Outsourcing for solicitors
June 17, 2010
I’m asked these same questions regularly:
1. How can outsourcing work for me?
2. Do we need to change the way we dictate and work?
3. Do you need to have access to our case management systems?
Now, just because outsourcing needs technology, that doesn’t mean it has to be difficult or mind-boggling to explain or implement.
Legal secretaries are performing far more tasks than typing and producing documents. You no longer see job vacancies being advertised for legal audio typists. The role has developed and they are (or should be) professional PAs who are assisting solicitors, dealing with telephone calls, time recording, the mail, filing, diary keeping, in some cases running case managed matters. They are unqualified fee earners. But still, 50% of a legal secretary’s time is spent typing documents.
Now that it is possible to identify each piece of dictation a team’s work can be managed more efficiently. Digital dictation systems can identify urgent letters, a non-urgent file notes, statements or pleadings. The urgent correspondence can be prioritised and for very urgent (note, there’s alwas 3 levels o urgency: urgent, very urgent and mega urgent) work, it’s now possible to have multiple secretaries work on separate pieces of dictation so it can be completed in half the time.
Outsourcing helps when non-urgent work (those dastardly file notes which are essential for fees and compliance) can be produced elsewhere on a completely different cost basis, freeing up the in-house secretary work flow - usually resulting in reduced head count and overhead.
How it works is different for each individual and firm. But let’s face it, if it was too difficult then nobody would be using it and it would have failed years ago.
No, you don’t need to change the way you work. Well actually that’s not entirely true. Sometimes some changes are necessary. But not in the way you think. Your style of dictation remains the same, your documents remain the same. What may change is how you work in the future. Because once you have access to remote working, flexible hours and 24 hour services then that opens up a whole new world of opportunity. If you’re brave enough to take it.
If you would like a no obligation chat with me about how outsourcing can work for you click here for our contact details.
Easter Bank Holiday Opening Times
March 26, 2010
It’s half term, Easter is around the corner and you’re probably looking forward to an enjoyable long weekend break. Quite possibly your staff are making the most of half term and have booked time off. Undoubtedly, your clients are putting extra demands on you as their requirements can be very urgent too at this time of year. Managing holiday periods is never easy and it can be very stressful as we want the people we care about to be happy and have what they want and need.
We care about our clients too so we’re staying open for business throughout the bank holidays. The angel secretaries are sitting in the cloud waiting to help you at any time you need.
We also care about our team and some of them will be making the most of the bank holiday break. So during the night time on Good Friday and Easter Monday the 1 hour turnaround may not always be achieved.
If you do require urgent work then please call us at any time of the day on 0845 053 1626 and we’ll make sure a team member acts straights away.
It’s snow joke
January 5, 2010
This picture was taken whilst trying to drive into work this week. As you can see the weather conditions have made driving quite treacherous.
This reminds me of what happened to one of our clients last year, in February 2009, when London came to a standstill because of the snow.
Our law firm client thought they had everything sorted and business was as usual because their solicitors could dictate from their blackberrys from home and had no need to travel. The upset came when they realised that their secretaries couldn’t get into the office and it caused them a huge backlog of work and tremendous pressure to meet deadlines.
We had an outsource module added to the client’s digital dictation system so that the dictation from the solicitors could be sent to our service with a click of a button, by-passing employed secretaries and resulting in documents being produced more cost effectively and timely.
So far in 2010 we’ve already broken a record of having one of the longest cold snaps for decades. The local authories have ran out of grit to keep our roads safe. It looks like things will be getting worse.
What contingency plans do you have in place for your staff not being able to make it into work?
Now is the time to take full advantage of technology available. Using remote secretaries who are home-based means you don’t have to worry about getting into the office to have your work done. Access online is straight forward and our remote services can fully integrate into your in-house digital dictation system.
If you don’t have any digital dictation yet, then what are you waiting for? Use our free software and work from home instead. Call us now on 0151 227 9150 to set up your free account and don’t let the severe weather conditions interrupt your business.
Christmas holiday season 2009 opening hours
December 23, 2009
Whilst our services remain open for business during the Christmas season we are not able to guarantee our usual fast 1 hour turnround service. Clients who send us dictation and documents for copy typing can expect a turnaround of no longer than 24 hours.
However, if urgent work is required, please call our customer hotline 0845 053 1626, and our team will act on your requests as soon as possible.
We would like to wish all of our clients, collegues and friends a very merry Christmas and healthy and happy New Year.
Expanding law firm uses outsourcing to control costs
December 7, 2009
Document Direct is delighted to support new law firm, Hughes Carlisle as it expands its business by the appointment of former Gorvins partner, Paul Humphreys. The specialist personal injury firm uses case management systems to produce and manage its document workflow but the expansion into commercial litigation means more bespoke and detailed documents are required.Managing partner, Gillian Carlisle, says:
Paul is used to having his own secretary provide support and I was quite concerned at how he would adapt to using remote secretaries and outsourcing. But I needn’t have worried. The ease of use, speed of response and quality of documents produced has exceeded our expectations and Paul has settled in straight away.
Here’s a quick and easy way for you to save a grand
November 26, 2009
The easiest way to save money is to look at how you cover secretarial work for the holiday periods and extended absences such as maternity leave. The average holiday entitlement is 25 days, or five working weeks, per year, plus bank holidays.
Now granted, you probably don’t need to worry about having enough secretarial cover during peak holiday weeks in the summer or at Easter if you have solicitors and fee earners absent too. So let’s be generous and halve the figure say you need a temporary secretary for three weeks a year.
A temping agency will cost you about £500 a week. And the quality of the output from the temp depends on how lucky you are with the person assigned to you. How many terrible experiences with temps have you or your colleagues had?
To outsource typing from a very busy fee earner can cost anything up to £200 a week and there are plenty of case studies which you can rely upon to support this.
So outsourcing dictation for those peak busy times will keep you on top of your work, you won’t have any backlog, you don’t ever have to deal with “terrible temps” and it will save you about £1,000 per year per secretary.
If you want to know how it works, it’s very easy. Simply call us and ask for our free software and we’ll also arrange for free set up and installation.
If you want bigger savings, the you should look closely at your workflow - what type of work are your secretaries doing and can your processes be refined using your case management systems. In most cases secretaries are spending at least 50% of their time typing. And if you outsource that element of a secretary’s job you can slash your secretarial overhead. If you would like to discuss in a free consultation please call us.
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