Legal Business Best Practices

Time Matters Named Best Docket Management Software in New York Law Journal Reader Rankings

Fri, 23 Sep 2011 10:12:00 -0400

Time Matters Also Ranked Among the Best in Three Other Categories

September 21, 2011 - NEW YORK - LexisNexis (www.lexisnexis.com), a leading global provider of content-enabled workflow solutions, today announced that LexisNexis® Time Matters® was named the Best Docket Management Software in the recently released New York Law Journal Reader Rankings. In addition to receiving that honor, Time Matters was also named among the top three in the Best Case Management Software, Best Docketing & Calendaring Software and Best Time & Billing Software categories.

"We're thrilled to see Time Matters recognized by our users and customers in New York

Meet the big timesaver that delivers lexis.com® within your firm’s portal: LexisNexis® SharePoint® Web Parts

Mon, 08 Aug 2011 09:29:00 -0400

Stay within your firm's Microsoft® SharePoint® environment and gain access to the content and functionality of lexis.com® resources that your firm uses most-without directly going to the lexis.com site.

With LexisNexis® SharePoint Web Parts, ease of use can be the new reality for law firms, with customizable Web parts created to gain access to the LexisNexis resources you use most-Shepardizing^TM a citation; ordering and receiving one or many Shepard's® reports or full-text legal documents; tracking cases, finding topical news articles and browsing treatises. Even gain access to CourtLink® Web parts to gain access to CourtLink and Alert results.

It's never been simpler or more secure to tap into lexis.com without actually signing in to the service. You can choose how your users will get to the Web parts, choosing one of two options

LexisNexis Introduces Due Diligence Dashboard

Mon, 18 Jul 2011 19:13:00 -0400

LexisNexis is pleased to provide you with yet another tool to manage your risks and provide exceptional client service: Due Diligence Dashboard!

What is Due Diligence Dashboard (DDD) and what does it do?

LexisNexis® Due Diligence Dashboard (DDD) empowers law firms to mitigate their financial, legal, and reputational risk and reduce liability by understanding their prospects, clients, litigation opponents, IPO/M&A targets, and other business associates in a quick and comprehensive manner. With this web-based research application, users can efficiently investigate companies and individuals, explore their affiliations, and develop a comprehensive profile -- all with a single search.

How will it benefit your firm?

People don't always tell the truth -

Optimize Your Small, Specialized Law Firm

joseph.walsh@lexisnexis.com (Legal Business Community Team) — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 16:50:00 -0400

A few simple rules that you probably didn't learn in law school can take the hassles out of your day-to-day practice management tasks for a better business outcome

Most law schools will teach you how to be an attorney-but not how to build a viable practice. The day-to-day realities of managing a small, specialized law firm-getting paid, meeting deadlines, attracting clients, and avoiding sanctions, to name a few-can be a career killer. Some studies show that 40% of all law school graduates leave the legal profession within three years because they don't want to deal with the administrative headaches. But it doesn't have to be that way. If you follow some commonsense guidelines, you can have your practice and optimize it, too.

Organize your work product

If you're suing people for being negligent, you don't want to be careless yourself. However, the way many attorneys practice law today leaves them open to question-particularly

Increasing Collection Rates

joseph.walsh@lexisnexis.com (Legal Business Community Team) — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 15:55:00 -0400

Good billing practices can help you get paid for the work you've done and improve your client relationships in the process

One common experience for small and mid-sized law firms is the growing amount of receivables. Usually, there are two reasons why bills don't get paid on time or at all. First, there might be something wrong with the bill itself. Perhaps it is unclear or incorrect. Maybe it was sent too late after the fact or wasn't what the client expected. Second, the client wants to pay but is experiencing financial difficulty. For many firms, the result of this increasingly serious situation is to refocus the staff on collecting outstanding invoices or to renegotiate down or finance clients' accounts-impacting the firm's profitability. Here are some best practices that can help you avoid or resolve collection issues.

Build "payability" into your billing process

To ward off trouble at the onset, bill quickly

Law Firm Succession Planning

joseph.walsh@lexisnexis.com (Legal Business Community Team) — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 16:39:00 -0400

What best practices in the accounting profession can teach small law firms about "passing the torch"

A recent article in the Journal of Accountancy offers timely succession planning insights for certified public accountants, which are equally relevant for attorneys who own their own practices. In "A 2009 Tuneup for Your Firm's Succession Planning", Dominic Cingoranelli writes: "The pending retirement of the baby boomer generation and the unrelenting challenge of finding and keeping talented staff can have grave consequences for firms that fail to develop a succession strategy." According to this article, the "American Institute of Certified Public Accountant's 2008 PCPA (Private Companies Practice Solution) Succession Survey" showed that only 35% of multi-owner firms had a written succession plan.

