Today's issue of TechnoLawyer NewsWire covers a new accounting and billing system (see article below), a document and records management system, a litigation project management application, a secure email message service, and a Windows troubleshooting utility. Don't miss the next issue.
Keep Your Cash Flow Positive and Your Clients Happy
Predicting the weather? Difficult. Predicting the level of interest in this article? Easy. From the associate just starting their career to the managing partner running the firm, every lawyer has a deep interest in billing. You see, lawyers spend so much time working that billing often gets short shrift. But if you don't bill your time, why work so hard? Hence, the deep interest in billing — specifically in finding software that makes it as easy as possible to record your billable time, identify missing time, and get paid on time. If you work at a midsize or large firm, this quest becomes an order of magnitude more challenging because of the increased complexity of a larger group of timekeepers.
Juris v2.5 … in One Sentence
LexisNexis' Juris v2.5 is an accounting and billing system for law firms with new technologies designed to shorten the time it takes to get paid and keep your cash flow in positive territory.
The Killer Feature
Looking at your law firm's income statement can make you feel like a million bucks. But then when you look at your balance sheet and see how much of your assets consist of receivables versus cash and short-term investments, you suddenly don't feel so wealthy. As any accountant will tell you, cash isn't king. Cash flow is.
The new Juris Suite Collections available in v2.5 focuses on improving your cash flow through automation and business intelligence. For example, the Centralized Account History enables you to locate all the salient details concerning a delinquent account, including whether anyone has bothered to contact that client.
Even better, the Communications Templates enable you to send a client-specific dunning letter with one click — including via email. You can customize the templates if you wish.
Juris Suite Collections also features customizable alerts and reports. The latter enable you to drill down as deeply into the underlying data as you want. You can have reports sent to you automatically, and also have alerts sent to whomever you designate (e.g., have your comptroller call the client if no payment is received after two dunning notices).
"In many law firms, information on who has done what to obtain payment from a client resides with multiple individuals, LexisNexis Vice President Jonah Paransky told us. "As a result, firms may duplicate their efforts, leading to a poor client experience. By enabling firms to document collection activities in a central location, the new Juris Suite Collections fosters internal collaboration and provides a better client experience, even in difficult situations."
Other Notable Features
You've heard of "the cloud" no doubt. The most secure type of cloud is your own at your firm. Thanks to Juris' support for Microsoft Windows Terminal Server, you need not install Juris on each desktop or laptop, reducing the support burden on your IT department. Juris also integrates with Microsoft Outlook 2010, enabling your users to share financial reports.
Other features include customizable dashboards that enable you to quickly assess your firm's financial health, support for LEDES and electronic billing, client-specific rules-based billing to prevent disputes and misunderstandings, and the ability to provide your lawyers with a real-time view of their billed hours versus their billable goals.
What Else Should You Know?
Juris features a built-in WebEx Web conferencing link for technical support so the technician can actually "see" the problem you're experiencing. Juris v2.5 is free for customers with an active Juris or Juris Suite subscription or current Software Maintenance and Technical Support Agreement. The new Juris Suite Collections module is included in Juris Premium subscriptions. Learn more about Juris v2.5.
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So many products, so little time. In each issue of TechnoLawyer NewsWire, you'll learn about five new products for the legal profession. Pressed for time? The "In One Sentence" section describes each product in one sentence, and the "Killer Feature" section describes each product's most compelling feature. The TechnoLawyer NewsWire newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.
