Like many businesses, it’s taken Post Partner a little while (since 2019 in fact!) to work out exactly what it is we exist to do…our “Massive Transformational Purpose” to use some fashionable jargon.

Ok, we help improve efficiency, reduce security risks, increase profitability etc…but what’s the bigger picture?

It was in looking at ‘digital transformation’ more generally that it eventually became clear.

We protect fee earners from admin in a digital world!

The light bulb moment

Our products and services don’t JUST save time; they are specifically tailored to route admin tasks away from lawyers to either administrators, or, increasingly, to automation tools, to enable fee earners to concentrate on legal work.

It seems to us that whilst many ‘digital transformations’ doubtlessly save time, improve security, reduce errors, are generally great etc. they often end up channelling admin tasks directly to fee earners, whereas previously those tasks would have been undertaken by administrators.

A great example

Filing e-mails is a prime example of this. The filing of post, a.k.a. ‘the mail’, has traditionally been an administrative task; and a pretty lowly one at that. The advent of e-mail and case management systems however has completely reversed this. Lawyers, not administrators are spending several hours a week (sometimes a day!) filing emails. The tail appears to be (quite vigorously) wagging the dog!

The impact for firms

As a result, we are seeing a number of negative consequences, including

• Skilled administrators being underutilised,
• Increasing levels of fee-earner burnout
• Admin being done poorly – Newsflash – lawyers are not generally very good at admin!

Our short term plan

In the coming months we will be challenging law firms and lawyers themselves to consider, on a variety of simple statements, such as “fee earners in our firm don’t file the emails”, just how admin heavy their lives really are. An admin health check if you like.

Perhaps an interesting thought experiment is to cast our minds back to the 1990’s. The music was evidently better , and, according to the majority of practitioners we’ve spoken to on the topic, so was the role of a fee earner!

Assuming it’s not just a matter of rose-tinted glasses, why on earth would that be? Technology has advanced enormously, more flexible working arrangements are generally available, and there is plenty of work (and therefore money) available for firms who have survived consolidation. It should be a great time to be, for example, a conveyancing solicitor, and yet we have a ‘burn-out pandemic’ on our hands and mass exodus from the sector, making recruitment and retention many firms No1 headache.

Reaction from the sector so far

As illuded to above, I attribute the change in fortunes, at least in part, to an unhelpful blurring of the lines between administrative and legal tasks. My comments along these lines, both on LinkedIn and in private conversations, have been met very positively and have been something of an eyeopener to some people. It can be easy to miss the forest for the trees. The only negative reaction (to my knowledge) was one person misinterpreting my comments as saying lawyers are more important than administrators. My point of course is that fee-earning and admin are both important, but they are different, and should be allocated accordingly.

Conclusion

At a time where burn-out is a pandemic in our industry and with recruitment & retention of the best talent being the No1 priority in forward thinking firms…Post Partner are proud (and pretty excited!) to be in the ‘fee earner protection game’.

Tom Bailey

Managing Director at Post Partner

Outsourcing your finance function is a big decision for firms, that’s why we have collated a list of our frequently asked questions to help. Outsourcing your finance function doesn’t need to be daunting, the process is simple and can save your firm time, money and significantly reduce risk.  

Working with Cashroom as an outsourced finance provider means firms no longer need to worry about resource, holiday cover and can confident their firm is adhering to compliance regulations.  

Do I need to change system provider? 

There is no need to change your system provider when outsourcing to Cashroom. We are system agnostic and work with any practice management system, meaning your firm can stay with the system that works for you.  

We also have integrations into leading Practice Management Systems such as LEAP, Denovo, Klyant and Clio and banking networks.

How does the service work? 

You would have your own dedicated team who operate remotely as an extension of your firm. They communicate with you via our secure client portal, acting on your instructions in real time. They will make postings, reconcile accounts, set up payments, run your payroll, or produce detailed management accounts for you as part of an efficient, compliant and secure service. Our teams are encouraged to develop strong working relationships with our clients, so that they very much feel like part of your firm. Our services can provide you with a completely outsourced finance/accounts function or support your existing in-house team.  

What kind of law firms do you support?  

