PRI offers free resources
PRI offers free resources
Word about the free practice management tools offered by The Florida Bar’s Practice Resource Institute continues to spread among Florida lawyers.
PRI Director Jonathon Israel told the Bar’s Committee on Technology at the Annual Meeting in Orlando that PRI answered close to 1,500 calls seeking assistance in the past year, of which 101 were live chats with PRI practice management advisors available through the PRI website.
“We are continuing to service the members through the website and our hotline and live chats on the website,” Israel said about the program created a little over two years ago to assist members dealing with all of the business aspects of setting up, managing, merging, or closing a professional practice. “We are a free resource, truly a benefit of your Bar membership.”
Israel said through the PRI website — www.floridabar.org/PRI — and PRI YouTube Channel, the institute currently offers 23 complimentary CLE programs representing 36 hours of free CLE credits available to Bar members. From July 2015 to June 2016, those programs were viewed 2,775 times.
Israel said the PRI website continues to draw visitors. Launched on January 1, 2015, the website has been visited 368,000 times.
The top five pages visited included:
• PRI homepage, 115,140.
• PRI forms, 91,906.
• PRI: Resources — Trust Accounting, 43,165.
• PRI: Starting Your Own Practice, 40,841.
• PRI: Resources — Lawyers Retiring, Closing Office, or Changing Firms, 7,383.
The Florida Bar PRI Podcasts were launched in January 2015, with the goal of helping members run more efficient practices and provide better quality legal services to their clients. Each month, the PRI Podcast features leaders in the law discussing new and innovative topics. As of June, there are 30 podcast episodes available with more than 22,000 downloads, Israel said.
PRI produces a monthly newsletter titled PRI Digital Toolbox, and it has more than 700 subscribers.
The Practice Resource Institute provides free guidance, information sources, and general assistance to Florida Bar members and their staff regarding all areas of law office management, including case management, risk management, and specific law office management principles and techniques. Those include law firm economics; financial management; trust accounting; human resources management; recruiting; communications; paralegal utilization guidelines; facilities management; purchasing; records information management; marketing; legal research methods and library management; structure and governance of law offices and law firms; law firm strategic planning; law firm start-ups, mergers, acquisitions, and dissolutions; and general law office management.
The department correspondingly presents CLE programs on law office management and other administrative matters relative to law office/practice management and technology in the law office.
