As a rule, law firms are generally well-run and fiscally-conscious enterprises. Always concerned with maximizing billable hours, and getting the most out of every employee from partner down to paralegal, they are “time equals money” personified. It should come as no surprise then that law firms in the 21st century are trying to outsource as much of their business and administrative needs as possible.
Here's a look at the types of tasks that law firms around the country are currently outsourcing:
Court Reporting
Only the biggest of the big law firms maintain full-time court reporters on their payroll. For the other 99% of the legal population, it is much more cost effective to hire these skilled individuals as needed. Court reporting services make it easy for attorneys to bring in a reporter on short notice for depositions, motions or even full on trials. Court reporters can provide a variety of valuable services to a law firm including transcription of audio or video, translation services as more.
Paralegal
Once the mainstay of every law firm in the country, tough times have exiled many paralegals out of the full-time role and into the “on demand” world of outsourcing. Now, many firms will bring on paralegals only as needed, on a project by project basis for document indexing, filing papers with the court and of course, legal research. The paralegals can still be billed out to the client at a generous rate, but without having to pay them an annual salary.
Operator/Front Desk
These days, attorneys are so busy that they don't even have time to get the phone throughout the course of the day. So it's no wonder that they are willing to outsource their phone operations to a virtual office company. Unless a firm needs a physical presence at the front desk, the virtual office services make great sense – and cost much less than hiring a full time receptionist.
File Clerk
Another one-time staple of law firms, file clerks are now more commonly brought in occasionally throughout the year to maintain large filing systems and make sure everything is accessible and well-organized. Once, not having a file clerk at a law firm would have seemed impossible, but the advent of the “paperless” law firm have pushed the bulk of the correspondence online – making the flow of documents much easier to handle.
Other Attorneys
That's right, lawyers are now saving money by outsourcing their own legal work. Why do they do it? When a clients comes in with a big case that is going to stretch resources to the limit, the firm can do one of two things – they can hire additional attorneys at a tremendous cost, or outsource chunks of the work to other lawyers on a piece-by-piece basis. With the former, there is no guarantee that the full-time attorney will be needed after the case is over, but in the latter, the firm is only paying for the work they need done.
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Internships In Law Firms
Today's economic environment is more challenging than ever before. In order to survive in this rapidly changing business world and gain a competitive advantage, companies must try to reduce costs and improve the efficiency of their practice as much as possible. The surest way to achieve this is to be aware and make good use of the latest developments in technology. Legal market is no exception to this rule. Nowadays, law firms can choose from a wide range of legal technologies that can aid them in ensuring safe record keeping, organized operations and a considerably improved overall efficiency that derives from cutting costs and saving time.
Be it case management software or practice management software, these legal technologies allow systematic organization and easy retrieval of present and past client and case files, court appointments and meetings.
Software for Probate, Family, Personal Injury, Criminal Billing, Convey and Wills are among the most popular case management applications available on the market. The Probate software is ideal for all practitioners who want to become more efficient in their work by cutting out the repetitive and time-consuming aspects of this procedure. The system focuses primarily on producing the letters and documents associated with the Probate procedure in a quick and efficient manner. The Probate software allows users to locate files and use the data on them in a very time-effective manner, even if they only have basic typing skills. In addition to including a set of standard precedents, such as letters to public utilities, letters to asset holders, letters to life assurance companies, inland revenue payment of tax, oaths, stock transfer forms, etc., the Probate software is very flexible, as it allows users to control and adapt the system to meet any particular requirements. Furthermore, the Probate software includes additional features and applications, such as tax and stock transfer forms, cashier accounting and e-mail integration, which ensure assistance in meeting all quality management standards and make it a powerful tool for any law firm.
The Family software reflects the entire matrimonial procedure in a gradual and easy to follow manner, irrespective of the complexity of the case. The procedures and workflow of the Family software cover acting for petitioner or respondent, financial settlements, injunctions, unmarried couples and cases that do or do not involve children. The system allows for SMS text messages to be sent automatically, should the case require that the client or another party be contacted. The Family software can be implemented without alteration but it also allows the changing of the supplied precedents in order to suit the practice. In addition, this software allows document assembly and management, e-mail integration, automated case progression and accounts integration.
The Personal Injury software ensures complete customer satisfaction, as it enables users to answer all of their clients? queries in a quick and accurate manner. This system assists users in efficiently handling a considerable larger number of claims and processing them in a more time-effective way. The need for support staff is diminished and the overall productivity is notably improved. The Personal Injury software includes features such as document assembly and management, electronic forms completion and time recording, as well as e-mail and accounts integration.
The Criminal Billing software allows criminal practitioners to save a lot of time with the criminal franchising procedure, whilst maintaining the control that it provides. This software, which operates in accordance with the latest criminal publicly funded and franchising criteria, is a powerful and completely flexible system that can be customized to meet particular requirements and working practices. The Criminal Billing software allows document assembly and SMS messaging, automatic case costing and tracking, time recording, e-mail integration, automated case progression and accounts integration and includes a set of standard features as well as full case history of all actions.
By providing ready access to all the available information, legal software improves accuracy and saves a lot of time. The implementation of the latest developments in IT systems is a must for every law firm whose aim is to cut costs and speed up the working practice.
Both Mark Etinger & Grojan Fabiola are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
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