LEX Reception is a virtual receptionist service specifically designed for lawyers. They are available 24/7/365, have bilingual services, and can make outbound calls on your behalf. What sets them apart from some other virtual receptionist services, however, is how they fit into your law firm’s legal tech stack.
LEX Reception and Your Tech Stack
LEX Reception has built both web and mobile apps to help you manage your incoming phone calls. Lawyers can update their call scripts, change forwarding numbers, and even make outbound calls using the system. It is a solid foundation for the broader virtual receptionist services LEX provides.
This app, however, wouldn’t provide much help to your firm if it was unwieldy or unusable. To that end, LEX Reception provides direct integrations with some of the most popular law practice management software providers. Although it is not necessary for LEX to integrate with your system, it is certainly helpful.
With this integration comes an added level of automation. Using some of the integrated CRMs, or practice management software, a firm could move a potential new client from initial call to accepted client with very little effort—even during non-business hours.
LEX Reception Interview
Zack sat down with Bree Swanson, from LEX Reception, to discuss how the integrations can fit into a lawyer’s complete tech stack. Take a look at their conversation below.
How to Get It
Ready to learn more? See more features and community comments at our full review of LEX Reception. Don’t forget to claim your Affinity Partner discount. Or, if you’re ready to jump right in, get a custom demo at LEXReception.com.
Erica Payne Left Big Law and Built a Values-Based Firm That Saved Her Health
When attorney Erica Payne made partner at the largest firm in the upper peninsula of Michigan, it appeared she had “made it.” She thought she needed the big firm, the big resources, the big network, and the big paycheck. She didn’t anticipate leaving big law.
Big Law Impacted Erica’s Health
Soon after, she received a devastating medical diagnosis— a chronic health condition that would likely get worse if she continued at her current pace.
As she started to understand the reality of living with a chronic condition, Erica began to search for alternative ways to be a “successful” lawyer without selling her soul to her career, working long, stressful hours, and ultimately facing burnout (if not worse).
She knew the answer was leaving big law and partnership behind, but soon got stuck in, “Well, what do I do now?”
Leaving Big Law for Her Health
That’s when she found Lawyerist. Erica joined Lawyerist Lab in 2021, where she learned how to turn her vision of a values-based firm into reality.
With encouragement from the coaches at Lawyerist, Erica found the confidence to move forward and build a firm that would allow her to thrive.
“The vision for my practice was to find a different way to practice law that can be a more positive experience for everybody, from the client to the lawyer to the staff.”
Relying on Systems
Facing a tremendous amount of uncertainty in her health, career, and the nature of running a litigation practice, Erica relied on systems to generate certainty in the areas she could control.
Lawyerist helped her understand how things like flat fee billing, for example, can create an overall better client experience and provide for a more predictable revenue model.
Creating a Values-Based Firm
Early on, clarifying her core values influenced many of the tough decisions. Including who to bring on as a partner and how to stay organized to get work done. Eventually, she named her firm Heirloom Law Group, a name inspired by something very meaningful to Erica’s life— gardening.
Once she was able to nail down what was truly important to her, everything fell into place. Heirloom became the firm Erica needed, including space for fun and authenticity.
“Sometimes lawyers don’t like to have that word brought up because we do very serious work. It’s serious stuff that we deal with, but your job can still be fun. The court process can be pleasant, or at least a positive experience. I want to go to work every day and have fun. We wanted to be authentic to ourselves.”
Values-Based Isn’t Cookie Cutter Law
In building a practice around values, Erica demonstrates that law firms don’t have to be cookie cutter. She admits to being a goofy person and doing things differently than the average attorney.
And, it works.
Another thing Erica does differently? She says no to multi-tasking.
How Erica Got Over Multi-Tasking After Leaving Big Law
Erica recalls touting her multi-tasking skills in previous positions, as many people often do. Now, she realizes it’s simply ineffective and goes against one of her other core values: working systematically.
Now, she practices being fully present for one task at a time. This allows her time to focus It increasing productivity delivering legal work in a way that doesn’t negatively impact her health.
A Key to Systematizing
Systemizing legal work does not have to be complex or expensive. One small thing Erica now uses to stay on task is a simple pack of post-it notes.
“I’ve started every day writing three work tasks, three personal work tasks, and three fun or relaxing things. I like to pick up that post-it note and set it in front of me. It helps me be mindful about what I’m doing if I do get derailed.”
Everyone faces distractions, but when they pop up for Erica, she writes them on a larger sticky note and sets them aside. By doing this, she calls the shots on her true priorities, and her clients thank her for it.
Embracing Imperfection
Above all, running a values-based business has taught Erica the importance of being willing to be imperfect.
“It only works if you are kind to yourself, and that’s one thing that lawyers don’t do well. Lawyers are perfectionists. We don’t like to fall short, but we do. A process like implementing a system takes time. I want everything done yesterday, to be working smoothly, and for everybody to know what they’re doing, but that’s impossible all of the time.”
The Importance of Business Coaching and Healthy Self-Talk
After leaving big law, Erica joined the Lawyerist Lab coaching program. She decided that it was time to practice law through a more human-centered approach. That human-centered approach started with herself. She works on her self-talk and practices speaking kindly to herself daily. Not only has this changed the way she practices law, it’s improved her health.
She calls Lawyerist a “life-saver,” and with her chronic health condition, she means that literally.
“I’m grateful because this is probably going to lead to a better, healthier life… a longer life. I don’t want to be the lawyer who’s working towards retirement. I don’t want to think about retirement, because I have had some scary situations over the last couple years and I want to live a good life today, tomorrow, and the next day. Maybe I won’t even see retirement age. That’s reality. I wish I would’ve taken the dive earlier, but I try not to dwell on it because I only knew what I knew.”
Erica’s Advice for Starting a Values-Based Firm
Erica proved through Heirloom Law Group that building a successful values-based lifestyle firm is not only possible, it’s profitable.
“Don’t be scared. Keep reading about what’s possible for you. I found Lawyerist, and I found that it made me feel not so alone, that I could do it, and I could go out and I wasn’t going to be alone. It’s not as solo as solo sounds.”
We’re so proud of Erica for prioritizing her health and well-being and for having the courage to leave big law, envision her dream, and build it from the ground up.
If you are interested in learning more about how Lawyerist Lab can help you build a systemized, values-based firm that supports your life, we’d love to connect with you.
LawPay’s Card Vault Securely Stores Payments and Saves Time
Accepting credit card payments is becoming the norm for law firms. If your firm is still accepting only cash or checks, you’re missing out on a large portion of potential clients. Over 70% of Americans have at least one credit card. As of last year, credit cards made up nearly 40% of all transactions at point-of-sale locations. And when it comes to e-payments, card payments and ACH are the most popular options. It’s faster and more secure, for clients and merchants alike, to make payments by card. Firms that provide a variety of payment options can attract more clients, get paid faster, and collect more. To run a modern and efficient law firm, you must be able to accept credit card payments through an e-payment platform.
ePayments, Compliance, and Simplifying Your Workflow
Maybe your firm’s hesitation in accepting credit cards or ePayments is the ethics and compliance issues surrounding them. With ePayment options, attorneys can easily set up payment plans, flexible billing options, and charge for past-due invoices. These are all ways to streamline your time and increase efficiency. But, with each of these options, there are jurisdictional rules to consider. It can be overwhelming for attorneys to navigate those on top of the other day-to-day work to run a law firm. The better option is to work with a software company knowledgeable about legal accounting, including IOLTA and PCI requirements. You can easily manage your trust and operating accounts and client payments through a single system.
Working with a payment system built for law firms allows you to flow credit card payments into client accounts seamlessly. Those payments can go directly into a trust account or towards a deposit, helping you stay compliant. This workflow runs even more smoothly by having your client’s payment information on file, stored in a secured credit card vault. You’ll save time, get paid more quickly, and provide a more polished client experience.
LawPay was built exclusively for attorneys and their needs. They make it easy for law firms to get paid by securely storing client credit card and eCheck information in their Card Vault.
