Maine Law Practice Management

By now, the vast majority of law firms want to run paperless offices; the problem is often figuring out the logistics -- especially for law firms with decades of history (and files) behind them.  T he most daunting question is often how to get started.     So, let’s talk about how you can get paperless, even with a pile of paper behind you.       This is the playbook:     (1) If necessary, audit your files.  Organize by year, then by client, then by matter.     (2) Collect any files that were closed more than 8 years earlier.  If you have previously gotten permission/consent from your clients to dispose of those files, do so in a confidential manner.  If you haven’t, contact the clients associated with those files, and ask them whether they wish to retrieve them or receive them.  (If they do, it usually means more business for the law firm, as past clients tend to generate new referrals in this context.)  O...

We are l i ving through unprecedented times, for sure.  There are multi-fronted crises overtaking the American landscape, including those related to reopening of cultural institutions and business, like law firms.  Of course, the issue of reopening, and the speed with which it occurs, have become deeply personal questions.  Just because your law firm office can be open, you need to decide whether it should be, to what extent it will be, and what you will require of your employees in that context.   Even as law firms reopen, the question of when and how to bring employees back is specific to the individual law firm, which needs to deal with space considerations, as well as the psychological health of its lawyers and staff.  One thing that law firm managers should do is to gauge the willingness of staff and employees to come back, and when.  Some businesses, including law firms, are not expecting to open offices back up until the end of the year, despite ...

Legal consumer habits are shifting under the feet of attorneys ; and , law firms, rooted in tradition, are feeling the pressure to reduce prices and overhead, while increasing service.  Part of this legal consumer revolution involves the rise of DIY clients, who want to do more, without the involvement of lawyers, because they’re cost-sensitive. Law firms responding to these pressure points are doing so in a number of ways.  More and more lawyers are installing subscriptions services (think: your Netflix account), and offering products, in addition to services.  Everyone knows what subscription services are; but, applying them to law firms is a relatively new thing.  Adding legal ‘products’ to your law firm menu (think: LegalZoom ’s selling of documents) is something that law firms can do, but often won’t or don’t do -- even if it’s a way to capture revenue from the increasing number of DIY legal clients who would never, otherwise, hire a law firm.     If...

Lawyers have always been better at managing their employees in-person.  Law firms prefer butts in seats . . . of course, now those butts are in seats at their own homes , a lot of times .  There’s no more just managing by walking around.  There’s no more just looking over shoulders.  Even as offices begin to reopen, they will do so in a way that contemplates the value of remote work, too .   The good news is that there is a better way to manage case progress; and, it’s suitable for pandemic and post-pandemic life.   At this point, most of the major productivity and case management tools include workflow features.  Workflows are simply aggregations of tasks, strung together.  What workflow tools allow you to do is to create groups of tasks at the same time, rather than task-by-task.  So, not only does workflow management make it easier to create sets of tasks, it also makes it easier for employees to manage those tasks, and for supervisors to ...