By Elizabeth M. Miller bio
Providing maximum efficiency is an endless challenge for today’s law firms.
Twenty or thirty years ago, before computers replaced electric typewriters (anyone remember those?), preparation of documents was an arduous task in which every pleading required that the wheel be reinvented over and over. Bookkeeping and trust accounting were done with a calculator, check books, and ledgers, and accounting tasks required painstaking attention to detail. There were no computerized calendars—everyone used the big red lawyer diary. We communicated by snail mail, telephone, and telefax.
All of those tools are now obsolete and those of us who remember those days wonder how we ever got anything done. Case management software, accounting and financial software, and email can and do make preparing documents, communications, calendaring, and money management much easier, quicker, and more accurate.
Clients demand more
With all of these tools at our disposal, clients expect improved services for their money. Yet many law firms are faced with increased workloads and reduced staffing resources, creating an unsustainable work model.
The one thing that no firm can afford to sacrifice or compromise on is failure to meet the client’s expectations—not in terms of outcome, but in terms of quality of service.
Something commonly known as “business drag”—a decrease in business value or profitability due to failure to meet client demands—can significantly affect a firm’s revenues. This is when work is provided too late or is done so poorly that it’s useless to the client.
3 steps of problem-solving and process improvement
It’s easy to fall into the trap of believing that your firm is too busy to undertake process improvement. So start small.
No matter what problem you choose to tackle, there are three steps to the process.
Step 1: Define the problem
For example:
- Is your case management software being used to its fullest potential?
- Are your forms up to date and actually used as forms with templates and merge codes?
- Are you using accounting software for office bookkeeping, trust accounting and maintaining clients ledgers that works with your case management software thereby reducing the errors made by numerous entries in different places of the same information?
- Is your staff reinventing the wheel every time a letter or pleading needs to be generated?
- Can you easily access information for a client?
Step 2: Measure the current performance of the process currently being utilized.
Step 3: Implement a solution designed to eliminate the problem and solve the process.
The benefits of problem-solving and process improvement can be measured as follows:
- Better client services
- Improved efficiency and higher level of production
- Reduced errors in work product
- Lower costs (means increased profitability)
Conclusion
When looking at process improvement, consider the needs of a client. Look for any changes you can make that will meet—or beat—their expectations and improve the value of the service your firm is providing.
