I LOVE MY NEEDLES CASE MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE BECAUSE …
“… In a profession fraught with uncertainty and complexity, Needles provides one with the ability to navigate through the minefield of one’s practice. I am the managing partner of a firm that has 11 attorneys and a support staff of 25. We have an enormous amount of talent under our roof but talent can have its drawbacks. I have observed first hand that talented people have a built-in aversion to management. This innate resistance can destroy the best of organizations if not handled properly.
Needles provides me and the rest of our organization with the necessary tools to manage effectively without disabling the creative instincts of the attorneys. It allows me to benignly micromanage others without appearing to be intrusive.
In the most flattering terms, I view my attorneys as thoroughbred horses – all talented, fast and yet all peculiarly different. In such an environment, you cannot manage with a “one size fits all” mindset. Every client and case is uniquely distinct from one another and must be managed accordingly. Needles allows me to peek inside any attorney’s caseload on any given day to assess what is truly happening. It allows me to institute periodic structured reviews at my discretion when I believe such activity is warranted.
You cannot hide from the scrutiny of Needles nor can you run indefinitely from the persistence of the “open” checklist item that screams for attention. Needles imposes a team spirit between the attorney and his/her support staff. Attorneys are no longer working in a vacuum, frustrated that their support hasn’t learned the art of how to read their minds. Our support staff is empowered because they can now comprehend the logical progression of a case and make appropriate adjustments when necessary.
If a talented attorney appears too distracted to be bothered with the seemingly mundane aspects of his/her case load, I now have an ally in the support staff to assist with the management of the caseload. Quite frankly, in some instances, I rarely look to the attorneys to provide the management. In effect, Needles has flipped the paradigm to one that now has support managing while the attorney delivers. We do not hire attorneys to generate reports or complete checklists. We hire them to produce results, and my primary function is to provide them with the infrastructure so they can succeed.
Needles gives me the flexibility to make quick adjustments on a variety of matters that affect an attorney’s caseload. Needles is an ever expanding experience that grows in its utility the more you use it. Our early experience was embryonic some seven years ago. We are now raging adolescents regarding our understanding of this tool and our capacity to increase its effectiveness. Our knowledge appears without limitation.
Finally, Needles puts you in control of your caseload. As an upcoming vacation approaches, support staff and attorney alike can now run their checklist in advance to see what items will be due while they are gone. You can either choose to work those items in advance, alter the due dates, or even reassign some. The net effect is one is no longer overwhelmed when returning from a vacation. If one’s checklist maintenance is handled properly, the return date back in the office after a week or two week absence is now just another work day. This is a remarkable event that is hard to describe until you personally experience it.
I did not become an attorney to behave like an assistant vice principal in high school in charge of discipline. It is my job to make it “rain” so others may benefit from my efforts. I have a management staff that has the tools to allow me the time I require to develop important relationships that pay great dividends to this office. Needles ultimately allows me and other managers to get quickly and decisively to the proverbial fire. I am here ultimately to produce, and the quicker we can I identify trouble, the more productive I become. The lawyers that work for us are in the practice of law. Needles has liberated me from the practice of law and has put me squarely into the business of law. This is why, after all the unforeseen circumstances that we cannot control in this most difficult of professions, our practice is still here. Needles has been most effective in assisting me in finding and managing that balance point between the practice and the business of law.
Stuart Garson
Rockefeller Management
Case Management Software 