Law firms face increasing pressure to optimize workflows, manage caseloads efficiently, and reduce administrative burdens. How Legalboards Transformed Law Firm Operations demonstrates how legal workflow automation has become a crucial tool for modern law firms, helping streamline case management and improve operational efficiency. Legalboards, a legal workflow automation tool tailored for the legal industry, has been instrumental in addressing these challenges.
This case study explores how Legalboards transformed law firm operations with its transformative impact, backed by real performance data and user testimonials.
Common Challenges in Law Firm Operations
Legal professionals juggle multiple cases, deadlines, and compliance requirements. Before adopting Legalboards for workflow automation, firms faced common pain points such as:
Time wasted on manual task tracking
Lack of workflow visibility
Delays in case progression due to inefficient communication
“Legalboards has helped me stay on top of cases and make sure that all tasks are completed in a timely manner. My staff does not need to remember to do things, Legalboards automatically assigns the tasks based on the rules we set up.” – Frances, CEO
On average, law firms spent over 20 hours per month on manual task tracking, with inconsistent follow-ups leading to missed deadlines. Teams struggled to see real-time case progress, and communication gaps between attorneys and support staff resulted in redundant work.
“[…] You can see the status of matters from a bird’s-eye view. It made it easy to visualize the flow of our cases and discover where the bottlenecks were.” – Tina, Office Manager
How Legalboards Transformed Law Firm Operations
Legalboards provided an intuitive, legal workflow automation system that seamlessly integrated with existing legal practice management tools. The automation rules reduced manual task allocation by over 80%, the kanban-style visual boards enabled real-time workflow tracking, and the integration with Clio improved data synchronization and reduced duplicate work.
“Legalboards was incredibly easy to integrate with my existing practice management software. The automation tools allow us to move cases through our workflow effortlessly, reducing human error and improving efficiency.” – David, Attorney at Law
Measurable Impact of Legalboards
The impact of Legalboards has been evident across firms of various sizes. The table below highlights the automation efficiency gains and cost savings for different firm sizes over a three-month period:
Firm Size
Avg. Processes Automated (monthly)
Avg. Time Saved (minutes/month)
Avg. Cost Reduction ($/month)
Large (15+ users)
31,668.33
95,005
50,544.13
Mid-Sized (7-15 users)
8,274.33
24,823
13,227.98
Small (<5 users)
693.67
2,081
1,108.65
These numbers translate into tangible operational improvements. Firms now experience:
More efficient collaboration
Faster response times
Improved workflow visibility
“Being able to have a bird’s-eye view of where our matters are in workflow allows us to identify areas in our process that need attention. The continual improvements to the product make it even more valuable.” – Megan, COO
“The flexibility of Legalboards allows for a ton of customization in addition to two-way syncing with practice management software. The main selling feature for me is the automation features.” – Karin, Legal Tech Administrator
Why Law Firms Choose Legal Workflow Automation
How Legalboards Transformed Law Firm Operations goes beyond simple task management. The system provides a seamless, automated approach to case management, with benefits such as:
Time savings exceeding 95,000 minutes per month for large firms
Cost reductions reaching $50,500 monthly
Improved workflow visibility and efficiency across all firm sizes
Get Started with Legalboards
Experience the power of legal workflow automation tailored for law firms. Schedule a demo with Legalboards and take the first step toward a more efficient practice.
“Legalboards is not just software—it’s a transformational solution for modern law firms.“ – Will, Managing Partner, U.S. Law Firm
The Legalboards team was excited to be joined by Susie and Monifa from Garabyte for an informative session originally held on November, 13th, 2024. Susie and Monifa talked all about the basics of privacy, the intersection of privacy and cybersecurity, and how firms can approach building their own privacy programs.
Watch The Webinar
In this free previously recorded webinar, you’ll be able to either start or refine your law firm’s privacy best practices.
Susie and Monifa will help you identify key areas, nuances of what’s required when dealing with client information across locations, and more. This is a can’t miss session for anyone looking to enhance their privacy policies.
In our previous post, we discussed the importance of process discovery in legal operations, focusing on how mapping out your workflows can streamline tasks, clarify roles, and enhance communication within your firm. Now, we’ll take the next step by transforming those documented workflows into a visual format, making them more accessible and easier to optimize for everyone on your team. But, you may be asking yourself, why should I start visually mapping my processes? What impact will this really have on my work?
