6 Steps to Improve Law Firm Efficiency with Automation
Non-billable tasks are crucial to the success of your law firm. But they don’t make your law firm more revenue, and they cost time and money to execute.
This is an important problem for law firms to address: The 2020 Legal Trends Report by Clio showed the average lawyer in the United States works only 2.5 hours of billable work each day.
However, thanks to today’s advancements in technology, it’s entirely possible to reduce the time your firm spends on non-billable work. It all comes down to having a mix of priority-based planning, advanced technology/cloud-based apps, and ongoing watchful management.
Here are six steps to consider when adding new automation technologies into your day-to-day processes:
1. Choose what to improve Start by creating a list of the tasks you don’t like. For example, it could be client intake, creating documents, client communication, or billing. We recommend you select one to start with.
2. Assess the value of each task You’ve created a list of all the things you don’t like doing. The next step is to decide which ones are good candidates to automate. Does it take a lot of time to do? Is it repetitive or tedious? Or, is it a necessary task but non-billable? Perhaps most importantly, is it time-sensitive?
3. Create a plan If you determine that there are numerous tasks that your law firm could benefit from automating, create a plan of action so that you’re able to tackle changes one by one. You’ll also need to prioritize implementation as part of your day-to-day without jeopardizing the attorney and client experience.
4. Research available tools Once you’ve prioritized which processes to automate, conduct research to find the best solution that fits your needs, based on your implementation timeline and budget. The Clio App Directory is a good place to start your research. If you can’t find exactly what you’re looking for, if-this-then-that tools like Zapier can help you automate actions between specific tools.
5. Make a plan for change management Technological change can be uncomfortable and intimidating for your staff, so make sure they are aware of the plan and have proper training in place for the easiest transition.
6. Review and iterate Although the advantages to implementing automation is that you can “set-it-and-forget-it,” there will always be an advantage to regularly re-evaluating your processes over time. There is plenty of opportunity for customizations using automation tools, and each vendor will offer its own unique features, so never be complacent with your technology. Also, regularly asking for feedback from staff and clients will help you uncover valuable opportunities for improvement—and further savings on overhead.
Conclusion: Automation drives firm efficiencies
Automation technology provides limitless opportunities when it comes to helping law firms save time. This includes client intake, documentation, client communications, payment collections, client reviews, and more. By optimizing these areas, you’ll be able to spend less time doing non-billable tasks. And, you’ll spend more time creating revenue for your law firm.
For more tips, watch Clio’s webinar on easy ways to automate your law firm. If you would like to see how law firms use Clio to automate their tasks, watch this video.
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