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How to Automate Client Documentation

We all have the same problem: How do you keep up with the avalanche of correspondence and documents that need to be drafted while at the same time ensuring quality work product? Automation is a way to ensure consistency, quality and avoid errors.

Example: Fee agreements

Before automation, I used to take a Word document for a fee agreement I previously used and find and replace the last client’s name with the current client’s name, modify the scope of services and scan to include or exclude provisions that may not be appropriate (e.g., conflict waiver for married couple if client is unmarried). Of course, this “save as” method risks that I potentially overwrite the prior document, forget to replace some things (like the client’s name in a header or footer) and use language that is not standardized or vetted across similar documents. This manual approach also takes much more time.       

After automation, the information the client inputted into the online form I used to capture them as a lead gets inputted into a template fee agreement. I choose if and when the potential client gets emailed the fee agreement. The template fee agreement has fill in the blanks that get completed automatically with the information the client inputted. This allows me to use best practices once to create the template fee agreement and then reuse it again and again. As a bonus, my new process emails the fee agreement to the client so he or she can sign it electronically. After the client has signed the agreement, I am notified by email, I countersign it and both I and the client are emailed fully executed copies of the fee agreement.

In short, before automation I used to do the work. After automation, the client (and the automation I’ve designed) does the work for me.

The good news is you don’t have to hire a freelance programmer to hack together a solution for you (like I did), wait weeks for the finished product and spend thousands of dollars in the process. Nowadays, there are many affordable off-the-shelf options available, including document automation available from directly within law practice management software such as Clio or online assembly platforms such as WebMerge. And with RightSignature, you can get signatures electronically.

Further Resources

The American Bar Association has published Blueprint, a free tool that helps solo and small firm lawyers find software and services they need to run their firm. Also, the ABA’s Legal Technology Resource Center has a good, general introduction to document automation available here.

 

The Changing Face of Legal Services Delivery: Cultural Competency in the Practice of Law

A monolingual Spanish-speaking single mother. A young professional who recently emigrated from India. A victim of domestic violence from the pro bono clinic. These are just a few clients that I have assisted in my practice over the last few months.

In an increasingly diverse society, cultural competency is becoming imperative to the practice of law.  According to the National Center for Cultural Competence (NCCC), cultural competence “embraces the principles of equal access and non-discriminatory practices in service delivery.”¹ Cultural competency is achieved by identifying and understanding the needs and help-seeking behaviors of individuals. More importantly, the practice of cultural competency is driven in service delivery systems by client preferred choices, not by culturally blind or culturally free interventions (emphasis added).² The legal industry is primarily a service-based industry, and the foundation of the practice of law is communication with clients. Understanding the needs of clients, and the cultural differences that may arise during communications with clients can make the delivery of legal services effective.  With the American Bar Association’s mandate to improve access to lawyers and legal services for those of moderate incomes, cultural competency will continue to play an important role in the future of the legal profession, both for attorneys and for clients.

With these guiding principles in mind, below are some practices and policies that every lawyer can learn and implement in an effort to become culturally competent.

Learn What “Culture” Means

In order to be mindful of the cultural differences and similarities in clients, it is important to be mindful of the characteristics that can define different cultures. Culture is often described as the combination of a body of knowledge, a body of belief, and a body of behavior.³ Culture not only refers to the superficial features of a person, such as their appearance, but also refers to a person’s personal identity, language, thoughts, communications, actions, customs, beliefs, values, and institutions that are often specific to ethnic, racial, religious, geographic, or social groups.⁴

While appearances and linguistic differences are clear indicators for the need to be culturally competent, other characteristics such as personal identification can be difficult to ascertain. One example of this is simply the way that we refer to people. If a client introduces herself using a certain name or other specific way, keep that in mind. Be mindful of the way a client refers to himself or herself, and if you are unsure of how to refer to him or her, ask, do not assume!

