Client intake is the process of collecting all the relevant information to open a legal case for a potential new client. While the intake process can be time-consuming for both the client and law firm, there are ways to ensure it goes smoothly and leaves the client with a great first impression.
Keep your firm running efficiently and leave your clientele impressed by committing to an intake process rule set, conducting a client pre-screen, and integrating intake into your practice management software.
Download our free PDF to find out how you can make a positive first impression on clients during your firm’s intake process.
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At backdocket, our practice management software is tailored to small and mid-sized law firms. When firms retain new clients and hire new lawyers, organization and efficiency are essential to success. That’s why backdocket has a selection of tools to support your firm’s growth.
Contact our team to schedule a free demonstration of all the benefits of your firm using backdocket.
It’s safe to say that any small-to-mid-sized law firm would benefit from implementing practice management software. Something that’s easy to operate and saves you time, resources, and helps your firm better serve your clients—who wouldn’t want that?
Some firms may find this kind of efficiency too good to be true. But it’s not. Because here at backdocket, we’ve designed practice management software that promises to deliver all of that, and what’s even better— ANY firm of any size can implement it.
We understand the workflow problems law firms face every day. Maybe you have case management software with information you rarely use, because it’s not intuitive and you just don’t have the time to learn how to navigate it. You don’t need to struggle with an overly complicated system that works against you instead of for you.
Perhaps you’re at the point of flying by the seat or your pants and keeping track of cases on your own as a result of trying to do just that. If this is the case, you are suffering needlessly.
Our team at backdocket knows you don’t have time to reinvent the wheel when it comes to managing your firm, so we invented something as important to your firm as the wheel is to all of civilization: our software is designed to be whatever you need it to be. That means it’s fully customizable to your needs, meeting you and your team where you are.
Like we mention above, backdocket’s dashboard will be exactly what you need it to be from day one. And our onboarding specialists will work with you to make sure this customization stage goes smoothly for you. There will be no videos of people telling you how to do it. Because we believe that one of the key things that sets us apart from any other case management software business is the personalized attention we offer our clients.
Here’s what you can expect with backdocket:
You can count on all of that and more, because our team doesn’t train you and send you on your way. We’re always available to help you when you need us, and we’ll make adjustments along the way based on your ever-changing needs.
We’ve worked with law firms long enough to know that your busy schedules don’t allow for any nonsense. Firms need their practice management software to be easy to use, and it should have your team breathing a sigh of relief right out of the gate. That’s exactly what backdocket provides for you.
Our business is focused on helping law firms grow and being there to help your system adjust to every stage is part of what we do. If you’re ready to make work easier and your case management seamless, reach out to backdocket today for a free demonstration of how our practice management software can make a difference for you.
Is your firm wrestling with how to best manage your data? Managing data proficiently is challenging for law firms at any stage in their growth, and with the sensitive nature of most of the information law firms need to access, store, and process, there’s no doubt that security and keeping up with competitors weighs heavy on your minds.
At backdocket, we understand your data management concerns. You need a reliable storage space for the data required to do what you do. That’s why we offer firms an onsite data warehouse.
Maybe you’ve heard of about data warehouses, but you’re not exactly sure what it is or if your firm needs one. Put simply, a data warehouse is a permanent space to keep the data needed to support everything necessary to run a successful law firm like:
You may be deciding as you read this what data management system to adopt, so we hope we can shed light on what a data warehouse can do for a smaller firm.
Data warehouses live on servers like SQL Servers that function to run database management systems. You may be a total tech head and are getting excited reading about data storage, or you are like many and you’re thinking “SQ…what?” If this is the case, you’re not alone, so we’ll go with the simple “why you might need it” version here:
At backdocket, we’ve worked with many law firms to help address data management challenges similar to what your firm is facing now. And we’ve considered every angle around the role heavy duty data storage plays in the growth, security, and flow of your business.
At this stage in the growth of your firm, your team might feel overwhelmed and have decision fatigue, but with the right data management and systems in place, there is no end to what your firm can accomplish.
We built our business to help law firms grow. And we are happy when we see the peace of mind our clients experience when they rely on backdocket to help their firms run more efficiently.
Contact us today to learn more about our Onsite Data Warehouse offering today.
One thing busy law firms have in common is that there are countless projects and clients competing for their attention. There’s no way for them to remember every important detail about their clients and their business. Relying on your memory, no matter how well-intentioned you are, will fail you eventually.