In law firms, as well as in accounting firms, waiting until the senior owner leaves to decide on a succession

Going Paperless

joseph.walsh@lexisnexis.com (Legal Business Community Team) — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 15:51:00 -0400

Many law firms are making plans to go paperless, and many more are expressing interest in the concept. But not many of these companies are considering how they'll move all those e-papers from person to person-with accountability and without impacting their email systems. Good distribution is the key to unlocking the benefits of a paperless office, yet this make-it-or-break-it factor is often overlooked in the planning process. Someone who is talking about distribution is Robert Rice, President of Rice Software Consulting, LLC, and what he has to say can save countless headaches-along with all those trees.

The old paper shuffle

In a typical office, mail comes to the front desk where it is opened, then it is delivered to the appropriate attorney, gets shuffled around, and is eventually put into a paper file. The file is taken to a file room where it gets taken out, searched, and put back, and then taken out, searched, and put back-over and over as needed. Shuffling

Law Firm Business Continuity and Contingency Planning

joseph.walsh@lexisnexis.com (Legal Business Community Team) — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 15:57:00 -0400

Establishing contingency plans to maintain daily access to your critical information and ensure that your business functions are available to customers, no matter what, lays a solid foundation and prepares your firm for any disaster, natural or manmade

For small law firms, the need to keep your doors open for business and to protect data goes beyond your own practice and financial information. You are also entrusted with confidential client information such as birthdates, Social Security and driver's license numbers, birth certificates, passports, medical files, banking information, tax returns, and the like. There are legal ramifications as to how this data is stored, secured, and protected and sanctions for not meeting client and court obligations. Not being able to access your client data or court docket obligations because of a service disruption is no excuse.

Threats from other sources

Large natural disasters such as Hurricane Katrina

Training Tips to Maximize Your Software Investment

joseph.walsh@lexisnexis.com (Legal Business Community Team) — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 17:23:00 -0400

How to leverage formal vendor training to optimize your firm's software investment and minimize your time and costs

Finding the right practice management software is just part of the challenge for a small law firm. The next step is mastering it-and that applies to everyone involved. As a best practice, you should plan to spend the same amount of money on training as you did on purchasing the application itself. The more you learn-and the faster you learn it-the sooner you'll recoup your software investment.

Recent studies have proven that people who attend a structured training class are 50% more productive during the introductory period of learning a new application than those who don't. Yet many businesses delay formal training or avoid it altogether. The reasons given range from "I can't afford it," to "I don't have the time," to "I can figure it out on my own."

Successful firms know that "winging

Suddenly Solo Law Firms

joseph.walsh@lexisnexis.com (Legal Business Community Team) — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 17:21:00 -0400

How to start, run, and grow a successful business when-by choice or chance-you're going it alone

For some attorneys, being a solo practioner is an ambition they've been lucky enough to act on. For others, it can be an unexpected reality brought on by downsizing and hiring freezes in a shaky economy. For both groups, many of the challenges are the same.

If going solo is your choice, you've probably spent some time preparing for this move. If not, you'll have to dive right in, setting up a functioning practice as quickly, efficiently, and accurately as you can.

The first thing you might be tempted to do is to reach out for the familiar IT tools and processes that you used in your old firm. Don't! These systems are too big and too complex for your needs now, and you'll risk drowning in irrelevant details. Fortunately, there are many resources and right-sized solutions available that will help you chart these unfamiliar waters

Selecting a Practice Management System

joseph.walsh@lexisnexis.com (Legal Business Community Team) — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 17:18:00 -0400

Determine the functions that you need and then find a solution that fits your requirements and empowers everyone in your firm to work more productively

"Where did the time go?"

"Where did that file go?"

"Is my contact list current?"

"Does this client present a conflict?"

If you're having a hard time getting answers to questions like these, it's time to find a new-or replace a broken-practice management system.

Practice management is not a new concept. In fact, this information sharing software has been around for about 20 years. You can expect any good system to provide you with the same basic capabilities:

A calendar function that tracks billable time and simplifies scheduling

Document management that provides shared access to the same files which are stored in one place on Windows

Contact lists that let multiple users share the same

Reducing Liability Exposure

joseph.walsh@lexisnexis.com (Legal Business Community Team) — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 17:16:00 -0400

How the right software and management processes can help you avoid clerical errors and keep malpractice problems at bay

A review of the 9,221 LAWPRO-listed claims made between 1999 and 2004, covering all practice areas, shows that only 10% of these claims involved a failure to know or apply the law. The other 90% were the result of sloppy matter, deadline, and document management. While problems can happen anywhere, the results are particularly egregious in three areas: trust accounting, court rules, and document generation.

Avoiding trouble with trust accounting

Mismanagement of trust funds is one of the leading reasons lawyers get disbarred. Many attorneys get into trouble quickly by using generic business-accounting software to track trust funds. Although easy to get and often free, generic accounting software is not designed to accommodate legal-specific requirements, such as local regulations, that you need to protect yourself. While