If you are a government legal professional—whether a district attorney, public defender, county and municipal attorney or another role—you’re probably always looking for ways to be more efficient and improve your legal operations.
As government agencies continue to evolve and become more technologically sophisticated, legal case management software is playing a central role in shaping the future of public administration.
The benefits of adopting legal software specifically for government professionals are numerous—enhanced constituent services, increased accountability, improved resource allocation, better compliance and data security—just to name a few.
Recently the American Bar Association conducted an in-depth analysis of technology adoption and usage trends within the legal profession. Its survey showed a continued shift toward digital transformation, with organizations embracing cloud solutions, AI-driven legal research and enhanced security protocols.
In fact, 73% of organizations use cloud-based legal tools, with document management and practice management software seeing the highest adoption rates.
As more organizations look to adopt government legal case management software, it’s important to know exactly what to look for when choosing a provider.
How to Select the Right Government Legal Case Management System
Selecting the right government legal case management software to help you become more organized and efficient is no small task. With a variety of options, many organizations aren’t sure where to begin when it comes to selecting the right software for their agency. Here are just a few of the essential components to look for in a government legal case management system:
- Easy to Use Interface
A good user interface (UI) can have a profound impact on how government professionals experience the software. A hard-to-use application will be underutilized or disregarded completely. The best user interfaces contain the following elements:
- Simple and concise. The UI should be clutter-free and without excess elements that can distract. By containing the main features in a simple interface that users can easily navigate and read, you can ensure you have everything you need with a few simple clicks.
- Intuitive. A system that lets you find what is important and quickly get back to what you were working on is crucial for boosting productivity. Features like saved searches and navigation history help you do just that.
- Flexible. Every government organization is different, and the software should be able to adjust to meet your unique needs. With a user interface that can be customized without any technical expertise, you can ensure you have a system that will grow with you no matter what.
- Consistent. With clear labels and messaging throughout, there are no surprises and learning the application is quicker and easier. A logically ordered helps you find what you need in the application promptly.
- Responsive. You want a system that you can access on multiple devices—and quickly. With a responsive design, you don’t have to worry about wasting time waiting around for pages to load.
If you give your government team members all the tools they need, it’s hard for them not to be successful. And having an application with the appropriately designed UI is a critical part of adequately equipping your team so they can be more productive and efficient.
- Increased Collaboration Opportunities
Good communication and collaboration are essential components to a successful government legal team. Government legal case management software provides a central place for this to happen easily and efficiently with all your important legal case information within a single platform. You no longer have to worry about disparate communication, misplaced documents or confusion about what tasks need to be done, as everything is organized and easily seen by all team members no matter where their location.
When handling complex government legal cases, multiple team members are typically involved and need regular updates to stay informed and on task. Government legal case management software enables team members to collaborate efficiently and assign tasks to the appropriate individuals.
The software allows you to track basic information about each party (e.g., name, phone number, address) and their role in the case. You can customize security permissions based on user role in the case.
By ensuring that everyone has the most up-to-date information, the team can complete assigned tasks, improving productivity across the department. If someone is out of the office or a case is transferred, other team members can easily step in and continue the work without missing a beat. All relevant information is instantly accessible, making it easy for someone to understand the context of a case or document in just a few minutes. Government legal case management software simplifies tracking communication and task progress, so everyone stays on track, regardless of location.
- Efficient Legal Service Requests Management
From the moment a government legal service request comes in, there is no shortage of important activities that must take place—from evaluation, assignment, tracking and resolution. You need a way to manage every step along the way. Today, many organizations are still doing everything manually because a government legal case management software system is not in place.
A legal service request is typically the first step to kick off the opening of a case or matter. This can happen in numerous ways: emails, handwritten notes, jotting down data in Microsoft Office, having requesters complete automated forms TO send to the legal department, plus many more. Government legal case management software enables you to switch from paper files, phone calls and emails to online legal service request forms, which allows you to maintain better organization and decrease the amount of time spent on administrative tasks.
The software also allows you to establish a customized workflow to ensure that each legal service request is automatically routed to the right person or persons on your team. You can have peace of mind knowing that no important information gets lost and all relevant information is included the first time.
The benefits of using government legal case management software to manage your legal service requests are numerous—increased efficiency, more complete information up-front and better service— just to name a few. And since your government legal team members are already tasked with doing more with less, you can almost immediately boost morale across the entire organization by eliminating time-consuming manual processes.
Government Legal Teams Are More Efficient with the Right Software
There’s no doubt that the pace of work for government legal professions has accelerated, and things are moving faster than ever. However, with government legal case management software on your side, you no longer have to struggle to keep up. This technology works for you, helping you accomplish more in less time. With superior workflow and productivity tools, Legal Files Software is designed to help government and public sector organizations manage a higher volume of work with the same or fewer staff— as much as 40 percent!
Legal Files serves as a central hub for storing and managing data across all your government and public sector cases. This makes information more accessible, reduces duplicate data and greatly enhances collaboration across departments. Customized workflows in Legal Files are tailored to your organization, guiding cases through various stages and ensuring each step is completed efficiently. This allows you to focus on serving your constituents, surpassing agency goals and meeting compliance deadlines, instead of being bogged down by routine administrative tasks.
Legal Files brings nearly 35 years of experience supporting agencies at every level of government—federal, tribal, provincial, state, county and municipal—across the U.S. and Canada. If you’re seeking a trusted, consultative partner, you’ve found it.
“Only a handful of systems specialize in municipal case management; Legal Files does, they have supported the integration of the system and assisted critical improvements in tracking efficiency.”
Stephen D. Button, County Attorney
St. Lawrence County (NY) Attorney, a Legal Files Customer
Request a demo to learn more about how we help government organizations like yours manage what matters most.