Latest news with #3E
Business Wire
6 days ago
- Business
- Business Wire
Elite Advances Cloud and AI Adoption in Top Law Firms
NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Elite, the leading enterprise SaaS platform purpose-built for the legal industry, has unveiled the latest innovations to 3E, its pioneering cloud-based financial management product. 'We are excited to write the next chapter of legal technology—where real-time data becomes the engine of firm-wide transformation, driving improved business operations.' Elite also announced that demand for cloud migration rose sharply—with a 75% increase in SaaS subscription usage in 2025—signaling a decisive shift in how legal firms are choosing to run their operations. Momentum for Elite's invoice management solution, Elite Payments by Tranch, is also accelerating, with a threefold increase in monthly transactions since January. Five new firms recently adopted Elite Payments, including Clark Hill, Gentry Locke, and Greenspoon Marder. 'The legal industry is considered by many as the last frontier for digital transformation, but in 2025 we've seen the demand for new ways of working increase significantly. As a result, legal industry leaders are realizing faster billing cycles, reduced write-offs, and reclaimed lawyer time for their firms. Looking ahead, we know that Elite's investments in cloud and AI will drive even more meaningful outcomes for our industry,' said Mark Dorman, Chief Executive Officer, Elite. Nine out of 10 law firms are choosing cloud-based solutions when replacing their financial management systems, according to a recent ILTA survey, a significant jump compared to just a few years ago. 1 At this year's ILTACON, Elite presented three breakthrough innovations to continue driving forward this momentum: Elite Payments is now natively embedded in 3E: Invoice delivery, secure client invoice portals, and faster client payments are all directly in 3E. Clients receive greater transparency and the flexibility to split payments into smaller, manageable installments. At the same time, firms get paid faster and with the full sum up front. Users already report time-to-payment is reduced by up to 40%. Nearly three-quarters of the firms using Elite Payments are within the Am Law 200. Near real-time, Centralized Data Access: Later this year, customers will gain new ways to access data through a real-time, data lake in customers' Microsoft Fabric instance that is fully managed by Elite. This will unlock easy-to-use data anytime through Elite's robust embedded dashboard and analytics capabilities, while also supporting direct access from external BI tools. This innovation delivers a single source of truth across time, billing, collections, and profitability, allowing firms to always be in sync and make more informed decisions, much faster and without complexity. 'The ability for customers to access data in near real-time is only possible due to Elite's industry-leading investments in AI and cloud,' said Elisabet Hardy, Chief Product Officer, Elite. 'We are excited to write the next chapter of legal technology—where real-time data becomes the engine of firm-wide transformation, driving improved business operations.' Proforma AI Agent: Early next year, Elite plans to introduce an AI assistant that will enable users to review proformas and check matter status instantly. Users will be able to route proformas, flag delays, or escalate invoices directly from the chat. The agent will facilitate real-time interaction and information based on natural language prompts and questions, while adhering to each firm's unique billing rules and workflows. By reducing the manual back-and-forth that slows down billing cycles, the Proforma AI Agent will help firms accelerate cash flow, improve compliance, and free up time for higher-value client work. Taken together, these advancements are the latest bold steps forward from Elite to enable firms to unlock operational efficiency and empower smarter decision-making. "We see substantial value in leveraging 3E in the cloud, with its continuous enhancements, and updates that don't require full system upgrades. These tools not only streamline our operations but also empower us to deliver even more efficient and tailored client services," said Jen Fante, COO/CFO of Greenspoon Marder. About Elite Since its founding in 1947, Elite has transformed law firms with innovative technologies that are at the center of their success. Today, Elite is a leading, independent technology company that continues to develop cutting-edge digital financial solutions that drive success for the world's most successful law firms. Visit to learn more. 1 ILTA'S 2024 TECHNOLOGY SURVEY,
Forbes
29-07-2025
- Business
- Forbes
The 6 Hidden Sources Of Financial Trauma—And How To Begin Healing
