4 minute read
Law Firm Automation Reducing Human Error and Increasing Efficiency
BY ERIC S. STEINER, ESQ.
UNTIL RECENTLY, law firm automation was only available to firms with dedicated teams of software developers who would write custom software to accomplish specific automation tasks. New advances in automation technology, widespread availability of highspeed internet and the proliferation of cloud-based solutions for law firms are now making automation possible for any law firm to implement with a few clicks and without the expense of a software engineer.
What is Cloud-Based Software?
To understand how automation can be utilized by any law firm, it is first necessary to have a basic understanding of what it means for software to be cloud-based. Prior to widespread broadband internet such as Verizon FIOS 1 or Comcast High-Speed Internet, 2 software needed by law firms such as Microsoft Office 365 3 and law firm practice management software would be installed locally on one or several computers at each law firm’s physical location, or on a local server physically located at the firm.
Broadband internet shattered this model because with its advent, software could be hosted online by the developer, and be accessed quickly by millions of users with high-speed internet. This change led to the development of cloud-based practice management software specifically geared towards law firms, such as Clio Manage and Grow, 4 MyCase, 5 and CosmoLex. 6
How Automation Relates to Cloud-Based Software
Clio Manage and Clio Grow are two examples of cloud-based practice management software. One of the most important features for law firm automation, which is built into Clio Manage, is integration with other cloud-based software via a connector called Zapier. 7
Think of Zapier as a translator between various cloud-based software: Zapier allows different cloud-based software to talk to each other and communicate “Triggers,” “Actions,” and “Searches” through “Zaps.” Gmail, 8 which is the email platform developed by Google, 9 and the rest of Google’s cloud-based systems such as Google Docs 10 and Google Sheets, 11 also integrate with Zapier, as well as Microsoft Office 365. A full list of integrations can be found on Zapier’s website. 12
How Automation Can Reduce Human Error and Increase Efficiency
The combination of cloud-based practice management software and other cloud-based services allows a law firm to create automations that both reduce human error and increase efficiency by automating routine tasks and freeing up time for both attorneys and staff.
Automating Client Intake
If a law firm wishes to reduce no-shows for new client consultations and increase efficiency follow up to clients after a consultation, it can utilize a series of automations to accomplish these tasks. A consultation can be scheduled using cloud-based Calendly, 13 which can be set up to automatically sync with Google Calendar and Zoom 14 if the firm is conducting video consultations.
The firm can customize the details of the new client consultation, including the content, method and frequency of reminders that the client receives prior to the consultation. Clio Grow can be used to document any notes regarding the consultation, and the firm can set up workflows to automatically send a series of follow-up emails after the consultation. If the client decides to proceed with the firm, the firm can quickly prepare a retainer agreement or engagement letter in Clio Grow that can be emailed to the client for signature, and once received, the matter can be exported to Clio Manage in a few clicks.
Triggers When a New Matter Is Opened
One of Zapier’s Clio triggers 15 is “New Matter,” which means that the creation of a new Clio matter starts a trigger which can direct another cloud-based software to take a particular action. A law firm can set up automation so that upon the creation of a new Clio Matter, the client automatically receives a welcome email template already drafted by the firm for that specific kind of matter. Taking this a step further, Zapier can filter 16 specific kinds of matters to only send automatic emails for those kinds of matters, which prevents incorrect emails from being sent to the wrong clients.
Clio Manage also allows a law firm to set up Task Lists 17 , which are to do items that can be set up to automatically be assigned to various attorneys and staff, and then be linked to a specific matter. A firm can create a Zap so that when a new Matter is created, a task list is automatically created and linked to the Matter, and the attorneys and staff will automatically receive their various assignments for that Matter.
Without these automations, the firm’s staff would have to manually perform each of these actions, increasing the risk that the new client will confuse the date, time and location of the consultation and/or the risk that the welcome email will omit key information or documents. Additionally, the firm would have to devote time to each of these tasks, which decreases firm efficiency.
Overall, if utilized correctly, cloud-based practice management software and other cloud-based software solutions can significantly increase law firm efficiency and reduce human error through automation, allowing attorneys and staff to focus on helping their clients, instead of devoting time to routine, time-consuming tasks.
ERIC S. STEINER is the managing member of Steiner Law Group, LLC in Baltimore, and primarily practices in the areas of commercial and consumer bankruptcy and commercial litigation. He is a council member of the MSBA’s Consumer Bankruptcy Section, a trustee of the Baltimore Bar Foundation and the Treasurer of the LGBTQ Bar Association of Maryland.