When there’s no system for recording and tracking contact information, lawyers show up to meetings or take calls without being prepared. This leaves clients feeling forgettable and consistently puts you and your team in a stressful and disordered position.
At backdocket, we know that a system for managing your contacts can be transformative and make communication effective, personal, and nearly effortless for your team. And by design, our practice management software allows you to make sure no interaction or pertinent information gets lost in the shuffle.
We’ve created a free guide with tips to help your law firm’s communication processes.
Backdocket is a practice management software specifically designed to meet the needs of small- to mid-size law firms. Communication is at the heart of growing a law firm, and that’s why we offer contact management tools to make sure nothing or no one slips through the cracks.
If you’d like to learn more about the many benefits of using backdocket, contact our team today and schedule a free demonstration.
If you’re at the stage in your firm’s growth where you feel like you’re constantly thinking about how to manage your law firm, it may be time to consider using practice management software.
At backdocket, we understand that every firm is unique, and only your team can determine what your pain points are. But to help with the decision around using practice management software, here are a few questions your team can discuss:
If you’ve answered, “yes” to any of these questions, backdocket’s practice management software can help.
The old saying, “no pain, no gain” is only true when you can assess your pain points and make necessary change. When you can see where you’re struggling and better understand what your business needs to thrive, then you’ve gained something invaluable.
As mentioned above, every firm and their pain points are unique. And what’s unique about backdocket’s practice management software is that it’s customizable to your firm’s needs. We know what processes help firms become successful, and we know enough to understand the importance of meeting each firm where they are and where they hurt.
Think of it like cold medicine. You might have a stuffy nose and that’s all. But most of the medicine at the drugstore treats a cough, sneezing, and five other symptoms you don’t have. Your physical pain point is congestion, and you only need something for that.
While our practice management software anticipates processes that are tried and true, we know your firm needs to address very specific deficiencies. That’s why we put the power in your hands to collect, track, and organize data to make your business run smoothly.
At backdocket, we’ve worked with many law firms to help address challenges similar to what your firm is facing now. We’ve seen it all, and we have weaved each challenge into the design of our practice management software. Being a small- to mid-sized law firm might feel overwhelming at times, but with the right systems in place, the sky is the limit for your firm’s growth.
We built our practice management software to help firms operate more efficiently, and we are proud to see the law firms we partner with reach new heights after making the decision to rely on backdocket.
Contact us today to learn how we can do the same for you.
There’s a lot of talk these days in the legal industry about practice management, and all the buzz is for good reason. A firm’s system for managing clients, reports, documents, finances, and operational matters is foundational to growing your firm.
But there’s more to establishing a solid foundation than managing the cases you sign. There’s a history behind each case. Each was once a lead, and from the moment you acquire any lead, it’s essential that its path to conversion is tracked and nurtured. Leads are like gold, and your process should be the Fort Knox of leads where you store all of the valuable information you need to convert leads into cases.
Think of lead management like this: your marketing efforts plant a seed that grows into a lead. Paying for marketing without a plan for how to manage it and grow it into a case is like throwing your money away. To see the fruits of your marketing labors, you MUST invest in a system for managing and converting your leads.
At backdocket, our practice management software takes the entire lifecycle of a case into consideration. That means managing the pre-retention phase, before a prospect hires your firm, and that lead grows into a budding new case. This part is critical to your success and can generate more new cases than you can fathom.
Here’s what your firm should consider when refining your lead management process:
Getting your intake process right positions you for success. When you get all the pertinent information you need from a client, you’ll save time while showing your client that you’re listening to every detail they give you. Backdocket can prompt you to ask the right questions and keep that information in a centralized, easily accessible document for all team members to see.
With a growing law firm, it quickly becomes difficult to manage the heavy workload. Prospects can easily get lost in the shuffle and slip right through the cracks, never making their way through the intake process.
Make sure you are getting the cases you want by staying connected to your prospects and always on top of their statuses. This is also something backdocket can provide while you focus on other important matters.
At backdocket, we love helping firms grow, and our practice management software can help you organize a lead’s status, whether they’re a prospect, conversion, or a current client. Improving your firm’s efficiency and communication is what we’re passionate about, and we want to help you.
If you’d like to learn more about how backdocket can help you get more cases, contact us for a free demonstration.
Happy New Year from all of us at backdocket. It’s time once again for law firms to reflect on the past year’s successes and shortcomings. As your firm considers what worked and what fell short of your goals, the information you review can help inform your goalsetting for the new year.