Visual mapping is a powerful tool that builds on the process discovery work you’ve already completed. By converting your list of activities—such as initial consultations, document reviews, and trial preparations—into a visual map, you create an overview of your legal operations that is clear, intuitive, and adaptable to different learning styles.
Visual mapping is especially impactful for update meetings. We’ve heard from office managers, paralegals, and other legal professionals that having a visual way to look at case progression directly impacts how their law firm collaborates and communicates to effectively provide superior services to clients.
Why Create Visual Maps of Your Processes?
Visual mapping is more than just diagramming; it’s about making your workflows universally accessible and easier to manage. Here’s why visual mapping is so effective:
Cater to Diverse Learning Styles: People absorb and process information differently. Visual mapping caters to various learning styles, making complex processes easier to understand for everyone, whether they prefer visual aids, step-by-step guides, or holistic overviews.
Leverage Popular Visual Tools: Visual representations of information, such as infographics, have become incredibly popular because they simplify complex data and processes into digestible formats. By using visual mapping in your legal operations, you tap into this trend, making your workflows not only functional but also engaging and easier to comprehend.
Identify Redundancies and Bottlenecks: A visual workflow helps you quickly pinpoint areas where tasks are duplicated or where bottlenecks occur, allowing you to address inefficiencies more effectively.
Enhance Team Collaboration and Transparency: Team members can more easily understand their roles and responsibilities when workflows are visually mapped, leading to better collaboration and fewer misunderstandings.
How Does Visual Mapping Work in Legalboards?
Legalboards is designed to make the transition from written process discovery to visual mapping as seamless as possible. Here’s how you can use Legalboards to bring your processes to life:
Drag-and-Drop Interface: With Legalboards, you can easily translate the steps from your process discovery—such as initial consultations, document reviews, and trial preparations—into a visual workflow using a simple drag-and-drop interface. You can even take that a step further and drag-and-drop cards between columns to reflect the case progression.
Customizable Workflows: Every firm has its unique needs. Legalboards allows you to customize each step of the workflow to fit the specific requirements of your team, ensuring that your visual maps are both accurate and practical. To give you an idea of this, you can customize your column colours, give custom labels to cards, and choose the board or task view depending on your needs.
Real-Time Updates: As your cases progress, Legalboards ensures that your visual workflows are always up-to-date, providing real-time visibility into every aspect of your operations. We integrate with other leading legal technology, so you can reduce your need for dual data entry, keep everything you need in one place, and more.
Task Assignment and Monitoring: By visually mapping your workflows, you can assign tasks to specific team members directly within the platform, making it easier to track progress and ensure accountability.
Example: Litigation Board
Legalboards uses the Kanban framework, a prominent agile methodology, to organize matters, contacts, and tasks. Consider the same example from our first post, a litigation board. You know that while some matters are more complex, most follow the same general process.
As shown below, you can take the general steps and translate them into different columns that organize your workflow. If you need more help taking your current workflows into visual maps or digitalizing that, contact us at support@legalboards.com.
Our Business Litigation Board is designed to provide clear, step-by-step visibility into each phase of a case. The board is divided into columns, each representing a key stage, from ‘Intake’ to ‘Post-Trial.’ This structure allows teams to easily track the progression of tasks and ensures a smooth workflow. Let’s walk through a few examples using our litigation board.
Real Automation Examples:
Intake/Initial Consultation
Automation: When a new case card enters the ‘Intake’ column, Legalboards can automatically create and assign tasks like ‘Schedule Initial Meeting,’ ‘Send Client Agreement,’ and ‘Request Basic Documents’ to the responsible team member.
Why this matters: Automates the first steps, ensuring nothing is missed right at the start and speeding up case onboarding.
Document Gathering
Automation: If a task like ‘Collect Financial Statements’ or ‘Request Signed Affidavit’ isn’t completed within 5 days, an automated reminder email is sent to the client, and the team gets a notification.
Why this matters: Ensures proactive follow-up without manual reminders, keeping the document collection phase on schedule.
Trial Prep
Automation: When a card moves to ‘Trial Prep,’ Legalboards can generate a checklist that includes tasks like ‘Finalize Witness Statements,’ ‘Organize Exhibit Binder,’ and ‘Prepare Opening Arguments.’ Each task is auto-assigned to relevant team members.
Why this matters: Ensures systematic preparation by breaking down the complex trial prep phase into manageable, clear tasks, reducing the risk of oversight.
These automations take routine tasks off your plate, keep the workflow moving, and ensure that your team can focus on strategic, high-value activities.
