White Papers | Case Management: Maturing the Next Generation Law Firm
Case management conjures up some interesting thoughts. Is it an organizational tool, a management spy vehicle, or yet another standard of law office operations? Needless to say, it is different things to different people.
In my mind, case management software is basically an organizational tool that allows firms to establish standards for the collection of administrative information surrounding a case. In its simplest form, it is a firmwide Rolodex file. On more advanced levels it can be used for firmwide docketing systems, standardized form generation, detailed discussion threads, extensive relationship cross-referencing, and potential conflict of interest searches. Clearly, we would prefer this application to seamlessly interface with all of our major existing software: accounting / time and billing, document management, record management, e-mail, and conflicts. Sounds pretty simple – doesn't it? Well, it's not!
Case management, in terms of the application, is not difficult. Getting people to use it...now that is the challenge. The use of these products will require a change in the way we work. In other words, a cultural shift must occur.
Think back to 1990 -- prior to the acceptance of document management applications as an operational standard in many law offices. Documents, generally typed by secretaries, were shared on a very limited basis. The creation and saving of the documents were, in most cases, done according to the "firm standard naming convention."
This worked fairly well until the firm started dealing with employee turnover, and users began to want documents remotely or after hours. Furthermore, as individuals primarily responsible for the content of the document wanted to be able to change the document online, the need for easy accessibility to those documents (that is, for enforced standards) increased. The early installations of document management products (circa 1990) were painful, at best. But document management products have completely changed the way we work.
Case management in 2001 is in much the same place as document management was in 1991. It represents a new way of storing and accessing information for the benefit of the group rather than the individual.
Without document management: "I cannot get the client document that I need at 7 P.M. because my secretary is not here, and I don't know how she stored it."
Similarly, without case management: "I really need a good gastroenterologist as an expert witness.... I know someone up here used one.... I guess I will have to ask around."
Bottom line -- information needs to be accessible across the firm rather than on an individual-only basis. To accomplish this goal, we need to build an acceptable framework through the maturation of a process.
Let us consider a contact. This person has a name, address, e-mail address, and other information. The information may reside in various personal contact lists in the firm, a word processing document or a spreadsheet. The same information has probably been entered multiple times depending on the software application involved, or the staff members that this contact interacts with. Furthermore, this contact may be involved on multiple individual calendars, and on merge lists. Given all this data entry, we are still hard-pressed to produce casewide information. Clearly, we have plenty of redundant data.
The contact example demonstrates standard operations in many law firms today . . . duplication, duplication, duplication. We have an ad hoc (everyone does it their own way) process set up to support the individual and not the firm. The data cannot be shared because it is not in an accessible format that can be easily interfaced.
Conversely, if a database existed that would allow multiple parties to enter and edit information, we might have the ability to mature the process. We could potentially create a standard that assures every time you open a case, you could enter all of the associated parties to the case and their relationships into certain data entry screens. From there, file labels may be printed and the contact information could be tagged as "firm" or "firm and a specific individual." In this way, we could download our individual contact lists to our Palm device. Without additional input on the part of the individual, the accounting system, document management system, and the like, our files would be updated as required. (Policies would need to be established for how a case is to be opened and exactly where, when and how conflict checks are done.) Needless to say, I can paint the process on and on.
Clearly, standardization is allowing us to mature the process and thus push it off our "desks." The impact is huge. One-time entry and multiple points of interface and accessibility results in minimization of errors and improved overall performance. We now have a repeatable documentation process aimed at the support of the firm, as opposed to an ad hoc process that can only support the individual. Over time and with determination, the process can be further refined to support the client (collaborative mechanisms) and finally the practice (risk management issues) as a whole.
If implemented properly, case management can be a very powerful tool for your firm in maturing its technology processes. As with any cultural change, this one can only be successful given a major commitment coming from top management within the firm. As a firmwide application whose benefits cannot be realized solely on an individual basis, case management is one of the tools to mature the next generation law firm.
This article was first published in ILTA's October, 2001 white paper titled, "Case Management Coming of Age," and is reprinted here with permission. For more information about ILTA, visit their website at www.iltanet.org.