We support law firms of all shapes and sizes, throughout the UK, from sole practitioners to some of the top 50 law firms. There are differently benefits gained, and services taken, by these different types of firms – for the smaller or start-up firms we are ensuring compliance, and usually operating the entire finance function for the firm. For bigger firms, we may be supporting the in-house team with additional resource or providing monthly management information to the Finance Director. We also provide fractional FD and consultancy services to some of the bigger firms. Our service is bespoke and can be scaled up and down dependent on demand to suit your firms ongoing needs.  

Can you make payments for us?  

We have bank access for our clients which enables us to complete daily bank reconciliations as well as monitor the bank for incoming monies. We can set up payments on instruction, leaving the firm to check and authorise, saving time and effort for our clients.  

How much does it cost?  

Our comprehensive cashiering service tends to be significantly less expensive than the inhouse option. This is because our team-based approach can ensure the right level of person deals with the right level of task. By remotely reviewing your Practice Management System to access the volume of transactions being processed through your system, we can quickly provide a quote. Our payroll service depends on the number of employees, and our Management Accounts service can be tailored to your needs, and therefore priced according to requirements.  

How quickly can you start?  

We can start service very quickly but can be constrained by things such as bank access. On average we aim to get to full service within four weeks, the onboarding process will begin straight away so we can get your firm into our service teams as soon as possible. 

Do we need to outsource our whole finance function?  

No. While many of our clients are indeed replacing their whole cashiering function with our service, many firms use us to provide a support serviced to their internal finance team as a wraparound. We can provide valuable flexible resource in that way. So, whether you require a full replacement for your accounts department, or simply some additional resource to assist your in-house team, we can help.  

If you are interested in outsourcing part of all of your finance function in your firm, we can arrange a confidential chat with a member of our team to discuss your requirements.  

Get in touch today:  

Email: info@thecashroom.co.uk  

Phone: 01695 550950  

Hard to believe, but 30 years ago I qualified as a solicitor and joined a top 50 law firm in the defendant PI market. That first day I sat down at my desk and worked through a pile of envelopes containing letters relating to matters I was working on. I then rooted through creaky metal filing cabinets to locate the files for each matter. I placed each letter with each file, in a row of piles on my desk, next to my office telephone with its curly cord.

My secretary would come in and collect the pile of files I had worked on, with a tiny cassette tape attached, on which I had dictated my efforts on each matter. A paper diary sat on my desk too- my means of checking dates and meetings or court visits. Beside it was a plastic box containing business cards with alphabetic dividers. My time recording sheets would be completed each day in pen.

I’d have a pad of pink slips and a pad of blue slips which I’d fill in by hand and send to the accounts team for the cashiers to make things happen. The finance team faced a daily challenge to keep track of the business’s accounts- even more tricky given the banks’ continued use of paper statements at that time.

For anyone of a more recent vintage, some of this will seem bizarre- archaic, even. Almost every element is now either automated, or on a computer, or a mobile, or one way or another is tech and service enabled.

In my present role I can look back with nostalgia, but also in proud amazement at the distance the profession has travelled, and that pace with which it continues to progress.

At Cashroom I believe we epitomise the strides the profession has made-

We have grown a team of 140 staff featuring experienced cashiers, a training academy, a technology team, operations, projects, and a team of qualified accountants. Our 250 client firms use our outsourced finance function services to enable efficient and risk avoidant cashiering processes, compliant methods of operating, and market leading expertise to provide advice and reports on business performance.

Our clients are of all shapes and sizes- top 100; general practice; boutiques; volume litigators; volume conveyancers; start ups….every type of firm imaginable really.

Most law firms these days have resolved many of my prehistoric inefficiencies with one of a huge array of Practice Management Systems available in the legal market. Cashroom has remained system agnostic- we support any PMS so firms coming to us for our services don’t need to change their tech.

We augment our services with the award winning technology that we have developed to enable secure and efficient communication with our clients- into the bin go the pink and blue slips! The Cashroom portal is loved by our clients for its simplicity and innovation, and the certainty and clarity it brings to the interaction between a firm and its finance function.

