The newly released 2019 Legal Trends Report is now available.  Just like the previous years, the 2019 Legal Trends Report is a gold mine for law firms that want to thrive in this highly-competitive industry.

This fourth edition has been expanded in terms of the scope of research to include the most penitent issues relevant to lawyers and their clients. The research looked at what drives success in law firms, what clients look for before hiring a lawyer, and what it is like to shop for a lawyer in 2019.  

Clio gathered data from tens of thousands of law firms and legal professionals in the United States. A total of 2,507 legal professionals and 2,000 consumers were surveyed. The sample was representative across all geographical regions, genders, and adult age. 

To assess the quality and service responsiveness, another set of data was obtained by emailing a random sample of 1,000 law firms and calling 500 of these firms. All law practice areas had equal representation – Employment, Business Formation, Bankruptcy, Criminal, and Family Law. 

Here are the key takeaways from the 2019 Legal Trends Report:

The Law Firm’s Growth 

If you want your law firm to grow, then you would strive to learn how thriving law firms manage to increase their revenue over time. There are critical inputs these firms apply to their businesses that contribute to their exceptional growth. 

Is revenue an indicator of growth? Up to 71% of lawyers believe that revenue is correlated with growth. Apart from being a quantitative and objective measure for success, it is also a standard benchmark for the health of a business.

Between 2013 and 2017, thriving firms grew their revenue by between 20 – 30%, achieving an average growth rate of 112%. In the same period, shrinking firms saw the revenue drop by 54% while stable firms maintained their level of revenue. 

From the research, it was realized that growing firms increased the number of clients and cases they handled by a larger proportion than they increased the number of new lawyers they brought on board. The number of cases increased by 57% while the number of new lawyers increased by only 32%.  

Shrinking firms decreased the number of cases and the number of lawyers by 40% and 17% respectively. This resulted in a 54% drop in revenues. 

What this means is that to be successful, your firm should concentrate more on increasing the number of cases and clients. 

Clients Need More Than Just Referrals

How do clients choose one lawyer over the other? To answer this question, Clio interviewed 2,000 consumers and the results of the exercise were interesting. 

Even though many clients still rely on referrals to hire new lawyers, a good number of clients prefer to do the search on their own or use other means to get lawyers they need. 

59% of the respondents said they rely on referrals, especially from someone they know. 57% of those interviewed said they search on their own, while 16% used referrals and also searched on their own.

The methods used to find lawyers include:

• Referral from a friend or family member
• Lawyer’s website
• Referral from a non-legal professional
• Online reviews
• Online map service or app
• Online search engine
• Phone book
• Lawyer blogs, articles, videos
• Lawyer directory
• Social Media
• Advertisement
• Referral from a lawyer

From these findings, you can see that if you only focus on referrals to build your business then you miss out on several business opportunities.

More Than 50 Percent of Clients Shop Around

Are you aware that before a client settles on your firm, they most likely have shopped around? 44% of clients do shop around before they settle on a particular firm, and 57% percent of those who have chosen a firm also confess they shopped around before doing so.

What does this mean for you as a lawyer? It means you stand a better chance of winning a client if you offer an outstanding client experience. First impressions matter as this will stop them from looking further. 

That initial conversation you have with a potential client marks the beginning of a long journey together. If you don’t make the good use of that opportunity, the client may not come back. 42% of consumers say they won’t need to shop around if they liked the first lawyer they spoke with. 

How Prepared Are You to Drive Your Law Firm’s Success?

Every law firm desires to grow, and when it comes to growth, most lawyers rank client base and revenue as the top two. However, 68% of lawyers say they aren’t appreciated while 76% say they are overworked. Those figures are very high and they might be contributing to the stagnation of your firm. 

The research also found that 50% of lawyer’s lack confidence when it comes to managing their firms. If you are in this category, then you need to work on your level of confidence. 

Apart from your confidence level, there are two other issues you need to look at when you want your firm to succeed. First, you must deliver a quality customer experience. In fact, this one should be your number one priority. If anything, your firm can never exist in the absence of clients. 