Automating Your Legal Operations
Automation is what really takes your visual mapping to the next level. Automating routine tasks can significantly enhance your firm’s efficiency, allowing your team to focus on more critical, high-value activities.
Steps to Start Automating with Legalboards
As a refresher, you can check out this guide to the basics of automation within Legalboards. But, it’s important to think of automation as an “if this, then that” recipe as you get started. This process will help you identify what needs to be automated and how:
Identify Repetitive Tasks: Review your visual workflows to pinpoint repetitive tasks that can be automated, such as sending reminders, scheduling meetings, or updating case statuses.
Set Up Triggers and Actions: Legalboards lets you create automated triggers based on your visual workflows. For instance, once a document is reviewed, the system can automatically notify the next person in line or update the client’s case status. For detailed guides on specific triggers and actions, check out our guides on automation.
Integrate with Other Tools: Legalboards can integrate with your existing tools, ensuring that your automation process is smooth and that data flows seamlessly across your platforms. You can find the full list here.
Monitor and Adjust: Automation is not a set-it-and-forget-it solution. Use the reporting features in Legalboards to regularly monitor the effectiveness of your automations and make necessary adjustments for optimal results.
Conclusion
As you can see, visual mapping and automation are powerful extensions of the process discovery work we’ve covered previously. By bringing your workflows into a visual format and then automating repetitive tasks, you can significantly boost your firm’s efficiency and client satisfaction.
If you’re ready to take the next step in optimizing your legal processes, contact us today to learn how Legalboards can help you streamline and automate your legal operations.
Running a law firm is no small feat. With the growing demands on legal professionals, keeping everything running smoothly can feel like a juggling act. That’s where the new integration between Lawmatics and Legalboards comes in. It’s designed to make your life much easier and your firm more efficient.
Running a law firm is no small feat. Between managing client relationships, keeping up with case files, and ensuring that deadlines are met, it’s easy to feel like you’re constantly juggling a dozen tasks at once. If you’re like most legal professionals, you’ve probably wished for a way to streamline all those moving parts and free up more time to focus on practicing law. That’s where the new integration between Lawmatics and Legalboards comes in.
This powerful combination is designed to take the stress out of your day-to-day operations, helping you run your firm more smoothly and efficiently, so you can provide even better service to your clients. Whether you’re a solo practitioner or part of a larger team, this integration is here to make your life easier and your firm more productive.
Why Integrate Lawmatics with Legalboards?
1. Simplify Your Client Management
Managing a client’s journey from the first hello to the final handshake can be complicated. With the Lawmatics and Legalboards integration, a lot of that heavy lifting gets automated. The client info you gather in Lawmatics during intake flows straight into Legalboards, ensuring all tasks, deadlines, and communications are right where you need them. This means fewer chances for things to slip through the cracks and more time for what matters most—taking care of your clients.
2. Make Workflows Work for You
Legal workflows can get pretty complicated, with a million moving pieces to keep track of. Legalboards helps by giving you a clear, visual overview of everything, making case management much easier. When you integrate with Lawmatics, tasks and boards update automatically based on real-time client data. It’s like having a personal assistant keeping track of all the details, so you and your team can focus on getting things done without missing a beat.
3. Get Smart with Your Data
Beyond just making things run smoother, the Lawmatics and Legalboards integration helps you make smarter decisions with your data. By combining the detailed client info from Lawmatics with the operational insights from Legalboards, you can easily spot bottlenecks, streamline processes, and make sure your resources are working where they’re needed most. It’s all about using data to work smarter, not harder, so you can deliver better results for your clients.
How to Get Started with the Lawmatics Integration
Setting up the integration between Lawmatics and Legalboards is a breeze, and you’ll start seeing the benefits in no time. To make it even easier, we’ve put together a video guide that walks you through the whole process, step by step. Whether you’re tech-savvy or not, this video will show you how to get everything up and running.
Integrating Your Accounts
As shown in the video, you can integrate your accounts by clicking on the “Extensions” icon on the menu to the side of the screen. Then, find the Lawmatics tile and click on the “See Details” button.
From there, you’ll click on the “Install Now” button to initiate the integration process. For this, you’ll need to grant access to Legalboards from your Lawmatics account. This allows us to have access to your data within Lawmatics. From there, you’ll be able to access data between the platforms with automatically synced information.
You can make the most of this integration by automating parts of your workflow. To learn more about automations and what could be useful to you, check out our other resources.
