A law firm reclaims time in hand
Windows Mobile keeps attorneys working on the road while a mobile time tracker logs their billable time.
In Summary:
| • | Windows Mobile gives attorneys at Cooper & Scully, PC, the tools they need to work on the road. |
| • | The lawyers account for their billable time using AIRTIME-Manager A4P-Enterprise. |
| • | Capturing billing data brings in US$8,000 per month in revenue. |
Like spare change in your pocket, a few minutes here and there can add up for any other business that lives on billable time. A short phone call in a taxi or an e-mail exchange at the airport burns up staff time, but can be a challenge to link to a client or project.
Recognizing that attorneys need help accounting for their time when they're communicating through smartphones and PDAs outside the office, the Dallas-based law firm Cooper & Scully, PC, found a seemingly simple solution: When an attorney wraps up a cell phone call or e-mail exchange, the device asks them, "Is this billable?"
That basic prompt—and the ability to easily enter account information, called a matter number in legal circles—has helped Cooper & Scully claim US$8,000 per month in previously unrecognized revenue, most of it representing short phone calls. The system is driven by a mix of Microsoft Windows Mobile Versions 5 and 6 and AIRTIME-Manager Inc.'s A4P-Enterprise time-capture software, and uses a variety of PDAs and smartphones.
Shift from notebooks
Cooper & Scully's mobile strategy has been shifting from notebooks to handheld devices over the past five years, according to CIO Tim Dasch. When the firm's original supplier of mobile e-mail software was acquired, Cooper & Scully shopped for a replacement.
"We wanted a product that would be inexpensive to operate on the back end, where we didn't have to spend a lot of money on licensing, and we wouldn't need additional servers. We were already a Windows shop, so we started moving everyone to Windows Mobile, and it's been very successful," says Dasch. A single Microsoft Exchange Server supports Microsoft Outlook Web Access and ActiveSync. Some users opt to have Exchange Server 2003 SP2 and ActiveSync push new e-mail to their handhelds, while others prefer to do a manual sync.
Rather than dictate which handheld devices Cooper & Scully's 15 mobile staffers use, attorneys can buy any device and sign up for any carrier that they want, as long as it supports Windows Mobile and ActiveSync. "It allows us to be flexible, to accommodate the user," says Dasch, adding that there are least four types of PDAs and smartphones in use, and several different carriers. "One of the great advantages of Windows Mobile is that there isn't much configuration that you have to do on the devices. In fact, we can talk the attorney through it remotely."
Timekeeping challenges
Whether traveling locally or around the country, attorneys have increasingly relied on their handheld devices and Windows Mobile. However, until a year ago, the firm still faced a challenge with timekeeping. In the office, attorneys used Sage Software's Carpe Diem time-tracking software on their PCs, but they had to remember the details of calls and e-mails made on the road and then update Carpe Diem when they returned to the office. Dasch saw A4P at a trade show shortly before a local sales representative approached him about becoming a Windows Mobile beta tester.
A4P now serves as an interface from mobile devices to Carpe Diem, allowing attorneys to add time entries relating to specific clients or cases on the fly. It also prompts them after they have spent a defined amount on time on a call or e-mail exchange. When an attorney hangs up the phone or sends an e-mail, a prompt pops up to ask if it should be billed to a specific matter number. Attorneys can select from a six-month database of matter numbers or enter a temporary number. At day's end, the A4P server batch uploads a list of transactions to Carpe Diem.
Reclaimed revenue
Dasch estimates that reclaiming the revenue associated with a dozen or more short phone calls and e-mail exchanges by each attorney each week adds up to US$8,000 per month in billable time, which easily offsets the roughly US$1,000 it cost to have AIRTIME-Manager build an interface to Carpe Diem and approximately US$20 monthly license fees per user.
"It requires next-to-zero back-end administration. All we have to do with A4P is coordinate with the vendor ahead of time to set up a user, and then we install the application," says Dasch.
The combination of handheld devices, Windows Mobile and A4P has changed how partners and associates do remote computing. Most use the devices primarily as cell phones, but they also have instant and crucial access to their calendars and contact databases, which for one partner totals more than 3,000 names. Some partners use PDAs and portable keyboards to type notes from depositions and send them to the office via e-mail. As a result, most of the notebook computers that once were the primary tools for attorneys have been relegated to a check-out pool, which translates into savings in notebook maintenance.
 | James M. Connolly is a regular contributor to Momentum, the midsize business center newsletter. |