LawPay’s Secured Credit Card Vault
With LawPay’s Card Vault, you can store your client’s preferred payment method in a secure vault and update it later. There are two ways to store a client’s payment information: Add New Card or Request Card. Add New Card is where your firm inputs the payment information. This is useful when a client is in the office or wants to provide payment information over the phone. Your client can give you their credit card info and authorization to make charges to the card. Simple, straightforward, but potentially prone to data entry errors. Sometimes you want clients to input that information themselves.
Request Card sends an email to your client with a link to a secure form to input their card information. Clients will enter their own information so no one at your firm will ever see the card or account number. Clients are also able to input multiple payment methods. So if clients want to keep a credit card and eCheck on file, LawPay can support that. As clients fill out the form, they’ll also be required to give your firm authorization to make charges. This way, you’ll have a signed digital record of your client’s approval to keep their payment method on file.
After a client’s credit card information is collected and vaulted, only the last four digits of the card and expiration date will be visible. You can charge a saved payment method with just a few clicks and view those charges in minutes. Once a client makes a payment, you can create a payment schedule for future payments on the vaulted card. Need to make changes on vaulted payment methods? Simply click “Manage Cards” and edit payment methods without needing a full card number. Want to view transactions on vaulted cards? LawPay allows you to quickly run transaction reports and export into something like Excel in just a few clicks. Easy, right? It gets better.
With its flexible features, Card Vault, and LawPay, are 100% PCI compliant. This means it follows all industry and jurisdictional regulations, standards, and best practices. So if you’re a LawPay user, you’re also PCI compliant!
Dedicated Support
Being PCI compliant is great, but knowing how to handle difficult or complex payment issues is important, too. For example, in taking credit card payments, sometimes clients will dispute a charge on their credit card. If a client disputes a charge, credit card processors may attempt to take back money in the disputed transaction. Client funds are to be held inviolate. No other entity should be able to access those funds. This could mean a third party accessing funds deposited into trust, or money that potentially belongs to a different client. Either way, this is a big ethics no-no, and a complicated issue to resolve by yourself.
As a LawPay client, you’ll have a dedicated risk management team to help with chargeback cases. When you reach out to the LawPay risk team for help, whether by phone or email, you’ll always reach a real person. LawPay understands the legal market and can help guide you through tricky situations, like chargebacks. This is truly a special and unique feature.
And if you prefer to try and troubleshoot issues yourself, you can access LawPay’s comprehensive support library. Their support library is available even if you’re not logged into LawPay. Their library boasts hundreds of useful articles, templates, and even CLE courses to support and improve how you run and manage your firm.
Demo Video
Rachel from LawPay recently gave us a demo of the secured Credit Card Vault feature and how it works. Take a look at the video below to see a walkthrough she provided our Legal Tech Advisor, Zack Glaser.
How to Get It
If you’d like to learn more about LawPay and how its secured credit card vault can help you get paid more quickly, contact them at lawpay.com to learn more or schedule a demo.
Want to learn more about LawPay? Check out our full review for a features list, other demo videos, and community comments. Remember that Lawyerist readers get an affinity benefit through the review page.
Accel Drives Law Firm Visibility with Content and Social Media Management
Accel Marketing Solutions is a full-service digital marketing company focused exclusively on the legal field. They aim to build a law firm’s reputation and expertise through content marketing, social media management, and other digital means. Although they assist with all aspects of digital marketing, with Accel, content is king.
What Sets Accel Marketing Solutions Apart?
Content Marketing
Accel builds and maintains large websites by publishing consistent, regular articles for their clients. This schedule of unique, ongoing content not only contributes to the firm’s expertise, but builds their authority for SEO purposes. It not only helps you broaden your firm’s visibility, but also helps you attract your ideal client.
Yet, with this amount of content, Accel builds expertise for questions potential clients are actually asking, rather than just surface-level keywords. They answer questions like, “can I receive alimony in Georgetown”, rather than just “Austin area Divorce Attorney near me.”
Law Firm Social Media Management
Accel also helps your firm manage the promotion of its content—not just the creation. They will build a schedule, create content, and help you post consistently to your social media platforms. This social media management means that your law firm interacts with potential clients regularly and stays on top of mind.
Video Interview
Take a look at the video below where Zack and Accel Marketing Solutions president, Elliot Stern, discuss what makes his company stand out.
Tabs3Pay Provides Compliant ePayments for Trust Accounts
Trust accounting seems pretty straightforward: keep money that isn’t yours in a separate account. But not so fast! As your practice and number of clients grows, trust accounting is not as simple as it seems. You’ll have to navigate jurisdictional rules while dealing with banks and credit card processors that know nothing about those rules. You’ll also have to manage the ledgers, accounting, payments, and balances for each client’s trust accounts. Tabs3 Trust Accounting Software manages trust accounts for your clients accurately and easily.
Why Use Dedicated Software for Trust Accounting?
To effectively manage trust accounts, you need something beyond just using an Excel sheet. And switching between multiple programs isn’t an option either, unless you want to spend hours each week making sure your books are balanced. A better solution is to have a single software that can streamline trust account management and scale with your practice. You’ll want something with safeguards in place to give you peace of mind over trust transactions. This is where having dedicated software comes in.
Having dedicated software for trust accounting doesn’t just help you stay compliant with your jurisdiction’s rules. It also simplifies your accounting workflow, so you know exactly what to do and when to do it. These days, most trust accounting software is bundled in with other legal software as a suite of services. All of this is intended to help reduce the number of hours attorneys spend on administrative tasks. While many law firm software options say they have trust accounting features, they may not go far enough to reduce accounting headaches. Ideally, trust accounting should offer features that allow you to easily have an overview of where your firm stands with your trust accounts. It should also make managing incoming and outgoing payments from those accounts easy and help you stay compliant. This is something the Tabs3 suite of software and Tabs3Pay does and more.
Manage Trust Account Payments with a Click
Tabs3 gives you a quick overview of where your trust accounts stand. It lets you know what you need to do at just a glance. When viewing a client’s account, you’ll immediately see the trust account balances. Tabs3 will also let you know when those balances are getting low. You’ll be able to set recommended amounts for trust accounts and get a warning when you’re at or below a certain level. And if you’re below that level? Simply click a link to generate a trust request to email to your client. The email will come directly from your law firm’s email address, and it will have a custom payment link for clients to pay securely via credit card, ACH, or debit card. Tabs3’s trust account features turn a complicated and time-consuming part of your practice into a streamlined solution.
Make it Easier for Clients to Pay
Emailing a custom payment link to clients isn’t limited to trust accounts. Anytime you send out invoices, you can generate an email invoice with a unique payment button for paying accounts receivable or depositing into a trust account. This ensures the funds will never go into the wrong account, helping you stay compliant. And, all processing fees come out of your operating account, even if a client pays into trust.
You’ll also be able to set up default hourly billing rates or charge contingency, flat fee, or retainers. No matter the charge, clients will receive clear, detailed invoices from your firm, so they’ll always know what they’re paying. Clients will even be able to pay through Tabs3Pay’s secure portal. This means you don’t have to manually enter information when clients pay their bills. Moving towards online invoices and payments brings you one step closer to a paperless firm. You’ll have fewer accounting errors, receive payments faster, and clients will feel confident that their payment information is kept safe.
Easily Accept (Credit Card) Payments
As mentioned above, Tabs3Pay allows attorneys to accept credit card payments from MasterCard, Visa, American Express, Discover, Diner’s Club, and JCB. This makes life easier for clients (over 70% of adults own credit cards!) and helps your firm get paid sooner. And, better yet, you’ll collect a higher percentage of your billable work than firms that don’t accept credit cards. Still, many attorneys may not want to accept credit cards as payments because of the associated processing fees.
For attorneys that want to accept credit card payments but don’t want the fee, Tabs3Pay gives the option to attorneys to surcharge those costs in client invoicing. Surcharging allows you to pass the cost of processing fees to the cardholder as a separate line item on invoices.
You’ll also have the option to accept payment from clients via debit card or ACH eCheck transactions. Clients will be able to pay through their checking or savings account, giving them more options and control over their payments.
