The Lawmatics Blog

Happy Fall! This is the start of our favorite time of the year, and we are cooking up some awesome holiday surprises. Stay tuned for those announcements! ;)

In the meantime, we released some amazing new features that we think you’ll love, including Custom Asset Emails and Staff Matter Link!

Custom Asset Emails

We are happy to share that you can now customize the emails sent to your clients letting them know they have a document to sign, a form to fill out, an appointment to book, or files to provide. In addition, if you don’t want to use the Lawmatics default email (which just provides for a message body with no merged data), you can now create a plain text email from scratch, complete with any custom fields merged in.

What’s more, you can create a custom email for each individual asset. For example, you can have one email for a simple estate plan intake form and another email for a revocable trust intake form. This allows you added control and customization over the experience your clients receive. Support documentation for Custom Asset Emails can be found here.

Staff Matter Link with Permissions

You may have noticed a couple of additional fields added onto matters over the last few weeks, namely, Lead and Originating Attorney. We are excited to announce that we have now added the ability to link staff to matters too!

Matters in Lawmatics now have an additional field titled Assigned Staff. This allows you to add any additional firm staff to a matter. It is a multi-picklist field, so there is no limit to the number of staff that you can add to a matter. So whether it’s an associate attorney or a paralegal, it is easier than ever to keep track of who is working on what.

Additionally, you can also now base permissions off of Assigned Staff, giving you the ability to limit the matters/contacts that a staff member can view. This rounds out the permission options in Lawmatics, giving you the ability to limit matters based on Lead Attorney, Originating Attorney, or Assigned Staff. Support documentation for this enhancement can be found here.

This release also includes numerous bug fixes.

Our goal is that these additions to the platform make your daily lives simpler. Like we mentioned earlier, we have some really amazing things in the works, so keep your eyes out for more updates from our team.

Can you say that your law firm has a strategy in place to reach your long-term goals and vision? If not, then you’re nothing short of blindly wandering through the dark. Business school teaches you that when you start a business (a law firm is a business by the way) one of the first things you need to do is create a business strategy. A strategy increases your chances of successfully reaching your vision and standing out against the competition.Without a strategy, you risk blending into the crowd.

Why your law firm needs a strategy

You can think of an effective long-term strategy as a map for how you plan on reaching your goals. It’s what you refer to when prioritizing what matters most in your law firm.Simply put, without a strategy in place, you’ll have no driving force behind your business decisions. When everyone in your law firm is on the same page and focusing on the same end goal, your law firm is much more likely to not only survive, but thrive.

What goes into a strategy

Mission

Your law firm must have a mission. Think of it as the total definition and purpose of what you stand for. Not just a slapped-together about me section on your webpage, but a definition of your core identity and how you bring value that is unique from other law firms. If you could sum your law firm up in one sentence— that is your mission statement. It should articulate purpose, business, and value.

Purpose

What is your purpose for practicing law? What can you provide for your clients that no one else can? Why do you do what you do and how can that inspire others who may be on the fence between you and another lawyer?

Business

The other component of your law firm's mission statement should explain what your law firm specifically does. In other words, what kind of services do you provide, and how do you do it better?

Values

Lastly, your mission statement should encompass your values and principles. What do you believe in? Do you value integrity and respect? Do you feel strongly about defending a certain group of people? Your values should be what you strive to aim for in your legal services every day.

By combining these three elements together you can develop a mission statement that articulates who your law firm is and what will ultimately make potential clients decide that your law firm is right for them.

Vision

Vision is a conceptual word that may not necessarily mean the same thing to everyone. In short, it's a projected perception of what your law firm could look like in an ideal world.Not to be confused with a mission statement which is a clearly spelled out description of your law firm's summary of values, a vision is more abstract. It's like looking into the crystal ball of your law firm's future and painting a picture of exactly what that would look like. Big visions bring brighter futures for your law firm. As the saying goes, reach for the moon, because even if you fall short you'll land among the stars.For example, do you hope to become the premier family lawyer in your city?Perhaps you’d like to be the most recognized personal injury law firm on Google? Don’t be afraid to be as creative as possible when creating a summary of your aspirations for your law firm.

Why you’re unique

At the core of every business strategy is what you can deliver that is unique from your competitors. The truth is that most law firms look exactly the same. However, if you can manage to identify the unique value you can bring to the table setting you apart from the competition, then you can create a significant competitive advantage. What makes you special? Why should people choose you over another personal injury attorney? Identify what your strong points are, double down on what you’re good at, and include it in your strategy!

Defined targets

One of the most significant causes of growth stunts is a lack of defined targets. Without a clear idea of what you're aiming for, you lack focus. Your law firm should have an explicitly defined set of goals from your overall law firm performance to specific productivity targets.As always, goals are most easily achieved when they are developed using a SMART system.

S

Specific

Your targets should be clearly articulated in easy to read language. Clearly list exactly what you hope to achieve, otherwise, it can seem overwhelming and difficult to focus on. From exactly what you hope to do, to exactly what you'll need to do it. Be as specific with your details as possible.

M

Measurable

Any targets you set should be measurable. That way you can track whether you're making progress in reaching your goals or not. When you have a quantifiable measurement of your progress, you stay motivated, focused, and you have a clearer idea of the big picture.

