Decrease Stress in Legal Professionals with Advanced Case Management Software
Legal Experts under Stress at Work
The constraints of current resourcing in both public and independent sectors of legal work are putting pressure on lawyers attempting to deliver good quality services to their clients, whose needs are always expanding . Stress related ailment is rising amongst solicitors and barristers as they attempt to match rising requests for lucrative results for their company with life outside work. Alcohol abuse, always a lawyer’s downfall, and now drug abuse are increasingly common.
The Times reported increased stress amongst lawyers in October 2008, saying:
“Alcohol Concern has also showed that the death rate from liver cirrhosis among lawyers is double the national average. The average age of callers to LawCare is dropping, with a sharp increase in calls from trainees with drink problems. “
Vanessa Lloyd Pratt wrote in the Times on July 30 2009
“It is little wonder to me that the levels of alcoholism and addiction among lawyers has climbed steadily over the past few years with helplines jammed with distressed lawyers, particularly women. While women in other professions may face similar difficulties, what is unique to the legal profession is the intense costs targets that involve long working hours and competitive strategies. We have all seen films that emphasise those pressures such as The Firm. These targets are not just the stuff of fiction but are a reality — particularly during the recession in which some of the biggest legal firms in the world have collapsed and senior management have been ousted. It is little wonder that the buzzword around legal offices is “fear”.”
Employer Response
It is growing more necessary that public and private sector employers strive to reduce the effects of stress on their legal professionals, even if for no other reason than the profit they seek to make. Once legal professionals are involved heavily with drink or drugs, it may be too late to rectify the situation from an employer’s perspective and it is certainly too late from the lawyer’s point of view. From drink and drugs policy implementation, to meditation to home working to on site gyms, forward thinking councils and firms are beginning to offer stress reducing programs and flexibility. Some stress can be ameliorated by improving communication and systems within and outside the immediate office environment. Care needs to be taken when developing new systems that more pressure is not added to an already over stretched workforce. Some legal departments are turning to case management software in an effort to manage workload more efficiently.
Use Case Management Software as Part of Stress Reduction
Discovering case management software that frees diligent legal teams from behind the scenes jobs in order to concentrate on client needs is increasingly important to legal professionals in both public and private sectors. Very few legal departments can focus on clients if they are handling considerable case loads and trying to find case details, disseminating documents etc inefficiently whilst also arranging and rearranging family responsibilities. The risk of allowing key dates to escape unnoticed or of making errors in some case or matter increases with the problems associated with handling the ever increasing documentation created by letters, court documents and computers.
Case management software is not all the same. Much of it started out as legal accountants’ software and as a result does not meet lawyers’ needs nowadays. New improvements have resulted in case management software that records time allocated to clients, speeds up document generation, upcoming dates and appointments are highlighted and also promotes collaborative working and creates management reports easily to reduce risk. Some case management systems even help with Lexcel compliance. This is the type of legal case management software that may enable a reduction in stress amongst solicitors and litigators.
When drawing up your drug and drink policy or considering health and safety in the work place, do not omit considering stress and the place of your working practices and IT in reducing its frequency.