The practice of law is constantly evolving, and your firm should be too.
WORK[etc] is a cloud-based platform redefining the way legal services are provided; using a single centralized dashboard, you and your colleagues can review and manage every aspect of your business.
The more I deal with WORK[etc] the more I love it, usually it is the other way around 🙂
Edward David, Melnik Law Group PLCC
If you’re able to access the Internet, you’ll also enjoy complete access to all of your firm’s contacts, client information and managed cases or projects.
In fact, you don’t even need a computer; just download the WORK[etc] app in the iOS or Google Android marketplace and login directly from your smartphone!
What WORK[etc] can do for you:
- Make billing easier with quotes and invoices that integrate directly with Xero and Quickbooks accounting software, or manually export to anywhere
- Improve client relationships by enabling the Customer Portal tool in your setting, which lets your clients view the latest status of their projects and monitor progress over time
- Increase productivity and allow you to manage more clients
- Streamline your workflow with pre-configured templates for certain projects
- Win your secretary’s heart by giving her instant access to a client’s activity stream, revealing every phone call, email, task, project or support request assigned to their contact record, starting with the most recent
Customer Relationship Management
Every single one of your clients is entrusting you with something that has the potential to impact their personal or financial well-being, and even their lives. They made a conscious decision to retain — to trust — in you over anyone else.
Understandably, it’s not unusual for clients to have varying amounts of stress and anxiety about the outcome of their cases. As their attorney, you try to reassure and guide them through the legal process.
But it can sometimes transform into a bigger problem. As court dates draw nearer and stakes get higher, anxiety turns into panic. Your client becomes frantic. The phone begins ringing more often, and it’s not long before you’re spending too much time fielding questions to properly handle your client’s case.
This is one of the difficult, but regular, predicaments that WORK[etc] can help you overcome.
Problem? Meet solution
When a customer calls your firm, your secretary probably answers the phone; if the client’s reason for calling can’t be solved by simply reviewing the file or verifying information, he or she will probably have to schedule a callback with a lawyer or set up a meeting.
Either way, everyone loses. The client is left impatiently waiting and you or another lawyer are interrupted from important work to answer simple questions, which impedes your ability to get work done in a timely manner.
Using WORK[etc] alleviates the problem by storing all of your client’s information in one place.
![WORK[etc] Contacts Page](http://wetc2.wpenginepowered.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/contacts_screen.png)
Your secretary can simply search for the client’s name in the global search to instantly access a detailed activity stream showing a list of every phone call, email exchange, billing information, project and document that they’ve ever been assigned.
Armed with WORK[etc] at his or her fingertips, your secretary won’t miss a beat before answering when clients request updates on the status of their legal matters and can even add tasks or notes to their contact profile so you’ll see it without having to be interrupted from you work.
Timesheets, Billing & Invoicing
WORK[etc] is customizable to fit your needs, so it’s no surprise that you can do billing any way you want; we’ll even help keep track of how much profit you’re making by tracking timesheets and invoices linked to each project.
Don’t worry. You choose exactly what to send them and we’ll never disclose anything you don’t want us to.
Creating quotes, invoices and timesheets is as easy as sending them out; just point, then click. Templates are great for saving time and establishing consistency, especially for services that are flat-fee or contingency.
Need a recurring invoice for a retainer project? We’ve got you covered. In fact, WORKetc supports all of the following commonly-used billing methods for legal services professionals:
- Hourly (e.g. 20 hours of work at $200.00 an hour is $4,000.00)
- Contingency Fee (e.g. 60 hours of work for a $100,000 settlement at a 30 percent contingency results in the client being billed for $30,000, while the same amount of work for a $200,000 settlement would end up costing $60,000)
- Flat Rate (e.g. Incorporating a small business at a flat fee of $1,000 will cost the same regardless of how long it actually takes)
- Retainer (e.g. A client pays $5,000 per month for unspecified work, such as sending out cease and desist letters to people who are infringing on their copyrights)
Project Management
Unfortunately, being a lawyer isn’t quite like Hollywood depicts it. You can’t just strut into the courtroom skimming through a client’s file for the first time and deliver an eloquent and compelling argument that leaves the judge with no choice but to side with your client.
Even WORK[etc]’s case management system can’t make real life as good as the movies, but it will help you keep up with all of your clients’ cases and automate many of the most repetitive tasks you do every day.
Projects use tasks and subtasks to create a hierarchal structure for organizing your workflow.
For example, if your project was incorporating a business, you would make a task for registering the business with the state government and obtaining a TIN from the IRS.
Under the task for registering the business, you might have subtasks like drafting the articles of incorporation and operating agreement. Using the Gantt Chart (above, left), you can create a tentative timeline for the project.
What This Means For Your Legal Services Firm
We’ve worked hard to develop a platform that empowers our clients and us to achieve success together; for more than five years, we’ve been doing just that. With its wide array of CRM, sales, and project management tools, WORK[etc] will help you manage your law firm more efficiently and thoroughly every single day. Find out yourself by signing up for a free 14-day trial and one-on-one demo.
