Gummerson & Nickolaus merges firms without missing a deadline with 8am

The mission to get up and running 

Having recently merged firms with a new partner to form Gummerson & Nickolaus, Holly Gummerson, attorney and managing partner, needed a practice management solution. The switch to new software had to be quick and seamless—any delays would result in administrative overload and threaten time dedicated to helping clients. 

"Prior to the merge, [my partner] had used an archaic cloud-based solution, whereas I hadn't used a practice management system at all,” Holly says. “When we started shopping around, I crossed paths with an attorney who I was once co-counsel with on a serious case, who uses MyCase. It was there that we decided to check it out, and the rest is history.”

Tailored onboarding for busy firms 

Merging two practices meant merging two different starting points, and a billing process unlike most firms deal with. Because Gummerson & Nickolaus handles state contracts, invoices don't just go out to clients; they also have to be entered into a separate government system, on top of standard billing. Any onboarding plan had to account for that from the start.

To make that happen, the onboarding process was broken into three sessions: a first pass on the software and priority features, an office-wide Q&A, and a final deep dive with Holly, her partner, and their office manager on billing and invoicing specifics. Between sessions, their onboarding manager checked in regularly to answer questions as they came up.

"The MyCase onboarding team was very mindful of covering all our bases collectively and ensuring my team had everything in place to get started," Holly says.

Reaching clients who have nowhere else to turn

Many of the firm's clients are unhoused, have Wi-Fi-only phones, or have no email.

"MyCase has given us the ability to be more effective at communicating with our clients, because we have the ability to connect with those who otherwise have limited access to a computer or a phone," Holly says.

Client engagement has climbed as a result. Some clients now check their case status in the middle of the night just to ease their mind, a level of engagement Holly didn't expect, and one that's helped her staff keep better track of the communications between the firm and its clients.

One feature in particular has driven that engagement: built-in text messaging. Much of the firm's communication with clients happens over text, since it's often the only channel clients have access to.

"We've seen definitively more client engagement as a result," Holly says. "I've had more clients participating in family meetings and court hearings because everything is virtual."

Capturing more billable time 

Training newer attorneys to track billable time consistently had always been a challenge. MyCase’s Smart Time Finder gives Gummerson & Nickolaus a way to close that gap, letting attorneys go back and find time they would have otherwise missed.

"One of my attorneys consistently billed 9 or 10 hours a day, and now she's up to 11 to 12 hours a day," Holly says.

The same tool replaced a manual process Holly had relied on for her own firm's billing, calculating daily hours on one spreadsheet, then adding them up on another.

"Smart Time Finder saved me so much administrative time, because I can go in and quickly pull everyone's billable hours," she says.

Looking back on the whole transition, Holly has no regrets.

A smooth transition with zero downtime 

With MyCase, Gummerson & Nickolaus merged two firms into one solution without downtime. The firm now reaches the clients who need them most and gives its attorneys back time that used to go unbilled. If you're looking to onboard without missing a beat, schedule a demo today.