cases and converting them into “tasks,” from motion practice to discovery.

But a piecemeal approach isn’t the way.

It’s about optimizing and incentivizing your billing and time tracking protocols. Improving your utilization and realization rates. Creating a series of best practices you can use to produce the results your litigation firm needs.

You have a mission.

Increase the firm’s billings by a minimum of 10 percent in three hour’s time.

You can do it.

With the right approach and a focus on time tracking and billing best practices you’ll have the skill set you need to improve your firm’s performance on demand.

Would you pass the test?

You know, the technology audit test? Firms with up-to-date technology tools and resources are simply better. This sounds like a very bold claim to make, doesn’t it?

The data shows it’s true.

As we’ll see in a moment, many firms are confused about the tools and resources they need to manage, grow and scale a successful firm. To be fair, this isn’t really common information.

Most firms don’t have what they need

This isn’t just my opinion.

This comes from the American Bar Association’s Legal Technology Survey. In their 2017 report, 50 percent of firms surveyed stated that they have access to “practice management software.” The reality was far from accurate. Only 18 percent actually had practice management software.

Contrast the above data with these data points.

• Firms using Microsoft Excel for timekeeping lose an estimated $86,294to $106,294 per person, per year
• Billable leakage costs these firms $20,000 to $40,000 per person, per year
• Firms waste an average of 3.1 hours per individual, per month ($16,294 per person, per year) filling out timesheets

This doesn’t even begin to cover the full gamut of assets, tools and resources a law firm actually needs. Yet these basic items are absolutely necessary for firms that are looking to manage, grow and scale their business.

Why though?

Why are these tools and resources so important for your law firm?

Performance.

Client expectations are growing, while realization rates are falling. They’re no longer willing to pay for the services they’ve paid for in the past.

Meaning what?

Clients are no longer willing to pay for:

• Matters, projects or tasks that take more time and energy than they feel is necessary
• Billing for “hours of work” other attorneys can finish in minutes
• Legal Research, block bills or “unreasonable” expenses and/or disbursements
• Administrative tasks (e.g. typing, filing or photocopying), training, invoice preparation or clerical functions
• Reviewing/revising briefs
• Duplicate billing (e.g. multiple associates participate in a single meeting or event), training or interoffice conferences

What does this mean for your B2C firm?

B2C law firms need a digital checklist to survive

You need help.

We’ve already covered the details, showing why your firm needs help via a third party. But you’re going to need more than that. You’re going to need a checklist that covers the digital tools and resources you need to boost your productivity, increase profitability and outperform your peers.

It’s a performance checklist.

If you’re able to perform these tasks with little to no effort you’ll have what you need to grow your firm. What should you be able to do with the tools in your digital checklist?

Let’s find out.

Client and contact management

Your contact management tools should:

• Saves client contact data
• Tracks, logs and retain communication with clients (e.g. phone calls, meetings, video conferences, etc.)
• Provide clients with 24/7 access to important account data
• Accept client payments securely
• Provide clients with secure communication options
• Provides advanced calendaring functions and callback reminders

Calendaring and docketing management

Your calendaring and document tools should:

• Help attorneys schedule appointments and meetings
• Allow staff to set, manage or review deadlines, meetings and events
• Calculate calendar dates

Timekeeping, billing and invoicing

Your timekeeping, billing and invoicing tools should:

• Automatically record both billable and non-billable time via a fixed, hourly, contingent or custom fee arrangement
• Track time for time for employees, contractors and consultants
• Track billable and non-billable time automatically. Converting meetings and events to billables (i.e. client meetings) and override default billing rates
• Generates client invoices
• Define fee arrangements at the individual or firm level
• Integrate with payment gateways (e.g. Stripe, Authorize.net, PayPal, etc.), share time tracking data with accounting programs (i.e. Quickbooks)
• Provide quick accounting access to outstanding balances, credits/debits, pending projects, balance adjustments, etc.
• Enable firms to accept credit cards, PayPal or standard payment methods
• Provides financial reporting by individual, employee, type (e.g. partners, associates, paralegals, etc.) or firm.

Expense tracking

At a moment’s notice you should be able to:

• Take a picture of a receipt and save it to your account
• Track expenses internally, bill clients with a flat markup or set your sale price
• Manage and monitor all expenses whether you’re online or offline. From your desktop, smartphone or mobile device
• Work with standard expense types (e.g. UTBMS codes) or custom codes that are specific to your locale, practice area or client

Task, project and matter management

You should be able to:

• Managed projects using your firm’s vernacular (e.g. project, matter, etc.)
• Provide clients with client appropriate data to ensure invoices are paid on time
• Assign, track, schedule and/or prioritize the tasks and responsibilities in your firm
• Assign tasks at the project level with custom descriptions and details
• Designate priorities (e.g. high, medium or low) and delegate to-dos to specific employees
• Set due dates for each task, item or to-do
• Convert completed tasks to time entries in a few clicks
• Filter tasks by priority, client, employee, project, due date or completion status

Document management and retention

Your document management and retention tools should:

• Help to enforce file and folder naming conventions
• Provide attorneys with appropriate version control (i.e. providing all versions of all previous files)
• Maintain user/document permissions and security, delineating user rights and abilities
• Help to minimize the amount of non-billable work in your firm loss to document management challenges

Can you see the difference?

