Automation: The Great Equalizer

by Terri Olson

Those in small firms or who practice on their own may feel hopelessly shackled by the lack of "big money" they can put into projects or cases. They may feel that their destiny lies in little cases and, if they're lucky, a growing reputation for "personal" service. How does the small firm practitioner deal with the truly big case (or the one that starts out small and mushrooms)?

The proper use of computer technology can level the differences between the small firm practitioner with few staff resources and the megafirm associate with multiple secretaries and paralegals at his or her beck and call. While it is no guarantee of success, attorneys across the country are reporting being able to take on more and more cases without going under and, best of all, being able to accept the "big one," all through the judicious use of technology. This article will attempt to highlight some potential uses of technology that may most benefit those in small firms or those with limited budgets.

Before computer technology can be used, it must be purchased. Imprudent decision making regarding automation is by no means confined to the small firm, but there are critical areas where small firms have consistent difficulty in playing the automation game. The following list, while not exhaustive, demonstrates some of the pits into which a smaller firm, usually one with limited financial resources and technical ability among its staff, can fall.

1. Buying software and hardware designed for larger firms. Small firms are particularly susceptible to being misled by poorly informed or outright dishonest salespeople. In a larger firm, there is generally a person or even a committee knowledgeable on automation issues, while in smaller firms, especially those just moving toward automation, there may be no one at all who has ever owned even a home computer. When this is combined with the undoubted fact that few computer dealers have extended experience with law firms, the results can be disastrous. A company may sell a UNIX-based network with a $12,000 accounting package to a 19-attorney firm and then turn around and try to sell the identical set-up to a sole practitioner.

If you and your firm are not computer literate, the only way you can really protect yourself is by going with an experienced law office automation consultant. The hourly fees you pay to this person for advice will be small compared to the amount you can save by being referred to the most appropriate software and hardware configurations. For example, time and billing software for attorneys ranges in price from $100 to over $20,000.

Many general consultants are only aware of two or three of these programs, usually those in the $1,500-$2,000 range. If a law office automation consultant can refer you to a program suitable for your firm in the $300-$500 range (and there are many out there), you've probably more than paid for the consultation.

2. Failing to consider cost effectiveness as opposed to bottomline price. Because computer equipment can be a significant outlay of precious cash, small firms sometimes fixate on the bottom-line cost of the hardware or software instead of the benefits the firm would reap from its use. For example, a litigation support program may cost $900, but using it might also keep the firm from having to hire an additional legal assistant. While it's true that if you just don't have that $900, you don't have it, your firm should at least be considering costs in terms of the long-term benefit and not the immediate outlay.

3. Doing too little too late. It is difficult sometimes, even under the best of circumstances, for a firm with limited staff and resources to compete effectively with a much larger firm. Instead of investigating the ways in which technology might be able to improve productivity, the small firm often chooses to focus on what's on the plate right now, vowing to research the issue when things are a little less hectic. Of course, that time never comes.

But a small firm simply cannot afford to ignore developments that might streamline the practice and speed up delivery of services. An office that is still bumping along using computers solely for basic word processing is going to fall rapidly behind more forward thinking and faster-moving firms with automated litigation support and calendaring, and on-line legal research.

4. Failing to budget computer upgrades and repair. Large law firms are certainly guilty of this as well, but they are more likely to have outside accountants who understand depreciation and who are used to budgeting for equipment outlay. In small firms, what frequently happens is that repairs are treated as unforeseen crises instead of budgeted maintenance, and upgrades are occasioned by the realization that no one services this type of machine any more, and they couldn't get it repaired even if they wanted to. So about every seven years, the firm undergoes a massive upheaval as all the equipment is thrown out and everyone is forced to learn a new system.

Ideally, money for automation repair, maintenance, upgrading, and training should be part of the firm's yearly budget. A designated employee, preferably an attorney, should make an effort to keep well enough abreast of current technology to be able to point to new developments that might be useful for the firm and recommend enhancements as needed. In addition, firms should devote considerably more effort than they currently do in seeing to it that the staff - including attorneys - is trained on the full use of all equipment.

6. Buying too much network. Occasionally, a small firm will have very sophisticated networking needs: many support staff who are constantly accessing the same types of documents; attorneys and secretaries who all want simultaneous access to billing and docketing functions; massive document production requiring high-powered print queuing and distribution. But this is usually not the case, and the firm may simply need to share printers and common files, and send files for review and revision back and forth.

If the latter holds true for your firm then consider going with a lower-cost peer-to-peer networking solution such as the Windows95 network. Small law firms frequently are talked into paying a staggering sum for the sophisticated networks, when all the attorneys really wanted to do was let the secretaries share a printer.

