Save time at every stage of file processing and reduce the risk oversights or errors by automating repetitive and time-consuming tasks.
Optimizing and automating the processing of firm files can take place at any stage of their life cycle within the firm, from drafting and dispatch to their validation and signature.
Optimization starts as soon as the files are created. This involves setting up a tree structure to classify all documents, deeds, correspondence, and invoices in the appropriate sections. The different areas of law in which a law firm may have expertise sometimes require a special tree structure. Automating their creation depending on the area of law concerned is a good way of speeding up a repetitive and time-consuming process. It also guarantees a harmonized file structure within the same firm, so that several people can intervene on a file without spending a long time figuring out where to find what they are looking for.
Another way to save time and avoid mistakes when processing cases is to set up event chains. when a procedure is handled regularly by a law firm, the events that follow one another (appointments, acts, letters, hearings...) and constitute the procedure are, with a few exceptions, always the same. Therefore, an appropriate practice management tool can make them follow one another according to the schedule determined by the administrative or judicial deadlines specific to the procedure in question. At each of these deadlines, we will then find the document templates required, the documents that need to be gathered, the appointments or meetings that need to be scheduled, etc. In addition to saving time and avoiding errors, the risk of oversights that can cause an entire procedure to fail and the associated shortfalls in profits, both in terms of finances and client relations, firm and lawyer reputation, is practically eliminated.
Drafting documents or letters is one of the most important tasks in the legal profession. It is also one of the most time-consuming and in each document, sentence, or word, making a mistake is a possibility. To reduce both this risk and save time in generating your letters, document templates (kept up-to-date, of course) become necessary. This does not mean a library of Word documents filed on a computer's hard drive, internal server or a system such as Dropbox, but real matrices living within the firm management software capable of merging them with the data hosted in the files via a question/answer system. In merging these templates and client data, we can obtain documents and letters that are standardized, up-to-date and free of errors and typos.
While lawyers often refer to case law as the source of law, a law firm's past can also be a rich source for drafting documents. However, it's important not to spend hours exploring uncertainly classified archives in order to find the information you're looking for. An efficient practice management system indexes all the documents it contains, and offers a search engine powerful and versatile enough to perform a search on criteria as varied as the nature of the document, the field of law concerned, its author, the case in which it is involved or its content.
With a digital clause, it becomes easy to gather all or part of different documents to kick-start drafting a document that is absent from the matrix library, and avoid the dreaded blank page.
A lawyer who works alone validates their own documents. In a structured firm where partners, employees and secretaries work together, the documents created by its teams must follow a precise validation cycle, specific to each firm before being communicated to the courts, clients or partners. This circulation can create a bottleneck, slowing down the delivery of said documents and constitutes a real risk in carrying out a legal or judicial procedure and generating frustration and dissatisfaction, for lawyers as well as for their clients.
Fortunately, the leather initials that used to circulate between offices to collect the signatures of associates are now Digital initials, fully integrated with the firm's management software. The transmission of files and documents to be reviewed, corrected and validated is now instantaneous, while generating alerts and notifications, leaving no pending work "in the pile".
Finally, when the validity of documents generated by the firm requires their signature by one or the other or all of the parties involved, the use of electronic signatures drastically accelerates file processing by bypassing printing, dispatch, mailing, signature deadlines, postal referrals...
Another bottleneck in the file processing process can arise in the transmission of information from or to clients. Traditional communication methods such as emails and telephone are often saturated in law firms and a message can take several days to reach its final recipient. Establishing a client area removes this funnel effect by providing a secure channel between a lawyer and their clients. The former can file documents and documents there, indicate procedural deadlines (hearings, deadlines, etc.) and clients can send data and documents that will be directly added to their file, without clogging up an inbox or telephone switchboard in the process.
The same applies to the courts, which have long since digitized their communication channels, and files and documents are now sent directly to the court registry from business software that integrates interfaces such as e-Barreau.
And while postal mail remains essential, email solutions with acknowledgment of receipt also save law firms hours and days, while remaining secure and without compromising the legal value of the documents sent.
