Law firms offer a very important and valuable service to their clients. The work they do takes a lot of time to prepare for. Whether they are preparing for criminal or civil cases, there is a lot that happens behind the scenes to help their clients get the best outcomes possible. From working with expert witnesses to getting ahold of medical files to interviewing countless witnesses, law firms need operational processes that help them gather the information they need effectively and efficiently. But some firms are stuck in old school ways of doing things and they have operational bottlenecks keeping their processes from being fast and easy. Let’s look at some of those issues and ways they can fix them.
Misunderstanding the Needs of Your Clients
Many lawyers go in with their own ideas of what the client should want and need. These assumptions can put them on the wrong track in creating a solid case. Clients want great communication, clear pricing, and updates as their cases progresses. They love tailor made services in other areas of life, and the legal world is no different.
A personal injury law firm for example needs to remember the stress and uncertainty that their clients are going through. These clients often want more than just money, they want reassurance, a clear understanding of the timelines, and communication that helps to ease their anxiety and stress. When law firms do this well, on top of their technical expertise, that’s when client satisfaction increases.
Medical Records Retrieval Challenges and Solutions
Getting ahold of medical records used to be a very complex process. Clients had to sign waiver after waiver and required a lot of manual, and in-person follow-up. It was a slow process that created bottlenecks for lawyers who needed access to all these documents for personal injury and even for criminal cases. The good news is that medical records retrieval for lawyers is made easier when law firms use a top notch retrieval service.
Retrieving medical records in this way allows law firms to focus on the tasks that help them build the case, not running around trying to get access to information. These services help to streamline the entire process, offering HIPAA compliant data storage, searchable and shareable documents, and even the ability to add notes and annotations to specific documents without changing the original. This gives law firms back more time to meet deadlines, strategize, and hopefully, build winning cases.
Outdated Internal Systems That Reduce Productivity
It’s hard to adopt new processes and systems, even if they can make things more efficient and productive. Many law firms that have been around for years and years still use outdated legacy systems, redundant processes, and even spreadsheets to track data. These inefficient systems create bottlenecks and administrative burdens that keep these law firms from using their time effectively and wisely. It can create lost documents and even slow billing processes that keep lawyers from getting paid on time.
As law firms grow, it’s important to leverage technology and processes that help them manage the vast amounts of data they collect. A user-friendly workflow that all the lawyers in a firm can use helps them manage their time better, stay compliant, and keeps them from losing track of important case details. The best firms use integrated systems that cross multiple areas of the business, cloud based management systems, and processes designed for efficient legal processes.
Mismanaging Employees
People are essential to the success of any great business and that includes law firms. But often law firms fall into poor staff management practices that can cause great employees to look for jobs elsewhere. The old fashioned model of law firms relying on junior associates to churn out massive caseloads without getting help is no longer the expectation of this generation of workers. Young employees want better career growth opportunities, work life balance that makes sense, and mentors who will help instead of feeling threatened by new talent.
Law firms who don’t offer this type of environment risk losing their best employees to competing law firms or burning out their best talent while they are still young. In addition, mismanaging talent can make employees less productive and increases the cost of recruiting because of high turnover rates. Law firms that want to do better will offer compensation packages that also allow for great work-life balance and help their new staff learn and grow in a much healthier work environment.
Law firms that want to thrive and win cases need to get rid of operational bottlenecks that are holding them back. Whether it is using a service to retrieve medical records or finding an integrated system to handle internal processes, there are many ways to do this so that it can thrive.