Conclusion
The integration between Lawmatics and Legalboards isn’t just a cool tech upgrade; it’s a powerful tool that can transform how your law firm operates. By automating client management, streamlining workflows, and leveraging data-driven insights, you’ll have more time to focus on what really counts—delivering top-notch legal services to your clients. Don’t let outdated processes slow you down. Embrace this integration and take your firm’s efficiency to the next level.
Ready to get started? Contact us today and find out how the Lawmatics and Legalboards integration can work for you.
As law firms grow, managing operations and ensuring that tasks are handled efficiently becomes increasingly challenging. This is especially true for remote firms that operate across multiple locations. Bernhardt Riley, Attorneys at Law, PLLC, a legal firm with offices spread across Florida, faced these exact challenges. In this blog post, we’ll explore how Legalboards played a crucial role in transforming their operations, improving productivity, and enabling them to scale successfully.
The Challenges of a Growing Remote Firm
Bernhardt Riley, Attorneys at Law, PLLC. is a rapidly expanding firm that needed a solution to streamline their operations and handle repetitive tasks efficiently. With a remote team working from various locations, they struggled with maintaining clear communication and keeping track of tasks.
Despite using a popular tool for law firms, they found that it wasn’t sufficient for their growing needs. They needed something more- something that could connect the dots in their processes and allow them to automate repetitive tasks.
Discovering Legalboards
The journey to finding the right solution led Bernhardt Riley, Attorneys at Law, PLLC to Legalboards, which they discovered through its integration with Clio. Initially, they were attracted to Legalboards because of its customization options and the potential to automate processes, but what truly set Legalboards apart was the dedicated support team.
Athena from Bernhardt Riley, Attorneys at Law, PLLC recalls how they wished they had known about the support team earlier, as it made a significant difference in their experience: “Legalboards has changed the game for us.”
Customization and Support: The Winning Combination
One of the most significant benefits that Bernhardt Riley, Attorneys at Law, PLLC experienced with Legalboards was the ability to customize the platform to fit their specific needs. The firm re-examined its workflows and took advantage of our special setup service. This service allowed them to design a process that was efficient, scalable, and tailored to their needs. This was particularly important for a remote firm where effective communication and seamless task management are crucial.
Athena highlighted the importance of having a dedicated support team to help guide them through the process of taking what they already do and just enhancing it for their team. The personalized guidance provided by Legalboards helped them overcome technical challenges and optimize their processes in ways they hadn’t anticipated.
Transforming Operations with Automation and Insights
Since implementing Legalboards, Bernhardt Riley, Attorneys at Law, PLLC has seen improvements in its operational efficiency. They’ve been able to automate repetitive tasks, create new boards tailored to specific processes, and ensure that all team members are on the same page. This level of customization has allowed them to operate more efficiently and focus on what truly matters- providing top-notch legal services to their clients.
Why Legalboards is the Right Choice for Your Firm
For law firms like Bernhardt Riley, Attorneys at Law, PLLC, Legalboards offers more than just a task management tool- it provides a comprehensive solution that can be tailored to meet the unique needs of each firm. Whether you’re looking to streamline operations, improve communication within a remote team, or gain deeper insights into your firm’s productivity, Legalboards has the features and support to help you succeed.
Ready to See How Legalboards Can Transform Your Firm?
If you’re facing challenges similar to Bernhardt Riley, Attorneys at Law, PLLC, or if you’re simply looking for a way to optimize your firm’s operations, Legalboards could be the solution you need. Schedule a demo with us today to see how Legalboards can help you solve your firm’s unique challenges.
Whether you’re looking to automate tasks, improve profitability, or enhance team communication, we’re here to help. Get in touch with us to see how we can assist your firm, or start a free trial today.
In the fast-paced world of legal services, efficiency and accuracy are paramount. Yet, many law firms need help with disorganized workflows, unclear roles, and outdated processes. This often leads to delays, increased costs, and dissatisfied clients. The solution? A thorough process discovery to map and refine your firm’s operations.
How Can Process Discovery Help Your Firm?
Streamline Workflows Mapping out your processes reveals the hidden inefficiencies that bog down your team. Identifying and addressing these bottlenecks can streamline workflows, making your practice more agile and responsive.
Clarify Roles and Responsibilities A clear understanding of who is responsible for what at each stage of a case is crucial. This not only reduces confusion but also ensures accountability. Everyone knows their role, leading to smoother operations and better outcomes for the firm and clients.
