Use legal software reporting to look back before moving forward into 2020
One of the best ways to prepare yourself for the future is to look at what has happened in the past. This advice is especially valuable when it comes to your legal department. Everyone wants to be more efficient, organized and proactive when it comes to legal work. However, it’s difficult to do so without knowing about trends in matters, issues and workflow. This is where legal software reporting comes into play.
By running comprehensive reports at the end of 2019, your team will be able to unlock the value hidden in your data. Many people call this practice data mining. Much like mining for precious gems or metals, this practice can provide priceless resources. Instead of using physical mining tools, you’ll rely on Legal Files Software to help you gain this data.
In this blog series, we’ll start by exploring how you can use reporting to identify staffing needs and areas where you can improve your effectiveness in 2020.
The right legal software can help you identify your staffing needs
The people on your team are the ones who make your legal department’s work possible. Legal software can help you identify areas where your department might need additional staff. This is what happened at one legal department for a university.
Everyone from the attorneys to the paralegals felt overworked. They thought the department needed more staff. However, they didn’t have concrete proof until turning to Legal Files. The software allowed them to view the workload and turnaround time for each team member. By compiling this data, the department could substantiate its request for more staff. The result was approval to hire more team members.
Making the most of your department’s time and skills
Legal software offers reporting that allows you to review productivity data about each employee and department. Doing so provides you with a complete picture of how your team handles its workload. After reviewing this information, you can move forward to make any changes.
This data can help you see whether your team members need additional help or training to do their jobs better. You can also find areas where you can implement tools to work smarter, not harder. For example, using the document assembly feature within Legal Files, your team no longer needs to waste precious time creating routine documents from scratch each time. Instead, they can rely upon the templates that they’ve already created and then complete with the relevant information from a specific file or matter.
Using legal software to make 2020 your best year yet
Reporting tools can help you reap massive benefits as a legal department in 2020. Not only can reporting help you review your workload and determine your staffing needs, it can also help you become more efficient in the coming months and years. These are excellent ways to gain an edge as legal departments face pressure to become more technologically innovative and operationally more efficient.
In the next blog, we’ll discuss how reporting can help with risk and spend legal case management, and increase cost efficiencies. By tracking information in these areas, your department can save money and be more proactive.