A

Attainable

At the end of the day, any goals you set need to be achievable. The idea is to create a goal that may be a stretch but isn't outright impossible. So, always keep in mind when setting your targets that you should have a healthy disregard for the impossible while recognizing that some things are just plain impossible no matter what.

R

Relevant

Beware of setting targets that aren't relevant to your overall vision. Make sure that any goals you're setting align with your vision and mission statement. Ask yourself whether anything you're setting out to do is worthwhile and applicable to your firm's future vision?

T

Time-bound

Lastly, your goals should be time-bound. When do you hope to achieve this? What can you do today to make progress? Deadlines help you stay focused and motivated in order to avoid everyday tasks at your law firm taking priority over your long-term targets.

How to start developing your strategy

The act of developing a long-term strategy for your law firm requires discipline, focus, and an unwavering eye on the prize. If this doesn’t sound daunting, then great! If it does, then you’re not the first lawyer to feel that way if you’ve never created a strategy before. Despite how much they teach you at law school, they don’t teach you how to develop a law firm strategic plan, so don’t sweat it if this is your first rodeo!If you’re committed to planning for your law firm’s future and stay accountable by using the right tools, then you’re almost guaranteed success. Let’s dive into how to get started creating a well-thought-out strategic long-term plan of your own.[oxygen-template id="6132"]

Measure your law firm’s performance

The best place to get started is to have a clear picture of where your law firm currently stands. Tools like Lawmatics legal reporting software can provide a total overview of your total profitability, productivity, and how well your marketing efforts are performing.Before you start panicking over the idea of brain-bending pie charts and graphs, rest assured that it’s presented in an easy-to-read dashboard that makes it easy to understand.A customizable view and easy-to-read layout make it easy for anyone in your law firm to follow your law firm’s data, giving you a clear understanding of what changes you need to include in your strategy.Data can identify the holes in your practice that have room for improvement, and reveal whether you’re making progress or not. By observing key metrics known as key performance indicators, or KPI’s, you can pinpoint your strategy in the directions that need the most work.

Better understanding of where problem areas lie

The only way to reach your goal is to know where to begin. Measuring the right KPIs will help you gather the information you need to grow your business.Without data, you have no real way of knowing how well your law firm is performing. Some examples of KPIs that your law firm should be tracking in your strategy are:

Number of New Clients

Client Satisfaction

Number of New Cases

Number of Consultations

Revenue

Staff Productivity

Completed Tasks

By revisiting these numbers throughout the course of your strategy, you can easily see whether your efforts for improvement are working or not. If your KPIs aren't budging, then you know that you need to rethink your tactics.

Improved planning

By gaining valuable insights through your KPIs, you'll have a better understanding of what you need to actively be improving on in your practice. Not only do KPIs tell you why things aren't going well in certain areas, but they can also help you anticipate and make predictions, helping you strategize even better.

Better client experience

Once you start looking at KPIs like how many client referrals you have and your clients' overall satisfaction, you can start making improvements right away. Having concrete information on how happy your clients are to work with you can help you boost your clients' experience and in turn your online rating.Up at the top of your strategy should be client satisfaction. Since one of the first things people do when searching for a lawyer is perform a Google search, you want to make sure that you have a five-star Google rating full of positive reviews.

Time saved

A lot of law firms have no idea how much time they're losing on tasks that could be automated. As a law firm, time is money. The more time you can save, the more you can dedicate your precious time to the most revenue-producing tasks. Data can help you identify where you're wasting the most time, where the bottlenecks are in your processes, and recognize what tasks need to be streamlined in your practice.

More revenue

The more that you continue to revisit your KPIs, the more you can fine-tune your strategy, with a data-driven approach. The more you continue to observe the effectiveness of your strategy, the more you can fine-tune it and improve it and make your law firm as profitable and efficient as it can be.

Understand your ideal client

Your strategy should carefully consider who you’re trying to sell to. Who is your ideal client and what makes them tick? What kind of job do they have, and where are they likely to be? Do they have a family? Do they have a husband or wife? How much do they make a year? Understanding your ideal client inside and out will help you strategize how you plan on appealing to their needs and make yourself visible wherever they are.Once you have a clear idea of who you’re trying to sell to, your strategy will be that much stronger. For example, perhaps your strategy might involve partnering up with local real estate brokers or even family counselors, depending on your practice area. Know where your ideal client is so you can make sure you’re there when they need a lawyer just like you.

Use data to prepare for the long-term

Revisit your data regularly so that you can strategize far out into the horizon. The best law firms create strategies that stretch far beyond quarter to quarter. Remember: your strategy is long-term, not a one-time event.Track your data monthly so that you understand how close you are to reaching your objectives. It's easy to get distracted with so many things going on, however, if you truly want to reach your long-term goals, you have to stay focused on the prize. Data will help you stay accountable and make changes where necessary

