Legal Technology Consulting Articles List View

A new ALM/Cogent poll finds that significant resistance to technology remains and that a large number of practicing lawyers in America are still practicing and trying to manage the business of their firms without the benefit of technology tools.

The amount of information at ILTA ’07 was staggering, so Rafte & Company offers this recap on top take-aways. The focus on business strategy illustrates how far we’ve come .

Rafte & Company President Dena Rafte participated as a panelist in the session, "Getting a Seat at the Table," during ILTA ’07, the annual conference of the International Legal Technology Association. With the permission of ILTA and the event organizers, we have posted the audio from the discussion below. “Getting a Seat at the Table” explored how some technologists have become key strategic thinkers in order to meet their firm's measurable business goals. Recognizing that technology is... [More Info]

Rafte & Company President Dena Rafte participated as a panelist in a terrific session entitled, "Understanding the Lawyer-Client Relationship" during ILTA ’07, the annual conference of the International Legal Technology Association. This was an important conversation and Dena, who established Rafte & Company 24 years ago, said she was honored to be selected to participate. She says that creating a client-focused firm is essential for law firm success as more firms implement strategic... [More Info]

Without the understanding, support and active involvement of a strong legal administrator in helping drive change, initiatives designed to make it easy for clients to do business with a law firm frequently fail to live up to their potential. This is critically important today because forward-looking firms have realized that they need to constantly change and innovate to satisfy rapidly evolving client demands.

Dena Rafte, CEO of Rafte & Company is featured in the article, Time is Money, published in a special supplement to the June 2007 edition of American Lawyer. The article, by Robert McGarvey, explores best practices in tracking time.

Kari Richards is a member of Rafte & Company’s Application Consulting Service initiative. We sat down with her for a brief conversation about computer application training.

Does your law firm still have PCs operating on Windows 2000? Are you using antiquated word processing software? In Of Counsel, Rafte & Company describes how vulnerable that makes you.

Rafte & Company's customer-friendly approach to using online tools to create a turnkey training solution that promotes training courses, enables online registration and keeps track of course attendees was featured in this week's BtoB article, "Building Web site a vital event marketing tool," written by Erin Biba. Read the article here. Building Web site a vital event marketing tool By Erin Biba Event attendees have come to expect a Web-based home to locate even the most basic... [More Info]

Rafte & Company delivers the Houston Zoo a software training solution to increase the overall effectiveness of their information technology. Rafte designs and implements course offerings aimed at improving the knowledge and capability of employees. The courses focus primarily on the Microsoft Office system of applications, including Access, Excel, PowerPoint, Project and Word, among others, as well as Adobe Photoshop.

A recent edition of "Bankruptcy Court Decisions" asked the question whether law firms should upgrade to Microsoft Vista now or wait. Rafte & Company's Dena Rafte and Steve Bondy offer their advice.

How pervasive are computer security breaches? If law firms are anything like the rest of corporate America, it's a big problem. Three-quarters of security executives in industry and government agencies said that they had at least one security incident in the past 12 months. That’s a lot.

IS Helpdesk was born from the concept of helping law firm staff members to be more productive in a cost-effective manner. In this article, Dena Rafte, president and CEO of Rafte & Company discusses the initiative to have a team ready to take calls that are specifically oriented to law firm applications.

A matter centric environment takes the focus off of the individual “information worker” and puts it squarely on the client. All firm-related information is in the case file. This can be a very challenging one in the electronic environment and this article explores what firms should consider to do it successfully

The ABA’s annual legal technology survey provides the most thorough report on trends in legal technology. It is a reality check about whether your firm is keeping up with the Joneses when it comes to utilizing technology investments to achieve their strategic business objectives.

Many law firms have found that it’s not worth spending lots of time trying to fix technology problems themselves – especially if it takes away from other more valuable activities. Having on-call access to legal expertise can be invaluable.

With the beginning of the 2006 hurricane season upon us, law firms throughout the Gulf Coast region are gearing up for a ferocious few months. While studies show that the majority of businesses have taken action to minimize the impact of a potential disaster on their operations, many law firms have failed to embrace business continuity planning.

Law firm managers are facing intense internal and external pressures that make strategy and innovation more crucial and differentiation more difficult. Forward-thinking law firms understand that they are operating in an increasingly competitive marketplace and that they must transform themselves in order to thrive. The initial step in this transformation for law firms to be successful in the long term is to align a firm’s processes, infrastructure, strategy and culture with a clear... [More Info]

Typically, a flowchart of a law firm’s workflow process resembles a tangled web of time consuming and often duplicative tasks, some of which provide little value to the firm or to clients. When done correctly, the process of implementing legal case management software can help a firm identify and fix these workflow trouble spots.

This article was originally published in the Houston Business Journal's February 10, 2006 print edition. Click here to view the published version. Legal case management software is a valuable tool that law firms use to manage legal cases efficiently. However, while the application provides attorneys with a convenient method of effectively managing client and case information, there is a clear disconnect in many law firms that occurs at the point of implementation. Data from the 2004-2005... [More Info]