Change is never easy, but often necessary to stay relevant in today’s fast-paced environment. Firms should regularly review how things are done and look for ways to improve. An especially good time to do this is when implementing new law practice management (LPM) software. Firms that cling to outdated or inefficient workflows often miss out on many benefits that can save time and money.

Law firms cannot escape uncollectible fees and unrecoverable costs. Fees and disbursements that are not paid by a client have a direct effect on the firm’s profitability. Most service industries report income based on the cash method of accounting. As a result, income is recorded only when received. The only bad debt expenses will be the result of client costs that cannot be recovered. Any fees that are billed but not paid by the client represent lost income.

You’ve just heard from a client that they want you to start billing them electronically — and they don’t mean by email. They mention LEDES. What is LEDES? What do you do next? “LEDES” stands for Legal Electronic Data Exchange Standard. LEDES billing is simply submitting your bill in a special format. The electronic bill is uploaded to a service, or clearinghouse, that reviews the bill to make sure it complies with certain rules and that all the calculations are correct. If the bill is approved, you will get paid. Let’s take a step-by-step look at the LEDES billing process.

Our first discussion about disasters covered types of disasters and some basics needed to properly address a disruption in normal activities, including how to build a robust team. We subsequently outlined how to make use of staging areas, alternative facilities, and working from home in the second article.

Our first discussion about disasters addressed several types of disasters and some basics needed to properly address disruption in normal activities. Please reference part one to learn more about disaster types and how to build a robust team.

Over the past week, we’ve spoken with dozens of firms who are reliant on server-based practice management solutions. Many are grappling with how to best navigate these uncertain times. How can they serve their clients while keeping employees safe when they are tethered to legacy systems for matter-related data? Remote work just isn’t an option. We know this pandemic will last at least a few weeks, but it may ultimately span months. Without the option for remote work, we know firms, and clients, will suffer tremendous losses. We want to help.

Disasters can take many forms for an organization. They might include a compromised computer, a power outage, severe weather, an active shooter situation, a bombing, or a virus. Some of these situations are not as severe as others, but all need a plan to protect employees, clients, business partners, data, and files.

This week, our team is heading to Chicago for ABA TECHSHOW. Every year, we look forward to this event: tech-loving legal professionals, interesting sessions, and countless product announcements, all make for a wonderful three days. This year is even more special, it’s Zola Suite’s fifth anniversary! That’s right, we officially unveiled Zola Suite at TECHSHOW 2015 in a slightly warmer Chicago (the event took place in April that year).

It’s official —Zola Suite has released its NetDocuments integration! With this new partnership, users can access documents stored within NetDocuments right from Zola Suite, eliminating the need to hop between platforms. Here’s how it works...