Embrace legal technology

Running your law firm on a manual system, expecting to reach certain numbers, is simply not realistic. Manual tasks can take up hours of a lawyer's day, making it difficult to focus on areas of your law firm like client satisfaction. By automating redundant tasks, your efficiency will skyrocket and you’ll yield much better results.Lawyers have some of the biggest workloads of any career. The only way to keep up with it all is to let technology handle the tedious yet necessary administrative tasks that are required of you to run a law firm.Each time that you manually input a prospect's information, you're losing time— and time equals money. Legal tools like law firm client intake software can do it for you, so you can focus your attention on more pressing matters. Legal client intake software takes prospects' information directly from a legal client intake form, and inputs it directly into your law firm CRM. From that point on, your leads are meticulously tracked and followed up with automatically with marketing materials of your choosing. The end result is hours a week saved so that you can focus on the parts of your strategy that matter most while automation takes care of the rest.In addition to helping you manage and track leads, legal technology can also help you with your law firm marketing strategies. You can customize marketing emails that will go out to certain prospects based on triggers of your choosing. For example, if someone signs up for your newsletter, you can automate a welcome email introducing your law firm, and invite them to take the next steps as a client.Automation tools like workflow automation for law firms improve your overall organization and helps you reach your law firm’s long-term goals. From client intake to settlement, automation should be a key component of your long-term strategy.

Stay adaptable

Change is never easy, so introducing a new strategy to a law firm may be uncomfortable, and tempting to resist. A lot of lawyers operate under the mentality of “if it ain't broke don't fix it.” Unfortunately, just because a certain process worked for you in the past doesn't mean it will continue to work long-term. Staying aware of the latest market trends can help you embrace growth and keep up with the competition. The most successful law firms are the ones that adapt and welcome change. COVID was a great example of a time when lawyers were forced to change the way that they operate.By offering your clients features like electronic signature for legal documents and e-payments, you can continue bringing in business without putting your most vulnerable clients at risk. Being adaptable and open to innovation is a critical part of a successful strategy, so please don’t get trapped in a resistant mindset!

Use Lawmatics robust CRM and client intake software to streamline your processes and reach your long-term goals

Setting out on your dream to start a law firm of your own to help others unfortunately isn't enough to guarantee your success. The only way to turn your law firm into a profitable business is to create a long-term strategy that focuses on your growth. By identifying your weaknesses, and increasing efficiency where needed, you can streamline your practice, focus your attention where it matters most in your law firm, and ultimately drive your revenue.Are you ready to elevate your long-term law firm strategy with the most powerful legal client intake solution, marketing automation, and CRM for attorneys that exists?Sign up for a free demo today!

How reporting helps law firms succeed

The secret to a successful law firm is knowing how it's performing at all times. By tracking your law firm's most important metrics, you can stay on top of what’s working, and identify what changes need to be made. Not to mention running law firm reports helps you keep a close eye on any potential issues and stand out from the competition while ensuring you are reaching your profitability potential.The great news is that running reports to manage your law firm doesn't have to be a complicated process. Realistically, there are only a few reports that are considered essential for your law firm’s growth. With so much already on your plate as a busy lawyer, there's no point in losing time running reports that aren't relevant to your long-term goals. Let’s review the reasons why law firm reporting practices are essential to the health of your legal business, and identify the most critical law firm reports you should have at your fingertips.

Key findings

Here’s a snapshot of some of the most important insights we cover in this blog:

1. Regular reports are crucial for understanding performance, identifying performance issues, and making informed decisions aimed at continuous improvement.
2. The most essential law firm management reports include client acquisition, productivity, client satisfaction, revenue, and marketing reports.
3. Legal data analytics tools can consolidate report data into easily digestible visualizations making it easier for the entire team to understand and act on the information.

Why your law firm should be running reports

Better insight

Once you start treating your law firm like a business, you'll find that managing it becomes easier. Examining not only what's happening in your law firm but why it happened can improve your overall performance, streamline your processes, and address any issues that need to be taken care of.Running regular law firm management reports keeps you accountable for how close you are to achieving your long-term goals. By revisiting your figures, you’ll have a better assessment of your overall performance since reports eliminate guesswork about why you aren't getting as many clients as you’d like to. Instead, you'll have specific answers to turn into solutions.

Better planning

If you have no idea how well your law firm is performing, from who your most productive staff members are, to how many new clients you've acquired, then you're heading towards an uncertain future. Reports arm you with all the information you need to construct your long-term management strategy, and help you make informed decisions rather than acting on hunches.

Increased client satisfaction

Many law firms have so much going on that the last thing on their minds is a client-centric experience. With so many tasks piling up from day to day, it's easier to prioritize getting it all done over tuning into the quality of client experience you're delivering. However, running reports may reveal that your referral rate is quite low, and you have hardly any repeat business.In today's consumer-driven market, you can't get away with mediocre service anymore. One of the first things that potential clients do when considering a lawyer is turning to Google. If you hope to stand out amongst the competition, you'll need to make sure that you have positive reviews.

Time saved

Many lawyers have no idea how much time they're wasting on parts of running their law firm. Management reports can identify major bottlenecks, and where you're losing the most time as a lawyer, time is money. The more opportunities you can identify to save more time that you can dedicate to billable work, the more money you'll put in your pocket

More revenue

Increased revenue at your law firm comes down to a simple formula. Increased efficiency equals increased revenue. Running the right management reports can give you the information you need about where you need to speed things up, or where your most profitable lead sources are. Information is power.

