Law Technology Today From the ABA Legal Technology Resource Center
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As a legal tech evangelist, one of the questions I am asked the most is what kind of software do I use in my law practice, or what is my favorite app, or some other legal tech question.
I am a sucker for beautiful UIs. If a product is pretty AND good, I’m sold. But no amount of makeup on a pretty UI can make up for a bad product.
Lexicata fulfills both of my first impression deal breakers with a gorgeous UI and by being such a simple yet amazing product. Frankly, I don’t know what I did before I used it. I’ve been using Lexicata for my intake for a few months now, and after meeting the Lexicata team in person and hearing the CEO Mike Chasin speak at the Clio Cloud Conference, I am even more impressed – not only by the product but also by the people behind it.
So What Is Lexicata
Lexicata is an intake software that syncs with Clio (among other tools) and is a CRM, allowing lawyers to track and manage contacts, leads, clients, etc. Lexicata does so much but is super easy to use. It’s impossible for me to cover in one article the power of Lexicata, so I will scratch the surface by sharing how I use it in my own practice and workflow.
As I write this, I had to pause to go into Lexicata to enter an appointment for a client so he can get an email reminder about it. I seriously use this stuff every day.
First, I’ll tell you why seeing Mike present sealed the deal for me. When the people behind a service or a product believe in the same things I do, I love it even more (the human connection at work!). I frequently present at conferences and CLEs about branding and making human connections in the law. Building relationships that grow and last is something that I strongly believe in and preach and live by. There are lots of things connected to that, like building a trusted brand, but the end goal is always to build relationships by making human connections. It is obvious from Mike’s passion for his product and how Lexicata helps lawyers keep track of their relationships and nurture them over time that the Lexicata team and I share common values: We both believe that if you focus on connecting with people in a human way, you don’t ever have to be a sleazy sales person, that relationships are the core to building business, and that saying a simple thank you when someone has done something nice for you will go a long way (and that it really pisses us off when people say nothing at all or it seems like we have fallen through the cracks of a business relationship). Lexicata was made to help you build relationships and remember to say thank you, and thus build your practice.
Now that we’ve gotten romantic, let’s move onto the practical stuff that Lexicata does. Below is my basic workflow. There’s a ton of cool stuff you can do with Lexicata that I am not getting into here, but you can contact them for a demo of all of this and more.
The Pipeline
Lexicata has a great visual dashboard to view your stats over time, as well as a bunch of columns called a “pipeline” that you can customize with statuses for your contacts. I like pretty visuals, so this appeals to me. When you first put a contact into Lexicata you indicate the status, for example, Lead, Scheduled, Hired, Not Hired etc. Then you can move the client to a different status just by dragging and dropping to another status column. So you can visually see where all your contacts are in your pipeline so you know with whom to follow up and when, and you can keep your relationship going.
Pipeline
My Intake
When my admin or I first communicate with a client, the contact goes right into Lexicata with the minimum info of name and email address, and phone number if we have it. They float as just a lead until they schedule an appointment, hire me, or decide not to hire me.
Quick Intake
Scheduling An Appointment
Once a lead has scheduled an appointment, I move them to the Scheduled column in the Pipeline. Next, I input their appointment date and time into Lexicata. My favorite part of scheduling in Lexicata is that I can now send them an email that I have pre-written as a template about their appointment, along with scheduling an appointment reminder email. NB: you can create email templates for almost anything.
Appointment Confirmation Email
Creating A Matter
Once I schedule the client’s appointment, I also create a matter for them. I typically have clients come in for a consult before they hire me. So the first matter I create is “Consult” and once they retain me, I create a new matter for that case as well, that is separate from the consult matter.
Sending An Intake Form
Once my client is scheduled, I email them an intake form to fill out, which is connected to the matter. This, again, includes an email from a template I have created, and inserts a link to my intake form that I have also created as a Form in Lexicata. I could also choose to fill out the form myself but I always send it to the client to complete with further info. I set a due date and a reminder date for them to fill it out, which is one of my favorite features of Lexicata.
Intake form Email
Sending Retainer Agreements
I send the client a retainer agreement for that matter for which they have retained me with the terms we have discussed. The agreement is from – you guessed it – templates that I have already created! I have an email with a link for the retainer agreement. I set a reminder to fill this out as well.
Retainer Agreement
Clients Can Sign Right On Their Device – No More Printing
The BEST part about retainer agreements is that they are mobile responsive, so whatever kind of device a client is using to view it, they can view AND sign right from that device. Lexicata has Hellosign software integrated right into the product (it is included in your subscription) and makes getting documents signed so much faster. Personally, any retainer agreement I have sent with Lexicata has come back to me signed in minutes. If clients want to print it out, they can get a PDF copy as well.
Export To Clio
After I have a new Consult matter that stops with the consult or a new client matter following a consult, I export the data to Clio. If I have any custom fields from intake forms, those will go right into Clio as well. If you try to sync a client in Lexicata that you have already synced to Clio, it will tell you you have already synced, so you don’t have to worry about duplicate info.
Lexicata is secure, it looks pretty, is super easy to use and integrates useful tools like document signing included in your subscription, and is backed by a team who believes that building relationships is the core of your business and you don’t have to be sleazy to do it.
Lexicata is a no brainer for growing any law practice.
