ARE YOU IN THE PRACTICE OF FORTUNE-TELLING?

Just for peace of mind….

Picture this scene – 

You are in a darkened room. Sitting around a table burdened with a heavy red velvet table cloth. The middle of the table sports a large crystal ball with smoke, sort of, circulating and undulating inside of it. Strange.

Esmeralda sits to your left. She is the medium, the fortune teller. She came recommended. She smells strongly of rose and patchouli (I think). Her eyes are hidden behind a black veil (of sorts). She definitely fits the description of what a fortune teller should look like – at least according to popular belief.

Your co-workers sit around the table. All looking at you expectantly. After all – you organized the fortune teller. Incense is burning in the corner of the room, creating a thick haze around the table. There is an aura of mystique in the air.

Quite literally, as Esmerelda’s cat, Mystique, is perched right on top of what looks like a closet – who knows what lurks inside. 

“You have come here today to find out when you will receive money in your trust account” – Esmerelda almost whispers (in a sort of Russian(ish) accent).

“Yes. And to find out when my darn discovery papers will be filed” â€“ says Tony – annoyed – he is the head of our litigation team. And is always tense. It makes sense though. He has a stressful job. 

Esmerelda indicates that she needs to commune with her spirit guides and will go into a trance. She asks for quiet – she may not speak for a few minutes. She needs some time. And we need to be patient.

Hmmm, patience is a virtue my law firm simply doesn’t have. Or time. I mean, why else would we be here?

My colleague’s all look at me wide eyed as Esmerelda starts to twist and turn her body, eyes rolling back into her head. The lights flickering on and off. The table seemingly lifting off of the ground ever so slightly. She must have an accomplice â€“ I look suspiciously around the room. But I can’t see anyone….. I am suddenly reminded of The Exorcist. This doesn’t bode well. My colleagues are all totally freaked out! So am I (despite being here before). Karen from accounting looks like she is about to faint. 

But as soon as Esmerelda’s charade started up, it abruptly stops. Esmerelda sits, quite suddenly, upright, lifts her veil and looks directly at me. I realise then (for the first time) that she has green eyes. 

“Not today I’m afraid”, Esmerelda says with a shrug (her accent gone). 

“My guides are not in a communicative mood”. 

I get that. It happens to my “guides” (aka counsel) often. But it doesn’t help us. Especially right now.

“See you tomorrow then Tom. Same time?” she asks, almost nodding to herself. 

I just nod acceptingly as I lead my colleagues out her incense thick room and back to our cars….

“We’ll try again tomorrow team. Don’t give up hope” â€“ I feel it necessary to say. 

But we all drive back to the office, a little deflated, a little defeated and no closer to what we need to know. 

If only….

If only, indeed…..

If only we didn’t need to seek out a medium or fortune teller to know when things would be happening. If only we could simply know when money comes into our trust accounts – it would make our conveyancing team a lot happier. Or if we could just be notified whenever papers are filed for our litigation matters. It would certainly take a load off of our litigation team. 

And it would help poor Tony. Shame that oke is sincerely stressed.  

An update whenever a contract is signed by the other side? An important letter from your opposing side during a divorce matter – ease your broken-hearted client’s mind – â€œShe gets half of everything”. Wouldn’t it be great to tell her that her philandering husband has agreed to that as it happens?

If only you could just provide your entire team with some peace of mind. Help them sleep a little easier at night.

And if only you could get these important bits of information without going back to Esmerelda – you are allergic to her incense (it would appear) and it’s getting increasingly harder to get these â€œHocusey Pocusey” expenses approved by the board. 

What is Tom to do?

Well, first off, let’s picture another scene. Entirely.  

With one word to set the mood – notifications. 

And now, imagine this – 

Every time a deposit is made by a purchaser into your conveyancer’s trust account (so that the conveyancing department can then reinvest the amount into an interest bearing account), your conveyancing team would get a little notification. Wherever they are. 

In fact, imagine if all your banking transactions could be linked to your legal software package so that any money coming in or out of your trust account (related to a matter) would be noted on the system, updating the matter and sending a beautiful little FYI nudge (aka a notification) to you – wherever you are. On your mobile, iPad, laptop or Apple watch – wherever you select the notification to pop up. You would always be “in the know”. Like a live bank feed?!

Imagine if whenever a document is served on your offices or an important email comes from your opposing side, it is linked to your legal software package – updating the matter (automatically), sending you a notification (again wherever you are) so that you can immediately update your client and your team â€“ in real time (as it were) and as soon as it happens. 

Over-achiever much? Not a bad thing to be called when you are completely on top of your game! 

Imagine you could customise these notifications for your specific practice. Or, more impressively, customise these notifications as preferences for each individual department *Mind blown*.

Let’s be honest, Tony in litigation is most likely going to need notifications more often than say, Karen in accounting. Not because he is more important. But because he is just a little more fanatical. 

Imagine you could provide all of this information with just a click of a button or a selection of preferences!

Imagine the peace of mind and ease with which your firm could practice. With teams working from home, working from the beach or the spa (hey, no judgement here), everyone could stay on top of things – nothing would be missed, no documents misplaced and money would always be accounted for as and when received or paid. 

Imagine knowing “as and when something happened”. Sort of like carrying around your own crystal ball (albeit heavier than a mobile phone, we would wager). 

Wow, just Imagine your entire practice –

“living for today”. 

Not worrying about what is going to happen when. 

“Living life in peace”.

“It’s easy if you try….”

(John Lennon really was a visionary……)

And Tom, sleeping very soundly, could imagine it, as he cuddled up quite closely to his calico cat. 

What a wonderful dream, he thinks to himself as he wakes up. 

But is it possible?

Saying goodbye to Esmerelda

Tom, without knowing (for certain), whether these features actually exist, sets out on a new quest. He is determined to find these features in his legal software package. It must exist. Somewhere out there….?

He arrives at Esmerelda’s home to tell her that he longer requires her services – he has had his own premonition. He has envisioned a way to make his practice easier. He has seen the future. And he is going out to find it.

“You crazy” – Esmerelda says (her accent once again, thick. For old time’s sake). 

Oh, I will miss her, Tom thinks to himself as he drives off into the sunset. A tear trickling down his cheek (ok not really. But the scene called for it). 

Tom is firmly in search of peace of mind for his colleagues and notifications for his practice – the knowing “as and when” is a feature that is just too good to ignore.

He just needs to find the right supplier. 

Well Tom. At AJS we agree with you. The notifications would be an incredible asset to a practice. Creating peace of mind for your team is priceless. And luckily, we too have been asking ourselves the same question – is this possible?

And all we can say is this – Watch this space!

We don’t need Esmerelda to tell us that â€˜Exciting times are ahead” (*Goosebumps*). Because we already know that they are!

Written by Alicia Koch on behalf of AJS