Tips for getting the most out of your law firm management reports

Create a long-term management strategy

In order to determine the most relevant management reports to run for your law firm, you should first develop your long-term strategy. Where do you see yourself down the road? Who is your ideal client? The more you can define and pinpoint where you see your future, the more useful your reports will be.Defining your targets will help you stay on top of your goals, and decide whether your current efforts are working, or whether they need to be tweaked.

Track them regularly

It's no use running a report once a year and expecting it to make a difference. Managing a law firm requires checking your reports regularly; this is the only way to stay accountable and leverage the information appropriately. By observing your own performance regularly with law firm performance management and comparing it to your competitors, you can stay on top of your long-term goals.The longer you allow problem areas to persist, the worse they can get. By consistently running reports and taking action on them right away, you keep your law firm on track

Act right away

When you run a report and find certain things just aren't working, you have to take action. Even though change can be uncomfortable, it's important that you act right away.Sitting on information is missing out on an opportunity to perform better and reach your long-term goals sooner. For example, f your lead conversion rate is dropping you know that you probably have holes in your legal client intake process that need to be taken care of immediately. Each lead you lose track of is money lost. Rather than manually trying to track each lead, an attorney intake software will do it for you so that no more opportunities will slip through the cracks.

Communicate amongst staff

The only way to effectively put information from your management reports into action is by getting everyone on your legal team on board. After running your reports, you should have a meeting to ensure everyone on your team is doing their part to reach your objectives.Your team is only as strong as its weakest link, so make sure everyone shares the same vision.[oxygen-template id="6132"]

5 essential management reports for your law firm

1Client acquisition report

In order to determine that your lead (aka potential new client) to sale (retained client) conversion rate is where you'd like it to be, you should run a monthly client acquisition report to get to know things like where your best clients are coming from, the value of each of their cases, and your total number of no-shows.The idea is to have a clear understanding of how well your lead conversion pursuits are going. If your law firm data analytics reveal that you have a considerable amount of consultation no-shows, then you know that you need to make changes to keep your leads engaged. Turning leads into clients is often a rinse and repeat process. Keep trying new tactics until you find an effective method that gets your numbers where you'd like them to be.Usually, a poor lead to client conversion rate is an indication that you need to improve your client intake process. If you aren't using a client intake software that tracks leads automatically from start to finish, then it can get incredibly laborious manually keeping up with each contact.The number of matters opened at your law firm is directly connected to the amount of revenue that your law firm produces. New clients are critical for the success of your law firm's future, so make sure that you pay attention to whether your client acquisition rate is where you want it to be.

2Productivity report

Productivity reports are important for tracking how well you're performing both at an individual and collective level. Tracking the total amount of tasks pending compared to what you’ve completed on a weekly basis can be extremely helpful in identifying areas for growth. Tasks are usually one of the biggest culprits for lost time in a law firm. So, by measuring and analyzing how many tasks you're currently completing and comparing it to how many you’d like to complete, you can make data-driven decisions to improve your practice and boost your productivity.Usually, law firms are shocked to see the reality of how much time they are wasting manually completing tasks that could be delegated to automation software.Statistics show that lawyers spend almost 50% of their workweek on administrative tasks, which means less time focusing on their clients. Unfortunately, administrative tasks must be done for a law firm to keep running and aren’t something you get by without doing.However, by tracking your law firm’s productivity, you can identify where you are losing the most amount of time in your practice, and make the necessary changes so that you can focus your time on the areas of your practice that produce the most profits. The end result is more free time to focus on making your law firm a profitable business and less time wasted on time-draining manual processes.

3Client satisfaction report

Measuring client satisfaction is something relatively new for legal professionals. Once upon a time, a client-centric approach to practicing law wasn't a widespread concept. However, as more and more law firms start to recognize the importance of a positive client journey for producing repeat business and referrals, the more lawyers strive to improve on their client satisfaction.Evaluating your overall client satisfaction is as simple as running reports on key performance indicators that reveal how happy your clients are when working with you. For example, the number of client referrals you have along with client retention rates can be very indicative as to whether you're providing a positive client journey or not.Lastly, sending out client satisfaction surveys and basing your feedback off of the scores clients give you should also be included in your evaluation. The more you start to prioritize the client experience, the better ratings you'll get on Google, and the more business you'll start to bring in.

4Revenue report

Ultimately, your overall profitability is the foundation of your law firm’s success. It goes without saying that you should be paying the most attention to the amount of revenue you're bringing in. Pay attention to reports such as total revenue billed over the month compared to what was actually collected, as well as your net overhead, average fee per matter and most revenue-producing marketing sources. Monitoring your revenue by using time and billing software for lawyers can make a significant impact on your strategy, and results in better planning and more informed decisions.

5Marketing report

It's imperative that you know whether your law firm marketing strategies are working or not. Running reports on your marketing campaigns can track your activity, and provide important insight as to whether you're getting the best possible return on your marketing investments. A law firm reporting software like Lawmatics provides an easy-to-read format with all of your marketing activity laid out. A simple chart makes it easy to read which campaigns are producing the most leads, clients, and revenue. That way, you can make sure that you're only putting your money where it's producing the most return on investment.If the campaign isn't that effective, then it's time to switch things up. You should also keep an eye on other marketing metrics like visit to lead ratio, SEO keyword ranking, email click rate, and bounce rate. A bounce rate is important because it can reveal whether your website is performing as well as you need it to be. And since your law firm website is the cornerstone of all of your marketing efforts and the final destination you want people to ultimately land, you need to make sure it’s up to par.Over 30% of clients look for lawyers online, so you want to make sure that when a visitor lands on your website they’re compelled to stick around. If they’re not then you can determine where you need to make upgrades. In many cases, a high bounce rate could be a result of irritating pop ups, or maybe your site isn't mobile-friendly. Whatever you do, make sure that you check regularly so that you know you’re spending your valuable resources where they count most.

