Are law firm inefficiencies good for business?

By on March 27, 2011

The attorneys are always busy, hopefully, working on that they do best, practicing law and rack-up billable hours. The attorneys rely on their administrative staff to run the operations.

There is no similar situation in corporate America, the people doing a great deal of the work and billing the most, are also the owners, the partners. There isn’t just one “CEO”, there are dozens, they form committees, many times made up with members who just love to over-analyze and debate. So how does this effect inefficiencies, it promotes it on the operations side of the business.

If a corporate CEO analyzed a mid-large size law firm roughly the same size as his business, he’d be amazed at the operational inefficiencies. Corporate CEO’s, in general, have discovered that operational efficiency quickly equate to bottom line profits. The CEO passes down to his vice-presidents and managers the requirement to be low cost producers. The CEO doesn’t need to be concerned about a few dozen other owners when it comes to lowering the cost of operations.

Law firm managers might believe they have the responsibility and authority to streamline operations and reduce the internal costs of processing. However, just try and reduce the manual paper process and you’ll have a partner up in arms over something. Process improvement is very important, so long as no one is inconvenienced.

Law firms are always looking for a competitive edge in pursuing client engagements. Clients are looking for law firms that they believe are efficiently run.

So the moral of the story is: don’t let your corporate CEO client spend a lot of time with your operational staff, inefficiencies will not be good for business.

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Categories: Best Practices, Productivity, Technology, The Legal Market

“The Money Machine and Human Nature – What a trade show draw reveals about adoption theories”

By on March 16, 2011

For some time, we have used a “money machine” as a trade show booth draw and incentive.  It’s a little “used car sales-ish,” but it really works in getting people to the booth, and it draws a crowd. Plus, it ties into our marketing campaign of “See More Green”.  The booth is a rectangular cube with plexi-glass sides and a fan on the outside. The fan, obviously, blows the money around while the player stands inside trying to collect as much cash as they can in 15 seconds. Once the timer goes off, the money stops blowing and the player has to stop collecting.

 I have been observing this game for a few years now, and, by far, the most interesting thing to watch is “the approach”. The most timid people have surprised me by going hog-wild in the machine once locked in – shoving money down their shirts (against the rules, by the way) and grabbing at the green like a victim being attacked by killer bees. Then there are those who take a more strategic approach and come up with a strategy ahead of time, e.g., let the money get at arm’s height and grab it. They also watch others and judge what they are doing wrong/right. There are those who have a fair amount of trepidation about getting in an air blowing money trap, and then there are those who beg to get in. A lot of these observations can be applied to many people’s approaches to purchasing new software/hardware/technology in general. It reminds me of the “Adopter Curve” that has been around for some time now (applied in a variety of arenas):

  1. The early adopter/innovators, aka killer bee victim: This purchaser buys something new because, really, they have to be on the cutting edge, and it is cool. It is more of an emotional purchase. They also have a problem that may be wasting a lot of time/resources and want to solve it so they make a quick buy. Sometimes this may lead to a non-fiscally responsible purchase and sometimes it works for them.
  2. The conservative/early majority/late adopters, aka studier:  These people purchase something new because it solves the problem at a reasonable cost. They study all of the ins and outs of the product and then, when the time is right, make an informed purchase based on facts.
  3. The late adopter/laggards, aka anti-machine: Usually the late adopter waits for the deal or they take the “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” approach. While they may have the same problems as others, they can live with it.

It is always a little difficult for me to understand why people have any reservations about winning free money. I guess they think there must be a catch or they just don’t want to put themselves in the spotlight. As the old adage goes, “it takes money to make money”. A lot of technology companies promise to make firms money if they purchase their wares. A lot of times they are right. Sometimes it’s just a waste of resources and other times it really will make your firm money. Make sure to do your research and you may inherit your own money machine.

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Categories: Going Green, Legal Marketing, The Legal Market

Finally, Solving the Excel Data Insertion Problem

By on January 23, 2011

This is my fourth blog posting examining the problem facing law firm CFO’s who need to get critical data from their financial management system into Excel spreadsheets

 1st posting – Challenges faced by CFO’s

2nd  posting – Current choices and new requirements

3rd posting - Expose queries

We have already examined the challenges, looked at the requirements, and discussed the concept of using SQL queries to make it simple for CFO’s to get financial system data into simple or complex spreadsheets.

 Microsoft .Net technology allows a vendor to build an Excel Add-in utilizing Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) to expose queries that already exist thus allowing users to retrieve data with a simple point and click.

