Managing your employment from home has quickly become the norm for the majority of the working world. Despite its prevalence, it’s a fairly new process to most and it requires synchronicity of complex working processes in order to simplify management within a remote law firm and turn the hectic hours into the breeze.
It’s important to realize that every task you complete at your law firm needs a process. You need a process for tracking your employees’ time or client/attorney communication. You also need a process for billing your clients. All of these things are done over and over by employees in your law firm, and you need a process that everyone can use so that you can get competitive results. Due to this, being away from your office’s structure may have you falling behind and leaving productivity behind.
In this article, we will unpack 7 law firm case management system tips to assist in maximizing your firm’s level of efficiency. With the right efforts being utilized, lawyers can easily tackle their to-do list from the comforts of their home without the distractions.
How to Increase Productivity During COVID-19
Follow a Strict Schedule
Creating a schedule is essential to staying productive during COVID-19. Try avoiding sleeping in or stretching over working hours. It’s best to employ your office working hours at home in order to keep yourself accountable for your day’s to-do list.
If this is something you find yourself struggling with, we recommend using a shared calendar. Setting up appointments and time slots dedicated to certain tasks can help you streamline your day. Furthermore, having the shared feature can help you work within your team’s schedule too. So when it comes to running a law firm remotely, using a case management system allows you to track and assign tasks, set reminders and keep everything tied together in one place.
Stay Connected with Your Team
For your firm to survive the coronavirus, it’s vital that it works together as a team. Although you may be used to the ease of walking over to a co-worker’s desk for an answer, there are plenty of tools that allow for easy communication. Staying connected with your team can ensure that there are no missed tasks or issues. Should any issues arise, instant messaging or online calls can help streamline your law firm case management system. Connecting via video may be awkward at first, but it will help you feel more connected and accountable to each other. Before long, it will become second nature.
Measure Your Output
Time tracking and task tracking is the key to remote work. Knowing what must be done and who it must be assigned to can help avoid anyone flailing at the loss of work. Furthermore, this will ensure that clients’ needs are being met and that nothing gets left behind.
Not only does measuring your firm’s output ensure that everyone’s staying on track, but it will also assist with your billable hours. As a result, invoicing will become a lot easier and mitigate the risk of losing profits during this economic downturn.
Create an Office
While it may be tempting to work from the comfort of your couch with your favorite TV show on, this isn’t the best way to utilize a law firm case management system. Creating your own office area in your home is a great way to understand how to increase productivity during COVID-19.
Accommodate a Healthy Lifestyle
Despite the lockdown and self-isolation, there are many ways for you to remain healthy from the comforts of your home. Taking a break from your work schedule to promote a healthy lifestyle is key to remaining productive through these upcoming weeks. When scheduling your day, make sure to dedicate time to walking around the house, switching off from your work chat, and taking time to check in with yourself.
Schedule Frequent Meetings
Keeping your team accountable through remote work can’t be done without frequent meetings. These meetings can help cover any important tasks for the week, client queries, or grievances. As a result, everyone will be on the same page and a loss of productivity will be avoided.
Utilize Work-Management Tools
One of the most important ways to boost your firm’s remote work productivity levels is by using the right tools. So whether you use case management software with analytics built-in, or whether you use some other software for tracking firm success, this type of technology is essential for getting objective performance insights to help you drive the best business decisions. Platforms such as Amberlo can assist law firms in maintaining an effective practice outside of the office. It allows you to set your preferred billing rates by the user, choose your hourly rate, flat fee, and prepare invoices in no time. It is an easy-to-use tool with the simplified invoicing functionality, ability to write, review and organize your emails right within the system, track performance, and keep you in check with all your invoices. Moreover, Amberlo as a cloud-based program, which also has a mobile app, allows you to work from anywhere.
Our platform offers its users the following key features:
- Time tracking. You and your team can easily add time entries directly form calendar events, tasks, emails, or notes.
- Calendar sharing for the whole team. It will provide you the information about the agenda of each team member.
- Email management. When you have multiple people working on the same case, you can see each other’s emails relating to a specific matter, eliminating the headache of forwarding or bcc’ing.
- Analytical widgets including billable/non-billable hours, task monitoring, and hours worked.
With an easy-to-use interface and efficient work features, your firm’s productivity will not only improve but it will become a lot more streamlined too. Should you require any additional information on working from home and the rise of remote law, please consult our blog post here.
Get in Touch with Amberlo:
Finding the right law firm case management system is an essential way of understanding how to increase productivity. We know it isn’t that easy. The Coronavirus has taken our world by storm and while it’s more important than ever to stay home, let us lend a helping hand. If you’re looking for a strong digital all-in-one tool to assist your firm during this time, please get in touch with us.