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Building a substantial client base and retaining them, in the long run, can be back-breaking, especially when you are a small law firm or a solo lawyer. Further, considering that building a client base is not a one-time but ongoing business activity,  there is a need to find a systematic way of organising and managing your client relationships. 

Thanks to modern business practices, modern lawyers should therefore rely on lawyer CRM solutions to streamline this process. Let’s explore how you can also use a good lawyer-client relationship management solution to grow your law practice.


Contents

What is a Lawyer CRM?

The Need for a Lawyer CRM

Functions of a Good Lawyer CRM

How to Choose the Right Lawyer CRM?

To Conclude

What is a Lawyer CRM?

A customer relationship management or client relationship management (CRM) tool enables you to store and manage your clients and leads’ information in one place. It also allows you to create a pipeline for potential work opportunities, manage client queries, and run marketing campaigns. With a CRM, you can track each and every ongoing, pending and overdue tasks related to your leads, along with all the communication history at a single location.

A lawyer CRM works on similar lines. As a lawyer, you can manage all your client operations without filing up your workspace with heaps of files and documents. You can use a lawyer CRM even if you wish to operate your law firm traditionally.  In the beginning, you only need essential features like being able to track and manage lead contacts in a single location, with the larger objective of being able to see all the essential data related to the lead when you most need it, and not let it get mixed it with your day-to-day operational work.

The Need for a Lawyer CRM

Traditionally, you need to go through an awful lot of files to locate the right documents for a particular client’s case or business information to ascertain the needs of a lead or opportunity. Keeping a track of a client’s complaint or feedback can lead to even more records and your office becoming a paper landfill. However, these administrative tasks do not need to be disorganized and wasteful.

With a modern, well-equipped lawyer CRM system, you can reduce such waste of your time, resources and space by taking all these files on the cloud. A good CRM generally comes with the ability of customization as per your requirements and the scale of the practice. Most CRMs are also easily available on mobile devices, allowing you to manage your legal practice on the go.

Many lawyers and law firms still believe in the ascendancy of a traditionally run legal practice. They do not find potency and comfort in running a virtual law firm. However, the state in which the world currently is has made a significant number of legal practitioners rethink this. To keep up with the changing work conditions, lawyers are gradually becoming more receptive to adopting a CRM tool that can help them manage their clients from any part of the world. This change of heart also stems from the shift in clients’ preferences to searching and availing services digitally.

Further, without a digital presence and expeditious client service lifecycle, you cannot expect to onboard or retain clients. 

A lawyer CRM helps you adapt to the changing customer needs and grow at your own pace. It makes client engagement, complaint management and marketing easier. This way, it helps you maintain your client base, build a pipeline of leads over the years, help you remain in touch with them, and not run out of potential work opportunities when you have less work around.

Functions of a Good Lawyer CRM

You can open up endless growth opportunities by incorporating a good lawyer CRM in your practice. Here are some of the most important functions it can help you achieve effortlessly:

Case File Management

A lawyer CRM like Clio allows you to link all your case documents and files to your clients’ or leads’ account. This way, you do not need to keep track of multiple physical folders.

Client Relationship Management

Managing multiple clients simultaneously is a big enough task on its own. Add to this, an international client base, client relationship management can be a daunting and testing affair. With a CRM, however, you can categorise your clients, scope of services, legal fees and case requirements under separate tabs. A CRM also allows you to understand your client’s matter more comprehensively by providing key insights and AI-drawn analysis.

You can also manage your client interactions better by accessing your communication history, past invoices and pending tasks. It also helps you receive and address your client complaints in a prompt and more accurate manner. 

Also read: A 5-point guide to digitising an Advocate’s office

Task Management with a Lawyer CRM

Keeping a tab on which member in your team is handling which client and performing which tasks can solve half your practice management problems. With a CRM, you can allot tasks, set reminders, track task status and assign deadlines to your team. This way, you do not need to personally inform and guide each team member, and look for the right person to hold accountable in case of delays. You can also easily follow up with your client for the case requirements from their end without struggling to get a hold of them and personally reminding them.

Document Management

Legal matters are well-known for having mounds of paperwork and documents behind them. Each case can come with stacks of documents that can be difficult to create, share and store. Good CRM software such as matters.Cloud makes it easy to organise and share case files with your team and clients in seconds. It also provides a more secure space to store this information and manage access for client data protection and confidentiality.

Legal Marketing

Legal marketing has rapidly become one of the most significant aspects of running a legal practice. While conventional practices call for no marketing in the legal arena, modern lawyers are realising the potential of having a digital presence for better client reach. Without crossing the legal barriers, a CRM like Lawcus can help you manage your marketing efforts in a single place. You can automate functions like email campaigns, social media posts, email replies, etc., for a more robust marketing experience.

How to Choose the Right Lawyer CRM?

Choosing a lawyer CRM can make or break the deal for you – choose the wrong one, and you can pile up more expenses and stress. One of the most important factors to consider while making this choice is to assess your firm’s needs. As an independent lawyer, your needs will differ from that of a top-tier law firm. Similarly, as a large corporate house with large ticket-size legal matters, you’ll need a more capable CRM system.

To make this choice easier for you, we’ve compiled a list of key factors to consider while selecting a lawyer CRM:

  • What are your end goals – do you wish to manage your clients more easily, streamline your marketing efforts, manage documents, research better or all of the above?

  • What kind of legal operations are you involved in?

  • How much can you pay for a lawyer CRM?

  • How much customisation scope do you expect to have in a CRM?

  • Does your team have prior experience in using a CRM?

  • How much in-house effort do you need to make to manage and upgrade the CRM?

The key is to opt for a lawyer CRM that can enable your growth and lower your efforts to manage your practice. While expecting everything from a CRM is natural, it is impossible to find a tool that can offer it all. The victory is in striking a balance and finding a CRM with high upgradability and affordability.

To Conclude

Client-lawyer dynamics are changing. As a lawyer, you need to move ahead with this evolution and find the right ways to cement your relationship with your existing clients and build a strong foundation for new ones. A lawyer CRM simplifies this task, making it easier for you to maximise your success and grow your practice methodically.

 

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