Cashroom also recently became the first outsourced provider to develop and implement open banking functionality into our client portal- it means we can monitor our clients’ bank accounts more easily and help them achieve smooth, secure and efficient money movement, to the benefit of their end clients.

We resolve resourcing issues, we cover holidays and sickness. We are recommended by the PII market. We provide process and system expertise unique in our market.

We are proud to be operating in the USA now.

The world of law has changed- I’m proud to be part of a business that is actively helping the legal sector seize the opportunities presented by the new world, even if I do still use a pad and pen now and again (I’m too fond of doodling not to!).

This week is Mental Health Awareness Week. This week is going to be full of events, information, posts, tools and resources. The key is going to be watching who is still talking about mental health next week, next month, six months from now.

What can we do to create a more sustainable working environment everyday of our careers? A working environment that is enjoyable, that is rewarding, that feels safe and worthy of the extensive time and effort we spend on it. Whilst I think it would be a pipe dream to ever expect work to be entirely free of stress, to have a working environment where stress is limited, where it is reasonable and even supportive (yes that is a thing I promise!), well that feels to me as worthy of time as anything else this Mental Health Awareness Week.

So, instead of giving you a list of lovely, but ultimately somewhat unhelpful, tools I’m going to share with you some information and resources that will help you develop that sustainability, that engagement and enjoyment, and ultimately help you develop a more rewarding and profitable career and working environment for the long term.

My challenge to you, is to keep coming back to this information and these tools long after Mental Health Awareness Week is in our rear-view mirror!

Stress in the Legal Profession

According to a recent YouGov study, out more than 9 in 10 lawyers has experienced stress or burnout. LawCare’s Life in the Law study found that the average lawyer is at high risk of burnout, and in 2021 a Resolution study found that 89% of family lawyers had experienced negative wellbeing issues as a result of their work and that 51% of lawyers had considered leaving the profession in the previous three years because of concerns about their well-being.

Law is undoubtedly a stressful and intense profession. As lawyers we deal with problems professionally. We are the person that others come to when something has gone wrong and that inevitably has a knock-on effect. But what if I told you that stress isn’t always stressful and that there are tools and resources that can help to manage stress?

What do we know about stress?

When considering stress, there are a couple of things that we need to bear in mind.

The first is that there is no singular definition of stress. It’s an inherently subjective thing; we know it when we see it, and what causes you a stress response may not phase me at all! So instead of us worrying about whether things should be stressful, or whether other people will believe us or think less of us if we speak up about stressful situations, perhaps our focus would be better placed on identifying our strengths and resources and creating support for where we may struggle in some way.

There are actually two different types of stress. The first we’re well aware of, distress is what most of us mean when we’re talking about stress. We mean negative stress, stress that is difficult, something that is causing us pain in some way. But is stress always bad? Well, no. Eustress is the definition of positive stress. It’s the kind of stress that gets us out of bed in the morning, it’s the kind of stress that has us racing for the finishing line. Frankly, it’s the kind of stress that has us working in the legal profession!

Bearing that in mind, we need to look more carefully at our work. In particular we need to consider where we are experiencing a positive stress; learning a new skill, attending court or having a hearing or mediation that we’ve not done before, developing our professional and personal self esteem; and where this is balanced out against the more negative kind of stress.  Are we receiving as much reward from our work as the energy we are giving to it?

Energy in, energy out.

I want you to imagine for a moment that there is an arrow that emanates from your chest and points towards the screen you’re reading this on; this is your effort, at the amount of energy that you are expending on your work. This could mean your time, your energy, your professional development, your skills, all of the energy and focus and drive that goes into your work.

Now imagine a similar arrow emanating from the screen and pointing back towards your chest; this is your return on investment. These are all the ways in which you receive some kind of reward from the work you do and effort that you expend. That could include your salary and bonus, it could be words of kindness or praise or thanks from clients, it could be the satisfaction of a job well done.

Now, compare and contrast the arrow the emanates from you and the arrow that returns to you. Do they balance up? Do you receive as much as you give? Perhaps you receive even more than you give, however clients that I work with often expend far more energy than they ever receive reward. And of course remember this is about more than our pay packet, this is about how we experience reward in our work.

