Is Chaos Holding Your Firm Back?

How to Spot the Symptoms and Start the Shift to Clarity…

What is chaos?

Chaos is defined as a state of utter confusion or disorder. A total lack of organisation. A few synonyms are tumult, turmoil, jumble, and disarray.

The definition of chaos in physics is the property of a complex system whose behaviour is so unpredictable as to appear random, owing to great sensitivity to small changes in conditions.

And we think everyone can relate – in some manner or form – to the above.

HOW DOES IT LOOK IN YOUR FIRM?

Chaos (at least in a general sense) in a law firm may look something like scattered case files around the office, full drawers overflowing with paperwork, clients’ matters that simply cannot be located, inefficient communication – with both clients and team members – billing nightmares – because who knows when or how a matter was worked on – and compliance issues that seem to be forever in flux.

But chaos is a funny thing because it transforms and adapts, looking a little different depending on the size of your law firm.

It’s All About Size

Small Firms: Big Impact, Bigger Hurdles

Dynamite comes in small packages, we all know that, and small firms can really pack a punch when it comes to offering you big firm service offerings at small firm prices. But that too comes with its fair share of issues and inevitable chaos.

Small firms often have an overreliance on spreadsheets or more specifically they rely heavily on manual data entry, a laborious, time-consuming task that takes administrative staff (if they have any) and often times the lawyers themselves hours of work to do. And because there is this heavy reliance on manual data entry, small firms struggle with tracking their time. This often leads to missed deadlines on tasks, missed dates for proceedings to be filed and sometimes, may even spill into missing court dates entirely.

When there are documents, they are disorganised – because who has even heard of automation – communication with clients is at an all-time low, which leads to frustrated clients who are tired of slow responses or sometimes no responses until they follow-up.

Payment authorisations are a nightmare – so much back and forth. Not to mention the piles of unpaid invoices because no one is following up on when payment will be made.

But that’s not all, according to Lexis Nexis in their article on 50 must-know legal tech stats for 2024 and regarding small firms –

• 81% said that keeping working practices and systems up to date will be a significant challenge,
• despite strong awareness of the need to invest, only 24% of small firm lawyers have any actual plans to implement new technology,
• Only 17% of small firm lawyers suggested that a big advantage of legal tech was saving money, despite the cost-reduction potential.

Small firms = big chaos (it would seem).

Medium Firms: Growing Pains & Rapid Expansion

Medium firms are by no means middle of the road.

With a medium-sized firm, you are often looking at a practice that is on its way – either they have already grown in size and are looking to upgrade their tech or they are in the process of merging with another firm and are looking to expand their practice even more – and will then look to upgrade their tech. Either way there has been or will be rapid growth.

Now the issue with rapid growth is that it leads to inconsistency –

• inconsistent processes across teams – if roles and responsibilities are not well-defined, lawyers and staff may be unsure of what they’re supposed to be doing, leading to delays and errors, 
• patchwork software solutions – each time they have expanded, a new tech solution has been added in a patchwork-type format as opposed to one holistic approach across your tech platform,
• multiple data silos – causing a lack of visibility into case progress etc,
• billing errors – failing to track time effectively can lead to billing inaccuracies, and
• possibly even duplicated work – without clear, documented procedures, tasks can get duplicated, take longer, or be forgotten entirely

Large Firms: High Stakes, High Complexity

A large firm doesn’t automatically mean there is more chaos. But it does sometimes mean there are bigger issues to deal with. Especially when there is the complexity of multinational or regional offices to contend with.

It’s only natural to assume that large law firms with multinational offices will need to deal with multiple compliance issues and regulatory complexities across multiple jurisdictions. It just comes with the territory. That in and of itself will cause chaos.

And because multinational teams working in various jurisdictions, will have their own ways of doing things, there will (most likely) be inefficiencies in cross-department collaboration. 

Another major concern – which could be a cause for chaos – is cybersecurity. Of course cybersecurity is an issue across all size law firms, but when it’s multiple jurisdictions each with their own data and privacy laws such as the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), South Africa’s Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2014 or Kenya’s Computer Misuse and Cybercrimes Act No 5 of 2018 it becomes a major source of chaos ensuring that any data that is shared by clients or between offices complies with the various Acts and regulations around the world (and ensuring that the data is securely stored and backed-up (as required by law)).

Massive Opportunity

Now that we have been through some of the pain points of small, medium and large law firms it’s plain to see that there is a massive opportunity that is staring each law firm dead in the face.

That is the fact that chaos isn’t just painful – it’s also an occasion to transform operations and client satisfaction by adopting modern, integrated tools such as that offered by AJS. 

By investing in an effective legal accounting and practice management system you are making a strategic decision that benefits both yourself as a legal professional and your clients. By efficiently organising, classifying, storing, and automating your accounting, documents, reports, and billing, you can:

1.   Deliver high-quality legal services – with quick and accurate access to documents, professionals can offer their clients a more efficient and effective legal service.

2.   Reduce costs – efficient document management can reduce costs associated with lost documents, reworking, and improper filing.

3.   Increase client satisfaction – clients satisfied with fast and efficient legal services are more likely to return and recommend the firm to others.

SOME STATS TO FURTHER CONVINCE – WHETHER YOU’RE A SMALL, MEDIUM OR LARGE LAW FIRM – THAT INVESTING IN LEGAL TECH IS THE RIGHT WAY TO GO –

• In 2021, the impact of legal tech on the global economy equated to around $127.7bn, with forecasts suggesting a rise to more than $225bn by 2027, 
• Law firms are investing more in technology, with overall legal tech spend increasing 48% over the past year (2024),
• 82% of in-house lawyers agree that the demand for legal technology skills will increase in their legal teams,
• 60.9% of those interviewed said they intended to use legal tech more frequently in the next five years, 
• The biggest benefits of legal tech are ‘makes the team more productive’ (74%), ‘automates repetitive tasks’ (54%), ‘gives more time to focus on priority issues’ (53%), and ‘simplifies workflows’ (49%) – LexisNexis Escaping the in-house legal labyrinth report,
• The most popular legal tech is e-billing, which is at present used by 48% of law firms,
• Contract lifecycle management technology is implemented in 44% of law firms and document management technology in 40%,
• Nearly three-quarters (70%) of in-house counsel agreed or strongly agreed that law firms should be using cutting-edge technology,
•  Over two-thirds (67%) of lawyers use legal research tools, 
• 16. The top three priority areas for legal tech investment are ‘Document management systems’, ‘Matter management’ and ‘Collaboration tools’, and
• 17. 95% of firms have found that implementing technology has made them more responsive to client needs (50 must-know legal tech stats for 2024).

Do you need any more convincing?

This isn’t anything new.

Where to Go From Here

You know you need legal tech. We have already proven time and time again the benefits that introducing the right legal tech into your practice can provide. And right now, we are proving that the right legal tech can turn chaos into clarity, often at the click of the button.

Join us over the next couple of weeks as we drill down into how AJS can turn your chaos into clarity – effortlessly.

In this regard, if you’re not on the legal tech train turning your chaos into clarity, but are keen to liberate yourself, get in touch with AJS  – we have the right combination of systems, resources and business partnerships to assist you with incorporating supportive legal technology into your practice.

AJS is always here to help you, wherever and whenever possible!

– Written by Alicia Koch on behalf of AJS

(Sources used and to whom we owe thanks: LifeAt; Medium; Natif; AppsGeyser; Thomson Reuters; Flagright; Impactmybiz; HYCU and Lexis Nexis)