Last month I joined in on a podcast for the ABA Journal with reporter Stephanie Francis Ward; Michelle Crosby, founder of Wevorce; and Fred Rooney, Director of Touro Law Center’s International Justice Center for Post-Graduate Development.
The topic was “How do you provide client hand-holding if you run a virtual firm?”
You can listen to the podcast on the ABA Journal site or read the transcript.
Ward asked the three of us this question towards the end of the podcast:
[C]an the three of you give me one tip on making that personal connection and doing it online? So combining the personal connection of perhaps, like, automation and things like that, that can make it more affordable for the client and make you, help you be more efficient as a lawyer.
My response:
I think that finding a way…that engages the online client. Gets them interested, builds an initial amount of trust. That goes a long way.
Right now, I’m researching games and gamification as ways that lawyers can effectively engage that prospective client in whatever the practice area is that the client is looking for help. But sort of an initial, warm-up education, empowerment that happens online before that prospective client registers for access or asks a question of the online lawyer.
I think that really helps prepare them when you start working with the client, then you move from there to web conferencing, have the Google hangout or Skype or real-time chat or whatever their virtual law firm uses to communicate. But I think that initial online engagement is really critical.
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