5 Tips for Optimizing Your Virtual Law Firm
Virtual law firms are a legitimate option that many lawyers are choosing. Instead of working from a traditional law office, they are opting to office at home. They use technology to conduct appointments or they may meet with their clients in other spaces. Starting a virtual law firm is a great alternative for lawyers who are thinking about hanging out their own shingle. It’s a less expensive office that puts opening a law office in reach of practically any attorney. Here are 5 tips to optimize your virtual law firm.
Come Up with a Business Plan
Much like any traditional business, you need to come up with a business plan. Just because you’re setting up your office in the comfort of your own home doesn’t mean that you won’t need a business plan. Business plans cover more than just your location and overhead expenses. It also acts as a way to plan out how you will run your business, what you’ll do in the event that you need staff, and how you’ll market to your services.
Get Comfortable with Technology
For many clients, it won’t matter to them that you’re running a virtual law firm. Think about it – how do most lawyers who work in traditional law offices talk with their clients? Phone and email. That aspect won’t change. However, there are some technological advancements available that can make meeting with your clients even better. Of course, you should always be mindful of privacy issues. You should check with the bar association in your state to learn more about how meeting with your client with the use of technology may be viewed and what you should do to minimize security concerns.
Video conferencing can be done for free with Skype. If you and your client have Skype, you can meet using web cams. This is a great way to meet face to face. There are other video conferencing solutions available. The benefit of using Skype is that most non-lawyers are familiar with how it operates.
When it comes to sending and receiving documents in a secure manner, you have several choices available. Programs like Clio enable you to provide documents securely to your client. Clio also helps with billing. That brings us to our next point.
Choose Software with Multiple Functions
Many great providers of legal software have options that perform double or triple duty. For instance, Clio does more than allow you to exchange documents in a secure manner with your client. It also has a billing component. One of the benefits of choosing a program that has multiple functions is that you often pay less money than if you had to purchase separate licenses for all of the programs that you may need.
You Must Manage Yourself
One of the main differences between a virtual law firm and working from a traditional law firm is in your mindset. Often, when people walk into an office, something clicks in the brain and we go into work mode. When you’re working from home, it can be much harder to get into the right frame of mind. You must be fully prepared to manage yourself and manage your time.
Get Help
Going it alone in a virtual law office can be extremely beneficial to you in many ways. You can work your own hours. You can keep costs to a minimum. Yet, there’s also a chance that you may not be fully prepared to handle every aspect of your business. That’s where Clients ARM can help. We provide many services for law firms. We also understand the special considerations and business culture of a virtual law firm. We understand that your time is at a premium. You need to focus on your clients. Clients ARM provides remote services for virtual law firms. We have experience in legal billing, IOLTA account management, client intake, follow-up, customer care, setting up payment plans, and we can even help you with past due client accounts. We are the premier solution for remote administrative services. If you are running a virtual law firm, you qualify to receive a free process review. There’s absolutely no obligation. We will use our more than 30 years of experience to pinpoint areas in your virtual law firm that need improvement. Contact us today. You’ll be glad that you did.
