The LawBill Blog

Yoda, the great Jedi teacher from a galaxy far, far away, taught: “Do or do not. There is no try.” The 52 pristine weeks of 2010 stretching out to the horizon today provide each of us in the legal community, whether as an end-user of or a consultant for practice management software, the opportunity to improve our productivity.

Regardless of what assemblage of software a law practice uses, it is very likely that only 40-50% of its intended functionality is being utilized by the firm. In many cases we have observed after the fact, the failure to use the software to its maximum value is a result of an initial failure to receive adequate training. It is human nature to tear open the shrink wrap of a new toy and to start pressing the buttons, before we have read the Users Guide on its proper operation. In a new law firm business, it is typically a matter of financial necessity to get ‘up and running’ as quickly as possible so bills can get out the door.

In an existing law firm business the problem is a result of ingrained inertia: “This is how we have always done it” or “This is how I was taught by my predecessor in this position.” The pressure to simply get the job done the old inefficient way outweighs the more logical choice of taking a few hours to review the current process and to start doing things more efficiently and productively.

It is a source of continuing amazement that the lawyer whose name appears on the front door of the law business would spend hours or days carefully researching the next flat screen TV purchase or automobile to lease, but glibly outsources the decisions of how their law business is operated to a salaried employee who has no incentive other than to produce ‘just enough’ to keep the boss happy.

Today, not tomorrow, not next week, is the perfect time to spend an hour with your key employees and to ask them how confident they are that the practice management software the firm is using: Amicus Attorney, PCLaw, Time Matters, Outlook, Timeslips or Quickbooks, is being used by them to its maximum efficiency. If the answers are in the affirmative, congratulations, you are a one-in-a-hundred law business.

However, if your law business is like most, you will get an earful of observations of what processes do not work and what functions they do not know how to perform with the software. This is valuable feedback because you, law business owner, can use it to make your business more productive and efficient. Your goal is to look back one year on January 1, 2011, and smile at how much better your law business operated over the prior 12 months.

There is no such thing as ‘trying’ to make your law business better. It can be done. You can start today. As Yoda was paraphrased by Nike: “Just Do It.”