Post by Daniel Ray, lawyer and managing partner at Scott, Money, Ray & Thomas and LawRD user since summer of 2011:

I am the managing partner of a small firm outside Dallas, Texas. We have 6-8 billers, including attorneys and paralegals. Until recently, we had failed to find a cost-effective legal billing program. Any of the programs my partners and I used at large national law firms were extremely expensive and unwieldy for a small firm. We tried mass-marketed billing software that was inexpensive, but did not provide the functionality necessary for technical projects with variable rates and fees.

In the summer of 2011, we began using LawRD. We were skeptical of the low per-person price tag, especially because the software provides user support at no additional charge. However, we tried a thirty-day trial and were quickly impressed by the ease of use the program offers and the wide variety of customizations available for each client and case. We decided to switch to the LawRD software within a week.  We have seen an immediate increase in productivity due to the software and have been particularly impressed by the customer service.

We have only had minor complaints about the program – all of which were quickly addressed.  In one instance, we informed the support staff that it would be helpful to have a larger billing window to allow us to see multiple long entries at the same time. That issue was e-mailed to the support staff, and the program was changed within 24 hours.  At one very large New York-based firm I worked for, our overhead for billing was more than 5 times the cost of this program per user, and making user-requested changes was generally not an option – much less one that would be addressed so quickly.

I would recommend LawRD to any firm looking for software overhead savings and billing functionality.  The ease of use will allow you to spend more time billing and less time entering time, and the low per-user cost provides an immediate benefit to the bottom line.

Post 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):

Some issues ought to be addressed prior to choosing your law practice software:

1. Ask yourself: where, when, what and who?
2. Is it the appropriate one for your management?
3. Who will be in charge of it?
4. Is it safe?

1. Ask yourself: where, when, what and who?

Where should it be installed: in servers at premises or over the internet? The first means that  its maintenance, servers, newer and better equipment, its all up to you and your firm; while as the latter all is lodged on servers in data centers and all maintenance and backing up is up to the vendor. Being the experts as they are it stands to reason this is the best choice.

When: What’s the firm budget to invest on such a  solution? The best and cheapest? Wrong! The app’s quality should match the needs of your practice. It’s better to start up with a simpler and leaner one rather than one that enables with lots of features but doesn’t meet your needs.

What: or which are your actual demands from the application? Since no software will ever solve all your problems, you’ll need to sort out it will manage for you. Is it the financial aspect of your firm? Is it he matters? Or just the office’s documents? All of the above?  There is no success without planning.

Who: once you have the  answers for the questions above, you are ready make your choice from the offer that is out there.

2. Is it the appropriate one for your management?

This question may sound a bit odd, but is has to be your own practice to dictate what are the goals to your choice of software rather the other way around. Don´t believe the hype that says that software will do it all. Pin pointing the needs in your firm will give a clear vision of what the software will handle for better results.

3. Who will be in charge of it?

It is of the essence that someone at your firm (one familiar and keen to IT) be in charge and trained to deal with the chosen app. It will not be enough that co-workers with management functions are trained to use it. Someone with a knack for IT and with law qualification is the ideal one for the job.

4. Is it safe?

Before signing up for any app, check out the following:

• Where the servers are based at?
• What are the its safety features?
• What are the requisites for your firm to access the data center?
• Should you cease the contract to using the app, how will all your data be retrieved?
• Be sure that you only sign up for the minimum services.

These and other questions are  valid when installing  software in your premises:

• How is the backing up made?
• Is there external backing up?
• How many licenses are there in the cost, for installing?
• How much will the invest cost?

Finally, I leave some tips that apply to any software:

• Always check whether or not a new client is already registered in the system.
• Do not type with just higher case, use both high and low.
• Log in the most data possible.
• Avoid misspelling and grammar glitches.
• Pdf or word format for annexed docs.
• Passwords should be altered after a given time.
• Passwords should be at least 6 characters long containing letters, numbers and special ones i.e.   #=)$(%/&
• Deadlines, tasks, diligences and so on must be logged in and scheduled so they can be searched using an array of easy and intuitive filters.
• Never forget to click the SAVE button.
• Submit data that will reflect on future reports. Logging in data just for the heck of it is a waste.
• Pay special attention when selecting data from the app’s boxes and/or columns. The mouse wheel may play tricks on you.
• Always have more than one access to the Internet at your office.
• Always save and back up the way your vendor advises to.
• Many solutions automatically issue reports. Make the most of this feature and always check data up before printing.
• Make a daily use of the app you’ve chosen. Have it running at all times and submit the most data possible.
• If by any chance you can not access the system or any feature within it, take it easy and contact the system administrator or who’s in charge of it at the office. There might     be different levels of clearance.
• How’s the client support? Does the vendor charge you for it? Do not overlook this point.

