In the operation of a personal injury law firm, time is money. The longer a case sits on your firm’s desk, the longer it takes for your client to receive their recovery and for the firm to see revenue from it. That’s where “Time on Desk” comes in – the period from when a client hires you to when you close the case by disbursing. Credit to John Nachazel for his LinkedIn post with that term and which sparked the ideas for this post. You can find his post at: John Nachazel LinkedIn Post
Optimizing Time on Desk is one of the most effective ways to increase your firm’s profitability without adding caseload. Here’s how focusing on Time on Desk metrics and outsourcing lien resolution can help streamline your process and boost your bottom line:
Leveraging Metrics to Drive Efficiency
By tracking key Time on Desk metrics across your caseload, you can pinpoint exactly where inefficiencies are occurring. Are cases getting stuck in the settlement-to-disbursement phase? Are you losing time during the pre-litigation or complaint stages?
With the right data, you can identify these bottlenecks and take action to resolve them. Pinpointing breakdowns in the process to see where cases are lagging is critical to be able to come up with an appropriate fix. By measuring progress at every step, you can set clear expectations for your team and create a culture of accountability that drives case closure faster.
Why Time on Desk Matters
According to John Nachazel of Fireproof Performance and COO of Mike Morse Law Firm, a firm’s revenue typically comes in between 18 and 36 months after a client hires you. However, if you can reduce the time it takes to move a case through your system, you will accelerate receipt of revenue, disburse client funds more quickly and free up more time to handle additional cases. The result? More revenue without increasing your workload. As John Nachazel put it, “accelerating throughput . . . increase[s] firm revenue without increasing caseload.” He theorized that shaving even 30 days off the average timeline of 18-36 months would allow a firm to do 13 months of work in a 12-month year. The question is where do you find 30 days or even more aggressively, 45 days as John suggested?
John outlined that there are 3 phases of the litigation process where those time savings could realistically occur:
Phase 1 – Time between signing a client and filing a lawsuit;
Phase 2 – Time between drafting and serving a complaint; and
Phase 3 – Time between case settlement and disbursement.
This third phase is one that can be positively impacted by outsourcing lien resolution.
The Bottleneck: Lien Resolution Holding Up Disbursement
The key bottleneck for many firms comes at the settlement-to-disbursement phase, particularly the lien resolution process. Resolving liens is tedious and time-consuming, which creates a frustrating bottleneck. Think about all of the time spent on lien resolution to-dos, paperwork, chasing down medical records, and haggling with lien holders. This phase often drags on needlessly, holding up disbursement and preventing you from moving on to the next case. As a result, your firm’s cash flow is slowed, and you’re left waiting to wrap up cases and move on to new ones.
Outsourcing lien resolution allows you to offload this critical yet time-consuming task to experts who can handle it efficiently. This frees up your team to focus on what they do best. By outsourcing, you can speed up the entire case resolution timeline, ultimately freeing up time for other cases and allowing your firm to increase throughput.
The Power of Outsourcing
When you outsource lien resolution, you’re not just saving time – you’re also ensuring that your team’s efforts are focused on their highest-value tasks. Tasks like increasing the value of existing cases, bringing in new clients and building your practice. Outsourcing lien resolution gives you seasoned experts who can work on your behalf, ensuring that your client’s funds get disbursed promptly. Meanwhile, your in-house team can continue to move cases forward, maximizing efficiency across the board.
By outsourcing these non-core activities, you streamline your operations, reduce overhead, and ultimately increase profitability. Your firm can handle more cases in less time, leading to better/faster resolution and higher revenue. It is part of a holistic plan to cut down Time on Desk.
Maximize Your Firm’s Potential
Time on Desk is a critical metric that determines how quickly your firm can turn cases into cash. By focusing on reducing delays and outsourcing, you can accelerate the process, increase profitability, and improve client satisfaction.
As the end of the year approaches, are you making good progress on reducing Time on Desk? Do you have files sitting on your desk that can’t be disbursed because of liens? Do have a strategic plan to reduce Time on Desk in phase 3 for 2025?
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/time-desk-shave-days-unlock-more-profit-lazarus-j-d-ll-m-mscc-j5hpe
