The January/February 2014 issue of Law Practice Magazine has an article entitled “Flying Solo[ARH1] ” by K. William Gibson that discusses how computer technology has greatly decreased the resource gap between large law firms and solo practices. The article echoes our philosophy here at Easysoft Legal Software that technology simplifies practice management, allowing lawyers to be lawyers instead of office managers. For example, Divorce Financials family law software lets the solo divorce attorney compete with the largest family law firms.
The Closing Of The Resource Gap
Mr. Gibson discusses how things used to be. Big firm attorneys were backed by armies of support personnel. That lawyer was really a large team of professionals. The solo lawyer on the other hand was doing case preparation alone or possibly with a single assistant. The big firm attorney could invest countless man-hours into a case while the solo struggled to submit documents by the deadline.
Technology such as divorce settlement software has closed that gap. A solo attorney can easily collect information, calculate alimony and child support, and produce state mandated forms and other documents. The solo attorney can prepare pension valuations and lump sum alimony offers that it used to take an outside accounting firm to prepare. Small offices can create tax optimized settlements that benefit both parties. And this can all be done in a fraction of the time it used to take.
Too Big To Succeed
Mr. Gibson points out that many large firms are pricing themselves out of the market. The rates they require to support their armies of workers greatly outweigh the much more reasonable fees that solo and small practices charge. Large firms are becoming dinosaurs, and may become equally extinct if they don’t learn to streamline.
The upswing in the use of electronic documents and the mobility that comes from cloud-based divorce software for attorneys has allowed solo attorneys to cut their office expenses even further by eliminating the office completely. These applications allow attorneys to operate from a virtual office by keeping their files on a laptop or even in the cloud.
Easysoft Legal Software has spend over 25 years producing legal practice management software designed to streamline law practice, cut office costs and maximize productivity. Whether you are a solo practice trying to become more competitive, or a large practice trying to trim your costs, contact us to find out how our software products can help.
