
The American Bar Association website has a nice interview with Chris Fortier, author of The Lawyer’s Guide to Office Automation. His journey from in-house power user to nationally known expert qualifies him to address this topic:
When I started working with young lawyers in my state, I saw that the membership involvement form was not friendly to getting people into the organization quickly. You had to download/print, fill out the form, save it, and then email or mail the paper form. Not efficient. So I turned the form into a Google Form and we ended up getting more people expressing interest in getting involved with our organization. Everything went in an automation direction for me.
In Chris’s view, the most important takeaway from the book is that “[Yo]u can automate a process. You, your staff, and your clients can handle it. If you know your firm, how it operates, and where you want to take your firm in the future, you can automate your firm to better serve your clients.”
It’s a pretty ambitious goal, but my impression from reading it is that he comes remarkably close to achieving it. Lots to like so far, including his emphasis on spreadsheets and using the tools you already. More than a few lawyers are likely to find his his tips on making email more efficient to more than repay the price of the book. My review will be finished soon. Can’t wait to own your copy? Check out Amazon.com.