Hello, this is Matsubara, CRM Evangelist.

The work of a law firm involves a wide range of tasks, including not only handling cases but also building ongoing relationships with clients, managing deadlines and statutes of limitations, and maintaining referral networks with other professionals.

This time, we will explain how EMOROCO CRM Lite can be used for these peripheral tasks.

First, there is an important premise I would like to mention.
Legal practice is subject to strict rules unique to legal professionals, such as confidentiality obligations and the checking of conflicts of interest.
EMOROCO CRM Lite is not intended to replace these specialized business processes themselves, but rather to serve as a platform to assist with managing relationships with clients and tracking the progress of projects.
For specific details regarding compliance with laws and regulations and professional conduct, please refer to the bar association's guidelines or consult with experts.

table of contents

1. Unique challenges faced by law firms
2. Why are there limitations to managing things with Excel or paper?
3. Unique considerations such as confidentiality and conflict of interest checks.
4. Specific Examples of Entity Design
5. Automation of deadline and statute of limitations management workflows
6. Common Challenge Scenarios at a Law Firm
7. Application examples by specialized field
8. Maintaining ongoing relationships with clients
9. Network management for referrals to other professionals and experts.
10. Visualization of project progress
11. Accessibility Design: Consideration for Highly Confidential Information
12. Visualization of client satisfaction
13. Handover when the assigned attorney changes.
14. How to proceed with implementation
15. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
16. Summary

1. Unique challenges faced by law firms

Law firms face the following unique challenges:

- It is necessary to accurately manage the details and progress of each client's project.
Mismanaging deadlines and statutes of limitations carries the risk of causing significant harm to clients.
Most new requests come from referrals from existing clients or other professionals.
In law firms with multiple lawyers, handing over cases and sharing information can often be a challenge.
Client information requires a high degree of confidentiality, and special care must be taken in handling this information.

2. Why are there limitations to managing things with Excel or paper?

Many law firms manage client information and case progress using Excel spreadsheets or paper files.
In this state, the following problems occur:

- Managing deadlines relies on individual lawyers' notebooks and memos, making it difficult to verify them across the entire firm.
- Past interactions with clients are scattered throughout the assigned lawyer's memory and emails.
- Information about the referring client or other professionals will not be recorded.

3. Specific considerations such as confidentiality and conflict of interest checks.

Legal practice is subject to strict rules not found in other professions, such as confidentiality obligations and the checking of conflicts of interest.
When using EMOROCO CRM Lite, please keep the following points in mind:

- Carefully design access permissions so that highly confidential information about clients can only be accessed by the minimum necessary staff.
- The check for conflicts of interest itself will be conducted according to the firm's established formal procedures, and the records in the CRM will be treated solely as reference information.
Regarding compliance with specific job regulations and ethical codes, please refer to the guidelines of your local bar association.

It is important for the entire office to share the understanding that CRM is merely a tool to support relationship management, and not a substitute for the professional duties themselves.

4. Specific Examples of Entity Design

Using EMOROCO CRM Lite's no-code functionality, you can design entities for law firms in the following way:

・Client Entity: Manages name (or company name if applicable), contact information, and whether or not there is a consulting agreement.
・Case entity: Manage the type of case, the assigned lawyer, and the progress.
・Due date entity: Manage court dates, document submission deadlines, statute of limitations, etc.
・Referring entity: Manages information on clients and other professionals who referred new clients.

By using the relationship management function to create a structure of "Requester (parent) → Project (child)" and "Project (parent) → Due date (child)," you can view the progress of each project and important deadlines for each requester on a single screen.

5. Automation of deadline and statute of limitations management workflows

In legal practice, mismanaging deadlines and statutes of limitations is the most undesirable risk, as it can cause significant harm to clients.
Using the workflow feature, you can incorporate automations such as the following:

- An automatic reminder notice will be sent to the assigned lawyer a certain period of time before the deadline.
- Create a list of cases nearing their statute of limitations so that the entire office can review them.
- We will consider a double-check system to encourage not only the person in charge but also other lawyers within the firm to review cases where the deadline for submitting documents is approaching.

These automation systems are merely supplementary, and we recommend using them in conjunction with the formal deadline management procedures established by your office (such as managing deadlines using a notebook or having multiple people check them).

6. Common Challenge Scenarios at a Law Firm

To give you a concrete idea, let me share a scenario from a law firm.

In this firm, each lawyer managed the deadlines for each case using their own personal notebook.
When one lawyer suddenly had to take time off due to illness, other lawyers were slow to realize that the deadline for the cases he was handling was approaching, leading to a frantic scramble to deal with the situation.

By using the due date entity and implementing a system that allows for centralized monitoring of due dates across the entire office, this office can now understand the status of deadlines even when the person in charge is absent.
However, this office continues to use traditional notebooks for management in addition to CRM reminders, and the person in charge reflected that "having a double-check system has increased our sense of security."

7. Application examples by specialized field

・Corporate legal affairs: Manages the consultation history and contract review request status for each client.
・For individuals (inheritance, divorce, etc.): Record the consultation history and family background information for each client, while taking confidentiality into consideration.
・Litigation: Deadline management, progress management of the preparation status of supporting documents
・A firm primarily focused on consulting services.: Managing the schedule for regular client visits, and analyzing trends in the content of consultations.

