How to prepare for growth at independent law firms
Monday 31 October, 2022
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If your independent legal firm is looking to grow, the most effective thing you can do is begin to prepare the business for that growth. While any kind of growth can sound like a big positive, if the company isn’t ready for operating at a larger size, it can cause all sorts of problems and challenges at all levels.
In this blog, we’ll take a look at some of the key things that independent law firms can do to prepare themselves for growth that leads to long-term success.
Get processes in order
There can be no doubt that one of the most important things that an independent law firm needs to do as they prepare for growth is ensure that the company has well defined processes. When a company is small, it can get away with relying on the skills and expertise of staff, but as the business grows, and more team members are brought on board, having high quality processes in place is what ensures the business maintains high standards.
It can be surprising just how much working practice can differ between two people who are doing the same job. It is really worth going over every role in the law firm and getting feedback from everyone doing their job on their exact process. From this, you can work on ways to make these processes as efficient and productive as possible.
Invest in software
It is certainly the case that law firms can benefit from high quality software. It may be that until now your firm has been able to get by using spreadsheets and Word documents, and maybe even a basic project management tool. But as a company grows it is important to have the right tools for the job – and in this case that means industry-specific software.
There is an abundance of high quality legal software available such as case management software, that allows you to easily track all cases, and practice management solutions which make it easier to manage the day-to-day running of your firm.
Embrace the cloud
If your business still saves all of its data and documentation to an in-house server, you might be missing out on the benefits of the cloud. Working in the cloud can be hugely important when you come to grow.
Some of the benefits of the cloud are that it is instantly scalable, meaning that you can grow unburdened by your own systems. Additionally, when you work in the cloud, data and documents can be accessed from anywhere, allowing members of your team to work remotely.
Go paperless
Before your law firm grows significantly, it can be a great idea to go paperless. Trying to eliminate as much paper use from the office can be a vital way not only to minimise your environmental impact as you grow, but also to save on physical space.
If you are used to working with paper documents, now could be the time to make the change to digital documentation so that when you grow, the paper trail doesn’t become burdensome.
Focus on the customer experience
Some law firms don’t put enough focus on providing a great customer experience. If you want your business to grow, you must deliver positive outcomes for your clients – not only in terms of the cases, but also how they felt the case was handled.
As you grow, this becomes exponentially important as you cannot afford to have a large number of clients coming a way with a negative view of your firm.
If you are interested in learning more about the range of law firm software solutions that we provide here at Insight Legal, please don’t hesitate to get in contact with us. Our team has years of experience and we would be happy to help you with any questions or queries.
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