Gyi Tsakalakis and Kelly Street were joined by Justie Nicol, owner of Nicol Law Offices, a Criminal Defense Attorney in Fort Collins, Colorado. She is a savvier than average solo attorney who used technology tools to make her practice run smoother and create better work/life balance. 

Justie has even taught a CLE on tech tools as a solo to boost client experience! When you look at the list of tools below and listen, keep in mind that Justie is a regular lawyer who implemented these tools over time, as she saw a need. She starts with a low-cost or free solution

What Justie uses to streamline her firm and client experience:

Wisestamp for email signature (appt scheduler, tweets, etc)
Copper CRM
Connects with Zapier to her email and more
Typeform for intake/conflict check
Prior to client consultations, have them fill this out.
Send a post-consultation form to see why a potential client didn't choose your law firm
Send a post-case form to get client feedback for reviews
Zapier, to connect apps and services
Acuity for appointments
Set expectations with clients so they know when and how appointments should go; filling out a conflict check prior, etc.
Consult with everyone who wants one or send them referral sources; just don't let them feel ignored
Square for payments
Easily end to collect payment at the time of engagement
Justie includes a credit card charge policy in her engagement letter, so clients know how payments work
Docusign for document signing
Engagement letters, etc.
AttorneySync uses PandaDoc for document sharing and signing
Buffer for social media
Trello for content management
Outsourcing marketing efforts
Content creation
Schedule posts, draft one month at a time
Use an attorney or an agency who understands legal ethics
Posts for referrals and posts for clients
Digital marketing
Pay-per-click
Cost per click, and customer acquisition cost
SEO
Monitor ad copy to make sure it complies with your state's ethics rules
Website updates and buildout
Make sure to track Return On Investment for all marketing efforts; Justie likes to try one new method at a time
Smith.ai for after-hours receptionist and chatbots for website communication
Receptionist service for inbound and outbound calls, filling out the intake form and helping schedule appointments or court reminders for clients.
Using a chatbot as an option for communication, even if it isn't something you would want to use.
Non-tech: Engagement Letters to set client expectations
How you will communicate with them and when it is appropriate to contact you
Your lawyer-style; aggressive or not?
Quickbooks for firm accounting methods
Manually reimbursing credit card charge fees
Square & Quickbooks connections
Ethics Issues:
Engagement letter includes a section about the technology used for information and document security

Contact Justie at justieforjustice@gmail.com or find her on social media: #officedogs

Contact Kelly for more information on Clienting at kelly@attorneysync.com