Jared Bane founded Expert Consulting Services after years of managing skilled nursing facilities, which today provides expert witness panels for nursing home cases. Initially, he relied on spreadsheets and generic project management tools to track cases, but manual updates and disconnected systems created inefficiencies that capped his ability to scale. Jared turned to PracticePanther, whose all-in-one legal-specific firm management platform streamlined case tracking, automated workflows, and improved reporting. Jared has since cut time spent updating case files by over 80% and positioned his business to increase active caseload capacity by over 150% without creating more overhead.
Consolidating Manual Case Tracking from Thirty Tabs to One with Customizable Case Management Software
After 15 years of running skilled nursing facilities, Jared Bane transitioned into the investigative side of elder care, founding Expert Consulting Services to provide expert witness panels for nursing home cases. As demand for their expertise grew, so did the complexity of managing 20+ expert witnesses and 50+ active cases simultaneously. With just himself and one other team member overseeing operations, staying on top of every case detail became burdensome.
Initially, Jared relied on a patchwork system of spreadsheets and generic project management tools to track all case progress, deadlines, and communications. At any given time, he had more than 30 tabs open, manually updating case statuses while constantly checking in with his team to ensure no detail was missed. This inefficient process not only took valuable time away from the casework itself but also made it challenging to scale the business effectively.
“We used to manage cases with dozens of experts on different spreadsheets. I would have 30 different tabs open at once and constantly check in with my team to keep everything updated. It took more time to enter the data than to review the case itself.”
Jared Bane
Founder & Principal
To meet his aggressive goal of increasing active caseload capacity by over 150% within the year, Jared needed an all-in-one solution built for a case-based business that could organize casework, streamline his workflow, and scale his business without requiring additional hires. As a legal-adjacent company, he evaluated multiple solutions but ultimately chose PracticePanther, whose legal-specific case management tools made every case detail quickly accessible and editable in one centralized tab, providing the structured, automated approach he was looking for.
“To grow the business, we had to get organized. PracticePanther made it easy to see every case detail and provide immediate answers to my status questions in one tab. This has been a huge help in making me and my team more productive while driving a lot of growth.”
Reducing Time Spent Updating Case Details by over 80% with PracticePanther’s Automation
Jared tried using Monday.com, a general project management tool, but quickly found it lacked the specific functionality required to handle expert witness casework. The generic platform’s shortcomings forced him to purchase a few other disconnected software to fill the gaps, leading to a larger dent in the budget while creating even more inefficiencies than before.
“Since we aren’t a law firm, I figured we could use a more general productivity tool to help manage our clients. However, it just wasn’t functional enough for us. We had to mix and match software and log into three different places to do anything. I wanted a one-stop shop to organize and track all our case progressions, which is exactly what PracticePanther is for us.”
With PracticePanther, every case detail is housed in one place, allowing Jared and his team to professionally track matter progress from initial inquiry to retention. Built-in communication tools also enabled them to email or text clients directly from the platform itself, with messages automatically logged to the appropriate case file. This streamlined information collection process has cut the time spent on administrative tasks by over 80%.
“From initial inquiry to retention, having all matter updates in one view has opened up everything for our lean team. We’re able to email or text clients directly from the platform, automatically log their messages, and collect key information quickly. What used to take us around 30 minutes to do now takes no more than 5.”
PracticePanther’s automation has further simplified workflows for repeat clients. Previously, Jared’s team had to manually copy and paste the same contact details into a new matter spreadsheet for every returning client. Now, when a new matter is created, PracticePanther auto-populates existing client information, eliminating redundancy and saving time.
“PracticePanther’s automation has made getting repeat business from clients even better. It used to be a manual copy/paste process; now, we can simply create a new matter, and all the contact information we already have in the system auto-populates in seconds. Outside of adding a couple of details to the matter and tagging assigned experts, the entire workflow is done in a minute or two.”
Increased Visibility into Business Opportunities with Customized Tags and Reporting
Before PracticePanther, compiling data was a full-time job for Jared. Case details were scattered across multiple spreadsheets, making it difficult to analyze trends and identify new business opportunities. With PracticePanther’s custom tagging and built-in analytics, Jared can now instantly generate reports that provide real-time insights into case types, trends, and areas for growth.
“I love all the analytics PracticePanther provides. It was a full-time job compiling and maintaining similar data from our spreadsheets before. Being able to filter our custom tags to instantly see all the different types of cases we’ve worked on or missed areas of opportunity over a period of time has been incredibly informative for our strategic growth plans.”
Seamless Document Tracking with PracticePanther’s Built-In eSignature Capabilities
PracticePanther also vastly improved document tracking and overall management. Their team used to rely on DocuSign to store contracts and case-related documents. However, Jared found that the unstructured system and limited search functionality required him to sift through long file lists to find what he needed.
With PracticePanther’s native eSignature capabilities, sending, signing, and storing documents is now seamless. Documents are automatically organized and linked to their corresponding contacts and matters, making them easy to find when needed. Clients also benefit from a more streamlined digital signing experience, eliminating the need for additional platforms.
“Sending documents out for eSignature directly via PracticePanther has been so much easier for us and our clients than DocuSign was. Now, we can not only seamlessly organize and search documents out for signature, but they’re also directly linked to the right contacts and matters. We love it.”
All-in-One Platform Made Scaling Business Without Stretching Overhead a Reality
With PracticePanther now serving as the foundation of Expert Consulting Services operations, Jared has been able to efficiently scale his expert witness panel and caseload without adding unnecessary overhead. Instead of being bogged down by administrative work, he can now focus on growing the business with new partnerships, marketing campaigns, and client acquisition strategies.
“My goal was to increase our active caseload capability by over 150% this year, and with PracticePanther at our foundation, I am 100% confident we can meet that goal without having to change a thing. I can now spend marketing dollars more aggressively to generate more partnerships, relationships, new clients, and new cases, knowing PracticePanther will help us organize and manage the resulting growth seamlessly.”
If you’re interested in seeing how PracticePanther’s streamlined case management, automation, and reporting can help your legal-adjacent company operate more efficiently while boosting revenue, contact our team!
