Matter management refers to all of a legal firm’s internal and external activities. That covers just about everything from issue management, contract lifecycle management, outside counsel management and knowledge management. 

Legal firms struggle with a host of daily challenges, from communication issues and budgets to data security. Effective matter management can help you streamline your operations and focus on the legal work at hand instead of the details that keep you distracted.

In this article, we’ll look at several ways you can improve your firm’s matter management system. These include clarifying your current process, prioritising visibility throughout the firm and using technology to simplify your operations. But first, let’s start with an overview of matter management.

Matter Management Overview

Matter management encompasses the activities relating to managing legal work. It entails many sub practices, including the management of contracts and documents. All in all, matter management is how a firm gathers data and tracks work through completion and billing. 

With so much going on in a law firm, matter management aims to provide a more organised, interconnected basis on which the legal firm can function.

Importance to Firms Of All Sizes 

From one-person operations to large corporations, all legal firms have to track work time, manage documents, create invoices, and more. 

Whatever the size of your practice, improving your matter management system can provide several benefits, including:

• Automation can reduce time and effort spent on repetitive tasks. 
• A single, central location for all matters leads to a more accurate and productive workplace for everyone involved. 
• By increasing transparency and collaboration, legal teams can more efficiently manage their workflows, saving time and money.

What Is The Typical Process For Managing Matters?

More and more law firms are using matter management software to automate tasks, collaborate with team members and improve relationships with clients. Furthermore, cloud-based matter management systems can integrate with other software systems or connect with third-party services. By adopting or improving your system, you can streamline your organisation and free up your time for essential tasks.

How to Assess Your Matter Management System

Do any of these scenarios seem familiar?

• Most of your day is eaten up by an overflowing email inbox.
• You spend hours each week searching for files.
• Instead of doing intelligent, strategic legal work, you find yourself proofreading, checking for errors and repeatedly switching out matter-specific details like names, addresses and personal pronouns.
• You “lose” billable hours because you don’t have a convenient way to track them.
• Your firm holds way too many meetings.
• Networking eats up too much of your time and doesn’t seem to lead to the acquisition of new clients.

If you found yourself nodding your head to any of these, there’s room for improvement with your firm’s matter management system. 

Let’s look at three ways to level up.

3 Ways to Improve Your Matter Management System

1. Clarify your current process

You may already have a matter management system that includes many of the tools you need. However, your processes may need to be clarified.

For instance, you may have a centralised digital filing system, but because your team hasn’t adopted a uniform method of naming files, everything seems chaotic and hard to find. By clarifying your file naming conventions, you can clear up confusion and save everyone time and frustration.

2. Prioritise visibility throughout the firm

What happens to your matter management system if only a few people know about it and understand it? It doesn’t work well, even for those who are using it.

For best results, everyone in your organisation should use the matter management system’s tools. If you’re going to have a single “source of truth,” everyone needs to contribute to it and make it a priority.

3. Utilise technology 

Your competitors are using today’s technology; you should too. With automation tech at your fingertips, you can avoid repetitive tasks, rely on professional templates and keep your mind focused on the high-level responsibilities only you can manage.

Matter Management Technology

LawMaster provides firms with comprehensive matter management technology, with powerful features like:

• Document management
• Automated cost recording
• Workflows and task management
• Document templates
• File management
• Critical date management
• Law firm automation.

Learn More About LawMaster

If you’re ready to improve your firm’s matter management system, contact us to learn how LawMaster can drive efficiency, accuracy and profitability. We look forward to hearing from you.