Secondly, you must ensure the firm is organized so that everything gets done efficiently. This is not just about the systems you put in place but it also covers taking care of the interest of your lawyers, so they don’t feel under appreciated or overworked.

The best way to ensure your firm’s operations is running smoothly is to use tools that can help you to track time, accounting, clients and cases. Automating processes where possible will also help to achieve success. If you are already using Clio’s practice management software add-on Time Tracker Legal for more extensive time and expense tracking. Find out why lawyers are raving about Time Tracker + Clio and try it free for 14-days (no credit card required) and improve your customer experience and bottom line. 

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This will be the largest legal event of the year, showcasing all kinds of new and exciting technology to complement the needs of you and your firm. The huge exhibit hall will showcase a collection of cutting-edge products to meet all of your technological needs. Bringing legal professionals together to focus on current issues and challenges faced by those in the industry, there will be a plethora of networking events, exhibitors, and speaking engagements devised to help you develop solutions to the most pressing problems.

With 93% of attendees reporting that Legalweek “was a valuable tool in reaching customers and prospects” and 90% of attendees agreeing that Legal Week is “the premier forum to keep up to date with new trends and innovations” you can’t afford to miss the 2019 event!

This year, Legalweek takes place from January 29-February 1 at the New York Hilton Midtown. 9000+ legal professionals will be present for the largest legal industry event. Make sure you register so you can be there to gain all the strategies to drive your law firm forward.

On the first day, a series of workshops will take place. Between lunch and refreshment breaks, gain new perspectives about computational law, blockchain, competitive intelligence, and AI wars before a reception and new attendee orientation. Days two and three open with a state of industry/keynote address, a tradeshow and conference, emerging tech and supersessions, followed by a cocktail reception. On the 31st, enjoy the business of law forum and product innovation competition, interspersed with the tradeshow and supersessions.

Keynote speakers include Alberto Gonzales, 80th Attorney General of the United States, and Loretta Lynch, 83rd Attorney General of the United States, presenting together on “Leadership in the Profession of Law and How it is Changing”; and Brian Kuhn, Founder and Global Leader of IBM, Watson Legal, whose keynote “Legal Innovation at Work: Demystifying AI for the Business and Practice of Law” is sure to inspire.

Conferences within Legal Week will include:

• Legaltech: Learn about the leading legal technology solutions and check out the huge exhibit floor to see for yourself how the industry’s most successful law firms are preparing for the future.

• LegalCIO: This provides you with cutting-edge technologies with a focus on current challenges and opportunities for today’s legal firms, as well as giving you the best information on technological updates, practical strategies and effective risk tools.

• Legal Marketing: Learn to apply business strategies in your firm with a strong focus on client perspectives, your firm’s reputation, marketing, and content output impact who comes to you for business.
• Legal Diversity and Talent Management Forum: Here you will see what it takes to attract and retain a competitive firm, as well as diversity on the legal field as a whole. Examine diversity and inclusion strategies for workplace culture.

• Business of Law Forum: The Innovation Lab brings key stakeholders together to discuss the future of the legal industry and how to take advantage of the changes with an action plan that fits your business.

Stay on top of the most current legal trends, network with a vast array of peers, and learn to innovate and automate your own firm with the newest technologies.

There will also be an array of bootcamps which cover topics such as Artificial Intelligence, Small Firm Businesses, and In-House Leadership. For more information and to register for the Legal Week 2018 conference, visit: http://legalweekshow.com/

eBillity will be there at Booth 311 come by to say hi and learn how to automate time tracking, invoices and expenses from anywhere, on any device, with Time Tracker. Our software includes legal friendly features built right in, such as UTBMS patent billing codes, trust accounting, 4-click invoicing, LSS realization reports, and a conflict checker. We also offer real-time security backups, GDPR, US-EU privacy compliance, and integrations with Clio, Xero, QuickBooks, Sage Intacct, Gusto, ADP, and SAP Concur. Also ask us how you can get a free subscription to Invoice Tracker and automate your invoice reminders to get paid faster.

Not attending Legalweek?

No worries you can still receive 50% off Time Tracker for the first 3 months and a free annual subscription to Invoice Tracker. Use promo code LegalWeek. Offer expires February 19th, 2019.

