Maine Law Practice Management

The chief method for law firm business management is inertia, largely .  That means you can pretty much default to lawyers doing nothing, rather than something, anything.     That, of course, extends to financial management .  Lawyers tend to run up accounts receivable, because they don’t bill regularly .  They never run revenue projections, either; so , they can’t build to specific financial goals .  They don’t run financial reports regularly ; so , they don’t have a consistent understanding of the financial health of their law firms.   Neither do attorneys raise rates regularly .  Across the country, law firm rates struggle to keep up with inflation. That’s not enough.     And, while most attorneys think that raising rates is a dangerous step, there are ways to manage it, without alienating new or existing clients .  In the first instance -- don’t go crazy: it’s okay to raise your rates by $25/hour, let’s say .  ...

Most law firm data and information is ‘siloed ’.   What I mean by that is that most law firm software is not able to ‘talk’ to each other .  In other words, data cannot be effectively pushed into or out of systems .  This is most always true of premise-based systems .  But, it can also be the case with cloud-based software s , which can be directly connected, but is often not linked by law firms.   One of the best reasons to shift to cloud-based software (or, more cloud-based software) is that cloud systems, by means of a secure internet connection, can pass data back and forth .  That’s why, for example, law practice management software is so useful as a hub for law firm operations, because you can add and aggregate data from other systems into it, allowing you to select a client or matter and see , more or less, a complete rendering of the history of that case.  And, while that concept works particularly well in the construct of case management...

Lots of attorneys are short on cash .  But, lots of attorneys are sitting on unsent or incomplete invoices .  So, if you’re feeling a cash crunch in your law firm, look to a likely culprit : invoices that need to go out.     Lots of attorneys are sitting on lots of cash; those attorneys just need to send out their billing .  And, sending out that billing quickly is essential, because the more it piles up, the harder it is to collect on later: the more aged your accounts receivable, the less likely you are to see the money they represent . So, here are some tips for getting your billing out quicker:     -Simpl y set a recurring task for doing so .  Add a task in your calendar at the end of every month for sending out your invoices .  And, put a tickler on it, so you know it’s coming up.     - Adopt a single - entry system .  If you’re still writing down your time on a piece of paper, and handing it to your secretary : st...