Eliminating the challenges caused by using decades-old and multiple databases, the Indianapolis Legal Aid Society, Inc. has successfully implemented Legal Files, the legal case management system developed by Legal Files Software, Inc.
“Like many other organizations, we were operating with a hodge-podge of tools when it came to our data,” explained society Office Manager Lisa Harding. “We had a separate system for client conflict check software. We had documents and emails disconnected from case information. We had to enter the same information in multiple places. It was very time consuming to gather the information we needed for grant writing and for our funding sources.”
In addition to software licensing, Legal Files Software, Inc. also provided project management, implementation assistance and training to the Indianapolis Legal Aid Society.
“We loved Legal Files’ collaborative approach to the project,” Harding said. “We worked together to design the system the way we needed it to be, but that didn’t end at some drop-dead date. We’re able to custom configure Legal Files ourselves. Next year, for example, we may need to start tracking and reporting on some new piece of data, and we’ll be able to configure Legal Files to do that. It’s Legal Files’ adaptability that helps us maintain a real sense of control over our data.”
Other benefits of Legal Files include providing the society with a centralized legal contact management system to save time, a dynamic note system that includes both automated time/date stamping and routing to improve collaboration, a robust reporting engine to lessen the time it takes to generate required reports, and an office-wide calendar and tickler system to provide a “big picture” overview of daily operations.
Indianapolis Legal Aid Society also plans to use Legal Files to automate legal document assembly, track multiple grants and record outreach activities.