Come out on top with the help of legal data analytics

Tracking your law firm's internal activities means taking charge of your future. As you fine-tune your reporting strategy, you can in turn reach your goals even faster. By easily being able to see everything in one place, you can keep your staff on the same page, keep your eye on your long-term goals, and streamline the tasks in your practice where it's needed most. With a visual representation of your law firm's progress, anyone in your law firm can easily digest the information. Running regular reports on the essentials, keeps you motivated to continue making progress and making changes where they count the most.Although data is relatively new in the legal world, it's something businesses have been leveraging for quite some time. Information is power, so the more data you can get your hands on, then after you can reach your goals by measuring your progress and ditching what’s not working in your practice.Are you ready to see how Lawmatics legal reporting software can help you set clear goals, make informed decisions, and ditch the guesswork in your law firm? Sign up for a free product demo today!

You know what sucks? That every time I think of my wife telling me that she was pregnant with our son, I have to remember the whole story. Yes, I was immediately happy, but then pretty quickly I had to ask myself “how the f%&$^ are we going to manage this?”We were already working 60-70 hours a week, $200,000 in firm debt, and trying to make it all work. It’s like we were drowning and also on fire and now someone wanted to hand us a baby.Thankfully, this story has a super happy ending (or at least a super happy now) — a lot of it has to do with us finally learning what it takes to run a business and a HUGE part of that is using a CRM to save us time, make us money, and help us provide a better and better customer experience.That’s why as soon as I started a fractional CMO company for lawyers, I knew we had to help them get setup in a similar manner to my firm, because there’s just SO much you can do with an awesome CRM like Lawmatics (which we still use at my firm and for our LegalEase intakes).There are 1,000,000 things you can use this program for, so let’s break it into stages:

1.Tracking leads

You know that feeling you get in your gut sometimes that a decision is right or wrong? And you can’t quite put your finger on why, but it FEELS that way?Well, I hate to break it to you — but that’s a terrible way to run your business. Trust me on this, because I did it (see debt and sadness story above).Let’s say you are running 50 different ad sets across 5 platforms. Which one is doing the best for you? What does best even mean? Well, a great CRM system software gives you those answers in real time.Let’s say ad A goes to landing page A, which goes to contact form A which goes into Lawmatics. Then we rinse and repeat for the next 49 one (I have no idea what that last letter would be, maybe AX?)Now Google Ad Manager will let us know about the impressions and click through rate, analytics will let us know about the performance on the landing page, and the contact form tells us about consults. Which is great, but viewed on way, a lead has NO value, it’s the hired client who funds your firm. So with Lawmatics and that contact form, we can seamlessly track which of those consults becomes a client.Ad G might get us 50 consults, but only 3 hire. Ad Z might get us only 10 consults, but 9 hires. You don’t know until you track your leads ALL the way through to see which ones are actually the most cost effective. This can easily be a million dollar problem or solution.

2.Closing leads

As the system is tracking all of this, you need to put in some time and effort to close those leads and get them into hired clients. Last I saw, Clio Legal Trends reported that 68% of lawyers don’t follow up with leads — AT ALL. Please don’t be one of those people.What is more common for our potential clients is the HUGE ebb and flow from month to month. You’re not busy in May so you call all the leads back and stay on top of them, then you get busy in June so you stop doing that. Then you have no clients in July, rinse and repeat (if you haven’t already pulled your hair out from this).Instead of relying solely upon yourself or your staff, flex some CRM muscle on this problem. Put together a drip campaign for all potential clients that goes over topics like:

Why they need a lawyer

The life cycle of a case

The great client reviews you get

Common mistakes people make in this situation

What makes your firm special

Why they should hire you

Common questions they have

War Stories you can ethically share

And many more…

By standardizing this follow up (bonus points if you change the drips by case type if you practice multiple areas of law), you get BETTER numbers from your ads, and can track better AND close more.Maybe every 3 months you tweak your drip campaigns and see if you close more or less clients (you can always go back to the old way).And, what do you do when they DON’T hire. Maybe you need a long term nurture campaign for those clients thinking about divorce but giving it one more shot, or the ones who want to pause their estate planning needs for another few months, or the business client wanting to give that vendor 30 more days to not pay the overdue bill, etc. You can automate a ton of that stuff to get older leads back into a consult or hiring at a later date.

