Category: industry

Like any other industry, the legal industry needs to nurture its top talent to retain it. In such a high-flying world, you don’t want to lose young talent to your competitors or out of the industry altogether. Senior lawyers cannot expect for junior members to emerge from college fully developed and ready to take the reins. In other words, such talent must be nurtured and promoted. No matter how busy your firm, spend time every day being a good mentor to harness the skills of team members.

 

Identify Relevant Skills

You should make a priority of recognizing and identifying the unique talents of each team member. Who would make a great partner? Who would make a great administrator or practice manager? Who are the best debaters or have the best courtroom performance? As a result, channeling those skills into relevant pathways will help you make the best of those skills. Those employees will also experience greater job satisfaction from skills they are good at and enjoy doing.

 

Develop Soft Skills First

Soft skills are transferable and include things such as resilience under pressure, communication, and teamwork. None of these are job specific but are relevant to all roles. Without soft skills, you won’t have the framework of the learning process to mentor and coach the employee. Above all, they will not learn from their success or mistakes and apply them to any future role or task without soft skills.

 

Know the Difference Between Coach and Mentor

To harness employee skills, you need to learn the difference and apply both accordingly.

• Mentoring is long-term, providing regular input across the board. It’s being on hand to address a range of issues. It’s career development.
• Coaching is short-term. It’s used to tackle specific issues that the employee is trying to learn, to overcome a specific difficulty

Coaching can be (and is) used together with mentoring. Different people could also take on these roles. The most experienced person on a task could play coach. The mentor should be the best nurturer in terms of constructive criticism and encouragement.

 

Discuss Skills and Goals with Employees

When discussing the potential career pathway of an employee, you should acquire their input. They may differ on their opinion of their skills and attributes. What you may identify as useful they may see as a weakness. Some people will leap at the chance to develop their career in a certain direction; others may require a slow and methodical process.

 

Interested in learning more? Read about the benefits of working remotely.

2018 was the year of remote working and the trend shows no sign of slowing in 2019. Essentially, it is the ability and framework to permit employees to work from home or another place. For example, an employer in New York can have employees in Los Angeles without issue. Driven by technology such as the Cloud, remote working is changing how we work and remote working for legal professionals is becoming a norm.

 

Talent Pool Not Geographically Limited

The legal profession is tough and firms need access to the best available talent. The traditional static workplace means hiring is geographically limited to a reasonable area. A small number may be willing to relocate. With remote working, you can employ a person several states away (time zone permitting). Harnessing the best employees for your legal team is potentially limitless.

 

Remote Working Removes Commute Issues

To employees in any job, the commute – no matter how short – is the most stressful part of the workday. Eliminating the commute entirely provides several advantages. Lateness is reduced. When employees spend less time commuting, they don’t need to get up so early and feel refreshed in the mornings. Employees who are more relaxed and refreshed are also more productive.

 

Flexible Working Creates Happier Employees

Evidence suggests that employees with a remote working option are happier in their work. As noted, they are also more productive. In turn, employee retention is higher; they are less likely to look for alternative opportunities and less likely to move if approached by a recruiter. In an industry such as legal, keeping high-quality employees on board is vital to the continued success of the firm.

 

Reduced Costs for Everyone

Three are many ways in which permitting remote working can save your business money. Remote working for legal professionals is no different. Firstly, there is the potential for less office space which is one of the highest expenses. Your premises will only be as large as you need it to be. In a recent poll, employees were given a hypothetical choice between a raise and the option to work remotely. The majority chose the latter.

 

Remote Working is Flexible Working

Employers do not always need to limit their employees to the hours they work to the standard 9-5. Many groups of people, parents especially, are asking for flexible working hours. The ability to start earlier or later helps groups with flexible needs. With remote working, parents can carry out their duties while maintaining parental responsibilities.

 

Have you checked out Record Grabber’s services? Check out our pricing page to learn how we can save you time and money.

Changes to how we work means outsourcing is now important for most businesses. In the medical record retrieval and storage industry, that relationship is even more important. Ongoing security is needed with the regular updates to HIPAA, for example. There are many reasons medical organizations move to outsource record retrieval and storage. From lawyers to hospitals, clinics and single practitioners, outsourcing streamlines and saves time and money.

 

Fewer Employees

The largest single cost for any business are employee salaries and benefit packages. There are two major financial benefits of outsourcing record storage and retrieval related to this. First, you don’t need to employ people for the administrative tasks of storing, overseeing, and securing your records. Secondly, your existing employees are freed up to do other things. Therefore, streamlining your workforce to do what they do best, meaning greater productivity and job satisfaction.