Post 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):

When asking themselves this, everybody has in mind a software solution that does it all: it can manage matters, it organizes the firm, it will sort all that in your practice can be delt with in the cloud and still keep your business from fallling into chaos.

Foolishness!

Prior to solving the management of your office with a software comes the need to manage your practice.

What do I mean?

Any software solution will enable you with data, swift search (assuming it is provided with a comprehensive database), issue reports, etc. However, for a streamlined performance it will need for its data to be logged  within a certain logic and pattern. Reaching this implies that an advanced acquaintance with the app is a given, i.e. understanding its features, possibilities and actual implementation cost, so that an assessment of its cost/benefit ratio can be realized.

Some myths on legal apps are:

The complete solution

All app developers claim that their soltions are the bench mark of the market, they will meet all your practice needs. The reality is that apps will only do what they were programmed to and without an in depth try out,  there’s no way to find how suited for the task they are or not. Apps will enable you with countless resources that won’t do you any good if you don’t know how to make use of them or those resources are not suited for your needs.

Before buying software ask yourself the following:

• What is my area of business?
• What sort of data will be most usefull for my clients?
• Can I access and log data at any time, from any place (from my cell phone for instance)?
• What area the areas of my practice that the app will manage (matters, fiscal, documents, etc)?
• Can I afford to invest in an ideal software solution or do I have other priorities?

The point is, before thinking of apps you should actually be thinking of management.

Managing matters versus managing your office

This could be a blurry issue. Taking matter management for practice management. Dangerous blunder.

Managing matters is a part of the legal practice. But that’s what it is: a part. Lawyers ought to be a part of their clients businesses, part of their decision making by acting preventively. Matters are important but not the sole purpose of your practice.

If they’re not your only goal, why turn them into the core of your office? No way. You got to manage  finances (bills to pay, invoices to receive, cash flow, costs, etc), e-documents (digitize everything, contracts, bills, etc)  clients and prospects management and so on.

If you still think that there is no app for that, you must have been out of the Earth for the last years. The market has to offer solutions that will serve for general office management and not just concerning matters. Don’t be dazzled with matter management, for it needs to be a complete one in order to be effective.

Implementation

This where lots of firms lose money. Believing that an app will solve all their problems, lawyers leave to the people in charge of implementing, fundamental decisions about their practices.

Not to demerit IT consultants and pros, however very few of these take business management really into their interest. The success of their app implementation in your office is their actual concern. How the data is going to be managed and used is not their aim.

This is the real issue here. Management comes before any sort of app implementation. Sort what routines in your firm are the most suited for the present reality and within a year’s time. You’ll have to know what an app can do, to assess it in your firm’s daily practice.

Once you’ve got this down, IT people can come over to train you and your employees, to implement and check on the reports that your management has previously determined and so forth.

To conclude: software will have to work for your firm and not be it to set what can be done or not. You paid for it, it should be working for you and not the other way around.

To be or nor to be web-based

Some by fear, others by prejudice and others by being oblivious of it, do not use wed-based software.

I am totally for it. More good than bad (if any) comes from it. Available from anywhere (even from your cell phone) you have data, documents, court sentences all within the reach of a LAN connection.

Is it safe? Quite safe. A hefty effort is put into web safety. To be true they invest more into safety than any one single law firm would. It is their business to be safe, isn’t it? And yours is to practice law.

So, is there such thing as “the perfect app for the legal practice”? Of course there is, but it is up to you and not to the app to say so.

Post by Jared Correia. Jared is the law practice management advisor with the Massachusetts Law Officer Management Assistance Program, providing free and confidential law practice management consulting to Massachusetts attorneys.  True to certain veiled promises, he makes his thoughts on law practice management available generally online, most notably through the LOMAP Blog and his Twitter account.

As a law practice advisor for Massachusetts’ Law Office Management Assistance Program, I am afforded a ringside seat for the viewing of trends in the legal field, through, what has become, my informal, detached study of modern lawyers’ habits.  One of the trends that I have noticed, over the time that I have spent in my current capacity, is that most of the attorneys with whom I consult are desirous of finding appropriate new technologies, that can: (1) unlock previously undiscovered efficiencies within their practice; and, (2) save them money. Given these qualifying motivations, it is, perhaps, unsurprising that many of the attorneys with whom I meet are ready, and most willing, to begin to incorporate SaaS solutions into their practices, to the extent that they have not already done so.