3.Onboarding clients

Okay, so now that you have that dialed in, you’ve got a steady flow of clients coming through the door (or the virtual door because COVID…)And I will bet that there are some steps you do on EVERY case

• Estate planning clients might fill out a longer form on their assets
• Criminal defense clients might have to sign a waiver of appearance
• Real Estate clients might have to upload photos of the title or contract around the proper
• Family law clients might have to tell you the same story 15 times AND need you file 700 emergency motions because the other parents showed up 38 seconds late

I digress, you know what this means to your practice. So, how about instead of taxing yourself or your staff to send the same emails and forms OVER and OVER again, you instead made it totally automated.And by doing this you can also add some other information to the client every few days for 30 days or so.After someone hires you, they’re going to either 1) psychologically convince themselves that they’re smart for hiring you, or 2) immediately regret it. So let’s avoid 2.Think about sending them:

• More social proof (great reviews)
• Numbers that make you look good (prior $$$ wins, # of cases you’ve handled, etc)

And also, you can:

• Send them your social media accounts to follow
• Give them a virtual tour of the office
• Explain to them what to expect moving forward
• Introduce the rest of your team
• Remind them not to talk about the case to the police, the insurance adjuster, etc

Whatever else makes sense to them to know now that they’re a client.

4.Doing the actual legal work

This is very similar to the onboarding process. What are you doing all the time for the actual work on their case?

• For PI, they’re probably in treatment and you’re checking on that and requesting medical records
• For estate planning, you’re probably putting together some documents and then having a signing meeting
• For criminal law, you’re probably requesting discovery or setting depositions

So think about what the steps are that you do over and over again and create a new pipeline with those stages and tell Lawmatics to move your hired clients over there and set up automations to support that work. (pro-tip make sure your automations run on hired clients and not just PNC now).You can even use the practice area field to change the pipeline by type of case if you’ve got multiple practice areas. Voila, even more time savings and an even smoother client experience.And to be clear, I am not telling you to automate EVERYTHING. But by automating the easy stuff you have more time to be PERSONAL with each case and truly help move the needle for your clients because you’re not stuck spending 5 hours a case manually sending the same stuff by email one at time (or fax if that’s still your thing and this is the 1920s).

5.Doing right by your alumni clients

Eventually, after you do an AMAZING job on the actual legal work, the case closes and then what? Does the client never hear from you again? If that’s the case, you’re leaving a ton on the table.Imagine how different your firm would be if every month you got 2-3 new happy client reviews. Imagine if every 2 clients became another case through repeat business or a referral. How would that change your firm? It would be amazing right? Well guess what, it is, and it’s possible for you if you nail this process in the CRM.It starts with a closed case form. What last data points do you need to enter to help all your KPIs line up? Maybe it’s settlement amount, total fee billed, length of time the case took, # of hours spent on it, etc. Use that form being filled out to move clients to a closed case pipeline.Now you can:

• Send them the info they need once the case is closed (where to report to probation, how to fund their trust, a reminder to turn on their power and water in their new house, etc)
• Check in with them at certain intervals to make sure they remember you and know that you care about them.
• Ask them to leave you a review.
• Invite them to your annual party (when those are a thing again).
• Send them a happy note on the anniversary of their case.

Remarket to them: maybe you can do an early termination of their probation at a certain time, maybe they need their trust updated every few years, maybe they need a modification on time sharing once they get a new job, etc.So stay in touch, stay top of mind, and truly care, and you’ll see a ton of extra success.And let’s be honest, we are just scratching the surface of it here. These are probably the 5 most common stages to use a legal CRM system, but there are millions of ideas we didn’t even touch inside of those stages. So really take some time and sketch out what the perfect flow from lead to client to former client to referral source looks like for you and your firm. And then start identifying where you can keep that organized and following with the support of Lawmatics.And if you’re not sure what to do or don’t want to spend your time on it, let’s chat!

The process of moving leads through the client intake process can be one of the most chaotic and time-consuming parts of a lawyer’s job. Not to mention — unbillable. Be that as it may, capturing clients’ information is an unavoidable part of making a great impression and getting everything you need to open their case. For this reason, lawyers eager to take on as many clients as possible need to master the most efficient way to handle the client intake process.Before we dive into what makes an amazing client intake process, let’s start with examples of client intake that look more like, “meh.”

5 biggest client intake mistakes

Losing time on manual data entry

Administrative tasks are some of the most arduous and taxing parts of running a law firm and can quickly eat up a lawyer’s day in no time. Even so, there’s no way to get around them. The good news is that there are smarter ways to get these tasks done. If your client intake process involves repetitive and manual processes like data entry that eat up hours of your day that you could be spending on more important matters, then you need to rethink your client intake process.Keeping up with the demands of all your clients with a manual system will surely lead to burnout and frustrated clients. Workflow automation for law firms can save you so much time on your client intake process that you’re actually losing money by not making the switch to automation. What would have taken you hours to days to get done manually can be accomplished in a matter of minutes — all with the click of a button.As a lawyer, time is money and every second counts. The more time you can save to focus on what matters most in your law firm, the more time you have to increase your revenue.

Taking too long to get back to leads

One of the most common complaints about lawyers is their communication (or lack thereof.) Taking too long to respond is a tremendous mistake when it comes to client intake. The client intake process is all about setting the tone for what a lead can expect from you once they’re a client. So, if you take three days to get back to their initial inquiry, or worse, fail to get back to them at all, then you’re missing a huge opportunity.In today’s consumer-driven market, prospective clients want to feel like they’re a priority. If you can’t make a client feel like they are then they’ll turn towards a lawyer that can. There are 1.3 million attorneys across the United States — the competition is fierce, so you need to be on your A-game.

