Our Founder Lauren Riley was recently asked to write a guest piece for youblawg.com on law firms and technology – and as it features us we thought we’d share it here:
The Link App – a communication tool for modern lawyers
As a lawyer you want to work to the best of your abilities for your clients and to achieve the best outcome on their matters. I know this because I am a lawyer too. This requires a lot of working hoursand concentration. Part of that is to keep your clients up to date about what is happening with their cases. One of the best answers to saving time and being as productive as possible is of course technology.
Technology has been on the rise since the beginning of globalisation and is increasingly filtering through all professional sectors. The legal world has previously been labelled as fairly resistant to this technological progress, much to the disappointment of many clients from the younger and rising client generation and customer serviced focused firms. This is because some of the people who are now our clients have grown up in the world of technology, and are used to completing everything from purchasing their shopping, to banking online via their smartphones. Even with some solicitors appearing resistant to this shift towards technological progress, there is a lot going on regarding technology in the legal world. There are numerous dedicated conferences and forums emerging. Let’s face it, even the most resistant law firm will have to embrace app technology eventually, there is a definite advantage of riding that positive wave early. Women in Law London recently held a panel discussion on technology in the legal sector for example and I was fortunate enough to speak at this event. It was a widely attended event, with four speakers representing different sectors, all discussing their experiences with technology in their working environment. Many social media pages target the topic as well and overall the consensus is that this is an exciting time for the legal sector to progress with and towards embracing technology. As a solicitor I was very aware of the real problems facing law firms and what things most disrupted my colleagues working day. The constant need to keep clients in the loop and the time consuming process of fielding numerous calls and emails if you failed to do so was a cycle too many lawyers found themselves in. I therefore came up with The Link App as the solution that would help my lawyer colleagues, their clients and the law firms. The law firms have an interest in portraying themselves as innovative and forward thinking and the use of technology with the firms is a tangible way to demonstrate that. If law firms consider the commercial aspects they are likely to realize how much improving the technology of the firm is valuable to them, from a productivity and financial viewpoint. Solicitors will be more content if clients are more satisfied and they are achieving their target for billable hours. Satisfied clients leads to repeat business. On top of being great lawyers we need offer excellent customer service, the way lawyers communicate with their clients is key to this. Email and phone communication alone are not enough anymore. Plus both are too time consuming if not absolutely necessary. Lawyers have to draft a formal email, sometimes only to convey minor bits of information. Phone calls take up time from the working day too, and often people are stuck in meeting or unavailable and cannot take the calls. All this back and forth means that it sometimes takes a while to reach the person you are trying to talk to. Communication meanwhile also happens through social media channels, like Instagram, LinkedIn or Facebook, furthermore systems like Skype and Facetime etc are also available for direct and effective communication. As can be seen from the mentioned mediums, clients are eager to use any communication form they can access straight onto their mobile, and preferably anything that can be saved there for later reference. If your law firm really wants to be counted as the innovative and prioritising customer service The Link App would love to hear from you. Take the next step and be part of the future of legal communication. For more information and a free trial, please visit www.thelinkapp.co.uk to see how our communication tool provides an effective service for lawyers and their clients or send us an email to info@thelinkapp.co.uk. You can also call us at 020 3488 1480. Lauren Riley: Solicitor, and Founder of The Link App.
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