Stephany Eckart, a seasoned practitioner in criminal defense and family law, is the managing partner of Eckart Wostmann Wiese—the sole contracted criminal defense firm of the second-largest misdemeanor court in Oregon. Handling over 5,000 indigent defense cases annually alongside family law matters, they initially relied on Clio to manage their high-volume caseload. However, frustrations arose when the lack of customizations in Clio was causing internal bottlenecks and inhibiting case progress. In response, Stephany switched to PracticePanther, which not only saved them 2-3 hours per case by providing unlimited customizations that allowed for quick conflict checks but also delivered industry-leading security and improved payment collection rates in their family law practice.
PracticePanther’s Customization Empowers Teams to Work Faster
With a background of working with at-risk kids, Stephany, alongside her college roommate, established a family and indigent criminal law practice to defend those who can’t defend themselves. They are now the sole contracted criminal defense firm of the second-largest misdemeanor court in Oregon, handling over 5,000 indigent defense cases annually in addition to their family law matters.
Despite initially relying on Clio to manage their high-volume caseload, frustrations arose around their limited customization and reporting that made identifying client conflicts extremely time-consuming; costing her firm 2-3 hours per case to fix, thus making it difficult to take on more cases. This reality prompted a search for a solution that could be specifically customized around the way they want to manage cases without having to compromise their process.
Stephany and her partner found PracticePanther, where the customization features stood out as an immediate improvement in efficiently managing their huge indigent criminal defense client base. PracticePanther’s customizations enabled her firm to set up client profiles to quickly see conflict details without having to dig into their file; making it easy to know which cases they can take or pass on.
“Every conflict we found after taking a client on would add at least 2-3 hours per case. PracticePanther’s customization made it easy to quickly see any client conflict and the reason why without having to dig.”
Stephany Eckart
Managing Partner
PracticePanther’s custom tagging functionality streamlines Stephany’s ability to see their full range of case statuses in one view and helps link relationships between clients and victims/co-defendants. Enabling the team to track the number of open, closed, and pending cases the firm has at any time and further identify conflicts that arise due to client relationships.
Additionally, PracticePanther’s custom reporting provides fast access to critical information required for city statistics and 6th Amendment purposes. This simplified their ability to analyze how often clients are offending, appearing in court, what resources have been provided, and much more.
“Fast access to custom reports in PracticePanther helps us run much more efficiently with the high volume casework we do.”
PracticePanther Provides Peace of Mind With Industry-leading Security Protocols
On top of increased efficiency with customizations, Stephany prioritized data security above all else. Being a 100% cloud-based firm while processing huge volumes of their clients’ highly sensitive medical and personal documents, any solution that did not meet HIPPA compliance and provide top-notch data encryption was a non-starter.
Stephany found comfort in PracticePanther’s industry-leading security protocols, 256-bit military-grade data encryption, and US-based servers.
“The safety and security of our client information, files, and medical documents are a top priority for our firm. I chose PracticePanther because it had the highest level of security compared to anyone else out there.”
Eckart Wostmann Wiese Experiences Faster Payment Collection with PantherPayments
In addition to criminal defense, Stephany’s family law practice has benefited from switching solutions as well. Before PracticePanther, her firm spent a lot of time making awkward phone calls to collect payments for family law cases. With PracticePanther’s ability to send payment links, and accept payment in several forms, the firm saves time with fewer phone calls and enables clients to pay how they want—leading to faster payment collection and a better overall client experience.
“Providing clients with payment links has led to less awkward calls to our clients and faster payment collection.”
On top of payment collection, PracticePanther has also made it simple for her firm to track payments and review client collections. This addition to their firm puts Stephany and her team at ease with a more accurate financial paper trail.
“PracticePanther makes it really nice to track payments and have a paper trail. I don’t have to dig to find out if we called to replenish the retainer. I can quickly look in to see if we made contact, how often, how long ago, and if payment happened or not without interrupting my team.”
Take On More Clients & Manage More Work Efficiently with PracticePanther’s Unlimited Customization
After adopting PracticePanther, Stephany and her team solved efficiency pitfalls their criminal defense practice experienced with Clio and streamlined her family law practice in ways they did not previously expect. Her firm now identifies case conflicts faster than ever, works high-volume caseloads more efficiently, and connects clients to the right resources—allowing Stephany to continue her mission of giving back to the community by providing the best client experience possible.
