1. Practice Management Tech Solutions
Why Effective Management Is Key for Growing Your Estate Planning Practice
Looking at it from the client’s perspective, Estate Planning is more personal than most areas of law. It’s very important for the client to feel that they are well taken care of and that their case is a priority for you.
You are never too small for implementing effective practice management strategies, even if it is just you! If you are consistent about your processes, it will be a lot easier to plan your workload, delegate, and grow your firm.
Technology plays a critical role in how effectively you manage your practice. There are several key categories of tech solutions that you should have. Below are the non-exhaustive lists of solutions that you can use in each category.
Practice Management, Case/Matter Management, Time-keeping, and CRM
First things first, what is the difference between a law firm practice management software, case/matter management software, time-keeping software, and a CRM?
Simply put, a CRM program, which stands for Customer Relationship Management, is focused on helping you attract new clients by allowing you to systemize and organize how you you track, nurture, and grow your client relationships.
A case/matter management program helps you do just that – manage your matters and documents.
A time-keeping program allows you to keep track of your billable time. Some also offer the option of tracking your expenses, creating budgets, and billing clients.
A practice management program is much broader and is focused on helping you manage your entire firm, including case matter management, document management, tasks and project, time-keeping, expenses, invoicing and billing clients, etc. Some practice management programs include a CRM component, but not all do (or at least, not all do so effectively).
Practice Management:
- Practice Panther (popular)
- Clio (popular)
- Amicus Online (popular)
- MyCase (popular)
- RocketMatter
- ZolaSuite
- CosmoLex
- Bill4time
- Smokeball
Case/Document Management:
- Legal Files
- Needles
- FileVine
Time-keeping:
- Timesolv
CRM:
- Monday.com
- Asana
Typical Fee: (typical cost is per user per month) most fall within the range of $39-$119 per month but there are lower and higher priced options
Payment Processing
It is my strong recommendation to set up credit card and digital payments processing for your practice. You may decide not to use it for the bulk of your matters. Most solutions do NOT cost you anything unless you actually run the payment through it. However, it has become a standard practice for attorneys to accept all forms of payment. The perceived cost of credit card payments (let’s say it’s 3%) is NOT a significant cost in the grand scheme of things. My strong recommendation would be to NOT pass on this cost to client directly as it gives the client the perception of being nickel-and-dimed. Of course, you can (and should!) build the cost INTO your fee as any other business expense that you don’t directly pass on to the client (i.e. phone bill).
- LawPay
- Practice management integrated solutions (such as MyCasePayments or Panther Payments)
Typical Fee: percentage-based; typical range from 1.95% to 3.95% depending on merchant and payment method used
Calendaring Software
Investing in a calendar software that could allow your prospect and clients to set up appointment with you at their convenience without doing a lot of back and forth can be a huge time saver. Most options integrate multiple calendars and block off time, send automatic reminders, request payments, and automatically share some basic information, such as your address, call-in instructions, initial meeting instructions, etc.
- Calendly (most popular)
- Acuity
- vCita
- 10to8
- ScheduleOne
- Youcanbook.me
Typical Fee: $8-25 per user per month
Additional Options to Supercharge Your Practice
- Leads Management (such as Dubsado, Clio Grow, Lawmatics) to manage your potential client inquiries, streamline follow up process, and onboard with ease
- Typical per user cost is $35-$125 per month