Reward and value

Way to take this exercise further is to consider the type of work that you do and the type of reward you receive from it. There are tasks within your to do List that simply flow, that are easy, that feel rewarding, that are things that you love to do. There are also likely tasks within your to do list that you would rather scoop your eyeballs out with a rusty teaspoon than ever have to do again!

Why is this? Because not all work is created equal, and neither are all people! One of the most effective things that you can do to maintain and develop sustainability in your work is to focus on the work that feels rewarding, engaging and satisfying and limiting the work that does not. Why is this? Put simply, it’s because every piece of work we do that feels exhausting pushes us closer to that burnout limit. It moves us from eustress to distress, it costs us more energy than it returns to us, and therefore it is to a greater or lesser extent, unsustainable.

What to do with it?

Now, understanding this is a nice to have until we consider how to most effectively advocate for it. What does it matter what work I do and how much I enjoy or hate it, unless I can do something about it?

Depending on your current role and organisation there are a couple of steps that you can take.

The first is to have a meaningful discussion with your line manager or peers about effective and productive working, identifying tasks that come more easily for you versus those that would probably be more effectively outsourced or reallocated. This conversation can be fraught with worries, not least who am I to ask this, what if they say no, and am I just causing a problem? Consider the business case, and how receptive your audience will be to an increase in profits if you are able to focus on the work you do best.

If this is not a discussion that you feel able to have, or that you feel will be well received, then you can consider how sustainable your current role is and / or what you need in order to support you to do this work more effectively. You might consider tools such as gamification, where we give ourselves prizes and use simple tools such as time trials and competitions in order to make work more fun and time blocking your diary in order to give you sufficient time to do more complex or difficult work, as well as building in rest and recovery times for less complex and difficult work.

What’s next?

These tools all seem really simple, don’t they? But if I recap what we’ve covered, it includes; considering the prevailing culture have your working environment and how it may impact you, a more in depth look at what stress really is, and how it impacts us as individuals, an assessment of the costs and benefits of your work, and how you may more effectively consider the impact of your work and support those needs accordingly.

It’s more than you thought, isn’t it? Are you surprised?

Now, as I mentioned at the top of this blog, my challenge to you was to keep considering these tools long after Mental Health Awareness Week was done. Do you think that’s manageable and achievable? How do you plan to implement these tools and expand upon them in the weeks and months ahead?

Remember; a sustainable career is made in more than just one week!

Leah Steele is an executive coach, trainer and consultant working with individuals and organisations around issues of career sustainability, in particular topics such as stress, burnout, imposter syndrome and resilience.  A former lawyer herself, Leah’s focus is on helping brilliant professionals do their work for longer, in a more rewarding and less exhausting way, because we need more amazing lawyers out there!  Find her at www.searchingforserenity.co.uk 

Every law firm requires compliant legal accounting and so effective accounting for law firms is critical to your firm’s success.  

To ensure your firm’s financial statements are accurate, complete, and up to date, you need to have expert legal cashiering. To get a true financial representation and meet your obligations to your firm, clients, and your regulator, your firm also needs clear, accurate legal accounting. Legal cashiers and a well-run accounts function is critical to business transformation and growth. 

Legal cashiers are invaluable to firms – but they come at a cost. Recruitment costs and salaries are one thing, but firms then must fund training, have adequate office space, incur NI and pension payments etc. There is much more to consider than the annual salary cost alone. This is the first reason why many firms have the idea to turn to outsourcing as a solution – it is assumed to be a cheaper option. Now while this is absolutely true in many instances, costs can actually be saved – the most crucial factor is the value added. Especially during the current climate, hiring staff across the board is not easy. The last 12 months have been a lot smoother for many law firms, especially compared to the first year of the global pandemic, meaning growth is back on the agenda. This is where the quality of your firm’s financial information is so important – are you getting the financial information you need? 

