It’s the 21st century, and the whole world is a global village. Somehow, someway, ICT has meandered its way into all the walks of life. It has so greatly influenced these systems; it almost threatens to take the place of human beings altogether. If you are a teacher that has never made presentations to his students, you’re wrong. If you’re a doctor that never uses machine imaging, you’re an assassin waiting to happen. If you’re a lawyer that doesn’t use legal case management software, it’s only a matter of time your client/firm fires you for incompetence.
Introducing legal case management software
If it were the year 1990, then manual file storage wouldn’t be a gross idea. More than twenty years later, however, nothing seems more burdensome. Nobody likes to handle bulky papers, regardless of how organized they may be. Say hello, to case management software.
Generally, case management involves keeping detailed records of an incident, and arching a story around that path. From such detail, a professional can make a reasonable judgment, and correctly predict any new development before it happens. When your case management is rock solid, you are empowered to represent the interests of your clients better. Oops. Did we just use law terms?
Professions that require case management include Medicine, Nursing, The Bureau, and of course, Lawyers, to name a few. Medical practitioners need to know the most seemingly insignificant detail about their patients. Federal agents working a criminal case must gather the pieces and solve the puzzle. Lawyers, like doctors, need to know the complete history of the client’s situation. This helps to build a strong case for them against the opposition successfully. What better makes a strong case than a lawyer armed with this kind of mercenary? These software greatly enhance the efficiencies of law firms and the lawyers in them.
Law school teaches you everything about the law and being a lawyer. It shows you everything but the business side of the legal profession. This is precisely where these software come in. In entirety, they handle your business as a lawyer for you. Think of these systems as packages with many gift items. They thus include features for case management, document assembly, time tracking for billing, docket management, and appointments, to name a few.
This software helps the lawyer to facilitate information capture. This creates the desired workflow and seamlessly hands you the reigns. You control what happens next. With all the details in front of you, brainstorming is not such a storm, after all. You can think constructively, piece the story together, and find loopholes. What is law, if it’s not about bending the law in your favor?
These tools demand compliance with the most basic judicial policies and requirements. Maneuvering his way within the guidelines of the law, he is made a better lawyer. Let’s build upon the package-and-gift-items analogy. This software utilizes technologies like word processing, password security, encryption, and desktop notes, to name a few. These are round pegs in the round holes of the many modern law firms around today. Ultimately, the software makes you the overall lawyer.
Smart work over hard work
Legal case management software puts you on a higher pedestal than the typical traditional law firm or lawyer. Here are some of the reasons:
- Machines don’t make mistakes
To err is human, and that’s as far as errors go. The use of manual labor constantly plummets your efficiency as a law firm, and as a lawyer. This is due to the high propensity for things to go south really quickly. What happens when you misplace the hand-written results of a deposition? Or now you’re suddenly not sure of what you wrote. Or you forgot to ask the client for a piece of information.
This software actively guards against any, and all of these errors, and more! Reducing the hand-to-hand transfer of data, it is nearly impossible for data to get lost in the process. When data does get lost in a fire, for instance, the best software is cloud-based. Even better, they automatically backup every few hours.
- Work outside the office
You’re on a flight to another state, to represent your client in court. Are you going to stuff your suitcase with jargon papers? On any device, you have access to all relevant information about your case at your fingertips with this software. You can seamlessly review essential details and finalize your stance and speeches. This cloud-based management gives you the freedom and flexibility that is needed for sanity maintenance. Your office is where you are.
- Networking
It enhances communication with clients and other colleagues in the office. With a healthy lawyer-client relationship, there is less tendency to miss out on important details. On this platform, there is easy correspondence, and your client is always in the loop concerning essential updates. It also facilitates a conducive environment in the workplace, fostering healthy communication among colleagues. The best software have integration with leading business applications. How cool is that?
- Security
Nothing beats the peace of knowing that your data is truly safe. Most software runs on 256-bit military-grade encryption. We can’t get into it but trust us enough to know that this is as secure as secure gets. With such assurance of complete security and privacy, clients have the leeway to tell you all the confidential information you demand. Such security also means that the possibility of hacking is indeed very slim, and almost impossible.
- Analysis
This software thinks for you. They’re able to draw up inferences somehow and run your case by similar ones. It does this by checking trends and making ingenious suggestions. It also automatically generates reports, showing you approaches that are in vogue, as opposed to the redundant ones.
Practicing law does not equal Running a law firm
We said this in passing, but there’s a need to emphasize it. A law firm is strictly a business venture and can be run by anyone. It demands the utmost productivity and high efficiency. This means that with as little daily tasks as possible, there should be geometric revenue production. While there is no system with 100% efficiency, it brings your firm close.
In conclusion
They say that only change is constant. The only way to respond positively to change is by embracing it. A change has come into the legal industry in the arrival of legal case management software. Embrace it.
