Wednesday, December 30, 2015

Legal Management Systems: Rippe & Kingston Wishes You a Happy New Year!


To everyone in the Rippe & Kingston Client Family, we wanted to say THANK YOU  for a great 2015!  We look forward to working with each of you, as well as welcoming new Clients in 2016.

We hope you are enjoying the holidays and wish you a safe and happy New Year! 

Wednesday, December 23, 2015

Wednesday, December 16, 2015

Legal Management Systems: Five Things to Consider before 2016!

The New Year is upon us, and Rippe & Kingston is sharing their annual five things to consider before entering 2016!

#1 
Have you updated your Clients’ rates lately? We simply can’t say it enough!   

#2
Have you created a budget for your Firm?  Take the time to enter your figures into your General Ledger for 2016.

#3    
Can you get ahead on anything to make the start to the new year a little smoother?  Possibly start a 2016 To Do List!

#4  
Do you still have Clients assigned to Attorneys that left the Firm this year?  If so, don’t wait another minute to reassign! 

#5 
Breathe!  Remember to enjoy the holidays and start 2016 feeling refreshed!


Wednesday, December 9, 2015

Legal Management Systems: Ethical Walls

Rippe & Kingston understands that securing Client/Matter data is not only critical outside the Firm, but also within.  Rippe & Kingston has the tools to provide restricted access to defined Clients and Matters throughout the LMS+ modules.

R&K accommodates this requirement via its Ethical Walls functionality.  Ethical Walls can be employed at the Firm level, billing staff level, office level, or User level.   

The Ethical Walls functionality requires little setup and performs a big job!



Wednesday, December 2, 2015

Legal Management Systems: Are you Interested in KPI?

Jay Erdman’s Key Performance Indicators (KPI) presentation has gained traction...all over the US! 

Jay has presented KPI at ALA monthly luncheons and other events in Vegas, Cleveland, Grand Rapids, St. Louis, Wichita, Houston, Atlanta, and DC... Jay is also scheduled to speak at the 2016 National ALA in CA! 

Please let us know if you are interested in learning more about Jay presenting in your area.


Wednesday, November 25, 2015

Legal Management Systems: Happy Thanksgiving from Rippe & Kingston

Everyone from the Rippe & Kingston staff wishes you and yours a very safe & happy Thanksgiving holiday!



Rippe & Kingston offices will be closed tomorrow, Thursday, November 26th and Friday, November 27th.



Wednesday, November 18, 2015

Legal Management Systems: Remember to Review Rates...and Refresh on a Timely Basis!

We've said it before, and we'll be sure to say it again! Refresh old rates! 

Why is it worth repeating? 

Expired rates could be causing your Firm to lose revenue! 

As we've mentioned in the past, our experience has shown that Firms often struggle with monitoring rate end dates.  Unfortunately, it is not uncommon to find rate arrangements that are at least three to five years old, and we have seen lost revenue opportunities that exceeded $500,000 per year simply due to expired rates. 

It is imperative to reviewand refresh – rates diligently.

What small step can you take today to start solving the problem of expired rates?  Mark your calendars for recurring reminders to refresh those rates

For long term goals, we recommend doing a routine Rate Audit utilizing Rippe & Kingston's LMS+ Practice Management Rate Audit Watchlist and Rate Audit reports. 

If you're staying on top of your rates already, great job

If not, start today!


Wednesday, November 11, 2015

Legal Management Systems: R&K Client Appreciation


With Thanksgiving on the horizon, thoughts of gratitude are often flowing and on the forefront!

So, what's Rippe & Kingston most thankful for?

You!!! 

R&K is extremely appreciative of each and every one of its Clients.  Without all of the wonderful Client Firms across the nation, R&K would not exist.

Our Client Family continues to grow, and that is in a large part due to the exceptional referral and testimonial participation by our current Clients.

R&K just wants to take a moment and say......THANK YOU!!!!!


Wednesday, November 4, 2015

Legal Management Systems: Rippe & Kingston's Pink Apparel Day was a Success!