 Weighing up the costs  

In ILFM (The Institute of Legal Finance & Management) revealed in their 2022 Legal Accounts Salary Survey, the average salaries for legal cashiers, which may surprise some firms. In London, the ILFM salary benchmark shows that a Head Cashier average salary is £42,500 and a Senior Cashier would be £33,000. In Northern regions, an average salary for a Cashiering Manager/Supervisor is £36,000. Taking a London Senior Cashier salary as an example, plus NI (£3,298) plus pension (£803) would come to an annual cost to the business of £37,101. This is before you even consider holiday/sickness cover, the support of a wider team of experienced cashiers, payroll staff, management accountants-chartered accountants etc.   

ILFM reported in 2022 75% of Legal Cashiers have been given pay rises in comparison to 37% last year, this is partly down to issues with recruitment, staff wellness and staff retention. All of which, are no longer worries for a law firm when outsourcing their finance function.  

The Value of Outsourcing  

Additional Resource  

Outsourcing your legal cashiers adds additional resource to your firm. Not only do you have additional resource, but you cut the need to use senior staff members for administrative tasks. You have the correct individual with the relevant skills completing the right task. At Cashroom, we have the capability to scale services up and down dependant on your firms demands, meaning spikes in activity are not a problem.  

Holiday/Absence cover  

Using Cashroom, you no longer have to worry about holiday/absence cover. Our qualified and experienced legal cashiers and accountants complete accounts throughout the year. Holiday, sickness and parental leave becomes our problem, not yours, giving you one less thing to worry about as a business owner. Further to this, working with Cashroom, you will have a team of cashiers working on your account who are contactable 9-5 throughout the working week to deal with your needs. Additional to your dedicated team you will benefit from a dedicated account manager who you can liaise with, ensuring you still have that relationship with your accounting department.  

Business Transformation & Continuity 

Outsourcing to Cashroom means you can spend more time developing and growing your business. Fee earners can spend more time fee earning and generating revenue for the firm. Freeing up fee earners time also benefits your clients, improving client care and satisfaction as your fee earners are able to dedicate more time to their imminent needs. Business continuity is guaranteed when outsourcing to cashroom, our team of cashiers allows us to ensure your finances are kept up to date and monitored daily.  

Compliance with your regulators  

At Cashroom, we place a great importance on compliance with Solicitors Accounts Rules and your regulators. You can be confident your accounts are of a high standard and exceed compliance guidelines when outsourcing your finance function to Cashroom. Furthermore, if you are worried about upcoming audits and your compliance, we can support you with preparation. 

Reduce Risk, Ensure Compliance, Increase Efficiency  

Outsourcing part of, or your entire finance function allows your firm to stay ahead of the curve. Through outsourcing, you can react to market changes, challenging times and instantly react to changing client demands. You can have confidence in your compliance and security, reduce risks for your firm and clients as well as accessing unique technology which will transform your finance function. Cashroom also recently became the first outsourced provider to develop and implement open banking functionality into our client portal, reducing risk further and increasing the speed at which your cashiers at Cashroom can complete incoming funds and more. You can read more about our developments here.  

Cashroom uses innovative processes, smart technologies and a fresh perspective to untangle the legal accounting complexities for law firms. Control your finances and remain compliant with a complete audit trail of transactions with Cashroom. 

Cashroom provide outsourced legal accounting services to law firms throughout the UK. Formed of more than 140 legal accounting experts, we provide remote services to over 280 firms of all shapes and sizes. We have a unique insight into the requirements of the legal sector, with directors who have held partnership roles within large law firms, as well as senior members of staff who have worked within finance teams in a variety of legal practices. We utilise technology to improve efficiency and security beyond the capabilities of all but the largest firms. 

What are the benefits of social media for law firms?

From raising your firm’s awareness, to giving your firm a personal touch, allowing potential clients to get to know your values and team and creating new enquiries, the benefits of social media for law firms shouldn’t be in question.

We appreciate that you are a busy firm, and quite often social media posting falls to the bottom of the list. But, if your firm is looking to generate new leads, social media could be the platform that your firm is missing out on. If your firm is new to social media, check out this blog post on five social media post ideas for law firms before reading on.

If your firm is already utilising its social media platforms, this blog post is for you. We will discuss how to optimise your social media for search engine optimisation (SEO) purposes.

How does social media impact SEO?

First up, by adding your FAQs, blog posts and content about your firm’s services to social media, you increase the chances of gaining new links to your website as the reader might see your website as a valuable source of content.