 Let’s look at a full set of capabilities users will have:

  1. Easily insert data into either a new or existing spreadsheet, by clicking on a description of the data from a pop-up Excel Task Pane.
  2. Allow the user to insert different data pieces in multiple sections of a single or multi-workbook spreadsheet.
  3. Validate the users level of security to access the data requested.
  4. Upon saving the spreadsheet containing the links to the data, save the links and all other formatting.
  5. Allow the user to specify what data will be automatically refreshed from the database when the Excel spreadsheet is opened and what data can be refreshed by manual selection.
  6. All the Excel spreadsheet to me moved around the firm’s network while always knowing how to reconnect to the databases involved.
  7. Allow users to store their personally used queries in a separate area for both convenience and security.
  8. Allow for the ability for anyone to add new or custom queries without programmer involvement. For example, copy and paste from an email sent by a vendor.
  9. Provide all of the above capabilities for PivotTables, charts and graphs without necessarily building spreadsheets firms.

 By providing the above capabilities CFO’s and other law firm members will be able to finally analyze information in the way they choose. Getting critical data into Excel and keeping it fresh will never be a problem again.



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Categories: Best Practices, Financial Management, Technology

Expose them – Your Queries

By on January 16, 2011

This is my third blog posting examining the problem facing law firm CFO’s who need to get critical data from their financial management system into Excel spreadsheets

 1st posting – Challenges faced by CFO’s

2nd  posting – Current choices and new requirements

 In this posting we’ll discuss what turns out to be a relatively simple solution to inserting data directly into Excel spreadsheets from a financial management system utilizing a Microsoft SQL Server 2008 database. Using Service Oriented Architecture and Microsoft Communication Foundation vendors can expose hundreds or thousands of queries that already exist in their systems but are not currently visible to an end user.

 All financial management systems use SQL queries to retrieve information that is displayed on screens, included in reports and used to process transactions. Queries are the underpinning of data retrieval. A query describes the data to be retrieved, what is to be included or excluded, where the data is located, and all other criteria. Programmers build, then use these queries satisfy the inquiry or output desired by the end user.

 If vendors just expose these queries with easy to understand descriptions, the user would just click on a query and insert the data from the database directly into various spreadsheet locations. With a little more work the vendor could write an Excel “Add-in” that would help perform even more advanced capabilities.

 I’ll spell all this out in my 4th blog posting on this topic.



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Categories: Best Practices, Financial Management, Technology

Scrub Bills to Substantially Reduce Write-off’s

By on January 2, 2011

Corporate clients have imposed daunting billing requirements on their outside law firms. These clients spend hundreds of millions on legal expenses and if they can reduce these expenses by 2-3% consistently, they save a ton of money. These clients have learned that complex billing requirements force law firms to write-off millions instead of dealing with all the appeals, delays and frustrations.

 Firms already spend a great deal of time (read cost) proof reading bills by billing specialists before sending them out. This manual process delays cash and at the end of the day costs firms a lot of money. Even after manual proof reading, the rejections still come and the specialists are back at it again, appealing, re-billing or in many cases just taking substantial write-off’s.

 So, how can law firm’s deal with this growing problem? By utilizing a Bill Scrubber™.

 New technology developments provide a way to “scrub” client bills prior to submission to insure they meet client requirements. A Bill Scrubber checks each bill for a series of client rules and points out time and cost entries that need “help” prior to submitting the bill.

 Firms using this new technology will make it harder for clients to reject bills or short pay because of not following the billing guidelines. The use of scrubbing technology will also identify clients with more difficult rules and additional training requirements that might be needed within the firm to reduce the billing violations.

 Bill scrubbing will make money for a firm and improve adherence to client guidelines.


Bill Scrubber is a registered Trademark of Rainmaker Software, Inc.

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Categories: Best Practices, Financial Management, Law firm billing, Productivity, The Legal Market

“Two Months and Counting” – How to Make Year-End Close as Painless as Possible

By on November 16, 2010

It’s November – time for Thanksgiving, the start of Holiday shopping and (cue sinister music) year-end accounting.  The year-end financial statements used for tax preparation, future (and present) planning and decision making, are the most important reports finance people issue. For this reason, along with other obvious reasons, firms must spend more time making sure they are accurate, while doing so within a somewhat short time period.  The following are some tips and tricks to help you get ready for the daunting task of the annual year-end close – think of this as your very own ‘Easy’ button.

To start, if your firm has reliable accounting software the task should be easier. Intuitive year-end applications are usually built in to ensure accurate information and a time savings. In addition, software providers are cognizant of the need to work on year-end, enabling users to audit and back date as needed, even when the general ledger for that year has been closed, while still keeping the current year up-to-date.

Here are some other items to “check-off”:

  • Has all the year-end data been backed up and printed (as necessary)?
  • Is depreciation correctly recorded for the fixed assets in the firm’s possession?
  • Does the firm still have all the fixed assets? And have the assets been reviewed to ensure accuracy?
  • Do general ledger bank balances reconcile to the bank statements?
  • Are there any worthless accounts receivables that should be written off?
  • Were goodwill fees amortized?
  • Are there any prepaid services/items that need to be adjusted?
  • Have all accounts payables been recorded?
  • Have all debts been recorded/included on the books?
  • Do loan balances agree with what banks say the firm owes?
  • Are there any debts on the books that no longer exist?
  • Do actual financials match forecasted? How close? (This will be reflected on the Profit/Loss sheet)

This should be a good start in helping your firm to easily and accurately close out the year.

