So, you’re realizing you need a little bit of help in the back office of your firm. For so long you’ve just tried to make do with what you’ve got, but it’s either not cutting it or you and your team are just plain exhausted. It’s understandable. All you know is that you want your life back – to be home for dinner at a reasonable hour, time to shoot hoops with the kids, or just sit down and take a breath. Sound familiar? If it does, you can consider legal process outsourcing (LPO).
But where do you start? What can you afford to outsource? What do you want to outsource? This can be a challenging question to answer, especially if you’re used to having the reins. Passing control off to a third party might be nerve wracking at first. But no one is asking you to throw all caution to the wind. You’ll probably want to keep some functions in-house. Let’s take a look at the top LPO services that lend themselves best to being outsourced.
The more clients you have, the more time will be required of you by each client. Before you know it, the demand for face time from clients has got you swamped and your overworked back-office staff can’t keep up, many of whom just can’t wait for their next vacation or worse, are just working for the weekend.
In order to let you focus on core activities, you can outsource much of your litigation support. Preparing and reviewing litigation documents – complaints, pleadings, motions, etc. – conducting interviews with witnesses, giving courtroom support... These are all functions that are excellent to outsource. LPO service providers like Back Office Legal can set you up with the team that you need, gathering the right people and pooling appropriate resources for whatever projects you’re working on.
In 2020, over 155.8 million people were affected by data breaches in some way. Of all LPO services, the stakes are highest when it comes to handling other people’s sensitive information. When it comes to legal data security, you’re no longer dealing with only financial information, but also personal data. One could argue that this is a service you can’t afford not to outsource. Delegating your cybersecurity to a third party in compliance with ISO 27001 is the best thing you can do to ensure that your clients’ sensitive information is protected.
The average person speaks at about 130 words per minute at a steady pace. Very few people can type even over 90 words per minute. By dictating the text of documents (briefs, memorandums, interviews, etc.) and sending an audio file to an LPO transcription service, you let people whose job it is to type quickly and efficiently take care of formatting the documents. Secure FTP servers receive audio (and video) files in order to transcribe the content, proofread/edit, and send them back to you.
How many of us sincerely enjoy research or writing research papers? If it’s a subject of particular interest to you then it might be enjoyable. But if you have a case that’s a little bit outside of your own area of practice, you’ll need to really dot your i’s and cross your t’s to ensure that you are above board. That’s where legal research services come in. Many LPO service providers have access to experts of all stripes. It makes sense to outsource this service, so you won’t have to hunt down the right specialist.
Outsourcing the client intake process to a third party is another way to keep the workflow coming without having to stop taking care of current clients. You can focus the efforts of your legal assistants on the core functions of your firm. Intake professionals are trained to answer phones, set appointments and consultations, and most importantly, convert leads so that you will have a constant revenue stream.
Focusing on your work and getting paid for it at the same time can sometimes prove challenging. When you outsource your client billing and evergreen collections to an LPO service provider, the hassle of asking people to pay up is removed. The stress of your clients’ financial situation is also distanced from your working relationship with them. Teams specializing in collections and billings for law firms can explain customer bills diplomatically, help them discuss payment options, and collect payments in a timely and efficient manner.
If you have a hard time keeping your accounts straight in-house or have a habit of muddying the waters in your books, you need to consider outsourcing all of your trust accounting. Keep retainers and unearned client payments secure. Let professionals deal with reconciling accounts, client ledgers, and deposits. Mistakes in this realm can lead to dire consequences, including sanctions from the bar.
If your firm could use an extra hand, let us be the one to help you! We have over 30 years of experience helping law firms like yours with trust accounting, client intake, billing, collections, information security, and much more. We also offer legal coaching for your firm to get to its next stage of growth. Call us today at (206) 455-9309 to schedule a consultation with us!
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