As solos ramp up their billable hours, a one-laptop solution can still work. However, busier solos have additional needs. Time becomes precious when solo firms bill more than 1,000 hours a year. Active solo attorneys have to take advantage of technology to increase efficiency and optimize their time.
Step One: Save Time with Document Generation
A lot of time can be lost in repetitive document generation. If attorneys take advantage of technology, that time can be put to better use.
Anymore, most attorneys aren’t writing each new contract (or other frequently used document) from scratch. Many lawyers attempt to save document creation time by using templates within Microsoft Word, as well as taking advantage of Word features, such as Quick Parts, which allows users to store and insert commonly used text blocks. That can work up to a point.
Document generation application options, such as market leaders HotDocs and ProDoc, are a more robust solution. HotDocs allows attorneys to automate documents they use repeatedly, regardless of complexity. By inserting what they call “business logic” into templates, users can customize documents in a wide variety of ways. ProDoc is a document assembly program that offers document generation packs for specific practice areas, such as family law and administrative law. It provides national systems, as well as those specific to California, Florida, and Texas.
Joe Kelly, CEO for Legal Workspace, says that the use of automated document generators is especially prevalent in real estate and personal injury practices. “In some cases, it’s possible for nearly all documents to be totally automated,” he says. That’s a lot of saved time.
Read the next two steps at http://legal-workspace.com/assets/Tech-that-can-increase-profit-WP2.pdf.
By Guest Blogger: Legal Workspace
