The LawBill Blog

The start of a new calendar year is a good time to revisit the issue of Matter numbers in law firms. Despite what Shakespeare wrote about a rose, there is significant consequence in how a firm should number a Matter (Case) and a Client in the law firm business. Each of the time, billing, accounting and practice management software programs found in most small and medium sized law firms [Amicus Attorney, PCLaw®, Time Matters™, QuickBooks, Timeslips, Tabs3, Abacus] provide a facility for assigning a Matter number and a Client number for each new Matter.

However most firms attribute little importance to the precise numbering system they use and thus devalue what otherwise is a powerful function of the management of their law business. At the creation of a new law firm, the founding partner(s) typically adopt whatever Matter numbering system was in place at the law firm they left. They fail to review 1) whether that old system was dependent upon a different time, billing, accounting or practice management software program than the brand-new firm will be using and 2) whether that system was even the most efficient one for the old firm. The types of numbering protocols we have seen most often are:

1) Firm-based system, where each successive Matter is assigned the next consecutive number [1001, 1002, 1003],

2) Client-based system, where a Matter number contains all or a portion of the reciprocal Client Number [100.001, 100.002, 100.003, where 100 is the Client number],

3) Date-based system, where the last two digits of the calendar indicate the year when the Matter was opened [10-001, 10-002, where 10 stands for 2010],

4) Name-based system [Smith01, Smith02, Smith03, where Smith is the name of the Client],

5) Code-based system, where a prefix or suffix indicates what type of Matter it is or who is the Responsible Attorney [PI-001-RSB, where PI stands for Personal Injury and RSB stands for Robert S. Brown, the attorney]

Regardless of which software program your firm uses, the last two systems should never be used. Ever. All law firm software programs are databases with pretty screens on which the end-user (you) clicks to manage the information stored in the database. Most of the newest versions of these programs, like Amicus Attorney, PCLaw® and Time Matters™ will actually share a common database structure called SQL, which facilitates the exchange of information between the separate databases. As a result of this designed sharing capability, the software designers anticipated that only numbers would be assigned to Matters and Clients in order to expedite the creation of new Matters and Clients.

The de facto format is all-digital. A system with combined letters and numbers disables the programmed capability to increment to the next sequential Matter or Client number. It is like putting snow tires on a Ferrari. The car was never intended to drive through snow, so the suspension and braking system was not designed to work at maximum efficiency with snow tires installed.

Operating a profitable law business requires that each facet of the business be examined and reexamined to confirm it is being used to maximum efficiency. Selecting the correct Matter numbering system is a necessary start.