The post Everything You Need to Know About Legalweek Before You Go appeared first on eBillity.

With 71% of the top-performing firms using technology, automation is really at the forefront of improving the efficiency and success of law firms around the world. This automation alone can reduce administration time by up to 10+ hours per month, and by tracking time down to the second, billable hours have proven to increase by up to 20%. If you want to improve time management in your firm, and increase your billable hours from the 1.6 average in a working day, it’s time to get serious about automation.  

Here is how you can reduce administration time and increase your billables with eBillity’s Time Tracker:

Automated timers. By shifting from manual time entries to automated timers, you are ensuring accuracy for both employer and employee, and the down-to-the-second tracking enables you to add the correct amount of time to the right case, reducing errors, as well making sure that your billing is as accurate as possible. Single- and multi-timers which can be used from the workplace or at home, integration with your other software, and easy reporting are all features which save you both time and money. Track on the go, wherever you are, with mobile apps.

Track time without effort. With IFTTT (If This, Then That) app, you can automatically complete repetitive tasks by using ‘applets’ . You can start and stop timers based on location or Wi-Fi signals, start timers when a client calls, or even automatically send an email alert when you submit a time entry. Just set up the applets once and all your repetitive tasks will automatically be logged as time entries in Time Tracker.

Turn Outlook entries into time entries electronically. Conveniently convert your Outlook emails and calendar events into time entries with Outlook Add-In for Time Tracker. Eliminate the need for labor-intensive and error-prone manual entries by capturing and approving time entries digitally for invoicing. These entries will be automatically merged with your Time Tracker account for review and approval before the information is used to generate client invoices.

Switch from paper receipts and time tracking spreadsheets to mobile apps for invoicing. This feature is so cool! It is an easy way to manage your time and expenses in a few clicks. Simply take a photo of a receipt with your phone, and upload it to your software program. The snapshot will capture all of the relevant data such as date, price, and taxes, and record it as an expense and attach it to your invoice. Save hours in invoicing!

Use Invoice Tracker add-on to get paid faster. To save even more time, apps such as Invoice Tracker make it fast and effortless to collect client invoices. The customizable email templates and automatic syncing with your accounting software means that you can make personalized email reminder sets for clients with outstanding invoices, and the emails will cease the moment a payment is collected. The reporting insights in this app allow you to know the state of your accounts receivable at all times, making this an excellent investment to save you time and money!

LawBillity is an excellent tool for helping your firm to reduce its administration time and increasing billable hours by automating your time tracking and billing. Features such as pre-loaded LEDES and UTBMS codes, timers (single and multi), integrated web apps, expense tracking, , GPS enabled tracking to prove location and avoid billing disputes, the ability to have reports sent automatically on a set date to whomever you choose, and Stripe for instant online payment options make this a smart addition to any firm wanting to automate administrative tasks.

Try Time Tracker + Legal today, free for 14-days, and increase revenue and save time for other important tasks in your law firm.

The post Reduce Non-Billable Time and Increase Billable Time by Automating Your Law Firm appeared first on eBillity.

Does it appear as though other firms seem to get so much more accomplished more quickly than yours? Have you wondered why your office struggles with deadlines even in the midst of a flurry of activity and stress that seem never ending?

Good time management is the answer, and there are strategies that allow you to work smarter, not harder. Your time is your most valuable commodity, particularly in this business, where long hours are conventional and expected. If you can organize and plan your time to make the best use of the hours in your day, your firm will begin to reach its goals effortlessly. Stop taking excess work home with you due to inefficient productivity. Introduce small steps today to increase your output and improve career satisfaction.

You don’t want to miss deadlines or use your time ineffectively, so check out our top tips for time management in your law firm.

Make a list. Get into the habit of creating an itemized list at the end of each working day, outlining what needs to be done for the next day, and in which order. This is important to do at the end of the previous day; you will be able to better prioritize when the list is less pressing. Write down what needs to be done, list the tasks in order of importance, and worry about it the next morning. When you come into the office the next day, you will be armed with the information to make your work more efficient and timely.