Demo Video
Tabs3 recently gave us a demo of Tabs3Pay and how its features make trust account payment a breeze. Take a look at the video below to see a walkthrough they provided our Legal Tech Advisor, Zack Glaser.
How to Get It
If your law firm wants to learn more about Tabs3Pay or the Tabs3 suite of software to help make your practice management more efficient, contact them at tabs3.com to schedule a free personalized demo or sign-up for a free trial.
“Grab the Marker” Means Stepping Up and Jumping In at Lawyerist
For the past few weeks, we’ve been diving into Lawyerist’s team core values and why they matter. This week, we’re talking about why we value team members who jump in, take the initiative, and solve problems. We summarize this internally as: “Grab the Marker.”
Grab the Marker
We’re confident, bold, brave, not perfect, and ready to step up and jump in. When we see ways to improve or solve problems, we make it happen.
Why Team Core Values Matter at Lawyerist
We use our core values every day. In our hiring process, our core values are a litmus test of whether someone would be a great fit for our team. We look for ways to give feedback to team members using our core values. For example, instead of recognizing Sara for solving problem X, we’d share something like, “Hey team – Sara really Grabbed the Marker today when she noticed a problem with X and did Y to solve it!” The same goes for other feedback. We might remind a team member that they missed a Grab the Marker moment and could have approached the issue differently. By tying everyone’s daily work and progress to our core values, we emphasize the importance of our values. They are more than cute sayings we hang on the wall.
What Does Grab the Marker Mean at Lawyerist?
It starts with a story.
Once upon a time, our newest team member attended her first leadership team retreat after only being on the team for two weeks. During one conversation, she leapt from her chair, literally grabbed the marker from someone else’s hand, and began drawing on the board to better capture and define what the more tenured team members were struggling to say at that moment. She could have sat quietly and followed the lead of the other people in the room. But she didn’t. She brought her previous experience and knowledge to the team confidently. And it was perfect! Even if her idea wasn’t part of the final decision, she was successful in her role and how she approached working with our team.
And that’s why we tell team members to “grab the marker.” We want them to know we hired them for a reason. We want them to show up and share their brilliance with the team.
What Does Brave, Not Perfect Mean?
This doesn’t mean someone has to have all the answers or be perfect. Far from it. But, we want them to show up and try their best and learn—that’s why we talk about being “brave, not perfect.” (Hear more about that concept in Podcast Episode # 242: Brave, Not Perfect, with Reshma Saujani.)
Related, we’ve also realized that the best performers on our team are the people who aren’t afraid to jump in and figure things out. That’s not to say we won’t help or answer questions, but people can often find the answer on their own without interrupting another team member. And maybe they learn even more by going through that process.
Looking for Ways to Improve
Finally, we don’t expect team members to just sit back and do it the way it’s always been done. Along with our value of Experiment Like a Lobster, we’re always looking for ways to do things faster, easier, and better. If someone on a team sees a way to improve, we expect them to jump in and fix it. We talk about leaving the campground better than we found it, and we apply that concept to big projects that will improve the company and the minute details of our daily work.
Ready to “Grab the Marker” and work with us? Check our current job openings—we’re always excited to connect with new people who align with our team’s core values.
PracticePanther Text Message Payments Offer Clients Another Way to Pay
Adding to its growing list of native must-have features, PracticePanther has now released PantherPay. This fully integrated ePayments platform obviates the need for a software integration and streamlines the entire client payment process. Now, you can use PracticePanther to accept electronic payments by text messages to your clients.
PracticePanther Features
PantherPay
PantherPayments is an internal ePayment platform that works directly in PracticePanther. With it, your firm can accept Credit Cards, Debit Cards, and ACH transactions. Additionally, you can connect multiple bank accounts. And, since they are familiar with law firm accounting, transaction fees will never be debited from your Trust Account.
Universal Payment Links
Although you can easily send invoices specifically to your clients, PantherPayments allows users to set up a universal payment link. Firms can attach this link to any invoice or put it directly on their website to accept ePayments more easily. To allow for more control, users can create a number of these links for specific purposes—so you can keep Trust Account payments separate from Operations.
Accept Payments by Text Message
Since PantherPayments is an internal platform, law firms can easily accept payments by text message. Just use PracticePanther’s text message feature and attach a universal link or an invoice so your client can pay directly from their phone.
Demo Video
How to Get It
Want to learn more? Visit our full review of PracticePanther. There, you can compare features, read community comments, and watch additional demo videos. Or, if you’d like to jump right in, get a demo or a free trial at PracticePanther.com.
Lawyerist Builds an Inclusive Community with the Help of Core Values
Diversity matters. At Lawyerist, we’ve been talking about diversity and inclusion in law firms for a while now. (A few of our podcast episodes on the subject include: Episode #215, Online Accessibility & Law Firm Websites, with Lainey Feingold, Episode #236, The Deafblind Woman Who Conquered Harvard Law, with Haben Girma, and Episode #280, Expanding Your Firm’s Equity, Diversity, & Inclusion Awareness, with Jennifer Brown)
One of our team’s core values is Build an Inclusive Community. Here’s what we say:
Build an Inclusive Community.
We’re building community among our team, partners, and the lawyers we support. Our community is open and welcoming to different thoughts, knowledge, identities, backgrounds, status, characteristics, and experiences.
It matters to us in everything we do. We aren’t perfect, and we have a long way to get where we want to be. But, here’s the thing, we’re trying. We’re learning. We’re open.
Many people talk about diversity and inclusivity in terms of team hires. For us, diversity means building an inclusive team, but it also means being thoughtful about the lawyer community we support and the vendors we work with.
Building an Inclusive Team at Lawyerist
Diversity starts with our team. We’re working hard to build a hiring process that attracts diverse people. Here are some things we do:
Check for implicit bias or unwelcoming words in our job descriptions.
Include the following sentence to encourage applicants to apply: “Lawyerist is an equal opportunity employer, and we value diversity. We see imposter syndrome as a sign of conscientiousness. If you’re a minority and/or woman wondering if you’re really qualified, you probably are, so please apply! Let’s talk!”
Consider posting our job in places where diverse applicants may see it (e.g., networking groups based on diverse backgrounds).
Ask people with networks beyond our own to help spread the word about our job posting, so it reaches more people who might not otherwise know us.
Deemphasize obsolete hiring markers, such as the pedigree of a school/community college or gaps in work history. Instead, we focus on skills like being a lifelong learner and being willing to engage in potentially challenging conversations.
Since these shifts, we’ve significantly improved the diversity of our team.
More importantly, we all bring our unique selves to the team each day. Everyone shows up and shares their point of view. We talk about big issues like how someone who doesn’t have the same background as us might see something differently. It also shows up in little things like movie and music references. It allows us each to learn in broader and more interesting ways. Our team makes our workplace more engaging and our work in the world more nuanced.
Building a Diverse and Inclusive Lawyer Community
Our team exists to guide lawyers to build healthier small law firms. This includes diversity and inclusion in law firms. As part of this work, we have created communities of lawyers (both online and in-person) who gather and help one another.
From our very first event, TBD Law, in 2016, we were thinking about who was in the room. Our stated goal was to emphasize diversity because future-oriented and innovative legal ideas come from a diverse network of lawyers.
That tradition continues today. Just like with our hiring process, we are intentional in our marketing. We are thoughtful about the language and images we use in our marketing materials—are we welcoming in our words and actions?
The results mean that we typically have more women at our events than men. We pay attention to racial diversity and typically meet or exceed the diversity statistics for lawyers in the US. We have more work to do.
Then, we follow up our welcome with an inviting space for community members. Our Community Standards tell community members how we expect them to behave. Specifically, they must:
Be Respectful. We don’t allow asshole behavior in our community. Follow the Golden Rule: treat others the way you would like to be treated (and then be open to feedback and change if they request otherwise).
Be Inclusive. Proactively work to make sure underrepresented voices and perspectives are welcome and invited into conversations.