 

Lower Training Costs

While you can never eliminate the cost of employee training, you can avoid unnecessary costs. With in-house record storage, even an experienced employee will need time to train on your in-house procedures. Depending on your state this could mean certification and licensing. Therefore by outsourcing your storage, you eliminate the need for all of this. Once again, your skilled employees are free to pursue tasks that benefit your business.

 

Less Office Space

Record storage and retrieval requires physical space. For paper copies, that means a storage room which will only grow over time. For digital copies, that means a server room. In both cases, this is physical space that could be given over to something else. As a result, the costs of setting up and maintaining such physical or virtual space is potentially immense. Have you factored in the costs of adapting rooms, and securing and maintaining them?

 

Lower Technology Costs

We’ve already discussed the need for server space. However, record storage and retrieval has other technology costs. You might need to invest in specialist software and security packages. Then there is the hidden cost of a cyber attack which could happen even with effective procedures in place all the time. These costs are all but eliminated and the risks reduced to minimal when outsourcing record retrieval and storage.

 

There are many more benefits to outsourcing your record retrieval and storage. 

Start outsourcing your record retrieval today with Record Grabber. Get started with Record Grabber.

It’s a true that we get what we pay for. Free learning tools for lawyers will help with most of your functions most of the time. But sometimes, you need special tools and training to upskill. When free packages are not enough, turn to some of these incredible paid-for services for a little extra.

 

Praktio

Praktio is one of the biggest names in law tools, founded by lawyers, for lawyers. It’s the brainchild of Michael L. Bloom who harnessed the power of gamification for online interactive training. It teaches a range of practical skills including drafting, analysis, and negotiation. Bloom says it’s the ideal place for new (and experienced) lawyers to make mistakes in contract law to avoid making them in the real world. It has a practical Deal Simulator where users can set up a virtual deal, gamified proofreading, and programs for entrepreneurs.

Visit Praktio’s website.

 

Coursera

This paid resource provides access to a wide variety of training courses, not just in law. From practical upskilling courses for general training, formal qualifications and even degrees, there are few databases with as much depth as the Coursera website. It harnesses a large number of virtual courses available to anyone, anywhere in the world. Are you looking to study International Law in Action in Germany? You can without having to leave the country; it also lists courses available locally. Joining is free, but the courses must be paid for.

Visit Coursera’s website.

 

American Bar Association

The ABA is the country’s most prestigious law association, representing everyone regardless of their specialty. It should be, in most cases, the first port of call for new information happening in the legal industry. That also applies to education and training. They are the accreditation body for legal training in the US and provide a full directory of all courses. Not just academic undergraduate and postgraduate degrees, but also certification and license and helping lawyers upskill and retrain.

Visit the American Bar Association’s website.

 

Procertas

Technology is such an intrinsic part of life. Law may have largely been unaffected as a profession, but increasingly, new graduates are having to prove themselves technologically adept. But older members of staff may not be adept need training. Procertas offers technology assessment for legal professionals, ensuring they are up to date with the basic technological requirements. Their main package is “LTA” – Legal Technology Assessment, providing training in Microsoft Office and working with PDF files as necessary tools of the modern law trade.

Visit Procertas’ website.

 

Did you miss our previous post on Free Learning Tools for Lawyers? Check it out here!

Everybody loves free stuff, especially when it’s useful. Lawyers are often busy and don’t typically have the time to spend trawling through the web. Looking for useful resources could end up taking up more time than it’s worth. The following list of learning tools for lawyers and law firms is particularly useful because they come at no cost.

 

MyShingle

It’s hard to believe that this website launched in 2002. Even more incredibly, it’s still going. It was the world’s first law website dedicated to sole practitioners and small law firms. In nearly two decades of activity, the site has acquired a large database of freely available ebooks, training packages, and short courses, even free business card designs and audio tutorials. The user will need to sign up for the website upon which they are provided with a password. This will enable you to access all the free resources on the site.

Visit MyShingle’s website.

 

Ten Minute Mentor

Initially developed for newly qualified law graduate members of the Texas State Bar, it’s now freely available to anyone in the US. It’s a series of 10-minute videos, currently numbering over 100, covering the most common topics in the world of law. If you want a brief update on changes to law on issues such as environment, immigration or anything else, this is always a great place to start. Either view online or download audio files as MP3s, or for podcasts. The page breaks down by subject.

Visit the Ten Minute Mentor’s website.