Recently, in a seminar that I attended about providing legal counsel to homeless youth, one of the speakers mentioned that in her non-profit practice, they found that young homeless clients are more likely to feel comfortable if they are sitting closer to the exit than the attorney. Due to past experiences, she said, homeless youth are likely to distrust authority, and are less likely to have open conversations in uncomfortable environments — environments that are too ostentatious or too restrictive.

In learning what “culture” means, it is best to learn what it means in the context of the community that you serve.

Value Diversity

Diversity is a catch-all word for the notable characteristics in a person. Diversity has many avatars, and learning how to convey information to diverse clients can be a career-defining action. A little bit of research and understanding can go a long way. Conveying information to clients so that it is easily understood is an invaluable skill, whether conveying to someone with limited English proficiency or literacy skills, an individual with disabilities, or someone who has never dealt with an attorney before.⁵

Similarly, valuing diversity within the legal profession is just as important. We can learn important lessons in cultural competency through each of our colleagues, whether they are disabled, ethnically diverse, or bring a different perspective to the table. Making the effort to attend events for diverse bar associations can be the first step in learning cultural competency in the legal profession. LGBT bar associations; ethnic bar associations, such as National Bar Association, Asian American Bar Associations; and religious bar associations, such as J. Reuben Clark Bar Association are some of many safe places to ask questions about certain diverse groups in order to increase cultural competency.

Build and Nurture Relationships

While speaking with colleagues about cultural competency recently, I found that one of my colleagues was in favor of learning about a client’s culture or values beforehand, and making it a topic of conversation in the first meeting to build a rapport. Another colleague, a female attorney, disagreed and said that she would proceed the same way with any client, and not make a client conscious of the differences in his or her background.

I believe the right answer is to set boundaries in conversation, along with a personable tone; and then assess each client’s reaction and comfort level before asking questions that could be perceived as personal, such as country of origin, family background, education, etc. In certain situations, such as discovery during litigation, questions about background may be inevitable. In other legal services, such as contract review or negotiations, the same questions can be irrelevant and intrusive.  This can lead to distrust, especially in clients who come from backgrounds where law enforcement and legal counsel are traditionally more intimidating than helpful, whether in another country or a disadvantaged neighborhood.

Engaging and staying attuned to each client’s boundaries and comfort level can provide a solid foundation to build and nurture relationships based on trust and mutual respect.

Conclusion

The field of medicine encourages, and often requires, professional training in cultural competency prior to communicating with patients because such culturally-competent communications foster effective and honest relationships and trust.  Legal service delivery, whether litigation or transactional, requires the same level of respect and competence in an increasingly diverse world.

Once we acknowledge the importance or cultural competency, and the fact that cultural competence is a developmental process that evolves over an extended period, we can begin to learn and improve the way that we interact with clients.⁶

Notes

1 National Centre of Cultural Competence, http://nccc.georgetown.edu/foundations/frameworks.html (last visited July 10, 2015).

2 Id.

3 National Institutes of Health, http://www.nih.gov/clearcommunication/culturalcompetency.htm (last visited July 10, 2015).

4 Id.

5 Id.

6 Id.

Benefits of Prepaid Legal Services for Union Members

There is an affordable benefit that unions can and do provide their members.  They can provide a benefit that supports social justice in the form of prepaid legal services.  The actual cost of these plans is contingent on how it is structured and whether or not the union handles the administration of the program.

The union that I am a member of provides legal assistance.  It has become a benefit that one, I have grown accustom to and two, when I needed the service was provided with little effort on my part.  My wife, who was also a member, used the service to protect our son with special needs and was able to receive counsel at no cost to her.  It has been such a fabulous benefit that I do not see why other organizations and businesses do not provide this service for their workers.

Providing legal services protects the members and allows them a benefit often overlooked in our day to day lives.  Union members like those that are not members buy houses, need wills, and may also require power of attorney.  There is a plethora of legal needs that family’s find themselves requiring.  For this reason, legal services without cost to the member are a phenomenal benefit.