According to the ABA’s 2017 Legal Technology Report, 57 percent of respondents felt Microsoft Outlook was an ideal practice management solution.

Microsoft Outlook can’t do this.

It can’t provide you with the features functionality and details you need to manage your law firm successfully.

This is good news.

While 57 percent of firms are confused about what practice management actually is, you are not. You’re also aware of the essential features and functionality your firm needs to grow.

Just refer to the above checklist.

You’re ready. You can pass the test

You know, the technology audit test? Firms with up-to-date technology tools and resources are simply better. As we’ve seen, this sounds like a very bold claim to make, but it actually isn’t.

The data backs this up.

Better technology, better law firm.  You have a clear understanding of the tools and resources you need to manage, grow and scale your successful firm.

You have the data you need.

50 percent of firms surveyed stated that they have access to “practice management software.” In reality, only 18 percent did.

You’re now part of an elite group.

With the right checklist, your B2C law firm will have the tools and resources needed to grow, no test needed.

Are law firms created equal?

Can anyone adopt the tools and resources used by any BigLaw or B2B firm? If you’re running a boutique law firm you already know the answer.

It’s a resounding No.

Speak with an experienced law firm, boutique or otherwise, about their technology requirements and you’ll stumble across a more confusing question.

How do law firms approach their technical needs?

With a cut and paste solution.

Typically.

Attorneys know law firms aren’t created equal yet many adopt a cut and paste approach to their security and technology needs. This tends to be a fairly common occurrence.

Why is that?

It’s not because attorneys are behaving foolishly or irresponsibly. And it’s obviously not due to a lack of intelligence. Why then, is it so common for firms to approach their technology and security needs with a one-size-fits-all approach?

It all boils down to training.

If law firms aren’t aware of their technology needs and requirements are far more likely to choose a cut and paste solution that best fits their needs. Because for most, the question doesn’t actually matter.

Just choose a solution that works.

Doesn’t this apply to both B2C and B2B firms?

No, it doesn’t.

B2B law firms are better at addressing their technical needs appropriately, at least initially. If they’re interested in winning large contracts or negotiating profitable fee arrangements their approach needs to be precise.

What’s the difference here?

B2B law firms have to be more technically precise because their discerning clients require that. When you’re selling to businesses, you’re dealing with teams of people each with their own set of skills, competencies and abilities. Which, as it turns out, makes all the difference.

Does this mean B2B firms have their act together? That they’re consistently able to identify their technology needs and requirements?

Not so much.

The difficulties are there regardless of the niche, size or practice area of a particular firm. These technical dependencies are still there, they just create a different set of problems for each firm segment.

Here’s what I mean.

• BigLaw typically has a large suite of software. They’re technically diverse, they have a team of competent technologists on staff and they’re able to determine their needs. Many of these law firms are running homegrown or highly customized technology that’s incredibly outdated and very difficult to maintain.

 

• Small and solo firms attempt to do everything manually. In the beginning, many of the partners or owners of these firms attempt to handle anything and everything themselves. They aren’t outsourcing their problems to a suite of technology tools they’re trying to do things cheaply and manually.

 

• Boutique firms occasionally struggle with an all or nothing approach. Some of these firms prefer to look for technology solutions that are tailor-made to their specific niche or practice area. If they find it great, but what if they don’t? They either go without or use an inferior solution. Both options hurt their firm in the long-term.

 

Why does this matter though?

At the end of the day, isn’t lawyering all about doing high-quality work? Generating outstanding results for your clients and your firm?

Nope.

Don’t misunderstand, high-quality work and outstanding results are exactly what your clients are looking for. These are your client’s explicit needs.

It’s only half the equation.

The other half? It’s about producing the best work possible, at an incredibly reasonable price in as short a time as possible. These are your client’s implicit needs.

Here’s why this matters.

Your clients expect you to outperform last year’s results. To achieve more in less time and with less money. At first glance, this seems unfair until you realize the truth about your client’s situation. Your B2C and B2B clients, your big law, small/solo and boutique firms are all under pressure to meet these explicit and implicit needs.

The market has changed.