Do you have a year-end tip to share? Feel free to comment.






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Categories: Best Practices, Financial Management, The Legal Market

Have “dirty bills” …. just scrub them.

By on October 31, 2010

I asked law firms to send me copies of billing rejection notices; I wanted to see firsthand why corporate clients were rejecting bills, specific entries or withholding payments. And boy, did I get the copies, it is almost staggering. As you might imagine, the more rules, the more rejections.

 So, how do law firms deal with the ever expanding list of do’s and don’t? They spend a great deal of time, read cost proof reading bills by billing specialists before sending them out. This manual process delays billing, delays cash and at the end of the day, costs both firms and clients a lot of money. Even after manual proof reading, the rejections still come and the specialists are back at it again, appealing, re-billing or in many cases just taking substantial write-off’s.

 So, how can law firm’s deal with “dirty bills” just use a scrubber!

 New technology developments provide a way to “scrub” client bills prior to submission to insure they meet client requirements. Bill “scrubbing” checks each bill for a series of client rules and points out time and cost entries that need “help” prior to submitting the bill. Firms using this new technology will make it harder for clients to reject bills or short pay because of not following the billing guidelines.

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Categories: Best Practices, Financial Management, Law firm billing, Technology

Stop sending those paper bills …. Please!

By on October 27, 2010

Here’s a question for law firms … Do your clients want paper bills?

 The answer …. NO!

 This is the digital era, many clients want bill in a digital format.

 More and more corporations are requesting law firms send them bills in a digital format, PDF being the most requested. These corporations have long ago adopted e-Payable systems that require all bills to be imaged and processed via workflow for payment approval.

 Why companies want digital bills:

  1. The email with PDF attachment can be routed to a specific person with much tighter security and less costs than the normal mail room handling.
  2. The PDF file can be immediately loaded into the e-Payable system, saving a costly and delayed scanning process. Confidentiality is also a much tighter.
  3. The bill will arrive sooner. See my blog post explaining why this is a benefit.
  4. If the GC or legal staff needs to print the bill for review they can do it themselves.

 What can law firms do?

Set your time and billing system to automatically email bills as PDF attachments to clients. The law firm also benefits by getting bills out faster, faster payments and substantially reduced costs. Did I mention “going green” by reducing paper and power consumption? One keystroke can send thousands of digital bills.


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Categories: Best Practices, Financial Management, Going Green, Law firm billing, Productivity, Technology, The Legal Market

Streamline your Way to Bigger Margins – #3 -“Is your Time Slipping Away?” – Time Capture Best Practices

By on October 19, 2010

This ongoing series will visit small (and large) overlooked ways firms can save (or gain) money that can add up to big dividends.

A few months back, I wrote a blog entry about law firm time entry. In it, I outlined the results of a survey on time entry and some best practices attorneys can use to avoid “leakage” or “slippage”. One of the points was “If you have a mobile attorney, let them try a Blackberry or iPhone time capture app; see if it will help improve productivity.” Since mobile applications are used for just about everything these days, I thought I would expound on the benefit of using mobile time capture to avoid slippage, and achieve the most accurate time capture possible.

To begin, what exactly is “slippage”? Although there are many different types of slippage (in stocks, foreign exchange, etc.), law firms experience this phenomenon when they simply don’t bill clients for the work performed. This can occur when work is forgotten, small amounts of time are not recorded that may add up to large amounts of time and/or work is underestimated. Slippage is a real issue that negatively affects revenue and may lead to longer billing cycles, and an overall poor reflection on an attorney’s time management skills.

There are many contemporaneous time capture strategies the mobile attorney can implement to avoid slippage, here are a few:

  • This seems like a no-brainer, but find a mobile time capture tool that not only allows you to create time entries at any time, but also interfaces with the firm’s billing system, saving the time spent re-keying, or keying, billable time.
  • Utilize automatic time capture applications that allow users to record time automatically based on the medium, e.g., phone call, email, etc.
  • Make sure the mobile application has an automatic reporting feature. This will allow you to quickly review time spent on specific client and matters and then simply feed it into your time and billing system.
  • Mobile applications not only help lawyers to actualize all billable hours, they also make it possible to get back to clients right away. In this day and age, stellar customer service is one of the primary keys to client retention.
  • Go beyond the “normal” PDA applications and utilize the technology to the fullest extent. For example, some BlackBerry phones offer digital dictation, document review, work product retrieval, etc. This is another great use of down time while on the road.
  • Don’t be afraid to explore the firm’s existing technology. There may be compatible features that an attorney may not know about – these features can help save time and, of course, help to increase productivity.

    These are just a few small things the mobile attorney can implement to increase client satisfaction, make the best use of time and decrease slippage overall.

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Categories: Best Practices, Financial Management, Law firm billing, Practice Management, Technology, The Legal Market
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