Finally, when a community member messes up (not if, but when, because growth includes error), they must:
Seek Repair. If someone violates a Community Standard, we expect them to acknowledge it, apologize, make it right, and commit to learning and improving.
We all make mistakes, but we also can grow from them. We are confident that by continuing our work on a thoughtful path, we’ll create a fantastic space where lawyers can thrive and learn from one another.
Building a Diverse and Inclusive Business Network
Our work doesn’t stop with the lawyers we coach. We are also a thriving business and transact with various contractors and vendors to complete our work.
Whenever we add a new working relationship to our business, we follow a similar process. We find that working with other unique small businesses whose values align with ours makes for kick-ass working relationships.
For example, we love working with Britany Felix, our amazing podcast editor—doesn’t she make us sound outstanding? When we added working with a financial planner as a team benefit, we knew we needed to hire Sibyl Slade.
Building an inclusive community means engaging in conversations and looking for ways to do better. And, it involves a great deal of candor. Ready to join us?
TimeSolv Saves Hours with Advanced Billing Features
Timekeeping and billing can be a huge time commitment for solo practitioners and law firms alike, which is why we recommend using timekeeping software to help make those processes more streamlined. And while timekeeping software can save hours of administrative work, there are always ways to make your time in that sphere more efficient. Utilizing features like speech-to-text, paperless pre-billing, split-billing, invoice automation, expense tracking, and a client portal not only cuts down on time spent on these tasks, but also helps keep your billing manager happy. Even if that’s you, who wouldn’t want features to make life easier?
TimeSolv Features for Advanced Billing
Speech-to-Text
Most people can speak faster than they can type, which makes it all the more helpful when you can dictate your time without having to type. When recording your time, rather than typing “phone call with client,” which leaves out a lot of detail, you can dictate to your timekeeping software, “had a phone call with a client where we discussed next steps and approach on [insert discussion item relating to matter].” Speech to text helps you be more specific in how your time was spent without needing to spend that much time to do it and can give your eyes some screen reprieve during your day.
Paperless Pre-Billing
Pre-billing, while important, can be an extremely time-consuming process, especially for firms that still do this process manually and paper-based. First, the draft bills need to be printed, then routed to the reviewing attorney, then the attorney’s notes need to be deciphered, the bills changed, and so on. This is a cumbersome process and can also introduce potential privacy complications. Going paperless with pre-billing allows firms to save paper, review bills and make edits more quickly, and better ensure the clients’ privacy.
Split Billing
If you’re working on a matter where you need to split your invoice ten different ways, needing to make a single edit or correct a single mistake can send you back to square one. But, if your timekeeping software has a sophisticated split billing feature, making edits is only a matter of a few clicks. With a true split billing feature, you could split invoices by hours, amounts, or split hours, then calculate amounts for each client (which is especially helpful if you have set rates for different clients). And if you’ve made an error while splitting, you can unsplit to make corrections, then split again. This feature can be a huge time-saver, especially if you’re splitting a matter between dozens of clients.
Invoice Automation
Generating invoices may require calculating your time or rate differently for each client or matter, printing out the invoice(s) in different formats, creating invoices individually, sorting invoices by the attorney, etc. With an invoice automation feature, you’ll be able to set-it-and-forget-it just the one time or create invoice narratives, depending on the type of invoice, on the matter, client or firm level, then generate hundreds of invoices specific to attorneys or clients or matters with just a matter of clicks. Then, you can download in single or multiple files for pre-billing, filing, printing out or emailing to clients, or whatever else you need. Invoice automation helps create a better overall billing process for your firm.
Expense Tracking
In addition to tracking billable, non-billable, and no-charge time, your timekeeping software should also be able to track expenses. Attorneys should look for timekeeping software that allows them to set up recurring expenses on matters, upload receipts, attach those receipts to invoices, and monitor those expenses through reports or dashboard view.
Client Portal
Once invoices are sent, clients need to pay. Having a client portal makes it easier for clients to view details on the work your firm has done for them, which means saving time on responding to routine questions on billing. Your clients should be able to create an account to view their balance, old invoices, attached expense receipts, work in progress, and even pay their bills through the client portal. Client portals are a great self-service way to interact with clients to offer a polished, secure, and professional experience.
How TimeSolv Can Help Your Firm Save Time
Saving time is not just about having features like the above. You want a robust and powerful timekeeping software that allows you to input granular detail on the client, matter, and timekeeping level whether you’re offline, on-the-go, or in the office, add your firm’s customizations and logos, apply interest, have built-in trust accounting, be able to generate different invoice formats (hello LEDES!), and run business intelligence reports and analyses to see how your firm’s time is spent, among other things.
Keeping track of all these items can quickly become complex, but TimeSolv makes it easy. With impressive and powerful features, like the ones mentioned above, add-ons, a user-friendly dashboard, and integrations with other software like Microsoft 365, Xero, and DropBox, TimeSolv is arguably one the most comprehensive cloud-based timekeeping and billing software out there.
Signing up for TimeSolv not only gives you access to a functional and powerful software, but you also get a personal account manager. In addition to having access to TimeSolv’s support team, vast resources, and training sessions, you’ll also have a dedicated person to help guide your through integrating and migrating your firm’s historic data from whatever system you’re currently using to TimeSolv, help you input your firm’s abbreviations, logos, and current invoices, and help you get your account set-up so you’re ready to go from day one.
Demo Video
The team at TimeSolv recently gave us a demo of their timekeeping software, its features, and how it can save law firms hours. Take a look at the video below to see a walkthrough they provided our Legal Tech Advisor, Zack Glaser.
How to Get It
If your law firm wants to learn more about TimeSolv, contact them attimesolv.com and get a free personalized demo. You can also sign-up for a 30-day free trial: no credit card needed.
Want to learn more about TimeSolv? Check out our full review, where you can see a features list, other demo videos, and community comments. Remember that Lawyerist readers get an affinity benefit through the review page.
PR Agencies Can Help Promote and Protect Law Firm Brands
Like any other PR, law firm PR is about building authority and visibility for your practice. Whether you use an agency or handle it in-house, Postali’s Tamara Sykes says you need to create a solid public relations foundation and then make a plan to manage and maintain your efforts.
Previously, Tamara walked us through laying a solid foundation with a healthy website, up-to-date social media, and good branding. However, once done, your office or an agency should consistently manage your law firm PR.
Managing Law Firm PR
Setting Clear Goals and Objectives
As with most endeavors, the first step is to set clear goals and objectives. Although the larger goal—which you should definitely start with—is usually to get more clients in the door, most of us should start with the buyer’s journey. What are our ideal clients looking for, and where are they looking?
Promote and Protect your Brand
Next, your law firm will need to make a plan around these goals. Look to promote and protect your brand—yes, protect your brand. Although most of us think of PR as selling, it’s really about storytelling and connecting with our audience (i.e., your potential clients). Promoting your brand is about finding where your audience is and talking to them in that channel (or channels).
In much the same way, protecting your brand is also about connecting with your audience. It’s just focused more on making sure you’re mitigating or minimizing things that might tarnish your brand. And, yes, this means scouring Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and other media outlets for mentions of your brand, your employees, or even your clients.
Consistently Execute
Lastly, law firm PR is a long game. This is why agencies or a dedicated in-house team can be so helpful. Unlike advertising, PR is not something you can simply put money into and see better results. As Tamara says in the video below, you need to be persistent and resilient. In this space, half efforts are almost as bad as no effort.
Demo Video
Take a look at the video below to hear Postali’s PR Manager, Tamara Sykes, talk to Zack about the steps their agency takes to manage law firm PR.
How to Get It
Want to learn more about how Postali’s marketing agency can help you manage your law firm PR? Check out our full review, where you can compare features, read community reviews, and see other demo videos.Alternatively, if you’re ready to dive right in and connect with Postali, get a free consultation at Postali.com.
Lawyerist Facilitates Business Planning Retreats for Law Firms
Stephanie Everett noticed a common theme among law firm partners when she arrived to facilitate their quarterly or annual business planning retreat: “Not all the partners are on board. I’d say they have a healthy dose of skepticism, concern, and maybe even fear for what’s about to happen.” That quickly melted away once Stephanie rolled up her sleeves and got started.
