Value Your Time
As attorneys, our time is a commodity. The specific knowledge and skillset we possess is valuable. We spent years acquiring it, and use it to provide a timeless value to the public. You should not waste it on tasks that do not deserve the disproportionate consumption of this resource.
As members of the legal profession, we must transfer our knowledge to documents for it to have practical and lasting application in our society. Yet, not all documents are created equal.
A Factum on a novel legal issue will require much more dedicated time and unique knowledge to properly draft, whereas reporting letters to close a file or provide an update to a client are a less optimized use of your time.
Optimize Your Most Precious Resource with Automation
Client demands are increasing. They require constant updates and the firms that continue to go above and beyond will maintain market share. But not all of these tasks get collected for.
The average attorney does not collect on 12% of their billable time. Streamline these tasks with document automation and reap the benefits of earning your time back.
DISCOVER HOW MUCH OF YOUR TIME YOU CAN TAKE BACK
Top 3 Uncollected Legal Tasks
In a world where time is a resource, we often do not think about the massive amounts of revenue we leave on the table through all of the 0.1's that we do not collect.
The average family law firm in North America has approximately 4 attorneys with 40 files each at any given time. At an average hourly rate of $284, a single 0.1 unaccounted for costs that firm $4,089.
1) Information Gathering
Most lawyers run their own shop and will collect background information from the client directly. If not, they are paying the salary for someone else to do it. Not only is it painful to send numerous follow up emails requesting additional information, but client's never want to pay for it either.
This can all be streamlined with document automation so that you can take back this time and allocate it towards billable tasks.
Average time unpaid: 2 hours
Value of time taken back: $81,792.00
2) Final Reporting Letters
These are what separate the best from the rest. Final reporting letters that go out to clients summarizing their matter go along way; not only for the client (and the potential referral you will get) but also to avoid future liability.
The average legal professional takes an hour to complete these and usually after the file has closed; so it is unpaid time.
Average time unpaid: 1 hour
Value of time taken back: $40,896.00
3) Invoicing
Ever try to bill out your time for emailing the client requesting they actually pay their invoice? Spoiler alert: It rarely goes over well.
If you delegate this (as you should) then that is taking away billable time your paralegal or admin staff could be spending on work that allows you to take on more files such as booking consultations or completing more work on files that actually have monies in trust.
Automate the invoicing process and don't work on the file until it is paid. Value your time.
Average time unpaid: 15 emails
Value of time taken back: $61,344.00
Rewarding Efficiency
AN ATTORNEY'S PARADOX: LESS TIME. MORE MONEY
When I was in elementary school, our class would receive an assignment and then go back to our desks and all start working at the same time. The race was on.
Every assignment we did, I wanted to be the first done. I wanted to get up first and hand it into the teacher while the rest of the class was left wondering how I was done so fast.
Unfortunately, this innate desire to do good work in an efficient manner does not fit well with traditional law firm billing models.
The legal profession rewards inefficiency. Taking longer to complete a task means more billable time and more revenue. But we are competitive people by nature who want to be the best.
So as attorney's, it is crucial that we become efficient in the monotonous tasks that we either cannot bill for, or that clients do not see the value in paying for.
Value your time. Take back the time you spend on tasks that are not valued through optimizing that function; spend this surplus on billable work, and reap the newfound rewards of becoming more efficient.