Don't Get Caught In The Malpractice Zone

Don't Get Caught in the Malpractice Zone!

In the Himalayas it's called the Death Zone - a point past which the air is too thin to sustain living tissue. Stay up there too long and your body begins to die. In law practice there's a similar kind of danger - the Malpractice Zone.   The ABA has done many studies and found that almost 20% of all malpractice claims involved missed deadlines or administrative errors.  If you're working at the edge of control, then sooner or later you'll make a mistake - forget a phone call, miss a deadline, lose a document. Experienced climbers use expert gear to keep them out of the danger zone. Experienced attorneys do too: practice management software.

Not only can practice management software keep you out of danger, but it can also help save you money every year on your insurance premium.  Most insurance carriers want you to use computerized docket control systems in order to cut the risk of malpractice.  In her article "Docket Science,"  Susan E. Davis stated that "at least 50 percent of all malpractice claims lodged against lawyers arise from calendaring mistakes, according to Polk Communications and Research.  The company found that about two-thirds of the surveyed insurance companies offered premium reductions for firms with automatic calendaring programs.  The reductions ranged from about 2 percent to 10 percent.  Three companies said they wouldn't insure a law firm without docketing software."  It really does pay to have practice management software!

Calendar control is an extremely important feature of practice management software.  Handhelds, desk calendar, master legal calendar. How much time do you spend updating and synchronizing? One central, computer-based calendar is the essence of practice management software. Lawyers and staff access calendaring information instantly from any workstation, and updates are automatically synchronized. You gain time for more valuable and profitable tasks!  Practice management software eliminates costly mistakes like this by ensuring that all court dates are correctly calendared.  Most offices  intend to get a tickler system in place, but don't have consistent follow-through. It's time-consuming to get it all down on paper. A computerized calendar system also lets you input your desired reminder interval - then get to work. Your daily calendar will issue reminders for events, deadlines and even your afternoon meeting. Watch your productivity (billable hours) increase!

Date calculation is another important feature of practice management software.  Many lawyers count on their fingers to figure out deadlines and due dates. This is time consuming and can cause embarrassing errors.  Fortunately, there's a quicker, more elegant and accurate way to figure out deadlines. Enter the date of your event, and let the practice management date calculator tell you your due date and interval between events. Your date is automatically adjusted for court holidays. That's one more detail you don't have to worry about!

Joseph C. Scott of Valley Lawyer talked about a firm in San Francisco that missed a court deadline because the clerk thought the firm had 60 days to file their appeal, when in reality they only had 30 days. Practice management software also uses pre-defined court rules for your state. When you enter a trigger event, program automatically schedules all the related events based on the court rules. You will never have to wade through rules again and you can stop worrying about missing deadlines.
There is a trend in law firms these days to go "paperless." This does not mean eliminating all paper, however it does mean that you can eliminate many documents by scanning them into the computer and using practice management software to keep them organized.  Paper files do have their place - but they don't have to end up in piles on top of desks and credenzas. Practice management software eliminates the hunt for documents and notes. You can easily pull up your information on screen, view or print any document, attach related notes, print a report or prepare a bill. No cutting and pasting, it's all done in a few keystrokes. This is the good life!

Are you easily generating documents without any duplication of effort? If not, you are wasting valuable time entering the same information over and over again in multiple places.  Practice management software sets you up with fast and easy templates and merges in the relevant data from your client files. You can kiss cutting, pasting and double-entry goodbye.

How much time do you waste searching for details? How often during the course of a day do you say, "I'll have to get back to you"?  By using practice management software you can have what you need in only a few clicks.   This will not only make your life easier, but keep your clients happy and satisfied with the job you are doing for them.  Use practice management software to streamline your workflow and stop getting bogged down in details.

Another large instance of malpractice claims against lawyers stems from their neglect to thoroughly check for conflicts.  If you're still doing conflict checks manually, you're inviting an oversight. Don't put yourself in the position of having to return earned fees, or worse! Practice management software can "see" your entire practice through linked databases, and does a thorough search instantly. That's one less headache for you.
Phone calls are one of the hot spots in the malpractice zone. Unreturned phone calls are a leading cause of complaints against attorneys. When you write messages down on post-its you run the risk of losing the note, thus never returning the call.  Practice management software eliminates this problem by tracking all telephone calls and messages, reminding you who you need to follow-up with and when.    Practice management software will let your staff handle client phone calls in a timely manner, and tracks those calls you need to return. It's so efficient you'll easily get your calls made and your practice back under control.

When a client calls and wants to know the status of his case, your assistant can satisfy him with a couple of mouse clicks. Using practice management software allows you to take notes during a phone conversation and directly link them to the client's record.  This makes it very easy for everyone to allows know what has been talked about and to ensure important details don't fall through the cracks.

By investing in practice management software you can stop waking up in the middle of the night worried about your law practice. Simplify, organize and control your work. Practice management software will revolutionize the way you practice law. You'll work better, faster, smarter, and have more fun. Organization and efficiency are keyes to running a successful practice. If you are organized, you can take on more cases and clients, and keep them happy and satisfied in the process.  Why not get started now?