Digital White Papers

ILTA WHITE PAPER: NOVEMBER 2015 WWW.ILTANET.ORG more responsive to clients and disruptive changes from external forces to the firm. Technology can help the firm leverage the most important resources: people and knowledge. New technology can empower fee earners to better manage clients and matters and improve their practice performance. Alicia recommended that the firm invest in a core financial, matter and practice management system with built-in application-development capability that delivers a consistent user interface and experience designed for the user, focused by the capabilities available whether you are on a PC, tablet, smartphone or wearable device. She explained that the firm's legacy practice management system was unsustainable. A smorgasbord of multiple bespoke billing and legacy matter management systems, it was not interoperable with modern applications or mobility, and it required IT staff to keep the system running. The firm used a local billing and time entry system suitable for the United States and the dollar. Expanding into the United Kingdom, Europe and Asia Pacific, the firm needed a system that supports multiple languages and currencies and can produce reports that meet all local needs and the needs of the management committee. Getting a handle on matter budgeting is critical for alternative billing. With a new financial and practice management system, the billable hour will soon become the last resort for matters that have little or no history with the firm. A new system will agenda on your preferred and easily accessible device. Throughout the day, updated workspace data will alert you to meetings, risks, matters and court appointments, and help you bill time and communicate with colleagues and clients. When you retire for the evening, future kings and queens, that data will help you prepare for tomorrow." The managing partner asked Alicia to investigate financial and practice management systems and report back to the committee at the next meeting. ONCE AND FUTURE KINGS: FINANCIAL AND PRACTICE MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS TO RULE THEM ALL support alternative fee arrangements, facilitate the firm's contingency fee work and quickly generate and distribute invoices based on the firm's existing set of billing rules. All system users should have their own view of the firm's key performance indicators (KPIs), customized to their language and jurisdiction in personalized computer workspaces. The workspaces will contain other critical information for attorneys and staff to accomplish their work most efficiently. Whether it is an accountant keeping up with time slips and invoices, an associate working on a matter, or a partner reviewing the firm's compliance and risk exposure, all data can be easily accessed via a personalized view, which will appear the same on multiple devices. Alicia further told the management committee, "When you rise in the morning, your workspace will greet you with yesterday's performance and today's 32 The billable hour will soon become the last resort for matters that have little or no history with the firm.

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