We’d like to help you with that by offering a few suggestions for your 2022 resolutions.
The best way to eliminate inefficiencies and save your law firm time and money is to automate as many processes as possible. In fact, automating intake, document generation, reporting, workflow, and client communication can save your firm countless hours each week. It’s a win for everyone at your firm and for the clients who deserve your team’s focus.
Sharing documents and data with your team through the cloud ensures you’ll have the flexibility to work from multiple locations and on different devices. Also, collaborating this way ensures everyone stays on the same page every step of the way, because you’ll see updates and changes as they’re happening.
Leaving your data up to a fallible local system that could crash, get a virus, or simply delay your ability to communicate is no longer wise or necessary. A cloud-based system is the way to go. Keep your data safe, sound, and seamless.
Identifying your firm’s KPIs and keeping track of them is critical to your firm’s growth. Without establishing and monitoring the key performance indicators, you are blindly navigating without a compass. When your terrain at your firm and in your market changes (and you can guarantee it will), you won’t find your true north without having an automated, easy, centralized system for tracking.
This allows you to stay on top of things and to divvy up KPIs between your staff members based on their specific roles. That way, everyone is invested, but no one is overwhelmed and distracted by their job. Whether financial or operational, automating the tracking of key metrics elevates your team and can be transformational for your firm.
All of the resolutions we mentioned above can go a long way to help your firm operate effectively and efficiently. Our practice management software is the key, so let backdocket help your firm keep those 2022 resolutions.
We make dashboarding and reporting easy to do and provide unlimited cloud storage so everything important to your business happens securely and in real time.
We can’t wait to assist in automating and organizing how your firm operates. Contact our team anytime to schedule a time to discuss how we can help you keep those resolutions year after year. Let’s make this a game-changing year for your firm!
Like other businesses, most law firms want to grow. But growth requires flexibility and a willingness to change. Business leaders within firms largely understand this, and they have unique insights on the strengths and weaknesses of their firms when it comes to expansion.
The most recent Small Law Firm Business Leaders Report from Thompson Reuters highlights some of the most pressing concerns law firm business leaders have about the limitations on growth. These insights offer every firm leader the opportunity to reflect on their own organization’s limitations and how to break through them.
Here are three key areas that business leaders see as obstacles to their firms’ growth.
Many business leaders at law firms indicate through the survey that they understand the importance of adopting new technologies to facilitate growth. These technologies include management analytics, E-billing, document automation, and collaboration tools. However, many firm business leaders express reluctance to adopt these technologies anytime soon.
At backdocket, we work closely with small- to mid-size law firms to ensure our practice management software meets their needs now and as they grow. We can attest to the dramatic impact implementing new, flexible technology can have on law firms’ processes.
Firms are increasingly finding themselves in more competitive markets with firms who have already adopted these tech tools. The risk is that firms who don’t use tech tools like practice management software will have their growth stymied by their failure to keep up with the times.
Many business leaders don’t feel like they have the full support of the partners at their law firms, particularly when it comes to making big changes to processes. Though business leaders may feel supported to innovate in their role, that support doesn’t always extend to legal service delivery models.
Legal service delivery model is a term used to describe the way legal work is offered to clients. It includes everything from consultations to document review processes.
The pandemic forced many law firms to adapt to new delivery models quickly. However, as we move into a post-pandemic world, it’s clear from Thompson Reuter’s report that business leaders don’t feel empowered to push the envelope beyond what was necessary to navigate the upheaval of 2020 and 2021.
One of the biggest limitations listed by law firm business leaders was the lack of financial and human resources support at their firms.
Adequately staffed financial and human resource departments give law firms the tools they need to grow. Financial teams focus primarily on firms’ bottom lines, while human resources help ensure the health of a firm’s teams and individual employees.
An investment in these departments is an investment in the future of a law firm. Hopefully, firms will be less opposed to the costs of these investments once the dust settles from pandemic-fueled shutdowns and market concerns.
The common thread in these three obstacles facing firms is a reluctance to embrace change. Whether that’s hesitancy adopting new technologies, in innovating how services are offered, or expanding a firm’s workforce, the obstacle is firms’ desire to keep things the way they are.
This is nothing new—in the legal industry or in business at large. Law firms become comfortable with how they operate and understandably are reluctant to deviate from what seems to be working. Unfortunately, growth requires change, and that’s a tough pill to swallow for many law firms on the cusp of significant growth.