Enhance Communication Process discovery helps you evaluate current communication methods and tools, ensuring that information flows seamlessly among team members. This reduces errors and enhances collaboration.
Improve Client Satisfaction Efficient processes lead to faster case resolutions and better client experiences. Client trust and satisfaction grow when clients can be assured that your firm handles cases with precision and speed. Which then leads to repeat business and referrals.
Leverage Technology In today’s digital age, the right technology can significantly boost your firm’s efficiency. Process discovery allows you to assess your current tools and identify opportunities for upgrading or implementing new solutions that better meet your needs.
Getting Started
Mapping out your firm’s processes and workflows can seem daunting at first, but the initial effort is well worth it. By going through a discovery process, you’ll be able to comprehensively map your legal workflows, clearly define the roles and responsibilities of your team, enhance communication, utilize performance metrics for efficiency, and optimize your technology to work with you.
The first step to transforming your legal operations is to map out your process. To give you an idea of how this process works, let’s examine an example of a process within a firm focused on business litigation.
Client Inquiry: The client contacts the firm with a business dispute.
Initial Consultation: The lawyer meets with the client to discuss the case, gather basic information, and determine the next steps.
Engagement Agreement: The client signs an engagement agreement outlining the terms of representation.
Case Assessment and Strategy Development
Document Review: The lawyer reviews relevant documents provided by the client.
Legal Research: Conduct thorough legal research to understand the applicable laws and precedents.
Case Strategy Meeting: Internal meeting with the legal team to develop a case strategy.
Pleadings and Initial Motions
Complaint Filing: Prepare and file the complaint with the court to initiate the lawsuit.
Service of Process: Serve the defendant with the complaint and summons.
Response to Complaint: Defendant files an answer or motion to dismiss.
Initial Motions: File any necessary initial motions, such as motions to dismiss or motions for summary judgment.
Discovery Phase
Interrogatories and Requests for Production: Send written questions and requests for documents to the opposing party.
Depositions: Conduct depositions of key witnesses and parties involved in the case.
Expert Witnesses: Identify and engage expert witnesses, if necessary.
Document Review and Analysis: Review and analyze documents and evidence obtained during discovery.
Pre-Trial Preparation
Pre-Trial Motions: File motions in limine, motions to exclude evidence, etc.
Settlement Negotiations: Engage in settlement discussions with the opposing party.
Pre-Trial Conference: Attend pre-trial conferences with the court to discuss trial logistics and potential settlement.
Trial
Jury Selection: Select a jury, if applicable.
Opening Statements: Present opening statements to the court.
Presentation of Evidence: Present evidence, call witnesses, and cross-examine opposing witnesses.
Closing Arguments: Present closing arguments to summarize the case for the jury or judge.
Post-Trial
Verdict: Receive the verdict from the jury or judge.
Post-Trial Motions: File any necessary post-trial motions, such as motions for a new trial or motions for judgment notwithstanding the verdict.
Appeal: If necessary, prepare and file an appeal to a higher court.
Translating Legal Workflows and Applying Automation
You can use our discovery process checklist to apply these concepts to your firm. Mapping your processes helps you ensure that your firm is operating efficiently and analyze your workflow to help make your team and your client’s lives easier.
Translating this workflow into a digital process is the next step so that your firm can apply automations to reduce the amount of time spent on repetitive tasks like email reminders, scheduling meetings, and follow-ups. We’ll cover this in more detail in our next blog.
You can use programs like Legalboards to document, organize, manage, and track your operations. Contact us today to learn how we can help you manage your legal operations more effectively.
The Legalboards team was excited to be joined by Audrey Ehrhardt, Esq., CEO of Practice42 for an informative session originally held on May 28th, 2024. Audrey talked all about elder law practices and how to make your Elder Law practice become more efficient.
Watch The Webinar
In this free previously recorded webinar, you’ll get some strategies for creating, growing, and managing a successful Elder Law practice.
Learn How To Implement These Tips Using Legalboards
Want to learn more about how to take the theories and make them practical? Stay tuned for a special course that will help you apply what you learned during this session. Curious about how Legalboards can help with the way you work? Learn more about our time-saving features here.
If you have any questions about the session, please feel free to reach out to us here!
We’re excited to announce our latest integration- Office365 Calendar! Now, you can connect your Legalboards account directly to your calendar and make scheduling a breeze.
In this guide, we’ll walk you through how to get started with this integration and talk a bit about the benefits of doing so.
