How Zacchaeus Legal Services Cut Public Notice Time in Half With Column
Kierra Dixon manages sales at Zacchaeus Legal Services, a North Carolina tax foreclosure law firm. Here is how Column’s automated placement solution transformed the firm’s most time-consuming compliance workflow.
The Firm
Zacchaeus Legal Services provides property tax foreclosure services for local governments across North Carolina. For cities, towns, and counties working to resolve delinquent property taxes, Zacchaeus manages the legal and sales processes required to bring eligible properties to sale.
Public notice is not optional in this work. Before a sale can take place, notices must be published at least twice ahead of the auction date and posted through proper public channels, including the courthouse. These are legal documents tied to court timelines, sale dates, affidavits, and client expectations. The process has to be accurate, on time, and fully documented.
We work with so many counties. Each county could have anywhere from 5 to 20 to 30 sales in a month. And that's just one county.
That makes public notice a critical step — not an administrative afterthought.
And because Zacchaeus operates across multiple counties, the publication process can grow quickly.
The Problem: One Notice at a Time, Across Too Many Publishers
Before moving to Column’s automated placement solution, Zacchaeus managed public notice through a fragmented, manual process.
Even where Column was in use, the workflow required manual entry. Each notice had to be submitted individually — one by one — regardless of how many were due at the same time. For counties not yet connected to Column’s network, Dixon had to contact publishers directly: sending notices, waiting for responses, following up on proofs, confirming publication dates, and checking costs.
We used to have to contact every single publisher directly. Now, Column does all that work for us.
In practice, this meant:
- Multiple newspapers to coordinate with
- Multiple publication deadlines to track
- Multiple proofs and invoices to manage
- Multiple follow-ups when publishers did not respond
- Multiple opportunities for something to slip
For a firm managing legal work across many counties, that coordination adds up fast. Dixon was not just preparing notices — she was chasing them.
The Transition: From Manual Entry to Automated Placement
Column’s automated placement solution changes the model entirely. Instead of placing notices one by one or coordinating directly with each newspaper, Zacchaeus now sends all of its notices to Column. Column coordinates with publishers, tracks notice status, surfaces proofs for review, supports corrections, and keeps the firm informed throughout.
The firm went from executing every step of the publication process to overseeing it.
This is the core shift: Zacchaeus hands the operational work to Column and reviews everything in one place. The firm retains full visibility and control — without having to manage every step manually.
All we have to do now is go into Column to review each notice and make sure it's in good standing. The process is a lot simpler and easier to manage.
The Impact: Three Value Propositions That Matter
1. Time: Cut in Half
Before Column, Dixon spent significant time contacting publishers, entering notices, tracking responses, reviewing proofs, and following up when she did not hear back. All of that coordination now falls to Column.
It's cut the time in half, if not more.
The time savings are not just about speed. When public notice takes less time to manage, Dixon and her team can focus on what drives results for their clients.
The time savings are not just about speed. When public notice takes less time to manage, Dixon and her team can focus on what drives results for their clients.
It takes away a lot of the stress and time we used to spend tracking that part of the foreclosure sale process, which lets us focus on everything else we're handling alongside public notice.
When you have more time to focus on the cases, you're able to manage them better and finish with the best results. Column gives us the time to do that.
2. Consolidation: One Workflow Instead of Many
Public notice across multiple counties used to mean multiple scattered workflows: one email thread per publisher, one proof per newspaper, one invoice per outlet, one deadline per county. The more counties Zacchaeus managed, the more fragmented the process became.
Column brings all of that into one place. Instead of:
Many publishers → many email threads → many proofs → many invoices → many follow-ups
Zacchaeus now has:
One Column workflow → one place to review → one partner coordinating placement, tracking, and billing
That consolidation reduces administrative overhead, gives the team better visibility into what is happening, and makes public notice manageable at scale.
3. Reliability: A Process That Keeps Cases Moving
For a foreclosure law firm, delayed notices or missed publication deadlines create real friction — not just for the team, but for the case itself. Zacchaeus needs to know that notices are being handled correctly and on time, every time.
Column helps make sure we have the notice in enough time to collect costs, prepare for sale, and ensure everything gets posted as expected.
With Column, the firm has better visibility into where each notice stands, what still needs review, and whether publication is on schedule. That means fewer details falling through the cracks — and more confidence in the process.
Especially in a law firm, timeliness and accuracy are what you want. These are legal documents, so you want as little room for error as possible. Column definitely helps with that.
The Bottom Line
For Kierra Dixon and the team at Zacchaeus Legal Services, Column turned one of the most time-consuming compliance workflows into something manageable — and reliable.
The firm no longer places notices one by one, contacts publishers directly, or chases proofs across scattered email threads. Instead, Zacchaeus sends its notices to Column and reviews everything in one place. Column handles the coordination. The firm handles the cases.
Previously, we would have to place notices one by one. Now, Column lets us submit all at once, ensuring everything is executed correctly and on time.
Time spent on public notice: cut in half, if not more. Stress around tracking and deadlines: significantly reduced. Confidence in the process: measurably higher.
For foreclosure and tax foreclosure law firms placing high volumes of public notices across multiple counties, Column turns a fragmented administrative burden into a managed workflow — with the visibility and control the work demands.
