In fact, leading up to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a survey from the American Bar Association, almost half of all law firms operating in the United States did not utilize cloud software in management of their firm. This means that nearly half of all US law firms were ultimately blindsided by the unprecedented shutdown of all in-person businesses at the beginning of last year. If this pandemic has taught us anything, it’s that cloud computing is the way of the future, something that must be capitalized upon sooner, rather than later. Firms that utilized cloud management of their business were exponentially more prepared for the instant shift to remote work than firms that did not- going forward, it may be wise to consider cloud computing and management as necessary insurance to run a business.

Let’s compare the benefit of the cloud to needing a grocery list for shopping. How many times has something unexpected happened- your child or spouse throws away the list on accident, or you lose said grocery list in some other way. If you only keep a physical, one-copy record of your grocery list, it will be lost to the ages. However, if you happened to jot down your grocery list onto your iPhone notes (thus utilizing the cloud), not only would it be impossible to lose the grocery list- you would be able to continue to add or otherwise edit your list at any time, from multiple different platforms- from your phone, tablet, or computer.

This is the benefit that the utilization of cloud computing can provide. Who knows what can happen- maybe you’re forced to stay home from the office on a sick day, or need to access relevant casework from somewhere other than your office. Having the cloud as a practice management resource allows you to be able to access your firm from anywhere in the world. By using the right type of cloud-based software, not only will your work become all the more accessible at any time, but it will also become more secure than ever.

This is where NuLaw becomes all the more relevant. Powered by Salesforce, and as one of the most all-inclusive practice management software providers on the market, NuLaw is able to handle everything- from intake, prospecting, and matter planning, to reporting, billing, and scheduling. Additionally, NuLaw integrates with a laundry list of third party software while keeping everything under wraps with the same top-notch security measures utilized by the United States Department of Defense. As the working world moves to the future, help your practice stay prepared for anything that may come it’s way, and invest in cloud computing sooner, rather than later.

Indeed, consolidation is one of the most important organizational aspects of our day to day lives. When you make a grocery shopping list, do you make a separate list for each aisle, or do you make one single list for everything you need for your trip? When you’re moving to a new home, do you throw everything into random boxes, or do you strategically fit everything into as few categorized boxes as possible, in order to be more efficient (as well as cost-effective) in the process of bringing everything from point A to point B? When you are running your legal practice, do you want to conduct your day-to-day agenda by clicking in and out of different apps and tabs, or do you want to conduct your business efficiently, through the usage of a single, all-inclusive platform?

This is made possible by utilization of a platform that touts the ability to manage software integrations. Essentially, these integrations streamline day-to-day tasks, and make it easier to not only organize your firm from the top-down, while also improving the cost-effective efficiency with which your firm operates. Think about how much frustration and stress in the day that you can mitigate by not constantly sifting through different platforms just to accomplish one task for one case. Again, referring to the previous analogy- how hard would it be to unpack in your new house or apartment if all of your belongings are spread across multiple mixed-item boxes, when you could’ve just put specific belongings for specific rooms into a single box? With the properly organized moving boxes (properly coordinated integrations), you never have to stress out trying to think about whether you have lost or forgotten something again. Integrations are a proactive measure for any legal practice.

For example, think of a communication integration with a Case Management Software, such as chatter. According to a recent blog from ActiveCampaign, “[software integration] adoption increases the quality of communication between [employees] and managers by 56.9% — meaning less time spent on misunderstandings and more time spent selling.”  Additionally, the blog continues on to state “[Practice management] apps can increase sales productivity by up to 34%. The learning curve can be steep — although a strategic implementation process softens it — but the results are more than worth it and can save your sales team tons of time.” Why continue using a system that continually clutters and otherwise complicates your day, when you can bring in a new system that improves upon finance and efficiency for your practice?