A side benefit that I have seen from using the service is the personal relationship that has been birthed between our families and the lawyer.  Once this relationship has been developed our members adopt them as their family legal advisors.  The lasting connection to the lawyers used in pre-paid legal services are a plus for the lawyers.  They will have a constituent that if treated fairly will make recommendations to their friends and family.  This is a win-win for anyone working for a legal provider.

One of the driving forces for any entity looking for quality legal services, GLSA is a primer for getting involved in prepaid legal services.  This association is a collection of providers and lawyers with experience that can be drawn on for direction. GLSA has been our connection to the industry that allows us to hear from lawyers and other providers. Staying abreast of the industry is essential to continued world class service to our members and their families.

Charles Johnson crjohnson@btu.org

Get Smart: Harvard Professor and Author Heidi Gardner Shares the Secrets to “Smart Collaboration” For Lawyers

What lawyer wouldn’t want to earn higher margins, inspire greater client loyalty, attract and retain the best talent, and gain a competitive edge? According to Heidi Gardner, a former McKinsey consultant and Harvard Business School professor, now lecturing at Harvard Law School, the key to all these benefits is what she calls “Smart Collaboration.” Based on over a decade of research, her new book, “Smart Collaboration,” reveals these significant tangible benefits for lawyers, their firms or companies, and their clients.

The caveat? Not all teamwork is “smart.” Says Gardner, “Lawyers need to execute it efficiently, recognize the investment period required to develop the skills, and … stick with it long enough until those rewards kick in — there is a lag period and too many people give up before the ROI turns positive.”

I had a chance to speak with Gardner in depth about her research. Here’s what I learned.

Monica Zent (MZ): Why is collaboration essential for lawyers?

Heidi Gardner (HG): “Lawyers today are more specialized than ever, but their clients’ problems are increasingly complex and multidisciplinary. … What clients want is for their lawyers to understand their issues deeply enough to offer sophisticated advice and to line up the right legal team to deliver it – no matter where in the firm the needed experts reside.

My empirical research shows that firms earn higher margins, inspire greater client loyalty, attract and retain the best talent, produce more innovative work, and gain a competitive edge when their lawyers collaborate across boundaries.  Individual lawyers benefit, too: working on cross-practice matters helps them develop the knowledge, skills and confidence to tackle increasingly complex, multi-faceted problems. … Lawyers who don’t collaborate risk becoming overly niche players whose expertise will become more and more commoditized.”

MZ: How were you able to, through your research, connect collaboration with profits?

HG: “With a research team including mathematicians and economists, we drew on decades of timesheet, personnel and clients records across multiple law firms—literally millions of data points—to study collaboration and its outcomes.  We built statistical models to explore collaboration’s results over time, which allowed us to detect patterns that are impossible for people to observe in daily life.  I also conducted hundreds of interviews with clients, law firm leaders and partners, and all sorts of other people in the legal ecosystem to enrich my empirical findings.  The business case for smart collaboration across practices is clear: proper execution of smart collaboration increases a firm’s revenues and profits, client loyalty and retention, and innovation, while decreasing risk.  Simply put, the more disciplines involved, the better.

My research shows that there are very real, tangible financial benefits for firms because complex, multi-practice work commands higher margins, revenues, and rates.”

MZ: Is your research on the benefits of collaboration just as relevant to in-house corporate legal departments?

HG: “The benefits of smart collaboration definitely apply to in-house corporate legal departments.  A challenge for many General Counsel involves shifting their mindset from being purely defensive to one that also involves opportunity-seeking. …Such problem solving requires creativity and collaboration across disciplinary boundaries. Many lawyers have not had formal training on the related skills and the necessary mindset.  But… I find that once General Counsel are exposed to the ideas, they find it exhilarating to make this shift…”

MZ: What differentiates “Smart Collaboration” from collaboration that is not effective?