In addition to links, by connecting to members of the local community, using the location settings in-app and using local hashtags, potential clients can find out where you are based in the app too.

Another benefit of being active on your firm’s social media and optimising your posts for social by answering frequently asked questions and using keywords in your captions and hashtags, is that your company pages will show up when a potential clients search for specific things on social media. In the below, I searched ‘Conscious Solutions’ and you can see that on the first page of results, our social profiles show up.

This means that any competitors are likely to show up before us for this search result. Of course, if our profiles started showing up for search queries such as ‘law firm marketing’ and ‘digital marketing agency for law firms’ this would be even better! We’ll be taking our own advice and adding this to our to-do list.

And, a new collaboration that is currently being discussed according to Search Engine Journal, is that Google, Instagram and TikTok are currently in talks for short-form video content to show up in the SERPs too.

So, we hope you can see some of the benefits of using social media for SEO purposes already!

What are the benefits of optimising social media for SEO?

But if your firm still isn’t convinced, what are the benefits of optimising social media for SEO?

Although social media platforms aren’t technically classed as search engines, social media is where a lot of consumers go to find products, information and services. Have you ever used Instagram to look for a new outfit or a holiday destination? Have you ever searched for a hashtag of a topic of interest on LinkedIn? The possibilities of searching on social media are endless.

Especially because Search Engine Land recently reported that TikTok is creating a search ads platform that will allow businesses to bid on specific keywords and phrases related to their products or services, just like they would on Google.

Another benefit of using social media for SEO is content amplification. By sharing your content in different ways, on a different platform, you’re more likely to receive more engagement and have more ways to show up on the SERPs, beating competing law firms.

And a continued benefit of social media in general is brand awareness. By building your firm’s online presence, you are developing the trust and credibility of your firm which will ultimately lead to more enquiries.

So, how can your law firm optimise its social media for SEO?

1.     Use the features available

Remember, the features that social media platforms offer are there for a reason. Ensure you fill in your contact details in your bio, add a link to your firm’s Linktree* (or website at the very least!), use the buttons available to you, add a location and more.

*If your firm isn’t already using Linktree, we’d recommend setting up an account. Linktree enables you to add multiple links all in one place meaning you can send your followers to your website, blog posts, upcoming events, individual service pages and more.

2.     Use keywords

Keywords are a great way to get found in the SERPs for your website content, so why wouldn’t you use them in your social media content too? There are different best practices for each platform, but as a rule avoid keyword stuffing, make sure the content makes sense and add your main keyword in the first couple of sentences of your caption.

3.     Use hashtags

And on top of putting your keyword in the caption, you can also use your preferred keyword as hashtags making them searchable in-app. As well as keyword hashtags, make the most of local hashtags about your community, location hashtags relevant to the areas you operate in and other relevant hashtags to your services.

4.     Ask other websites and journalists for backlinks

Backlinks are a great way to build up the domain rating (DR) of your firm’s website, therefore increasing search engine rankings and, by default, traffic.

5.     Add alt-text to images

Alt-text on images is not only good for accessibility but it benefits your SEO too. The importance of alt-text on images can’t be ignored. It provides context to what an image is displaying, informing search engine crawlers and allowing them to index an image correctly.

6.     Add locations to your posts

As previously mentioned, make sure you are utilising all the features on each social media platform. With platforms like Instagram and Twitter, make sure you are using the features which allow you to add a location to your post. These will help your posts to be seen when someone clicks on that location helping your firm reach new people.

7.     And finally, don’t forget about your analytics

This is a key part of the process! Analytics are a necessity in identifying what is and isn’t working with your current strategy, allowing you to make changes that therefore boost your firm’s SEO efforts.

Need help with your law firm’s social media?

Hopefully, this blog has explained the benefits of optimising your social media profiles for SEO purposes and given your firm a few pointers on where to start.

If you need more advice on standing out on social media, take a look at this blog post.

Conscious Solutions have over 19 years of experience in helping law firms to become more successful online, so if your firm needs a hand on where to start give us a call on 0117 325 0200 or email sales@conscious.co.uk.