Financially Legal

In this special series focused on legal case management software, host Emery Wager explores various case management companies to help firms make informed decisions. In this episode, we welcomed Jared Correia to the first-ever live recording of Financially Legal. Jared, the CEO of Red Cave Consulting and the Cofounder of Gideon Software, shared his experience from helping thousands of law firms choose and successfully implement the right technology. 

In our latest Legal Case Management Jam Session, Confido Legal's Emery Wager interviewed Lindsey Corbin, the founder and CEO of Delegate Legal, a company that focuses on outsourced paralegal support and technology consulting for law firms.

Rising operating expenses and evolving client expectations for better communication channels are common drivers for firms seeking new systems. As a virtual paralegal firm specializing in supporting small firms and solo practitioners, Lindsey has a unique perspective on the challenges and opportunities associated with upgrading technology. 

This article covers the second step in our three-step Collections Optimizer process: Offer Payment Flexibility.

In our latest Legal Case Management Jam Session, Confido Legal's Emery Wager interviewed Casita Simpson, the founder and CEO of Simpson & Associates, a company specializing in CRM design and paralegal support.

Establishing and expanding Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) can be a challenge without a clear strategy. Many firms fail to develop and expand adoption of these SOPs, which leads to a breakdown in client communication and ensures that procedures can only be run by certain individuals at the firm. 

In our latest Legal Case Management Jam Session, Confido Legal's Emery Wager interviewed Casita Simpson, the founder and CEO of Simpson & Associates, a company specializing in CRM design and paralegal support.

Client communication can take various forms, ranging from case updates to invoice delivery. One of the crucial advantages a firm should anticipate from its case management software is enhanced client communication. In this session, Casita and Emery explored strategies to leverage your case management platform for optimizing client communication.

There is one significant update in this release and no breaking changes. See below for details. 

In our latest Legal Case Management Jam Session, Confido Legal's Emery Wager spoke with Julia Taylor, the owner and managing paralegal of LevLegal, a company focused on assisting law firms with paralegal services, billing, administration and technology setup. 

Law firms often forget or fail to get buy-in from their teams in a software transition, leading to poor adoption, unrealized benefits, and in some cases, a failed implementation. In this session, Julia outlined some practical tips for bringing your team along to get the most out of your firm's new software.

In our latest Legal Case Management Jam Session, Confido's Emery Wager spoke with Lea Wold, CEO and founder of Checkmark Projects. With more than fifteen years of experience in operations, Lea shared her insights into the often-overlooked science of preparing for software demos from the buyer's perspective. While most of us sit through software demos to be sold, Lea proposed a more proactive approach that ultimately saves time and reduces the chances of picking the wrong software.  

Happy new year! There are three main updates and no breaking changes in this latest release. See below for details. 

In this special series focused on legal case management software, host Emery Wager explores various case management companies to help firms make informed decisions. In this episode, we welcome Kim Bennett back to the Financially Legal Podcast. Kim, the Cofounder of Fidu, shares insights into the innovative subscription legal services management platform that is reshaping the relationship between lawyers and clients.

We had an exciting discussion with Casita Simpson, the founder and CEO of Simpson Associates. Casita brings more than ten years of experience as a paralegal, working with both large corporations and small law firms, specializing in CRM design, paralegal support, and legal document drafting. We discussed when and how to upgrade from a cobbled together set of non-legal software to a complete legal case management solution. Casita has been instrumental in assisting numerous firms in this transition. In this session, she discusses the challenges, opportunities, and success stories involved in making this transition. View the session here or read on for the summary.

Have you ever experienced sticker shock while shopping for legal case or practice management software? Have you ever opted for lower-cost software to run your firm, because you just couldn't stomach the expensive option? Maybe you have even tried to cobble together solutions to stay under free trial limits?

Confido Legal: Embedded Finance for Legal 

In industries like retail, software developers have great tools to embed payments into their applications. These engineers create powerful, seamless payments experiences for consumers and the businesses from which they buy. But things aren’t quite so seamless for law firms. Law firms have specific financial needs: 

• Multiple bank accounts
• High dollar transactions
• A variety of payment methods; and 
• Strict rules of professional conduct that govern how money is handled 

These idiosyncrasies prevent legal technology engineers from using best-in-class embedded payments tools. That’s where we come in.  

