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Follow The Leader
An article published in Law Office Computing Online (December 2005)
By John L. “Tim” Mellitz and Patricia D. Nemish
David Ransin is a leader, and following him has been one of our most challenging and satisfying consulting engagements.
For the last 20 years the challenges we have faced have been defined in terms of convincing our clients that automation can, and does, provide real, tangible, measurable benefits. The challenges presented by the firm of David W. Ransin, P.C. took the form of pushing the technology envelope.
We had known David for years because Tim has served with him on the Missouri Bar Solo and Small Firm Committee, and David was just finishing a two year term as its Chair.
His personal injury firm had long ago adopted Amicus Attorney as its Practice Management System, and several years ago David felt he had exhausted its potential. David had thoroughly investigated available potential replacements, and had settled on Time Matters. For over two years he had promised himself that he would learn to reap the promised benefits of this system, but hardware issues, bar responsibilities, and his workload precluded focused attention to Practice Management.
The Challenge
We regarded this engagement as particularly challenging for several reasons:
1. We were dealing with a technologically savvy lawyer who had developed a very successful practice, to a great extent through his judicious use of technology, and
2. The choice of a Practice Management System had been made without our input,
3. The Client had over two years of experience with the system without the benefit of expert training, and may have institutionalized practices that could compromise the optimal use of the system in his practice, and
4. We were aware of the fact that the principal of the firm had been participating in on-line discussion groups with some to the best legal technology consultants in the country.
The Solution
-
www.GoToMeeting.com, from Citrix Online
- Retainer Billing with no limits on defined services to be provided
- Two or more consultants to share responsibility for servicing the client.
Pebbles In My Shoe
Being free of his Committee responsibilities, David began to frequent the Time Matters user forums to better understand the workings of the program. He was able to learn much, but the time required to gain the knowledge was taking its toll. Furthermore, the knowledge gained was disjointed, with gaps that were difficult to fill, and Time Matters generated minor irritations that defied quick resolution.
At the same time, David’s staff had fashioned solutions to their issues independently, and without regard to the tools available in the Practice Management Systems. They had developed a folder structure for storing their documents, and had the foresight to commingle documents based on their associations with cases, as opposed to their sources, (i.e. word processing, PDF, scanned images, spreadsheets, etc.) However, they found themselves moving between multiple programs when it became necessary to bring together all the elements of a case.
Document Assembly was the traditional “borrow and change” method whereby similar documents from other cases served as a rough draft for the current case. Although they maintained a comprehensive database in Time Matters, they never merged that data with coded templates. They were vaguely aware of the concept of document assembly, but noone had provided any guidance in how it might be implemented.
David knew Mellitz & Associates was an independent consulting firm with varying degrees of expertise in several Practice Management and Time & Billing systems, including Time Matters, Billing Matters, Practice Master, TABS III, and Timeslips. Our business model afforded him the option of fixed costs for unlimited services within a defined set of boundaries. Attorneys, like everyone else, are reluctant to incur open-ended obligations. Consequently, we were not “hired” to perform a task. Rather, we were “retained” as a resource.
Demand Feeding
While such an arrangement carries the risk that a client might try to monopolize our time, as a practical matter most attorneys just don’t have time to take advantage of us. In fact, we obtain their agreements in writing that they will allocate sufficient time and effort to realize the benefits we promise.
Over a year ago, we had adopted a policy of including with our annual retainer services a one-year subscription to Citrix Online’s www.gotomypc.com. That enabled us to jointly control the computer belonging to the Trainee. It also allowed us to access the client’s computer at any time for purpose of servicing their system.
Earlier this year we shifted our reliance on GoToMyPC for remote training to Citrix Online’s GoToMeeting. This allowed us to train up to 10 individuals simultaneously with the trainees and us working from the comfort of our own individual offices. It also allowed us to remotely service the client’s system, provided the Client was present to complete the remote connection.
Our ability to initiate a remote training session in less than a minute or two, without any significant technical knowledge on the part of the trainee or client, has quickly become an indispensable element of our practice.
With most clients, we would schedule a series of formal training sessions that were designed to raise their awareness of the capabilities of the system. The firm of David W. Ransin, P.C. had its own set of priorities. David Ransin knew exactly what he wanted. Our first sessions were initiated by David to get specific answers to specific questions . . . not to have his awareness raised.
