Allen & Allen, a personal injury firm with seven attorneys listed in "Best Lawyers in America," leverages Aderant Total Office to improve their business.
Aderant Success Profile - Aderant Total Office Integrated Case and Financial Mangement Case Study
1. ADERANT SUCCESS PROFILE
ADERANT TOTAL OFFICE
Allen & Allen Personal Injury Firm Leverages
Aderant Integrated Case and Financial Management
Allen, Allen, Allen & Allen (Allen & Allen) is one of Virginia’s oldest and largest law “Aderant Total Office has been great for
firms specializing in personal injury and medical malpractice. The firm has seven us. It is a very sophisticated system, and
attorneys listed in Best Lawyers in America, and was named one of the Best Places
is a marked improvement from what
to Work in Virginia by Virginia Business and Best Companies Group in both 2011 &
we have used in the past. We may be
2012. These honors and many others are a reflection of the experience, knowledge
a 100-year-old law firm, but thanks to
and skills that the firm brings to personal injury cases. As of October 2012, the firm
had 120 employees including 25 attorneys. Total Office we have a highly efficient,
21st-century case and financial
While the firm has long looked to technology to help improve employee productivity
and streamline manual processes to better and more quickly serve clients, our management system.”
case and financial management software in particular, was in need of an overhaul.
Tracy Puritz , Executive Director
Our first improvement in this area occurred in 2002, when the firm upgraded its
case and financial management software, purchasing two separate systems and
Allen, Allen, Allen & Allen
integrating them through a third-party interface that was customized and installed
by a software consultant. While this was an improvement over the firm’s old
DOS-based case management system and accounting spreadsheets, it wasn’t a long
term solution. Fast forward a decade … the firm has not only grown in sheer size,
but also opened new offices, and the demands of clients when it comes to knowing
how a case is progressing, collaborating with outside counsel, and having online
access to case details has grown exponentially.
2. ADERANT CASE STUDY
ADERANT TOTAL OFFICE
A technology upgrade was definitely in order but not for the sake of integration, but also an unmatched integration with the Microsoft
change or simply having new “bells and whistles” to play with. The applications used by everyone within the firm. Another selling point
previous system interface severely limited the firm’s ability to upgrade for Total Office was Aderant’s experience and track record with larger
and apply a new version resulting in the firm’s use of outdated and more complex law firms. The previous case management system
versions of both our case and financial software. Ultimately, we was primarily built based on small(er) firm requirements so we did
also lost ongoing technical support from our vendors and it became not have the confidence our case and financial technology could keep
abundantly clear that ‘ease of system and technology integration’ pace with firm growth and expansion.
would be a major factor in selecting a new system that could support
Beyond the Microsoft “game changer” we identified other Aderant
,
the needs of a growing, innovative firm with multiple offices.
Total Office automation features that swayed the selection committee
Before making the move to a new platform, we came to the in Aderant’s favor:
conclusion that any integration “challenges” in the future would
• Automated Settlement processing: Total Office offers a
be severely limited by not only controlling the number of vendors
settlement processing solution that takes the gross settlement
involved in providing the firm with case and financial, but by making
value, deducts firm fees, referral fees, firm costs, liens and
sure that everything worked with and complied with Microsoft since
letters of protections medicals (with reductions) and produces
Allen & Allen is what you would consider a MS “shop”
.
a net figure payable to the client(s). This document includes all
necessary waivers and is client signature ready cutting our firm’s
Microsoft and true integration
time spent on producing a settlement from several hours to less
While we knew what IT and Accounting wanted in a new system, we than five minutes
formed a 20-member selection committee to get a broader firm-wide
• Modular integration: All application modules integrate with
perspective and evaluate all of our software options including the
each other. For example, when writing a check for a client cost,
existing technology. The committee reviewed nearly a dozen possible
the costs gets posted to the matter automatically
solutions before selecting Aderant Total Office (formerly Client
Profiles Case and Financial Management) and it’s Plaintiff Financial • Accounting integrity: All though it might be considered a ‘no
Package (includes T & B, AP, Collections, GL, and Reporting) and brainer’ Total Office has the proper accounting controls are in
,
Case Management Package (client-intake, full-text indexing, etc.) place to ensure firm data is not corrupted, either accidentally or
intentionally. This relates in particular to trust accounts but is
Why Aderant Total Office? In a word, integration. Very few of the
true across all bank accounts.
vendors that the firm considered could provide both case and
financial management software. Among those that could, Aderant True value of customization
stood out for its robust (aka easy to use but plenty of features) case
The firm was also drawn by the level of customization that Aderant
management tools and intuitive (aka easy to access, learn and train on)
offered. Again, this is something other systems also offered but
user interface as well as its partnership with Microsoft. It was clear
not to the extent we were looking for. The true value of software
to the firm that we needed to switch to a solution that integrated
customizations is in the time saved to perform work on behalf of clients
with Microsoft so it was a plus that Aderant is a Microsoft Certified
while not having to re-train users on how to work the new software
Gold Partner which gives them direct access to Redmond’s legal
but instead molding the technology to accommodate the way the firm
development and management team as well as various MS-sponsored
works.
Technology Adoption Programs (TAPs). From an upgrade standpoint,
we knew Aderant would synch its technology updates with Microsoft
and as the software giant rolled out new legal-specific solutions,
Aderant and the Total Office team would be on the same page.
Furthermore, we faced a series of server upgrades and new purchases,
but knew even with the new technology, we would not be gaining
any new functionality from the archaic system. With Microsoft and
Aderant we would be able to leverage both vendors’ latest features
and upgrades, and thanks to their partnership, in a tightly integrated
fashion. Not only does Aderant offer complete front and back office