In order to serve our clients as efficiently and cost-effectively as possible, we have invested heavily in our computer network. Our software was custom designed for our office and our unique operation. It is constantly being revised and updated to meet the varying demands of our clients and the courts. In many cases, the process from entering a new claim, to filing a lawsuit, to obtaining a judgment is a matter of just a few keystrokes. This allows the attorneys and support staff to concentrate on human interaction and the extraordinary aspects of certain cases. The result is a high level of personal service, maximum dollar return, and low cost to our clients.
The Network
Our computer network is organized around a central server containing a database of all case information. This relational database contains many cross-links between cases, allowing us to share history, collection, and suit efforts between cases. Our central server also provides us with a number of research databases for both business and legal research, including resources such as corporate filings, real estate data, and reverse directories.
Communications
We have full internet access both through our network and, for backup, through individual workstations. Our communications facilities also allow us to be on line with various outside services, such as the courts’ websites, the California Secretary of State, research databases, and our clients, for the latest in up-to-date information. Our custom software updates our files with new data from these sources and, for clients who can support electronic data transfer, automatically keeps them informed of action on their claim. For other clients, the custom software automatically emails or faxes updates to them in batches.
To safeguard our system and your data from viruses and other malicious software, incoming email and documents are scanned before they enter the actual network.
In case of disaster (this is earthquake country, after all), the network has an uninterruptable power supply and a backup of the entire network is stored off-site. The data also is backed up daily and saved on the cloud.
The Software
Other than standard application software such as word processing, all our software was designed and written specifically for our operations. When a claim enters our office, it is entered into the claims system to ensure complete and accurate data.
All actions on the claim, such as payments or court actions, are automated to require the minimum amount of human effort and providing the maximum amount of accuracy. When the action is entered into the system, the results of the action are automatically distributed throughout the database.
Calendaring is automatic. If an action requires follow-up, and most do, the system determines the follow-up dates (subject to alteration by the staff) and adds them to the calendar. Court calendaring is more difficult because of the varying requirements of each court in which we file cases. Our system maintains a database of these varying requirements and automatically takes them into account when updating the court calendar.
Filing a lawsuit, for example, requires filling in only a very few blanks, verifying the data supplied from the database and clicking Prepare. That action prepares all the documents needed for the particular lawsuit for both the court and the process servers, updates both the database and the calendar for court dates and client follow-up, and informs the client of the actions taken.
What This Means To You
The degree of automation at The Law Offices of SWEET & WALKER, P.C. provides a number of advantages:
- Accuracy is enhanced because human interaction and the possibility of human error is reduced.
- The cost of processing a claim is held to a minimum.
- Claims are handled in timely fashion. They are being worked on from the day they arrive at our office, and when time for a particular action arrives, that action is taken. Claims are never “lost in the shuffle.”
- Our support staff and attorneys can concentrate on the extraordinary aspects of a claim. All the routine processes are handled by the computer.
- When a client or debtor calls, that person gets immediate attention and immediate answers. The claim is brought up on the screen, and all the relevant data is immediately presented.
- All these things add up to maximum return to our clients.