The attorney-client relationship is a delicate balance. When it’s right, it can lead to valuable referrals, repeat business, and a positive reputation. When it’s wrong, you can be left with poor reviews, Bar complaints, and a host of unnecessary headaches.
As you navigate the relationships with your clients, remember that you have valuable resources at your discretion to help you through. The advances of legal technology have provided law firms with tools that streamline the practice of law while keeping clients happy. This post will look at technologies to examine how they can help you strengthen your attorney-client relationships.
Virtual Meeting Options
Virtual communications have become a vital tool in 2020. Though more businesses are reopening, many people hesitate to come into offices when it’s not absolutely necessary. With options like Zoom and Meetings, you can sustain client relationships both internally and externally as follows:
- Internally – Law firms utilize virtual meeting technologies to maintain communications between firm members as they work from the safety of their homes. This is important to the attorney-client relationship because the provision of quality legal services requires continuous, uninterrupted communications among firm members. Even when working remotely, firm members need to collaborate so that client matters are handled satisfactorily.
- Externally – Law firms can rely on videoconferencing systems to maintain strong client relationships. For instance, during these troubling times, simple calls and emails may not provide adequate communications. With conferencing technologies, lawyers can have valuable face-to-face interactions with clients even when meeting in person isn’t an option.
Virtual meeting technologies help law firms strengthen attorney-client relationships by supporting the internal work on client matters while allowing for safe and convenient external communications.
Client Portals
Client portals provide a quick and convenient way for clients to receive information about their cases and the work being done by firm members. Your clients can log into the portal to independently review what work has been done on their matters without having to wait for a call back from your office.
As you complete work on a case, you can program updates to the client portal… even before an invoice is generated. One of the most common complaints about attorneys is a failure to keep clients informed about their case matters. Timesolv’s legal billing software offers a client portal feature. With advanced security measures and a user-friendly platform, you can keep your clients apprised efficiently and effectively.
Electronic Invoices and Payment Options
Electronic invoicing has become a widely used tool within the legal profession. By creating and sending bills electronically, law firms get invoices into the hands of clients much quicker than they would with paper billing. Electronic billing also promotes accuracy by minimizing the opportunity for human error. Slow and inaccurate invoices erode the attorney-client relationship by chipping away at client trust. So, it is extremely important for law firms to put appropriate procedures in place. With the right billing system, law firms can implement a streamlined invoicing process that promotes timeliness and accuracy from time tracking to bill payment.
Along with receiving and viewing invoices online, law firm clients also want to pay their legal bills online. Law firm clients prefer the ease, speed, and convenience of pulling out a credit card and making a payment from the comfort of their homes.
A client portal also helps in this regard by providing a quick and easy process for firm clients to view their personalized invoices, payment histories, and trust balances. Through TimeSolv’s integration with LawPay, clients can also easily pay their invoices or replenish trust account balances right through the client portal.
Comprehensive Case Management
Case management is essential in providing quality legal services. Legal clients expect attorneys to maintain their records in an orderly fashion. There is nothing more embarrassing than having to tell a client that you lost an important case document or showing up to court with a disheveled case file.
In a time when many firms are still operating remotely, case management becomes even more important. Firm members need the ability to quickly retrieve and reference documents, even when working from home. They need features like text-based searches to quickly locate files. They also need to modify and synchronize data when necessary.
Cloud-based document management offers the tools to meet these needs. These technologies store firm data within the cloud, negating the need to keep up with bulky and disorganized paper files. Law firms can organize the information into files, using labels and attachments to quickly identify specific documents.
The current environment also necessitates the ability to share documents with clients remotely. This needs to be done in a highly secure environment to ensure that data is protected and only accessible by credentialed individuals. The right document management technology helps law firms store vast amounts of data in a secure environment, while also allowing for the sharing of data with clients when appropriate.
Legal Technologies Enhance Attorney-Client Relationships
Poor client relationships can impede firm growth. Disgruntled clients often change firms and leave bad reviews. But in this age of legal innovation, there are plenty of tools to help law firms build and preserve these relationships. What happens within a law firm often extends to the client experience. Law firms need to identify and utilize legal technologies that improve the practice experience and help them maintain client relations.
To learn more about TimeSolv legal billing technology, click this website link and take advantage of their free, no-obligation trial.
About Erika Winston:
Erika Winston is a freelance writer with a passion for law. Through her business, Personal Touch Edits, she helps legal professionals deliver effective written messages. Erika is a regular contributor to TimeSolv and a variety of other publications.