NuLaw understands that consolidation is key to running any business more efficiently than ever before. That is why we have so many integrations available with our software. Powered by Salesforce, manage your firm’s day-to-day operations while utilizing software such as SharePoint, Outlook, Office 365, Gmail, Google Calendar, Quickbooks, airSlate, Adobe Sign, Docusign, and NuPay- all from the single NuLaw dashboard! Managing your firm from a single all-inclusive platform has never been easier, or more efficient. With NuLaw, enjoy the time-saving power of software that just works.

Why all this talk about data? Because data is driving the future of every industry. Big data is especially important in a day and age in which it is possible for us to generate exponentially more data than we can practically use. The task for companies like ours is to figure out how to make better use of the data we do collect.

It is possible that none of this makes sense to you. As an attorney, your area of expertise is practicing law. Fair enough. Here are three examples of how big data is changing law practice, referenced from a November 19 article published by the Legal Executive Institute:

1. Automated Rate Setting

First up is a well-known law firm that streamlined its rate setting via data analytics. The firm had always relied on a committee to set rates for the new year using an application written into the dashboard of the firm’s software. Members of the IT department knew what kind of data the committee wanted, so they programmed the app accordingly.

Over several years, the IT team figured out that just 24 of the 65 metrics the committee was interested in accounted for 94% of the information necessary to set rates. They then devised a computer algorithm to analyze those metrics and automatically calculate new rates.

It turns out that the computer algorithm can do in seconds what it took the committee weeks to do. Just by crunching data and analyzing it against established metrics, the IT team was able to automate rate setting.

2. Better Task Code Entries

Next up is a firm that was having difficulty producing budgets across all its practice areas. At the heart of their problems were improper and missing task codes. Not utilizing proper task codes made it impossible to produce accurate time entries, therefore making it extremely difficult to meet client expectations when preparing budgets.

A solution to the problem was found in a new data application leveraging machine learning and Bayesian inference to ‘teach’ a computer how to properly code tasks. The application was even able to produce new codes for tasks that did not have an existing code set. Ever since, the firm’s task coding has been more accurate and timely.

3. Better Use of Public Records

The third example comes out of the UK, where attorneys who specialize in real estate transactions must comb through mountains of data maintained by the government’s Land Registry. Normally, individual ownership records must be downloaded as PDF files and reviewed manually by attorneys. Big data changes that.

The firm cited in the report turned to a big data application that connected their computers directly to Land Registry systems. Moreover, the application accessed Land Registry data in bulk, analyzed it in real-time, and produced a portfolio of relevant data ready for download.

Implementing the big data solution dramatically reduced the amount of time attorneys spent pouring through records. The computer system does all the heavy lifting and delivers a concise portfolio of information that is instantly useable.

Big data is at the heart of modern business. It has made its way into the legal sector as well. And because it has, applications like NuLaw are capable of doing more – so that attorneys can concentrate on their clients.

Our previous post discussed big data, artificial intelligence, and blockchain. All three are technologies now being used to power legal case management software applications. We incorporate some of that technology into NuLaw as well. For the record, NuLaw is built on the popular Salesforce CRM application.

With the introduction out of the way, let us get to those three additional buzzwords. Without further ado:

1. Mobility

Anyone who has grown up on technology understands mobility to be nothing more than having access to the internet with the mobile device. Your kids might understand mobility as streaming videos with their smartphones. You might understand it as being able to do things like make dinner reservations while you are standing at the curb waiting for your ride share to arrive.

Mobility in legal tech is similar in principle. However, it is more involved in practice. Mobility gives everyone in the law firm access to data and applications without regard for device or location. For example, mobility gives attorneys full access to their apps and data whether they are in the office or at the courthouse. A law firm’s accounting partners have 24/7 access to financial information.

This is accomplished by moving legal case management into the cloud. The cloud is the perfect environment for mobility because it is device and operating system agnostic. A good cloud app is accessible via any device capable of logging on to the internet and running a browser.

2. Agility

The term ‘agility’ is rather interesting when you look at its evolution. Physical agility is the ability to respond quickly to changing conditions. Software developers adopted the term more than 20 years ago to define a new development model that allowed developers to respond more quickly to customer demands. Today, agile software development is viewed as being more responsive. It is also faster than the old way of doing things.

