The only constant in life is change, and that will remain true unless we encounter the heat death of the universe. Right now, our society is going through a monumental shift as more and more tasks become automated by computer technology. That means new tools are constantly being introduced for law firms, from methods of booking appointments for clients to new legal research tools. As your practice develops and evolves, you may want to change the practices you’re engaged in and that’s best accomplished by having a rigorous change management strategy in place.

The ABA advises attorneys to plan for change management anytime firm-wide technological change is going to take place. What is change management? In brief, it’s a strategy that will enable you to introduce change as seamlessly as possible. There are a few different things that you need to tackle for a good change management plan.

The first is the actual technical planning and roll-out of the new practices. Evaluate your old technology and new technology you plan on replacing it with. Is there anything the old technology can do that the new technology cannot? If so, how are you going to manage the missing features? What might be the most appropriate time to roll out the new technology or practice? For the most part, these rollouts should be done at a time when there’s a dearth of other work to do - this could mean a period of weeks where you anticipate low activity or a roll-out during downtime, like at 3 AM.

The second important element to consider is the people who are going to be dealing with the change. You need to do a few things to get staff onboard. You’ll need to illustrate to them why exactly you’re changing processes. Explain the flaws in the old processes, how the new processes will make things better, and how that will make life easier for the employees at your firm. People are naturally resistant to change because it breeds discomfort - having to learn a new process takes time and energy. You need to take the time to show the people at your firm that the effort is going to be worth it - generally, by demonstrating that it will mean less work in the long run.

Finally, you want to create a change culture at your firm. Optimally, you want to create a workplace where everyone knows that things are going to change all the time - a team of people who understand that we live in one of the most transformative times legal work has ever seen. Be willing to embrace new techniques and technologies and be ready to discard them when they are no longer useful. At times, this can mean a lot of effort. Obviously, you want to do research before implementing things willy-nilly, but you can reap some pretty incredible rewards.

The very site you’re reading this blog on is one of the new technologies rewriting how law is being done across the country. At Attorneys on Demand, we offer attorneys who can take cases when emergencies or other conflicts come up. Need an appearance attorney on call? We always have attorneys on call and they’re always ready to help you.