“People have this misconception that if they have systems in place it’s going to be constraining or it might take away the feel-good dynamic with the client, and I disagree. When you have a cloud-based system in place, it allows you to focus on the relationship with your client. It allows you to be a better attorney for your clients and deliver better service, better communication, and better outcomes” - Chad Dudley, a founding partner of Dudley Debosier, part-owner of CJ Advertising, and co-founder of Vista Consulting

Dudley DeBosier Injury Lawyers, a Louisiana-based personal injury law firm, grew from 30 people to 250 in a short period of time, so they needed a cloud-based system that could help them expand without sacrificing client satisfaction. We had the privilege of speaking with Chad Dudley about his firm’s software evolution throughout the last few years, and why they ultimately decided on Litify.

The Beginning of the Journey

Q: What case management system did you use when Dudley DeBosier got started?

A:  When we first got started we did financials on an abacus and recorded everything on papyrus. After that, we moved to Needles in 2017 and finally after that also built our own cloud-based system called Backdocket. The Backdocket team was wonderful, and for the right firm it’s definitely the right product. But, as time went on, our firm needed something that would offer the latest and greatest both when it comes to innovation and flexibility so we were able to fully configure to meet our evolving needs. 

Making the Change to Litify 

Q: After all that, you made the decision to change again and move to Litify. Can you describe that decision making process and how you justified the switch after the hard work you put in to implement other systems?

A:  I’m a big subscriber to the sunk cost fallacy. We make every decision leaving our sunk cost behind and focusing on how to become the best firm of the future. When we did that analysis, we quickly landed on Litify as our platform.

Litify offered the configurations we had on Backdocket and the cutting-edge technology we needed because it was built on the Salesforce, a platform that is constantly evolving. We also still had the ability to customize the software to our needs while having this incredible partner in Litify and support in Salesforce.  

Q: Considering your unique background of moving from Needles, a traditional case-management system, and then Backdocket, a more custom system, what would your advice be to firms considering making the move?

A: For firms that are smaller and a little more static in growth, there are out-of-the-box platforms available that may suit their needs. But, if you’re an innovative firm that’s constantly evolving and growing, you need the ability to adjust your process from a technology-first approach, and have the reporting and analytics available to see the results of your changes.

It really comes down to the pros and cons of building vs. buying. We originally chose to build our own software because we had a very specific idea of what we wanted our software to provide the firm, but we had to be honest about some of the pitfalls as time went on, such as the cost of maintenance expense and lack of vendor-led innovation. With a platform approach, like Litify, you get access to the best of both sides - with a strong out of the box offering and the full ability to design the platform to your firm's needs. On top of that you have access to the full Litify engineering team who are keenly in tune with the legal industry, and a 150,000 person Salesforce engineering team constantly driving innovation. So, I’d strongly advise growing firms considering the move to choose a platform that has that level of innovation to keep up with a rapidly changing industry. Another thing a lot of firms don’t think about when choosing to buy a platform is making sure you own your own data. I’ve heard horror stories about firms moving platforms and finding out they don’t own their data.To us this was critical, that our data was ours and we could leverage it and use it how we decided. 

Q: You touched on the ability to maintain your own data. How did you evaluate security at Litify? 

A: Some firms worry about off-brand ideas, but we did our research into the platform Litify is built on and their internal security protocols. From a security perspective, Litify is built on Salesforce so we knew we were protected, and we knew our data would be stored within Salesforce data centers that are maintained through the highest levels of security. The Litify team walked us through their security protocols and the level of security measures in place to ensure that firm employees, Litify employees, or any 3rd party could not access our data improperly, and we found it to be best in class.

Q: And not only are you switching your firm to Litify, you also started a service company to augment the power of Litify. Can you tell us a little bit about that?

A. We launched a business named Banjaxed, in parallel to our Litify launch because we saw the opportunity within the Litify ecosystem. The Litify team brings the platform approach and tools that help us handle cases better, and we can augment that in various ways to go deeper with firms. Our first product tool is a communication tool we call “Conversations”. We started there because communication is the core of the entire client experience. We focused on a conversations app that would allow firms to easily communicate with their customers through SMS, fax and email. 

We’ve also seen a lot of success with coaching other firms through data conversion - enabling teams to easily extract and import data into Litify. Generally, the part of the transition to a new case management system that worries firm owners the most is how they will bring over years of data. We brought our expertise to this space and have built several tools to facilitate easier data transformations. With the combination of Litify and Banjaxed,  we were able to facilitate the data transaction and entry in a way that’s easier for staff and drives confidence in the project as a whole. A successful transition to any system requires work from the firm, and from the vendor. We feel that considering our technical and operational expertise Banjaxed is uniquely positioned to help ease that burden and make the process that much smoother.  

The combination of Litify and Banjaxed is what we need to be on top of our game.

Want your firm to be on top of their game like Dudley DeBosier? Schedule your demo with us today.