Execute a simple Google search for the term legal billing…
The result? Over 9,000,000 webpages dedicated to that topic.
Given today’s turbulent financial markets, to which every business and every industry is dovetailed, every red cent is worth counting. Your clients have tightened their wallets. They expect accountability and precision when it comes to adding up billable time and presenting them with clean and clear data. You better bet that in large corporate legal departments shareholders and key decision-makers are screeching over billing accountability, transparency, and demanding ever more streamlined and fine-grained electronic exchange procedures.
Small and “boutique” law firms and lone practicing attorneys face even more daunting challenges – cash drains and lack of backbone administrative staff trained to translate and assimilate the required documentation. Not to mention the crop of electronic document exchange specifications that are a matter of course in the legal business. (Guess what? You have the potential to fly lighter and faster than those top-heavy corporate firms…)
In an ideal world, electronic legal billing systems shear the fat from your firm’s bottom line—thus the volume of Google page results given to this one business problem. In a nutshell you get to keep cash in your pocket and slash time spent (wasted) on cumbersome manual billing and time-keeping processes. If you’re on the ball you’re also advertising/marketing the savings you’re passing onto your clients—you breathe value. You’re responsibly managing costs and implementing flexible electronic systems while competitors are being edged out, or pressured to reform their time-consuming practices.
I recommend you invest the time to explore how you or your firm currently manages clients, your billable time, legal time-keeping and the overall electronic legal billing system you have in place. Where are you hemorrhaging the most? Would it be to your competitive edge to save money not only for yourself, but for your clients as well?
Rora:
Congratulations on the launch of your new blog! Looks good.