From Plato to the Cloud: How advobue Digitalized its Law Firm
The advobue law firm shows how digitalization leads to more efficiency, security, and flexibility step by step.
Eight Years of Trust: Mastering Crises Together!
Customer Story · PROF ENGLERT + PARTNER Bauanwälte, Schrobenhausen – Munich · Law Firm Blog
Choosing the right law firm management software is a strategic milestone for many law firms – and a matter of trust. The customer story of the law firm PROF ENGLERT + PARTNER Bauanwälte in collaboration with timeSensor AG impressively demonstrates how a pragmatic decision can lead to a close, successful partnership. In this article, we provide insight into eight years of intensive collaboration and technical transformations.
The New Beginning in 2016: Switching to timeSensor Law Firm Management Software
The foundation for the long-standing collaboration was laid at the end of 2016 when the law firm PROF ENGLERT + PARTNER realigned itself and opened another office in Schrobenhausen. With four employees by his side, law firm partner Dr. Florian Englert decided not only to break new ground geographically but also technologically: by switching from the Windows operating system to macOS and from the WinMacs law firm management software by RA-MICRO to timeSensor.
Crucial for the law firm: timeSensor was already one of the few solutions on the market at that time that ran natively on macOS and offered flexible billing options. Another decisive advantage: while flat fees were used in criminal law, the law firm used the RVG tariff in construction and family law. This constellation could be easily mapped with timeSensor. Just three months later, timeSensor was fully implemented at PROF ENGLERT + PARTNER. Since January 2017, timeSensor has been in daily use. A query via our website turned into a stable, trusting partnership.
However, the joint journey did not end with the successful introduction of the new law firm management software. In 2022, Dr. Florian Englert commissioned timeSensor to integrate the beA communicator module. The automated filing of beA messages directly into the respective Matter not only meant enormous time savings but also reliable documentation in daily law firm operations.
The Acid Test: Flood Disaster in Schrobenhausen
Perhaps the greatest test for the partnership came in the summer of 2024 – when the region around Schrobenhausen was hit by a devastating flood disaster. The rivers Paar and Weilach overflowed their banks, over 500 basements were flooded – including the law firm's basement. The servers operated there, along with backups, were destroyed. A scenario that represents the worst-case scenario for many law firms: the loss of data and the entire basis of their work.
But what followed shows how valuable a resilient partnership is. Together with Dr. Florian Englert, our product manager Daniel Solenthaler drew up a rescue plan. In Zurich, the remaining data was handed over on a hard drive. Although the data from the SSD could not be recovered because the water damage was too severe, a portion of the data from the RAID could be saved. In close consultation with Dr. Florian Englert, it was decided to manually and systematically restore the law firm data. A Herculean task – but also a fresh start under new, better conditions.
Due to the flood disaster, PROF ENGLERT + PARTNER decided to switch to the new software generation timeSensor LEGAL 365 – including a cloud solution with a three-stage backup system and integration into Microsoft 365. What began as a catastrophe later proved to be a valuable impetus for a technological reorientation.
Digitalization as Teamwork: From nextCloud to Microsoft 365
In the future, law firm partners of timeSensor can no longer experience data loss due to a flood disaster or another server failure. Because timeSensor LEGAL 365 enables data backup in the cloud. The data centers are operated in Germany and Switzerland. Thanks to our three-stage backup system, data loss will never occur again. With this, we have not only achieved a technological quantum leap but also a new level of security and flexibility – even in a crisis.
For PROF ENGLERT + PARTNER, it is a real relief to know that their data is secure in the cloud and can be accessed anytime from anywhere. This was also our motivation when we further developed our cloud solution for the DACH region to offer an alternative to the local server.
However, the switch to the new version of our law firm management software offers further advantages: thanks to the new interfaces to Microsoft 365, addresses and deadlines can now also be synchronized directly between timeSensor and Microsoft applications. The connection to nextCloud desired by PROF ENGLERT + PARTNER was also realized in this context: an efficient means for collaboration with external partners, secure sharing of documents, and joint editing. Documents stored in nextCloud are also automatically linked to the corresponding files in timeSensor LEGAL 365. In addition, we set up an output function for accounting with ADDISON (similar to DATEV) for PROF ENGLERT + PARTNER.
"Since the founding of our law firm specializing in private construction law in 2017, we have relied on timeSensor and previously worked with the Classic Version on our own servers. The switch to timeSensor LEGAL 365 has more than paid off for us: the freedom to work comfortably and securely anywhere is just as convincing as the many small improvements compared to the previous Classic Version. The competent employees of timeSensor have provided us with excellent support in every phase of the transition and, above all, the reorganization."— Dr. Florian Englert, Managing Partner, prof englert + partner Rechtsanwälte PartGmbB
A Partnership on Equal Footing – and with a Future
What began as a software implementation is now a trusting partnership that goes far beyond technology. The collaboration with PROF ENGLERT + PARTNER is much more than a business relationship for us – it is an intelligent exchange of ideas and an inspiration for how we can jointly overcome crises like the flood disaster with the right attitude. We sincerely thank the entire law firm team for their consistently open and constructive communication and look forward to further expanding this partnership and jointly setting new standards in the digitalization of law firms.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank PROF ENGLERT + PARTNER for eight years of collaboration. We thank Dr. Florian Englert and his team for their trust and willingness to break new ground together, and we look forward to the continuation of this strong partnership. "We are proud of the trust that the law firm has placed in us since 2016. Together, we mastered every law firm's worst-case scenario – a flooded basement where the servers are located – and proved the strength of our collaboration." — Product Manager Daniel N. Solenthaler of timeSensor AG.
