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    Helpful Hints to Increase Law Firm Revenue

    by Joyce Brafford
    Helpful Hints to Increase Law Firm Revenue
    Contents

      In any business, growing the company and increasing revenue are the main priorities that leaders focus on when making plans to set themselves up for success.

      Law firms are no exception.

      But while it’s essential to expand your client base and increase your billable hours, it’s just as important to look at your practice’s workflows and processes and improve them to ensure that you’re not losing revenue in traditionally overlooked places.

      In this article, we’ll be looking at ways that you can simultaneously increase your law firm’s revenue and boost productivity.

      Use software to track billable hours

      Relying on memory when you’re tracking billable hours can be dicey, especially if you’re sitting down at the end of the week to enter time.

      Consider the following scenario: you work five days a week for 49 weeks. If you forget just 15 minutes a day working on client matters, you’re missing out on $18k for the year—and that’s just in billable client work. That doesn’t even fully account for the time it takes to deal with the fallout of unbilled work, such as potential client complaints.

      When you track your work in real-time, though, you can eliminate guesswork or forgotten hours—a lifesaver for busy attorneys. Not only does this prevent costly mistakes, but it also increases efficiency and cuts down time spent tracking, which translates to increased revenue for your law office.

      Automate, automate, automate

      Many law firms lose precious billable hours and revenue by tasking legal professionals with work that can be easily automated. There are many options for task automation in the legal field.

      Automatable work includes:

      • Client intake tasks
      • Client communication
      • Document assembly
      • Billing and invoicing
      • Payment collection
      • Project management
        And more!

      Automating these tasks removes the need for large blocks of time to be spent on tedious or repetitive tasks, freeing up time for more high-value work.

      Let’s look at one example of how automation could work for a law firm: document assembly.

      Document assembly programs allow you to link to a CRM and produce copies of your legal documents, merging them with the information stored in your database. So if you’re already keeping clients' docket numbers, addresses, and beneficiary information, you can create a form with all the relevant data inserted correctly.

      Document automation gives you the power to create documents up to 80% faster than if done manually. It’s quicker and easier to click a button and produce a document than to find a similar document, open it, save a copy to the correct location, and copy the information you need into the new document.

      The Paperless Law Office: A 12-Month Plan for Going Paperless

      This free guide will provide you with an actionable plan for going paperless, with monthly tasks that include:

      • Determining your paperless processes
      • Establishing naming and filing conventions
      • Choosing an online storage provider
      • Embracing mobile paperless tools
      • And more important resources!
      Download free guide

      Go paperless

      A great way to save money and optimize workflows is by taking your law office paperless.

      Transitioning to digital formats will boost law firm revenue by cutting costs on supplies, storage, labor, rental space, and equipment. These savings speak more to profit, but the increased efficiency and time saved can create new opportunities for marketing and networking teams to land clients and boost revenue.

      Of course, going paperless also comes with the benefit of helping the environment.

      To start the transition to a paperless office, secure file-sharing and eSignature are great tools to implement. Both allow you to easily send and receive documents and signatures from clients without having to empty out the paper from your printer.

      Implement a variety of fee structures

      A billing imbalance can cause a cash-flow dilemma. Whether you’re using flat fees or hourly billing, retainers, or contingency fees, there’s no one-size-fits-all billing method for any given situation. That’s why it’s critical to know the different types of fee agreements—when you understand their unique benefits, you can choose the correct solution for each client.

      Remember to be clear with the client about your fee structure to avoid surprises, delays, and write-offs. You should always communicate your payment policies to your clients upfront.

      Improve client retention

      A key aspect of generating more revenue for your law office isn’t just taking on new customers, but retaining quality clients. An easy way to keep your current clients satisfied is by making your processes easier for them.

      Making sure clients can pay bills with various payment options, especially with credit cards online, will go a long way to making their lives easier and ensuring they get paid on time. You can take this one step further by offering online payments through Rocket Matter Pay—send out PDF invoices in just a few clicks and get paid in as little as twelve hours.

      Adding a client portal can also aid clients by giving them a secure place to keep up with their cases, and receive invoices, documents, and notifications about events in one place.

      Embrace remote or hybrid work

      Remote work has become incredibly popular with businesses and employees alike.

      While law firms were initially reluctant adopters of remote work, it’s become clear that remote work actually facilitates productivity and employee satisfaction—especially when you use it in conjunction with the right tools. Using a cloud-based law management software like Rocket Matter allows attorneys to access their work no matter where they are or what device they’re on.

      Be consistent with invoicing and billing

      When it comes to increasing law firm revenue, prompt billing is essential.

      If your law office doesn’t have a clear billing and invoicing schedule in place, you’re likely going to miss out on timely payments from your clients. What’s more, if you don’t send invoices out on time, you’re essentially offering interest-free financing and providing your services at a discount. And when clients can’t rely on a predictable payment schedule, they’re less likely to trust your services. All of this adds up to a decreased cash flow—both now and in the future.

      One easy solution to this is to automate billing processes. When you use Rocket Matter, you can automate prebills, process multiple invoices simultaneously, and send them to clients with just a few clicks. Rocket Matter Pay allows your clients, in turn, to set up automated recurring billing and payment plans for added convenience.

      Use law practice management software

      Finding an industry-specific software solution for your law office that offers all the above solutions and many more will help you become a more profitable business.

      Rocket Matter’s law practice management software was designed to take the tedious tasks of day-to-day operations away from busy legal professionals, ensuring they can spend their time and energy helping clients and generating more revenue for your law firm. Rocket Matter also integrates with programs like Office 365, Google Calendar, Outlook, and more which will keep your team connected and productive.

      Rocket Matter’s best-of-breed legal management software covers everything you need to increase your law firm’s revenue, including:

      Time tracking
      Document management and automation
      Client relationship management tools
      Secure file-sharing and eSignature
      Online payments
      Cloud-based accessibility
      Mobile apps

      Schedule a free demo with Rocket Matter today!

      The Paperless Law Office: A 12-Month Plan for Going Paperless

      Lawyers understand the criticality of ditching physical files, but a lot of times they get hung up on how to start what seems like such a herculean task. The good news is that it’s a lot simpler than you might think—and it’s a change you can’t afford to overlook.

      Download free guide

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