DO YOU REMEMBER THE “GOOD OLD DAYS”?

Before AJS Mobile…

The good old days of legal practice ey?

When you used physical maps instead of GPS to find your way around – especially when serving Letters of Demand. When you looked at your trusty Amlers Precedent of Pleadings if you were unsure of how to draft your pleadings. When looking up new case law wasn’t done at the click of a button – but instead – by paging through the printed form of the South African Law Reports . 

So time consuming.

Every single page relating to a matter had to be printed out and put into physical files. If you needed to send pleadings to your Advocate, you had to scan them and email them (or in some cases fax them) and then followed up with a physical brief which had to be hand delivered. 

Everything was so manual.

Everything required an office, a PC, and a printer.

And the notion of lawyers always being “chained to their desks” was – in actual fact – true. Because it was necessary.

Remote working from anywhere didn’t exist. How could it? 

How would you have mobilised a PC, a printer, a scanner, and a landline telephone? Let alone carry around all the printed references you needed for preparing pleadings…

Did you have your assistant trail behind you with your workstation on top of a cart on wheels – pushing it around while you moved from place to place? Sweat dripping from every pore, annoyance growing and despair increasing because – is this practical?

Remote working didn’t exist. And staying chained to your desk was the norm.  

But then AJS stepped into the room. And everything changed…

AJS’ mission was to unshackle the hapless practitioner and give them freedom to work from anywhere at any time. A courageous undertaking – especially in a profession slow to change. 

But we achieved that seven years ago. We got lawyers to embrace technology. We got lawyers working from places outside the office. 

And the next logical step? To take this remote working idea one step further. 

Ø  Our mission – which we chose to accept – was to further break down the boundaries of remote working. 

Ø  Our aim – to offer something truly revolutionary. 

Ø  The result? To take this sense of freedom to new levels of mobility. 

This is not your practise practice

The truth is, we all strive to get “it” right – whether that “it” be in your personal life or professional life – none of us want to be left behind. 

We all want to mould things into the way they should be – the best possible versions – of yourself, of itself – that includes your legal practice.

And that often requires breaking through boundaries, through barriers and embracing change. 

Our current reality is digital, it’s mobile and for all intents and purposes, life and work are more convenient. In our day-to-day operations we have promoted connectivity, automation, and a way to make our lives not only more efficient but more productive too. 

We have seen the rise of data and machine learning and the takeaway here? We have no place for “manual” anything. 

You see, we have all already been given the gift of agility, of being able to operate, to excel and to stay ahead of our competition in a way that truly takes us beyond the confines of a desk and an office. We can work, we can achieve, and we can make a statement – from anywhere and whenever we want. 

Lawyers too.

And the reoccurring theme which arises from digitalisation, from mobility and from having things automated is a real sense of freedom. And it feels so good!

Get mobile!

Picture this – you are updating one of your matters, recording fees and adding consultation notes (staying on top of your work) and there isn’t a desk or laptop in sight! 

How cool does that sound? 

And this cool mental picture doesn’t mean you remain seated in your comfortable little “pod of recognisable”. No. This is about pushing yourself into the ether, ready and willing to embrace and experience the new and exciting. This is your chance to be the vanguard instead of the “follow behinds”. It’s your chance to be at the forefront of what your legal practice should look like. And that starts with –

Ø  Being at the forefront of the best legal tech available on the market today; 

Ø  Being even more mobile –productively working from anywhere, without a laptop;

Ø  Being able to always stay up to date and on top of things from wherever you are, and

Ø  Being able to record fees regardless of location and at whatever time of day/night.

Having a proper practice management system is one thing but being truly mobile is something else. 

But it is something AJS can help you with. 

Because AJS – who proudly sits at the pinnacle of Legal tech – now offers its clients, completely free, the incredible added value of a real time Mobile App (available on the App Store or Google Play). This allows lawyers to work from literally anywhere, at any time on a piece of hardware that’s as big as the palm of their hand.