Your B2C clients are being hammered by inflation, shrinking paychecks and high prices eroding their savings/disposable income. This trickles up to your B2B clients who are struggling with high labor costs that erode corporate profits.

Here, take a look.

Next, look at how this affects businesses.

The data is there.

This isn’t cause for alarm but it does mean you need to be cognizant of the circumstances your clients are facing.

Wait a minute.

What does this have to do with the technical needs of a B2C or B2B law firm?

Your technical needs are tied to your client’s circumstances

Here’s one example.

Primary research found attorneys were still using inadequate methods to track their time.

• 34%of attorneys kept logs on paper
• 45%used desktop computers via spreadsheets
• 06%used laptops
• 48%used a tablet pc
• 96%used a smartphone

And if they’re away from the office?

• 27%kept their logs in paper
• 4%used their laptops
• 81%their tablets
• 02%used their smartphones

You read that right.

As we’ve seen previously, this creates a significant amount of billable leakage. Under an overbilling becomes a problem as firms struggle to stay competitive.

Remember what your clients want?

They expect you to outperform last year’s results. They want you to achieve (bigger and better) more in less time and with less of their hard-earned money.

Does this mean they’re cheap?

That they’re unwilling to pay for your services or your expertise?

Not at all.

What is all of this mean then? It means…

Your clients expect more value for their money

Their requirements are easy to intuit.

You have a clear idea of what your clients are looking for you’ll have a clear idea of the technical needs your firm has – whether you’re a B2C or B2B law firm.

First the basics.

What specifically does your law firm need? Your firm needs well thought out and properly conceived tools and resources that are up-to-date.

• Practice management software
• Document management and retention
• Client communications
• Timekeeping, billing and invoicing applications
• Secure video conferencing
• Network security and password management tools
• Dictation and transcription tools
• eDiscovery tools
• Remote desktop/network administration tools
• Marketing automation

Why does this matter?

Firms with the best technology outperform their peers. A law.com survey found there’s a strong correlation between firms with the best technology and top performing firms overall. These firms are able to attract more clients, take on more work, get more done and outperform their peers.

Now we differentiate.

If we’re analyzing B2B law firms they’re interested in:

1. Maximizing value versus payment. They’re looking for 1:1 or 2:1 return. How does this translate to a technical need?

• You’ll need a client portal solution that enables you to communicate with clients
• You’ll need tools that properly delineate the attorneys and support teams working on a client’s matter. Are they paying for junior attorneys to learn or is there matter receiving the appropriate amount of attention from an experienced and highly qualified attorney?

2. Minimizing liability and risk. They want and third-party providers to be compliant, responsive and secure. Is your timekeeping tool compliant?

• Is your billing, timekeeping and invoicing tool of choice LEDES compliant?
• Can your firm work with the UTBMS activity codes automatically?
• Can your practice, document and billing management tools keep up with state/local requirements?
• Are you able to store confidential client documents securely so they don’t end up in your associates personal Dropbox account?
• Can your suite of tools meet your client’s stringent security and compliance demands?
• Are you able to automate your client’s billing and/or timekeeping guidelines?

3. Clear data, transparent communication. You want their firms to comply with billing guidelines, appropriate regulations, local laws, etc. If you are relying on timekeeping software, for example, you’ll want to add specific and detailed breakdowns to invoice line items. You’ll use tools that don’t force you to rely on block billing.

• Can your associates access data securely whether they’re in or out of the office?
• Do client communication protocols follow legal security guidelines (e.g. HIPAA, ISO 27001)?

4. Getting the right outcomes delivered on-time and in-budget with no spin or unpleasant surprises. Clients don’t want to be blindsided with unexpected details or arrangements.

What about B2C law firms? What are they interested in?

1. Maximizing value versus payment. This is less about return on investment and much more about two important details (a.) getting the right outcomes and/or (b.) making their problems go away, permanently.

• Do you have the tools you need to optimize project and task management details in your firm?
• Are you able to manage your clients matter efficiently and without confusion?

2. Consistent, clear and transparent communication. Just as most customers are unable to properly evaluate or manage their mechanic’s work, B2C clients are simply unable to monitor the progress made on their matter. This makes them especially uneasy.

• Can you provide them with detailed and secure updates on their matter via your client portal?
• Are you able to hold a secure and private video conference with clients at a moment’s notice?
• Does your practice management tool provide you with any time access enabling you to provide clients with an update on their case, matter or project?

Can you see what’s happening?

As a general rule, your B2B clients require more of everything. You’re paid more because the requirements and expectations are typically so much higher. Your technical needs need to be optimized around security, privacy, and risk/liability reduction. The value you provide, it’s typically optimized around a return – whether that’s profit, savings or growth.