At backdocket, we have strong, positive feelings about adopting new technologies. We believe many firms don’t realize how easily new tools can be integrated into the mix. We’ve designed our practice management software to make improvements to firms’ processes right out of the box. It’s intuitive and easy to integrate into every team member’s workflow.
If you’d like to learn how our software makes your firm more productive, more communicative, and more profitable, contact the backdocket team today to schedule a free demonstration.
Key performance indicators (KPIs) are business metrics used by law firms to measure specific goals within all areas of business like financial, marketing, business development, etc. These data-driven KPIs show you how effectively you’re meeting objectives and goals and what to adjust along the way.
In other words, KPIs serve as a compass for your firm.
Setting unique KPIs that match where your firm is and where it’s headed is critical to your success, but so is including your entire team in the process.
Just as important as what you’re tracking, who’s doing the tracking matters, too. Think about each team member, what their role entails, and give them their own KPI to track. Provide incentives for them when they reach their goals. They will feel responsible for the firm’s success in a very personal way. And when everyone is involved in setting and tracking goals this way, your law firm won’t miss a beat on the path to growth and success.
An example of tasking team members with a unique KPI might be to have someone from accounting track a specific financial KPI. That’s familiar territory for them and you’re likely putting that specific data in very capable hands.
Regardless of who does what tracking, having a system in place can be a transformative experience for everyone at your firm.
Having a centralized system that’s not only easily accessible to everyone on your team but that is also user-friendly and digestible for everyone, is an important first step.
At backdocket, our practice management software provides a dashboard that is customizable to the needs of the firm and to the individual team members. Their personal dashboards make it easy for them to access the KPIs and business metrics relevant to their role. This is the absolute most efficient way to share tracking responsibilities across your firm.
Our team focuses on helping small- to mid-sized law firms manage their practice. If your firm is on the small side right now, then choosing to track a few essential metrics to start is great. But as you succeed and grow, you may want to add more KPIs to the mix, and you will need to keep tabs on all of it. The possibilities are endless, especially when your system for tracking is centralized. Operating without that system can result in stagnant cases, missed revenue, and send your firm down a rabbit hole of inefficiencies.
In a previous blog, we go into some detail around KPI metrics, from the operational and financial basics to the endless KPI possibilities associated with your firm’s growth and complexity. At every stage, backdocket’s practice management software puts the compass for your firm’s success in your entire team’s hands.
If you want to greatly improve how your firm works, contact us today to schedule a free demonstration. We want to help make it easy for everyone at your firm to read and interpret important KPIs by streamlining your team’s data organization.
The only way to know whether your clients are satisfied with how you’re handling their claims is through consistent communication and by listening. Your relationship with your clients depends on more than the legal services you provide, and believe it or not, more than getting big results.
Put simply, results without a connection will do nothing for your firm’s long-term growth.
While there are many factors that go into handling a claim, nurturing the relationship between firm and client is key. Because good customer service prompts referrals and online reviews. Without them, a law firm has no foundation for growth.
Previously in another blog on client communication problems, we mention empathy as an often underrated and important aspect of customer service that can get lost in the shuffle. This tenet of customer service will help you overcome any communication gaps and keep your firm growing forward. Along with this advice, there are a few other best practices that can be helpful in building happy client relationships.
Being proactive is one way to show your client you care. And making sure you speak plain language instead of legal jargon so that they feel informed goes a long way to avoiding breakdowns in communication.
Avoid interruptions when your client is speaking. Pay close attention to their emotional well-being. Their verbal and non-verbal communication will tell you more than you can imagine about who they are and what they need.
Avoid disappointing your client by establishing how and when you will communicate with them. Can they call, text, or email? How will you communicate with them? And when? Setting expectations will help prevent confusion and frustration.
Perhaps you ask how do I do all of this communicating while focusing on the legal aspect of their claim? The answer is straightforward.
Through backdocket, your customer service can run like a well-oiled machine (but a machine with feelings of course), freeing up your firm’s resources. Our practice management software can centralize notes about your clients, set up automated communication for appointment reminders, and gauge your clients’ satisfaction every step of the way. This not only monitors your clients’ satisfaction, it improves it.
This is what every successful law firm knows they should be doing, because when customer service is NOT automated and streamlined, it’s subject to human error. This leaves your client satisfaction to chance and can lead to countless missed opportunities for client referrals. But if you automate the process, your clients will feel taken care of, and they’re going to refer you to their friends and family. It’s that simple.
If you’d like to learn more about how backdocket can help your firm improve your customer service, contact us today to schedule a free demonstration.
