B&A Litigation Services, LLC

It is difficult to find good software that truly does make life’s chores faster and easier. Smartsheet is one of the useful software tools. Smartsheet is like an Excel spreadsheet, but smarter and considerably more user-friendly. The learning curve is minimal.

As an example of how Smartsheet can assist law offices be more efficient, a paralegal receives a transcript that has 30 days in which to be read and signed. One of the Excel-type spreadsheets in Smartsheet is entitled “Read and Sign.” Create a new line in the Read and Sign sheet that has all the necessary information, such as caption, case number, file number, witness, date deposition was taken, the date the read and sign is due, etc. Then attach the file that is to be read and signed by the witness. Next, click on “Send Row” in order to send the row and all attachments to the witness. “Send Row” will only share that one row with any recipient, regardless of how much information is contained in the rest of the Read and Sign sheet. But it doesn’t stop there. Next, click on “Reminders.” Set the Reminders to daily for that row and select cc to the sheet creator. The Smartsheet will automatically send out a daily reminder to both the witness and the creator that the read and sign is waiting to be acted upon. As soon as the witness completes the process, he or she will respond to the Send Row. The Smartsheet will automatically cease sending daily reminders.

In other words, Smartsheet does the nagging for you.

Smartsheet can easily be set up in such a way that a row will automatically turn red if the due date is, say, within five days of the due date. And/or the Smartsheet can be set up in such a way as to send out reminders to a larger group of people once the due date gets in the red. This useful tool is for escalation of intervention based on certain milestones.

Templates can be created for varying types of cases. As an example, workers’ comp cases have a different set of criteria and due dates than a personal injury case. Depending on which type of case it is, a client interviewer will choose the case-specific template.

An e-copy fill-in-the-blank form is automatically generated with each Excel-type spreadsheet. Send that form to whomever you desire via e-mail or by embedding that form in the law firm’s intranet. What this does is, if a paralegal is interviewing a client, the paralegal would browse to the local intranet page called “Workers’ Comp.” In that page is embedded this form. Once all the fields are filled in, the paralegal hits “submit.” A new case is automatically created. The due dates are generated.

The Smartsheet spreadsheet has three different views. Each Excel-type spreadsheet can be viewed as a spreadsheet, as a calendar, or in Gantt view. (Gantt view is for team collaboration.) This is done automatically. All calendars for the various spreadsheets can be incorporated into one calendar or viewed as separate calendars. These calendars can be viewed from any mobile device. Additionally, the attorney’s calendar can be added to the Smartsheet system. A date can be entered from the mobile device and instantly viewable by the office. This would help to insure there are no appointment conflicts with the office’s calendar and the attorney’s calendar. Plus, the attorney can view all tickler dates from the mobile device and still be on top of due dates while out in the field.

Smartsheet can also be useful for team collaboration. For instance, set up an entire case and its due dates in the Smartsheet. On “X” date, the demand letter is due. Say that task is assigned to a legal secretary in the firm to generate the case-specific form letter for approval. The Smartsheet will show percentage of completion for each assigned task in a case. The first reminder date goes to the legal secretary to insure the task gets completed. If that task is not completed, reminders will go to the paralegal to see why the task remains undone. If that task still remains incomplete, the reminder then gets sent to the attorney so that he or she can intervene.

This is just a small sample of the incredible usefulness that Smartsheet offers to law firms. There are a lot more features, too many to list in one blog post. All law firms, large and small, owe it themselves to investigate whether Smartsheet could aid in the overall workflow efficiency of their businesses.