When your organizing system breaks down, things can get ugly. Missed deadlines; cases falling through the cracks; a total lack of a big picture, or any idea of who is working on what.
In the timeless words of Bill Murray: “Dogs and cats living together. Mass hysteria.”
The cure to mass hysteria is automation. I’ve recently written about how law firm automation keeps the whole team organized and saves you from system breakdown. But attorneys need to know what law firm automation looks like in the nitty-gritty details of the daily grind.
To show examples of everyday automation, I want to look at one of our most innovative new features: customized taskflows triggered by the push of a button.
We call them taskflow triggers.
A Unique Solution
For years, Filevine has offered automated tasks and deadlines according to what phase a case is in. But with our latest update, you can create customized taskflows for any regular, repeated procedure in your firm.
With a single click, the customized taskflow will begin. The right folks will get the right task assignments, complete with any relevant case details. When that task is completed, the next one arrives on their tasklist. This feature represents a huge step forward toward full law firm automation.
Firms are already using taskflow triggers for things like:
- Medical record collection
- Witness contact procedures
- Police record retrieval
- Preparing and filing motions
But since Taskflow Triggers are infinitely customizable, you can get creative about how you use them. Every firm is unique, and taskflow triggers lets you standardize any process.
Taskflow Triggers in Action
Collecting medical records can be chaotic.
Each case at a firm has its own slew of medical providers. They all have different systems for how they communicate with attorneys and what kind of authorizations they require before they hand over documents. Once you’ve sent a request to a provider, you sometimes need to follow up to ensure you get what you need on time. Since medical treatment is often ongoing, new information can come in at any stage of a case’s cycle. Some requests are simply denied on grounds of privacy, leading to subpoenas.
What that looks like in practice is frequent calls, back and forth emails, and a nagging anxiety that you’re letting something slip through the cracks.
But you can tame this chaotic process with taskflow triggers. Here’s an example:
It’s time to gather a client’s medical records from their provider.
You click a button, and a task is automatically assigned to your paralegal, telling them who to call. This autotask even includes the provider’s phone number, and what dates of service are required.
Once the paralegal marks that task as complete, a new autotask appears, telling them how to send in a records request form. When that’s done, they’re given another autotask, asking them to upload the received medical records to the correct tab.
Later on, when the case has moved over to a new phase, you learn that your client has sought additional medical treatment. Simply trigger the task flow again to start the process of retrieving the new records.
This scenario can be customized based on your own record collection system, and for any other process you want standardized.
Tame Chaos, Achieve Law Firm Automation
Taskflow triggers essentially walk your legal team through any complex area of their work. They keep your workers on track. They help attorneys and staff members understand processes and learn the right order of operations — which can be especially important when introducing new procedures or practice areas (or training a new staff-member).
And they give managers peace of mind.
Just look at your feed once a day to see that the work is being done effectively and on time. You’ll be alerted instantly if there are any missed deadlines or other issues.
All of which sounds like a great alternative to mass hysteria!
Learn more about taskflow triggers by scheduling a demo. If you’re an existing Filevine customer, reach out to our support team for more information.