5 Ways to Help Your Estate Planning Clients

Estate Planning law firms aid their clients through complex and often challenging times. When a loved one dies, the legality surrounding remaining possessions and distribution of assets is daunting, especially if there are extenuating circumstances regarding probate and will execution. Often, this is uncharted territory for the client, fraught with overwhelming emotions and decisions, so it’s imperative to choose an attorney they trust for the deceased’s estate proceedings.

The deceased’s family members rely on estate planning law firms to guide them through the complexity of the probate process in the most straightforward, organized, and seamless way possible. As such, estate planning attorneys should reflect on their estate law practice processes and their underlying business operations. Reevaluating your firm’s operations ensures that your firm offers the best client service, remains competitive, and operates at maximum efficiency and profitability.

The following methods can assist estate planning law firms with providing the best support for their clients when they need it most:

Save hours by automating processes and organizing your legal matters

Start by gathering all the vital information you need from potential clients using a purpose-built legal CRM and leveraging an online, automated intake process. Implementing a client intake process that is automated and streamlined can save you untold hours. For example, LEAP comes with pre-built with matter types and fields, allowing you to capture the most accurate, relevant, and complete matter details only once. From there, all your matter-related information is ready to be automated in emails, correspondence, and other documents — freeing you to focus on your clients and the law.

Find what you need, when you need it

How many hours have you lost looking for missing correspondence, files, and contact information? Estate planning law firms can achieve so much more when they are organized. By utilizing a secure, cloud-based practice management software system that serves as your firm’s “single source of truth,” every client interaction, contact detail, and legal document is centrally organized and accessible. Documents and correspondence are also updated in real time, allowing the entire firm to stay in sync with greater accuracy. So, finding the latest version of a court filing or locating an heir’s contact information is easy. Your staff can also access everything they need, from any device, freeing you from dealing with day-to-day inquiries and follow-up while facilitating greater collaboration across the firm.

Eliminate errors by automating your estate planning forms and documents

Estate planning legal documents are detailed and complex, often taking hours to get just right. When estate planning law firms start leveraging technology to automate forms and documents, not only do they save untold hours, but they also eliminate the errors that are so common with legacy manual processes. Utilizing the latest legal technology enables attorneys to work smarter, not harder than ever before.

Say goodbye to disconnected legal workflows

The power of integrations can help estate attorneys optimize their workflows and easily integrate previously disconnected systems. For example, LEAP is an end-to-end solution that integrates with widely used business and legal applications, including Microsoft 365, Xero, QuickBooks Online, LawConnect (for secure document sharing and collaboration with clients), and LawToolBox (for managing critical dates and deadlines for estate matters).

Bill efficiently and accurately

Many estate planning attorneys are now utilizing intuitive legal time-tracking software that lets them instantly track their time from anywhere. So, whether you are in the office drafting a document or in your car speaking with a client on a mobile device, capturing your time efficiently and accurately is a breeze. Once you’re ready to bill for services, you can be sure that it will be quick and accurate. You no longer have to spend time backtracking your steps or worry that you billed correctly based on a guestimate of fees. Whether you bill flat fee, hourly, or contingency, systems like LEAP also facilitate bulk billing, split invoicing, and online payment processing.

Does your estate planning law firm utilize any of the above best practices? LEAP helps estate planning law firms manage their cases from start to finish. Visitleap.us to learn more about how your law firm can increase productivity with LEAP, the #1 legal practice productivity solution.