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It’s Time to Stop Preaching a Timekeeping “Best Practice” that Can’t be Implemented

Conventional wisdom. Only fools would contradict it, right? In the legal timekeeping world, conventional wisdom can be boiled down to this little nugget: Keep time as you do your work.

Forever, this has been the best practice. The wisdom everyone has adopted. Everyone—industry experts, consultants, and our competitors— say, “Everyone should keep time contemporaneously.”

And indeed, research—including our own—shows that in the absence of automated time capture technology, contemporaneous timekeeping is more accurate than reconstructing your timesheets.

When I had my first job at a law firm in 1979, 35 years ago, there was no automated time capture technology. People were using corded phones, electric typewriters, thick phone books and answering machines that used cassette tapes. Now, of course, we have tablets, smartphones, notebook computers, text messaging, voicemail, email, and the inconceivable network that is the Internet.

I know a lot can change in 35 years. But not human behavior. That never really changes. Our pediatrician used to say kids come factory wired. Ditto that for attorneys too.

So I’m here to tell you that while it would be peachy if everyone could follow the conventional wisdom and become a contemporaneous timekeeper, it ain’t gonna happen.

People Are People

No matter how hard the industry has tried to convince timekeepers to keep time contemporaneously, it has not achieved a high success rate. We have done extensive data mining and analysis of law firm timekeeping databases, and time and again we find a 40% contemporaneous to 60% reconstructionist split.

Human behavior, as we intuitively know, is a remarkably fixed thing, individual by individual. So it is the height of absurdity to assume that if you give everybody fabulous software built for contemporaneous timekeeping, everybody will become a contemporaneous timekeeper.

After 35 years, it’s time to stop preaching a “best practice” that can’t be implemented. (Or at least not without a magic wand.)

Believing in this notion set forth by our competitors —that a product can change a reconstructionist into a contemporaneous timekeeper—is a bit akin to believing in a fairy godmother.

Shift Your Objective

If you want to fix timekeeping, it’s flawed logic to work at the firm level. You have to get down to the individual user. Study what they actually do, not what you want them to do. Don’t allow someone to cram your needs into their product’s canned sets of rules and processes. Instead, provide tools that support multiple user behaviors that can make your timekeepers into better timekeepers, no matter their style.

What do I think is the best practice? Your focus must be on this objective alone: Timesheets that are complete and accurate, and prepared with the least amount of effort. Allow your timekeepers to maintain whatever style works for them: contemporaneous, reconstructionist or collaborative. Then, find software tools that support those different behaviors.

My last bit of advice: When you hire your vendors, make sure they know that it is 2014 and that technology is here to serve the needs of your timekeepers, rather than the other way around. Find the right vendor who can and will create the right solution to meet your specific needs.

Smart Time Launches Competitive Swap Out Program for Tikit Carpe Diem Customers

Campbell, CA – October 20, 2014 – Smart Time Apps, the leader in timekeeping software for law firms, today announced a competitive swap-out program for firms using Tikit Carpe Diem software. The swap-out program offers existing Tikit Carpe Diem customers a straightforward, cost effective upgrade path to Smart Time.

Smart Time is an all-in-one timekeeping platform for law, accounting and professional services firms. The Smart Time timekeeping platform includes time entry, time capture and mobile modules. Any one of the modules can be installed independently or together to create a complete timekeeping platform. Smart Time enables firms to effectively collect, track and recoup billable time, thereby increasing revenue and profitability.

“Improved timekeeping is a growing concern to law firms” said Todd Gerstein, CEO of Smart Time Apps. “We invite Carpe Diem customers looking for a better solution, personalized customer service, reasonable price and ongoing product innovation to check out Smart Time.”

About Us

Smart Time Apps creates software solutions that maximize profits for law, accounting and professional services firms. Our flagship product, Smart Time, is an all-in-one time management platform. Our team of experts specializes in finance, accounting, marketing, process engineering and technology. We utilize best-of-breed technologies, as well as the most advanced tools and production processes. We have built a dedicated team, who offer solutions that are unique in the industry.

Smart Time Apps is privately held and is headquartered in Campbell, California. For more information visit our website at www.smartwebparts.com.

Carpe Diem is a registered trademark of BT Tikit, which is not affiliated with Smart Time Apps

The Nuances of Time Sheet Rounding

So…rounding. Everyone does it, but it’s the how and why they do it that matters. Of course not every activity falls into perfect tenths of an hour, so what are the most common timesheet rounding behaviors? Let’s take a closer look.

Block Billing vs. Line-Item Billing

Block billing groups several tasks under one billing entry. So, instead of each task getting its own entry, multiple tasks get grouped into one time entry. Because the actual time spent on each task is hidden, clients often view this as a way to pad the bill, or to conceal inefficient work. Generally speaking, block billing has become less and less acceptable in most firms, as it leads to clients challenging fees—disputes clients often win.

Transparency is important to clients, so we now see more and more clients demanding line-item billing, which they believe reveals what work was actually done and how long it took. They perceive line-item billing to be clearer and more accurate.

However, lawyers can also distort line-item billing. Some might always round up for each individual task, ultimately padding the bill in this way. Of course, some lawyers might try to balance out the rounding by sometimes rounding up and sometimes rounding down, but, when push comes to shove, the temptation to round up each task is very common.

A Question of Trust

Not that it’s quite so straightforward. Because of course, in what scenarios is the rounding up occurring? By each task, or by the total number of hours in a day? Do you round up a 3 minute email to 6 minutes, a 15 minute phone call to 18 minutes, etc., or do you round up a 5 hour and 10 minute block of work?

The difference might seem inconsequential, but multiply all the tasks done over the course of a day for multiple clients, and line item rounding can really add up.  As an extreme example, what if an attorney reviews 15 emails in an hour? Round each one up to a tenth of an hour and the attorney has the potential to book 90 minutes versus the actual 60 minutes that it took to complete the task.

What this boils down to is the relationship of trust between your firm and your clients. If your client insists on line-item billing, it’s likely because they think it seems harder for lawyers to pad the bill in one big chunk in block billing.

What clients really want is to be sure that their lawyers are being honest and efficient—not to oversee the work process. What firms really want is to be trusted to act in the client’s interests—whatever it takes to do the best job possible.

So how do you handle rounding issues in your practice, and what kind of billing do you prefer? What issues do you face around billing, rounding, fairness and client satisfaction?

Smart Time Mobile for Apple iOS 8 Available Today

Campbell, CA – October 12, 2014 – Smart Time Apps, provider of the Smart Time family of timekeeping applications, today announced that Smart Time Mobile—available for iPad and iPhone—is now iOS 8 compatible and ready for download in the iTunes store. Users may also test drive the app using a guest login. Given the robust changes to iOS 8, this latest update makes Smart Time an even more powerful ally for on-the-go timekeepers.

Click here to go to the ITunes store.

Smart Time is an all-in-one timekeeping platform for law, accounting and professional services firms. The Smart Time timekeeping platform includes time entry, time capture and mobile modules. Any one of the modules can be installed independently or together to create a complete timekeeping platform. Smart Time enables firms to effectively collect, track and recoup billable time, thereby increasing revenue and profitability.

Smart Time Mobile enables timekeepers to enter and submit time anywhere. It provides real-time access to time entry information, and users can run reports, see calendars and view time statistics. Timers are available for users who want to keep track of their time as they do the work, what we call “contemporaneous” timekeeping.

“We’re excited to have the most up-to-date version of Smart Time Mobile ready for our users as they upgrade to iOS 8 on their Apple devices,” said Steve Bronstein, CTO and founder of Smart Time Apps. “I’m always pleased by the agility our development team can give to our products.”

Smart Time Mobile can be deployed as a standalone package for firms that need to add mobile time entry to their current system. Or, it can be combined with Smart Time’s desktop time entry and time capture modules to create a complete timekeeping solution. Smart Time integrates with Thomson Reuters Elite, Aderant Expert, Juris, LexisNexis PCLaw, Microsoft Dynamics and other leading accounting systems.

Todd Gerstein, CEO and founder of Smart Time Apps, encourages firms of all sizes to try Smart Time. “Smart Time’s intuitive interface makes timekeeping painless, easy and accurate,” he said. “Combined with Apple’s iOS 8, it is a powerful and easily accessible timekeeping solution.”

