Introduction: Advent of information technology made revolutionary changes in the world. It also played its important role in the expansion and advancement of law firms for about two decade. It has changed the paradigm of legal sector by highlighting the need for change and technology that strength the used to make possible changes with the mutual working of cost professional and solicitors.
Current System: At current the masses of law organizations, forward their files to cost draftsmen for bills of cost. The cost draftsmen then extract information from the files and prepare detail assessment of bills of costs. The whole process is time consuming and expensive one for the client organization.
Effect on Current system: Software technology by the advent of IT sector assists in the preparation of the bill of legal costs by providing user friendly summary and complete bill with all the assessments without charges. Technology will help in splitting the bills of cost in to three major portions that includes stages, tasks, and activities. In the stages section, case evaluation, suggestions and directions, appealing and provisional requests, disclosure, trial groundwork and detailed assessment will be recorded. In the task part, synopsis including cost and payment will be prepared. In last section, detail preparations of individual activity of solicitor while the case is in court. All section must be focused in including accurate level of detail, right format and invoice of costs. If all this be recorded well then it will assist in preparing expenses budgets, reports of costs and most important E- Billing which now a days are in great demand by the corporate customers.
Time recording an example: Time recording with current method of process system includes the date, activity, amount of time, fee earner name. But under the new technological software development it should add in the process as date, phase, task, activity, amount of time, fee earner name. This is apparently a small but important diversity as it would permit time element directly linked into the new format of bill of costs.
Is Cost Budgeting Fits In?:As above mentioned detail cost incurred one case broken down in to series of steps mention earlier and this system will help in multitasking of cost breakups in court cases. This will aid to start and store cost budget electronically which ultimately monitors and compared against actual cost in real time by the new system. Make an edge on case “time” element which is never be negotiated. Combination of electronically recording of time with electronic budgeting will make the work efficient, less costly, and time saving. By this combination or recording it will help the organization to make reports of complex cases with in no time as the database for time recording and budgeting will be same databank. Software systems will have correct reporting tools with the help of this summery and detail information will be extracted on case demand and client too. Commonly used application like Microsoft excel is widely available but not good enough to format and store large quantities of data and compare it on real time bases.
Combining Law Firm Costs Professional together:- The costs expert must study and recognize the necessary change in recording the time and law firms make it certain that time is recorded in the correct format. This change will certainly be tricky task as it will need solicitors to totally change the method in which they at present recording time. Those professionals take initiative steps for that change will surely be ready for the future transform.
The Future Role of the Costs Professional: Currently when preparing a bill of costs professional usually create a manual sheet for the case file. The above system of bills of cost implemented then professional part will be change from the traditional one to new reforms. The new reforms will be cost professional will transfer electronically the time record data in to organizational bill of cost file.
Conclusion: Summing up all, change will be required at every instance. Solicitors need to value the one who take initiative to use the new system of technology. The technological changes in the legal sector should not be undervalued either. Organization must assess their current systems of operation, his potential and then assess the changes they need.