A peer-to-peer network is so called because all computers on it can act as equals; there is no dedicated "server" to control network activities and to store al l network files. Peer-to-peer networks, in addition to not requiring an additional computer to act as a server, are less expensive, easier to install, and easier to maintain. This last item should be of more concern to small firms than it usually is. You may have to hire additional technical staff to suppers a client-server network such as Novell; this is not generally necessary with a peer-to-peer network. Peer-to-peer networks may also be a better choice if you don=t have ready access to technical service companies in your town.

With the above caveats in mind, let us look at some specific examples of how small firms can increase their productivity through computer technology.

Docket/Calendaring Software

Automating your docket is one of the single most helpful things you can do with a computer. Any good docket control program has features that not even the most sophisticated manual tickler system can duplicate - like automatically plugging in multiple reminders, searching through notes and case information for names, providing daily, weekly, or monthly views of the calendar, searching for free blocks of time for appointments, and the list goes on. In fact, automated docket control is so effective at controlling the risk of missed deadlines that many malpractice insurance carriers will offer a substantial discount if the insured firm has computerized docketing in place. And even better news is that these programs are generally quite reasonably priced. Prices range from $60 up to several thousand for docketing software designed specifically for law firms, but several excellent programs are in the $100-$300 range. Attorneys who need only a simple appointment- and reminder-tracker should not have to pay any more than $80 for such a program.

Billing Software as a Management Tool

Software to track attorney time and produce invoices has been around for a long time now, and the vast majority of firms of all sizes have either automated this procedure or are in the process of so doing. But because small firms may have a limited number of open cases, practitioners sometimes deny the utility of time and billing program in their practices. According to them, the secretary can draft a bill quickly and easily in the word processing program, and the hours can be totaled from the timeslip on a desk calculator. While this may be true, that sort of analysis overlooks the many other benefits a good time and billing system can provide.

A good program will do much more than print bills. Some standard features on low-cost systems include: tracking both billable and nonbillable hours and reporting on each by attorney, date range, type of case, client, etc.; producing a wide range of management reports that detail how much time was spent and how much income was received for specific types of work the firm does, or for specific attorneys, or for particular times of the year; printing completely customized bills that can be tailored to the individual situation or client; generating past due notices, assessing interest on late payments, and tracking client payment history.

In short, a well-chosen time and billing system, while it cannot fill the shoes of the administrator, bookkeeper, or collections manager the small firm could not afford to hire, can do a credible job of performing key management functions. Several excellent programs are in the $100-$250 range. An integrated system that will handle time and billing, trust accounting, and general ledger can be had for around $300. If you practice in a firm with five or fewer timekeepers, you should not need to pay over $500 for a time and billing system unless you have unique needs not addressed by the majority of programs on the market.

Litigation Support

"Litigation support software" is an extremely broad term referring to software that assists in managing the documents, and hence, the information, in a case. It may allow the user to scan in the full text of documents, whether graphic or text, for later searching, or it may abstract the information from each document in a database format. Some programs that work admirably for litigation support purposes were not designed for law office use at all.

Litigation support software is not necessarily only for the "big guys" - the advantages of using software that can search rapidly across files, directories, or drives for information and report on findings extend to the small firm and solo as well. The need for litigation support software is based not on the size of the firm, but the size of the case. Information management in a document-intensive case can be exhausting and time-consuming: How do we find the admission of partial liability that was made in one of these depositions, sometime, by somebody? Where is the name of the expert who will be appearing to testify so we can research his credentials? How many of the documents in Box C discuss the events of March 3,1993? The small firm without a stable of litigation paralegals can throw its hands up in despair at that point -- and that=s where litigation software comes in to save the day.

Software designed specifically for law firms in this category is generally rather expensiveC$800 and up. For this price, the user gets a "hybrid" database capable both of searching across vast quantities of data and indexing and abstracting information that categorizes the data. For $200-$300, however, attorneys can buy very competent search software designed for the general market. While not providing the bells and whistles found in software designed for attorneys, these programs allow the user to rapidly search large amounts of information with specific, logic-based queries.

Several companies also allow their litigation support software to be distributed at no charge to law firms that agree to buy transcript disks only from court reporters affiliated with these companies. The per-disk charge is much higher than it would be for an ASCII disk, but the savings can be considerable for the occasional user.

