We are excited to share this article from pages 34-34 of the September 2021 edition of the Law Institute of Victoria Journal. Click here to see the journal.
Is Your Law Firm Built on Solid Pillars?
Your law firm is built on pillars of support. Solid pillars maximise your firm’s success. A great lawyer is a good as the support they have around them.
What happens when one (or more!) of your pillars starts to crumble?
If you build an amazing law firm, but you have pillars made of toothpicks, string and sticky tape, your amazing firm can easily come crashing down – through the mundaneness of your supports and lacklustre outdated administration…
Why wait until everything comes crashing down?
Take action NOW to re-enforce your pillars, and support your business to reach its full potential!
Are you maximising the benefits of technology?
Are you friends with technology? Are you using technology to lighten your load and get the most from your legal business?
Are you staff empowered to know what they can achieve with technology? Do you have a Software ‘Guru’ in your office who is able to educate others? Is your team onboard to empower your law firm to be a front runner, leading the way and admired by others?
A Paperless Office Law Firm
Have you mastered the paperless office or are lockdowns still causing you an administrative nightmare?
How much time are you wasting having to locate paper files or worse still, pull them out of storage?
How to make your office paperless:
- Get a good document management system;
- Keep your CRM and documents together;
- Get an exceptional PDF editor so you can make all your notes on screen;
- Scan any handwritten notes and physical correspondence to the soft copy file and shred the paper;
- Centralise to one system the benefit is your team knows the system and can move forward with it.
We had all hoped the COVID-19 interruption was going to be a 6-month stint, but no, it doesn’t look to be ending any time soon.
Are all of your team operating efficiently working from home in lockdowns?
Outdated Technology
Are you suffering from your old systems from fear of the pain of changing?
Is the software you are using the one you have chosen, or one you are stuck with and is far from ideal?
Are your software systems holding you back OR supporting you to move forward?
Do you have Australian Support for your technology platform to maximise turnaround times for queries and training?
TRUST Accounting
Do you still get that knot in your stomach when the auditor is coming? How many hours did that last trust reconciliation take?
Do you feel sick thinking about the consuming process of pulling out files often closed almost a year ago and in offsite storage?
Take a Minute and Imagine this… the auditor walks in, most of the financial part of audit already complete from the .pdf reports you supplied him a week ago. He has requested to review a sample of files. All of your files are readily accessible on a single computer workstation. The auditor can sit down, in person or via a Team Viewer and with the help of your PA for an hour or so, review on screen all the records that they need to evidence.
The auditor completes their audit, signs off and will talk with you next year.
Having your Trust records organised, up to date and easily accessed is a breath of fresh air. Using plain English terms instead of complicated accounting, your Trust accounts can become a walk in the park.
If you would like to find out more about how you too can maximise the use of technology in your law firm call us today on 07 3106 6022 OR email [email protected].
Links:
Wise Owl Legal Blog https://www.wiseowllegal.com.au/blog.htm
Nine tips to reduce paper in your office https://karenmcdonald.online/blog/f/nine-tips-to-reduce-paper-in-your-office
Eight Tips for Choosing Legal Practice Management Software https://karenmcdonald.online/blog/f/8-tips-for-choosing-legal-practice-management-software
Ten tips to stay on the right side of the trust auditor https://karenmcdonald.online/blog/f/10-tips-to-stay-on-the-right-side-of-the-trust-account-auditor
Eight Tips for Choosing Legal Practice Management Software https://karenmcdonald.online/blog/f/8-tips-for-choosing-legal-practice-management-software
Seven tips to Minimise pain when changing software https://karenmcdonald.online/blog/f/seven-tips-to-minimise-pain-when-changing-software
About me
Hi, My name is Karen McDonald, I am a business analyst and accountant with a passion and strong focus on efficient business systems to empower business owners to focus more delivering great value to their clients.
In 2011, I founded Wise Owl Legal Practice Management as a response to seeing so many lawyers caught up with the struggle of old out of date inefficient software. I believe software should lighten your load and empower you to focus on your core mission. As a qualified accountant and tax agent, many of you will know me from my consulting business commenced in 1997, Cascade Consulting Services Pty Ltd (Cascade).
Cascade has helped many businesses, including many law firms, over the last 20+ years, some in the software applications consulting space, others in the accounting and tax practice space as well. Fundamentally in our accounting business, we aim to empower our clients to better run their administration more efficiently; eliminate redundant processes, and understand their finances and lighten the load of compliance.
If you would like to learn more about how I could help your law firm become more efficient, please book a discovery call with me at https://wiseowllegal.com.au/
Mostly I am in GMT +10 time zone.
