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OSBA joins forces with voice activated time tracking app Tali
RICHARD WEINER
Technology for Lawyers
Published: April 27, 2018
The Ohio State Bar Association has been on the front line of legal technology since there was such a thing—from being the original developers of Lexis-Nexis to developing Casemaker, and now to offering a suite of practice management apps to its members.
“As the largest legal network in the state of Ohio, we work to stay ahead of the curve and to leverage new tools that help our member attorneys improve efficiency and provide even better service to their clients,” said Mary Amos Augsburger, executive director of the OSBA.
The latest in this suite of practice management apps is called Tali, a new product out of Portland, Oregon. It is a voice-activated time tracking app that works through existing voice-enabled services like Alexa and Google Voice (and will soon be coming to Cortana, according to the company).
Tali rides a wave of new and newer technologies applicable to law practice that combines hands-free data processing, automation, and integrated data management that all fold together to make lawyers’ professional lives a little easier throughout the course of a day.
Tali co-founder and CEO Matthew Volm said that he was inspired to create the product after seeing what his attorney wife experienced in trying to keep track of her hourly billing for her law firm.
“She has to track her work in 6-minute increments,” said Volm. “All of that time had to be entered into the system manually.”
He saw that a lot of time went unreported, and writing down that information took up non-billable time in and of itself.
He set out to solve those two problems with one app.
“This is a common problem in all professions, not just in law,” Volm said. “The less time you have to spend on work, the less revenue you can generate.”
Volm took this problem to a couple of problem solvers—“both named Matt,” he said.
The three Matts came up with Tali (the work is pronounced “tally” but that word cannot be copyrighted, he said).
“We started with lawyers, but the solution works for anyone who charges an hourly rate for work,” he said.
The process is simple, and so is the pricing.
A user speaks into a compatible voice-activated AI device-- Google Home, Alexa, or a phone equipped with those apps, or even a computer when Cortana integration comes on board in a few months. The user simply says “Voice-activated AI device, begin working on the such-and-such account.” Then, at the end of the work session, the user tells the voice app to stop working on that account.
Tali then goes to work, tallying the time spent on each job and posting it to the user’s billing software. Tali currently can sync with the billing applications in Clio and Rocket Matter and is working on Slack integration, said Volm.
The cost for Tali’s service is $25 per month per user. There is a 30-day free trial period, and OSBA members get a 10 percent discount.
Volm said that the product is designed for the small and mid-sized law office. The OSBA is the first bar association that Tali has struck a deal with.
“Tali is the latest in an ever-growing library of practice management benefits you can take advantage of when you join the OSBA,” said Augsburger.
Tali joins a set of apps and services offered as OSBA member benefits. Other practice management apps offered by OSBA include Clio, LawPay and Ruby Receptionists.
Clio (members go to: https://landing.clio.com/ohbar) is the most widely used law practice management system in the world, according to the OSBA website. It is accessible from any device, and coordinates meetings, cases, times, and invoices. Members get a 10 percent lifetime discount.
LawPay (https://lawpay.com) processes credit card payments in accordance with bar rules and laws governing law firm and trust accounts. Members get reduced processing rates and a raft of personalized features.
Ruby Receptionists (https://www.callruby.com) is a remote personalized answering service that takes calls and messages, performs client intake, makes follow-up calls and more. Receptionists are bilingual in Spanish, and the service integrates with Clio and other practice management systems. “Callers think we work in your office,” according to the website.
The organization also offers a number of discounted products, as listed on the organizations website. These include discounts on Dell computers; UPS overnight shipping; TicketsatWork.com; Staples products and shipping, SoFi student loan repayment services; Nationwide Insurance; the Columbus Zoo; and a worldwide travel assistance program.
The OSBA also offers a 401(K)-retirement program and professional insurance.