Bill4Time Staff

During the Great Recession, many legal professionals battoned down the hatches, strapped on the water wings and did everything possible to keep themselves afloat. For those surviving the storm, the ailing economy has forever changed the landscape, creating greater efficiencies and productivity in an even more competitive market. From these changes have emerged a number of trends to keep an eye on. There are just a few:

Social Networking
Social networking has the potential to transform a law practice. A growing number of social media tools are available to legal professionals to change how legal recruits and hires, locates and discredits witnesses, manages careers and interacts with clients. Indeed, due diligence in litigation often includes requests for postings on social media websites and often, larger organizations consult with their legal team when establishing social media policy.

For the solo or small firm, social media tools such a Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and LinkedIn are key marketing tools, helping attorneys and legal professionals extend reach and strengthen branding, advertising and client development goals. These social sites allow you to participate in online forums, search job openings, exchange ideas and practice tips, share opinions, knowledge and experiences. Other sites include Martindale.com, Connected, Lawyrs.net, LawLink and Legal On Ramp. There are more, but a gentle warning: do start small and keep a tight handle on how many social networking sites you join as participation time can quietly grow, becoming unmanageable. Take it slow.

Legal Process Outsourcing
In recent years, the legal industry has experienced a global paradigm shift in the delivery model for legal services. This shift, mainly due to corporate clients concerned with rising legal expenses, is estimated to reach $8,568.5 million by 2020, according to a study by Grand View Research. Legal process outsourcing (or LPO) transfers the work of attorneys, paralegals and other legal professionals to external domestic and overseas vendors.  Onshore and offshore legal outsourcing is transforming law firms and corporate legal departments as they continue to seek ways to minimize costs and enhance flexibility. Major offshore locations include India, the Philippines and South Africa. E-Discovery accounted for the largest market share of over 25% a few years ago and is projected to accelerate.

Virtual Law Firms
The cloud has released the chains of commuting to an office so legal professionals can work virtually—and virtually anywhere! More and more legal professionals are working from home or from within a virtual law office. Virtual law offices provide an alternative method of practicing law that offer more flexibility in work hours to help foster a more balanced work/life. Legal professionals can modify their schedule to fit personal and family needs while practicing law. Virtual law firms help reduce the traditional overhead for law firms, including eliminating brick and mortar offices, office supplies and sometimes even benefits. Plus, working remotely significantly cuts the firms carbon footprint so it is more “green”.

Virtual law firms can be full service and handle the entire range of existing practice areas from criminal defense to business to estate planning—and even matters as complex as mergers and acquisitions. From the client’s view, location should not be paramount as the work product is the same whether created in a home office or business complex. This trend is likely to continue as technology continues to enable lawyers to practice law brilliantly from an office or at the corner Starbucks.

Alternative Billing Models
The legal industry is continually being pressed to reign in costs which has resulted in some firms diverging from the traditional billable hours model in favor of new alternative billing models. These alternative billing models include fixed, flat, blended or capped fees. A law department metrics survey reported that 72.8 percent of fees paid to outside counsel were based on billing arrangement other than the standard hourly rates or the billable hour. More and more law firms are embracing alternative billing as a way to meet the financial resources of the client and to ensure a long-term relationship.

Bill4Time provides attorney’s with the flexibility to bill hourly, fixed or flat fees. Lawyers can even discount fees should they choose. We make it easy to meet the financial needs of the client while ensuring every minute is accounted for with our best in class time tracking features. From tracking time and expenses to invoicing and online payments, Bill4Time has you covered. Want to give it a try? Register for a free 30-day trial and see how Bill4Time Firm Manager can help better manage your business.

 

 

 

 

Your website is a reflection of you and your legal expertise. It’s among thousands of other sites in competition, vying for the same potential client to represent. And, you could be turning visitors away and not even realize it.

It’s good to occasionally step back and revisit your site. See what works and what can work better. By correcting a few simple mistakes, you could be driving more visitors to engage, and convert those visitor to long-term clients.

Below are common mistakes made by legal websites. See if your website is guilty.

1. Being Too Generalized

Potential clients are going to hire you for a reason and it’s not because you appear to be good at everything. Being a “Jack of all trades and good at none,” is not the image you want to present. You have to showcase what you and your firm does well front and center.  Discuss your achievements, your successes. Emphasize your strengths. Highlight your speciality and why you are the best. Demonstrating that you are a leader in your speciality provides confidence, credibility and is extremely powerful to anyone contemplating hiring legal counsel as they will know you are the best.

2. UnProfessional Look & Feel, Poor Navigation

Many attorneys make this common mistake by creating a site that is too loud, busy and over bearing. Many add Facebook, Twitter and other social media plug-ins that muddle the message and distract the visitor. Seriously, does it matter to the potential client how many “Likes” you have?

