As I previously posted, I spent last week at the ILTA conference in Orlando. Like just about every legal tech discussion and conference these days, talk about generative AI and its uses in the substantive end of law practice dominated. Lost in all this hype, though, a quiet revolution is going on with the use of AI and automation in the business end of the practice of law. Lots of developments to ease the burden of back office stuff like billing, collections, intake, and the like. All the administrative tasks that can’t be billed for but significantly impact the firm’s profitability.
Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash
While at ILTACon, I had the chance to talk to Doug Matthews, the Chief Product Officer of Aderant, a legal business management provider. Matthews was enthusiastic about some of these new administration use cases. As an example of the new, more sophisticated back office tools, Aderant launched an electronic automated billing platform called Onyx earlier this year. This platform takes such things as billing guidelines and automates their application into the pre-bill process.
The result is fewer write-offs for failure to comply with billing guidelines. That’s important because, in large firms, there can be numerous billing guidelines across the client mix. These guidelines are not consistent, and manual compliance takes time. This time is often exaggeerated since compliance with guidelines by timekeepers, especially in the heat of battle, can be spotty.
As Matthews also pointed out, the guidelines are often negotiated by different lawyers than the timekeepers on a given matter. Sometimes, the guidelines can vary by individual matter. So, keeping up with these can be time sink for lawyers who would much rather be working on billable matters than fussing with obscure guidelines. But failure to heed guidelines can result in reductions in bills