No cost. BIG reward (to all AJS clients)

Ø  How will AJS Mobile benefit me? Are you hoping for an easy log-in process? With AJS Mobile, all you need to do is scan the QR code on the AJS website (from your mobile phone) to register – a quick once off, super easy process. Better still, you can then log into AJS Mobile using the same credentials you would use from your laptop or desktop PC. No need to remember new passwords and new usernames. No hassle. No fuss. 

Ø  Would you like to see the progress of a matter in “real time”? It gives us all such a thrill to see the progress of something first hand. In real time. As and when it happens. AJS agrees. So, whatever info is inputted into AJS Mobile, members of your team located at the office (or wherever they are working from) will be able to see what you have updated immediately and in real time. No lag in information, making for easy updating of clients, especially if you are at their office and need to know the exact and most recent update. No guess work here. Just productivity.

Ø  Do you find yourself needing to search for an account whilst on the go? With AJS Mobile you can search for an account and view not only the basic information for that account but also the financial summary, all whilst working remotely. Yet another advantage when consulting on the go. No approximates needed here at all. Just the facts ready and always available for you.

Ø  Forget the contact details of a client? No problem, with AJS Mobile you can easily search for a contact and view the basic contact info no matter where you are. Being on the move doesn’t stop you from being completely in control. Get in touch with clients, whether you know them intimately or not. Literally at the touch of a button. No scrounging around for contact details. Simply log onto AJS Mobile, locate the details easily and get communicating.

Ø  Finished consulting with a client and want to add an update? Updating a matter is super easy on AJS Mobile. Simply search for the matter and add a note and/or a fee. Simple as that. And don’t forget – it’s all available in real-time. Post fees or notes at the touch of a button no matter where you are – as easy as can be.

Ø  Do you need to do an account enquiry whilst you wait for your next appointment? No problem, you can view your account history, conveniently split between separate tabs for financial transactions, attachments, and notes. No guess work. Just the numbers.

Ø  Do you want to see your user stats? Absolutely, with AJS Mobile you can check your stats by day, month, or year. You can even get a graphic view – making targets easy to gauge at a glance. Manage your targets easily with AJS Mobile.

Ø  Seen a new client? Want to update your matters? No problem. With AJS Mobile  you can view a list of consultations, edit existing consultation notes, or create new consultation notes – as well as add a fee – with the simple tap of a button on the App. AJS Mobile is all about ensuring your updates, consult notes and fees are recorded easily as and when they happen – in real time.

Ø  Want to manage tasks whilst on the go? AJS Mobile is perfectly poised to assist you with exactly that. You can view, complete, reject or create new tasks both for yourself as well as for other team members. All on AJS Mobile. Manage tasks for you and your team with the simple tap of a button.

Ø  Need to attend to payment requisitions, but you won’t be in the office? That’s not an issue. All you need is AJS Mobile. With AJS Mobile you can authorise or reject requisitions, all while on the move. No need to delay payments just because you aren’t physically in the office. Be on the move and on top of things all at the same time. 

While AJS has already enabled its users to do the above with our web-based software – working on laptops from anywhere – we have taken this mobility to a whole new level. A really cool level!

That’s quite a few tick items in the correct column if you ask us – an App that really works in your favour – allowing you to write more fees, stay on top of your work, be able to accept or reject payments and easily update matters – no matter where you are, no matter what time of day. 

Your practice is literally in your pocket! 

The world has clearly moved on from the “good old days”. Has your Practice Management System done so too? 

Please take note that the AJS mobile app will only function with AJS Version 4.5 and upwards. AJS is in the process of rolling out version 4.5 (at the time of writing of this article).

If you have any questions regarding the information we have set out above, please do not hesitate to get in touch with us – we would be happy to discuss our Mobile App in greater detail with you. It’s a service offering we are immensely excited about…

In fact, if you have any queries relating to legal tech and how you can incorporate it into your practice, get-in-touch and let’s see how we can take your software solution from good to phenomenal. If you don’t yet have any software supporting your legal practice, it’s not a problem. We are here to help you from scratch too. 

AJS – as always – has your back!

– Written by Alicia Koch on behalf of AJS