Good time management and communication is the basis for effective work. Of course, you can’t do it without reporting on the work done. Evolio can help significantly with this.
This topic will be presented by Jan Tkáč, who is behind the idea of the modern information system Evolio for lawyers.
In your opinion, what functionalities should be covered by a lawyer’s information system in the area of financial management?
During the development and refinement of Evolio, we have found that reporting and billing is a key issue. The basic principle is the reporting of hourly rates for ordinary acts on individual attorney files, the information system should also be able to charge lump sums and fees according to the attorney’s tariff, and of course the possibility to include in the billing also cash expenses and other costs. All this should also be easy to operate.
Does electronic reporting make users’ work easier?
It certainly does. With our clients, we see that there is a small percentage of lawyers who show enthusiasm for their work. For the others, it is necessary to make reporting as easy as possible, without unnecessary delays. Our user must not only be able to report work in one click, but also to view the reported work in context. That’s why we’ve created a special calendar view that motivates users to report more and better. I talk about this topic in the short video below. We have been working closely with some of our users on the development of Evolio from the very beginning, and the feedback has allowed us to add more features.
So is the ease of doing business precisely in electronic reporting?
Yes, but not only in it. In Evolio, we have a Price Lists feature that allows you to set any number of rates, either by the expertise of the user or by the type of activity. At the same time, a law firm may have price lists for different clients or focuses of legal assistance. All of this can be reported in several ways at the same time – in the top bar, using our Synchronizer, in a task, via a timesheet or via unreported activities. The user can therefore choose what suits him or her best, or what is most appropriate in a given situation.
However, we have realized that clear reporting is equally important, allowing us to monitor staff utilization, budget or cost per file and other indicators.
Going back to your conversations with clients, what other requirements do they have for the system in this regard?
In communication with our users, we have confirmed that it is important to process management reports and overviews, which are intended more for medium and large companies. Nobody wants to look for information in unclear tables, but it is important to have your business and related financial issues under control, so we have adapted them into a user-friendly form.
You mentioned the budget for the file, what is it?
We recognize that the time commitment of specific attorney cases changes over time. Therefore, Evolio allows you to set a financial budget for each file, the tracking of which helps the user to evaluate how much has already been “worked out”. Thanks to this, the attorney can communicate with the client in advance about the possible need to increase the budget according to the complexity of the case.
What about invoicing?
Evolio doesn’t have any major problems in this regard. Classically, an invoice and a separate attachment with a bill are created. You can invoice in a foreign currency, in a foreign language, Evolio also allows you to create advance invoices. You can also add a QR code to your invoice for faster payment. For more information, read one of our previous blog articles, where we discuss this topic in more detail.
Is the recording of invoice payments also automatic, or must they be monitored in a separate system and recorded manually?
We try to save our clients time, so we created the Bank module some time ago. This allows incoming payments to be matched to invoices automatically. If only a partial payment is made, the client will see in the report what percentage of the invoice remains to be paid. However, the payment can of course also be entered manually in the file. Here too, we have tried to make the user interface as simple as possible so that users can quickly find exactly what they need.
First of all, you need to pair the Bank module with your bank. You can do this in two ways, by adding an account or by using a special bank email.
What types of reports do your clients most often require in this context?
A popular one is the aforementioned tracking of the budget per file. In addition, attorneys often ask us about the ability to track workload. A great advantage is that Evolio allows reports to be tailored to the law firm. The reports are tailored to the law firm’s style of work, instead of the other way around. With customized reports, an attorney can easily see how efficiently his law firm is performing and which activities or clients are generating profits.
Is Evolio developed for law firms dealing with any specific legal agenda?
Our clients are dozens of law firms with different focuses, in this respect the system is not limited to a specific legal agenda. However, a significant number of clients use our receivables management module, which we are continuously pushing forward based on our experience. For a small number of claims, it is also available in the Free version of Evolia, so everyone has the opportunity to try the system for free without time limit.