If you’re more of a visual learner, please check out the video below. Otherwise, let’s get into it!
Getting Integrated
Step 1: Download the Application
The first step is to connect your Legalboards account with your Office365 calendar. You’ll need to permit the two software programs to “talk” to each other, so let’s walk through that first.
On the side menu, you’ll see the “Settings” option. When you click on that, a sub-menu will appear. From there, click on the “Extensions” option to add this new integration to your account.
When you click on the “Extensions” option, you’ll see all of the third-party applications that Legalboards integrates with. To find the Office365 Calendar, we’ll need to scroll through to find it. Once you’ve found it, you can click on the “see details” button to get an overview of what the integration does and install it in your account.
A pop-up will appear to confirm that you’d like to install the application. Once you confirm it, an authentication pop-up will appear.
Step 2: Authentication
So, you’ve downloaded the application and have confirmed that you want to install it. Next, you’ll need to permit Legalboards access to your Office365 Calendar. This is simple, all you’ll have to do is click the “Authenticate My Office Calendar” on the pop-up.
Now, you’ll pick the account that you want to connect with, and then in the integrations settings, you can select which of the calendars you’d like to use.
In our example, we have two options, one called “Calendar” and another option that is our specific Legalboards calendar. I’ll select the second option so that the Legalboards calendar syncs with the Office365 calendar.
Once your accounts are connected, you’ll get an automated pop-up to tell you it was successful.
Step 3: Connecting Accounts Successfully
Now that the accounts are connected, I can see the tasks in my calendar. Please note that this applies only to the tasks that are assigned to me.
Why Integrate?
It’s simple! By integrating your Legalboards and Office365 Calendar, you’ll be able to see and make changes to events instantly. No need for dual data entry, we’ll make sure your data is updated.
If you have any questions about the integration or need some help, please feel free to chat with us using the chatbot in your app, take out a ticket, or contact us at support@legalboards.com.
In this guide, we’ll walk you through Kanban concepts and the anatomy of a board in Legalboards. If you’re new to Legalboards or would like a refresher, this will help you understand all of the different aspects of a board.
If you’d like more information about how to build a board for your specific practice area or workflow, please get in touch with us at support@legalboards.com. Boards can also be built using our templates in the board gallery, the new AI board generator, or from scratch.
An Overview of Kanban
Kanban methodology at its core is fairly simple to grasp. As you can see in the example Kanban board below, it’s a visual way to show the progress of work. Think of it as a timeline of the progression of your work. The most basic Kanban boards show work as one of three phases: to-do, doing, and done and have cards representing different tasks.
For many knowledge workers, it’s a great way to approach managing work. But, often this requires breaking down your entire workflow, so you may have a more complex Kanban board like the one pictured below.
A key concept of Kanban is that the goal is to get tasks to flow through the phases that are reflected in each column. No matter how basic or complex the Kanban board is, the work it represents needs to be completed with minimal delays. Kanban boards can be especially helpful for lawyers as a tool for managing all of their cases and related tasks. The phases, or columns, can reflect different steps of a process.
For example, it could reflect the intake or billing processes or a specific practice area. These workflows often follow the same steps, but with so many things happening simultaneously, it may be hard to track. And, this is where Kanban boards shine.
Basics of a Kanban Board
Let’s go over the basics of the boards in Legalboards. If you’re more of a visual learner, check out the video below.
Let’s move to the basics of a Kanban board in Legalboards. With the basic board, you’ll have cards that represent matters or cases, columns that represent a phase, and visual cues like labels. You can add cards based on your client’s name, matters from a third-party integration (like Clio or MyCase), and more.
Boards can be organized in multiple ways. Depending on preference and workflow or process, boards can reflect a practice area, process (for example intake or billing), or by the attorney. Again, this organization is dependent on the workflow within a specific firm and what may be appropriate for one firm may not be for another. Most users use boards to reflect a specific practice area, and for our example, we’ll be talking about boards that are set up this way.
In Legalboards, you can build board in one of three ways: from scratch, using a pre-built template, or our AI Board Generator Tool. No matter which approach you use, you’ll still be able to customize the board. You can move the columns, edit, or add new columns.
To edit a column name, click on the arrow next to the title. Here, you can rename the column, delete the column, hide/show the archived cards, and sort cards by a specific order.
While scrolling through columns, you’ll always see at the very end, “add a new column”. Here, it’s important to note that every column must be given a name before it is created and before cards are added, but you can change those titles at any time.