Why You and Your Team Need a Business Planning Retreat
The term “retreat” means to change a decision or plan. It also references a period of seclusion or a quiet place where one can rest and relax. Most businesses use a retreat to take a step back. They reflect on where they are, and plan where they are going.
In addition to allowing an opportunity to strategize or solve business problems, retreats have hidden, added benefits. The time away gives teams a chance to bond, get to know one another, and have some fun.
Business planning retreats create space for leaders and team members to think differently about the business and how their role affects it. Amazing things happen when we take a break from the day-to-day and think about our work in a new way. As firm owner Ryan McKeen explained, “Stephanie guided our team to see the business, each other, and most importantly themselves, in ways they had never seen before.”
The experience was transformative for our team.
-Ryan McKeen
That space often gets neglected. As firm owner Amy McGarry explained, “I didn’t realize how much I needed to get out of the office for a few days. It cleared my mind and allowed me to focus on my business.” There’s a reason great ideas come to you in the car or the shower. Retreats are similar in that they give you a chance to think differently—and creatively—about your law firm.
What Happens During a Team Retreat?
After facilitating dozens of retreats, Lawyerist has created several retreat options to address the most common problems law firms face.
Healthy Vision Retreat
If you’re just starting to create your firm’s strategic plan, the Healthy Vision Retreat option is a great place to start. First, partners and firm leadership complete pre-retreat worksheets to assess the firm’s current business. Then, during the half-day retreat, a Lawyerist Lab coach facilitates a visioning and value session. Here, firms create an accountability chart to clarify everyone’s roles and responsibilities for the team. This work is the foundation for a successful business and leads to effective decisions.
“It had been a long time since we’d discussed our vision for ourselves and the firm, and after working just to survive over the last two years [of Covid], it’s great to think about flourishing. Thank you for helping us plan for our futures.” – Allison McKeen, Partner Connecticut Trial Firm
Quarterly Healthy Strategy Retreat
With the foundation in place, Lawyerist facilitates the next step in a strategic planning session or a Quarterly Healthy Strategy Retreat. In this half-day session (which can be combined with the Healthy Vision Retreat), a Lawyerist Lab coach works with the leadership team to establish long-term goals. We scope short-term projects and strategic priorities focused on achieving those goals. Then, we identify key performance indicators the team will use to measure results along the way.
“[Team Lawyerist] helped us find optimism, vision, and opportunity.” – Andrew Garza, Partner Connecticut Trial Firm
Team Alignment Retreat
Finally, Lawyerist offers a Team Alignment Retreat. This is a half-day all-team meeting designed to get everyone on the same page. During this session, the entire team discovers key elements of the firm’s strategic plan and the role they can play.
“The magic happens when you get alignment between vision, systems, and people. Our time with Stephanie [from Lawyerist Lab] helped our team own their vision, improve our systems, and grow together. The entire team agrees it was the most valuable thing we have done as a firm.” – Ryan McKeen, Partner Connecticut Trial Firm
What did those skeptical partners have to say?
“Boy, did Stephanie deliver! The entire experience was great – from the brainstorming sessions with the leadership team to the day-long event, Stephanie turned doubtful attorneys into givers, and we walked out with goals, alignment, and deeper bonds that will allow us to grow faster and better for years to come. My team is already asking for round 2!” – Jay Ruane, Partner Ruane Attorneys at Law
Lawyerist’s business planning retreat half-day facilitation packages start at just $3,500. If you’re interested in learning more, connect directly with Lawyerist Lab Coach, Stephanie Everett, at stephanie@lawyeristbackup.kinsta.cloud
Grow Your Firm, Not Your Expenses with GNGF Legal Marketing Academy
Law firm marketing can be confusing to navigate on your own and you likely have questions. Should you focus on search engine optimization or paid ads? Is content marketing worth the effort? What’s a good lead magnet for your ideal client? Full-service marketing agencies can help you with these questions—obviously. But, if your office doesn’t have the resources to hire a third-party marketing firm, you’ll probably want to look into legal marketing education.
To that end, Get Noticed Get Found (GNGF) has a new, in-depth, legal marketing education offering. The Legal Marketing Academy is a resource for attorneys who are keeping their marketing in-house—and generally don’t have the budget to hire an in-house marketing professional. It’s an educational program and a community for law firm marketing. It can help you get started in your marketing journey or keep you moving forward with templates, workbooks, courses, videos, and other DIY resources. They even have weekly live sessions for members.
What is GNGF?
As a full-service marketing agency, GNGF supports lawyers in all aspects of their marketing efforts. They have been assisting the legal industry exclusively for over a decade. Although most of their efforts are focused on one-on-one, comprehensive law firm marketing, their company culture bakes in education.
Why Is Legal Marketing Necessary?
Law firms need clients. And, frankly, clients need law firms. Legal Marketing is about educating specific potential clients about their needs and how your firm can assist them. Essentially, it’s about connecting your firm with potential new clients.
Though, it’s not about the sheer number of potential new clients you can get. Spray-and-pray is not an effective marketing strategy—at least, not for most. Good law firm marketing gets the right people to notice you. And then, obviously, to take action when necessary.
However, this doesn’t generally happen without effort. Law firms need to understand and craft their brand, determine their ideal client, and create resources that connect the two. They may need to build social media campaigns on platforms where their clients focus their attention. And, they likely need to create a nurturing campaign to help their potential clients along their journey.
This wasn’t part of our law school education. So, law firm marketing is usually well outside of a lawyer’s wheelhouse. Regardless, we need to do it—which may mean we have to learn it ourselves.
Legal Marketing Academy
The Legal Marketing Academy is an online educational resource from GNGF. It has a multitude of courses and resources and a community of like-minded attorneys and law firms. It’s a way for law firms who aren’t quite ready for custom, full-service marketing to grow their firms and create a solid foundation for the future. Participating law firms will learn things like how to build and use a lead magnet and how to focus on their ideal client. In addition, all of these things can be accessed via mobile or web applications.
Legal Marketing Educational Resources
GNGF has always been exceptional with its legal marketing educational materials. They speak at conferences and CLEs all over the country, and their website has a tremendous amount of DIY information already. Mark is a host of Your Law Firm is a Business, Take it to the Next Levelpodcast, and they are currently on the fifth edition of their book Online Law Practice Strategies.
With the Legal Marketing Academy, GNGF has taken all of this experience educating lawyers and created new content—including tutorials, workbooks, and templates. Actually, they’ve created quite a lot of new content. Since the beta launch in May of 2021, they have released new tutorials at least weekly.
These tutorials, for their part, are versatile and chock-full of information. Here, users can follow a pre-set path to get started from scratch or pick and choose topics as they see fit. The teams that create bespoke content for GNGF’s one-on-one clients also create these tutorials. Which means, Academy members will work through the same processes GNGF always works through.
As an aid to these tutorials, GNGF has included workbooks that act as specific guides for the lesson. These include helpful information for users, as well as thought-provoking questions that will move your law firm through the course sections. For example, a workbook section might encourage your firm to ask your existing clients five specific questions that will help you narrow down your brand.
Community
In addition to all the coursework and new marketing education materials for law firms, GNGF has also built a community. Not only does each member get access to the GNGF team through the forum and specific office hours, they also get access to each other. Much like other masterminds, members can ask questions to the group and get thoughtful answers, encouragement, or even shared resources from other participants. Each law firm gets two seats with their membership. So, even though it’s DIY, you certainly don’t have to do it alone.
However, this community is broader than just the law firm participants. Since GNGF has been in the legal marketing space for over a decade, they can tap outside resources to bring in for particular situations. Specific questions about building intake systems in Clio Grow may spur a workshop or tutorial from an expert like Melanie Leonard at streamlined.legal, or Lawmatics implementation questions might warrant answers from their CEO, Matt Spiegel.
Take a look at the video below to see Zack’s interview with GNGF’s Founder, Mark Homer. Not only do they discuss what the Legal Marketing Academy has to offer, but you also get a peek under the hood at the mobile application.
