My friend Long Duong recently asked if there is such a thing as a perfect practice management system. I pondered that same question for a long time.
For years I tried to use practice management systems for my bankruptcy practice. I tried TimeSlips, TimeMatters, SlipMatters, MatterSlips, TimeTime … well, you get the point. After awhile, they all just merged into a single lump of code to me. Cluttered up my hard drive, drove me nuts to boot.
And in the end I wound up with a yellow pad and a PaperMate pen to jot down notes.
Guess what? That yellow pad and PaperMate pen worked better than anything else I’d tried. Of course, I eventually traded the yellow pad for a Word document and a calendaring program, but the result was the same. All of those fancy practice management systems ended up in the trash.
Why?
Because I came to understand that the only way to manage my practice was to understand the unique way my mind worked. By trying to adapt my mental workflow into something concocted by a software programmer in a corporate office park I was attempting to re-wire myself.
It was a “brain diet,” and subject to the same rebound that causes you to stand in front of the refrigerator at 4am with a chocolate cake and a fork in your hand.
I’m not saying these programs don’t work at all – I’m merely acknowledging that they don’t work for me. I’m a round peg to their square holes. And I’m no longer ashamed to admit it.
So what’s the solution?
First, you need to figure out how you like to work. How you like to be notified of things, where it’s easiest to look for information and the format of that information.
Next, admit to yourself that there is nothing in the world that will mimic your brain. You can either hire a developer and create it for yourself at a cost of thousands of dollars (I tried to do this, and it failed miserably). You can use someone else’s system and adapt yourself (which is exactly what most lawyers do), or you can work with your own organic methods and find tools that will work as standalone applications in a way that makes sense to you.
Whatever you do, remember – it’s not your fault if the system fails you or doesn’t do everything you want it to do. The problem is that you’ve bought into the marketing of the practice management system and expected it to be the be-all and end-all. The reality is that this isn’t the case, and that you need to have a system that suits your brain or it won’t work for you.
Photo courtesy of onkel_wart.
This is a great post. I started my solo firm back in March (and am mostly working at home), and I'm still struggling to find the right solution. You hit the nail on the head of what the problem is — none of them, whether the cloud guys (Rocketmatter, clio) or the traditional software products work the way my brain does.I should try to cobble something together myself.
Jay, interesting name for the person whose question led to this post
In any event, I do agree with your conclusion. I often revert to Post-It notes, etc., but I will say that one needs, as an absolute minimum, a central repository of lists of what needs to be done, otherwise, something will inevitably get lost.
I just presumed that I was insane and that was why nothing could work for me.
I, too, have struggled with the myriad of software that's out there. I still come back to those wonderful post-its and legal pads … I let my Blackberry remind me of appointments (although the reminder tone is annoying and I really do have to change it to something less offensive). It's not yet a perfect system but by the time I am ready to retire, I bet I'll have figured it out. <grin>
Great article Jay. I still haven't abandoned PCLaw yet because it still serves 98% of my needs. Still, it's glitchy and frustrating at times. One of the strangest omissions I've seen in the web-based options including Clio and Freshbooks is the lack of a check-writing feature (quickbook style checks) and the ability to do simple day to day accounting and monthly reconciliation. Quickbooks is way too much for most firms and their invoicing system just complicates things. Outright.com came close to a simple ledger system but is targeted to 1099 employees (I think).Thanks for the brain food!
Have you tried Alfresco?It is an open source document management system that has beenadded with a lot more features recently to satisfy most needsof practice management.It can be downloaded from http://wiki.alfresco.com/wiki/Download_LabsThe installation takes less than 10 minutes and then you can access the system through a browser with the address http://localhost:8080/shareand log in as an admin with the password that you typed induring the installation.
Have you tried Alfresco?
It is an open source document management system that has been
added with a lot more features recently to satisfy most needs
of practice management.
It can be downloaded from
http://wiki.alfresco.com/wiki/Download_Labs
The installation takes less than 10 minutes and then
you can access the system through a browser with the address
http://localhost:8080/share
and log in as an admin with the password that you typed in
during the installation.
Jay,I don't think your correct. From what i could tell you tried to make a case management application that is designed to handle almost any type of business, even outside the law – to a bankruptcy practice. While it might work, it wont work well.My firm has a personal injury/Mass Tort/Class Action practice. I have been using computer based personal injury specific case management applications since 1986. By the late 1990's i realized that in the prior decade, the software in this area that was being offered had not improved greatly or kept up with the creative technologies being developed. We learned this by interviewing all the major players in the personal injury case management application space and found all of applications lacking in our needs. The owners of the companies were selling so many case management systems that they flat out told me that what I was suggesting wouldn’t add a nickel to their bottom line but would cost them millions to develop. My firm which even in the 90's had a very significant presence on the web, needed web interfaces and none offered or intended to offer them. With nowhere to go, my firm undertook what has become a 10 year development project to create the state of the art personal injury case management application. After about 7 years of development, the application was ready to use. My firm has now been using it for 3 years, improving it as we use it, and it is nothing short of outstanding. We are now finishing up migrating the application from a Microsoft visual basic (vb6) frontend and a SQL backend to a .net platform maintaining SQL as the backend. This will not only make the application lightening fast but will give us access to some really cool tools that are only available with modern architectures. We launched a website several years ago and posted some of the details of the application. The name of the company is SmartAdvocate – <a href="http://www.smartadvocate.com” target=”_blank”>www.smartadvocate.com – please note: the application has been greatly enhanced and has hundreds of new features than the version on the website. The basic look and feel is the same. We are readying a new website with the updated information and expect to begin marketing the product to our colleagues by late spring/early summer. Of course we will have to convert the data from the legacy systems everyone is using to SmartAdvocate. I have shown SmartAdvocate to numerous personal injury attorney – everyone who has seen it is blown away by its design, completeness and the ability to gain access to the detailed data that is in the application. So you see, one application can fit all. Smartadvocate has everything a personal injury attorney wishes for is in this application. The morel of the story is this. What we need is a case management system designed by attorneys that actually work in the space that the application was designed to work in.. This requires that attorneys and their staff collaborate in the design and that the application b4e practice area specific. Further the application must take advantage of the latest technologies on the market and be flexible enough to adapt as the technologies change. Lastly, the ownership must have a real stake in the software in that they use it in their business. This is required so the owner has not only a financial incentive to make the application as good as it can be from the sales standpoint, they also have the incentive since they use it in their practice and they want their staff to be as productive as they can be. Without this, you are sure not have a case management system that will meet your needs.See SmartAdvocate at <a href="http://www.smartadvocate.com” target=”_blank”>www.smartadvocate.com Jerry Jerrold S. ParkerParker Waichman Alonso LLP3301 Bonita Beach RoadBonita Springs, Florida 34134239-390-1000800-LAW-INFO (800-529-4636)239-390-0055 FaxLicensed in New York, New Jersey & District of Columbia
Jerry, you and I actually agree. You created a case management system that fit the way your firm operates; therefore, it works for you. As to the other systems for your firm used, I'm guessing that was PILS and Saga. Those are two strong programs, but if they don't work the way your collective firm mind operates then they're useless.In the end, it sounds as if you've done the right thing in creating Smart Advocate. I wish you the best of luck in bringing it to market successfully.
Jerry, you and I actually agree. You created a case management system that fit the way your firm operates; therefore, it works for you. As to the other systems for your firm used, I'm guessing that was PILS and Saga. Those are two strong programs, but if they don't work the way your collective firm mind operates then they're useless.In the end, it sounds as if you've done the right thing in creating Smart Advocate. I wish you the best of luck in bringing it to market successfully.
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