Practice Management

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Tools & Resources

After deciding that document automation will become part of your workflow, the next step is thinking through how you might go about implementing this powerful technology. You can jump to these topics clicking the boxes below.

Books & Articles on LEAN

ABA Law Practice Solutions: The Lean Law Firm
Run Your Firm Like The World's Most Efficient and Profitable Businesses

ABA Law Practice Today:
Thinking Lean: Five Steps to a More Efficient Legal Practice

Videos on LEAN

The Lean Law Firm Close-Up: Eliminating Waste and Bottlenecks
Larry Port

Access to Justice Through LEAN Law
Mechelle Woznicki

Tools LEAN Practitioners Love

Office Suite

Microsoft Office Suite: administrative tools for calendaring, meetings, email, document creation document storage, chatting, etc.
Google Workspace: administrative tools for calendaring, meetings, email, document creation document storage, chatting, etc.

Practice Management Software

Manage case-related workflows, documentation, calendars, contacts, client communication, document automation and billing.

Outsourcing

Upwork: Industry leading outsourcing platform for various types of projects including IT, and law.
UpCounsel: Outsourcing platform specializing in law.
Lawclerk.legal: virtual associate & freelance lawyer service.
LawDingo: Outsourcing for paralegals and contract attorneys.

Communication

Slack: Robust chat-based inter-office communication platform with strong focus on integration and workflow automation.
Earthclass Mail: virtual post mail forwarding service.
Postscanmail: virtual post mail forwarding service.

Phone systems - Voice over IP (VoIP)

All the power of a phone system managed on your computer or smartphone.

Integrations

Zapier: API tool that connects various web applications together for more streamlined workflow. For example, G-mail email attachments could be uploaded automatically to a document storage application or a new lead could be automatically added to your practice management software from your website “contact us” page.
Integrately: API tool alternative to Zapier.

Financial

Freshbooks: invoicing and accounting software for small to mid-sized business/law firms.
Quickbooks: Market leader in accounting and invoicing software for small to mid-sized business/law firms. Strong integration with banks and credit cards and semi-automatic categorization of expenses.
Gusto: Payroll, HR Benefits, etc.

Administrative Software

Posh: virtual legal receptionist service.
Smith.ai: virtual legal receptionist service.
Nuance/Dragon Legal: legal transcription software.
Rev: audio transcription service.

Project Management

Trello: Original Kanban board style project management application that streamlines project management, team collaboration, and task creation.
Monday.com: Workflow automation suite with customizable grid-based overview screen to create a 1-look dashboard and identify bottlenecks.
Asana: Task list oriented management platform, supported with kanban board, calendar, messages and file sharing. Timeline, workflow automation and dashboard are paid features, but free -tier still provides excellent value. Has nuanced access control.
BaseCamp: 6 distinct feature sets of (i) message board, (ii) to-do list, (iii) file storage, (iv) real-time group chat, (v) shared schedules and (vi) kanban board, work seamlessly together to provide not-too-complex organization of projects. No more free tier access.

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Software

Track and automate outreach to prospective clients

Document Automation

HotDocs: Original document automation platform that used to be the market leader for decades with the largest market share.
XpressDox: System that resembles HotDocs in programming but continues to evolve and improve at a faster rate.
Celant Innovations: Michigan-based document automation company that provides both consulting and software.
Docassemble: Open source document automation tool; free but requires IT expertise.
Gavel.io: Cloud based document automation tool that focuses on productizing the law and low-code based programming.
TheFormTool: free/low-cost tool for filling in forms.