A tale by Gustavo Rocha (lawyer and consultant in management, IT and quality for law firms. He’s the author of Gestão.Adv.br - content in Portuguese only), based upon real events from his clients before hiring services:

Once upon a time there was a lawyer. He read and heard about the changes the legal practice was going through, IT and all, still he thought that his business was going pretty well as it was and so he kept it.

Time went by and his office procedures were the same as always.

Relentless, there came upon his door the technology snags.

At first the lawyer tried to appeal the Supreme Court by writing. No way. Faxing, not allowed. The appeal only could be submitted electronically, which requires a digital certificate. Not knowing at all bout any of this, our lawyer only found about it at 4 PM on the last day for the appeal to be presented…  their was no way he could ever get a digital certificate on time. So, once upon a time there was an appeal deadline…

After this setback, he contacted his Bar Association and got the most needed digital certificate. “That solves it” and back to his office he went. There, he gave it to an intern: “Here you go. Now it is all up to you”, he said, confortably from behind his marble top desk…

While stuck in a traffic jam, another reality struck him: the car he was driving, his hardly earned car, that had cost him many sleepless nights, was now in someone else’s hands. He, of all people, had given his digital certificate and password to an intern, who had just transfered part of the lawyer estate to a sleazeball…

Once upon a time, there was the estate…

The lawyer took legal action against that and got his belongings back. Then, he got himself a new digital certificate and decided that him and him alone would use it…

Still he was not free from arm.

As a law professional, he had overlooked his office management, its procedures systematization on matters and the bussiness itself. That meant that he was tied up by electronic procedures and digital certification… Then he took the decision of hiring the services of consulting agency for updating procedures, implementing IT, legal marketing, etc… they need 12 months for the whole deal, though. “That’s an absurd! 12 months?? I can do it myself in 12 months! Less than that.” Poor devil… 12 months came and went and not much was changed…

Moral of this tale: Once upon a time, there was a lawyer…

Do not allow your business to sink this low. There is a way out if you have will enough, perseverence, love for what you do and hard work, lots of it. If you think you can not do it on your own, look for help from someone who is an expert on that field.

Don’t let yourself be stuck on “once upon a time, there was a lawyer”…

IT and management do really make the difference.