The Completion Statement Solution for Partner 4 Windows Users

The completion statement solution – Part of the Conveyancing Module The brief We recently undertook a major revamp of a law firm’s existing Tikit case management system, with a view to making the system provide greater working efficiencies and improve profitability in their conveyancing department. The law firm was constrained to work within strict pricing criteria set by their referrer.  The dilemma was to increase profitability within such a fixed highly competitive pricing structure.  Of course, efficiency savings is one area that will generate the ability to take on more work with the existing level of resources within a department and improve overall profitability. The potential In building the workflow and working closely with the department, it became clear there were several areas where the law firm was undertaking work on a matter but not charging the clients as they were in fact able to do under the terms with the referrer. The challenge Bringing these additional fees into the workflow and drawing fee earners and support staff attention to such opportunities, posed a particular challenge for us.  Building into the workflow triggers for capturing when such additional work was undertaken and then automatically providing a platform to draw these fees into the completion statement, has transformed the overall profitability of the department. Our solution We designed a centralised screen where support staff and fee earners can record what additional items of work should be charged to the clients.  When the completions department then raises the final completion statement, such a screen is automatically brought to the user’s attention. All of the items showing within the screen are fully editable by the user.  The associated narrative for each additional charge can then be changed if required, or simply left as it is.  That narrative then automatically populates into the Excel financial statement as the workflow is progressed by the user.  This includes the figures automatically populating through into the statement.  Such costs are pre-set according to the standard rates that can be charged according to the referrer.  The user is not only reminded of what additional items can be charged and the associated amounts, but also has the freedom to edit and adapt such additional charges when compiling the financial statement. The user can make an additional charge ‘active’ simply by confirming that the charge should be captured by clicking on ‘yes’: The system then does everything else for generating the completion statement. In addition, when certain activities are undertaken by a fee earner/support staff and these activities relate to additional charges (like, say, leasehold work) then such charges will automatically be pulled into the completion screen and be ‘showing’ as ‘Yes’ on the screen.  For some charges, the user does not have ‘discretion’ as to whether those charges are made, so there is no ‘yes/no’ ‘required?’ choice. The screen and the system behind the completions workflow is part of the overall conveyancing workflow and part of our module for a customised conveyancing workflow solution. The screen example: Why choose The Legal Shop? In assessing your current use of your existing system, we identify areas to optimise higher levels of efficiency within your law firm.  Making the most of what you already have – it’s that simple. Achieving more with your existing systems, we create workflows and suggestions for business process improvement. Improving administration and management of compliance; central precedent documentation, automated document and form generation, capturing and handling enquiries with fast easy to use quotation systems. We tailor solutions to suit your requirements, having experience with a diverse range of law firms and varied case management systems. Get in touch Contact – Jason on legalshop@outlook.com M: 07717 071649 Improving Law Firm Efficiency