Within the past few decades, IT (information technology) has become a massive part of nearly every organization and office, and it’s difficult to predict how any business can manage their processes and be more productive without the help of the many contributors in the IT field.

For law firms, the right IT emphasis can come in the shape of solid legal case management software.

However, the most common concern in law practices is what value these software solutions can bring in running the legal practice more effectively compared to a paper-based system.

Paper-based systems have existed for as long as the law practice exists. In the past, these paper-based systems have managed to do a really good job. But, times have changed, and with the rise of technology, lawyers are looking for more efficient ways of running their practices.

This is where legal case management software steps in; but, for your law practice to switch to a modern system, you should know the benefits first.

Let’s take a look at some of the benefits that a modern legal case management software such as ArkCase can provide for your law practice.

1. Legal Case Management Software Helps Team Collaboration

Trying to schedule a meeting with several partners can be a headache. You need to compare everyone’s calendar, see when everybody has free time and so on. While there are digital calendars and collaboration platforms, a legal office may find it daunting to use extra software just to schedule meetings.

Using a modern legal case management software can significantly ease the whole process with just a few clicks. You can simply display the master schedule, select the people you need to bring together, and search for the first 30 minutes that is free for everyone concerned. Once you schedule an appointment, the time slot will be marked on everybody’s calendar.

Legal case management software can integrate with your Outlook or any other calendar you use. Some of the advantages are as follows:

• You can easily create calendar appointments by simply clicking on any day and any time.
• If an appointment is changed, you can easily move the appointment to the new date and time by dragging and dropping or simply clicking.
• If you create a conflicting appointment you’ll get a warning message of the timeslot conflict. Goodbye accidental double-bookings.
• Your assistant can also have access to your schedule and make appointments for you.
• You will receive automated meeting reminders so you never miss a meeting.
• Most importantly, you can take an appointment entry, and with just a few clicks you can convert it to a billing entry.

2. Legal Case Management Helps Manage Deadlines & Improve File Organization

As a legal professional, you know the value of meeting deadlines. Any lapse while managing deadlines can affect the results of a legal case. Using modern legal case management software, you can meet your deadlines more easily.

How is this possible?

Modern systems allow you to include these critical dates at any point in the case management workflow, and the software adds these dates chronologically in the case workflow. This ensures that you never get surprised by an upcoming deadline.

Using a modern legal case management software means you can quickly store and retrieve your clients’ documents. All of the data related to an individual client is stored in one area where you can share all the information about that client. This means you can now access any information about any client with ease.

3. Coordinating Communication & Document Retrieval

Since you will have all the contact information in one place, it will be much easier to search and find the particular contact when needed. So just think of the time you will save if you could just open the client case and be able to quickly retrieve the address or phone number of a critical witness, whenever you want.

Also, when you are organizing a case, you have to pull data from several different sources. Pleadings and briefs are on your server, emails are in your email system, transcripts are on a shelf… With legal case management software, you can access all of this information from one place. So now when you need to review case information, you can save time (since a big part of the work will be already done for you).

4. Work Anytime From Anywhere

Almost every modern legal case management software has an online feature. This means you can access your client’s documents anytime from anywhere, via a secured connection. This feature means you can now work from home or from other location. This is a significant benefit if you often travel since you can stay productive and get your job done from anywhere (not just your office).

5. Time Tracking & Billing

For today’s on-the-go lawyers, having a legal case management solution that can track your time and bill on the go is essential. Having the ability to track time and bill means you are less likely to lose track of billable time. What you need to do is to simply enter your billable hours and they will be automatically linked to the particular case. This ensures complete transparency of work done and hours billed. Nice and clean.

Key Takeaways

Switching from a paper-based, or an outdated and dispersed digital case management to a modern, integrated legal case management software offers law firms many advantages, and there are many solutions (like ArkCase) that can help you achieve all of the benefits listed above.

A modern case management software will integrate with your current systems and allow you to create business apps that streamline processes throughout the firm.

Modernizing case management will help your law firm save time and resources (while optimizing your current systems).

Also, it can help you improve your visibility in the legal world, so you can focus on keeping your clients satisfied.

Legal case management software offers you:

• Integration into your current systems
• Coordinated communication
• Manageable deadlines
• Integrated time tracking and billing
• Improved file organization
• Consolidated client directory for contact management
• Consistent case organization for all firm members

Legal case management software draws together your list of contacts, desktop calendar, deadlines and to-do lists, time-tracking systems, document files, and wraps them up into a single package.

Once you embrace modernization and pick a flexible, scalable legal case management system like ArkCase, it is up to the software to look after those things and let you refocus on key issues of running a law firm.

Did this article help you realize the benefits of adopting legal case management software? If so, don’t forget to share it with your colleagues on social media networks. Also, if you have any questions or thoughts, feel free to share them with us in the comments section below.