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Following the seismic shift in the legal
market with the economic downturn of
2008, law firms faced increased pressure
to provide their clients with better value.
Clients are now in control, and they're
demanding better efficiency, higher
quality service and more reasonable fees
from their law firms.
Where is one place those law firms
turn for solutions to better meet the
needs of their clients? Technology.
"The outcome is that law firms are
now having to be much more efficient,"
according to Dan Safran, executive
vice president of Project Leadership's
management consulting practice group.
Project Leadership is the largest
technology consulting services provider
to the U.S. legal industry. "They need
to take more cost out of the model, and
they're using technology to do it."
It's a trend that presents an advantage
for high-quality small to mid-sized
firms like Primerus firms ­ and for their
clients, too. "Technology is a great
market leveler," Safran said. "Smaller
firms can do it cheaper and faster."
According to Mike Moore, in
his 2011 column "The Changing
Definition of `The Small Law Firm'" on
legalproductivity.com, "Today, a good
lawyer practicing alone or with a handful
of colleagues can accomplish far more
than that same lawyer or team could've
several years ago. The difference today
between working with a smart lawyer at
a large firm and working with a smart
lawyer at a smaller firm just isn't nearly
what it once was. It's not even close.
Technology can democratize virtually
anything, and the practice of law isn't
exempt," he wrote. "In many situations,
a large M&A (mergers and acquisitions)
transaction or a piece of complex
litigation can be handled equally well,
if not better and more efficiently, by an
experienced, technology savvy lawyer
than by engaging a big firm."
So, how are small and mid-sized firms
doing big things with technology? How are
Primerus firms using technology to add
to the value and quality service they're
delivering to clients around the world?
In the Cloud
One way is taking advantage of cloud
computing ­ storing and accessing data
and programs via the Internet instead of
your computer's hard drive or servers.
In fact, Safran advises small law firms,
if they have not already, to "run, don't
walk" to the cloud for everything from
document production, like Microsoft
365, and document management to file
sharing in 2015.
Primerus Firms
Do Big Things with
Technology
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