Set expectations up front. Firms considering a similar implementation project should recognize that lawyers are passionate on time recording, and you need to engage them early in the process. You won’t get their buy-in if they don’t understand the process and see the benefits.

Aderant Expert has led to significant improvements in the organizational and financial performance of Taylor Wessing. Aside from partner compensation calculations, all the time and billing activities take place in Aderant Expert. During the implementation, we have learned a lot about our own processes. One should take the time to understand and learn Aderant Expert. Often, the system has a more efficient structure than we had in our operation. This has taught us to first analyze the possibilities of the system before asking for customization. We were surprised that a system with an U.S. origin could function so well for a German law firm. It brought us more reliable information that gives us confidence for the future.

We were impressed with the intuitive nature of the software; our ability to customize it using the extensive set of rules already built in; the willingness of CompuLaw to make revisions to the software based upon our needs and demands; and that it integrated with existing software (Microsoft Outlook, Elite, and Autonomy’s Interwoven line).

The integration of the front and back offices is pretty flawless. Double-entry is eliminated. Cash, case costs, and trust accounts are always in balance. Printing and voiding of checks is smooth and charging to the correct case is seamless.

Map out your current process and adjust to the electronic process. Also, educate people on how it’s going to work beforehand and know you might not have all attorneys using it. There will be some that still want to print the prebills. When you implement a system like this you have to work with your implementation partner. They took us 80% of the way, and we completed the other 20%. We should have gone to the latest version at the time – it would’ve helped with any issues, so always make sure you’ve upgraded to the latest version. Finally, don’t get caught up on the workflow. Don’t think about it as a workflow project. The workflow simply represents the business process and you can map it accordingly to meet your requirements.

The unexpected impact of using Paperless Billing has been phenomenal since implementation was completed in May 2017. We have roughly 150 distinct regular users: 10 in finance, 120 fee earners, 20 secretaries, which is quite the mix of users. We’ve noticed several improvements, not just with the reduction in time, but also the culture surrounding billing in the offices. Given the success we’ve had, next year AKD is looking to optimize the use of Paperless Billing with added features of billing, rules and guidelines.

We met with Handshake experts weekly to brush up on template creation and how everything worked. After about a month time, I really understood the beauty of the Handshake toolkit and Handshake Content Designer. Now, harnessing the power of SharePoint via the Handshake Toolkit, SQL writing is a lot easier plus you can look at codes for custom fields and harvest a lot of examples that way as well.

The immediate result of implementing Expert File Opening was that our average file opening time went from four days to less than 24 hours. We have also seen improvement in our data accuracy, our policy adherence, and our procedural efficiency. Expert File Opening has enabled Ulmer & Berne to provide world class legal counsel for our clients on an even timelier basis.

We would have to have another full-time person to keep track of all the court rules and deadlines, and it’s nearly impossible to keep up with all of the rule changes when manually calendaring—which can make or break your case. We actually had a scare where the judge ordered us to show cause as to why our removal deadline was a day late—because the federal judge neglected to calendar a state court holiday because it only applied in limited situations! We were so grateful to the Deadlines.com attorneys who provided a timely, detailed response on how the deadline was calculated. For a small law firm that handles cases nationwide, Deadlines.com is a great alternative over the larger calendaring systems, especially if you’re mindful of pricing. Deadlines.com gives your firm the ability to keep overhead low without compromising quality.

The impact of Aderant Handshake on our business has been incredible. When we set out to change our portal system, we were striving to create a better environment for the legal team to increase profit and productivity. Aderant Handshake was clearly the best foundation to build BakerNet.

We can keep clients fully informed, flag up any issues early, and make more accurate projections of cost.

The implementation of Aderant Expert’s Time Management 8.0 has been transformative. Timekeepers have embraced the new software, resulting in more contemporaneous time entries. That’s eliminated billing bottlenecks and reduced the amount of back-and-forth required to produce accurate, timely bills.

Through BillBlast, our cash flow increased, errors decreased and our billing staff’s capacity increased by 160%.

Going with Aderant was a no-brainer. The main reason was integration, that’s just obvious. What made Spotlight our number one choice was the quick implementation, which we highly recommend. The feeling we had during implementation was that everything was going great. It ran exactly as we expected, and we were very pleased with Aderant’s Professional Services team.