Word Processing

Although nearly all law firms are computerized to the extent that there's a copy of WordPerfect (or something similar) on the secretary's desk, all too often that keyboard might as well be a typewriter. The secretary types correspondence and prints it out. Most support staff (in firms of all sizes) are woefully undertrained on their word processing software, usually because the attorneys refuse to pay for that training or allow them time off to take classes. In a small firm with limited staff, this waste of resources can have serious financial repercussions. Sophisticated word processing software now offers such varied features as:

The ability to automate document production by merging names, addresses, and other information with boilerplate documents (and these lists can frequently come from your time and billing or docketing software)

The ability to pop in frequently used language in contracts, letter closings, pleadings, etc., through the use of macros

The ability to develop an index, collapsible outline, footnotes, or table of contents for a document

Built-in spell checkers, thesauri, grammar checkers, table generators, and spreadsheets

Sophisticated graphics and desktop publishing capabilities

A firm that takes advantage of all these features can save hours of time each day. And no one should have to tell attorneys that time equals money. There are law-office-specific training videotapes available for all the major word processing programs, and even smaller cities usually have a community college or technical school that offers periodic training classes.

Electronic Mail

If your office is networked and the attorneys have computers on their desks, then you should be using electronic mail. Electronic mail, when used correctly, has substantial advantages over other message delivery systems like Post-Its or the telephone. For one thing, messages don't get lost, shuffled under other important papers, or read by prying eyes. For another, messages that need to go to several parties can be easily sent with only one command. For example, if all four attorneys are delinquent in turning in their timeslips, the bookkeeper doesn't have to send four separate messages or make four telephone calls, only one E-mail message. Incoming messages can be stored, sorted, annotated, routed, or incorporated into other documents far more easily than can be managed by even the most sophisticated phone voice mail (and voice mail can't attach a document to a message for review). In addition, E-mail affords a way to make those unavoidable emergency interruptions less intrusive and less likely to compromise client confidentiality. An attorney in conference can be "beeped" with an emergency message that pops up on the screen, and type a quick reply to the client that cannot be heard by anyone in the room. E-mail also serves as a way to alert the attorney with a busy telephone line that an important message or call has come in.

Fax/Modems

Lawyers have more fax machines than they have laser printers or computers. Over 90 percent of firms at least one fax station whirring in the corner. But fax machines are expensive and offer no means to direct confidential material to only one intended viewer - anyone in your office can pick up any fax. An elegant and inexpensive solution to this is the faxmodem, a modem (enabling communication between two computers) with built-in fax capabilities. Installed in a spare expansion slot or simply plugged into a serial port, the fax/modem can offer send/ receive fax capabilities and the ability to transmit documents back and forth in computer-readable form at a rate of 28,800 bits per second for $200 or so.

There are many advantages to using a fax/modem instead of the traditional fax. For one thing, the latest versions of high-end word processing software can now fax a document directly from the program (provided a fax/modem is installed, of course) as simply as printing it. For another, "junk faxes" can be deleted on receipt with the press of a button, since the incoming fax is stored on the computer and only printed out if desired. And last, a person who does not have access to the computer connected to the fax/modem can't look at the faxes, so it is easier to preserve confidentiality.

Research Tools

Many small firms do not use on-line research at all, because of the cost. Those who would like the research flexibility given by access to LEXIS or WESTLAW may want to consider purchasing a CD-ROM library with Florida caselaw or other frequently referenced material on it. Pricing for this enhancement does vary enormously depending on the publisher. Some material, like the Florida Statutes and various rules of procedures, is very affordably priced at $200 or less. Other materials, usually materials previously available only by subscription to one of the large legal publishing firms, can be quite expensiveC$2,000 or more. But if the firm would need to have the material in hard copy anyway, then the real issue becomes deciding whether the hard copy version can or should replace the electronic one. With most CD-ROM libraries, searching is faster, simpler, and produces better results than the corresponding manual search. Those cramped for space may also consider the advantages of a library on one to three small disks versus one in several hundred volumes that fills an entire room.

CD-ROM drives are available for as little as $250. Don't buy these drives; they are not fast enough for serious professional applications. An adequate drive for use with research tools will cost from $600 on up. The good news is that you don't have to be a hardware expert to get a good quality CD-ROM drive -- usually, the publisher of the CD-ROM titles you buy will either recommend a drive or bundle one with the disks as a "package deal." You should pay attention to the publishers' recommendations. They know that if! the product performs poorly, you will blame them and not the 3200 clearance catalog drive you bought. Therefore, they have a strong interest in making sure that you have the appropriate hardware to run their offerings.

If you cannot accept the idea of a $2,000-$3,000 CD-ROM library, your option need not be continuing to research manually. LEXIS, in conjunction with ABA-Net, is offering access to state-specific materials for a reasonable flat fee per month. In the long run, this fee of $85 per month plus ABA/net charges will exceed the price of the CD-ROM material, but that point would not be reached for several years. 

Terri Olson is the former Director of the Law Practice Management Program.