In law, agility is a combination of the other two meanings. We define it in legal tech as the ability to quickly adapt to changing conditions without disrupting productivity or straining resources. One of our tasks as a company specializing in developing case management software is to build agility into NuLaw. Our software has to be able to adapt to the changing needs of the modern law firm.

3. Collaboration

Collaboration is normally seen as multiple people working together to achieve a common goal. In business, that takes on plenty of forms. Multiple departments within a given company collaborate on a single project. Likewise, multiple companies can collaborate on larger projects. We define collaboration a bit differently in legal tech.

Your typical law firm consists of several different departments with distinct goals and purposes. They do cooperate to a certain extent in order to make the practice run. But the real value of collaboration is allowing every member of every department to have a clear understanding of what is going on in a particular case. We designed NuLaw to encourage that kind of collaboration.

Between this post and the one that preceded it, you hopefully have a better understanding of six key buzzwords we often use in a legal tech industry. Now, if we could only learn what you attorneys are talking about.

For the better part of the last several decades, we have witnessed technology being the driving force in the way our society does so many things. Take the smartphone for example. The vast majority of smartphone owners now use their devices to access the internet. But they were accessing the internet before the smartphone existed.

The internet did not give rise to the smartphone. Rather, the smartphone changed the way people access the internet. This is a clear case of technology driving a change in consumer behavior. But in the legal profession, it is not so cut and dried. Sometimes it is the legal industry determining the direction of technology. In fact, below we list three ways in which the practice of law is driving legal tech right now:

1. Better Client Management

Law firms in the internet age are struggling to maintain client relationships while still using legacy software and communication methods. They need something new; they need something better. As such, companies like ours have responded by creating cloud-based law practice management software that accounts for this new way of doing business.

NuLaw itself is built on the popular Salesforce CRM platform. Back when we started NuLaw, we felt that taking a CRM approach was the best way to ensure that law firms have the right client management tools to make the best of cloud-based software. The decision proved spot on.

2. Privacy and Security

Next, the legal industry has come to realize in recent years that the old ways of doing things present too many security risks. Locally hosted software that has not been updated in years is terribly vulnerable to data breaches. Without proper backup procedures in place, locally hosted data is ripe for corruption or complete loss. Once again, the legal sector needed something new.

The NuLaw law practice management software is based in the cloud. And thanks to robust improvements in cloud computing over the last decade, the cloud is one of the most secure and private environments in the cyber sphere.

3. Direct Investment

Finally, the legal sector is driving legal tech innovation through direct investment. We are starting to see a growing number of larger law firms investing in legal tech companies for the purposes of leveraging resources to improve their own practices. Simply put, firms are investing in legal tech providers in hopes that those providers will continue developing software that will directly benefit their day-to-day practices.

This third scenario is probably the most important of all. Those law firms willing to invest in legal tech will have a greater influence in how that technology is developed. They will be able to influence the legal tech industry to innovate in ways they otherwise would not for lack of knowledge about what law firms need.

It is clear that the legal tech industry is undergoing its own evolution right now. New innovations are leading to new technologies while providers are coming up with new law practice management software applications that are changing the way firms do business. In the end, we have a whole new dynamic in which the legal industry and legal tech are both pushing one another forward.

LawSites contributor Bob Ambrogi published a great piece in late December 2018 that dovetails nicely with our thoughts on the short-term future. His article covered 20 of the most important developments in legaltech in 2018. Let’s look at a few of those developments and how they will affect legal software in 2019.

Analytics Takes Center Stage

Ambrogi’s first development centered around how analytics took center stage in 2018. We cannot disagree. A number of important players delved into the analytics space by announcing new platforms capable of analyzing everything from court opinions to litigation statistics.

Strong analytics will be vital to legal case practice management software for a couple of reasons. First, analytics focused on the litigation side of things to help attorneys better prepare their cases. The right data lets them know what they’re up against before they ever enter the courtroom.

