Client Portals Offer Time And Cost Savings – And Stronger Client Engagement
For practicing attorneys, regular communication with clients is a normal part of life. After all, you’ll likely need information from your clients on an ongoing basis to best serve their interests.
Sometimes, though, client communication can be a bigger headache than it should be.
Some attorneys may already know exactly to what I’m referring. Some clients may call or email at all hours of the day, asking for documents or updates.
If you have to use multiple platforms to download and send the requested documents, satisfying your client’s demands may not be that simple a task. What’s more, there may be concerns about the level of security of your means of transmission.
All these problems and more are solved with a client portal – that is, a secure platform to communicate and share information with clients.
Luckily, client portals aren’t generally something that must be separately acquired from your regular law practice management tools – many of them, such as Thomson Reuters Firm Central, already offer such a feature.
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And the client portal’s pairing with the larger practice management tool package is a perfect match.
The reasons for this should be obvious. That is, just as with a client portal, a practice management tool is designed to centralize all aspects of your law firm to maximize organization and save time and money.
But a client portal has additional, unique benefits that deserve to be highlighted.
Improving client relations
Lack of effective communication with clients is often cited as one of the most common reasons for ethics complaints against lawyers.
Specifically, many clients typically resort to filing complaints when they feel as though their attorneys fail to properly update them on the status of their case matters.
A client portal can allow your clients to feel as connected with their legal matters as they wish.
In Firm Central, for instance, clients can access their own dashboard using a personal login. From this dashboard, clients can access case documents that you make available to them, send and receive messages from you, and view outstanding tasks – that may be created by you as the administrator of the client’s matter – that require the client’s attention.
This portal will make your clients feel far more engaged in their legal matters, leading to a better experience with your law firm overall.
Saving time
Although a client portal’s ability to save you time was briefly mentioned earlier, it’s important to establish just this is accomplished, since it may not be readily apparent.
First, sharing documents with clients is literally as easy as pushing a button.
While it may seem a de minimis reduction in time spent on a task to not have to locate the requested files on one system before using another to send it, it certainly adds up in the aggregate, and it will save you a substantial amount of time in the long run.
Next, if your clients have the ability to access their case files and status on their own, they will become less likely to contact you regularly for such concerns. Meaning, fewer interruptions in your day from clients.
Finally, some firm management platforms such as Firm Central allow users to send forms to their clients for them to complete. These forms can be completed and saved through the client portal itself and your clients can notify you when they are finished.
This means no more hassling with instructions for clients on how to complete your firm’s forms, or dealing with forms that were printed out and completed by your clients by hand. The time savings there should be clear.
Many lawyers may not be aware of the possible security risks associated with various forms of electronic messaging, including email.
In short, unless you use one or more of various methods of encryption, emails are a relatively unsecure form of communication.
Although not all ethics standards have reached the point that all attorneys are expected to employ the strongest encryption techniques in communicating with clients, it is nonetheless wise to transition to more secure means of client communications.
Just such a type of communication may be found in a client portal.
Assuming that your practice management tool boasts extensive security measures, as Firm Central does, the client portal’s messaging feature is a superb approach to secure client communications.
Like the rest of the benefits discussed, this increase in security will not only provide palpable advantages to your clients, but to your law firm as well.
Hear what Firm Central customers have to say, and start a free trial today
http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/these_common_mistakes_can_lead_to_lawyer_ethics_complaints/
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