Your B2C clients on the other hand view outcomes and transparency/communication as primary motivators. These needs dictate your firm’s technical needs. These technical needs should be optimized around two factors (1.) achieving outcomes and (2.) minimizing gotchas and unexpected surprises.

Technical needs, they’re really about your client’s needs

Which is precisely why law firms aren’t created equal.

Adopting the correct mix of tools and resources shapes your firm’s ability to serve your clients. Most firms take a cut and paste approach to their technical needs.

It isn’t their fault.

It’s not because attorneys are behaving foolishly or irresponsibly. And it’s obviously not due to a lack of intelligence. It all boils down to training.

Most firms don’t know any better.

You do.

Your technical needs, in reality, they’re all about your client’s needs and circumstances. High quality work, outstanding results, this is simply the baseline. Winning firms, they’re technologically superior. They have to be to win.

They address their client’s explicit and implicit needs.

Firms with the best technology, they win in the end. They’re able to win more clients, take on more work and outperform their peers.

You can too.

With the right suite of tools, you have everything you need to outperform your peers. B2C? B2B? It isn’t a challenge for you. Solve your technological challenges and you’ll have the toolset you need to become one of the very best.

Does your B2C law firm have it?

Do you have the essential tools you need to rapidly grow your client roster, billings and your firm? If you hesitated for a second or you’re unsure of the answer I have good news.

You’re not alone.

Even better, with the right toolset, you’ll be able to run circles around your underdeveloped peers.

Your B2C firm needs the right toolset

With the right toolset you’ll be able to meet both the explicit and implicit expectations of your new clientele. As we’ve seen, your firm’s technical needs are dictated by your client’s needs and circumstances.

What specifically do you need?

Let’s take a look at the essential toolset you’ll need to dramatically improve your firm’s performance on client matters.

Tool #1: Practice management software

Practice management software acts as your firm’s nervous system. It enables you, at a moment’s notice, to assess your firm’s performance. It enables firms to quickly identify the solutions that work and the problem areas you’ll need to address.

Good practice management software should manage:

• Emails
• Calendars, scheduling and time management
• Project and task management
• Billing, invoicing and online payments
• Time tracking, expense tracking and firm reporting
• Contacts

These features should be readily available to firms.

The problem?

The majority of B2C law firms are using inadequate practice management software. According to the ABA’s 2017 Legal Technology Report, 57% of respondents felt Microsoft Outlook was an ideal practice management solution, even though it lacks the essential features need to manage their business effectively.

It’s an opportunity.

Immediate and complete adoption of excellent practice management software puts your firm ahead of your peers. It gives you the technical prowess your firm needs to become lethally efficient.

Tool #2: Document management and retention

Your employees should be able to find the documents they need in seconds. Time is money, every minute your team spends searching for or re-creating documents is billable time lost forever. Document management is indispensable to the growing B2C law firm.

Your document management and retention tools should:

• Help to enforce file and folder naming conventions
• Provide attorneys with appropriate version control (i.e. providing all versions of previous files)
• Maintain document permissions and security, delineating user rights and abilities
• Help to minimize the amount of non-billable work in your firm loss to document management challenges

Here’s why this matters.

Gartner found that most law firms are missing almost 50 percent of their data. Eighty percent of the intellectual property a firm handles is communicated with or stored via email.

How does that affect advocacy on your client’s behalf?

It hurts your ability to perform. It makes it difficult to achieve the results your clients desperately need. Which is why I say document management is a (silent) component of advocacy.

Tool #3: Client communications

Your clients can’t evaluate, manage or monitor your progress on their matter. They simply don’t have the knowledge or expertise needed to do that.

Nor should they.

From their perspective, that’s your job (obviously).

This is why you’ll need client communication tools. Whether your focus is B2C or B2B, communication is essential. Your clients don’t need an email, phone call, text message or in-person meeting for each and every update. That’s what a client management system is for.

Your client communication system should:

• Provide you with a client portal, enabling you to communicate with clients directly.
• Properly delineate the attorneys and support teams working on your client’s matter.
• Provide clients with detailed and secure updates.
• Provide clients with billing, invoicing and financial reporting on their matter.

These details should be clear.

Your clients shouldn’t have to ask for them. They shouldn’t be required to beg you for financial reporting or account data.

This transparency puts them at ease.

This precise level of communication is important because, in the end, it enables you to generate positive word-of-mouth and win more referrals.

Does your B2C firm have the right toolset?

It should.

With the right toolset you’ll be able to meet both the explicit and implicit expectations of your new clientele. Your firm’s technical needs are dictated by your clients needs and circumstances.

Sophisticated firms know this.

They position themselves ahead of their peers using an essential toolset to dramatically improve their performance on client matters.

You can too.

With the right toolset you’ll have the structure you need to rapidly grow your client roster, billings and your firm. No hesitation necessary.