SaaS systems essentially (and, I won’t belabor this point, because if you’re a regular reader of LawRD’s “Your Law Firm in Progress” blog, you likely already know what SaaS systems are, and what they do) move the traditional software program from residence on your computer/system to residence on the web, accessible through a secure portal by you (and invited collaborators), following a set of security checkdowns.  SaaS systems, especially SaaS systems with practice management features, like the LawRD: Reports on Demand program, answer for the above-referenced requirements respecting efficiency and cost.  Online practice management systems are, in my experience, more accessible, easier to learn, more intuitive to use and faster in operation than those systems that continue to reside on your own computer systems. Given that certain systems, like LawRD’s, offer practice management components, for the better leveraging of client matter and contact management and for time and billing (among a number of useful features), the efficiency upgrade will be obvious in terms of adding a practice management system where, perhaps, none existed before; and, generally, the ease of use/intuitiveness, and speed additional to such programs, means that you’ll be working faster, and more efficiently, not harder.  Of course, one of the obvious reasons for the speed advance achieved with the use of SaaS systems is the fact that such programs are removed from your own computer system, and are not competing directly for space, memory and processing speed with the other applications that you have already downloaded to your machine; this also means that you’ve got fewer costs related to desktop/system support moving forward, and that the remainder of your traditional software systems will work faster, as well (competition having been removed), making you more efficient, saving you more money.  The cost savings of a move to SaaS are also inherent in the pricing models of most of these systems versus the pricing models of traditional software programs.  Generally, with traditional software systems, you’re paying a significant initial rate, plus for program updates, usually each year. With an SaaS system, you’re paying a fairly reasonable monthly rate (rather than a significant up-front cost), with updates taking place automatically, and behind the scenes, and without additional charge. The cost savings can become large-scale, depending upon the SaaS system you select, and depending upon the size (in terms of accessing employees) and needs of your firm; and, the additional efficiencies achieved through the immediate application of important updates and upgrades, without your spending any time to apply same, can also become significant.

If you want to learn more about SaaS, check out the “The Use of SaaS in the Legal Field” episode of my podcast.  With respect to the vetting of SaaS providers, and some of the security questions related to the utilization, by lawyers, of SaaS systems, look over my blog post respecting a North Carolina Bar Association proposed ethics opinion that attempts to provide some clarification in that space.  And, of course, you should continue to follow LawRD’s “Your Law Firm in Progress” blog, for product-related updates, and information relative to SaaS.

When deciding on the purchase of SaaS products in the legal space, you might consider LawRD’s flagship “Reports on Demand” program; you should also consider, as well, (LawRD parent company) muchBeta’s other useful SaaS product offerings: Teepin and Yoomit.

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:

Since we got LawRD out, we’ve had a two way approach as to spread its users community: the Internet and its social networks and the direct approach to legal practice professionals.

When contacting law firms for demoing LawRD (on the premises or online), we’ve systematically faced the ’software salesperson stigma’, which recalls them an array of bad memories from previous cases of IT deployment: the need for training, trying to figure how ‘this and that’ is done or bothering someone with tons of questions about it, trying to get in contact with the vendor to solve problems and glitches and never getting to solve them in due time, …

It’s by the time when clients realize that LawRD is altogether different from what they’re used to, or someone who has used or already using LawRD recommends us, that the ’software salesperson’ label gets yanked off. From then on things get smoother, our clients can immediately spot what sets our app from the rest: easy and intuitive use, available from any Internet connection, free 30 day trial, great pricing and no need for upfront investment.

Aiming to override this hurdle when presenting LawRD, we’ve come up with an affiliates program so we can support and reward those willing to make LawRD known and used by the most number of users. This means that we will pay a monthly amount for as long as 10 years, per active user each affiliate brings to us. Whoever has tested LawRD’s performance has the chance of having an extra source of income, helping us overcome the ’software salesperson stigma’ by scheduling LawRD demos.

We have a SaaS application for supporting the email contacts from our affiliates, which allows them to keep up with their contact performance and who have read their emails and when.

The challenge is set. It pays to pay a visit to affiliates.lawrd.com:

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

When we first started to develop LawRD, we were quite aware that, in many fronts, the concept we meant to come up with was going to be ground-breaking to most law practice professionals.

The innovation here, is the fact that LawRD is a service, not software sold in a CD-ROM demanding an upfront investment and periodical upgradings.

Being a SaaS, all its data is hosted in the “cloud” (Amazon data centers in LawRD’s case) thus being available through any Internet connection, freeing its users from concerns with servers, firewalls, viruses, IT infrastructure, compatibilities and safety.

LawRD has a mandatory free 30-day trial, no upfront investment and its monthly payment is done  accordingly to the number of active users. No long-term contracts or commitments, quit when you want to.

