If you want to be a productive lawyer in remote work you need to not only improve your daily routine, but also implement technology solutions.
Moving the work remotely is a challenge not only for companies but for individuals. Many people have to face the self-organization that some might find difficult. Though there are positives to working from home, there are plenty of distractions that affect productivity. Once again, technology comes to aid employees struggling with maintaining productivity.
Navin Mahavijiyan, globally experienced leader in the legal operations and legal services community, commented on why the technical tools are important for the lawyers and what they can help with:
“Ultimately (outside of just ROI/money), technology can accelerate the activity of lawyers, allowing them to be more responsive to their clients. The automation of tasks like document generation, email notifications, etc. removes low value and less engaging work (a very common complaint) from the lawyers’ plates letting them focus on more engaging work and spending time with clients or growing their practice.
Finally, a common impact is that using technology allows lawyers to derive a lot of data around how the lawyers are working, this allows them to plan effectively and assess the value of work being done (e.g., should we stop doing this kind of work, should this task be outsourced to a lower cost service provider). Also, while not technically saving money, the adoption of e-billing and matter management systems makes it easier for lawyers/firms to get paid without having to manually submit and build invoices from manually tracked hours/matters.”
Tech tools for your personal productivity
Technological tools have proven helpful in managing tasks while working from home. Fourteen industry leaders from Forbes Technology Council shared their favorite tools for productivity. Among them are:
- Any.do that helps with task organization;
- Basecamp for project management;
- LastPass for password management.
The tools can cover almost every sphere of work that will help to keep it on track or make it easier.
Oxford College of Marketing recommends Evernote to keep notes about important tasks, Grammarly for light proofreading and grammar checking, and Write Monkey to eliminate distractions.
One of the popular systems for project management, Trello, created a guide on how people can use the management tools to execute their plans and reach goals. The authors say that once you have a goal in mind, you need to create a mission or purpose statement behind the goal you’ve set.
The popular sales concept 80/20 states that 80 percent of your sales come from 20 percent of customers, and the same concept applies to self-management. 20 percent of your tasks will have the biggest impact. That is why task setting with will and motivation can lead to the biggest success and productivity boost.
Microsoft undertook even more detailed analysis of productivity. The company created a service that helps analyse how well people use productivity tools. MyAnalytics gives insights on how the person’s activities affect wellbeing and focus and advice and training to help improve productivity. The same website has workplace analytics.
In 2019, the software comparison site GetApp conducted a survey that showed that 97 percent of project managers use more than one tool in their work. With increasing popularity of remote work, Forbes released a list of applications that are most useful for the employees who started working from home. Habit List, Evernote, Airtable, and Zoom are among them.
Tech solutions also help save money
Personal productivity isn’t the only sphere where technology can help the employee. For many companies, efficiency is saving time, and time saves money. Nothing makes work more efficient than technology.
The legal sphere also undertook digital transformation in the past few years. The first noticeable change happened when, due to the pandemic, all the business communication went online. The survey made by the Diversity and Flexibility Alliance found that 64.7 percent of law firms allow their lawyers to telecommute. Most of the business meetings were easier to lead through the phone or video conference, without delaying any work due to quarantine.
That is why for being a productive lawyer in remote work you need to not only improve your daily routine, but also implement technology solutions.
*This article is an extract of the free ebook Lawyer’s Work and Productivity in a New Normal. Written by Lawrina’s team and top legal innovators, this ebook contains 60+ pages of recent researches and brand-new approaches to lawyer’s work, productivity and effective communication in a post-pandemic.
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