Issue link: https://epubs.iltanet.org/i/30285
approach is perfectly suited to lawyer “An automated work patterns and temperaments” tire used in production. Eventually, someone made the brilliant observation that when a car left the factory floor, it always had exactly four tires attached — never fewer, never more. The number of cars produced was already being counted, so one needed only to refer to that number to know exactly how many tires were used. What is the equivalent challenge in the legal industry? Lawyers are knowledge workers and problem solvers; they are writers, researchers, strategists and advisers. While a lawyer’s thoughts can’t be tracked, nearly 100 percent of their work product exists electronically, either in the work medium itself or in their diaries. Lawyers’ work products are mostly kept in electronic form. The range of electronic tools they’re asked to work with continues to expand, including new categories like matter planning, project management, matter management and various 14 Financial Management ILTA White Paper collaboration software packages. These newer tools and the business trends necessitating their use require an end to traditional lawyer territorialism and acceptance of the need for greater internal visibility. This last point addresses concerns for privacy, which is at the heart of the objections we often hear from lawyers faced with the prospect of automated time recording for billing and analysis purposes: “Ah, big brother wants to see what I’m doing and judge me at an even more detailed level.” Whether “Big Brother” is in place, or even desired by management at any particular firm, has nothing to do with time-capture. The reality is that all lawyers are accountable for their productivity and the quality of their work product. The adoption of automated time-capture technology means that this can be demonstrated without burdening the lawyers or interfering with their ability to do their jobs.