HG: “Smart collaboration is a means to an end, rather than an end in itself…  In addition to offering up their expertise, these professionals also help, advise, stimulate, and counterbalance each other.  By truly collaborating, a team of knowledge professionals is able to address issues than none could tackle individually.

Smart collaboration is different from the mere assembly of experts in a “divide and conquer” approach. It’s also different from sequential teamwork, in which one expert builds on others’ prior contributions and then hands the project off to the next teammate. … Further, smart collaboration is not cross-selling, a practice where the lead partner introduces a colleague to his client so that the newcomer can provide additional, discrete services with little oversight or guidance from the original partner.

Simply put, cross-selling is the professional equivalent of the McDonald’s tagline: “Do you want fries with that?” and clients hate it…”

MZ: What do you think is the biggest obstacle for lawyers that can inhibit collaboration?

HG: “…For some professionals, firm culture, distrust of colleagues, and failed past attempts to collaborate have created a negative feedback loop, which has reinforced the perception that collaboration isn’t worthwhile. … I’ve found that many professionals don’t collaborate because they are simply not used to working on teams and are more comfortable working in competitive, individualistic settings; law school figuratively constructed these working silos, and strong firm cultures reinforced them.

Whatever the case, changing their perception of what smart collaboration is – the kind of integrated, sophisticated, multi-practice work that I am advocating for – is the hardest step. … Fortunately, even the most jaded lawyer responds to hard evidence.”

MZ: How can technology help facilitate “Smart Collaboration”?

HG: Technology can help smart collaboration occur more easily, especially as virtual teams expand across the globe… it can help make performance management powerful and palatable, if not fun.  [Technology that] promotes both ownership and transparency [among team members] combined with a search function to generate more collaboration opportunities can be useful.  … (O)thers on the team can see progress, which acts like a motivating success story.

On the flip side, those who gain through selfish, hoarding behavior become more obvious…  Far more effective than waiting for quarterly or annual reviews?  You bet.

… Of course, technology is not the panacea for smart collaboration.   Software can only support collaboration as part of a robust performance management system—but

I predict that it will become indispensable as technology-savvy professionals rise through the ranks.”

MZ: What is next for your research?

HG: “Right now I am conducting book launch events in cities across the United States and around the globe to help spread these ideas in “Smart Collaboration” that I researched for more than a decade. …

Two topics have been on my research agenda for a while…  First, I’m taking a deeper dive into examining the relationship between collaboration and gender. .. Secondly, I am focused on gathering data to understand the long-term outcomes of professional development initiatives aimed at fostering collaboration; we want to demonstrate which efforts have the greatest impact on partners’ behaviors and business outcomes.

I’m passionate about continuing to advance the ideas in “Smart Collaboration” because I think they can truly, positively affect people’s experiences of work and their colleagues, as well as their productivity and profitability. “

This piece originally ran on Inside Counsel.

Monica Zent Bio:

Monica Zent is an experienced entrepreneur, investor, businesswoman and trusted legal advisor to the world’s largest brands.  Zent has been a successful entrepreneur for decades. Her most recent venture is as Founder & CEO of Foxwordy, the private collaboration network for lawyers. She is also the Founder of ZentLaw, one of the leading alternative law firms on the West Coast.  For many years, Zent has been an active investor in real estate and startups in California, and has dedicated her time and talent to a variety of charitable causes and pro bono service. When she’s not running companies, Zent is running distance as an endurance athlete.

Interview with Sam Glover

Listen to the teleconference here:

How the Virtual Law Practice Mindset Can Help You Be More Productive

I think the first time I heard the term “virtual law practice” was about ten years ago. I had just launched my own law firm in Spring 2006 and was poring over a number of books and blogs about how to best organize my office and be more efficient.

