Leveraging Technology in Law Firms through Automation with Jim Tate

Uncategorized Jan 21, 2021

In today’s world, there is an increasing need for collaboration and transparency. If you find your system old and ineffective, it’s time to revamp. Ask yourself: how many touchpoints do you need to communicate with someone? How many emails do you send, and how do you collect information? Streamlining these processes with automation tools is essential to not only improve your workflow but also keep your firm relevant.

In this episode, Jim Tate joins us to talk about the power of automation. He shares that not a lot of law firms utilize technology for process management. These tools can elevate your workflow and improve customer relations, ensuring exponential growth for your firm.

If you want to know more about integrating automation tools and solutions in your law firm, then this episode is for you.

Here are three reasons why you should listen to this episode

Learn the importance of improving process management for a law firm.
Discover how technology solutions, like automation tools, can improve customer service and relations.
What are the challenges and benefits of integrating automation solutions?

Resources

The Law Firm Growth Summit is back! February 9-11, 2021, and it will be better than ever! You can purchase tickets today at https://www.lawfirmgrowthsummit.com. The theme is centered around future-proofing your law firm!
This episode is sponsored by LawFundAR. The easy and simple way to add payment plans to your practice with no risk to you. Get paid up front and still add the value of payment plan options for your clients. Learn more at lawfundar.com/profitwithlaw.
Join the Law Firm Growth Summit’s Facebook community
2020 Legal Trends Report from Clio. If you’re looking for highlights instead, access the summary here.
Case.One is a great single vendor solution for all your legal operation needs!
Looking for a 24/7 virtual reception service? Check out Smith AI. When you use our code profitlaw100, you will get a free white glove setup!
Facebook begins merging WhatsApp, Instagram, and Messenger infrastructures by Axios
Profit with Law Episode 150 with Jim Armstrong
Profit with Law Episode 105 with Joey Vitale
Seven Things That Prevent Legal Automation Success
LAGL Insights
Check out Legal Automation Group to find next-generation technology solutions!
To request a show topic, recommend a guest, or ask a question for the show, please send an email to [email protected].

Episode Highlights

The Importance of Process Management

For Jim, law firms need to be able to improve their process management systems.
These systems affect sales capacities, customer relations, and staff collaboration.
Law firms are built on the hourly model, and this may not work in the ever-changing business environment we are facing today.

Moshe: “The age-old model is to bill by the hour, and that model is being questioned daily. The problem with the hourly model is that it's a conflict of interest between the attorney and the client at all stages of the game. Basically, it's in my best interest to take as long as possible to do something because I'm getting paid for it. It's in the client’s best interest for you to do it as quickly as possible because you don't want to pay more in order for it.”

Jim’s company, Legal Automation Group, can provide end to end automation tools and services that enrich user experience and workflow.

How to Find Solutions for Your Firm

The size of your firm will affect the kind of solutions you will need.
There are three different groups: tiny firms, medium-sized firms, and large firms.
For small firms, process improvement is not a huge focus.
For large firms, process improvement can save millions and improve billing hours.
Listen to the full episode for an in-depth discussion on finding the perfect solution for your firm!

Develop Your Customer Service

Jim: “Now, we're starting to see people that are becoming really savvy about, 'Can we use technology to make, first of all, a very elegant experience?’ Make it very, very simple, make it more contemporary.”

Make sure that customer interaction is simple and convenient.
Consider tools such as chatbots to improve the client onboarding process.
This simple workflow should also extend to information collection and staff collaboration.

Jim: "The experience is really going to combat that issue of who costs less or how much this costs. It's a painful process, no matter what, when you're in a lawsuit of any kind, whether you're the one suing or your one being sued. It's going to be painful, but what can you do with your client to make that experience one where they feel like they're being taken care of?”

Jim: “If you break down the work process from end to end, for each practice area of your firm, you can figure out, one, what are these activities, and how can we put our best foot forward every single time when we're interacting with a customer?”

Foster Understanding Through Transparency

Information centralization helps easy access and transparency.
Our working environment has shifted to become more collaborative, including our clients.
We are all working together toward a common goal. It’s important to have transparency with your clients.

Jim: ”We're becoming a more collaborative society. So people are becoming used to having the technology interface for working together in some way. COVID has actually been one thing that's promoted that even further.”

”They're going to see that everybody's working toward the common goal. And, boy, that's a heck of a lot better experience than the unknown — that's just not the right experience. All of this leads into, you're going to get customer referrals, you're going to get ways that people are going to want to promote this. This is a growth mechanism for the long haul.”

The Development of Automation

Jim: “Automation as an underlying factor becomes the vehicle for change, and then the rethinking of the entire organization, the entire firm, from end to end.”,

Automating processes not only saves time and money, but it also helps you give clients the best possible experience.
You don’t need to plan processes or automation first.
With current technology, these two go hand in hand and can be changed in a matter of seconds with the right platform.
Listen to the full episode for more of Jim’s thoughts on automation!

Jim: “Given the way that technology has evolved, it is now one and the same. So if you take Case.One’s platform, for instance, you can automate your workflow within a matter of minutes. You can modify your workflow within a matter of seconds. You can adjust these things on a continuous basis based on best practices as your firm evolves.”

Jim’s Advice for Your Firm

Resisting change is one of the biggest challenges for automation success.
This resistance can be due to a lack of budget or failing to see the value of automation.
Firms commonly use plug-in tools and underutilize technology.
It’s easy to talk about tools and technologies, but it’s harder to implement.
You need experts who can guide you through the process.

About Jim

Jim Tate is the managing partner of the Legal Automation Group and the Vice President of Sales at Case.One. He is highly experienced with sales and sales management. With over 25 years of experience, he continuously delivers a high standard of results-oriented service.

Jim has worked for several Global 2000 companies at the senior management and or "C" level. He has vast experience including Solution/Customer Centric Selling, Enterprise Software, and Business Process Management (BPM).

Looking for specific solutions for your law firm? You can check out Case.One and Legal Automation Group.

If you wish to get in touch with Jim, you can reach out to him through LinkedIn.

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