Law Practice Today

Aside from the problem-solving nature of our legal practice, a very tangible side of our efforts is documented through the mountains of paper we generate besides the more intangible telephone calls, face-to-face meetings, web meetings, and emails. Of course, even after practicing for five years or less, all that paper needs to go somewhere. We take a stab at cataloguing it, bates numbering and excel lists proliferate, but eventually even the best manual catalogues fall short and are overwhelmed by the sheer volume of legal output.

Though we try hard not to, we find ourselves reinventing the wheel time and time again as a rarely used document called for in one particular case gets filed away and then recreated for another case occurring months later. Computers help to maintain some order, but manual input fails over time without ever increasing numbers of dedicated staff to input and manage the reports. Being able to automate a lot of the tasks would be both beneficial and a challenge of sorts, so a number of companies have gone into business supplying software that meets the goal.

With all the software available, help is needed in sorting through the programs and cataloguing the features, costs, and other necessary information. To that end, Andrew Adkins provides a helpful survey in a second edition of The Lawyer's Guide To Practice Management Systems Software. The entire “Lawyer's Guide To” series of the American Bar Association Law Practice Management Section provides very useful information and assistance to attorneys and Mr. Adkins' new edition to this series does not disappoint.

The author is director of the Legal Technology Institute in Florida and a nationally recognized expert in legal technology and in this book provides a review of the case/matter management products on the market. This field of products is relatively new compared to that of time and billing. Mr. Adkins posits that lawyers need to be educated about the value of practice management software. Lawyers are resistant to change and such software will certainly change how they handle administrative tasks by increasing efficiency in the practice of law and allowing a more polished relationship with clients and the courts.

In three chapters, Mr. Adkins presents the features of management software for both small and large firms, discusses the issues that attorneys need to consider in choosing the software, and provides indispensible questions that law firms need to address both before making a purchase and after. In the second chapter he offers a cross-referenced list defined by the size of the practice, the operating system, and the level of integration with word processing, email, billing, and document management software. The latter half of the book is replete with appendices on all aspects of implementing a practice management system, starting with the questions used to produce the tables found in the second chapter, the law firms’ request for proposals that can be sent to vendors, and finally the evaluation worksheet and list of additional case management developers. These appendices are reproduced on the CD enclosed with the book, which allows for an easy search and the production of training plans to use when the software is implemented, requests for proposals, and checklists.

In any practice, large or small, solo managed or multi-national conglomerate, it behooves attorneys to be concerned with knowledge management. It wastes the client's time if the lawyer needs to search through multiple files to find an answer or to provide an update on the status of the case. It is also inefficient if first year associates are forced to continually approach partners with questions about procedure and 'which form in what situation.' Utilizing practice management software is one step in the right direction. Mr. Adkins has twenty years of experience in legal technology consulting and he demonstrates this experience in the third chapter, where he describes the needs analysis review and the implementation phase of particular software acquired.

In order to make an intelligent purchase of a practice management system, the law firm needs to evaluate its own practice and compare its needs to what the system can provide. In its evaluation the firm should consider technology already in place, i.e., both the hardware and software it has available. The practice areas that the firm works in are also important. Some management software is designed for specific practices. In general, the firm will want the software to collect and report on particular subjects and the vendor should be made aware of this. Through several technical illustrations, Mr. Adkins shows how the information collected in the initial interview is transferred from the attorney to the secretary, paralegal, and bookkeeper. With practice management software, each individual will be able to work on his/her part of the client file while the software keeps track of the information and can provide reports, stay abreast of deadlines, and generate documents.

After a review of the request for proposals, the author moves to the implementation phase. Here, he describes how the firm begins the process of integrating the software with the established technology, migrating data from other systems now made redundant, and training the staff. Towards the end of the third chapter Mr. Adkins provides a humorous troubleshooting section that discusses what can go wrong, ranging from a difficult installation that crashes on startup to the realization that the firm has purchased the wrong software. Throughout this section, the obvious lesson to draw is that a proper evaluation completed at the beginning with full realization of what implementation will entail can forestall many of these problems.

While some reference is made to solo and small firms, the target audience of the book appears to be mid- and large size firms. In sum, the author’s aim is to provide a basic education of case management software and its usefulness. While Mr. Adkins has ample experience in the area and has largely met his goal, the book could benefit from examples and vignettes showing the software in use in various types of practices. A discussion of how a firm of a particular size used the software in its practice areas would have been helpful and brought to life the tables showing what software fits in what size of practice. For the successful management of the mountains of information generated in a law practice, this book provides a needed reference to rapidly changing technology.

About the Reviewer
Ian Bezpalko, a sole practitioner in Albuquerque, New Mexico, works on matters involving copyright and trademark issues, contracts, and other business transactions.  He offers legal research and writing for attorneys in all practice areas.  The website for his firm is www.bezpalkolawfirm.com and he can be reached at ibezpalko@gmail.com.