Rocket Matter Clients Share Their Best Productivity Tips: Part Two

Recently, some of our clients shared how they use Rocket Matter to boost their firms’ productivity. Now, a few more of our users want to chime in. Here are their best tips and tricks:
“We utilize Rocket Matter in a variety of ways to improve productivity, including auto-populating forms’ templates, streamlined multiple Trust Accounts tracking, and inter-office team collaboration to increase efficiency and work product quality.” —Kevin Murphy, co-founder and managing partner of Murphy Jones APC, a civil litigation and administrative license law firm in San Diego and Las Vegas
“I apply the principles of Getting Things Done (GTD) in using Rocket Matter. For example, I use Tags for GTD Contexts. Matters are the GTD Projects. Tasks are GTD Next Actions. Weekly reviews are accomplished by reviewing a list of all current Tasks and all open Matters.” —Steve Weaver, an entertainment lawyer in Nashville, Tennessee
“One of the most powerful features of Rocket Matter is the Outlook plugin. This little add-on makes it so that users can easily upload email and their attachments to a client’s matter with just a few clicks. The reason this has been such a benefit to us is it allows parties that were not originally copied on an email or email with attachments to easily find that information. When you have more than one paralegal or attorney assisting on a case this can be an enormous benefit for establishing timelines and tracking down information and documents. Rocket Matter is the only non-server based program we could find that has this capability, and that was a major selling point for us.” —Daniel Lombardo, office manager at Arnold & Smith, PLLC, which covers a vast array of practice areas including family law, personal injury and bankruptcy in Charlotte
“Rocket Matter has put all our case information and calendaring in one place for quick access. Billing features have made it easier for our staff to track all the work they do. Having a case management system that is user-friendly has greatly increased our productivity.” —Liene Hawkins, a family lawyer at Phillips & Peters PLLC in Virginia Beach
“We have started using Rocket Matter tasks to organize our firm’s weekly case meeting. This has made the process much quicker, and it helps us make sure we are on top of all our tasks.” —Jim Bulger,  a personal injury and employment lawyer in Beverly Hills
“I use Rocket Matter to streamline timekeeping and billing. As a result my firm is more efficient, which directly benefits clients as more lawyer time and bandwidth is dedicated to service.” —Joshua C. Nathan, whose firm in Rye, New York applies advocacy and business insight to help clients solve problems and maximize opportunities.
“I save time by using [document automation] forms. It takes little effort to create forms for pleadings or contracts that you use over and over. Simply take the form that you would ordinarily use, and insert merge codes where the variables are normally inserted. Next, make a list of the names that you gave the merge codes, such as “Style” “CertService” “Client Designation” (Plaintiff, Defendant, Petitioner, Respondent, Buyer, Seller, etc); “1-Plaintiff” and 2-Plaintiff”, etc., (in case you have a case with more than one Plaintiff); “LegalDescription” (for deeds, mortgages, suits involving real property); “County” and “Circuit” (if you handle cases in more than one county).
When you have a new matter, such as a suit that you are filing, you can input the Name of the applicable Merge Codes, such as “1-Plaintiff “, “1-Defendant””, and “2-Defendant”, typing the variables (the Plaintiff’s and the Defendants’ names) next to the Merge Codes. You only have to do this once for each matter. Then you can tell the Rocket Matter program to merge whichever forms you need for that matter, such as your Style, Certificate of Service, Summons, Complaint, Designation of E-Mail Address, Notice of Appearance, etc.
Your Complaint, and some other forms, will probably need to be revised to add allegations applicable to each particular case. But you don’t have to retype the common variables over and over. Further, by using the timer as I work on a matter, I don’t lose billable hours. That is important if you want a profit left over after paying your firms bills.” —Sherman Brod, a trial attorney in Tampa
“Rocket Matter is amazing. It’s very user-friendly, and it has helped my firm tremendously. You can sync your Dropbox files, your calendars, and more. It’s very well-designed.” —Eduardo Ayala Maura, founder of Ayala Law PA, a firm that focuses on immigration, real estate, business services, and litigation in Miami, Florida
“We use one of the foundational elements of Rocket Matter to help with productivity: Time keeping. For many years we did not track time—I just really did not want to do it as most of our clients are flat fee. But the fact of the matter is that in order to measure our output, to determine how long it takes us to complete certain matters, and to measure my team’s performance we needed to start time tracking regularly. Rocket Matter makes it so easy to do this. Plus, I really love the ability to use that data to make sure I am hitting the amount of billable hours per day/week on the dashboard as it allows me to pull reports on my team’s productivity.” —Rachel Schaffer Lawson, owner of Schaffer Law Firm, PLLC, which focuses on helping small businesses and food service businesses in Nashville, Tennessee