Law Firm Collections Are Going Great—So Far; How Legal Tech Providers End Up On Thin Ice; Another Hotel Company Hit With Class Action Over Automatic Gratuities: The Morning Minute
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November 03, 2020 at 06:00 AM
5 minute read
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WHAT WE'RE WATCHING
Happy(?) Election Day! Here's something to read through your face shield while waiting in line at the polls this morning…
CALM, COOL AND COLLECTED? - At least up until now, law firm collections season has not been the catastrophic cluster some might have assumed after such a tumultuous year. Firms have reported that, so far, clients have been very responsible in paying their bills promptly. But if 2020 had a slogan (that wasn't allowed to include profanity) it would be "Don't Get Too Comfortable." As Dan Packel reports, the combination of a COVID-19 infection uptick and the potential fallout from today's U.S. presidential election could still make for a particularly crunchy year-end crunch. "Even in normal years, December has been a 'make-or-break' month for financial performance. Historically it's the month that decides whether a firm exceeds plan or falls short," said Citizen Financial Group senior vice president Jay Benegal. "This year, I expect there will be even more emphasis on the December collections push."
OUTAGE OUTRAGE - The only things certain in this life are death, taxes and IT outages. Most legal tech clients get that and will not hold the occasional blip against their vendors. But, as Victoria Hudgins reports, one too many outages or system errors—particularly if it's not promptly communicated and resolved by the provider—can be a deal breaker. This is especially true if the glitch significantly inconveniences the lawyers who use the technology. "Are attorneys as forgiving? Maybe not as much as IT because we understand what goes into the creation and maintenance," said Jeffrey Brandt, chief information officer at law firm Jackson Kelly, adding, "If it's early in a case, a 24-hour outage may not be as significant. But if I'm about to go to trial or in trial, it's a really huge deal. I would say anyone that experiences something like that isn't likely to return unless there's a significant explanation of why that occurred."
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