A lot has happened in the last 6 months that have thrown the average Attorney’s practice completely out of whack. One of the biggest disrupters has been virtual hearings. While on the positive side this has saved time and effort associated with driving and running into court halls, it has created a new monster. Scheduling or Calendaring.
With judges decidinge what they will hear and when they will hear it, getting a slot to post your case for hearing is a mammoth task. A lot of precious secretarial time is spent in matching the Attorney’s calendar to the court calendar and finding a suitable time and date for the hearing. Once the date is set, ensuring that you put all the details done in both places and ensure that therey are NO mix-ups requires focus.
Increasingly, firms are looking for a way to get this task done outside the office. A Collection firm in Florida has engaged a full-time remote support staff to calendar hearings for the 12 Attorneys in its firm who appear in close to 14 counties. “Saves us a great deal of time” said a thankful paralegal from the firm who is now able to focus on getting those demand letters out the door.
The technology is simple and fail proof, the court websites all have all passwords, the attorney have calendars on Outlook or Google and it is a task that can easily be done from anywhere. Putting in a fool proof system ensures that you get the dates you want and those hearings out of the way. Another solo Attorney we spoke to has also hired a remote resource for 10 hours a week to just E-file and Calendar hearings. “It is something I hate doing” he said. He can now focus on the actual hearings.