Complete the most pressing or difficult tasks first. Start early and complete your more unpleasant tasks before you get started on anything new. Don’t procrastinate; if you complete your list in order of importance, the most unpleasant or difficult tasks won’t weigh on your mind all day as you avoid them. If you start with the more arduous duties when you first arrive in the office, you will also have more patience and calm to deal with them with the attention they require.

Avoid distraction. Divert your calls, and keep that mobile phone silenced. Focus all of your attention on your task, and you’ll find with practice that it is easier to concentrate and that with more focused attention, your tasks will get done sooner and with more accuracy. Give yourself blocks of uninterrupted time which are pre-scheduled for different tasks. Work on a particularly sticky case in the morning, and then move to a second block of time for returning client calls.

Repeat the formula. If you diarize your schedule and repeated activities each day, and complete the tasks in order, you’ll be prepared to tackle your tasks efficiently and in a timely fashion. This time management strategy will become natural the more you use it, so that before you know it, you’ll find a greater balance between life and work, allowing for some much-needed free time!

Use a timer. Tracking your work is an excellent resource for getting tasks done more efficiently. The tried and tested Pomodoro technique is an excellent start to help you to focus for a specific amount of time in between allotted break times, and is a great resource for output and time management. A wonderful complement to this kind of method is the use of a web app, which times your work and that of your employees to ensure you’re making the most of your work day. Recent research has revealed that using a timer to track time can improve your billable hours by up to 20%. There are many apps out there to choose from but consider eBillity’s Time Tracker, which includes a legal version of the app with a whole feature set specifically designed for law firms. Time Tracker integrates with Clio Practise Management for your business needs.

Remember: being busy does not equal productiveness.

The same amount of time in a day is available to everyone, and if you use yours wisely, you’ll be running a firm that easily reaches its goals on time, every time. High achievers are excellent at managing their time, as well as the hours allocated to their business day. If you work smart by implementing the above tips, you will have the flexibility to get your tasks done in a timely fashion, and give yourself the room to balance that with tasks you enjoy. Enjoy less stress, utilize realistic goal-setting and greater productivity with smart time management.

The post Tips for Improving Time Management in Your Law Firm appeared first on eBillity.

Over the years we have heard many of our customers talk about the challenges they face trying to get paid quickly, so we decided to develop an add-on to Time Tracker to enable invoice tracking that allows you to automate the invoice reminder process. Don’t worry if you are not using Time Tracker it is also compatible with QuickBooks Online and Xero.

Adding on Invoice Tracker is like adding on an accounts receivable person to help you track down unpaid invoices, without the additional employee cost or hassle. Outsourcing your accounts receivable has never been easier, and with Invoice Tracker for Time Tracker you’ll be able to:

Automate the Collection Process and Save Time

Setup automated email reminders and save time not having to manually follow-up with unpaid invoices. Once an invoice has been paid emails will stop automatically as they are synced to your accounting software.

Create Personalized Email Reminders

Customize your emails to engage your clients in a way that’s familiar. Choose an editable email template or customize your own and add your logo and signature. Then add in variables such as the customer name, invoice number, due date and amount due.

Accept Online Credit Card Payments

By offering clients an online credit payment option you can expect to get paid twice as fast. Stripe ecommerce platform integrates with Time Tracker and Invoice Tracker adding an online payment link right into your invoice.

Ensure Data Privacy

As Invoice Tracker is an add-on to Time Tracker you have the same data security and protection. In Time Tracker you can set your own privacy permissions, protecting valuable and confidential company data, because it allows you to decide for yourself what kind of information is accessible to your employees with visibility settings. It also allows for Cloud access with secure back-ups; a standard feature within Time Tracker. It is EU-US Privacy Compliant, so you will have the peace of mind that any commercial data shared will be safe and protected. Secure 256-bit encryption for your data in transit reinforces the other security features, ensuring your confidential files and information are defended and safe.

Add-on Invoice Tracker with these easy steps:

1. Sign up for your 14-day Invoice Tracker free trial
2. Select an invoice or batch of invoices that need follow-up.
3. Create an email reminder set. Reminder sets are a series of emails sent during the collection process. Choose from the editable pre-written emails or create your own.
4. Activate email reminders. Once you’ve created your reminder set turn them to active and start your collection. Your data automatically syncs from your accounting software every few minutes so once you receive a payment Invoice Tracker will know to stop sending emails – no matter where they are in the sequence.