The roots of financial trauma go deeper than debt. These six sources, ranging from generational trauma to systemic harm, offer a new framework for understanding money wounds. News headlines and money representing an economy in recession 'I'm doing all the right things financially and still feel stuck.' This is the reality I hear from many of my clients. Student loan debt, lay-offs, and the increasing cost of housing and insurance might be some of the more easily identifiable sources of financial anxiety and financial stress, but they hardly scratch the surface of what trauma-informed financial planning professionals, financial counselors, and financial therapists are coming to recognize as financial trauma in their clients. Financial trauma is any instance observed or experienced that has a negative impact on the way someone views, interacts with, or believes about money. While it has largely been described as direct and prolonged first-person experiences that impact one's emotional relationship with money – and is often framed through a lens of financial struggle and a scarcity mindset–the definition provided above widens that scope to include six sources of financial trauma I've identified in both my lived and professional experience as part of my proprietary framework 'The 3E's of Overcoming Financial Trauma™' that is explored deeper in my book, Overcoming Financial Trauma: How to Break Free From Guilt, Build Wealth, and Redefine Success (Wiley, 2025). These six sources are: Naming these sources addresses the psychological impact of money through various lenses that incorporate financial therapy as a foundation with interdisciplinary expansion into the study of epigenetics, neurobiology, and social theory. Through this framing, it also repositions financial trauma as a universal experience rather than its more common framing as an issue that only affects those experiencing financial stress and financial shame due to low income or prolonged experience with 6 Sources of Financial Trauma Generational or genetic financial trauma refers to physical, psychological, and emotional inheritance of attitudes and beliefs that are influenced by financial stress and financial anxiety experienced by previous generations. Through trauma research attributed to Rachel Yehuda, we now have evidence that the effects of stress and trauma can travel from generation to generation. When viewed through the lens of intergenerational trauma transfer, generational financial trauma is one of the six sources not requiring direct experience with the initial trauma and can exist as a form of trauma without context. From an embodied perspective, generational or genetic financial trauma can show up as physical expressions of previously experienced trauma related to money in how genes are expressed or where someone physically holds trauma in their body. When working with clients, it's not uncommon for me to remind them to breathe, to ask them where they feel the trauma in their body, or to recommend a somatic practice as part of overcoming financial or observational financial trauma is another one of the six sources the individual doesn't have to directly experience to be impacted by. Vicarious financial trauma can refer to the negative associations one makes with money due to what they have observed. Whether that's seeing your parents fight and argue over money, hearing an account of a bad experience turned to financial advice from an influencer or someone deemed a financial authority – credit cards are bad, stay away! – or witnessing the way someone is treated due to their financial status, like the criminalization of homelessness. Not only do these observations shape how someone may view, interact with, or believe about money, but they can also shape how the individual wants to be perceived with money, which may contribute to financial shame and money avoidance cycles, due to living above one's instability or poverty are the most frequently referenced sources of financial trauma and are usually directly experienced. Job loss, eviction, and repossession are just a few of a long list of triggers that can be sudden and financially traumatic. However, long-term experiences with poverty that are often lifelong speak to a deeper reinforcement of financial trauma that can persist even when the threat of poverty is no longer or employment trauma related to money is an often overlooked source due to socialized norms around the need for employment wages. Workplace trauma can stem from wage theft, discrimination, and exploitation, as well as more nefarious, extreme examples, but can also take subtle forms that show up as workplace culture and expectations that keep the corporate machine running. 'Code switching,' for example, is a practice employed by some non-white employees in predominantly white spaces to indicate professionalism, compliance, or a cultural fit. Code switching is often subconsciously done in an attempt to engage in economic warfare with the intention of securing, prolonging, or advancing employment, sometimes to the detriment of the employee due to misalignment with their true self. These employees may experience resentment or adopt narratives around workaholism and money as a form of power and control in other areas of their life that lead to burnout or attempts at coping with money stress through vices like gambling, drug or alcohol use, hypervigilance with money, or money financial trauma is another subtle form of financial trauma that is embedded in the financial and educational systems we navigate. Redlining, financial exclusion, and predatory lending are just some of the ways dominant financial systems have caused harm. While the aforementioned examples represent a not-so-distant past across financial systems and institutions, there are present and recent-day examples of institutional harm that show up in banking, real estate, consumer and business lending, credit scoring models, and more. Institutional financial trauma can show up as mistrust in financial systems, the number two self-reported reason for unbanked populations, according to survey data from the FDIC. While it can be tempting to assume that financial literacy solves this