Automate Strategic Workflows to Save Time, Money and Sanity
The legal profession is one of the last bastions of manual workflows like keeping track of time on a yellow pad. Not only is this kind of behavior inefficient, it is also kind of crazy if you think about it. Thousands of dollars can be saved by automating and digitizing this workflow. Even the technology resistant can learn to manage these workflows within a week or two – or five minutes. We are lawyers! We passed the bar! We know how to solve problems!
Running a law firm can be a prohibitively expensive proposition if you don’t manage your operations properly. From legal billing, timekeeping and invoicing to scheduling and data management, there are elegantly inexpensive solutions out there if you merely scratch the surface. If you are thinking of setting up a new law firm and have no systems yet in place, you are in a very good position to set up a clean, lean law practice! Even if you’re already established, you can change your ways and become more efficient and lower your overhead.
Below are a few examples of how to save time and money:
Get a Virtual Assistant:
If you don’t absolutely need a live person to greet clients in your office, you can use a far less costly automated phone system or even a virtual assistant. A virtual assistant is a live person who will answer your phone, but not in your office. You are connected online – this person could be anywhere, as long as he is reliable. There are many online providers of virtual assistants – we have written about this in a recent blog post. For many lawyers, a virtual assistant can slash overhead and give more freedom to practice the kind of law that they have more passion for – rather than the kind of law that keeps you scrambling on the hamster wheel.
Ditch Your Server:
Maintaining a server is a costly and harrowing experience. Why do it? When it breaks, your entire office is offline until it is fixed. That can be a costly problem. Do you think you are able to keep your data more secure than Google or Box.com or Microsoft? Do you know more than they do? By ditching your server, you will not only lower your monthly server bills, repair bills, but you will be putting all your data in the cloud making it not only accessible from anywhere, but far more secure than you could have maintained.
Digitize Your Documents:
The core to Lean Practice is having all your documents in electronic form. Having access to all of your documents from a cloud-based system is a must for small law firm management. It’s easier than you think and will provide a huge increase in productivity in your law practice. All you need is a scanner that is easy enough to use that you as a lawyer can do most of the scanning. You don’t want to pay somebody to feed the scanner all day long. So, buy yourself a simple scanner like a Fujitsu Scan Snap.
Getting Started
By creating the most efficient workflows for your small law practice tech needs, you’ll either do the research yourself or ask an expert. At LeanLaw we learn about your law practice and offer you curated advice to fit your needs. It’s easier and more affordable than you think!
Join the Movement!