With the explosion of the Internet, I naturally explored online tools to help with my effort. Unfortunately, Jay Foonberg’s How to Start & Build a Law Practice didn’t help much in this regard. One of my first valued resources was and is Carolyn Elefant’s MyShingle blog, wherein she tackled many of the same solo issues I was experiencing. Stephanie Kimbro later popularized the concept in her book, Virtual Law Practice: How to Deliver Legal Services Online. Now, I stay up to date with legal tech on Sam Glover and Aaron Street’s Lawyerist blog.

“Virtual law practice” sounds quaint now in relation to how far the world of business has come in using technology, such as artificial intelligence, automation and bots. For a time, “virtual law practice” carried with it the connotation of a lawyer who had taken his or her law practice entirely online and provided low flat fee services by means of an online portal that clients would use to generate legal documents tailored to their needs. I think this definition is far too narrow.

Eliminating the traditional brick and mortar office paradigm as the nexus for conducting work has many benefits, not the least of which is greater productivity.

Jason Fried, founder of Basecamp and business management thought leader, addressed the problem with the traditional office in his book Remote: Office Not Required:

“Offices have become interruption factories. A busy office is like a food processor, it chops your day into tiny bits. Fifteen minutes here, ten minutes there, twenty minutes here, five there. Each segment is filled with a conference call, a meeting, another meeting, or some other institutionalized unnecessary interruption.”

It’s hard to be creative or productive when you can’t concentrate on a task long enough to complete it. Have you ever noticed how your computer slows down when you have too many tabs open on your web browser? Well, our brains are similar; if you’re juggling too many things, it won’t be long before they all come crashing down.

Jason Fried identified three ways you can implement a “Remote” mindset in your office, even if you don’t eliminate the office entirely:

1. Provide private areas for individuals to retreat to when they need the space to be creative and time to think.
2. Schedule silent time: an afternoon without meetings, conversations, knocking on doors, or emails, just employees working in a quiet environment on the tasks they’ve been assigned.
3. Offer the option to take work outside the office. Fried suggests starting slow, providing the option to work away from the office one day per month, advancing to twice a month, then once a week. “It may not work for everybody but most people will probably find they got a lot more work done the day they were away from the office,” says Fried.

Whatever your approach, find ways to incorporate uninterrupted blocks of time for concentrating on creative work (such as writing, research or strategy) in your law practice. This will help you avoid, or at least minimize, the busy work and help you to get more done.

 

Legal Plans: State of the Industry Panel

Last May I successfully ran for the GLSA Board because my personal mission is to support legal plans to  address our access to justice challenge. Further, I believe that technology within the plans is the leverage needed to serve more Americans. Join us in Scottsdale next month on May 18^th to hear from some legal luminaries as we gather for the GLSA Annual Education conference in conjunction with GP Solo, more information here.

I wrote here in Law Technology Today last year on the state of the industry panel at the 2016 annual education conference in Key West. It cannot be said enough that some of the GLSA legal plans are more than 40 years old, and even more importantly, these plans are being overlooked as the answer to the American access to justice problem. In turn, technology is the key component to improving efficiency and ensuring affordability.

In Scottsdale, Arizona, on May 18, the 2017 state of industry panel again features prominent plan players:

• Jeff Bell is the CEO of LegalShield.
• Brian Caron is the General Counsel & VP of Hyatt Legal Plans.
• Jean Clauson leads ARAG’s Network Development and is incoming GLSA President.
• Allen Rodriguez is the CEO of ONE400.
• John Wachsmann is managing attorney at Wachsmann & Associates, PC, in Colorado.

I interviewed these panelists and some highlights are below. You can read the full article here in ABA’s Law Technology Today.

How has technology impacted your plan and/or practice over the past couple of years?