problem, addressing the deep-seated psychological impact of money in relation to these systems is a step towards acknowledging the mistrust and works to financially empower people to engage in healing money wounds prompted and exacerbated by financial institutions over and societal sources of financial trauma can be perpetuated unintentionally due to cultural expectations related to money. Some examples of this include gendered norms around money like who the breadwinner should be and what associated financial responsibilities look like, religious expectations around money, financial obligation of children to their parents (or parental financial abuse of their children), elder abuse, fraud, and The Black Tax (or adjacent experiences showing up in other cultures).Why Naming the Source Of Financial Trauma Matters As part of my framework, The 3E's of Overcoming Financial Trauma™, the first E stands for exposure. Naming the source as part of the exposure phase is important because it provides language for what many are experiencing but can't articulate due to financial socialization or a lack of trauma-related information. There is healing power in awareness that allows those impacted by financial trauma and trauma-informed practitioners to identify the source of behaviors that manifest as: These patterns are often interpreted as personal failings due to the manner in which traditional financial education is delivered, when they are often protective responses to past and continuing harm. That's why in Overcoming Financial Trauma, I offer tools to not just identify these six sources, but actively work towards healing money You Can Do Next Engaging in financial healing is possible. There are several organizations and credentialing bodies that focus on the psychological impact of money on behavior, as well as the four steps to financial healing I identify in my book. If you want to start with a DIY approach or work with a professional, you can:It's important to remember that you are not alone in this. There are professionals, educational materials, collaborative practices, and more that can help you. Financial trauma is real, it's valid, and many people are experiencing it without even knowing it.
Yahoo
20-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
After forced pause, Va. schools resume Armed Services assessment testing
Students in a classroom. (Photo courtesy of Getty Images) High school students in Virginia have regained the ability to take a key career readiness exam, after an executive order from President Donald Trump suspended testing for over two weeks. In large part, the executive order cut 'non-essential' travel for Department of Defense civilian employees, disrupting the administration of the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) assessment. The exam is vital in Virginia because it's one of the elements used to determine school accreditation, placing additional pressure on educators to prove schools successfully support students. On Thursday, the U.S. Army notified the Military Entrance Processing Command (MEPC), which administers the exams at schools across the country, that the education service specialists can begin resuming testing, according to Marshall Smith, a spokesman for MEPC. Schools, including in Caroline County and Northumberland County, had to cancel their exams. Northumberland County High School learned Friday that the test would once again be available to students. Shawn DeRose, principal at Annandale High School in Fairfax County and president of the Virginia Association of Secondary School Principals (VASSP), said principals are concerned about the impact the testing pause had on students and schools. 'The suspension of ASVAB testing, although brief, caused significant disruption for many high schools throughout Virginia,' said DeRose in a statement to the Mercury. 'Schools now face the challenge of securing alternative testing dates, which has become increasingly complex due to the limited availability of official proctors and existing scheduling commitments — including upcoming (Standards of Learning), AP, IB, and final exams.' Most importantly, he added that ASVAB testing is a 'critical component' of Virginia's new 3E Readiness framework, part of the overall accountability system to determine if schools meet the state standards for student success. The readiness framework is a plan that helps students prepare for life after high school, focusing on three main areas: getting a job, joining the military, or going to college or other schools. DeRose said he fears the disruption could impact whether a school is labeled 'off track' or, even worse, identified as 'needs intensive support.' Under the recently overhauled accountability system, schools are given one of four labels based on their performance: 'Distinguished,' 'On track,' 'Off Track,' and 'Needs Intensive Support.' Schools considered 'distinguished' are those that exceed the state's expectations for growth, achievement and readiness, while those that need 'intensive support' do not meet any of the state's expectations. In addition, 'on-track' and 'off-track' descriptors indicate whether schools generally meet expectations. Smith was uncertain if all Virginia high schools had been made aware of the change but encouraged schools to contact their respective ASVAB testing administrators to reschedule. He said approximately 620,000 students across the country took the exam last year. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
