Gone are the days of lawyers having to carry heavy briefcases and large folders full of documents. Technology has enabled lawyers and their clients to share and collaborate across multiple documents with single handheld devices such as tablets or laptops.
For the client
As clients become more adept at using cloud technology and increasingly reliant on it, law firms are expected to offer a quicker more efficient service as standard. In addition, as clients express a wish for their documents to be handled sensitively and securely, the market demand for this readily available technology is making it a necessity rather than a choice for legal practices to provide up-to-date document sharing technology to their clients.
In 2017, the inaugural year of LawConnect, the document sharing system, over 63,000 documents were shared with clients by more than 800 law firms. This is a clear indication that law firms are adopting the technology offered within the LEAP practice management solution.
Part of the attraction to clients in using systems such as LawConnect is that they can expect better document security and version control than email can offer. Also, lawyers and clients can collaborate in real-time by storing, sharing, reviewing and refining documents. No matter what the size of the file – the process is simple – documents can be instantly accessed from anywhere at any time by the client and from any web-enabled device.
For your fee-earners
Solicitors are also starting to demand shared document technology because of the added benefits it can bring to a legal practice. Feature-rich technology enables a lawyer to see if a client has viewed a document, access shared documents instantly and revoke access to documents if necessary.
Offering clients instant access to their documents and case files means that all parties can locate the latest version quickly and review, collaborate and respond accordingly. An additional benefit to using LawConnect is the system integrates seamlessly with LEAP’s legal practice management platform. Lawyers can share documents directly from within the electronic matter.
LEAP UK’s CEO Peter Baverstock comments: “LawConnect is a simple yet safe legal document management system. We are delighted that it is being so widely used by the legal market and we have heard of many instances of End Users recommending LawConnect to their lawyers.”
Andrew Nuttall of Adlington Law Limited comments: “LEAP is constantly improving its system and you get regular updates of all changes, one recent addition at no extra cost was LawConnect which allows you to share documents to all your customers and suppliers within seconds of producing a letter/fax or PDF document. This is very useful if we require our client to sign documents and return them the same day. It is quicker than using the postal system and awaiting the return of important documents.”
The simple fact is that if law firms don’t offer this technology, clients will go elsewhere, even if that means to the competition. Document sharing is now a key driver for a client base and not something that can just be ignored.