The best law firm sites are simple and to the point. The sales funnel for selling widgets also works for selling your firm’s services. Navigate your audience through a single path and make sure they know exactly where they are going. Answer any questions they might have with great content.

And pepper that content with focused calls-to-action, that is, easy ways for the visitor to contact you and engage.

Calls-to-action can be a button to “click to call” or “schedule an appointment online” or send a message. Calls-to-action are an avenue for the interested online visitor to convert to being a prospect and eventually convert as a client. Adding calls-to-action can increase engagement 200% to 300%.

3. Speaking in Tongues

Speaking of content, you probably don’t showcase your knowledge of Black’s Law Dictionary since your clients would most likely require an interpreter. Using multi syllables and legaleze doesn’t make you look smarter. It makes you more difficult to understand.

Instead, use the vernacular of your audience. Educate them so they understand so they choose you over someone else. And keep the content concise and to the point. Use bullets. Keep sentences to 17 words or less. Remember, this is a website, not a legal brief.

4. Poor Imagery

You’ve heard the saying that a “picture is worth a 1000 words,” right? Well, it’s true. Don’t take shortcuts and use your own photos. Stay away from the oodles of stock photos of gavels and scales. Every other legal website is using the same images and your online visitor will have trouble distinguishing you from the other firm using the same image. Instead, hire a professional photographer. Hiring a professional says a lot about you and who you are. It isn’t that expensive, and it shows you care about details and are a polished professional.  Sharp, professional imagery is a reflection of the quality your provide and differentiates you from the pack.

5. Failing to be Mobile-Ready

The growth of mobile is rising rapidly and if your site isn’t mobile-ready, you’re in BIG trouble. As of April 21, Google changed its algorithm and expanded the use of mobile-friendliness  as a ranking signal. The change affected mobile searches so now users will find it easier to get relevant, high quality search results that are optimized for their devices.

On May 6, Google announced that mobile searches have surpassed desktop searches. This means more and more of your clients are trying to find you through mobile devices. So what happens if you can’t be found? I’m sure your competition knows!

Remember, a website can be many things, but most importantly, it is a representation of you and the services you offer. A clean, clear and easy to navigate site that engages and informs your audience will captivate and capture more online visitors. Content should be well-written, easy to consume with imagery that reinforces the messaging. Often, less really is more.

Step back, take a hard look at your site and be objective. Are you presenting yourself in the best light? Would you read every word on every page? If not, it may be time to revisit your site and make some changes.

Once your site is inviting visitors to engage, let Bill4Time help you better manage the client relationship. Our time billing software offers you the features you need anytime, anywhere on any mobile device. You can track every minute and easily invoice, detailing every entry to your client’s satisfaction.

Want to learn more? Register for a free trial and see why!

An inevitable part of any law practice is tracking and billing time to clients. Approved bills ensure a steady and timely flow of income to the firm and if there are inaccuracies or other procedural hiccups in the time billing process, revenue is affected and eventually, the firm is placed at risk.

Today’s client is cost-conscious and tech savvy. Bills are examined closely and every line item should be detailed to ensure transparency and credibility. Time tracking then becomes paramount to the invoicing process and the goal is to create prompt, accurate and defensible precise time entries.

Regulation

Rules of Professional Conduct regulate fees and fee arrangements. ABA RPC 1.5 state that fees charged must be reasonable for the services performed, based upon the factors set forth in the rules. ABA Rule 1.5 provides guidelines to determine the reasonableness of a fee. Therefore, refer to RPC 1.5  and to your state RPCs to ensure compliance.

Fee Agreements

Billing should always comply with terms of the fee agreements. Every fee agreement must include: the client’s identify (e.g.; entity, individual, officers, board or joint representation; scope of representation (e.g; broad or specific); and the fees and costs.

Time Tracking & Billing

The exact nature of your activities should be reflected in the descriptions of your time tracking entries so make sure to sufficiently detail  your billable activities. Poor or unintelligible time records cost firms more than revenue—it costs time, trouble and impacts the client relationship. Insufficient or inaccurate descriptions may confuse clients, create doubt and may lead to misunderstandings.

Always strive to ensure your time entries are accurate, understandable and complete. Failure to keep good time records can be grounds for reducing or refusing an award of attorneys’ fees to a client. While detail may need to be redacted in a fee award application to preserve the firm’s confidential communications with clients, that doesn’t mean the initial entry should be minimal.

Bill4Time helps ensure ethical and prompt time tracking and billing. Bill4Time offers legal time billing software that was created for lawyers. You can track and record time through the online app, desktop or even through your mobile device. Running from one client to the next? No worry. Bil4Time offers iOs, Android and Blackberry mobile time billing apps that ensures every minute is accounted for and recorded.

We help you track and record every minute because time really is money. Get started today.