About us

Smart Time Apps creates software solutions that maximize profits for law, accounting and professional services firms. Our flagship product, Smart Time, is an all-in-one time management platform. Our team of experts specializes in finance, accounting, marketing, process engineering and technology. We utilize best-of-breed technologies, as well as the most advanced tools and production processes. We have built a dedicated team, who offer solutions that are unique in the industry.

Smart Time Apps is privately held and is headquartered in Campbell, California. For more information visit our website at www.smartwebparts.com.

Smart Time Apps Announces Case Study Featuring Meyers Nave

Campbell, CA – October 6, 2014 – Smart Time Apps, the provider of Smart Time, today announced the availability of its latest case study, which centers on California-based firm Meyers Nave and its experience implementing Smart Time.

Click here to download the case study.

Smart Time is an all-in-one timekeeping platform for law, accounting and professional services firms. The Smart Time timekeeping platform includes time entry, time capture and mobile modules. Any one of the modules can be installed independently or together to create a complete timekeeping platform. Smart Time enables firms to effectively collect, track and recoup billable time, thereby increasing revenue and profitability.

“Smart Time has a lot of intrinsic features I really like,” said Matt Reynolds, top technologist at Meyers Nave. “We recently completed the implementation, and we already can see a positive effect on the bottom line. Attorneys are spending less time building their time chit, and more time practicing law.”

“This is the second firm Matt has introduced to Smart Time, and we’re pleased to have another example of the ways in which Smart Time benefits firms almost immediately,” said Smart Time Apps co-founder and Chief Executive Officer, Todd Gerstein. “This case study again demonstrates Smart Time’s ability to achieve greater revenue, less pain and total mobility for its users.”

About Smart Time Apps

Smart Time Apps creates software solutions that maximize profits for law, accounting and professional services firms. Our flagship product, Smart Time, is an all-in-one time management platform. Our team of experts specializes in finance, accounting, marketing, process engineering and technology. We utilize best-of-breed technologies, as well as the most advanced tools and production processes. We have built a dedicated team, who offer solutions that are unique in the industry. Smart Time Apps is privately held and is headquartered in Campbell, California. http://www.smartwebparts.com.

Top 5 Things to Look for When Selecting a Mobile Time Entry System

If we’ve learned one thing about the mobile revolution, it is that it is ever changing (and usually rapidly so). When you’re searching for the right mobile solution for time entry, be certain you’re investing in a system that is agile, easy and up-to-date.

Here we’ll offer our top tips for “must-haves” that will make your mobile time entry system a joy to use.

1.   Start Small, Grow Big

The idea here is that you’ll be able to implement a system quickly, with little lag time between purchase and going live. Make sure the product can scale up for growing numbers of users and capabilities as your needs change.

Also, involve your users from the start. Product deployment only works when end users like the product and find it easy and intuitive to use. As you roll out a pilot program, include a sample of actual users from all departments, and take their feedback seriously. If you do, you’ll achieve wider and faster adoption.

2.   Implementation Options

Get it your way. Want the mobile system be installed on-premises behind your firewall? Or, do you prefer to have it in the cloud? Or maybe you’d like a hybrid solution that is partly on-premises and partly in the cloud?

Whichever way you want, make sure that security and safety of data is always the highest priority. Vendors accomplish this in a number of ways, including independent certification by industry-standards bodies, data protection schemas, firewalls, and encryption of in-transit data.

Finally, make sure the vendor’s product update delivery process is as agile as your business. As your business grows, your needs are bound to change. Ensure the product is designed to deliver new capabilities quickly and seamlessly, without affecting your budget.

3.  Highly Configurable

No matter the system, it must be flexible, highly configurable and powerful enough to meet the demands of any organization without having to undertake customization.

Ask if the application allows you to configure your time entry screen to match the requirements of your time and billing system? Besides date, client, matter, hours and narrative, can you configure other fields that you might need? For example, phase, task, action, activity, location and jurisdiction codes?

4.   Tight Integration to the Backend Accounting System

You’ll want any solution to tightly integrate with your time and billing system.

Also, ask: Can it look up clients and matters? Can it reach into the time and billing system to determine if a phase task is required and then only present valid phase task options? Can the mobile solution see all time entries in the accounting system of record and present them in a calendar so the user can see where they stand for the month? How easy is it to insert records from the mobile system to the accounting system?

All of these must be addressed to create a fluid, error-free environment for both users and the admin group supporting the app.

5.  An Intuitive Product Design and Experience

Ease of use is so necessary and obvious that it might be ignored—don’t let it be. The user experience is critical to the adoption and success of any new product. When evaluating user experience, look at every interaction you have with your vendor and product. How easy was it to try out and purchase the product? Was implementation fast and easy? Is the end user’s experience intuitive and even fun?

When you step into the marketplace for a mobile time entry system, make sure you have these top 5 “must-haves” on your radar when selecting a new system.

 

Bilzin Sumberg Adds Smart Time Mobile Timekeeping

Smart Time Mobile Completes Bilzin Sumberg’s Existing Smart Time Platform

Campbell, CA – September 29, 2014 – Smart Time Apps, provider of the Smart Time family of timekeeping applications, today announced that Bilzin Sumberg Baena Price & Axelrod LLP, a leading commercial law firm based in Miami, Florida, has deployed Smart Time Mobile to its attorneys in order to modernize client timekeeping.

Smart Time Mobile enables timekeepers to enter and submit time anywhere, giving them fast and efficient time entry. Users can run reports, see calendars and view time statistics. Timers are available for users who want to keep track of their time with stopwatch precision. Native applications are available for the iPad, iPhone and Android devices.

Bilzin Sumberg uses leading technology to increase efficiency and control costs, applying industry best practices and implementing legal project management software and techniques.  Adopting the Smart Time app is just another example of how the firm stays on the cutting-edge of technology for the legal industry.

“We were early adopters of Smart Time. At first, we deployed their desktop browser-based time entry and time capture modules. Recently we began a testing cycle with Smart Time Mobile, and our test group of attorneys really liked the system,” said Juan Torres, Chief Information Officer at Bilzin Sumberg.  ” We have now begun our mobile deployment and we are thrilled to provide our timekeepers an easy to use and effective mobile time entry solution.”

Steve Bronstein, CTO and Founder of Smart Time Apps, stated that “Smart Time is a best-built application that directly integrates with different accounting systems including: Aderant Expert, Rainmaker, Thomson Reuters Elite, LexisNexis, Juris, PCLaw, Microsoft Dynamics and other leading accounting systems. At Bilzin Sumberg, Smart Time is tightly integrated into the firm’s Aderant Expert accounting system.”

“We are delighted that Bilzin Sumberg has implemented Smart Time Mobile,” said Todd Gerstein, CEO and Founder of Smart Time Apps. “We look forward to supporting the firm’s ongoing success with the Smart Time platform.”

About Bilzin Sumberg

Bilzin Sumberg Baena Price & Axelrod LLP is a commercial law firm based in Florida. The firm’s core practices include Business Finance & Restructuring, Corporate, International, Land Development & Government Relations, Litigation, Real Estate and Tax. For more information, please visit www.bilzin.com.

About Smart Time Apps

Smart Time Apps provides the leading timekeeping platform for law, accounting and professional services firms. Our flagship product, Smart Time, is an all-in-one timekeeping platform. Our team of experts specializes in finance, accounting, marketing, process engineering and technology. Smart Time Apps is privately held and is headquartered in Campbell, California. For more information, visit www.smartwebparts.com.

Do Associates Intentionally Underreport Chargeable Time?

Smart Time Solves a Mystery, Revealing Hidden Timekeeping Behaviors and Motives

What would you say if I told you that some timekeepers intentionally underreport their time? I’d never thought about it as a possibility, since in most law firms putting up big hours is a badge of honor. Why would anybody underreport their time?

Who Knew?

When a law firm uses Smart Time, our timekeeping system, beyond its original intent, you can bet it gets our attention. If you see something once, it’s merely interesting, but see something twice? That’s when I ask, “What’s going on here?”

We’ve studied and helped firms build time entry due date compliance policies. But the issue of underreporting or “eating” time had never crossed our radar.

However, recently, two of our clients told us how they used Smart Time: to find out if associates intentionally underreport chargeable time and why.

In my writings, I’ve talked extensively about timekeepers who underreport or leak time because they had trouble remembering, at the moment they prepare their timesheets, what they did. But intentional underreporting? That’s another beast.

A Little Detective Work

What happened is that the firms ran time captures for a month for each timekeeper. The time captures reported what the timekeeper did, when they did it and how long it took. They then compared the time captures to the actual hours booked, looking for patterns of missing time.

The first finding both firms reported to us is that younger and less experienced associates tend to underreport more time than experienced associates.

When the firm’s management spoke to the offending associates, they first confirmed the behavior and then asked, “Why?” This is what they learned:

• Associates underreported time in order to make superiors think they were more competent than other associates in the same class – which they hoped would lead to better assignments.

• Associates underreported time to take pride in meeting the time allotted by their superior to complete the assigned task.

• Some associates reported that the billing partner on the matter told them to do it.

I’ll leave it to you to play industrial psychologist to figure out what this all means. I think it has a lot to do with associates gaming competence and partners bullying young associates. But, whatever it means, it’s not a healthy process.

Let Nothing Escape

Let me make this clear. Everybody should record everything they did without judgment. Let the billing partner, at prebill time, decide what gets billed and what gets written off. Complete and accurate timesheets should be at the foundation of your timekeeping policy.

Smart Time Apps Announces Smart Time Integration with Aderant e-Rainmaker®

Campbell, CA – September 18, 2014 – Smart Time Apps, the provider of Smart Time, today announced that Smart Time, its flagship timekeeping platform, has successfully been integrated with the Aderant e-Rainmaker® time and billing system.

Smart Time is an all-in-one timekeeping platform for law, accounting and professional services firms. The Smart Time timekeeping platform includes time entry, time capture and mobile modules. Any one of the modules can be installed independently or together to create a complete timekeeping platform. Smart Time enables firms to effectively collect, track and recoup billable time, thereby increasing revenue and profitability.

“Smart Time is billing system agnostic,” said Steve Bronstein, co-founder and Chief Technology Officer of Smart Time Apps. “We recently completed three installations at Aderant e-Rainmaker® sites. At two sites we installed the complete Smart Time platform. These sites were interested in extending the life of their time and billing system by installing a fresh time entry front-end for their attorneys. The third site installed Smart Time mobile to give anywhere, anytime time entry access to their attorneys.”

“Smart Time is more than just a time entry tool—it’s a business tool built by people with real experience in law firm finance and operations,” said Smart Time Apps co-founder and Chief Executive Officer, Todd Gerstein. “Often the timekeeping process is broken or ineffective. It can happen for many reasons, from poorly functioning legacy time entry software to process and compliance problems. We’ve developed a solution that results in greater revenue, less pain and total mobility. Smart Time supports every timekeeping behavior, all while ensuring complete, accurate and easy-to-complete timesheets.”

About Smart Time Apps

Smart Time Apps (formerly Smart WebParts) creates software solutions that maximize profits for law, accounting and professional services firms. Our flagship product, Smart Time, is an all-in-one time management platform. Our team of experts specializes in finance, accounting, marketing, process engineering and technology. We utilize best-of-breed technologies, as well as the most advanced tools and production processes. We have built a dedicated team, who offer solutions that are unique in the industry. Smart Time Apps is privately held and is headquartered in Campbell, California. http://www.smartwebparts.com.

Disclosure: Aderant e-Rainmaker is a trademark of Aderant Holdings Inc. and is not affiliated or associated with Smart Time Apps.

Top Three Timekeeping Metrics Every Law Firm Should Measure

We Built Smart Time with These In Mind

What timekeeping metrics should you measure? Here’s our offering: a list of the top three metrics absolutely every law firm should be tracking. And, we believe that this information should be made available to both the timekeeper and management. After all, if there isn’t a feedback loop within the firm based on those metrics, what point would there be in measuring?

1. Hours Booked: This is the classic timekeeping measure for law firms. How many billable and non-billable hours did the timekeeper book? Some call this metric a measure of productivity, which might be debatable. But it does shed light on how hard the timekeeper is working. It also shows how many hours a timekeeper has worked that can be converted into revenue.

While most firms track booked hours for the current month and year-to-date, we have also seen firms track hours for 18 months rolling, in order to see longer-term trends. If you set budgets (and I highly recommend you do), be sure to show the variance between hours worked against budget, and be sure your timekeeping system puts these stats in front of the timekeeper. We’ve seen that the mere presence of monthly and annual budgets helps increase booked hours. I am always amazed at how many firms don’t have clearly stated budgets, but ones tentatively said with a whisper.

2. Month-End Late Time:  You’ll want to look closely at how many hours the timekeeper books after the month-end close, and also how many hours miss the monthly billing cycle. All the research into law firm profitability shows that hours booked and billed months late have a lower profitability realization rate. It’s clear that month-end late time is a sure way to lose revenue you’d have otherwise realized. In fact, we’ve seen this number as high as 7% in some firms. Management must work to bring month-end late time down; these stats are a surefire way to make your managing partner crazy. (Give the dog a bone.)

3. Time Entry Velocity:  This measures how quickly time entries get recorded into the system, or, in other words, how many days after doing the work that the timekeeper enters hours into the system.

This one’s important, so let’s dive deeper into the math. Velocity = the difference between the work date and the entry date. So, when velocity = 0, the timekeeper worked and booked time on the same day. When velocity = 2, the timekeeper put in a full week of time into the system on Friday. If velocity = 15, that means the timekeeper is putting all their time in at month end.

Now, the right way to measure velocity is to score every time entry and then average it to get an overall score for each timekeeper. This score transmits their behavior. If a user averages a score between 0 and 1, they are a “contemporaneous” timekeeper, meaning they enter time on the same or next day. To support this type of timekeeper, you must have contemporaneous timekeeping tools like rapid time entry screens and timers.

If a user’s score is greater than 2, they are a “reconstructionist” timekeeper, meaning they are attempting to recreate their day by looking at emails, phone calls, appointments and such to reconstruct their time entries days after the fact. This type especially benefits from time capture technology, which provides the user a journal (derived from electronically monitoring the timekeepers) of what they did, when they did it and how long it took.

Besides identifying behavior, velocity also measures timekeepers’ compliance against the firm’s time entry due date policy. Here, you’ll want to measure the difference between the policy score and the individual’s score. For example, if the firm’s policy is that time for the week must be entered by Friday, the compliance policy has a score of 2. If the user has a velocity score of 3, it means they are not in compliance.

Most likely you know who your late timekeepers are, and this measure gives you a way to quantify it.

So there you have it—the metrics that will give you insight into your timekeepers’ behaviors, and thus, your firm’s inner workings. (Or not-workings, as the case may be.)

With these in hand—reported to you in Smart Time—users and management can come together to better steer the ship toward timekeeping compliance and greater profitability—all with greater simplicity and ease.

Murchison & Cumming Deploys Smart Time Mobile to Modernize Attorney Timekeeping

Smart Time – Proven, Accessible Mobile Time Entry for Law Firms

Campbell, CA – August 11, 2014 – Smart Time Apps, the provider of Smart Time, today announced that Murchison & Cumming, an AV-Rated AmLaw 500 litigation law firm with more than 90 attorneys with five offices in California and Nevada, has deployed Smart Time Mobile to its attorneys to modernize client timekeeping.

Smart Time Mobile enables timekeepers to enter and submit time anywhere. It provides timekeepers real time access to their time entry information. Users can run reports, see calendars and view time statistics. Timers are available for the user who wants to keep track of their time contemporaneously. Native applications are available for the iPad, iPhone and Android devices.

“Earlier this year, we undertook the initiative to improve mobile timekeeping. Our legacy mobile time entry system had become outdated. It was not meeting the needs of our attorneys,” said Jean Lawler, Senior Partner of Murchison & Cumming. “We reviewed several systems and quickly picked Smart Time. We particularly liked the Smart Time iPad user interface and the tight integration the app has to our accounting system.”

Smart Time Mobile can be deployed as a standalone package for firms that want to add mobile time entry to their current timekeeping environment. Or, it can be combined with Smart Time’s browser time entry and time capture modules to create a complete timekeeping solution. Smart Time can be deployed on-premises or hosted in the Smart Time cloud.

According to Steve Bronstein, CTO and Founder of Smart Time Apps, “Smart Time is a best built application that directly integrates with different accounting systems. Smart Time integrations include: Aderant Expert, Rainmaker, Thomson Reuters Elite, Prolaw, LexisNexis, Juris, PCLaw, Microsoft Dynamics and other leading accounting systems. At Murchison & Cumming Smart Time is tightly integrated to the firm’s Aderant Rainmaker accounting system.”

“We are pleased to add Murchison & Cumming to our growing Smart Time customer base,” said Todd Gerstein, CEO and founder of Smart Time Apps. “We look forward to supporting the firm’s ongoing success with Smart Time.”

About Murchison & Cumming LLP

Murchison & Cumming is an AV-rated AmLaw 500 “Go To” law firm for litigation in California and Nevada. We represent domestic and international businesses, insurers, professionals and individuals in litigated, non-litigated and transactional matters. With more than 90 attorneys in our five offices, we are large enough to provide clients with the resources of a large firm while ensuring the level of personalized service one would expect to receive from a small firm, including being able to respond quickly to client emergencies, cutting edge legal issues and developments in the law. We are known and respected trial attorneys and have an appellate record that includes precedent-setting decisions. For more information visit www.murchisonlaw.com.

About Smart Time Apps

Smart Time Apps (formerly Smart WebParts) creates software solutions that maximize profits for law, accounting and professional services firms. Our flagship product, Smart Time, is an all-in-one time management platform. Our team of experts specializes in finance, accounting, marketing, process engineering and technology. We utilize best-of-breed technologies, as well as the most advanced tools and production processes. We have built a dedicated team who offer solutions that are unique in the industry. Smart Time Apps is privately held and is headquartered in Campbell, California. www.smartwebparts.com.

Smart WebParts Announces Company Name Change to Smart Time Apps

New Branding Aligns Company and Product Brand Identities

Campbell, CA – August 4, 2014 – Smart WebParts announced today that it has changed its company name to Smart Time Apps. The goal of the name change is to align the company and Smart Time product brand identities.

Smart Time is a complete timekeeping platform for law, accounting and professional services firms. The Smart Time timekeeping platform enables firms to effectively collect, track and recoup billable time, thereby increasing revenue and profitability. Smart Time can be deployed on-premises or hosted in the Smart Time cloud.

Todd Gerstein, Chief Executive Officer and founder, Smart Time Apps, states “When we started the company we had a single product. Today we offer browser time entry, passive time capture, desktop timers and mobile timekeeping applications. We are aggressively expanding the Smart Time product line. Our name change reflects that commitment.”

“It will take us a bit of time to fully transition all of our products and materials to the new name, so the Smart WebParts name will still linger in some areas,” Gerstein added. “Over time, we believe that you will like this new name as much as we do. Welcome to Smart Time Apps.”

About Smart Time Apps

Smart Time Apps (formerly Smart WebParts) creates software solutions that maximize profits for law, accounting and professional services firms. Our flagship product, Smart Time, is an all-in-one timekeeping platform. Our team of experts specializes in finance, accounting, marketing, process engineering and technology. We utilize best-of-breed technologies, as well as the most advanced tools and production processes. We have built a dedicated team who offer solutions that are unique in the industry. Smart Time Apps is privately held and is headquartered in Campbell, California. www.smartwebparts.com.

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Profitable AFAs

Michael Rynowecer
President, BTI Consulting Group
Special Guest Post

Far out at the edges of unchartered space exists the mostly uninhabited planet of Profitable AFAs.

This isn’t science fiction comedy. Profitable AFAs do, in fact, exist. We partnered with our friends at Law360 to survey more than 750 attorneys. What we discovered is 22% of partners are prospering in what many consider a desolate land.

AFAs are old news. Clients demanding AFAs is old news. Turning a clear profit from AFAs is new.

Nearly 80% of law firm partners can’t figure out how to get to Profitable AFAs. Mismanaged scope, poor budgeting skills, and not enough flexibility to change internal work processes are the most common culprits to undermining profitability in AFAs.

Fortunately, 22% of partners have charted the path to profitability for everyone else to follow. Good tools and processes are the most massively useful things a lawyer can have to reach Profitable AFAs.

1. Develop detailed budgets to understand and manage costs
2. Track and monitor budgets like a hawk at least weekly
3. Assign all work to lawyers on the team with time-specific deadlines and the number of hours budgeted for the task
4. Review your clients’ objectives with the entire team
5. Solicit suggestions from the team on how to eliminate unneeded work steps
6. Discuss case progress with your clients as a normal course of business—a regular dialogue about progress
7. Track changes in scope or underlying facts and share any budget impact with your clients immediately upon discovery
8. Actively challenge the team to beat deadlines and deliver early
9. Develop high trust relationships with your clients

AFAs only work when your client relationships are at the absolute highest levels of trust—not just a good relationship—but a deep, embedded relationship. Part of the simplicity and certainty delivered by AFAs comes from the client believing their lawyer will deliver. Lawyers who have a history of breaking budgets, have infrequent dialogue with their clients (with or without AFAs) or don’t believe in the power of budgets are more likely to end up in make-less-money column—far, far away from planet Profitable AFAs.

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About The BTI Consulting Group, Inc.

We conduct more independent research on how clients acquire, manage, and evaluate their professional service providers than virtually anyone. Our unique methods and approach have propelled over 20 years of fact-based research on buyers and sellers of professional services. We have interviewed more than 13,000 buyers. We benchmark how Fortune 1000 companies buy, how professional services firms sell, and how to manage service provider performance.  For more information visit http://www.bticonsulting.com

Fullbright & Jaworski’s New Time Entry Policy

We know, from our research and discussions with firms, that firms with the greatest success in timekeeping create a culture of compliance. They do so by keeping expectations about timekeeping non-negotiable, consistent and clear. They also include incentives and/or penalties for enforcement.

Fullbright & Jaworski, a member firm of Norton Rose Fullbright, just announced its new timekeeping policy to “minimize unnecessary loss of billable time due to delayed time entry” for US Non-Partner Timekeepers.

Apparently, the firm has determined that the stick is mightier than the carrot. Here is a copy of the memo:

TO:          US Non-Partner Timekeepers
FROM:    Management Committee
RE:          Time Entry Policy for Attorneys Manual
DATE:     July 17, 2014

Entering time daily has been demonstrated to yield a 10% to 15% increase in utilization immediately. A compelling example of this occurred recently as the St. Louis office, under Jim Wiehl’s leadership, implemented a mandatory daily time entry policy, which yielded a 10% increase in utilization in the month adopted. The St. Louis office now has the highest utilization in the firm.

Accordingly, the Management Committee and the Partnership Committee have approved the following changes to our time entry policy to minimize unnecessary loss of billable time due to delayed time entry. Each timekeeper’s adherence to this time entry policy will support the Firm’s ongoing efforts to increase our productivity and profitability.

1. Attorneys should record their time on a daily basis.

2. Time Diaries for Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays must be entered and released no later than 9 p.m. (Central Time) the following Thursday; and Time Diaries for Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays must be entered and released no later than 9 p.m. (Central Time) the following Monday.

3. A Practice Leader may grant an exemption for any release period to a timekeeper who is not able to submit time in conformity with the policy of the Firm. Exemptions will be granted in exceptional circumstances. If two exemptions have already been granted during the calendar year, requests for additional exemptions must be submitted to the Group Head.

4. Only time that is timely entered in accord with the policies of this Firm will be counted for any bonus to be awarded to associates or senior associates based on hours charged during the year.

Although point #4 may sound draconian to connect time entry compliance to associate bonuses – we bet it works.

The Importance of Specificity

 

David Paige
Managing Director, Legal Fee Advisors
Special Guest Post

A fee award in a recent case in the Eastern District of New York, Claudio v. Mattituck-Cutchogue Union Free School District, provided examples of several common problems with attorney billing records.  Though the court found that the attorney’s hourly rate of $395 was reasonable, the court significantly reduced the number of hours billed because of “substantial problems” with the billing records.

The attorney billed half an hour for all but one of 68 phone calls between the attorney and his client.  The court found it “inconceivable” that each of these calls had taken half an hour.  In fact, based on its review of the attorney’s records, the court determined that attorney had billed half an hour for any task that took one-hour or less—including a pre-trial phone conference that lasted four minutes.

The attorney had also billed excessive amounts of time for other relatively simple tasks.  For instance, the attorney billed two hours for a two-sentence letter.  The court noted that it was possible that the attorney performed other tasks during the time billed.  If so, the attorney’s failure to specify these tasks on the billing records constituted block billing.  In any event, the court found the number of hours billed “unreasonable.”

Time spent on court appearances also appeared to be overbilled.  For example, the attorney billed 3.2 hours for an oral argument that lasted 47 minutes (not including preparation or consultation with the client, which were each billed separately).  The court conceded that the attorney’s billing entries could have included travel time, but noted that fees charged for travel time should be at half the attorney’s normal rate.  Because the court was unable to determine how much (if any) of the attorney’s billable hours were due to travel, the court found an across-the-board reduction was warranted.

Due to the problems discussed above and the “vagueness” (not further explained in the opinion) of some billing entries, the court reduced the attorney’s hours billed by 33%.

This case highlights the importance of specificity in billing entries.  For example, the court noted that the attorney might have performed other tasks during the apparently excessive blocks of time billed.  If so, and if the attorney had described those tasks, the court may have been less inclined to find the time billed excessive, even if the entries were block billed.  Similarly, the attorney could have been more specific in describing how much of the time billed for court appearances was actually spent on travel and perhaps added more detail to the other “vague” entries described in the opinion.  If the attorney had provided such detail, it is quite possible that he could have avoided the across the board reduction implemented here.

********

David Paige is the Managing Director of Legal Fee Advisors, www.legalfeeadvisors.com.  David can be reached via email at dpaige@legalfeeadvisors.com.  David is among the nation’s foremost experts on the propriety of legal fees and billings. Over the course of his 25-plus-year career, David has guided Fortune 1000 companies on the some of the most complex and high-stakes billing issues and helped them develop the methodologies for achieving significant reductions in outside legal costs. In addition, he has served as a testifying expert in legal fee dispute cases.

 

Industry Veteran Kandace Donovan Joins Smart WebParts as Senior Vice President of Sales

Campbell, CA – May 1, 2014 – Smart WebParts, the provider of Smart Time, the leading timekeeping platform for law, accounting and professional service firms today announced Kandace Donovan has joined Smart WebParts’ Executive Team as Senior Vice President of Sales. Kandace joins the company with more than 20 years of legal technology experience in business development and account management.

Prior to joining Smart WebParts, Kandace worked for The Frayman Group as Vice President of Key Accounts. Prior to that, she worked for Intapp, Hummingbird and LegalKEY Technologies in key sales positions. She has shown herself to be an extraordinary leader throughout her career and has a proven track record.

Smart WebParts flagship product, Smart Time, is an all-in-one timekeeping platform for law, accounting and consulting firms. The Smart Time on-demand time capture and time entry application enables firms to effectively collect, track and recoup billable time. On the desktop, Smart Time runs in a browser. Native applications for mobile timekeeping are available for the iPad, iPhone and Android smartphone and tablet devices.

According to Todd Gerstein, CEO and Founder, “Smart Time’s adoption has reached critical mass. We’re expanding in all areas to meet the demand. I am thrilled Kandace is joining our team. I’ve known her for a decade and she is the consummate professional. She shares our values, our focus on innovation and our commitment to customer service. “

“I am profoundly honored to join Smart WebParts in this newly created position,” said Donovan. “Smart WebParts has built a best-in-class timekeeping platform with a solid client base. Smart WebPart’s commitment to treat clients with integrity was extremely important to my decision to join the team. I am pleased to take on this new responsibility to help grow Smart Time sales worldwide.”

Mobile Time Entry App, Smart Time Now Available for the iPhone

Mobile Time Entry App for Attorneys, Accountants & Consultants

Campbell, CA – April 17, 2014 – Smart WebParts (www.smartwebparts.com), provider of the leading timekeeping platform for law, accounting and professional services firms, today announced the availability of Smart Time Mobile for the iPhone. The new mobile time entry app enables users to manage and enter time anywhere.

Smart Time Mobile can be deployed as a standalone package for firms that want to add mobile time entry to their current timekeeping environment. Or, it can be combined with Smart Time’s desktop time entry and time capture modules to create a complete timekeeping solution. Smart Time integrates with Aderant Expert, Rainmaker, Thomson Reuters Elite, Juris, LexisNexis, Microsoft Dynamics and other leading accounting systems.

“Smartphones and tablets are changing the way everyone works,” said Smart WebParts founder and CEO Todd Gerstein.  “With the advent of the Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) culture in firms, it is important to support a full range of devices for mobile time entry. In addition to the native iPhone app, we have native mobile time entry apps for the iPad and Android smartphones.”

We invite you to test Smart Time Mobile.  First download the app from the store. When you launch the app you will be presented with a guest login that gives you access to a sample timekeeping database.

Smart Time Mobile for the iPhone and iPad in the Apple App store at: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/smart-time-mobile/id799128154?mt=8

For Android devices, Smart Time Mobile is available in the Google Play store at: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.smartwebparts.smarttime

Steve Bronstein, Smart WebParts founder and CTO added “Smart Time offers you a choice of deployment options to meet your particular security and budget needs. Smart Time can be deployed and integrated into your IT infrastructure behind your firewall or hosted by Smart WebParts in the cloud.”

Time Capture – Do You Leak Time? Smart WebParts Sends in the Puppet to the Legal Industry Video Awards

Sometimes, you just got to have fun. We created Mark W. Gray – our puppet spokesman – to explain time capture. When we heard about the Legal Industry Video awards competition – we knew it was time to “send in the puppet.”

The originator of the Awards, Charles Christian of Legal IT Insider, commented: “The legal industry is increasingly investing in creating videos that inform, educate and better market their services and products. We want to recognise and reward this effort and showcase the best of the best.”

And now, here’s our entry.  Everybody – Meet Mark.   To see the story on Charles’ Blog at Legal IT Insider click here.

Mobile Time Entry for Android Smartphones Added to Smart Time

Mobile Time Entry for Attorneys, Accountants & Consultants. Touch Timekeeping for iOS and Android Devices Now Available.

Campbell, CA – April 7, 2014 – Smart WebParts, provider of the most advanced timekeeping platform for law, accounting and professional services firms, today announced the availability of Smart Time Mobile for Android smartphones. Smart Time for the Android is a native mobile time entry app that makes it easy for professionals to record hours anywhere at any time.

“It’s no secret mobile technology has dramatically changed the face of law,” said Todd Gerstein, CEO and Founder of Smart WebParts. “According to the most recent ABA Legal Technology Survey, over 90% of attorneys use smartphones, and an ever-increasing number use tablets. Attorneys now live in a ‘work anywhere, anytime’ environment and the same should be true for mobile time entry.”

Smart Time is an all-in-one timekeeping platform for law, accounting and professional services firms. The platform includes three modules: Time Entry, Time Capture and Mobile Time Entry. Firms, depending upon their needs, can install any combination of modules. Smart Time can be deployed on-premises or in a private cloud. Smart Time integrates with Aderant, Thomson Reuters Elite, Microsoft Dynamics, LexisNexis and other leading time and billing systems.

Steve Bronstein, CTO and Founder of Smart WebParts, said, “Mobile development moves at the speed of light in Silicon Valley. To provide a consistent user interface to all tablet and smartphone devices, we’ve employed a mobile development platform that allows us to code once and publish multiple native applications. On the security front, Smart Time is encrypted to bank standards.”

Gerstein added: “Now that we can see, touch and use our Android app, we couldn’t be happier with the results. The interface is beautiful and intuitive – just right for smartphone mobile time entry. We invite you to test Smart Time to see what mobile time entry can do for you.”

Smart Time Mobile is now available in the Google Play Store. (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.smartwebparts.smarttime) You can test it for free. Downloading the app gives you default access to a sample time and billing database.

About Smart WebParts

Smart WebParts (www.smartwebparts.com)  creates software solutions that maximize profits for law, accounting and professional services firms. Our flagship product, Smart Time, is an all-in-one timekeeping platform that includes time entry, time capture and mobile time entry in one cohesive package. Our team of experts specializes in finance, accounting, marketing, process engineering and technology. We utilize best-of-breed technologies, as well as the most advanced tools and production processes. We have built a dedicated team who offer solutions that are unique in the industry.

Smart WebParts is privately held and is headquartered in Campbell, California.

Timekeeping is Broken in Most Law Firms

Todd Gerstein
CEO & Founder, Smart WebParts

Let’s get right to it. Everybody hates timekeeping – attorneys and admin staff alike. I can’t sugar coat it. It is a major cause of angst at most law firms. And, it has been out of control for a long time.  

And it shouldn’t surprise you that attorneys tell us it’s getting harder and harder. Why? Technology.  

Technology has changed the way we work. Most attorneys have turned in hyper multi-taskers jumping back and forth between emails, phone calls, meetings and documents all day long. Who can possibly keep it all straight in 6 minute increments?  Especially if you don’t do your timesheets every day.

I’m not telling you anything you don’t know. Timekeeping is broken in most law firms.

We have a solution to the problem — Smart Time. Smart Time is an intuitive time entry and time capture software program that gives timekeepers perfect recall, enabling them to prepare complete and accurate timesheets. We have a desktop version that runs in a browser and native versions for iOS and Android devices. Smart Time is compatible with Aderant, Elite, LexisNexis, Microsoft and other leading accounting systems.

Please take a minute to watch our video to learn how Smart Time can maximize profitability by boosting billable hours.

Take a look and then contact us to discover how Smart Time can help you.

 

 

 

Meyers Nave Selects Smart Time to Streamline Attorney Time Entry

Law Firm Deploys Mobile Time Entry on iPads and iPhones as Part of New Timekeeping Initiative

Campbell, CA – March 17, 2014 – Smart WebParts (www.smartwebparts.com), provider of the most advanced timekeeping platform, today announced that California’s leading municipal law firm, Meyers Nave, has selected Smart Time to streamline attorney time entry.

Smart Time is an all-in-one timekeeping platform for law, accounting and professional services firms. The Smart Time on-demand timekeeping application enables firms to effectively collect, track and recoup billable time, thereby increasing revenue and profitability. The Smart Time timekeeping platform includes time entry, time capture and mobile modules.

“We made the decision to adopt Smart Time to streamline attorney timekeeping,” said Matthew Reynolds, Director of IT, Meyers Nave. “We conducted a survey earlier this year that revealed a high level of disenchantment with our current time entry system. We went into the marketplace to evaluate our options, and selected Smart Time because of the robustness of its platform. We were not only impressed by the application’s functionality, but by its intuitive user interface. And, the attorneys are especially excited that Smart Time will be available on their iPads, which fits right into our firmwide mobility initiative.”

“Timekeeping is a major pain point for firms that bill by the hour,” said Smart WebParts Founder and CEO Todd Gerstein. “Often the timekeeping process is broken or ineffective. It can happen for many reasons, from poorly functioning legacy time entry software to process and compliance problems. We’ve developed a solution that results in greater revenue, less pain and total mobility. Smart Time supports every timekeeping behavior, all while ensuring complete, accurate and easy-to-complete timesheets.”

Reynolds added: “We are implementing the complete Smart Time platform. We are hooking up the time capture module to Microsoft Exchange, iManage, Shortel and the user desktop. With Smart Time, timekeepers will no longer have to spend countless hours mining Outlook, our document management system and phone logs to construct their billable time. For time entry, Smart Time will be integrated to our Aderant Platinum accounting system.”

“We are very pleased to welcome Meyers Nave to the Smart Time family of firms,” said Steve Bronstein, Founder and Chief Technology Officer, Smart WebParts. “We look forward to supporting the firm’s ongoing success with Smart Time.”

About Meyers Nave

As a full-service law firm, Meyers Nave offers comprehensive knowledge and experience in virtually all areas of law impacting public and private entities. Many of our attorneys have worked in public agency law for more than 20 years. As such, we deliver the best of both worlds—the insight of insiders who understand the operation and character of government agencies and businesses in California, and the perspective and objectivity of a third-party legal expert. We can provide legal advice, transactional assistance and litigation representation in the many disciplines encompassed within our firm’s 16 practice groups.

Today the firm has over 70 attorneys and practices in eighteen distinct areas of law from six offices strategically located throughout California. Still a leader in California’s municipal law arena, Meyers Nave also provides legal advice, transactional assistance and litigation representation to private clients. (www.meyersnave.com)

Mobile Time Entry for the iPad, Smart Time Now Available in the Apple App Store

New Mobile Timekeeping App for Attorneys, Accountants and Consultants

Campbell, CA – March 4, 2014 – Smart WebParts (www.smartwebparts.com), provider of the most advanced timekeeping platform, today announced the release of Smart Time for the iPad.

Smart Time is an all-in-one timekeeping platform for law, accounting and professional services firms. The Smart Time on-demand timekeeping application enables firms to effectively collect, track and recoup billable time, thereby increasing revenue and profitability.  The new mobile edition enables users to manage and enter time anywhere.

“We are really excited to offer intuitive touch timekeeping for iPad,” said Smart WebParts founder Steve Bronstein. “Users will be amazed by what they are able to accomplish on their tablets. It is no secret professionals are aggressively integrating iPads into their practice, and we are excited to add Smart Time to the mix.”

Smart Time for the iPad enables timekeepers to enter and submit time anywhere.  It provides timekeepers real time access to their time entry information.  Users can run reports, see calendars and view time statistics. Timers are available for the user who wants to keep track of their time contemporaneously.

Smart Time Mobile can be deployed as a standalone package for firms that need to add mobile time entry to the current timekeeping environment. Or, it can be combined with Smart Time’s desktop time entry and time capture modules to create a complete timekeeping solution. Smart Time integrates with Aderant Expert, Thomson Reuters Elite, Juris, Prolaw, LexisNexis PCLaw, Microsoft Dynamics and other leading accounting systems.

Todd Gerstein, CEO and founder of Smart WebParts, encourages firms, large and small, to try Smart Time. “Smart Time offers an intuitive interface to make timekeeping painless, easy and accurate.  It will make your timekeeper’s lives better.” It is now available in the Apple App Store  and can be tested with a guest login.

About Smart WebParts
Smart WebParts creates software solutions that maximize profits for law, accounting and professional services firms. Our flagship product, Smart Time, is an all-in-one timekeeping platform. Our team of experts specializes in finance, accounting, marketing, process engineering and technology. We utilize best-of-breed technologies, as well as the most advanced tools and production processes. We have built a dedicated team who offer solutions that are unique in the industry.

Smart WebParts is privately held and is headquartered in Campbell, California.

Pellerano & Herrera Live on Smart Time to Improve Attorney Time Capture and Recording

Firm Implements Time Entry, Time Capture and Mobile Modules

Campbell, CA — February 26, 2014 – Smart WebParts (www.smartwebparts.com), provider of the most advanced timekeeping software platform, today announced that Pellerano & Herrera, the leading law firm in the Dominican Republic, has gone live with Smart Time to improve attorney time recording.

“Earlier this year, we undertook the initiative to improve timekeeping. Our old system was functionally weak by today’s standards. It was not meeting the needs of our attorneys,” said Alejandro Flaviá, IT Director of Pellerano & Herrera. “We reviewed several timekeeping software products and quickly found out that Smart Time was the most functionally complete. We discovered many vendors can do timekeeping, but only Smart Time can prodigiously do time entry and time capture together — both on the desktop and on mobile devices.”

Smart Time is an all-in-one timekeeping platform for law, accounting and consulting firms. The Smart Time on-demand time capture and time entry application enables firms to effectively collect, track and recoup billable time, thereby increasing revenue and profitability. Smart Time runs in a browser on the desktop. Native applications are also available for iOS, Android and Windows devices.

Flaviá added: “We got the system live in just a few weeks. It is completely integrated with our Aderant accounting system. We are continually amazed by the richness and functionality of the Smart Time platform. In the next phase, we will distribute mobile time entry to our fleet of Android Samsung smartphones — that way our attorneys can enter time anywhere at their convenience.”

“We are very pleased to welcome Pellerano & Herrera to the Smart Time family of firms,” said Todd Gerstein, CEO and founder of Smart WebParts. “We look forward to supporting the firm’s ongoing success with Smart Time.”

About Pellerano & Herrera

Pellerano & Herrera has been the leading law firm in the Dominican Republic for over two decades. Established in 1952, the firm is typically involved as counsel in all major transactions in the country and provides advice for most major international players. The firm’s multidisciplinary team of lawyers is recognized as the most comprehensive and sophisticated in the market and seeks to provide legal solutions to clients in all areas of business. Pellerano & Herrera is especially well-recognized for its expertise in handling complex matters in the areas of mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, project and structured financings, antitrust and unfair competition, among others. (www.phlaw.com)

Smart Time Adds Enhanced Reporting to its Time Entry and Time Capture Modules

Newest Version Gives Firms Increased Transparency into Time Data

Campbell, CA — February 13, 2014 – Smart WebParts (www.smartwebparts.com), provider of the most advanced time management platform, today announced Smart Time Version 3.4, which adds advanced time reporting to the application’s time entry and time capture modules. Reporting dashboards have been added to the application for the individual timekeeper and key firm decision makers.

Smart Time is an all-in-one time management platform for law, accounting and consulting firms. The Smart Time on-demand time capture and time entry application enables firms to effectively collect, track and recoup billable time, thereby increasing revenue and profitability.

“This release gives firms incredible insight into the working lives of their timekeepers,” said Todd Gerstein, founder and CEO of Smart WebParts. “The ability to drill down into data has never been more powerful.”

The Admin Dashboard features reports that track hours activity from different perspectives.  Reports show current month activity, hour trends, and client matter/project detail. The reports can be dynamically pivoted to present firm, office and department data to provide insight into the performance of different groups within the firm.

The new User Dashboard gives individuals the ability to run reports for themselves, pivot data to see trends, as well as month-to-date and year-to-date statistics. They can also organize their time data by client matter to view it from the project perspective.

“We’re pleased to add additional layers of functionality to the Smart Time platform,” said Steve Bronstein, founder and CTO of Smart WebParts. “Users can now accurately track and report on their time.  ”

From a technical perspective, the Smart Time desktop application runs in a browser. Smart Time also has native applications for iOS, Android and Windows devices. Smart Time integrates with Aderant, Thomson Reuters Elite, Microsoft Dynamics, LexisNexis and other leading accounting systems.

About Smart WebParts

Smart WebParts creates software solutions that maximize profits for law, accounting and professional services firms. Our flagship product, Smart Time, is an all-in-one time management platform. Our team of experts specializes in finance, accounting, marketing, process engineering and technology. We utilize best-of-breed technologies, as well as the most advanced tools and production processes. We have built a dedicated team who offer solutions that are unique in the industry.

Smart WebParts is privately held and is headquartered in Campbell, California.

Smart WebParts, LLC
1350 Dell Avenue
Campbell, CA 95008

For more information, contact us at:

877-776-7505
info@smartwebparts.com
www.smartwebparts.com

Time Capture Software: What’s In It For Me? Selling and Deploying it to Your Attorneys

.
Todd Gerstein
CEO & Founder
Smart WebParts

So you have a new time capture system, and you’re excited about all the benefits it offers to the firm. You’ve been talking it up, mentioning business efficiency, productivity, increased revenue and the like.

Snore, say your timekeepers. And even worse than their uninspired reaction is their reluctance to learn how to use it. What’s gone wrong in this scenario? And what can you do to gain (the absolutely essential) buy-in from your staff?

The simple answer is this: You must lead your “pitch” with WIIFM (What’s in it for me?), from the perspective of your timekeepers.

Feel Their Pain

Attorneys are busy people, and the only thing more painful than keeping their time is spending time learning something that has no perceived benefit. However, if you can begin by convincing your timekeepers that the time spent learning a new system will drastically cut hours of pain out of their daily lives, you can bet enthusiasm will shoot way up.

They need to know that time capture will:

• Save time preparing timesheets
• Find time that would have otherwise been forgotten
• Minimize general timekeeping angst

With this information—the answers to WIIFM—reluctance disappears.

No Substitute for Experience

Once your timekeepers are sold on the idea of adopting time capture, the next question becomes how to begin.

Talk is cheap and usually unconvincing, so the surest route to real adoption is allowing your timekeepers to experience the benefits of time capture at literally no cost to them—no training, no learning curve, no effort, no disruption.

With a time capture system, you can begin by sending out daily journal reports via email. This way the information captured is simply made available—additive, not disruptive—and a user can use it or ignore it. Making use of the information becomes completely voluntary.

Management’s Role Still Important

Of course, management still has a responsibility to roll out a new system smoothly and efficiently, or risk losing attention and enthusiasm to problems unrelated to the product itself.

We recommend that to manage the deployment well, it should be broken down into small pieces. This way, you can achieve “early wins” to build project momentum.

Besides the project team, you will want to recruit early adopters and “change zealots” to help you with the deployment. Early adopters are users who embrace new technology before most other people do. Work with this group to vet that the time capture report is accurate.

Once you’ve got the time capture engine working, expand the pilot group to include change zealots who can be trusted to spread the news of time capture’s benefits. Keep in mind that some of these individuals don’t need to be tech savvy and may even be your most problematic timekeepers.

Once everything is locked down and working for your pilot groups, it’s time to expand the deployment to all your users. Start with automated reporting at first. Keep the lines of communication with your users open. Inform them about time capture and how you think it will benefit them. Allow them the freedom to opt-out from the reports, and be sure to answer any questions they bring up.

Once everybody is getting reports, offer voluntary lunch and learn sessions to demonstrate the online features of the system. Typically when such a plan is followed, we see a system adoption rate of somewhere around 75-80% within 4-6 weeks.

Enabling Change

Ultimately, change can happen in one of two ways. You can try to command it, forcing staff to see things your way, discussing benefits and adoption from a position of authority.

Or, you can let it emerge naturally, with timekeepers answering the WIIFM question on their own, interacting with the system voluntarily, and adopting it from a position of self-improvement and empowerment.

The choice is up to you. From our experience, however, it’s pretty obvious which one achieves real change and lasting success.

The 7 New Rules for Effective Law Firm Timekeeping

Todd Gerstein
Founder & CEO, Smart WebParts

In this competitive world, it no longer works to have a disorganized approach to your firm’s timekeeping. Firms that don’t make effective timekeeping a priority – from both the business process and technology angles – are losing money, increasing attorney frustration and compromising timesheet quality.

Based upon our experience and research, I’ve come up with a list of “new rules” for our times. The rules boil down to achieving these objectives:

• Improve the timekeeping experience
• Enhance the accuracy of the entry
• Ensure all hours are booked

With those objectives in mind, here are the new rules for effective law firm timekeeping.

1. Stop trying to change your timekeeper’s behavior

A timekeeper’s behavior is very hard to change. (It is easier to influence new associates, but what about everybody else?) Timekeepers are human, which means they have different personalities — and therefore different behaviors — that are intrinsic to who they are. Our pediatrician used to tell us our kids came factory wired. Ditto for lawyers.

For 25 years, the conventional wisdom has been to compel everyone to keep their time contemporaneously. That never happened. Our research proves over and over again that contemporaneous timekeeping hovers around 40% of the population. The new rule calls for fitting the tools to the timekeeper’s behavior, whether they be contemporaneous, reconstructionist or collaborative timekeepers. This enables every behavior type to find timekeeping success.

2. Offer different timekeeping tools for different types of behavior

Trying to force contemporaneous software tools on a reconstructionist just won’t work. It’s not just inconvenient or difficult for the reconstructionist – it’s impossible.

Knowing this, you realize that if you want accurate, compliant timesheets, you need to find a system that offers a spectrum of software tools to suit all behaviors. Time capture to help the reconstructionist. Timers for contemporaneous behavior. Desktop systems for the attorney while they are in the office. Mobile systems for timekeepers who are out of the office or on the go.

3. Make time capture essential

No matter the behavior, the timekeeping tool that helps most and must be a component of any timekeeping system is time capture. This is the only way to ensure that all hours worked are booked into the system.

Time capture increases revenue by capturing billable time that is missed or underreported. It does this by monitoring firm systems and the desktop for documents, phone calls, email, appointments, research and more. It then provides the timekeeper with a journal of the day’s activities.

While reconstructionists benefit most from time capture, other timekeepers can use it to improve accuracy, and find lost units when they’ve been particularly busy multi-tasking or out of the office. Think of it as a timekeeping safety net. Not to mention the benefit of making it feel easier to enter time.

4. Prioritize accuracy

The attorney-client relationship is changing, with clients wanting more transparency and value than ever before. That’s why it has never been more important that bills accurately portray the activity and value of the work completed. The information provided by time capture will help the attorney compose better time entry narratives.

5. Enable your timekeepers to keep time anywhere

Without a doubt, the world has gone mobile. Everywhere you go, people are working and communicating using mobile devices like Smartphones and tablets. Whether they’re in court, on the road or at a soccer game, attorneys are working many hours outside the office and need their timekeeping software to be available everywhere. That’s now possible, either through a remote connection into the firm (for desktop applications) or on a smartphone or tablet.

Attorneys are busy people with many demands on them outside the office. But billable hours should not go unbooked because of a timekeeping system that lacks the flexibility to keep time anywhere.

6. Focus on technology

The technology to handle such a long wish list of features is now available to law firms. (Disclosure and shameless plug: We offer a product called Smart Time that fills the bill.) And, more than ever, updated technology must be a part of addressing the inefficiencies and challenges of law firm timekeeping.

Simply, great software technology can improve the timekeeping experience. Since timekeeping is a major source of pain for timekeepers, whatever you can do to limit and reduce that pain will bring a huge and immediate return on investment for the firm and relief to your timekeepers.

7. Create a culture of compliance

To get timesheets in on time you’ve got to have a plan that is non-negotiable, consistent and has explicit expectations. Culturally, firms that have made timesheet compliance a priority are the most successful at achieving compliance.

Those who struggle have problems with inconsistent methodologies, unclear expectations and a culture that doesn’t value timesheet compliance.

A system can help a great deal, offering the right tools for a variety of behaviors. But without the culture, nothing will stick. We think the most effective strategy is that timesheets are due weekly, each Monday at noon for the prior week. At month’s end, they are due the next day by close of business.

Conclusion

With these rules in mind, any firm can substantially improve both the business process and the actual technology of timekeeping.

We are at one of those moments where technology can revolutionize something that has been inefficient and painfully for as long as the profession has existed; there are no more excuses for doing things “the way they’ve always been done.”

Apply these rules and find more billable hours, more accurate entries, fewer late timesheets and happier attorneys. A true renaissance in timekeeping.

Timekeeping Strategy Brief: Excuses, Excuses …

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Todd Gerstein
CEO & Founder
Smart WebParts

Before I lay out my five-point plan to fix compliance, let’s look at the most common excuses. Not surprisingly, timekeeping excuses cut right to the pain and angst of the problem.

Excuses, Excuses…

For attorneys, timekeeping is hard because:

• Keeping time is unnatural. Who thinks of their day in six-minute increments? No one, that’s who. It can seem like pure absurdity to have to track and enter every task one does in a workday.
• I want to practice law. Attorneys want to practice law, not justify their day to the client and/or the firm, even though they know their law firm is a business.
• It breaks my rhythm. The process requires a kind of meta-attention that few people possess. It requires the awareness to know that you need to stop your primary task so that you can do the secondary timekeeping task. It interrupts the natural flow of work and creates a distraction that is hard to recover from. .

Attorneys aren’t just making up excuses. There are legitimate reasons why it is hard to keep time. It’s not that these reasons don’t exist; it’s that they can’t matter.

Once you’ve given them the equivalent of a hug and a “there, there,” it’s time to remind them: Yes, your excuses are legitimate, but you are an attorney and this is a business and so…they can’t matter. Nothing can get in the way of timely, accurate timekeeping.

The Plan: Make Timekeeping Non-Negotiable

But how, you ask?

We know, from our research and discussions with firms, that the firms with the greatest success in timekeeping create a culture of compliance. They do so by keeping expectations about timekeeping non-negotiable, consistent and clear. They also include incentives and/or penalties for enforcement.

What steps can you take to emulate the firms with successful timekeeping cultures?

1. Policy. You must have a firmwide policy that outlines the rules everyone must follow for time entry processes. Daily by 10 a.m. or every Monday for the preceding week, for example.
2. Provide the best tools and technology. Make sure you have an up-to-date timekeeping system that includes time capture, time entry and mobility wrapped up into one software package.
3. Partners. Partners can’t play by different rules. Even if they have secretaries who help out with time entries, they must lead on this issue.
4. Problem attorneys. Don’t ignore the attorneys who feel that they can get away with flouting the policy. Have the partners take swift action to deal with these folks, so that everyone is aware that non-compliance won’t be tolerated.
5. Penalties. The punishment we’ve uncovered that works best for firms seems to be penalties that affect an attorney’s year-end review. Include timekeeping skills in the attorney’s assessment.

An End to the Excuses…

Timesheet compliance can sometimes seem like a battle not worth fighting, especially when your best attorneys offer up such convincing reasons why it is difficult for them to keep time. But fixing your compliance issues is imperative, and, as you’ve seen, actually fairly straightforward. All it takes is a commitment from firm leadership to make the culture of compliance a reality.

And, if enthusiasm for establishing the culture wanes, remember: When attorneys make excuses about timekeeping, firms lose money. It’s that simple. While it’s not easy to get attorneys to comply, it is also very simple: Do it. No excuses. (You might also remind them that timekeeping is part and parcel of being an attorney!)

Support compliance using the plan outlined above, and you’ll have happier attorneys, less revenue leakage, and maybe best of all, an end to the excuses.

Whitepaper: The Power of Time Capture Automation

Imagine a world where every timekeeper in your firm:

• had perfect recall when they prepared their timesheets;
• booked all hours worked; and
• prepared complete and accurate timesheets with the least amount of effort.

This is not a pipe dream. This is what time capture automation can do for your firm.

To learn more, we invite you to read our whitepaper – The Power of Time Capture Automation.

In the whitepaper you’ll learn:

• What is leaked time?
• Which common work situations do most people forget to bill?
• How much revenue can be recovered?

Ready to learn more about time capture technology? Click here to download the whitepaper.

Understanding Timekeeper Behavior

By Todd Gerstein
CEO & Founder of Smart WebParts

When it comes to keeping time accurately, there’s a right way and a wrong way, right?

Wrong.

Though the conventional wisdom is that timekeeping is best done as events happen (known as contemporaneous timekeeping), it turns out the pain of timekeeping is so intense that most attorneys can hardly bring themselves to face their timesheets each day.

In fact, 60% of attorneys do not use contemporaneous timekeeping. More on that in a bit. But for now, let’s look at how contemporaneous timekeeping became conventional wisdom.

Logical, If You’re a Computer

Back in the 1980s, when time entry software was introduced, it was thought that the only way to be accurate and thorough was to log time contemporaneously. Experts argued that if you didn’t keep your time this way, you would leak time, as it would be impossible to remember what you did in the past, with more lost the longer you waited.

This argument won the day, and that’s how contemporaneous timekeeping became the “best practice,” earning the managing partner’s seal of approval.

Contemporaneous timekeeping is so logical, such a no-brainer, that you would think everyone would keep time contemporaneously and even be happy to do so!

But I’m an Attorney, Not a Punch Clock!

Not the case, I’m afraid. For busy, over-scheduled attorneys, this method of timekeeping requires superhuman discipline that is unattainable for most.

But, if they’re not keeping time contemporaneously, how do attorneys keep time? We set out to answer that question. In  a survey on Law Firm Timekeeping with Adam Smith Esq., the preeminent economic consulting house serving the legal profession in New York.  Here’s one data point from the survey:

It’s clear from this that a majority of attorneys–60 percent–are behaving far differently from what conventional wisdom would predict. (And what those who follow the conventional wisdom would prefer.)

No matter how hard experts have tried to convince timekeepers to keep their time contemporaneously, it just doesn’t happen. When asked why, the answers we got included “My day is too hectic,” “It breaks my rhythm,” “I prefer to do administrative tasks on off hours,” and “Lack of discipline.”

A Human Approach

Reconstruction–going back and looking at emails, appointments and phone logs–hardly seems like an ideal timekeeping method. Indeed, it’s the law firm equivalent of CSI–piecing together what happened by whatever clues are left behind. But, if that is what people are doing, that is what people are doing.

Till now, most timekeeping software was built for the contemporaneous timekeeper. The reconstructionist was totally ignored. It is time for that to change. Everybody needs to be supported. That’s our goal, because it’s almost impossible to change behavior–so you might as well support it.

Toward a More Inclusive–and Less Painful–Timekeeping System

As for the right way to do things, it should alleviate the intense pain of timekeeping that so many attorneys report.

The right way to keep time should:

• Make timekeeping less time-consuming
• Improve the accuracy of the entry
• Ensure all hours are booked
• Support multiple timekeeping behavior

Impossible? We don’t think so.

And finally, I invite you to watch the Smart Time Overview video.  Smart Time is our landmark product that reinvents timekeeping.  In two minutes we’ll show you how Smart Time can improve timekeeping and maximize your firm’s profitability by boosting billable hours.