How to Get It
Ready to get started? Test drive the Legal Marketing Academy with three free lessons at GNGF, on behalf of Lawyerist. Here, you can get a sample course, download templates for your marketing campaigns, and use their interactive workbook.
How Lisa Gonzalez Brought Lawyerist Lab’s Systems and Procedures from Her Law Firm to the Courtroom
After Lisa Gonzalez was tapped to be an Associate Judge for the 268th District Court in Fort Bend County, Texas, she quickly realized she’d need help. Most courtrooms are not known for running like well-oiled machines. Lisa was on a mission to change that. She felt confident that the tools she learned in Lawyerist Lab to increase her law firm’s profits and productivity dramatically could also positively impact her courtroom.
Lisa remembered what it was like when it felt like her business was running her life, and she was determined not to return to those ways. There was a time when she would routinely take calls on nights, weekends, and holidays. Accordingly, there wasn’t much separation between “the office” and home. Like many lawyers, Lisa felt overwhelmed and like the business was running her.
In 2018, Lisa joined the Lawyerist Lab program because she was ready to run her business differently.
Systems and Processes Learned in Lab
Before joining Lab, Lisa approached each case from a new perspective, making her work long and difficult.
“Lab revolutionized my firm. I went from roughly a 10-15% annual increase to actually doubling my business each year I was in Lab. This sounds unbelievable, but it is true.”
Things changed when Lisa realized she needed to document and systematize her work. In Lab, she learned how to think about her work differently. She used Lab’s templates to document her work and why she wanted things to happen a certain way.
Creating written procedures allowed Lisa to approach her business and her cases differently. “When you see things as systems, processes, or procedures (like a scientist does in forensics work or a laboratory), it makes a daunting task simple. You know what and where you need to focus, and you have a plan/template in place to ensure the best outcome.”
The results were telling. After joining Lab and putting the advice into action, Lisa secured more not-guilty verdicts on big cases with very little “work” involved. With more happy clients, her practice easily grew.
Lisa realized this same approach worked in her courtroom. “I have my guiding principles written. I am constantly writing and editing policies and procedures. It’s not a no-brainer. Before, I never knew the power of having everything written down.” Now, her courtroom runs smoothly, and her team handles cases effectively and efficiently.
Lisa Used Key Performance Indicators to keep her Firm—and Now Her Courtroom—on Pace
When Lisa joined the Lawyerist Lab program, she had never heard of a key performance indicator (KPI). Now, she can’t get enough of them.
KPIs are information or data that a business owner can use to assess the health of their business. In Lab, Lisa learned which metrics she should track and how to track them. She matched specific KPIs to the goals she was setting for her business. In her law firm, Lisa used KPIs to track leads, clients, and financial success. She could easily identify which parts of her business were working and what needed more attention. Now, as a judge, Lisa uses KPIs to assess the health of her docket. Again, she can make decisions about her courtroom based on data—not simply her gut.
Lisa is grateful for the opportunity Lab gave her to learn and experiment with how to create a more successful business. “I wish I had known and implemented all things from Lab earlier in my firm. I had legal mentors, but not business ones. Lab was like a pop-up genius bar where fellow lawyers and Lab coaches tested ideas, encouraged change, and supported newbies like me.”
We are excited to see what the future holds for Lisa and how the skills she learned in Lab will continue to influence her work in the courtroom.
If you are interested in learning more about how Lab can help you systematize your firm and measure what matters, we’d love to connect with you. Learn more about how Lawyerist Lab is guiding small law firms to build healthier businesses.
Lawyerist’s Seek Candor Value Is More Than Honesty
Values matter. A company’s values define and guide decisions. At Lawyerist, one of our core values is “Seek Candor.” To us, it is more than being honest; it is about the willingness and desire to engage in those communications.
We describe our Seek Candor value as:
Seek Candor.
We’re creating a place where otherwise difficult conversations don’t just happen but are celebrated. This isn’t a license to be mean. Instead, we engage in and practice the process. We work to build trust, be honest, show empathy, and genuinely care for each other.
All of Lawyerist’s core values are connected. Seek Candor and our value “Grow as People” are two sides of the same coin. To Grow as People, we have to be willing to learn and hear from our team about where we can improve. Seek Candor means that our team actively seeks feedback.
Creating a Team That Cares
Our team members genuinely care for each other. We intentionally create opportunities for our team to get to know each other. We talk about our backgrounds, families, goals, and dreams. Sharing our stories breaks down barriers and allows us to better understand and care for one another.
It is important to build and sustain these relationships. Not only do we want to work with people that we really care about, but it allows us to honor our values. We acknowledge that seeking candor in conversations is not always easy. It can sometimes be uncomfortable. That is why we approach these talks with empathy. Our care for one another guides our discussions and our approach.
All Feedback Is a Gift
To improve, you need to be aware of how you are doing. If you’re doing well, you’ll know to stay on course. If you’re not, you need to understand what is not working so you can change.
Feedback is simply information. It is telling someone if they are doing well or if things could improve. As a result, all feedback—or information—is a gift. Feedback helps us improve.
When we approach all feedback as a gift, we can have more engaging conversations as a team. It doesn’t mean everything needs to be an in-depth discussion. There’s a lot of benefit in exchanging minor edits or thoughts before they have a chance to become more significant. Stephanie discusses this concept and tips on effectively giving feedback in Podcast Episode #364 with David Bradford.
Learn more about Lawyerist core values and our team on our About Us page.
Building Thoughtful Media Relationships Helps Law Firms Thrive
At first glance, your law firm’s relationship with the media may not seem very important. After all, your firm is likely trying to stay out of the news—with client confidentiality and all. Yet, free, positive marketing is generally considered good for your firm. Further, being seen as a source for news articles can quickly build your reputation as an expert in your field.
In any case, this doesn’t just happen without effort. Even if you are an expert in your field, it’s hard to get quoted if media personnel can’t find you. There are some basic steps you need to take. Still, for lawyers who can foster their media relationships, an extra area of marketing opens up beyond content marketing, SEO, and ad campaigns.
To clarify, media relations is a specific sub-section of your overall law firm public relations efforts. And, although not every firm has media relations, whether you know it or not, your firm has public relations—some firms just don’t give it any thought. Sponsoring a scholarship to the local university may be great public relations, but getting an article in the paper about the recipient is good media relations. Both of these actions build your firm’s reputation and credibility.
Media Relations in Your Law Firm
Law firm media relations does not exist in a vacuum. It fits inside of your overall marketing strategy to help your firm build its reputation and credibility in your community and your knowledge area. In the grand scheme of your marketing strategy, it is more akin to networking than anything else. It’s about building mutually beneficial relationships between your firm and specific media outlets.
Building Good Relationships
To build these relationships, your law firm should at least have a basic foundation in brand management. As Tamara Sykes, the PR Manager at Postali, says, you’ll need a website, solid branding, and up-to-date social media profiles. This helps to build trust between you and a journalist—or other media professional.
However, those foundations are really just table-stakes. They ensure a partner can find you, contact you, and learn a little about what your firm has to offer. You’ll also want to establish a history of speaking or writing about a relevant subject and show that other people are interested in what you have to say. After all, you need to bring something to this relationship.
A simple way to do this is to develop your voice and grow a following on Twitter. Tamara tells us that journalists and other media professionals are generally frequent users of this space. Not only is it easy for them to research your previous writing, but they can see what kind of following you bring to the relationship.
Of course, this isn’t the only outlet to establish credibility (or lack of credibility, if you’re certain twitter users). In the end, the medium should match your goals. If you want to land the nightly news, you might create content on YouTube. Or, if you want to write guest articles in industry magazines, you may want to write long-form content on a platform like LinkedIn.
Goals of Media Relations
Ultimately, you need to keep your marketing goals in mind. In general, having a Twitter following for snarky fashion commentary won’t land you many more immigration cases. With media relations, speaking engagements, guest blogging, or even acting as a source for an article, the goal is to build your credibility and your firm’s reputation. This can take some time and requires steady effort.