Jean: Technology has afforded us the ability to more effectively connect and match consumers with attorneys nationally. Leveraging technology has provided consumers with legal check-ups, a mobile app, and direct access to attorneys in their geographic area for their specific type of legal need,

John: Our firm has tried to monitor and maintain technological proficiency. We purchased the highest-level case management software to assist with law firm management, billing, client portal options, email integration, paperless options, and document assembly. It has been a significant investment of both time and money; however, we believe this will help our firm remain competitive and help us best serve clients and legal plans. We are also in the process of updating our phone system to improve client access. Overall, we are adopting new technology to improve the client experience.

Where do you see technology for the law and/or legal plans in five years?

Jeff: We will see more AI to aid in research to support law firms and to prepare citizens to be confident in working with lawyers. We will also see significant improvements in connectivity and communications between citizens and their law firms.

Brian: The more ways in which technology connects consumers with companies will continue to have an impact on our business. Consumers expect to interact with their legal plan just as they would any other service. The next five years will see our members connecting with us through constantly evolving mediums.

Allen: There will be more software products built on AI. Lawyers and legal plan customers will be able to research legal issues using natural language tools such as Ross. Legal plan customers will be using bots to create their own documents on the go through mobile devices. Software will alert legal plan customers and providers of copyright and trademark infringements and generate takedown notices automatically.

Join us in Scottsdale with GP Solo for CLE and great information. Head here for more information on the conference and also on the interesting free Phoenix local mixer on May 17^th, sign up here.

Business of Legal

Law firms are businesses, regardless of size. For solo and small firms, launching is like the early days of a startup. Firm owners must think like business people which means understanding the levers of success in your firm. What can you do to improve client experience and cash collections or your firm culture, including individual timekeeper performance? What technology will your clients demand? What systems and processes do you need to be efficient as a plan attorney? How can you use technology to attract more clients?

Today, we use technology in our everyday lives and clients demand efficiency. Thinking as an entrepreneur can also mean figuring out how to use solutions to satisfy clients, whether business clients or consumers. However, businesses make technology decisions based the return on the cash invested in the products and systems. Below are five business ideas for your law firm, including technology solutions.

Website Optimization

Four years ago, a Yoodle poll reported that 54% of seniors use the internet. And research from the National Law Review indicated that 96% of Americans use a search engine to find a lawyer and about three quarters of those that start to search online, use a phone to contact the potential attorney. Also, over two thirds of searches are done using both a computer and a phone and almost three quarters of clients only contact ONE attorney.

So, do not be one of the 27% of firms that do not have a phone number or 68% without contact email information on the firm’s home page. Better yet, license a solution to set appointments using calendaring software. Also, ensure that your website works equally well on a phone as well as a computer, in other words is mobile responsive. You will only have one chance when someone visits your website. Put your best digital foot forward.

Strategy

Your firm’s vision or goals are your own and like business planning in the corporate world, every law firm should have a strategic plan. Are you looking to balance work and family with a moderate case load or are you looking to build a huge practice? Choosing your goals are essential to your strategic plan.

Budgeting

Your strategy will drive your budget. If you are in growth mode, you will need to plan additional resources. Start with your revenue building up from expected billings and be specific month by month; never just divide an annual total by twelve. When you are planning for expenses, start from zero every year.

Legal Practice Management

Businesses have project management systems and other time and billing software that help them manage the workflow as they deliver products and services. The LPM (legal practice management) system will allow attorneys to systematize their delivery and provide a communication platform with clients. Most LPMs are integrated with accounting, time & billing and perhaps client development systems like customer relationship management (CRM) to help create your pipeline of business and manage your contacts.

KPIs

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are critical to measure client satisfaction, performance, profitability, and collections, all measures that are more than traditional billable hours and profits per partner. An accounting system and LPM are very helpful for collecting the data necessary to create a set of KPIs that cover your firm’s workflow but KPIs can be tracked using a simple spreadsheet program like Excel. KPIs can help discover what is working well and where change is needed in your firm.

If you want to learn more about the business of legal, technology for your firm, and how to implement simple KPIs for your firm, join us in Scottsdale on May 18^th at our annual conference – Register here.