Forever Free Support

Not only is signing up with Invoice Tracker easy and affordable, it comes with unlimited free support. If you are struggling with set-up or any of our features, contact us and we will happy to assist you, free of charge and on a permanent basis. We offer email, live chat, and phone service for your convenience.

Invest in Invoice Tracker for Time Tracker

Don’t be one of those businesses who are not successful because they continued to have cash flow issues. Add Invoice Tracker to your Time Tracker today and get paid faster. Free 14-day trial no credit card required.

The post Get Paid Faster Add-on Invoice Tracker to Your Time Tracker appeared first on eBillity.

Lucky for you, we’ve already done the heavy lifting and our dog team is standing by, specially trained to fetch one thing for you—your money.

Overdue invoices? Release the hounds.

Unpaid bills are ruff, aren’t they? That’s why we’ve launched a brand new eBillity product—Invoice Tracker. It syncs with your accounting software to send automated payment reminders for overdue invoices so you can get paid faster!

How does it work?

Your first step is to connect your invoicing software—Time Tracker, Thompson Reuters Time and Billing, QuickBooks or Xero—with Invoice Tracker. Once you’re connected, your invoices will be imported so Invoice Tracker can start chasing down the overdue ones.

Invoice Tracker comes with pre-written emails you can use right away that vary in tone and intensity, but you can write your own if you’d like. Then, go on and choose or create the sequence of emails you want your client to receive.

The last step is to start a Chase and get paid—fast! Invoice Tracker deploys your email reminders for you and you can even set it up for them to chase automatically. Place online payment links into the emails via Stripe so your clients can easily pay online with their credit card!

Best-in-show benefits

You have your handy pre-written emails and Stripe integration for online payments, but you can customize your branding too! Add a logo and signature to every invoice to match the look and feel of your business. After all, invoices with logos are 300% more likely to be paid on time.

Invoice Tracker has handy reporting too so you can see who paid you, when they paid you, the average time to get paid, and the accounts receivable by client. You can save customized reports and schedule them to be sent via email or export them to a pdf or .csv file.

Give up the grind of hounding clients. For good.

Try out Invoice Tracker and experience the satisfaction for yourself! Chase up to five invoices at a time, on us!

Sign up for free

The post Invoice Tracker: A new product you’ll flip for! appeared first on eBillity.

Stripe features now better than Paypal

As part of our recent upgrades to our user interface, we are replacing PayPal with Stripe inside of Time Tracker.

Stripe is a payment gateway similar to PayPal, but with more features and lower fees.

We’d like you to switch from PayPal to Stripe

Stripe has all the features you need to get paid faster:

• Same transaction fee as PayPal
• No setup fees
• No holdbacks
• User friendly interface
• Highly secure: uses the same encryption used by banks

If you don’t have a Stripe account yet, you can head over to stripe.com and create an account in minutes.

Connect Time Tracker to Stripe

The first step is to activate the new Time Tracker interface. Click the ‘Try New Time Tracker UI’ at the top of your screen.

Once inside the new interface, click the Admin tab and select ‘Stripe’. On the next screen, click the ‘Connect to Stripe’ button.

A new window will open. Enter the email address and password that you use to log into Stripe and click the ‘Authorize access to this account’ button.

Once you have authorized access to your Stripe account, you will be redirected back to the Time Tracker interface.

That’s it. You are now ready to accept credit card payments right inside of Time Tracker.

Don’t have Stripe?

No problem. Just head over to Stripe.com and create an account. It only takes a few minutes to setup your Stripe account and, unlike other payment solutions, there are no hidden fees.

Need Help?

If you need help connecting Time Tracker to Stripe, our friendly support team is here to help. Please contact us for support, or jump online and start a live chat with one of our helpful team members.

Thanks for choosing Time Tracker. We look forward to moving forward with you!

The post Introducing Stripe appeared first on eBillity.