While the points to emphasize may differ depending on the field of specialization, the common idea is to "record the relationship with the client not as a personal memory, but as a record of the firm."

8. Maintaining ongoing relationships with clients

Relationships with clients under retainer agreements form a stable revenue base for the firm.

- Record the details of consultations and past interactions for each client as an activity history.
- Manage the renewal period of consulting contracts using the workflow function.
- To enable the entire office to understand how we are handling routine inquiries from our clients.

The idea of ​​valuing existing customers, which I explained previously before spending a large budget on new customers , applies equally to relationships with consulting clients.

9. Network management for referrals to other professionals and experts.

For law firms, referrals from other professionals such as tax accountants, judicial scriveners, and administrative scriveners, as well as from existing clients, are important sources of new business.

- Record the expert or client who made the referral and follow up to express your gratitude.
- Visualize the percentage of requests coming from referrals on a dashboard.
- Utilize the track record of mutual referrals with other professionals as a tool for building relationships.

By keeping a record of the referral source, you can maintain relationships with this network of professionals not as personal connections, but as an asset for the entire firm.

10. Visualization of project progress

Using Business Process Flow (BPF), you can visualize the progress of a project in the following stages:

1. Consultation reception: Accepting consultations from clients
2. Decision to accept the caseAfter confirming potential conflicts of interest, etc., we will decide whether to accept the case.
3. Start: Start working on the case
4. in progress: Proceed with negotiations, litigation, etc.
5. resolution/conclusionThe case is resolved and concluded.

By visualizing this process, the entire firm can see at a glance which case is at which stage.

11. Accessibility Design: Consideration for Highly Confidential Information

In law firms, the confidentiality of client information is of particular importance.
Using security roles and per-form permission management, the following designs are possible:

・Form for assigned attorney: You can view and edit detailed information about the projects you are in charge of.
・Form for administrative staffThis handles information that does not involve detailed project information, such as deadline management and contact information.
・OtherInformation will only be shared to the extent necessary for formal procedures such as conflict of interest verification.

We recommend that you carefully consider this type of authority structure in light of your firm's confidentiality policies.

12. Visualization of client satisfaction

Understanding client feedback is crucial for building trust within the firm.

- Conduct a satisfaction survey (such as NPS) after the project is completed.
The survey results will be used not only as an evaluation of individual lawyers, but also as material for improving the services of the firm as a whole.
- Clearly state that responses are optional and implement the process in a way that does not burden the requester.

13. Handover when the assigned attorney changes.

When a lawyer changes positions or starts their own practice, resulting in a change of assigned lawyer, care must be taken to ensure that the relationship with the client is not interrupted.

- Keep a record of the project's progress and interactions with the client as an activity log.
- Maintain records of the background of the relationship with the client (such as how the consulting agreement came about).
- When there is a change in responsibilities, these records should be used to enable the successor to take appropriate action based on the circumstances.

14. How to proceed with implementation

For implementation in law firms, we recommend the following step-by-step approach.

We will start by introducing basic tasks such as client information and project management.
The deadline management workflow should be introduced cautiously, in conjunction with the existing deadline management system.
• Management of client and referral networks, and satisfaction surveys will be added once operations have stabilized.

15. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Q. Should detailed consultation information, including confidential client information, be managed in EMOROCO CRM Lite?
Depending on the nature of the case and the firm's policies, we recommend considering a dedicated system or stricter management methods, especially for highly confidential information.
In a CRM system, it's more practical to think of it as handling only the information necessary for progress management.

Q. Is it okay to rely solely on CRM for deadline management?
The reminder function on the CRM should be considered merely a supplementary mechanism, and we recommend using it in conjunction with the formal deadline management procedures established by your office.

Q. Can conflict of interest checks be completed entirely within the CRM?
Conflict of interest assessments must be conducted in accordance with the formal procedures established by the firm.
Client information on the CRM can be used as reference information for the verification process.

Q. Can this be managed in a law firm with multiple lawyers?
Yes.
Each case can be managed by linking it to a specific lawyer, and information can be shared only to the extent necessary through the design of access permissions.

Q. Is it possible to migrate from existing client data (Excel)?
Yes.
You can use the Excel import function to migrate your data while importing existing data.

16. Summary

In addition to handling cases, law firms have many other important tasks, such as building ongoing relationships with clients, managing deadlines and statutes of limitations, and maintaining referral networks.
While EMOROCO CRM Lite can be used as a foundation to support these tasks, it is important to treat CRM as a supplementary tool and prioritize formal procedures established by the firm when it comes to professional rules such as confidentiality and conflict of interest checks.

EMOROCO CRM Lite costs ¥1,500 per user per month (minimum 3 users) and has no initial setup fee, with a 30-day free trial.https://www.emoroco.com/You can start from there.
IT implementation subsidy eligible tool number: DL07-0022934.

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Related article

・Complete Guide to Business Process Flow (BPF)
・Security Role and Form Permission Management Guide
・Before spending a large budget on new customers
・Summary of implementation guides by industry