If you’re running a high-volume law firm, like landlord-tenant or debt collections, you know that efficiency is the name of the game. With so many cases on your plate and slender profit margins, you’ve got to find ways to streamline your operations, cut costs, and optimize your workflow to stay ahead.
We’ve pooled a set of shortcuts tailored to help high-volume law firms do exactly that. They make smart use of automation-based solutions as well as service-based solutions that move through masses of work with speed and efficiency—without disturbing the bottom line.
Automation-Based Shortcuts
There’s a common theme among law firms that specialize in landlord-tenant disputes and debt collections: The landscape looks very much the same. That’s because the process for evictions and collecting debts follow a strict sequence of steps. Always.
The sameness, however, creates ideal conditions for automation to turn repetition into savings by amping up efficiency and trimming labor costs.
To see how automation creates the magic of operational shortcuts we need look no further than eFiling.
The Shortcut You’ll Use Every Day
A top-performing eFiling platform is indispensable for collections and landlord-tenant law firms. That’s because a premium platform will have built-in alerts to make sure that form fields are complete and legal documents meet court requirements.
These alerts stop problems before they begin. When you’re filing dozens of cases every day this leads to a lower risk of errors that could require rework and slow down your workflow.
Used in high volume, these small failsafes add up to big savings that are critical for low-margin work.
And, these features scale seamlessly—making them economically attractive and strategically desirable as a law firm’s work volume ebbs and flows.
What’s not to love about that?
One You Probably Haven’t Seen: eFile Proof After Serve
It’s not always possible to control when court documents can be served. What happens after the serve, however, is something that can be controlled and expedited. This is what makes automatically eFiling a proof after serve advantageous to high-volume law firms; and a shortcut to higher productivity.
If you use Rapid Legal, here’s how it works:
While submitting a new order, select the Proof After Serve option in the Rapid Legal portal. This option eliminates the need for follow-up to check whether a proof has been returned and bypasses the additional work of placing a new order.
Once service is completed and the server has signed the proof, a new “file proof” order is automatically created.
It’s simple to use and it gives law firms a shortcut because staff members don’t have to do the work of filing of the proof.
Ditch the Document Silos with Integrations
An eFiling platform integrated with document management systems (DMS) such as iManage and NetDocuments, or a practice management system such as Clio, provides the framework for a brilliant productivity shortcut.
That’s because they pull documents out of their silos and eliminate the steps of downloading and uploading stored documents.
In high volume practices especially, this can create a substantial savings of time and money. Why? Because without an automated shortcut this would be a three-step process.
- A legal professional downloads the documents to be used for the filing from the firm’s DMS onto a local computer.
- The documents are uploaded into the eFiling platform and submitted to the court.
- Documents are accepted by the court. They are subsequently downloaded and uploaded back into the DMS.
An integration shortens that process.
It pulls documents needed for the court filing directly from the DMS or practice management system and eliminates the separate steps of downloading and uploading.
When the court returns the documents, the documents can be pushed directly back into the DMS or practice management system.
Assuming the download and upload process for each filing requires 1 minute, this automated shortcut would save a law firm 100 minutes a day if the firm does 100 filings a day.
That adds up to nearly two hours of staff labor saved daily.
API Integrations for Supercharged Shortcuts
For collections and landlord-tenant law firms that have strong technology teams, an application programming interface (API) can automate eFiling and billing tasks. This means work gets done with greater speed and accuracy at a lower cost.
A collections firm, for example, may use an API to create a time-saving shortcut for filings where the same documents are used consistently, such as, a summons, complaint, proof of service, default judgment, and writ.
An API can generate those documents automatically and insert the information associated with each case. The attorney signs the documents and uses the law firm’s API to upload them to the eFiling provider.
The process has just saved the time of having another staff member upload all of the documents separately.
At a landlord-tenant law firm the process would work the same, with the exception of the unlawful detainer notice, which is not filed.
APIs can also provide a formidable shortcut for matter reconciliation.
Here’s how:
Firms can use an API to create system-to-system integrations that capture order and payment details from a vendor’s system and deposit that data directly into a law firm’s customer relationship management (CRM) system.
The integration assures that all fees and invoices are captured accurately, and reduces time needed by a law firm to reconcile matter-related expenses.
The labor hours this saves can be dramatic.
Service-Based Shortcuts
Concierge Service
Not all high-volume challenges can be solved by technology and automation.
When workloads make it tough to assure every legal document meets court requirements, it may be wise to offload overflow work to a concierge service—allowing law firm staff to focus on higher-value tasks.
Litigation support service providers that offer concierge-style service are staffed with experts who can check documents for accuracy and completeness. They make sure all documents are correctly paginated, mandated forms are attached, text is text-searchable, and that the documents are not corrupted or password-protected.
This can be a formidable time-saver when minutes count.
Expert Review
Legal documents rejected by the court create a “time problem” for high-volume law firms. That’s because for every rejection a staff member has to read through the documents and refile them.
Expert review can help reduce those rejections.
For perspective: If a law firm is getting 10% rejections, because of staff mistakes, and they can lower that rejection rate to 5% by using expert review, the firm saves time and minimizes delays.
That makes expert review a smart move for law firms that can’t afford the luxury of rework.
Meet Your Clients’ Deeper Expectations
Many law firms that specialize in collections or landlord-tenant matters operate in a market occupied by price-sensitive clients. This puts even more pressure on firms to be efficient.
Slashing prices isn’t an option so firms must focus on adding value to their services through efficient processes, high-quality service, and smart use of technology.
One way to do this is to use data analytics to offer clients a shortcut of their own: real-time updates on their case status; powered by data from your litigation support service provider.
For example, if your litigation support service provider offers performance reports about eFiling and service of process, you can share insights from those reports to your clients. This provides them a window on how their cases are progressing and how the courts are handling them.
These extras can set your firm apart, even in a market where price is king.
Shortcuts Win the Long Game
In the high-volume environment that landlord-tenant law firms and collections firms inhabit, efficiency is not just a nice-to-have—it’s a necessity. Operational shortcuts can help those practices run at peak efficiency by embracing automation, leveraging integration, and using expert support services.
It all adds up a speedier way to complete repetitive tasks and reduce errors to gain a competitive edge.
The best way to leverage these strategies is to partner with the industry leader in automation for litigation support services. Contact Rapid Legal today. Talk to one of our account managers about how our services can help high-volume law firms thrive without missing a beat. Schedule a call or book a demo to get started!
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Spend more time on billable client hours and less time tracking down conformed copies and proofs of service.