Law Firm Media Relations Professionals
Here’s where media relations professionals come in. Although it is possible to handle these relationships on your own, it is likely not a good use of your time. You see, media relations professionals bring a host of capabilities to the table. Generally, these capabilities include proactive media outreach, media inquiry management, pursuing speaking engagements, cultivating awards and ratings, and—in some cases—crisis management.
Although the ultimate goal is for you or your firm to speak directly with (or write directly for) the partner you are pursuing, this may take some time. Law firm media relations professionals know the ropes. And, there may be some courtesies or conventions your media relations professional can clue you in on.
Getting Started with Media Relations
As Tamara Sykes says in the video below, it doesn’t happen with one phone call or the touch of a button. The process is about cultivating (hopefully) lasting relationships. So, if you want to leverage media relations in your law firm tomorrow, you’ll have to lay the groundwork today. First, if you haven’t already, determine what topic you want to build your reputation around. Then, consider what sort of publications would help you build that reputation (keep in mind where your potential new clients are likely to see you). Finally, get started creating. As you’ll learn in the video below, before you create content for someone else (or even comment on a story), you’ll likely need to create content of your own.
Take a look at the video below to see what Postali’s PR Manager, Tamara Sykes, says about building your reputation with law firm media relations.
How to Get It
Ready to make PR part of your law firm’s marketing strategy? Contact Postali. You can view some of their work, set up a free consultation, or even read a bit of their educational material. However, if you’d rather do a little more digging, head to our full review of Postali. There, you can read user comments, see a list of relevant features, and compare other providers.
Clio Strengthens Integrations with Revamped Outlook Add-on
Clio Manage is rolling out enhancements as it continues to hone its small-firm features. Recently, they’ve rebuilt their Outlook integration from the ground up, added features to their court rules functions, strengthened their Lawyaw connection, and built messaging templates for their online billing. This is not a company resting on its laurels. They’re obviously using feedback from their clients to create a better and better experience.
Clio Features
Clio’s Rebuilt Outlook Integration
Clio’s Outlook integration is faster, intuitive, and should still let you use Outlook as you see fit. The add-in lets you log emails, tasks, and time entries directly to your Clio file with ease. Additionally, the features will indicate emails already filed to Clio, which should save some confusion in multi-person firms. Check out the video below to learn more about these features and others, like time-entry templates.
Clio Court Rules
Clio uses CalendarRules.com as the engine driving their court rules functions. Recently, they purchased the company, bringing this capability directly into the fold. With this tighter relationship comes a greater level of integration and user control.
Lawyaw Integration
Although Clio purchased Lawyaw in 2021, this year continues to see enhancements to the relationship. Not only does Lawyaw offer document automation for Clio users, but they also have robust court forms for eight states (and counting) and the USCIS.
Bill Message Templates
Modern law firms use online billing. However, not all online billing platforms are equal. Clio has been at the forefront of small-firm online billing for quite some time. Recently, they enhanced this functionality by introducing templates for their billing messages. Now, users can create reusable templates—much like their automated documents—to send to their clients along with their eBills.
Demo Video
How to Get It
Ready to learn more? Check out our full review of Clio Manage in our Product Reviews. Here, you can read community comments, compare features, and see other demo videos. If you’re eager to jump in, head to Clio.com and get a free trial or demo.
Rocket Matter’s Business Intelligence Tool Helps Firms Make Data-Driven Decisions
Successful law firms measure their business’s performance—frequently. They determine key performance indicators (KPIs) for their firm, and take action based on what the data tells them. Tools like Rocket Matter’s Business Intelligence software can give a law firm a leg-up on the competition by informing where to spend marketing dollars, when to hire new teammates, or even what type of clients they are more effective at helping.
Why Should Law Firms Run Reports?
At Lawyerist, we believe firmly that running a healthy law firm is a multi-faceted endeavor. You should have healthy finances, healthy clients, a healthy owner, and a healthy team,to name a few aspects. Like anything else, to determine the health of something, you must take a measure of it. What you measure is entirely up to you. Each firm, likely, survives on vastly different numbers. However, it is safe to say some common categories help law firms intelligently measure their business success.
Financial Data
First and foremost, a firm should have a healthy grasp on its financial situation. Firms do this with Profit and Loss statements, aging Accounts Receivable data, and other reports that indicate where firm finances may be going. Many firms are already handling these using their current accounting software. Software like Rocket Matter’s Business Intelligence tool helps to connect this information to other data about your law firm.
Marketing Data
Most firms understand they must do something to bring new clients in the door. Whether it’s sponsoring a little league team, participating in a local club, or buying a billboard on the interstate, you have to take action, and there is a cost to that action. Many firms, however, have no idea just how much they benefit from these efforts.
By tracking things like marketing sources, lead conversion rates, and the average value of certain law firm client types, a business can start to understand the return on their investments. This, in turn, will help manage where future investments should go.
Client Satisfaction
With online reviews playing an important role in attorney selection, client satisfaction should be important to any healthy law firm. This is not to say we simply want to encourage good reviews and hide the bad. We can learn a lot from client feedback. A confusing intake process could turn potential clients off and a complicated payment system could delay revenue.
Other Metrics
We are sure your firm has other metrics by which you measure success. You could be concerned with the average billable hours per user per week. Or, you could look at the time it takes to return a web inquiry from a potential client. You could even measure how many hours your firm typically spends responding to discovery. The point is, there are many indicators of success in your firm, but you’ll never know what they say unless you measure them.
Where do Law Firms Get Data?
Simply understanding that your law firm wants to measure its business intelligently is a significant first step. However, you won’t get anywhere if you don’t have data on which to run these reports. Financial reports are commonly the most familiar to lawyers because firms tend to have accounting software that tracks it. Profit and Loss statements are easy to come by. So, to run reports on other data, your firm must first store the data somewhere.
Although most of this could be tracked using an excel spreadsheet, we generally don’t advise that. A law firm’s information should be tracked with software built to manage that information. For Marketing data, a client relationship manager (CRM) will often store the data you need. Likewise, most accounting software will work for your law firm’s purpose for financial data. Additionally, information about the management of your case files will generally come from law practice management software.
How do Law Firms use Rocket Matter’s Business Intelligence Software?
A truly data-driven law firm will find a way to connect all the disparate pieces of information they track. Some firms use Zapier or Power Automate, while others integrate their platforms using application programming interfaces (APIs). This allows the law firm to run intelligent business reports on information across all business functions. It means KPIs can be more complex and provide better insight.
Because it’s an all-in-one law practice management platform, Rocket Matter’s Business Intelligence tool can retrieve and interact with all aspects of your law firm—without integrations. This sets it apart from other business reporting tools for law firms. With it, a firm can track marketing efforts, intake funnels, client value, and billable hours all in one report.
Beyond the information that comes standard in Rocket Matter’s platform, the Business Intelligence tool gains a lot of value from a law firm’s custom fields. Rocket Matter allows users to add custom fields on both the Matter level and the Client level. Importantly, the Business Intelligence tool can connect with these fields when building and running custom reports. This means any piece of data you want to track in your matter or for your clients, you add it as a custom field, and you can start filtering, sorting, and tracking it in a custom-built report.
Although the Business Intelligence tool comes with some standard popular reports, most law firms will want to build custom reports themselves. Fortunately, you won’t need a data science degree to create these reports. Yes, there will likely be some learning curve, but the platform feels similar to the reporting tools in Hubspot, Zen Desk, or other platforms attorneys are familiar with.
Demo Video
The product team at Rocket Matter recently gave us a tour of their business intelligence tool for law firms. Take a look at the video below to see a walkthrough they provided our Legal Tech Advisor, Zack Glaser.
How to Get It
If your law firm wants to learn more about Rocket Matter’s Business Intelligence software, contact them at RocketMatter.com and get a free demo and trial account.
Want to learn more about Rocket Matter’s other features? Check out our full review, where you can see a features list, other demo videos, and community comments. Remember that Lawyerist readers get an affinity benefit through the review page.
