First and foremost we must apologise to you, Lawrd’s blog reader, for our radio silence since July 2011. Our inactivity in the blog did not meant a inactivity in the work: From August to September we have been busy with many Lawrd’s developments and enhancements. For you to be in the know:

• The process of billing is faster;
• 5 bugs reported by our clients considered to be a priority have been fixed;
• Our Amazon servers have been optimized;
• Backups are more efficient than ever so that downtime can become old news;
• PagSeguro is up and running for our Brazil readers.

During the last two months we have defined, once again through feedback of our clients, what developments to do until the end of 2011. We have 13 scheduled developments that will be reported in this blog along the way.

Today we implemented a more simple version of the Billing Tab. From now on, while accessing the Billing Tab, you can filter the data you want to view by client - being able to see the Unbilled values , the Unpaid billing sheets and those already fully paid (Paid Invoices):

In the sub-tabs Unpaid Invoices and Paid Invoices, you can add or delete payments as well as deleting billing sheets.

When deleting or issuing a payment, there are immediate implications in the client’s account, as you are able to immediately view the client’s financial position on your law firm after the accomplished actions.

When deleting a billing sheet the client’s account is updated and times and expenses included become available in the sub-tab Unbilled so they can be later included in a new billing sheet.

We are certain that you will be pleased to be able to delete a payment in such a straightforward way.

Post by Nuno B.M. Lumbrales, lawyer, partner at Lumbrales & Associados and LawRD user:

I was asked to write a personal review on LawRD, from a user point of view, a little bit over one year’s use.

Without being a fully comprehensive one, given the limited use within my firm features such as those related to billing (except for the use of timesheets which, once reviewed are the basis for issuing invoices via outsource accounting), LawRD stands as an important part within our management.

The features we use the most - contacts, matters, tasks and expenses - are all gathered in a single tool, both inexpensive and easy to use as well as particularly reliable, wherein the our data base is hosted, for consultation and billing purposes (as I mentioned above the latter is not our case,though).

I am adamant in saying that LawRD is a sure asset for our management efficacy and key in our practice’s success.

Nicole Black mentioned LawRD - Reports on Demand on a post in the Firmex company blog.

Nicole Black is a lawyer who writes books and on blogs about legal issues. Firmex’s blog is one of them. Firmex provides Financial Advisory Firms, Corporations, Private Equity Groups and Law Firms with a privately branded virtual data room to securely share and exchange documents online. Law firms are among their clients ranks.

The post titled Web-based Law Practice Management Systems starts by standing out the advantages of the SaaS solution:

“Advantages include lower costs due to reduced overhead, less hassle related to maintaining and upgrading the case management system and greater flexibility, since the Web-based system can be accessed anywhere, at anytime.”

Further on the post, she refers 4 of the most interesting SaaS solutions for law firms. LawRD is on the list:

“Another web-based system well suited for larger law firms is LawRD. A distinguishing feature of this platform is that it helps managing partners review and track associates’ time sheets, expenses and assigned tasks.”

LawrRD offers a distinguished output that provides its users reports to support law firm management making available, at any given moment, data on productivity and profitability either concerning employees as well as clients.

LawRD’s team is grateful to Nicole Black and to Firmex’s team for mentioning LawRD: thanks a lot!

Post by Braz Pereira, muchBeta’s Chief Commercial Officer:

From its genesis LawRD was devised in close proximity to law firms’ reality, so that their performance and ease of use needs are met.

During the stage of sorting procedures and requirements, the law professionals we’ve consulted were unanimous on the growing level of demand from their clients, regarding client support and on updating them on their matters.

More and more, clients want be informed and updated on the development and what’s being done in defense of their interests. To fulfill such legitimate yearning, they usually contact directly the lawyers or firms they’ve contracted. To keep their trust and satisfaction, one has to display professionalism, control over the matters and the ability to answer issues such as dealines, tasks undertaken, fees and payments.

With this reality in mind, we aim to ease the work of those who have the responsability of keeping updated and supporting clients, enabling, from a simple Internet connection, data related to any given matter thus allowing them answering, on the fly, to most questions clients ask.

Once the Matter is clicked on, the matter in question  selected, the following page opens up:

Besides the header showing the client’s contacts and matter ’s generic info, it is possible to consult immediately reports on: money, time, productivity and profitability. These provide for an overview and immediate grip on the matter’s status.

Questions on tasks already executed or billing sheets, can be answered through the Time tab, wherein one can find about: who, when and what!

Any doubts on matter expenses, a click on Expenses gives way to seeing all expenses, sorting the ones pending on approval, the ones already approved and the ones that have been billed:

The Comments tab gives access to comments submitted by the team working on that matter and other documents related to it:

The Events tab presents dates and events with significance to the matter:

The Billing tab adresses billing sheets, with the matter’s history and the billing sheets already issued:

Gathering all data concerning a matter in a single place, gives way to respond, on the fly, to the majority of concerns by clients, thus conveying professionalism, control over the matters, transparency, service quality and aiming the client’s satisfaction.  This approach ranks high on LawRD’s users degree of satisfaction, namely those who deal directly with client support.