Jeffrey S. Krause, Esq.

Transcription

1 Jeffrey S. Krause, Esq.

2 Go Electronic Get Organized Manage Your Cases Manage Your Calendar Manage Your Documents Manage Your Day Protect Your Practice

3 Today s electronic case or practice management systems can assist you in every facet of managing your client files Intake Calendar and Docket Client Management Task Tracking Document Management Workflow Case Closing

4 Nothing will erode your productivity, i profitability and sanity faster than being disorganized Signs of disorganization: Piles on your desk Piles on your floor Post-it notes everywhere Thousands of s in your Inbox Process paper, notes and s as soon as possible by filing or scanning Use technology to stay organized

5 Like any other small business, solo and small firm attorneys find it difficult to say no to work Create a pre-intake process during which you can access whether you should take a client or a case Taking the wrong client or case can cause many problems including disrupting your entire caseload and workflow It is acceptable to say no so learn when to say it

6 The intake process is where you set the tone for the entire relationship with a client Provide the client with the information they need to work best with you Rates Billing policies i and procedures When is the best time to reach you Gather the information you need If necessary, create checklists of the information and items you need for each type of case Organize the information you have gathered into your systems so that you can efficiently process it

7 Organizing the file Setup the file in your case management system Setup the file in your billing system Setup the file in your document management system Docket the file in you calendar and docket system Create file related tasks on your Task List Scan critical documents right away and save into your document management system

8 The Case or Practice Management Systems described earlier: Can be setup to walk you through h the intake process and next steps Help you organize the information you receive during the intake process and throughout the life of the file The important thing about a Practice Management System is not that it is a place to enter information. The important t thing is that t it is a place to find the information later.

9 Keep several redundant d calendars even if they are all based on the same data Practice Management System PDA or Smartphone Paper backup Take advantage of electronic calendars the provide reminders, color coding, and other features that help you focus on what is important Incorporate your Task List into your calendar to better manage your time Review your calendar daily

10 Invest in a document management system (often included with case management software) and in a scanner Save your documents into the document management system so that you can search by client, case, document type, date created and other criteria OR by text within the document Turn incoming gpaper p into digital paper p by scanning it to PDF and saving into your document management system Make sure your document management system Make sure your document management system allows you to save in the same way as documents

11 Hard drive space is much cheaper than file cabinet space or rented offsite storage Scan as much of the file as possible and save it as an Adobe Acrobat PDF file PDF files are universally recognized PDF files can be searched PDF files can be organized into archives Don t close a file until it is paid Create a special category in your case management/billing software to track files that are finished but not yet paid

12 Checklists help you make sure everything gets done in the right order Procedures help your staff get things done the right way and on time Create a task list and take time every day to keep it organized Create a system of prioritization Delegate to keep the work flowing

13 Keep a Task List or To Do List Break down your to dos into three categories 1. Immediate 2. Important 3. Someday Prioritize within each category Work on your Immediate List every day If you finish your Immediate List each day, work on items in your Important List Every morning, take ten minutes to reprioritize and re- categorize Drop items from your Someday list when they have gone untouched for a long time

14 Within each of your Task Lists, prioritize i i your tasks alphabetically This helps you focus each day on the most critical items in your Immediate List and helps you determine which items need to be recategorized Obviously, some deadlines are more critical because they are set by statute or by the court. Focus on these. Avoid prioritizing things based on which client complains or calls the most

15 Spend your time doing the things that provide the most value to your law practice Delegate (or outsource) the things that you someone else can do This is true even where you can do it faster or better Avoid the mistake of assigning rather than delegating delegating. You need to make sure things are done right but don t become the choke point.

16 Unbilled time is a black hole that t will destroy cash flow and profits The longer a time entry goes unbilled, the harder it is to be paid on it Studies show that the average 10 attorney law firm has over $1 million in unbilled time There are many reasons for this: Inefficient billing practices Worried that a bill will not get paid Delays in closing the file The key to controlling this is billing policies, disciplined billing, and frequent reporting Bill every month on a set schedule

17 Make monthly billing your highest h priority it during its scheduled time Run work-in-process reports halfway through the month and adjust your time accordingly Run work-in-process reports prior to billing and make sure you bill everything you can Run accounts receivable reports prior to billing and make sure you bill files that are billed but not yet paid Use reports from your case management system to get a handle on file progress, especially if you do a lot of end of file billing When in doubt, bill it

18 Someday, how you plan for disaster may save your practice Do a full, system level backup of your electronic data In order to completely restore your practice you need to be able to completely restore your server Backup paper to digital paper using scanning technology

19 ONE BACKUP IS NOT ENOUGH Do scheduled backups on a routine basis Each backup should be to separate media, although you can overwrite media on after a specified time Backup key application data within the application and backup the backup Keep a backup off site Backup everything. Full vs. Incremental Consider purchasing a second backup unit

20 Does your disaster plan really work? Lots of things can happen to the best disaster plan (tapes go bad, software settings get corrupt, etc.) The only way to know is to test it Periodically, perform a test restore of at least some of your backed up data This can be as simple as renaming a file on your server and attempting to restore the original of that file

21 J.D. Marquette University Law School, 1996 Owner Krause Practice Management, LLC Implements technology solutions for law firms of all sizes Conducts Time Matters Boot Camps throughout the United States Author of Jeff Krause s Practice Management Blog ( Contact jeff@krausepm.com