Not tracking your leads

If your law firm takes down a lead’s information by pen and paper that gets stuck to a desk somewhere to be “called back later” then you’ve got a fallible client intake process on your hands. You must have a system set in place that meticulously tracks a lead from the minute they contact your law firm, or you have no way of knowing whether you’ve followed up or not.What’s more, tracking your leads shows you what’s working and what’s not. Although tracking your leads on a spreadsheet is possible, you risk errors. The most reliable way to ensure that leads never get forgotten is with client intake software for lawyers that meticulously tracks each stage of the client journey. You can see whether a lead has been followed up with and what actions need to be taken next all in one single dashboard.

Losing time on lengthy back and forths

Part of a successful client intake process involves setting up the initial consultation. Finding the best time that works for both you and your client can quickly turn into a drawn-out game of email tag.Not only does this waste your time, but you’re also wasting clients’ time. Eliminating the back and forth of setting up an appointment is one of the best ways to deliver an optimal client experience. Automated appointment scheduling makes things easier and faster for everyone.

Not pre-screening clients

You’re not always going to be the right fit for everyone that calls your law firm. That’s why it’s imperative to get the important information upfront before a consultation. Taking time out of your already busy schedule for a consult only to find that it’s not the right fit for your law firm is time and money lost.It’s as simple as using a custom template that quickly gets the answers you need from your leads so everyone is on the same page. That way, whether they’re not in the right geographic area, or you don’t practice the area of law their case requires, you can guide them in the right direction without losing time on a consultation that wasn’t needed.Now that you’ve got an idea of what not to be doing, let’s go over what you should be doing to deliver an exceptional client intake process.[oxygen-template id="6131"]

1.Identify what you need to know about your client

The first step is identifying who you’re trying to sell to.- Who are they?- What do they do? - How do they spend their time?- What’s their salary?- Do they have a family? Do they have a spouse?Knowing who your ideal client is will help you build a more consistent intake flow based on the most consistent patterns you see coming in. Consistency is key when it comes to delivering a quality client intake process.By knowing the type of person you’re trying to appeal to, you can fine-tune your efforts and set yourself apart from other law firms. A one-size-fits-all approach isn’t realistic. So, with your ideal client in mind, you can appeal to their unique needs and speak the same language.

2. Understand your ideal client

Beyond knowing who your ideal client is, you should also understand them from the inside out. Identifying their actual problem will help you pitch the best selling point for why you’re the best possible attorney for their case.The more that you dive deeper into what your ideal client needs, the more you can get creative with who you partner up with. For example, a personal injury client who was injured in a car accident is likely to need a new car. It might be a good idea to partner up with a local car broker, or even a mechanic.Offering a holistic approach that offers connecting them with other professionals who can help them with their bigger problems beyond just their legal case is a great way to offer a thorough intake process — one that makes it clear why you’re the best person for the job.

3. Know where your clients are

When your ideal client has a question you must make yourself the most obvious choice for the answers. For this reason, knowing where your clients are and where they’ll be makes it easier to present yourself as their best resource.For example, if you’re an estate planning lawyer, your best clients may not even know they need you yet. Put your ads where those kinds of clients are likely to be, like financial advisers. The more you can think ahead about where your ideal client already is, the more you can narrow your focus and anticipate what they’re going to do to find you.

4. Track your leads

If you’re not tracking your leads then you have no idea what law firm marketing efforts are a complete waste of resources and you have no insight about what needs to be improved. Using a lead tracking law firm client intake software like Lawmatics organizes your leads into categories of your choosing like how they found your firm and their demographic data.The categorization and tracking of your leads doesn’t just lead to better organization, but it helps you gain better insight into what the most effective methods are for conversion to clients. Law firm reporting software can reveal who your most valuable leads are, how they found you, how much revenue they produced, and how many hours their case involved.Knowing what kind of prospects become clients the most consistently helps you capitalize on your best leads to get the most ROI on your marketing campaigns. Because when it comes to growing your law firm, information is power.

5. Proactively tell your potential clients what they need to know

Once your leads are in your CRM for lawyers, it’s time to start engaging them to convince them how you can help and why. Automated email workflows for law firms make it easy to set up personalized drip email marketing campaigns that get the right message to leads tailored towards their unique needs.Proactively send them information that shows why you’re a credible and trusted source to handle their case. Rather than an overt sales pitch, focus on sending relevant and useful information that positions yourself as an expert.Give an overview of how you can help them, and any successful cases like theirs that you’ve had in the past. Send social proof like client testimonials and expand on anything in their case that could build your credibility even more.Talk about why you’re a great attorney for their case, why it should be you, and most importantly, make sure that you include a call to action. A call to action is an invitation for them to take the next steps towards becoming a client. Whether it’s sending a link for automated appointment scheduling so they can book their own consultation, or inviting them to sign up for your newsletter. Make it easy for them to choose you as the right person for the job!

6. Screen your leads quickly

Before going into your consultation, send your lead a legal client intake form so that you have as much information as possible. Not only will it make your consultation go that much better if you know important details already going into the meeting, but it will also determine whether you’re the best person for their case.There are several factors that could result in referring them to another lawyer as the best choice. Whether they’re not in your geographic area, or their case does not fall within your area of practice, get them to someone who can take care of them.If you can’t help someone on their particular case, but you can help steer them in the direction of someone who can, you’ll build a great rapport with them that could lead to future referrals. Not to mention you’re saving time that you would have lost on a consultation for a case you won't take on.

