Practice Management Assessment

Practice Management Assessment

 and Action Plan

Identify Steps to Become:
More Efficient
More Organized
More Profitable

By Wells H. Anderson, J.D., CIC
Legal Technology Consultant
President, Active Practice LLC

We are available to assist you in performing your assessment and
assisting you with the implementation of your Action Plan.

Your improvement is accelerated and you are more likely to succeed when
you draw on our experience to identify and implement objectives together.

800.575.0007

info@activepractice.com

http://www.activepractice.com

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Summary

To become more efficient, organized and profitable, start by completing a focused Practice Management Assessment. You identify the areas where you will benefits most from improvements in how you use your practice management software. Next, create a concise Action Plan with follow dates. Do it on your own or by working with us over the phone. Then implement your Action Plan on your own or with our assistance.

I. Objectives

A. Assessment

1. Identify the 3 most important problems in your office from a list of common problems that reduce efficiency.
2. Select at least 3 types of information you need to track using core practice management features to become more efficient and organized.
3. Identify 3 or more tasks you can perform better by integrating your practice management software with other technologies, such as MS Word, Word Perfect, Acrobat, laptops and mobile phones.

B. Action Plan

1. Write down at least 3 specific actions you will take within the next week and 3 within the next month to promote efficiency, organization and profitability.
2. Put these actions into weekly follow-up entries on your calendar or To-Do list.

II. Practice Management Assessment

Perform the assessment on your own or by working with us over the phone.

First, we assess the problem areas where you benefit most from improvements.

Next, we identify the most important information not tracked by computer.

Then we select the tasks for which automation will give you the greatest benefits.

A. Common Problems in Law Offices

Problems that may reduce efficiency in your office may include the following.

Circle or write down 3 problems that are most important to you:

1. Time wasted looking for information
2. Inefficient reuse of work product
3. Income lost from time not tracked
4. Poor coordination among attorneys and staff
5. Too little communication with clients
6. Overly slow creation of paper documents for clients
7. No quick access to up-to-date matter information
8. Incomplete client information

B. Practice Management Core Features

The core functions of practice management software include storing and managing essential information.

Circle or write down 3 or more types of information you are not currently tracking by computer that are important in your office:

1. People and Organizations:
   • Clients
   • Referral sources
   • Attorneys and Experts
   • Professional Organizations
   • Resource people
   • Vendors
2. Conflict of interest checking
   • Calendaring
   • Personal calendars
   • Group calendar
   • Docket entries
   • Deadlines
   • Reminders
3. Cases or Matters:
   • Status
   • Parties, related people, companies, organizations
   • Key dates and deadlines
   • Notes
   • Variable information for documents
   • Contact information
   • Chronologies
   • Dollar amounts
4. Tasks
   • Due dates
   • Work lists
   • Follow-ups
   • Delegated work

C. Practice Management Integration with Other Software

Leverage your practice management software by linking it to other technologies.

Circle or write down 3 or more tasks that are important for you to integrate with your practice management software:

1. Automatic document generation: document assembly, merging case information -- MS Word or WordPerfect
2. Document management: automatic naming and saving, full-text search, and workflow – MS Word or WordPerfect
3.  E-mail: creation, automatic linking e-mails to people and matters, and document attachments -- Outlook, MS Word, WordPerfect, Acrobat
4.  Intra-office messaging and telephone messages – E-mail
5. Timekeeping and billing, either internal or via links to other software -- PCLaw, Billing Matters, Juris, Tabs3, QuickBooks
6. Legal research tracking with links to cases and Web pages on the Internet -- LexisNexis, Westlaw, FindLaw
7. Two-way synchronization of information with practice management database -- laptops, smartphones, mobile phones

III. Action Plan

A. Specific Actions within One Week

1.

2.

3.

B. Specific Actions within Four Weeks

1.

2.

3.

C. Follow-Up Dates:

_______________________________________________________________________

Please call or write to us for assistance in implementing your Action Plan. You work with us in brief, focused sessions via telephone and screen-sharing on your schedule as you have the time.

Your improvement is accelerated and you are more likely to succeed when you draw on our experience to identify and implement objectives together.

Visit our website for a wealth of free resources on practice management. Attend our monthly Webinars on Time Matters software at no charge.

Wells Anderson, J.D., CIC  ACTIVE PRACTICE LLC  5200 Willson Road, #150  Edina, MN 55424	phone  952.922.1727 toll-free  800.575.0007 e-mail  info@activepractice.com   web  http://www.activepractice.com
Helping lawyers leverage technology	Copyright 2009 Wells Anderson
Legal Technology Consultant of the Year Award 2000 -TechnoLawyer LexisNexis Certified Independent Consultant