Why Firms are Missing Out on More Than $3.6 Million in Yearly Revenue—and How to Fix it

‘Productivity’ is one of the hottest buzzwords in legal technology today and for good reason. While lawyers scramble to keep up with the sheer volume of work that constantly pours in, firms are continuing to struggle with growth—begging the question of why?

The fact is, lawyers only spend an average of 2.5 hours on billable work every day, meaning 5.5 hours of their day is spent on unbillable tasks. This means if you’re a 10-lawyer firm that lack of productivity could amount to more than $3.6 million of lost revenue every year, not to mention a team of burnt out lawyers.

To increase revenue and growth while improving work-life balance for staff, the productivity challenge must be solved. Fortunately, this can be done by reviewing what tasks are holding your lawyers back and providing them the proper tools.

What are lawyers spending their time on?

Lawyers spend the bulk of their time on a litany of administrative tasks. According to a survey of over 2,000 lawyers, more than 48% of a lawyer’s time is spent on a mix of continuing education, office administration, billing tasks, configuring technology, and collecting on accounts; with only another 33% of their time spent courting clients for the firm.

While each of us has monotonous tasks we wish didn’t exist, few of us have those tasks eating up almost half our workday. And as important as these administrative tasks may be for running the business side of the firm, many of them may be automated. When firms bring on value-driven technology that automates tedious work, lawyers will be free to focus on firm growth and spend more time producing positive client outcomes.

Selecting the Right Technology

While not all technology companies can make good on their promises of productivity increases, many can deliver the performance your firm and lawyers are looking for. You will be able to select the right tools by keeping three critical considerations in mind before adopting a new piece of software: anywhere access, software integrations, and legal workflows.

1. Anywhere Access - With the sudden shift to working from home, the requirement for anywhere access has never been felt more acutely. Cloud-based or true-cloud software like NetDocuments provide the necessary anywhere access modern lawyers need while maintaining a robust security posture to protect information.
   
   
2. Software Integrations – To decrease the amount of time lawyers spend configuring various pieces of technology, ensure selected software integrates into a cohesive unit. This is most easily achieved by selecting a “center of gravity”, such as a legal document management system, that supports integrations from a wide variety of legal technology applications in addition to everyday software like Microsoft Office.
   
   
3. Legal Workflows – Legal work requires a unique workflow and specialized attention to detail and organization. This is why it’s critical that whenever a new piece of technology is selected for the firm, a core consideration is whether the software was built to support legal work and will smooth, rather than disrupt, lawyer’s current flows.

As firms focus their technology search on access, integrations, and workflow they will be able to select the technologies that will automate tedious tasks and increase overall firm productivity.

To learn more about cloud technology and other key considerations, watch our What is the Cloud Anyway? webinar.

Don’t Leave Money on the Table

Ever skeptical of the ‘new’, the legal industry—and by default legal work—has remained largely stagnant. But in an economy where agility, speed of delivery, and work-life balance are the new status-quos, this skepticism is proving deadly for timid firms.

Firms that are embracing the digital age are transforming not only how legal work is done but experiencing major growth as a result of their increased productivity and satisfied staff.

To learn how much revenue your firm is missing out on thanks to lost productivity visit our Productivity Calculator. To learn how NetDocuments can help you solve the productivity challenge, sign up for a consultation today.