5 Must-Haves for Effective Law Practice Management

Below, we list some of the best apps for solicitors that work as standalone software or can integrate with the ecosystem of apps in a legal office.

Calendar solution

According to Zapier, the top five calendar apps are:

1. Any.do
2. iCal
3. Cozi
4. Fantastical 2
5. Google Calendar

In the same article, Zapier notes that it ranked these apps based on the ease of use, the interface, the features and customizability, the sharing function, and multi-platform availability.

Why should there be so many requirements for a calendar? Since they help you keep track of your daily activities, it is important that they have all of the above characteristics. After all, being in the legal industry means you have to keep numerous appointments throughout the day. With the right calendar app, you can attend to clients, partners, colleagues, contacts, and more without missing a single one.

But it should be noted that there are legal software solutions that offer integrated calendars. If this is the case, then you can opt to use that to narrow down the number of apps you have to work with.

To-do list application

Legal professionals have so many tasks to take care of in a single day, from interviewing clients, doing case and legal research, producing documents, and appearing at court. At times it can be overwhelming and without a proper to-do list, critical responsibilities can fall through the cracks.

What’s better than a to-do application to help make sure that everything gets done? It can be standalone or it can integrate with your calendar. If it is very flexible, it can even synchronize with your law practice management software.

But why use an app when you can keep a list on your journal or keep it in your head? For one, it is easy to forget to bring your planner. Harvard Health shares in an online publication hat people are prone to absentmindedness, causing them to forget about things. This happens because individuals are thinking about something else or they are just not attentive enough.

Secondly, the human brain can be unreliable. People are vulnerable to misattribution, which means they may not remember things as accurately as they thought.

Document and case management systems

There are three basic types of legal documents and five types of legal instruments. That is not all. For each type, there are numerous examples. On top of that, there are legal forms to deal with.

Keeping all those organized and accessible could be a difficult task if not for legal document software. It is an essential tool for effective legal practice management because they centralize the management of documents. They can either index the location of files and documents wherever they are in your system (through integration) or store them in a single repository. Either way, they aid legal professionals and teams in auditing documents and ensuring that everything is accurate.

Aside from that, it is a good idea to consider investing in a legal case management software as well. This further assuages the strenuosity of the lawyer’s job because it is feature-rich and can cover anything from communications to law firm marketing strategies.

Cloud-based file storage

Working remotely is now more common today than it was a decade ago. In fact, GlobalWorkplaceAnalytics.com reports that 4.7 million workers do their job in their homes at least half of the time. This makes it imperative to make files accessible to telecommuting or mobile employees. One way to do this is by storing the necessary documents in cloud-based file-sharing platforms. Not only does this allow you to be productive outside of the office, but it also lets you make sure that you are working with updated information. Additional benefits would be a smooth collaboration with colleagues, clients, contacts, and other key individuals and data protection.

Integrated workflows

As mentioned above, some document management applications help oversee files by integration. This means they are capable of connecting with other software you use, particularly those in the cloud. This makes it less arduous to find documents when you need them.

That is not all there is to integration, though. Other platforms have that function as well, which could come in different forms. For example, we cited Zapier in the first item of this post. It is a solution that acts as a glue and enables applications to synchronize. This leads to the interconnection of the legal workflow, paving the way to seamless automation. Therefore, you can focus on the important tasks and allow the redundant ones to happen in the background.

Creating a better practice

There are numerous legal software examples that may be general and may be very specific to a type of law practice. In any case, there is no one-size-fits-all solution. However, there are exceptional platforms available that can cover the requirements of legal practices of all sizes. But what to consider when looking for software to boost your office’s productivity is the functions that you need and the amount you are willing to spend. When you have outlined the former, then it is a matter of adjusting the latter so that you get what you need for your practice.