 

Study.com

One of the country’s best employment resources – covering training and education, pay, job demand and much more. However, little known to many researchers is that Study has free legal training on its site. Their content is thorough, but the courses are not accredited. It’s ideally suited for those already qualified and practicing looking to change their area of expertise or who has been out of the loop for a while and needing information to practice in one particular area. Study.com helps practicing lawyers keep up to date.

Visit Study.com’s website.

 

Alison.com

Alison offers a number of free online virtual classes helping you understand the legal profession. You can either take them as single modules to brush up your pro skills or build them up to a professional diploma in Business and Legal Studies. Their legal courses are the most comprehensive from contract and copyright law, employment law, and legal procedures. The diploma has an assessment process for those looking to expand their knowledge in a recognized course.

Visit Alison.com’s website.

 

Does your firm want to get started with Record Grabber? Make your account in just minutes – make my RG account.

As a provider of medical record retrieval services, you get much more from Record Grabber. Over the years, we have developed our services to provide a complete solution to your security, storage and retrieval needs. One of the greatest advantages of using Record Grabber is the use of a dedicated Account Manager. When you interact with us, you won’t end up communicating with a different person each time; we understand how that can create frustration and slow down your case. For the healthcare medical record industry, speed and accuracy are of the essence, but so is attention to the client’s needs.

Your Account Manager is Human

This not something that most businesses or customers can rely on these days. The advances of AI have been great for work processing, but nothing can ever replace having a human being to handle your record retrieval requests. Your dedicated Account Manager is a human who will know all your history and be able to chase up issues and answer questions personally. You will also have the same dedicated Account Manager, so you don’t need to continue explaining your problems to new people. When you ask to speak to that certain person, you get them every time.

We know You and Your Requests

At Record Grabber, you’re not just another number. You won’t get passed through a system, randomly assigned to one of our operatives each time you make contact, even moments apart. We’ve already stated that you get a dedicated Account Manager. But more than that, they treat your unique requests with respect and due consideration you require as an individual. No two clients of Record Grabber are the same and we don’t use a one-size-fits-all approach to how me manage our services or operate them for clients.

Chat in Portal for Quick Response

Other services that provide a dedicated Account Manager don’t always make it easy. The telephone is one option but if they’re not available, it can take some time to get a response back. Similarly, we understand the real feel of your emails going ignored. Instead of the telephone and email system, we have a chat portal through which you can speak to your dedicated Account Manager. He or she will be on hand to answer your chat request response at the first available opportunity. Please be advised though that Record Grabber’s operating hours are 8am-5pm Eastern Time.

 

Getting started with Record Grabber is quick and easy! We make your record retrieval simple. You can be making requests in just 2 minutes. Get started here.

We are so excited to announce our latest integration with PracticePanther. The new partnership provides an even more streamlined process for record retrieval and case management. More importantly, the integration is immensely valuable to PracticePanther and Record Grabber customers in allowing users to transfer clients and manage billing matters.

So what’s the deal?

Clients are now able to easily connect their PracticePanther account with their Record Grabber account. The integration allows users to transfer clients, manage billing matters. Because of this, managing cases and keeping track of record retrieval has never been easier!

 

Transfer Clients
Keep your contacts organized in PracticePanther and transfer them to Record Grabber with the click of a button. This allows for the elimination of double data entry and errors from manual data entry make!

Manage Billing
Billing matters can be generated automatically in your PracticePanther account from records received in Record Grabber. This provides ease in organizing and consolidating payments. You can generate invoices, send them to your clients, and have them paid on – all from PracticePanther.

 

What’s in it for you?

You can set up PracticePanther to fit your needs and how you work but streamline the process at the same time. Manage contacts, matters, case documents, intake forms, billable hours, invoicing, payments, calendars, and emails all from your PracticePanther account. As a result, you will save countless hours by keeping your cases organized.

 

About PracticePanther

PracticePanther is the highest rated law practice management software used by tens of thousands of lawyers in over 170 countries. Automate your firm, so you can get more done in less time, and take on more cases. Because of this, you’ll spend less time managing your firm, and more time making money. Try it free, no credit card needed! 

Current Record Grabber customers get 10% off their first year when they sign up for PracticePanther.
Promo Code: RGPP2018

Get started with PracticePanther today.

 

About Record Grabber

From record retrieval to chronologies and summaries, Record Grabber has you covered on all your medical record needs. Using your free Record Grabber account, you can make requests, check status updates, retrieve records, and more! Leave the phone calls and hassle to us.

