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The top 4 takeaways from LegalWeek 2018 were anywhere from Biglaw vs small firms and how alternative legal service providers (ALSP) fit into the discussion, to Cyber Security, and how we see AI shaping the future of law. Of course, there will always be a debate on these topics, but let’s go through what we took away from each of these over the past week.

1. How ALSP companies are affecting the legal industry – The rise of Alternative Legal Service Providers is playing a large role in legal services today. Whether it’s outsourcing specialized tasks like eDiscovery support services, or technical legal services both inside and outside the courtroom, showing improved results for clients. Paul Stroka from Thomson Reuters discussed how ALSPs provide a path for buyers to access the technology they need, while relying on the domain expertise, experience, and service components that ALSPs can provide. Alternative Legal Service Providers plus a small/mid firm is like breaking the monopoly Biglaw has had on data-intensive work.
2. Biglaw and how/if it’s affecting small firms – Law firm ecosystems are drastically changing each generation so with the rise of ALSPs are small/mid law firms chipping away at the Biglaw market? That seemed to be a common theme at this year’s LegalWeek which hosted a variety of opinions on the matter. Bill4Time services thousands of small to medium size firms and although LegalWeek is geared more towards Biglaw, no one can deny the growing impact that small firms have in the legal industry. A noticeable theme, which separated the debate, was focused on skill-networking and professional collegiality, regardless of the size of the firm. This exchange would increase efficiency and offer almost a “one stop shop” level of service for clients. Nicholas Bruch from ALM Intelligence discussed forward trends in the legal market which highlighted an increasingly diverse collaboration across types of legal service vendors.
3. Cyber security and Data Privacy – Cyber security is an always-hot topic and this year was no different. Former Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson joined an expert panel to discuss his experience with cyber security in relation to the legal industry and what we can do to protect ourselves. Cyber security is ever-evolving and a business risk for any size law firm. Client driven pressure to review security guidelines and protocols encourages law firms to adopt more secure measures. During one keynote, Brian Krebs a Cyber Security blogger, discussed why businesses are losing the arms-race on criminal cyber enterprise and the need to build proper response strategies. They keynote challenged the way we think about security on many levels and we can hope that the legal industry continues to build on this trend.
4. Is AI the future? –  Innovation and technology was the biggest topic of the week. Walking the floor, different AI technologies marked every corner, and many believe AI will greatly impact the delivery of legal services within the next few years. Some feel AI is the future while others find it to be a distraction. Personal opinions aside, the early adopters we met claim that Artificial Intelligence is reshaping the way lawyers do business, but will it be for the better? A main takeaway from the convention is that the decision to incorporate new technologies in the legal industry is met with slow professional adaption. Many standard practices are still delayed when adopting tech enhancements like AI due to the lack of confidence in their data accuracy.

From key notes, to panels, to many vendors, it was clear that the Legal Industry does not seem to be slowing down anytime soon and the Tech world is trying their best to keep up.

To learn more about Bill4Time or to schedule a Demo, please email Sales@Bill4Time.com or call 877-245-5484.

“We started as a full-service security firm, with conventional services like guards and executive protection,” says Simon Ragona, Managing Director of Technology Risk. “Our Technology Risk group focuses on cyber security, data forensics, pen (penetration) testing and event-driven, digital security services.”

Network intrusions, denial of service, hacker attacks happen at inopportune times…late at night, weekends. Part of T&M’s strong reputation for cyber security is based on its ability to deploy a rapid response team on the client’s schedule. A company under attack can become a T&M client in less than five minutes.

This creates administrative challenges for Ragona and his team.

“With incident response…time is of the essence,” said Ragona. “We focus on getting control of the situation and protecting the clients’ systems. Setting up new client billing and project records in a time-keeping system is not our first priority.”

Yet in this fast-moving environment, time keeping and task recording can often be deferred or neglected. And that could result in missed time entries, under billing, and lost revenue.