7. Make a smooth transition for your client

By using the information stored in your attorney intake software, your staff can stay on the same page about your clients’ information. Making your client repeat the same details over and over about their case isn't just irritating for them, it can also be traumatic.Family law cases or personal injury cases may be extremely emotionally charged for your clients. Don't make them have to repeat the same story over and over each time that they call your law firm.Make it as smooth as possible as a transition for the client as possible and it won’t go unnoticed. Save the information and refer to it rather than making them repeat their story to a paralegal, lawyer, receptionist, etc. Make it so if there is new information, you can override it, or change it within your system, but please don't make them repeat it again. If they do want to rehash their story, then by all means be all ears. But don't force them if they are reluctant to go over it yet another time.

8. Sell without selling

The most effective way to convince your client that they've made the right call to reach out to your law firm is to deliver an exceptional client experience from day one. The minute a client first contacts your firm is an opportunity to show them why you're the right person to hire. Whether they send a client intake form from your website, or they call on the phone, they are as of that moment a potential client who you need to pitch yourself to.Sell them on the experience that they’re going to have with you. That means making sure whoever answers the phone is kind and helpful, and that your website is in working order without bugs or crashes. Deliver a beginning to end exceptional experience that shows them you value them as a potential client.Right off the bat clients want to know they made the right call by hiring you, so don’t give them any reason to think otherwise! Have your staff tell stories as they go into the consultation sharing similar success case stories. Assure them that you have plenty of experience with similar cases and how you made a difference. In short, help people psychologically convince themselves that you’re the best option for them and you’re well worth their money.Keep your clients up to date by giving them direct access to their case, and streamlining the process by sharing files directly with them through your CRM.

9. Use e-signature and e-payment

The most modern practices offer e-signature. Not only is it much more convenient for your clients to be able to send something from the palm of their hand using a client intake software like Lawmatics, but you may have clients who are particularly vulnerable to COVID.Asking them to get in their car and drive to your office to sign something could be (literally) putting their life in danger. Use legal file request automation to get whatever documents you need from them and allow them to sign from wherever they are using a client e-signature tool. What’s more, asking clients to have to print, sign, and mail something back to you means the longer it will take before you can get their case rolling.In addition to electronic signature for legal documents, you should also consider offering E-payment. No one likes credit card fees, but it keeps things clean and organized. You’re better off with a credit card fee than going through the hassle of waiting for a check and waiting for it to clear. Getting things signed and paid as seamlessly as possible is ideal for your client and your practice!

10. Keep the great work going

Don't make the mistake of believing that once you have secured a client that it's okay to stop delivering a consistent experience. Many law firms neglect the importance of delivering a consistent experience through each stage of the client journey, not just intake and active matter.75% of law firms' business comes from referrals, so deliver an exceptional experience that will encourage former clients to refer you to their friends and family.Don't make your clients regret hiring you for the job. Follow through with your promises, and your Google rating will show for it.

Deliver an amazing client intake experience with Lawmatics robust legal client intake software

Lawmatics is recognized as the most intuitive and robust CRM for attorneys and client intake platform specific to the legal industry. Lawyers can lighten their load and let automation handle the tedious and time-consuming day-to-day administrative tasks that can bog down their schedule, negatively impacting their attentiveness during the client intake process.By relying on a go-to client intake resource like Lawmatics that automates the client intake process for you, you can create more business, happier clients, and ultimately greater profitability at your law firm.Are you ready to see how Lawmatics can help your client intake process be the best that it can be? Sign up for a free demo today!

Happy end of summer! The team has been working on some great features, some of them pretty big! Here are a few updates that we just released into the Lawmatics platform.

This month, we’re excited to announce that we have released a new statute of limitations field, originating attorney/lead attorney features, and more! Read on to learn more about these impactful enhancements to the platform.

Statute of Limitations

We know that many of our customers have statute of limitations (SOL) that they need to track when taking on new cases. We believe this is an important part of the intake process, so we are happy to say that we built SOL into Lawmatics as a native feature.

You can enable SOL on a practice area basis. Doing so will add a SOL field to the matter details. What’s great is that the SOL date can be used in event automations and is visible in the Lawmatics calendar.

New User Lookup Fields

The team is proud to announce that we added “Originating Attorney” and “Lead Attorney” as native fields to Lawmatics. These new fields will allow you more granular tracking and reporting on key metrics for your firm. Key to this new feature is the ability to base matter access permissions on these fields. For example, you can now limit a user’s access to only cases that they are assigned as the lead attorney.

Keep your eye out for another addition to this feature set coming in the coming weeks. We will be adding general staff linking, giving you the ability to link as many firm users to a matter as general staff. This will also come with a new permission setting, allowing you to limit a user’s access to only matters they are linked to.

As always, this release includes many bug fixes and improvements. Thank you for your feedback, and keep it coming! Your feedback is an invaluable part of our ongoing effort to improve the Lawmatics platform.

Check in next month for more updates and improvements from the Lawmatics team! Not using Lawmatics yet? There’s never been a better time to start. Book a personalized demo to learn how we can help you grow your law firm!