Aderant Expert Enables a Decade of Transformation for Australian Law Firm HopgoodGanim

HopgoodGanim, an Australian law firm, has been an Aderant Expert client for over a decade. After selecting the industry-leading practice management system, the firm has maintained successful business operations through continuous growth and expansion.

“Aderant Expert is at the core of HopgoodGanim’s law practice – the key system that our business relies on daily. Maintaining a stable monthly billing cycle is most important in running a profitable business and getting paid for the work completed. We rely on Expert to help continually transform our firm’s business and billing practices to reflect the modern and efficient standards we strive to maintain.”

Chris Lowndes, Group Chief Financial Officer at HopgoodGanim

Aderant Expert Enables a Decade of Transformation for HopgoodGanim

Over the past ten years, the substantial feature set within Expert has enabled HopgoodGanim to transform into a highly efficient, productive law firm.

When HopgoodGanim first deployed Expert in 2013, the firm had a centralized billing model. Expert’s Classic Billing module made it possible for the firm to move to a decentralized billing process, a transition that brought many benefits. The capabilities of Classic Billing helped standardize billing and instill group rules to adhere to client-defined guidelines firm-wide.

The Move to Expert Paperless Billing

More recently, HopgoodGanim recognized its paper-based billing system had become outdated and inefficient and the work-from-home paradigm shift compounded these challenges. The firm saw the value of electronic billing for business continuity and disaster recovery. Moving from Classic Billing to Paperless Billing would address the needs of a hybrid workforce and safeguard against natural disasters and other future high-risk events.

First, an Expert Upgrade then Paperless Billing

After upgrading its Expert instance, the firm set out to implement the Expert Paperless Billing module. During the planning process, the firm focused on ensuring its revenue engine – namely its monthly billing process – would be uninterrupted during the transition. Aderant arranged for the firm to continue running its Classic Billing system while rolling out the new Paperless Billing module. This simultaneous availability reduced the risk of errors associated with change management. Despite the potential risk of switching to a new system, bills went out to clients on schedule. By easing into Paperless Billing, the firm also had ample time to get partners trained and up-to-speed on the new billing process before they completely cut over to the new system.

A Solid Business Case and Return-on-Investment

According to Lowndes, “Our finance team drove the Paperless Billing initiative, so we needed to prove the business case and show return on investment. Our goals were to increase the efficiency of supporting a remote-based team, improve flexibility for billing arrangements, and reduce the use of paper in the billing process. With the Expert Paperless Billing module, we now have tools to take the firm forward. This project was a big investment, and we are still reaping the returns.”

Advantages of Aderant Expert Paperless Billing

After upgrading from Classic Billing to Paperless Billing, HopgoodGanim realized new efficiencies across the firm. The Paperless Billing system has cut down on the total number of hours administrative assistants spend re-entering changes made by the lawyers on paper bills, as this is all captured as part of the workflow. Paperless Billing has also eliminated the need for support staff to remain in the office until bills have been posted at the month-end cutoff. The new Paperless Billing system prompts partners to approve their own bills online and automatically saves and posts bills to Expert without any intervention from support staff, simplifying a previously time-consuming process.

The firm acknowledges that Paperless Billing assists with matters that run across different work groups and practitioners within the firm. Such matters typically include larger bills for clients where multiple work groups are involved.

Expert Upgrade Includes WIP Aware and EA Pro Features

HopgoodGanim’s Expert upgrade included more recent features like WIP Aware, a work-in-progress (WIP), and accounts receivable (AR) management tool that is part of Expert Billing. It allows firms to optimize the time from WIP to bills to cash, improve quality and accuracy, and enhance tracking and auditability. HopgoodGanim intends to roll out WIP Aware to help practitioners manage client estimates and notify clients if estimates are being reached or exceeded. This is much more effective than the previous method of sending clients a bill with a cover letter indicating that the estimate was exceeded, but payment is required anyway.

HopgoodGanim’s lawyers are happy about the new dashboard and tile display options now available through Expert Assistant Professional (EA Pro) as part of their Expert upgrade. By providing dashboard views into vital functions across the firm with easy-to-access information, EA Pro has enhanced HopgoodGanim’s overall customer experience by enabling users to quickly answer client questions and better address client needs.

HopgoodGanim and Aderant Expert – A Decade of Achievement, With More to Come

Looking back at the Aderant and HopgoodGanim partnership, the firm has experienced tremendous growth over the past decade and Aderant has been in lockstep with them the entire time, supporting the firm’s new and evolving needs without any issues. A firm executive noted that Aderant Expert is a critical pillar of the firm’s business and a single source of truth from which all other systems feed. Aderant is viewed as a true partner, helping the firm at every juncture, and creating a great sense of community across its robust global user groups.

Ultimately, HopgoodGanim is a more efficient firm from an operational standpoint because it uses Aderant Expert and now the Paperless Billing module. These solutions have positively impacted both the firm and its clients, providing the best possible outcome for all parties.