On the right side of any board, you’ll see the board members as icons and the “My Automations” icon that allows you to create and manage automations on the board.
Visualize Your Matters
One of the main benefits of Legalboards is the ability to quickly see and understand your workflow. Some of our visualization features include labels, column colors and descriptions, task counters, filters (both simple and advanced), and the list option view.
Let’s start with labels, these are ways for you to show directly on the card things like priority, or type of case, or some other nuance about the matter. Often this can depend on the practice area or the board organization. Along with labels, column colors, and descriptions allow you to quickly differentiate the different phases of the workflow.
Some filters can be applied to a board. If we click on the “Advanced Filters” icon, we can set up a filter to view this board. This is helpful if you have a large board and want to find something specific. Check out the video below to learn more.
You can filter the board by active cards, keywords, card members, responsible attorney(s), or labels. There is also the option to save the filter so it can be used at a later date.
To see the list option view, you can use the “toggle board view” button next to the board title to view the information differently. When you click this button, you’ll now see the matters in a drop-down list under headings that correspond with the board columns.
While in this view, you can still move cards around and see the same information that you would in the board view. There’s also a search bar at the icons at the top that allows you to quickly search through the board for a specific keyword without using a filter.
Board Management
When you view a board in Legalboards, you’ll see icons at the top next to the board title (see below). These icons allow you to filter, edit, toggle views, or search your board.
Managing a Board
From this menu, we can manage our board if we are a board admin. When we select “Edit this board”, a sub-menu will appear. On your left you’ll see your boards first and then other boards within your account. This is especially helpful for adding members to boards. Let’s talk about the first few options that help you manage your board first.
From here, you can clone, export, or view the activity of the board through it’s log. Cloning a board can be helpful if you have automations to use this board as a template for a new one. You can select what elements you would like to be copied- the members, automations, and/or cards. If you select that cards will copied, you can also copy tasks. While copying, you can also edit the board title.
If you choose to export the board, this will generate an Excel file where you can see each matter, each column, and everything related to those cards. This can be helpful depending on your integration to make sure that matters are being updated or to create custom reports based on data from Legalboards.
Then, you have the log board option. This allows you to see the board activity. It allows you to see the timeline of activity on each card within the board. You’ll be able to see information like card movements, task updates, and automations by user and date. When a mistake happens and you’re troubleshooting an issue, this is a great place to start looking into any issues.
Editing a Board
You can also edit the board within this same sub-menu. Here you can edit the board title, description, permissions for members and viewers, labels, and card members, and delete the board if necessary.
For permissions, “Disable automaton editing for members” and “Disable column editing for Members” are good options to allow admin-level members to control the board. These options act as a safety net to ensure who can make changes to automation settings for each one of your boards.
The two hiding card options help prevent unnecessary viewing of cards. For members, this can help reduce the overwhelm of a regular member because they can only see the cards that they are involved in. With this option selected, they’ll be able to see the card, the column that it is in, and some information about it. Similarly, for viewers, this option is useful for giving restricted viewing options to clients.
Next is labels. Labels allow you to identify different details of a card. In our example, we use labels to denote the status (pending- external or internal, late, accepted, etc.). These are helpful visual cues as to what’s going on with a card without opening it. You can also change the titles and colors of these labels here as well.
You can also view and edit the board members from here. You’ll see a list of those with access and their level of access. As well as the user that created the board. If you need more help with this, check out our resource here.
Finally, there is the option to delete this board. Please note that after deleting a board, you are unable to recover it. You can watch the video below for a recap of everything we talked about here.
Still Have Questions?
If you still have questions, we’re here to help! You can contact us here, or check out our other resources.
The Legalboards team was excited to be joined by Audrey Ehrhardt, Esq., CEO of Practice42 for an informative session originally held on February 29th, 2024. Audrey talked all about estate planning workflows, how to improve what firms already do, and how to keep delivering superior service to clients.
Watch The Webinar
In this free previously recorded webinar, you’ll get 5 tips and tricks to help you improve how you handle your estate planning cases. This session is a can’t miss for estate planners who want to learn more about how they can communicate and streamline their current processes. With these tips and tricks, you’ll be able to save money, time, and stress without sacrificing the quality of service you provide to clients.
Learn How To Implement These Tips Using Legalboards
Want to learn more about how to take the theories and make them practical? Stay tuned for a special course that will help you apply what you learned during this session. Curious about how Legalboards can help with the way you work? Learn more about our time-saving features here.
