The best case management software

Effective case management is important to an attorney's law practice to increase efficiency and reduce malpractice risks. Core case management areas for law firms focus on conflict checks, time management and billing, calendaring and tickler systems, and document storage and production. Legal precedent systems software has to cover many bases to keep a law man legal! This article provides you with a description of the best uses of case management software.

Data usage

There are assortments of legal law practice management software solution platforms available to reduce and eliminate paper files and help lawyers to stay in control of growing case loads. Law practice software generally includes data storage components for document and image scanning, document assembly and creating case notes. This is not only important for reducing paper files, but it is also crucial to reduce the time spent on the discovery process. Document production requests are more manageable and cost-efficient when a substantial amount of case data is available in electronic format. When considering case management software, make sure it is compatible with your current electronic document production software programs.

Billing

Time management is especially important for lawyers who bill clients under an hourly rate system. A manual time accounting can be maintained through simple template sheets placed within each case folder. As more research and writing is performed on computers, many lawyers are opting to use case management software with electronic time entries that can be easily transferred to accounting and billing aspects of the program.

Conflicts

Attorney ethical requirements are regulated state by state. One common requirement among all U.S. state jurisdictions is that an attorney cannot enter into an attorney-client relationship that could conflict with the interest of an existing or former client. Reliable conflict-checking software tools are available to help an individual attorney as well as lawyers practicing in a law firm, to perform these conflict checks efficiently before entering into an attorney-client relationship. This is especially important as client and former-client lists grow.

Calendars

Calendaring systems are available on general software programs such as Microsoft Outlook. Electronic calendar systems that are integrated into case management systems offer additional benefits to a law practice. This includes coordinating court appearances and other appointment dates with to-do list ticklers that are linked with specific electronic case files. Case and claims management software calendaring systems can share these dates and ticklers office-wide or with specific work groups associated with particular cases.