Welcome to the brave new world of law-firm finance.
Lawyers have been focusing for years on how to improve collections from the days, not too long ago, when they huddled with colleagues in virtual telephone boiler rooms at year's end to nag recalcitrant clients, all in an effort to make their numbers for the year.
But now, the process has become automated to a very large degree throughout the profession.
Buchanan Ingersoll software not only tracks receivables for each of the firm's lawyers and correlates that cash flow with the companywide budget, but it also spots troubling collection trends and spits out data that can help attorneys decide whether to give a client more time to pay.
Or whether the relationship is a lost cause and it is time to end the representation.
It also tracks hours logged on individual engagements, giving a real-time picture of whether a representation is on budget and profitable.
"Lawyers are best at practicing law," said O'Toole, an environmental litigator based in Philadelphia and a member of the firm's management team. "The challenge was to provide them with current information that could help them better manage their practice and help us manage our firm."
The focus on getting accounts receivable down to a more manageable number began two years ago when it became increasingly apparent that the economy was heading south and that the days of blithely raising rates were over.
Much of the data that the firm had on collections was kept on spread sheets. Accounts receivable were chased by nonlawyer collectors, but the process was cumbersome, and relationship partners, the lawyers who handle client contacts, didn't have easy access to billing information.
"We knew we had plenty of data; that wasn't our problem," O'Toole said. "It was how do you take these stacks and reams, literally pounds of paper," and make them more usable?
