Case Study: Firm Central Helps Firm Drive Client Satisfaction, Efficiency and Growth
For most people, change is difficult. It’s human nature to be more comfortable with the status quo, it’s why people stick with a less-than perfect cell phone provider or cable service when they know there are better options out there. Compared to change, it’s easy to settle for “good enough.”
While that inertia may work for a while, it can prove costly in the long run, especially in the business world. Law firms today are chasing more discerning, cost-sensitive clients, and there is unprecedented scrutiny over billing, charges, and invoices. Simply put, like so many other businesses, small law firms are feeling the squeeze to do more with less.
Cloud-based practice management solutions like Firm Central from Thomson Reuters are a direct response to the pressing need for small law firms to be more efficient at every stage of their business. They make it possible to bridge the gap between operating a profitable business and running a first-class, client-focused firm.
Thomson Reuters recently interviewed Alex Jadin, a partner at Roeder Smith Jadin (RSJ,) a small law firm that adopted Firm Central and worked through these challenges. RSJ focuses on litigation, real estate, construction, insurance, and community association issues. The Minneapolis-based firm is a case in point about weighing the long-term benefits vs. the short-term challenges of installing software that affects virtually every person in the firm.
Jadin said as the firm was considering several practice management options they were looking for an integrated solution, and took into consideration Firm Central’s integration with Westlaw as a primary benefit. “The accessibility, the integration, and the full suite of services from Firm Central were really deciding factors in why we went with it,” he said.
In addition, Jadin and his team value the ability to work from anywhere. “I can access the entirety of my office from anywhere, and that gives my clients more accessibility to me and ultimately drives down the costs,” says Jadin. For example, since matters and documents in Firm Central are securely located in the cloud, staff members can access matter information anywhere, anytime. It enables RSJ to drive down costs associated with office space and supplies, IT servers, and technology. And it gives attorneys more flexibility into how, where, and when they work. “It’s made both our attorneys’ lives easier, as well as our clients’,” Jadin said.
RSJ and their clients are experiencing savings throughout their entire workflow. “Firm Central frees our attorneys from task-based work to spend more time on the value-adding activities like developing legal strategies, nurturing client relations, and growing the business,” Jadin said. “If you’re spending less time on those activities, you’re billing less time to that client.”
From the client standpoint, that’s all upside. The math is simple: “When you’re efficient at your work, you’re ultimately saving that client money by spending less time getting the same amount of work done,” Jadin said.
In three short years, RSJ has grown from the original three partners to a 12-person law firm today. From the beginning, the firm invested in the tools and technology that helped drive growth. For RSJ, the ability to control costs without sacrificing client satisfaction or quality legal work was key to choosing a practice management system. “Our clients tend to be individuals and smaller businesses – like our own law firm – and they are focused on cost,” he said. And products and systems that drive down the firm’s costs of doing business “are a driving force in them hiring you.”
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