As late as 2009, T&M was using ad hoc billing systems comprised of spreadsheets and keying in of time-based billing records.

T&M adopted Bill4Time in 2010, and rolled it out to three divisions by 2011.

Ragona explains that the biggest drawback of other time & billing software was the hours required to setup a new client, establish new projects, and assign tasks to a team.

“Bill4Time allows us to configure a client and project (case), then assign a team literally as we’re heading out the door to help a client,” said Ragona.

“That allows the team to start tracking their billed hours immediately. We’re able to more accurately capture client work hours right away…and capture revenue that might have been lost with other systems.”

“We saw revenue go up just because we were able to capture time entries right at the time of service. Our people were not postponing time entries. We weren’t sitting on it and forgetting to enter the time,” he added. “Quite honestly, we were losing money when we’re using other systems.”

Flexible Invoice Presentation

Like many professional service firms, T&M invoices are closely scrutinized by detail-oriented clients. Inconsistent descriptions confuse the client or worse, provoke a challenge. According to Joan Dorsey, Senior Accountant, consistent task descriptions and time entries are essential for building trust.

“If there’s just the slightest deviation in language (task descriptions; notes), our invoice could be flagged,” said Dorsey. “Depending up the client, an invoice exception inquiry could delay payment by a month.”
She cites this example:

Let’s say you have four people attending a client meeting that runs approximately 1-hour.  Three time keepers log the time at one hour, while a fourth time keeper enters only 45 minutes. If those time entries get submitted to a client, there’s a very good chance the client will challenge all the entries and expect a reduction.

“Bill4Time lets us save & duplicate time entries,” she explains. “So, in situations like client meetings, conference calls — where all participants have the same time entries — we can ensure we show the client the same task description and time entry. This results in a more a unified, professional invoice, with less administrative time for everyone.”

“From a project management perspective, the ‘save & duplicate entry’ feature also lets us avoid situations where a time keeper is billing too much – or too little – for their time.”

“50% of our work is through attorneys and law firms,” said Ragona. “They’re working on their client’s behalf, so they frequently look for those ‘loose threads’. Having a bullet-proof invoice is easy with Bill4Time.”

“Clients have occasionally challenged us on summary invoices for things like duplicate time records,” he added. “But we can generate a detailed summary invoice in 5 minutes to present the facts. Its more credible when you have a detailed, quick response to a billing dispute.”

While hourly billing is the mainstay of T&M’s relationship with its clients, the firm has flat-fee services as well. Flexibility is the key to creating in-depth invoices that still make sense.

“For example, as part of a cyber incident response project, we may have five hours of professional time plus several line-item charges – such as cloning hard drives – with a flat, negotiated rate,” explains Ragona. “Bill4Time was one of the few solutions we found that made it easy to combine both billing types in a single invoice.”

Since T&M runs monthly invoices, billing day can be quite a chore. However, Bill4Time’s batch invoice processing saves hours, according to Dorsey.

“I love that feature,” says Dorsey. “Just being able to enter the date parameters, run anything within an outstanding date time frame. And it gives us a batch preparation of draft invoices. Very neat and organized. Easy to review.”

Occasionally invoice flexibility results in less revenue, which can be equally valuable.

“For example, our group VP will occasionally have billable hours on client projects,” said Ragona. “To demonstrate our commitment to the client relationship, we want to document those hours, but then show that time we provided at no charge – as a professional courtesy. Bill4Time allows us to show the discount at the line-item level, where the client can see it more clearly.”

Ragona also explains that Bill4Time allows them to apply various discounts for marketing channel partners or referral channels, either as a flat dollar amount or a percentage.

T&M relies upon Bill4Time’s unique features to setup and create new client records almost as fast as the company response to cyber attacks. The flexibility in invoice layout and presentation helps T&M create bills that clients can understand. And Bill4Time’s ‘save & repeat’ time entry function results in uniformity and accuracy that prevent client confusion or challenges.

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