News & Updates

Smart WebParts Launches New Expert Webinar Series to Educate Legal Market on Law Firm Timekeeping

First Online Audio Program Features Distinguished Legal IT Leaders Jo Haraf, Michael Kraft and David Gallagher

Los Gatos, California – January 27, 2010 – Smart WebParts (www.smart-webparts.com) has announced the Smart WebParts Expert Series on Law Firm Timekeeping, a new audio educational program that will be delivered online.  Each 30-minute webinar in the series will feature distinguished legal technology industry experts that come together to discuss challenges and solutions to improve law firm timekeeping practices and profitability.

Now available on the Smart WebParts site at www.smart-webparts.com/expert.html, the series’ first installment examines the state of timekeeping in law firms from the user, economic and technology perspectives.  Ever since the billable hour became the key metric for billing, lawyers and their firms have grappled with the reality that a great deal of billable time goes unbooked, for a variety of reasons ranging from human behavior to technology limitations.  This unbilled time adds up and the firm inevitably leaves many hours and dollars on the table. 

The inaugural episode features three industry experts, Jo Haraf of San Francisco’s Haraf Professional Services (www.harafconsulting.com) and contributing author of Achieving Excellence in Legal Technology Management (West, 2009), Michael Kraft of New York City’s leading IT consulting firm, Kraft Kennedy (www.kraftkennedy.com) and from London, David Gallagher of Saturn27 (www.saturn27.com), one of the foremost providers of legal technology solutions in the U.K. and Europe.  Each of these experts weighs in on reasons behind ineffective timekeeping and offers potential solutions to this longstanding issue.  In addition, the webinar touches upon the direct economic impact that accompanies timekeeping in a profession where time is literally money. 

Todd Gerstein, CEO of Smart WebParts, remarks, “Smart WebParts developed this new expert series to educate the market about the importance of complete and accurate timekeeping, and to provide constructive ideas to help them reduce leaked or lost time.  By using the right timekeeping technology, even the most effective timekeeping lawyers can reclaim 1-4 additional billable hours a month.  That time really adds up to affect a law firm’s revenue.  This educational series will help any lawyer, managing partner, CFO or IT director to better understand what they can do to improve timekeeping to positively impact their firm’s bottom line.”

In September 2009, Smart WebParts launched Smart Time, a time capture and entry software product that helps timekeeping professionals such as lawyers, accountants and consultants construct complete and accurate timesheets.  By polling across servers (Exchange, BES, DMS) and phone switches (VoIP and legacy), Smart Time provides timekeepers with a detailed journal of their daily work activities, enabling them to prepare complete and accurate timesheets. Since Smart Time finds missed or leaked time that may not otherwise get billed, it stands to increase a firm's billable hours and ultimately its profitability. A return on investment for the software can be recouped in weeks if not days.

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