Current PracticePanther customers get their first 5 requests free when they sign up with Record Grabber.
Promo Code: RGPP5

Get started with Record Grabber today.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 2/25/2019

Contact: Carrie Elliott at Record Grabber
Phone: 877.800.1142 ext 715
Email: carrie@recgrab.com

PracticePanther and Record Grabber Announce Strategic Integration Partnership to Enhance Case Management

 

Indianapolis, IN: Record Grabber and PracticePanther have announced a strategic integration partnership to provide an even more streamlined process for record retrieval and case management. The integration is immensely valuable to PracticePanther and Record Grabber customers in allowing users to transfer clients and manage billing matters.

No time is wasted with the transfer of data and documents between the PracticePanther and Record Grabber systems. With the click of a button, clients in PracticePanther can be transferred into the Record Grabber portal. Once records are retrieved and uploaded billing matters are pushed directly to the PracticePanther system.

“The Record Grabber and PracticePanther integration is the most streamlined Record Grabber integration to date – saving customers hours of time each week. The amount of data and documents that can be pushed back and forth in the system is unmatched by any other case management and record retrieval integration.” said Trent Van Emon, Owner of Record Grabber.

“The PracticePanther team could not be more thrilled about this integration with Record Grabber. Too often, the crucial records that can make or break a case are neglected by practice management software,” says PracticePanther CMO David Bitton. “This partnership will bridge this unacceptable gap, allowing us to provide a direct channel for record retrieval for attorneys through their practice management software.”

 

About PracticePanther

PracticePanther is a leading provider of cloud-based law practice management and billing software for law firms, serving customers in over 170 countries. The company provides a mobile and web-based application to help lawyers automate and streamline their workflows by handling time and expense tracking, invoicing, document management, payment processing, and trust accounting among other functionality and third-party integrations from a single application. PracticePanther offers top in class customer service via webinars, tutorials, videos, chat, email, and phone. See more at practicepanther.com.

 

About Record Grabber

Record Grabber was founded in 2013 with the goal of being the fastest and most reliable source of retrieving medical records. From record retrieval to chronologies and summaries, our services allow lawyers and insurance companies to spend more time on their business. Record Grabber is dedicated to maintaining the fastest turnaround time and providing the best service for our customers. For more information, visit our website at recordgrabber.com, follow us on Twitter @recordgrabber, or follow us on LinkedIn at Record Grabber.

###

If you would like more information about this topic please call Carrie Elliott at 877.800.1142 ext 715 or email at carrie@recgrab.com.

Part 2: Day-to-Day Administration

In the first part of this series, we looked at organizational tools to help lawyers connect. Organization is an important way to improve workflow and ensure tasks are as streamlined as possible across a team. However, administration is just as important. Things like security, file storage and access, and invoicing are vital to the everyday running of your law service. If you’re still using older and slower methods, there are ways of making the administrative tasks of your business far easier and more secure. Consider some of the following web tools.

 

Dropbox

One of, if not the, best file storage solutions. The great thing about Dropbox is that its application is seamless. It looks just like any other folder on your computer but with the added benefit that its content is uploaded to the Cloud. This means immediate synchronization to any device that has Dropbox and connected to that account. It runs in the background, performing regular updates of files so you don’t need to worry about in-house server problems. Cloud is a secure solution to storing all your files. Dropbox has multiple package types with the personal account free to use and a capacity of 2GB. Paid subscription functions include mobile off-line and smart sync. This latter tool is useful in that when you open a file on a device, it automatically moves to the cloud, so the changes will be made on the stored version.

Check out Dropbox here.

 

HelloSign

Do you send a lot of electronic forms digitally requiring signatures? When it comes to legal documentation for personal injury attorneys like you, there is an intrinsic need to acquire signatures for everything. PDFs are the most common portable document format. Quick and easy to read and a small file size which makes it ideal in most situations. However, they are impossible to edit without dedicated software. With HelloSign, you don’t need specialist software. The package allows users to edit PDFs and other similar difficult-to-edit files. But that’s not all it does. Signatures can be requested from up to 20 users at once which is then disseminated to all users. With a range of templates and the ability to design and brand official documentation, this is a great template for your formal paperwork.

Check out HelloSign here.

 

LastPass

Most security problems that any business faces concern the use of easy-to-guess passwords. Shockingly, the most common passwords that employees use include password01 and 123456. The other side of the argument is that users are asked to remember a variety of passwords across multiple devices and can’t remember them all. That’s why you need a password manager. With LastPass, users need to remember just one password. It can be downloaded as a browser extension. Once logged in, users can add and remove services and sites, alter the access passwords for those sites, and lock out potential hackers. It’s one of the most secure ways of protecting your data with strong encryption, the ability to add two-step authentication (a password accompanied by a second step such as a retinal scan or fingerprint, or a swipe card), and local only encryption.