Secondly, analytics in the marketing realm equips law firms to better address case acquisition. Analytics data tells them what clients will likely need and how they can utilize their resources to bring new cases into the office.

Legal Research Getting More Attention

Hand-in-hand with analytics is legal research. If there’s one clear advantage case management software has over legacy systems it is its ability to open up doors to research only accessible online. The internet age has given attorneys access to so much more information than ever had before, which will be very important to attorneys big moving forward.

By the way, NuLaw not only enables extensive online research, it also provides a built-in law library where research documents can be stored. Combining our library with the vast resources of internet research makes any attorney a better litigator.

Developer Competition Heats Up

Further down on Ambrogi’s list of developments is his observation that competition among software developers really heated up in 2018. We can certainly attest to that. Moreover, we think it’s a good thing. Competition in the legal case and practice management arena leads to better products and lower prices. That is good for attorneys, their clients, and even our industry.

Not too long ago the legal software market was dominated by a small number of major players. That’s no longer the case. 2018 saw a plethora of new players enter the market with their own takes on case management software. We see no reason competition among developers will not continue throughout 2019 and into 2020.

More States Expect Technology Competence

One last point we want to bring up is the fact that more states now expect legal competence among attorneys. Following the ABA’s formal decision to adjust its Model Rules of Professional Conduct to address technical competence back in 2012, states began imposing the obligation on attorneys. According to Ambrogi, the number of states expecting technical competence among attorneys has now reached 35. It could get a lot closer to 50 during 2019.

Legal case practice management has fully entered the arena of technology. At this point, there is absolutely no looking back. That’s why we created NuLaw. It is why we think your law firm should take a serious look at our legal software.

There are a lot of reasons to move practice and case management software to the cloud. One of those reasons, as underscored whenever a severe natural disaster hits, is the need for business continuity. Law firms have to be able to continue doing business as usual in the days and weeks following a devastating natural disaster – for the sake of both their clients and their own future success.

Locally Hosted Apps Don’t Cut It

Before there was cloud computing, practice and case management software had to be hosted locally. Law firms purchased off-the-shelf solutions that were either installed on every computer in the office or hosted on a central mainframe and served to desktop clients. A lot of law offices still do things that way. But that will not cut it when a natural disaster wipes out the office.

Imagine the storm surge of a Cat 4 hurricane flooding your office and destroying all of your computers. It is going to cost you thousands to replace those computers. Even worse, the chances of you recovering data off waterlogged hard drives is slim. How are you going to continue serving your clients in the days and weeks ahead?

One of the most heartbreaking things observed in the aftermath of natural disasters is the fact that so much of the recovery process could have been made easier if proactive steps had been taken to mitigate the damage. Businesses know this all too well. So do law firms that insist on maintaining practice and case management software on local networks.

Data is Safe in the Cloud

Now imagine that same storm surge flooding your office and what it would mean to data stored in the cloud. Quite frankly, it would mean nothing. One of the primary benefits of cloud-based applications is that no data is stored locally. Everything is hosted on remote servers far away from your local office.

A legal practice app like NuLaw, hosted in the cloud, is safe from the ravages of natural disasters. Cloud environments exist inside tough, purpose-built buildings designed to withstand the extreme forces of nature. Not only that, but cloud environments are typically backed up at numerous locations completely separate from the main hosting environment. This provides much needed redundancy.

In short, your data is safe in the cloud. Business continuity is maintained no matter what happens to the computer equipment in your local office. You can access your cloud-based practice and case management software from existing computers, new computers, and even mobile devices.

It’s Time to Move to NuLaw

If your law office has not yet converted to a cloud-based practice and case management solution, it is time to consider making the move to NuLaw. Business continuity is as good a reason as any other to make the switch. And it’s an important reason, too.

You cannot afford for your law firm to be unable to serve clients due to a lack of data access or local computing power. You cannot afford to allow a natural disaster to stop you dead in your tracks at a time when your clients need you most. Moving your legal practice and case management software to the cloud, via NuLaw, ensures business continuity no matter what’s going on at your ground zero.