These facts are self-evident and, in our view, point to the new paradigm to which we move into at fast pace (thanks Gmail, homebanking, Salesforce and all other that paved the way to solutions such as LawRD).

The awareness for these advantages really stands out when a software “glitch” turns up, though. Usually, users call the software vendor presenting a complaint or asking for customer support. Then, a location visit from a technician is scheduled, which never happens as soons as needed, plus there are delays of all sorts, traffic jams and other setbacks until the problem is fixed and that support is paid for.

On the other hand, LawRD’s support is requested through the application itself:

Right away, LawRD team takes charge of the situation and, on most instances, users doubts are cleared or the problem is solved in a couple of hours. Most of our replies to help requests are just to inform our clients that the situation they contacted us for in the first place, is now solved.

Odd as it may seem, it is there and then, when doubts and problems arise, that we can better prove the edge that SaaS presents, being much more than software that one must pay for the the right to use it, LawRD is actually a service, provided by a team that stands only a click away, to solve any doubts or problems from our clients, in a quick and swift way, shortening waiting and offline times to a minimum.

To conclude, for LawRD, solving doubts and problems, is a deciding factor in our clients trust and satisfaction.

Transcription of an original post by Rui Amores, lawyer and partner at RA Law Office, from the Inconfidencias (content in Portuguese only) blog:

“The legal practice is the worst managed and most productivity challenged of all practices, probably. I’m talking about Portuguese legal practice, a small one, with little resources, few employees: solo practitioners, so to speak. It may not sound pleasant that the legal practice is not just of public interest but a livelihood for many who must support their families, pay for their children’s education, pay the bills, i.e. the  sort of needs that all PEOPLE have to face.

At times it seems to be a heresy, a gross fault when a law firm is profitable, well run and squanders neither  time nor money. It should always be available and willing to spend mercifully time away to whom may want to take advantage from us, may they be clients who happen to have forgotten their wallets at home and so not paying for the consultation, or simply the courts and Judges always counting on us to be at their service.

Well, it doesn’t have to be so. It can not be so. A law firm has to know:

• How many clients it has;
• How to contact them swiftly;
• The time spent on each task;
• Expenses and costs per matter;
• The matters there are per client;
• What is the billing at any given moment.

Computers are great and effective when assessing on the above goals, Up until recently we were dependent on software that generally was little user friendly; expensive since there was the need for a license for each user; it had to be installed on our computer or it  had to run on an intranet, which seldom happens in law firms.

On the other hand, law firm management software overlooked the fact that at this day and age, law practice happens not only in the office, as well as in the court houses, state buildings and generally wherever clients have their interests located. Adding to this, there is the fact that laptops are taking the place of the old pen and paper at courts lounges and court rooms.

Not long ago, it came to light in Portugal, a law firm management system that meets all these needs, namely, accessing at anytime and from anywhere an online platform and therein log everything that has been done for a client. LawRD, that is the name of such a platform that provides the answers to the issues afore described. It is quite worthy to give it a try for 30 days, completely free.

I did and I’m enjoying it.

If you want to know more on the system’s features and potential watch this video:”

Uplifting news to start 2010 with: DreamSimplicity.com website ranked LawRD - Reports on Demand on its Top 25 web solutions:

http://www.dreamsimplicity.com/top25.html

DreamSimplicity is a SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) solutions directory wherein one can find articles, news, videos and events on this industry.

We stress out one of the main features of SaaS solutions: there’s nothing to install and start working right away. It is easy as pie working with LawRD on your daily life: it just takes an Internet connection, a web browser  and link to http://www.lawrd.com.

We are waiting your visit.

LawRD has taken another step towards introduction to the international market, by joining a restricted group of sponsors of the II Competencia de Arbitage Comercial that took place at the Universidad de Buenos Aires, from 24 through 28  September last.

The event, a joint collaboration of the Law College of the Universidad de Buenos Aires and the Jurisprudence College of the Universidad del Rosario (Bogotá), enrolled over 400 participants from allover Latin America, who were given the chance to work on practical matters on Commercial Arbitration, had the guidance of professionals from top level law firms in this legal area.

This opportunity was presented to us by Estefania Santos, an argentinian lawyer who is an expert on legal issues concerning IT and author of the blog Internet y Derecho, whose most professional support in the introduction of LawRD to the argentinian market made our participation possible.

According to Estefania, LawRD’s presence there was a successful one due to the fact that it is a SaaS, by its interface and ease if use, and the usefulness of its reports, accessible at any time from an internet connection, being these what  mainly made the app stand out from the competition.

This event stands as a milestone from LawRD in the latin american market, by delivering an innovative and insightful service.

Below you can see the LawRD video we made specially for the event and that caught everyone’s ear at the meeting: