By Dee Crocker
Practice Management Advisor / Oregon State Bar Professional Liability Fund
Dee Crocker has been a Practice Management Advisor with the Oregon State Bar Professional Liability Fund since 1992. She has been employed in law related positions for 30 years, including 3 years as a supervisor of 50 legal secretaries and 3 years as a law office manager. She is a past president of the Oregon National Association of Legal Secretaries and a past board member of the National Association of Legal Secretaries. She is the author of many publications, including The Office Policy Manual and The Office Procedures Manual, published by the National Association of Legal Secretaries and The Litigation Handbook for the Lawyer's Assistant, published by West.
Are you having problems keeping appointments and deadlines? Do you spend hours reviewing files to determine their status? Would you like to be able to generate letters without having to look up addresses? Perhaps the answer you are looking for is case management software, also as CMS or case management programs. CMS programs integrate your calendar, to do list, contact list, case/matter, documents, billing, phone calls, and e-mail functions by eliminating the need to enter information more than once and increasing the speed of work done, while reducing costs. They can also significantly enhance the quality of your work. They contain built-in logic and expertise that assist the lawyer through the steps of a process, integrate facts and law into effective strategies, help to produce the necessary document, and keep track of deadlines. A case management program that is properly designed and well matched to the needs of a given law practice is a critical practice management tool.