Expanded transaction handling in GraphQL API. 

This month we have some significant updates to our GraphQL API. 

As the legal tech industry undergoes rapid transformation and modernization, software developers are constantly seeking methods to enhance their applications and boost efficiency. Integrating online payments into complex legal case management and billing systems has long been a significant challenge in the legal tech domain.

Introduction

Why do you have to submit so much information when applying for a payment processing account? There are two reasons:

1. The government enlists payment processors to help combat financial crimes. As a result, processors are required to take certain steps to verify the legitimacy of a firm.
   
   
2. When a firm accepts online payments, financial risk is created for both the firm and the payment processor. Processors ask for documentation on the firm to help prevent these losses. 

Recently, Confido Legal teamed up with CPA Academy to host an informative webinar on optimizing accounts receivable and collections processes for law firms. This session provided practical strategies and tools to improve collection rates and streamline cash flow. With a focus on the Collections Optimizer, participants explored various billing models and table stakes items that contribute to enhanced collection rates. In this blog post, we'll delve into the highlights from the webinar and uncover the valuable insights shared.

Today we spent some time testing the new plugins feature for ChatGPT. Specifically, we took a look at the Zapier plugin, which allows you to connect thousands of apps and their Zapier Actions to ChatGPT. Of course, we used the Confido Legal Zapier Actions as our test case. 

For law firms looking to automate firm-specific processes, customize workflows and provide a highly tailored client experience, Litify is the platform. Built on Salesforce, Litify combines the flexibility of the cloud’s most powerful CRM with a dynamic, legal-specific toolbox to transform your firm into an efficient, collaborative growth machine. 

If you invest a dollar into your law firm, what do you expect to get back?

Why is the answer to this question so important? It helps you decide what initiatives to pursue and what initiatives to cut. It also tells you whether you are building the right financial opportunity for yourself and your partners. If you are only getting a dollar out for every dollar you put in, you’d be better off keeping that dollar. If this is the case, it’s time to rethink the firm’s strategy and take a closer look at the financial “leaks” in the business. 

Wire transfers are a common method of accepting payments for law firms, but they can be risky for both your firm and your clients. This article outlines the dangers and downsides associated with accepting wire transfers and best practices for avoiding these traps. 

The two most controversial topics for law firms related to client payments and collections are:

1. Should law firms charge credit card fees to clients?
2. Should law firms hire a collections agency to recoup long outstanding accounts receivable?

We have published substantial information to help you make a decision on on whether to charge card fees to clients but very little on navigating the collections agency conundrum.

We at Confido Legal strongly believe that firms and clients benefit most when firms offer clients a variety of options to pay. Firms invest significant dollars to get clients in the door. It’s a waste of those resources to have a would-be paying client walk out the door simply because the firm doesn’t offer payment plans (i.e. doesn’t want to be the client’s bank), the client doesn’t have a credit card, or because the firm won’t offer third-party funding.

The decision to hire a collections agency is a difficult one, and although most law firms are collections curious, the majority of firms we talk to have not hired one. That said, the feedback from law firms who have hired an agency is pretty darn positive. 

Immigration law firms have unique billing practices. Most immigration firms we encounter either predominantly or exclusively put clients on payments plans. These plans involve the client entering their payment information so they can be automatically billed on a regular schedule until a specified dollar amount is reached.

Do you have practice management or accounting software that does your trust accounting? Great. This post is NOT for you.

Let's face it. Most bankers have no idea what an IOLTA account is. These types of accounts are an afterthought - one of those banking products that gets little attention. We hear horror stories of banks regularly debiting fees from IOLTA accounts or sending erroneous overdraft notifications to the Bar. We recently spoke to a firm that had to call their bank to speak with a real live human being every time they wanted to check their IOLTA balance. 

We believe lawyers and law firms have the power to change the world. Every day we interact with lawyers making positive change, sticking up for the underdog and expanding access to the justice system. But we recognize there can be tradeoffs between pursuing these aims and paying the bills.