If you have any questions about the session, please feel free to reach out to us here!
It’s no secret that Kanban and Agile methodology is one of our favorite subjects. Here at Legalboards, we see firsthand how much it can affect a law firm’s productivity and efficiency. At its most basic level, it opens up the visibility into daily work, which then positively impacts the service provided to clients. But, it can seem like an overwhelming concept to start applying to your firm even when in reality, it’s not.
Why Kanban and Agile?
Kanban allows law firms to make their work visible. For many of us, our first task of the day is figuring out a to-do list of action items based on our memory. This can quickly become complicated. It relies on a perfect memory for every case we’re working on, which can be difficult to achieve for many reasons.
By implementing Kanban, this process itself can be simplified. A Monday morning meeting between team members is simple- let’s look at our board to see where we left off, and make a plan of action for the most important items.
Law firms especially can see the benefits of this, and you can learn more about how to get started with the basics of Kanban here, or learn more about it in our “Applying Agile to Legal Practices” course here.
Making Kanban and Agile More Effective For Your Team
One thing to keep in mind when considering Kanban and other Agile methodologies is that it can help reduce inefficiencies in your process. Using Kanban, you can document and analyze your workflow, and that visibility is important. But, how can we make sure we’re using this new insight into work properly?
Avoid Multitasking
It’s well documented that multitasking is hindering our ability to work effectively. By multitasking, we’re unable to complete mental tasks effectively when we’re switching between tasks constantly. Psychologists recommend avoiding multitasking when complex tasks are involved as shifting between tasks can cost up to 40% of productive time.
Setting Priorities and Cadence of Tasks
With Kanban, you can identify the tasks that need to be completed and their priority level. By avoiding multitasking and instead creating Work-In-Progress (WIP) limits or queues of tasks, you can set yourself up for success. WIP limits are simply a way to make sure that completing work remains attainable, taking into account what is a reasonable task to complete. For more information about WIP limits, check out John Grant’s “Kanban For Lawyers”.
WIP limits are a helpful way to rein in how much work your team is taking on while also ensuring that the proper cadence is followed. Priorities can change depending on if there’s an emergency related to a case or even just internally for the responsible attorney. Those changes can easily be reflected in the framework because of its flexibility.
How to Start Using Agile Methodology
If Kanban and Agile sound like something you’re interested in implementing at your firm, we can help with that. Check out our other resources, our webinar with Gimbal Canada, or get in touch with us at support@legalboards.com for a personalized demo session of our Kanban interface for your firm.
In this guide, we’ll walk you through how to use the New Matter automation so you can save time while creating new matters. No matter if you use Legalboards by itself or are integrated with one of our case management software partners like Clio, MyCase, Filevine, or Practice Panther, you can use this automation to handle these tedious tasks.
If you’re more of a visual learner, check out the video below or on YouTube. Otherwise, let’s get into it!
Step 1: Setting Up New Automations
To get started, you’ll need to click on “My Automations”. Here, you’ll see all of the current automations that are set up for the selected board. To set up another one, click on the “New Automation” button.
Now, you’ll see the sub-menu of automation recipes. Click on the “Create New Matter Card” tile to set this automation up. Once clicked, you’ll see the screen below.
Step 2: Set Filters
Next, let’s populate these filters. Automations follow the basic pattern of “if this happens, then that”. For the new matter automation, these fields tell Legalboards what to do when a new matter is created.
You’ll see the fields “Client”, “Practice Area”, “Originating Attorney”, “Responsible Attorney”, and “Filter by Custom Field”. For this example, we want to create a new matter card without any of these filters so every new matter has a new card, so we’ll keep these fields blank and go to selecting which column the new card will be added to.
If you wanted to use specific filters, you could set this automation to only be used for a specific practice area, attorney, or some other custom field. So, you could create a board for Family law cases, if you have a large volume of cases from a specific client, or by using the custom fields, you could use this automation for Family law cases that are designated as divorce cases.
Step 3: Choose A Column
The next step is to specify which column of a board these new matter cards will be added to. In our example, we want the new cards to be shown in the intake column, so we’ll specify that. With that selection, we can click on the “Save Automation” button to save this new automation.
Now that it’s saved, we’ll be able to see this recipe in our overview. You could use this automation for all of the boards you have and use specific filters to define each matter that should be added to each of your boards. Depending on the organization of your boards, this can be especially useful for overlapping matters or showing both a micro and macro view of your firm’s operations.
