Five Tech Tools Every Lawyer Should Be Using
Main Lawyer’s Resources: What Tools Lawyers Use Most?
What Types Of Software Do Law Firms Need In 2020 & Beyond?
What Technology Does Your Law Firm Actually Need? For the roughly 900,000 attorneys serving in firms of ten attorneys or fewer, legal technology is the great equalizer. With the right technology, firms can run more efficiently, satisfy clients better, research cases faster, stay on top of tasks, and maintain an output that keeps them ...
What are some basic tips when using hand tools?
Word processors. As a lawyer, you’re constantly drafting documents and letters, so a word processor is a highly necessary lawyer tool. But we recommend using a cloud-based word processor to take your document and letter drafting up a notch—by having the ability to work and access your legal documents remotely.
Scanners. The ability to digitize documents is essential for lawyers in 2021, so a scanner (or scanner app on your phone) is key. From legal documents to expense receipts, lawyers deal with papers and documents daily that they need to easily and access on demand, from anywhere.
eDiscovery tools. Now more than ever, the majority of discovery is electronic, or eDiscovery. While the move towards more electronic discovery saves time in itself, you can also use tech tools for lawyers to streamline your discovery process.
E-signature tools. Electronic signatures are more convenient to coordinate (and less back-and-forth means less room for human error). They also make legal work faster and more efficient for lawyers and clients, and save paper (which is key as more firms are going paperless).
According to the 2020 Legal Trends Report, 37% of consumers now prefer to meet virtually with a lawyer for a consultation or first meeting. Even more (50%) would rather follow-up meetings be via video conference.
High-quality legal research is essential for your law firm’s success. Today’s tools put searchable law libraries, decisions, and other key details right at your fingertips. This way, you can conduct your legal research faster and more effectively.
Since what works best for your firm depends on factors like your firm’s size and practice area, not every firm needs the same tech stack. But it’s a good bet to start with the basics, then add in tech tools to fill gaps, enhance productivity, and better serve your specific client base.
Accounting software is a great tech choice for lawyers. There is a wide range of service providers available and they’re focused on providing solutions for lawyers. Here are a few of the things your accounting software can do for you and your firm: 1 Legal calendaring 2 Time tracking 3 Invoicing and billing 4 Document management
It is a lawyer’s responsibility to safeguard their client’s personal and sensitive information. If you do decide to use a cloud storage to save your legal documents off your computer, try setting up two-step authentication. 5. Virtual Office.
Accounting software is a great tech choice for lawyers. There is a wide range of service providers available and they’re focused on providing solutions for lawyers. Here are a few of the things your accounting software can do for you and your firm: Legal calendaring. Time tracking.
Setting up a virtual office allows lawyers to save time and focus more on the success of their firm.
One thing to consider is that as a lawyer, putting all your sensitive information on cloud storage could lead to it getting hacked. It is a lawyer’s responsibility to safeguard their client’s personal and sensitive information.
Lawyers with a website can really benefit by implementing a live chat system on their websites. This useful tech development is becoming increasingly popular as it allows owners of a website to engage directly with visitors.
Every lawyer should use a practice management system, no matter how big or small their practice. There are plenty of options these days for even the smallest firms.
There are two tools for lawyers that have made research easy and affordable and will get you powerful results: Casetext and Ravel Law.
Sure, you can keep track of your tasks and dates in your case management or practice management system. But let’s face it, our daily lives are complex. We’re still in the “information overload” era, so we need a way to keep track of it all in one place. Meet Google Keep and Evernote.
Separating work from your personal life involves creating boundaries. Whether you actually stop working at 5 p.m. (we laughed, too) or have separate accounts for your business and personal email, the line has to be drawn somewhere for you to maintain your professionalism — and your sanity. One more step you can take is to separate your phone lines.
While it may not be a tech tool, getting the right kind of help can have a powerful impact on your practice. Whether it’s a designer, IT trainer, business operations expert, or cybersecurity specialist, lawyers need to rely more on experts and stop trying to do everything themselves.
My belief is that efficiency is the key to success in today’s society, especially for enterprises. Using claims that lawyers are falling behind in technology, it may be time to get your legal practice up to speed with some of the excellent digital tools available. Dropbox is the perfect cloud-based storage solution for case data backup.
Every attorney could benefit by using an automation tool such as Zapier. These apps help automate repetitive tasks between two or more apps. An automation app frees up attorneys and staff time to work on more important tasks. Anything where you have to move information from one app to another.
It’s important for a lawyer or attorney to ensure that their information and their client’s information is secure. You need long and complex passwords, but you also need several different ones for your accounts. Lastpass is an app that locks your passwords in a secure place. You can access your passwords from any device with the installed app.
Attorneys have to go through numerous meetings every day, with clients, colleagues, judges, and others involved in the case and a meeting scheduling tool is a must-have for every attorney. ScheduleOnce is a cloud-based scheduling solution that can help lawyers save lots of time, eliminate email back-and-forth, and end double-booking forever.
Every lawyer or attorney should be using the Evernote note taking app. This application is extremely helpful in organizing, taking, and utilizing notes. As a lawyer, you take a lot of notes when reading cases and documents and Evernote is the perfect application to help you through your note taking process.
Trello is an extremely powerful productivity tool that allows you to manage your time efficiently. Trello is a workplace equivalent of Pinterest. The interface is such that you can create boards for your projects, allowing you to visualize the project you are collaborating on.
I know a few lawyers that have acquired an answering service for their business and they talk about how they have their day back. Answering services handle all incoming calls, messages, appointment settings, and FAQs. This frees up a lot of time for lawyers to focus on their clients and more important matters.
Below are five steps to choosing the best lawyer for your legal needs. Conduct Candidate Interviews. One of the best ways to assess a lawyer’s legal ability is by interviewing the lawyer. Most attorneys will provide an initial consultation (usually an hour or less) at no charge.
The duties of an advocate are sacrosanct in nature. Your client poses complete faith in you and you have to handle the cases very carefully as it may affect the rights, properties or even life of the clients. Thus, to do so, you have to have very good knowledge of the subject.
Whether it's a desktop, laptop, tablet, or your phone, you use it to organize your office, create documents, do research, and communicate with others. Electronic filing is done by computer, signing up for CLE is done by computer, even some bar exams are now taken on the computer.
In many offices, one secretary will be assigned the work of two attorneys, particularly in the case of part-time associates who are not in the office every day. You must be highly organized to pull off such a feat. Be sure to keep separate records, datekeepers, and scheduling books for each attorney.
All law offices will have at least two fax machines; larger offices, of course, have a large multitude of them stationed throughout the office area.
Covers. Will covers are heavyweight bond paper covers that go on the front and back of the paper will that is enclosed. These are placed on the document before placing it in the envelope. They may be engraved with the firm or attorney name or left plain.
Will envelopes are made for long wear and prominent display of the attorney's name so that heirs, trustees, and/or executors can easily locate the name and number of the drafting attorney. They are usually made of heavyweight bond paper. These are used when the final draft is given to the client. Covers.
Legal Pads. Legal pads are long, ruled paper pads that are bound at the top rather than at the left side. They usually are yellow but sometimes are blue.Legal pads often are used and abundantly supplied in law offices. They are found on nearly every desk of every employee in any law office.
Medium-sized to large law office s have several large, multitask copiers in addition to several standard copiers. Some also have color copiers, which are very expensive to run, repair, and maintain. Be sure to familiarize yourself with all the available features of the copiers in the office. Be sure to reset the copier to zero copies ...