Check out LastPass here.

 

QuickBooks

All small businesses need accounts, but accounting is not a cheap option. You can’t afford to make cutbacks in the wrong area, or you’ll break the law. For small law firms, software packages are potentially expensive on top of hiring an accountant. However, QuickBooks is a cheaper solution tailored directly at small and medium enterprises. It helps you keep track of all your daily transactions such as expenses and income, billing, and general accounts. In its most recent release, it is targeted at freelancers, benefiting law professionals who work as a one-person business. You may directly connect to any of your business accounts including credit cards for instant updating of records through a Cloud based support service. When using the same QuickBooks account for both personal and business, it’s easy to keep these separate.

Check out QuickBooks here.

 

Did you miss Part 1: Organization?

Part 1: Organization

The modern world of law is a complex place. Cases are longer and more complicated than ever before. To succeed and to stay ahead of competitors, the personal injury attorney and other law professionals need technology. That includes hardware, but it also includes some great software, some available at the click of a button and at no cost. The following short list comprises some of the best examples of high quality organizational and communication tools.

 

Evernote

Evernote is one of the big names of cloud-based organization. It’s also one of the oldest, having been around for 12 years. Evernote can be considered one of the first organizational tools to use the Cloud, so Evernote is an expert in knowing exactly what the modern user requires. Its main functions and features include:

• Take photos, notes, and voice clips on smart devices at remote locations and immediately sync them to all devices including desktops and laptops at static office locations.
• Share notes taken at consultations and transcriptions with other users.
• File attachments from devices, also shared to all users at once.
• The web clipper feature allows the saving of media (text, video, images, and even whole web pages) into Evernote for digestion later.
• Enables real-time project collaboration to authorized users by sharing by name and limiting access to only those who require it.
• OCR (optical character reader) which will recognize text from a document and convert it to an editable file.

Paid features include email forwarding and business card scanning. Check out Evernote here.

 

Slack

Simply one of the best communications and collaboration tools available today, Slack has a great free version that will do for most users and a paid version with some great features. Either way, it makes internal communications easy between individuals in a group. Unlike other communication tools, you can limit your visibility to only those who have the direct link to access it. Although there are public forums, it’s more about enabling direct communication with your authorized Slack users, either as individuals or within groups of users.

• Divide channels by teams and other groups, into projects or by client – this last feature is especially useful for teams working on different cases and where data protection is “need to know”.
• It’s easy to remove members from a Slack group and easy for members to remove themselves, unlike email chains and some other group messengers.
• Separate threads of conversation to keep issues on topic while allowing side discussions to take place.

Check out slack here.

 

Zoom

Zoom is, quite frankly, the best online conferencing tool presently available. The chances are, if you use this communication method, you’re using something other than Zoom. Maybe it works perfectly well, but Zoom has several advantages over other, similar tools. These are some of the many reasons it’s been voted the best video collaboration tool:

• Hold meetings for the purpose of online work collaboration, training, and conferencing which is great for getting in touch with the office while heading into or just coming out of a court case or while a deal is being struck.
• Another great feature is webinars, something that many other communications tools lack. As a professional in injury law cases, you may not need this, but it’s useful as a teaching resource.
• Zoom Rooms are a great feature incorporating elements of the virtual office. It utilizes HD video and audio, wireless connective sharing of files, and using integrations from common platforms such as Cisco.

Other features include digital signage, scheduling, and touch screen capability for a truly 21st century video conferencing experience. Like most of the other tools here, Zoom has both a free and a paid version. Check out zoom here.

 

Freedcamp

Online collaboration and task tracking have never been so easy with Freedcamp. It’s a web-based project management tool for single users and groups of collaborators. There is a time tracker, work assignment options, calendar scheduling, and many more. Here are some of its unique features:

• Task management including the ability to divide into subtasks.
• Assigning tasks to different people within the collaboration tool.
• Each task has a comment function for regular updates.
• Completed tasks can be removed easily, crossed out, re-assigned, and moved down the priority list.
• Invoice management and the ability to share files with users.

The basic package is free, and it will be enough for most user types who are not heavy media users. Upgrades are available for greater Cloud space. Check out Freedcamp here.

 

Come back to the blog for Part 2: Day-to-Day Administration!