One of these concerns involved the handling of CallBacks after an “attempted” telephone conversation. David wanted to 1) place the call, 2) leave a voice-mail message, 3) document the attempt, 4) schedule a call-back task, and 5) inform his Paralegal and Secretary that an incoming call from the contact was to be treated as a “PC” or “Priority Call” meriting his immediate attention, all with the fewest number of keystrokes.
We followed his lead and immediately addressed the concerns he had regarding the handling CallBacks. We gained valuable knowledge by using GoToMeeting to let David show us his objections to the way Time Matters appeared to process his phone calls.
This interactive approach allowed us to demonstrate how the system for recording the results of a telephone call, (Phone record), could:
1) Automatically generate a task to followup on the call using a “Trigger” to generate a ToDo record called a “CBR” or “CallBack Reminder”, and
2) Inform his staff, (using a Time Matters Messenger record to transmit the “CBR” ToDo record to her), that a call from that contact should receive priority attention.
Even though David W. Ransin, P.C. had already been using GoToMyPC for remote access to its computer system, David immediately saw the benefit of using GoToMeeting for demonstrating solutions to him and his staff during a group training session, just as we had demonstrated a solution to the “CallBack challenge”.
This tool by itself makes clients much more receptive to remote training, and after a single session, they are true believers.
When we were able to show David how a properly maintained and utilized Practice Management System could go beyond what he expected, he was primed to learn just how far newly discovered benefits could carry him.
David and his staff, Jackie Baker, Paralegal and Wanda Sherwood, Secretary, learned they could call us at any time and get immediate answers to questions, many of which just required clarification of material previously covered.
Generally, the staff was so busy that they could ill-afford more than 10 or 15 minutes to get answers to their questions. We made it clear that they should seek immediate assistance when any Practice Management issue arose. Using GoToMeeting, within two or three minutes we can see on their screens just what the issues are, and can usually resolve them instantly.
Another challenging aspect of the relationship was David’s thirst for practical technology, and the fact that he wasn’t about to rely solely on our expertise or opinions. With him, it was just a matter of thoroughness . . . taking the time to investigate all aspects of a problem, get as many opinions as possible, and evaluate all the proffered solutions. We monitored the forums in which he presented his questions, and we attempted to provide him with our opinions on his issues. We feel we are the constant against which he can measure the advice he gets.
From the Top Down
Each person in The Ransin Law Office is the “owner” of his or her responsibilities, and takes pride in such ownership.
David cultivates this “ownership” concept by regularly meeting with his staff, sharing with them the most salient points he has learned from us or discovered on his own, and discussing how new knowledge and skills can best be implemented.
For their part, his staff is extremely proactive and enthusiastic about the new ways of performing their daily tasks and fulfilling their responsibilities, notwithstanding the required behavior modification. Their willingness to put in the extra time in order to save time and effort in the future puts polish on the system that is seldom achieved when dealing with well-established practices.
David’s leadership by example is easily the most valuable quality of his practice, both from the point of view of his staff and that of his consultants.
Peeling the Onion
The frequent, spontaneous, short training sessions that occur as each new technology is implemented result in incremental, but tangible and immediate, benefits to the staff, and by extension, to the practice. We liken this to “peeling the onion” so as to remove the mystery and confusion inherent in any new endeavor. As the “core” or “essence” of the technology appears crisp and clear, the mounting excitement of the staff is palpable.
David calls this process “demystifying” the features that were shrouded in strange terminology and multiple choices to be made before benefits could be realized. Clearly, our role as a sounding board for his own observations and hypotheses has been an essential part of his developing expertise.
Pushing the Envelope
David W. Ransin, P.C. continues to move forward in the implementation of its Practice Management System. It has already surpassed what they expected from it. The staff is now fully utilizing the Document Management and scanning features. David’s continues to work on developing the most efficient ways of communicating with his clients and staff, and of assigning priorities to his work.
He engages in as many as 125 telephone conversations a week. If that isn’t enough, he documents and follows up on each and every one of them. Historically, trial lawyers find it either impossible or very difficult to respond to all the calls they receive. Automation, and the way it has been molded to fit his work style, has enabled David W. Ransin, P.C. to render thorough and superior service for its clients. And David is always in touch with them.
Our emphasis on the spontaneous nature of our relationship, the immediacy of their problems, and our ability to understand quickly the nature and extent of their issues have resulted in a most exciting, stimulating, and successful engagement for Mellitz
& Associates.
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