Over the past several years, Rippe & Kingston has hosted an annual Pink Apparel Day! 

On Friday, October 2nd Rippe employees were invited to wear pink at the office and make a donation to Susan G. Komen, an organization that strives to end breast cancer forever through ground-breaking research and community health outreach programs.


The Rippe & Kingston staff enjoyed Pink Apparel Day, as it was a rewarding experience to come together as a collective effort to honor survivors and contribute to finding the cure.  Donations for Susan G. Komen were also collected for the remainder of the month.


'Jeans for a Cause' Initiative: The Rippe & Kingston staff enjoy coming together as a collective effort to give back to the community.  Each month, donations are collected for a chosen foundation or cause suggested by the employees.  Those who participate can opt to wear jeans on Fridays.


Wednesday, October 28, 2015

Legal Management Systems: Conflict Searches Made More Convenient!

Do you ever find yourself including words or symbols in a conflict check that wastes time or causes confusion?

Your Firm might even have an informal list of terms to avoid, but users often forget and include them anyway. 

Would it be helpful for the system to automatically alert users if they attempt to include those terms when running a check?

LMSV Conflict of Interest now prompts a message when a user has entered an unaccepted word or symbol.


The best part is that the Firm can customize the exclusions based on its specific needs!



Wednesday, October 21, 2015

Legal Management Systems: R&K Staff Supports the AFSP and Cincinnati's Out of the Darkness Walk

Employees of Rippe & Kingston donated $500 to the Cincinnati Chapter of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP).

In addition to staff donations, Jody Ward participated in the local Out of the Darkness walk with her son, and Dan Erdman was invited again this year to play inspirational music during the luminary ceremony at the end of the walk.


'Jeans for a Cause' Initiative: The Rippe & Kingston staff enjoy coming together as a collective effort to give back to the community.  Each month, donations are collected for a chosen foundation or cause suggested by the employees.  Those who participate can opt to wear jeans on Fridays.


Wednesday, October 14, 2015

Legal Management Systems: ALA Events Next Week...R&K will be there!!!


Educational Meeting – West Michigan
October 21st
Miller Johnson
Grand Rapids, MI


 Business of Law Conference – West
October 22 – 24, 2015
Paris Hotel and Casino
Las Vegas, Nevada

If you plan to attend either event, please stop by and say hello!


Wednesday, October 7, 2015

Legal Management Systems: Jay Erdman to Present on Key Performance Indicators (KPI) in DC next week!

Jay Erdman, principal of Rippe & Kingston, will visit DC on Thursday, October 15th to speak at the local chapter section meeting. 

The presentation will address how Law Firms can identify, calculate, benchmark, and report Key Performance Indicators (KPI) at basic, intermediate, and advanced levels.  

Interested in learning more about KPI and how or why to use them to your Firm's advantage?  

Contact Rippe & Kingston if you would like Jay Erdman to present on KPI in your area! 


Wednesday, September 30, 2015

Legal Management Systems: Are you Wondering about WebExpense with ACH?

We have touched on Rippe & Kingston's WebExpense module in the past, and we've discussed LMSV ACH (i.e., a direct deposit process) as well...but we have not yet talked about the two topics together!

WebExpense with ACH saves time, effort, and other valuable resources.   Implementing this duo also often makes happier employees, too!  We'll explain...

The two functions combined allow your Firm to employ a paperless reimbursement process from start to finish.  


With WebExpense, Attorneys (or Secretaries) can electronically enter (with or without attachments), review, submit, and track expense reports. Once approved, the information is automatically transmitted to Accounting for processing.


Then, similar to direct deposit for payroll, ACH allows for electronic payments of funds to your employees (set up as vendors in the system).   



Basically, WebExpense can route an electronic expense report to the appropriate individual(s) for immediate review, and ACH can employ a direct deposit process accordingly.
 
As you can imagine, WebExpense with ACH can provide much faster turn-around time than paper forms floating around for approval and paper checks to be distributed.  Employees can receive reimbursements much quicker and can forgo that extra trip to the bank!

WebExpense with ACH just might be the right reimbursement method for your Firm.