Experimenting Like a Lobster Drives Creativity at Lawyerist
At Lawyerist, we believe that every law firm should articulate its core values clearly. Our values are the traits, qualities, and beliefs that help us work together. We use values to guide decisions. Recently, we evaluated our core values to see if they accurately reflected our team’s approach. We tweaked a few things.
Over the coming weeks, we will break down each of our core values. We want to be transparent about who we are as a company. We also hope this will inspire law firms to do the same!
First up: Experiment Like a Lobster!
Experiment Like a Lobster.
We experiment—we question, test, analyze, learn, adapt, improve, and push ourselves for outsized impacts through relentless incrementalism. We practice what we teach.
We Challenge Ourselves
Now, you’re probably wondering, do lobsters experiment?
We can confidently state that Team Lawyerist experiments every day. We challenge ourselves to be innovative. As a result, we’re always looking for a better way. This sometimes means we finish a project and we’ll be delighted with the result. Then, the next week, we’ll ask, “where can it be better?”
We live by the idea of “relentless incrementalism.” Relentless means someone is determined to do something and refuses to give up. It means constant. Incrementalism means we’re making small improvements and always asking how this could be 1% better.
We Question the “Why” Behind Everything
We are a very strategic team. This means we ask “why” a lot. Questioning our work or the way we approach our work helps us understand what we are trying to achieve. It helps us know if we are on the right path. Before we embark on a new project, we stop and ask ourselves why we’re doing it and what we hope to accomplish.
We also look for ways to do more with less. When we stop to ask ourselves why it also gives us time to think about the process. Could we do this differently? Can we make the process easier? Is the result worth the effort? (Are you starting to see a theme?)
“But I like Routine”
We’ve had team members in the past who thrived with routines. They enjoyed coming to work and executing. For the most part, they loved certainty.
We love the routine-people! They are a great asset for many teams. Unfortunately, we’ve found that these people struggle on our team. They sometimes get frustrated with our need for change and experimentation. They don’t understand why we want to try new technology tools. If we look for ways to improve their work, they feel like we don’t appreciate them.
One reason core values are so important is they help companies determine who isn’t a good fit for the team. We’ve learned that our need for constant improvement means routine-driven people might be miserable on our team. All in all, that’s super valuable information.
We Practice What We Teach
Lawyerist offers business coaching and consulting to small law firms. We help lawyers create innovative law firms. It starts with their strategic plan. Then, we help lawyers implement the changes necessary to achieve their goals. It sounds simple, but it’s not always easy.
We ask law firms to adopt our “Experiment Like a Lobster” approach to their business, too. Our team encourages lawyers to innovate and rethink their “how” and their “why.” In Lab, we teach them that making small, incremental changes to their business often leads to big results. We ask them to try new things—to experiment—and see what happens. If they don’t get the desired outcome, they have data to use to iterate and improve in the future. This also applies to their law firm values.
We ask lawyers in Lawyerist Lab to explain the “why” behind their decisions. What do they expect will happen? They measure the results. Then, we’ll help them make data-driven decisions. We help lawyers act intentionally.
If you’re ready to Experiment Like a Lobster, then you’ve found your people!
LawPay ClientCredit Simplifies Client Payments With Buy Now, Pay Later Options
LawPay has just announced LawPay ClientCredit to help law firms get paid faster while still offering client flexibility. This feature rolls out in full force in mid-April but is currently in beta for existing and new users.
In the meantime, LawPay has extended its universal payment link functionality to include QR Codes. They also implemented their Card Vault functionality to streamline client payments.
LawPay ClientCredit
Although your firm may want to allow clients to pay in installments, your business may not be able to afford this courtesy. LawPay now offers ClientCredit, where you can get paid today, while your clients can pay through installments.
Through LawPay’s partnership with Affirm, your client can easily obtain financing while paying your invoice. This may be the difference between using your services and going elsewhere.
Although they don’t officially roll out ClientCredit until mid-April, existing and new users can use it in beta mode right now.
Universal Payment QR Codes
LawPay has had universal payment links for quite some time. This is where firms place a link on their invoices, emails, or even text messages, and clients are directed to a general online payment page.
Now, LawPay has integrated QR Codes into this functionality. In addition to these universal payment links, law firms can have their clients use QR codes to access those universal payment pages. This benefits those using their mobile phones to access the universal payment link.
Safely Save Credit Card Information
Since clients don’t generally pay in one single invoice, LawPay has made it simple for them to save their payment information safely and securely. Through Card Vault, LawPay allows you to safely keep client card information on file, while remaining PCI compliant. So, each time your clients need to pay an invoice, they can simply click “pay” instead of re-entering their information.
Take a look at the demo below to learn more about Client Credit from LawPay.
How to Get It
Want to learn more? Check out our full review of LawPay, including community comments, features, FAQs, and more demos.Ready to contact LawPay directly, request a free demo from them over at LawPay.com.
Lawyerist Announces Best Law Firm Websites 2022
Every year, the Lawyerist team searches for the top ten Best Law Firm websites. We scour the internet on our own, ask for suggestions from our community, and connect with our partners for submissions. And, every year, we get increasingly sophisticated entrants—2022 was no different.
As usual, we got more entrants than one person could reasonably review. So, as usual, it took our whole team to determine who was the best. Believe us—this is not easy. But, in true Lawyerist fashion, we have a tried-and-tested process we follow.
Although we keep the specifics of our rubric to ourselves, we can say a bit about our process. Initially, we looked at technical aspects of the site, like load speed, accessibility, and server-side optimization. Then, we looked at things like Search Engine Optimization, content marketing, and on-page navigability. Finally, we looked at aesthetics, personality, and how well the site does what it sets out to do.
How the 2022 Competition Went
Although this competition could not possibly consider every law firm website out there, we’re confident the entrants this year are a solid example of the current landscape of law firm websites. We saw clean content marketing, innovative productization, and thoughtful, client-centric design.
To be sure, the top-ten decision was not an easy one. Many sites that were left out had some stand-out aspects. All of them took a lot of effort to create, and each entrant deserves recognition. In the end, we like to see firms actively thinking about their sites and planning how they can use them to better their firm and client experience.
About the 2022 Winners
Although it took some time, ultimately, ten entrants stood out above the rest of the competition. There were many commonalities among them—as there should be with the ones who get the fundamentals right. However, there was also a tremendous amount of innovation and personality.
Although cats are always popular on the internet, we saw eye-catching photos of dogs, beautiful landscapes highlighting the law firm location, and color pallets that really popped. We found bots that walked us through what to expect, tools we could use to do it ourselves, and blog content that could rival some textbooks. In short, we saw a focus on user experience. None of the top ten are simply a billboard passively saying, “contact us if you want.”
Check out this year’s winners using the link below. We’re confident you can get some inspiration for your own site. There, we go into more detail about what we saw in the competition, what we liked, and what trends we think need to just stop.
LEAP Legal has been working on mirroring their web platform in their mobile app. This way, you can access just as much information on the go as you can in your office. The app works on Android, and iOS devices, so you can use it on pretty much any device.
LEAP Legal Mobile App
Since it’s working to mirror the functionality of the web platform, the mobile app allows you to get a lot done. You can correspond with clients, manage and create documents, review and create financial entries, and even track time and miscellaneous fees.
If you use the LEAP mobile app to initiate calls to your clients, you can track the duration of the call and even make adjustments as you see fit. The call will originate from your cell phone. So, there are no extra applications to install.
LEAP’s mobile app also integrates tightly with the Microsoft 365 apps on your phone (as well as others). You can view, edit, and even create documents right from your mobile device. Better yet, the documents automatically sync to the LEAP database.
Your office can also see, adjust, and create financial entries from the LEAP mobile app. So, the next time you are going to court, you can easily input your expenses and make sure you’re tracking the checks you write outside of the platform.
Check out the video below to see LEAP’s mobile app in action.
How to Get It
Eager to learn more? Check out our full review of LEAP. While you’re there, you can read about more features, user reviews, and compare it to other products. Don’t forget, Lawyerist subscribers get a discounted Affinity Benefit.Want to skip the line and dive right in? Get a free demo at LEAP.us.
