From the moment a legal request comes in, there is no shortage of important activities that must take place—from evaluation, assignment, tracking and resolution—you need a way to manage every step along the way.
Today, many organizations are still doing everything manually. But, what if you could simplify this process and help your staff more easily manage legal cases from beginning to end?
Legal case management software allows you to use the latest technology to your advantage so you don’t have to rely on time-consuming or outdated processes any longer. With software that can automate and store everything you need to manage your legal requests and cases—from critical matter data, emails, tasks and to-dos to reporting, tracking and analytics— you have all the information you need in one place to stay up-to-date and respond quickly to every request.
How Legal Software Helps You Manage Cases From Beginning to End
There are multiple ways legal case management software can help you become more efficient and effective in managing your critical legal requests and related activities. Here’s a look at how legal case management software can help you every step of the way:
- Intake
Legal intake is the first step in the process when a legal request comes in. This can occur in numerous ways: emails, handwritten notes, jotting down data in Microsoft Office, having requesters complete PDFs to print and scan back and more. Legal case management software enables you to switch from paper files to online intake forms, which allow you to maintain better organization and decrease the amount of time spent on administrative tasks.
The software also allows you to establish a customized workflow to ensure that each intake request is automatically routed to the right person or persons on your team. This gives you peace of mind knowing that no important information gets lost and all relevant information is included the first time.
- Evaluation
In the evaluation stage, you are tasked with determining which category the intake request falls under. Since legal case management software can help you create a customized template for intake requests, this helps greatly with determining where the request should be routed to.
By examining the intake form and the legal services requested, you can set up an automatic workflow to send the information to the right individuals for evaluation based on the details captured in the intake form. Here are just a few of the details captured in the intake form that can help with the evaluation process:
- Contact Information: This section includes fields for contact information (i.e., requester name, emails, phone, etc.), as well as department details if necessary.
- Legal Services Requested: This section can include a checklist of services or matter types offered so that the requester can select what may apply. Depending on your office, these types of requests may include contract reviews, general advice/issues, complaints, human resources investigations, trademark searches and more.
- Case Explanation: This section provides the requester the opportunity to describe the incident or help needed. There may be specific prompts to include based on your unique organization to ensure you get all the information you need.
The beauty of customizable legal software is the opportunities are endless when it comes to creating an evaluation process that works for your unique department or organization.
- Assignment
In the assignment phase, you are tasked with determining which team member should handle the request. Armed with all the information you need from the online intake form, the time it takes to make an assignment is much faster than traditional routes. With software designed to manage the influx of requests that come in through a designated workflow, you can respond to each request with ease and ensure nothing gets overlooked.
If you want to assign a request to the right individual within the organization, you can simply filter and sort to delineate which requests need attention first and assign a specific person to each case. This proactive approach helps ensure that your requesters are receiving faster responses and better service—which is a win for everyone.
- Status
In the status phase it is important to properly track the request after it is assigned. With built-in tracking dashboards, you can do this and more.
Legal case management software’s tracking functionality gives you a better picture of where your requests originate, how quickly requests are completed, which requests have the highest value or priority, and more to better analyze your organization’s activities. With this technology, you can learn quickly what’s working and what isn’t—automatically.
- Resolution
The resolution phase is the final step in the process. Legal requests are sometimes time-sensitive, so the faster they’re resolved, the better. Legal case management software lets you pull up analytics on open requests, cases and complaints within seconds and analyze action items at a glance. This increased visibility helps with determining which cases are closest to resolution so you can report back to upper management.
With intuitive features that keep track of all your legal cases, you can take a proactive approach to identify trends, which can help you manage cases and disputes before they even arise. Legal case management software makes it possible to achieve a 360-degree-view across all departments and locations for ultimate intentionality.
Streamline Your Important Legal Processes From Beginning to End
The benefits of utilizing legal case management software to manage your legal requests and processes are numerous—increased efficiency, more information up-front and better service— just to name a few. And since your legal professionals are already tasked with doing more with less, you can almost immediately boost morale across the entire department by eliminating time-consuming manual processes.
With Legal Files Software, you can maximize productivity from beginning to end. You no longer have to worry about capturing all the details from a potential matter or case and relaying the information to others, but can execute all your important intake request activities from a single platform that synchronizes with your team members’ calendars and to-dos so you can assign the right person to the right request.
Legal Files offers 30+ years of experience supporting organizations across a number of industries. Its legal software, Legal Files gives professionals the complete package when it comes to managing your legal process.
“We were struggling to find ways to enhance our processes and make our jobs more efficient. For example, it was time-consuming just trying to share a document with a colleague. You could copy and mail the document, or there was a lot of scanning and emailing. It was overwhelming for everybody. We needed a tool that could better track all of our matters, including documents, phone logs, voicemails and email.”
Ann Holmes, Administrative Assistant
Illinois Education Association, a Legal Files Customer
Request a demo to learn more about how we help organizations like yours manage what matters to you.