South Carolina Trial Law Blog

I am very interested in SmartAdvocate. It’s a new case management system that’s coming out on the market.

It’s specifically geared towards, plaintiff’s personal injury work.

It is an off-shoot of the in-house program that Parker & Waichman has been using.

I heard about this system a few years ago and it looks great.

A few of the features that I like, when a case is set up, it sets up an extra-net or ‘mini-website’ for each client and case that allows them to see the accident reports, medical records or other information as it comes in.

The program also looks to do a good job between keeping track of information, document generation, setting up rules and workflow and keeping the clients informed and the cases moving. It looks like it really leverages technology. Here are a few of my favorite features:

• The ability to automatically forward cover letters and copies of documents to clients either by e-mail or snail mail as the documents are received (pursuant to the rules each law firm establishes – hereinafter referred to as "Rules Based"). For example, if a police report is received, if the law firm rules require, a cover letter and a copy of the police report is e-mailed to the client automatically as it was received, based upon the police report icon being linked to an image. Same will be true for all documents designed by the law firm ie: hospital records, medical records, medical reports, deposition transcripts, expert reports, orders, etc.
• A state-of-the-art Workflow system which pushes your cases through the claim and litigation process. The Workflow system will prevent any file from lingering. The Workflow system automatically creates documents that need to be created to satisfy the Workflow item that is currently due. As the Workflow proceeds, if the case status needs to be updated due to the progress made through the Workflow system, those case statuses will be automatically updated. The Workflow is fully customizable for each firm’s method of practice.
• SmartAdvocate™ automatically creates an Extranet website for each client so that a client, with a user name and password, is able to obtain, at any time, the status of their case, access to their case calendar, access to case documents, hypertext links to the staff working on their case (all Rules Based). Whenever their Extranet is updated with new information, the client receives an e-mail with a hypertext link bringing them back to their Extranet to see what changes have taken place in their case.
• If both the litigating firm and the referring firm are using SmartAdvocate™, as the litigating firm updates their case file, those updates are sent via the internet and logged into the referring firm’s corresponding case file for the relevant cases (on a schedule set by the cooperating firms i.e.: once a day, once a week, once a month, etc). This way the referring firm is always be in possession of the latest information as to the status of their cases. Further, the referring firm has the ability to e-mail a new case file to the litigating firm. The litigating firm has the ability to import all of the case data received from the referring firm without any retyping. Once the case is received and opened by the litigating firm, an acknowledgment is sent over the internet which is automatically filed in the appropriate case file of the referring firm, confirming that the case was received and reflecting the litigating firm’s file number in the appropriate field.
• If the litigating firm is using SmartAdvocate™ , but the referring firm is not, SmartAdvocate™ establishes an Extranet Website for each referring firm that is not a SmartAdvocate™ user. That website, with a user name and password, enables the referring firm to gain access to all of their files that they have referred to the litigating firm and to run pre-formatted status reports on those cases. This alleviates the necessity of the referring firm calling the litigating firm to get basic case status.
• SmartAdvocate™ has the ability to send your clients update letters automatically, at pre-determined time periods (Rules Based), and track for receipt of follow-up correspondence or telephone calls from the client responding to that letter, if appropriate.
• SmartAdvocate™ has the ability to automatically import new case inquiries and all of the related data taken in through your website.
• SmartAdvocate™ can classify and track cases by their estimated value. Track and evaluate cases and their profitability by using estimated resolution time and total case value features . SmartAdvocate™ also permits users to quickly determine aggregate insurance coverage for each case.
• SmartAdvocate™ is TAPI compliant. This means that if a client calls you from their home phone number, when the phone call is transferred to you, SmartAdvocate™ will read the caller id and automatically pull up the case that belongs to that client.
• SmartAdvocate™ has "Knowledge Base" system so that all research, by topic, on any given topic, can be saved in the "Knowledge Base" of SmartAdvocate™ so that all users can have the answers to the common/prior legal research without having to do the research all over again. This becomes especially handy and a major time savor (not to mention facilitates a more complete assignment ie: interrogatory) for motor vehicle statutes, building code violations, evidentiary issues, trial issues, etc. The statutes and case citations, with links thereto (if using the legal research interface being established with a 3rd party vendor or if the documents are on your network hard drive and linked by your users) are available instantly for all users.

I will let you know more as I find out, but this looks to leverage quite a few technology resources together to really help manage your practice.