Virtual Collaboration for Remote Law Firms, Part 2: Working with Clients

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Up to date Jun 26, 2025

In a regulation agency, it may be tough to know the best way to talk with purchasers remotely, particularly if they don’t seem to be tech savvy. There are many methods to do it, however getting purchasers to make use of a brand new piece of expertise simply to speak with you is a little bit of a roadblock. We wish to offer you a couple of concepts on the best way to make this problem a bit of simpler.

One maybe apparent notice: collaborating with purchasers could be very totally different from collaborating along with your digital crew. You’ll have much less management and no compulsion. With a digital crew, you may select one piece of expertise and get everybody to make use of it. However your purchasers received’t be as straightforward to transform to the identical system. Some will wish to use google docs, others should still insist on faxing one thing to you, and there’ll all the time be that one shopper that calls you rather than utilizing a easy interface to search out what they want.

The query with purchasers is the way you’ll collaborate in ways in which adapt to their lives. Listed here are some helpful concepts to get you began.

Use what’s most acquainted

First off, there’s a giant impediment to adopting expertise that must be overcome. Even purchasers who’re tech savvy can generally have a hang-up about utilizing one thing new if it’s not intuitive. One solution to make that simpler is to decide on a expertise that everybody is already conversant in.

Google Conferences or Zoom might be probably the most acquainted expertise to your purchasers. (Thanks, pandemic.) Should you sense that your shopper isn’t notably tech savvy, focus your effort on getting them to make use of one thing acquainted quite than making an attempt to transform them right into a platform they don’t know.

From a video convention, you may display screen share to overview paperwork line-by-line with them. (And in case you use Google Docs to travel on edits, ensure you activate Solutions so you may overview their modifications earlier than the doc is edited.)

By beginning with acquainted expertise, you may hold purchasers engaged. Take into account including a survey of which instruments are acquainted to them in your consumption course of. Beginning with tech-familiar purchasers can create impactful time financial savings on your crew even in case you nonetheless have a couple of purchasers that require extra private (non-digital) help.‍

Know your personal expertise nicely

Earlier than you have interaction with purchasers by way of new expertise, be sure your personal expertise and processes are as much as the duty.

It’s not sufficient to know the very fundamentals of the instruments you utilize in your agency—you should know the best way to use as lots of the options in your personal software program as potential. When expertise is built-in into your observe, understanding these instruments is a part of the job.

Are you aware the best way to display screen share with out figuring it out on the fly? Are you aware the best way to enable your shopper to display screen share? These might sound apparent, however in case you’re fumbling with the expertise throughout a name, your purchasers might begin to surprise why you require them to undertake it while you haven’t.

Consumer portals: Execs and cons

One expertise meant to deal with collaborating with purchasers is the safe shopper portal. Many instruments exist on this class, however you need to consider them with a vital eye.

Consumer portals sound like a great collaboration resolution—every part is in a single place, your crew can simply work throughout the system to get your shopper what they want, communications are safe—however be cognizant of any studying curve you’re imposing on the shopper. Are you asking them to be taught a totally new system that’s solely related to this one authorized matter? Do they should create an account to entry it?

Getting purchasers to make use of a portal is nearly trickier than getting your crew to undertake a brand new expertise. Some purchasers may fairly surprise why they will’t simply e-mail or name you as an alternative. It’s yet another password they’ve to recollect, and yet another display screen they must stare at questioning the place the knowledge is that they wish to discover.

One solution to make this simpler for them is to make use of the shopper portal your self, as in case you are a shopper, earlier than you implement the system. Yow will discover out if it’s user-friendly. From a branding perspective, are you comfortable with the way it seems? Are you okay having the portal creator’s brand within the nook and never your agency’s? Or would you like your agency’s model solely? Take note of each person expertise and branding, and work along with your portal supplier to get it simply the way in which you need. If that studying curve is an excessive amount of for you, know {that a} shopper can have zero persistence with it.

Create coaching supplies

Should you discover that the expertise you’ve chosen yields tons of questions out of your purchasers on the best way to use it, you’ll must help them. Take into account creating coaching movies.

Assuming they’re clear and fast, coaching movies can relieve strain out of your help workers and empower purchasers who’d quite not have interaction in a troubleshooting session. Movies on the best way to log in, what sort of paperwork they will count on to see, what types you have to crammed out, and even direct display screen shares of your entire course of will help out rather a lot.

Relatedly, take into account hiring a technical author. Instructing expertise adoption is a discovered talent. Somebody who’s achieved that work in different contexts can write a one-time how-to handbook on your course of. All the time make studying your agency’s instruments simpler than you suppose it must be. Few purchasers will perceive their incentives to alter.

Automate your consumption

As soon as your coaching supplies are created, sprinkle them all through your automated consumption course of.

An e-mail drip marketing campaign for brand new purchasers is a game-changing expertise. Set it as much as routinely ship a coaching video to new purchasers each week, or whichever time appears acceptable. And when you’ve created a fundamental automated consumption course of, you should utilize the identical expertise to tailor which coaching movies get despatched to them, particular to their case.

Encoding these steps into automated instruments is a whole lot of work up entrance. However after you have this consumption course of arrange, it saves an unbelievable period of time. One regulation agency we spoke to took their consumption course of right down to solely 3 clicks, and every part else is automated. This takes a whole lot of the ache of consumption away, each for you and the shopper.

Clarify the advantages of collaboration to your purchasers

Whether or not you utilize a shopper portal or one thing like Google Docs to collaborate, clarify the advantages of those instruments to new purchasers.

For instance, a shopper portal may enable them to test the standing of their case anytime they need with out ready to attach with you. That makes the expertise’s advantages clear.

In case you are billing purchasers hourly, allow them to know that you are able to do your work quicker in the event that they adapt to utilizing your system, thus saving them cash. Clarify to them that they are going to by no means must drive to your workplace to drop off a test, and pays from the comfort of their very own house (assuming you’ve already obtained a handy billing and cost options in place).

Emphasize the ways in which utilizing expertise lets you do higher work for purchasers and so they’ll be a bit of extra motivated to work with you.

When it’s price it

Finally, you should resolve how a lot hand-holding you might be keen to do along with your purchasers. Will you find yourself spending extra time as IT help than as a lawyer? That’s an actual threat.

When you’ve got long-term litigation circumstances the place the connection is ongoing, you’ll seemingly wish to prepare them to make use of your software program. It’s a clever funding. However, in case your purchasers primarily work with you for one-off transactions, it may be simpler so that you can adapt to what they discover most acquainted.

Your collaboration technique ought to observe out of your client-centered agency design. Should you can adapt to your shopper’s want and expectations, you’ll give them an expertise that they admire and share.