Legal Tech, Automation & Efficiency, Cloud
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Automation & Efficiency, Hybrid & Remote Work, Legal TechMay 21, 2024
The Law Offices of Omar Khawaja, PLLC is a personal injury firm with offices in Houston and Dallas. Wendy Seel serves as executive assistant to the firm’s lead attorney, and has been with the firm for almost three years. David Estrada has worked in the firm’s accounting department for a little over a year. These two very different roles give Wendy and David unique insights into how Neos helps power separate areas of the firm.
The Law Offices of Omar Khawaja moved straight to Neos from no case management platform at all. That meant gaining a lot of efficiencies all at once, from ease of remote access to clear organization of case files to a centralized data source that makes it easy to track cases, productivity, deadlines, referral sources and more.
Before Neos, the firm was managing documents through platforms like Microsoft rather than in a well-structured case management system. That was an upgrade from the “boxes and file cabinets” Wendy remembers, but still labor-intensive. David says pulling numbers for any kind of reporting the firm needed and providing clients with breakdowns of case expenditures and other information was a cumbersome manual exercise.
With Neos, the firm has easy access to all case information within the platform from any device with an internet connection. It’s easy for attorneys to find the information they’re looking for, and for other teams, like accounting, to generate reports quickly and accurately.
David says it’s easy and intuitive for the attorneys to use case files in Neos, since every file is structured the same and the information is clearly broken out into predictable sections.
“Whether I need to request information from the client or contact an attorney’s office, all of the information is in the case file. It’s easy to locate whoever I need to contact.”
That alone boosts efficiency, but Wendy adds that additional features like search, the ability to tag files, and Notes further improve ease of use and productivity. And, these files are easy to create, with information gathered during the intake process seamlessly transferred to a case file when a client retains the firm.
“Notes make client communication easier, since they tell a story about what’s happening in their case.”
Files in Neos aren’t just clearly-structured, comprehensive and easy to use–they’re easy to access. That’s a big benefit for the firm’s staff. Before the switch, Wendy would sometimes have to drive to the firm’s offices in the evening or on the weekend if information was needed quickly. Even with staff members going above and beyond that way, that process meant longer client waits. Less urgent requests might have to wait until the next business day, which could decrease client satisfaction. With remote access, staff can quickly access information from their home computers and other devices, no matter where they are and respond quickly.
Before Neos, reporting was a largely manual process, with David or another staff member having to painstakingly pull the data required for a variety of types of reporting from different sources and either drop that data into spreadsheets or manually assemble the report. Now, the information the firm needs to create reports based on deadlines, which attorney is handling a case, incoming and outgoing referrals for fee splitting, settlement memos and more are housed in one place. In many cases, these reports can be scheduled and generated from templates already built into Neos.
The firm uses texting for a wide variety of communications, including sending clients appointment times, reminders of hearing dates and times, requesting documents and more. Wendy says it’s a better way to communicate with most clients because they see a text sooner than they might open an email or have an opportunity to listen to a voice message.
David loves how intuitive Neos is. He’d never used the platform before when he joined the firm, and he’d never worked in a law firm before. Still, he found it quick and easy to pick up and simple to figure out how to use new features.
“I had no prior knowledge of Neos. Getting used to the software was pretty easy.”
He even found it simple and straightforward to conduct intake through Neos when he was in the office after hours or on the weekend–something that isn’t part of his regular job. Wendy adds that Neos support has been very helpful.
“Support is always on point. They always know exactly what I’m looking for.”
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