The world as we know it is changing. The legal industry must accommodate these changes. With an endless number of sites, tools, and resources out there, how do you know what’s worth your time? Well, we know just how busy you are, so we did the legwork for you and found 5 tools that’ll save your time, enhance your productivity, and provide the ability to work anywhere, anytime.
1. Microsoft 365. According to the ABA 2019 Legal Technology Survey Report, Microsoft Outlook dominates the legal market as a tool for email, calendar, contacts, and document management. Microsoft Office 365 for lawyers is foundational to running your legal practice on the cloud. If you aren’t already using Microsoft 365’s premium office apps like Outlook, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint and secure cloud services like Exchange, Teams, and SharePoint, we recommend doing so.
The range of cloud-based tools you get with a Microsoft 365 subscription gives you unparalleled value. Tools like Word, Contacts, OneDrive, and Outlook are fundamental to your legal office’s day-to-day activities, including document creation and management, contact management, and client communication. In case you’re already using another suite of office tools, you can migrate to the cloud at your own pace with Microsoft Office 365. Subscribe here.
2. Legaler. Many of us have resorted to video conferencing for client and team meetings. But how do you choose software that meets the standards of the legal industry? You likely have already heard about the privacy concerns surrounding Zoom, one of the most popular videoconferencing apps. While Zoom is fine for general business meetings, it is not designed for the specific needs of legal professionals. Personal injury lawyers must be especially mindful of potential security and privacy concerns.
One option that you might want to explore is Legaler – a secure online video chat platform that allows lawyers to schedule, host, record, and archive secure video meetings. Additionally, Legaler operates entirely within your browser. That means there is no software for you to install and, more importantly, no software for your client to install. Either schedule a meeting for a set time or simply send a link to start an instant meeting, and your client can join with a click. Check out the pricing and details here.
3. Medchart. Do you request medical records on a regular basis? To win a personal injury case, lawyers need to gather incident reports, medical records, and more documents to support the claim. Unfortunately, record retrieval can eat up a lot of your time, and if you’re not familiar with the procedures of each custodian, you’re likely to commit mistakes that might result in costly delays.
Medchart is a medical record retrieval platform that helps to reduce the time you and your staff spend drafting letters, making calls, and writing checks for 100s of providers. Medchart allows you to request records from any provider in North America, and the whole request process takes just 2-5 minutes. The software takes care of every action, transaction, and follow-up - with real-time updates sent directly to your online account. Check out all the features and testimonials here.
4. HotDocs. The practice of law is document intensive and can often be tedious. Document assembly tools have been around for years, and they make it easy to create templates for frequently used documents, such as intake forms, retainer agreements, pleadings, and more. This type of software typically requires a bit of work upfront to create a document template, but it’s time well spent. If your firm isn’t prepared to commit to using a full-fledged law practice management system or is already using one but would prefer stand-alone document automation software, you have a number of options.
HotDocs is one of the most familiar document automation tools used by lawyers. HotDocs has a well-deserved reputation for its ability to automate even the most complex documents. Recently they introduced HotDocs Advance, a new platform that functions as a Microsoft Word plugin. That means that users can work directly in .docx, and leverage much more of the power of the Word platform. Learn more here.
5. Lawmatics. The usage of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) technology in the legal sector is growing rapidly. For law firms in today’s economy to stay competitive, they need to create a single source of truth for all business development and client management within the firm. A CRM system is becoming a necessary tool to store relationship information, contact details, and account activity. But how do you pick the right software?
You could spend tens of thousands of dollars on marketing automation products like HubSpot that don't cater to law firms, or you could use Lawmatics, which costs far less and caters exclusively to law firms. Lawmatics automates your marketing processes so that you can convert more prospects into clients. Features include email drip campaigns, automated client intake, client newsletters, and analytics. Check out their plans here.
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