Clients who are unhappy with their lawyer usually say they never know what’s going on with their case or their lawyer never communicates with them. We hope our clients never feel that way and a new app from MyCase is just one more way that we can make sure they don’t. Since January, our firm has been using “MyCase” for our case management system.

A New Tool for Client Communication

We chose MyCase because it is a cloud-based information management system that gives us the ability to communicate directly with our clients online in a social media kind of way (think of a private Facebook for legal clients). A good case management system is important because it allows a law firm to keep its case files organized by combining a calendar system, contact management, document management, and project management tools in a central and connected location.  Until now, case management has focused on communication between the attorneys and staff, but MyCase takes case management a step further by increasing communication between attorney and client.

Technology Helps us Serve Clients Better

In today’s world, attorneys need to know more than the law; they need to know technology. In the past, we lived in a world of paper and telephones. For most of the 18 years I’ve been a lawyer, attorneys didn’t have to know much about the internet, email, or social media, because it wasn’t a big part of our society.  But today, all of that has changed. Florida has recently launched mandatory electronic filing of court documents which is moving us closer to a paperless court system. Almost every client we have uses the internet in one way or another. Most of our clients use email, many use social media, and they are routinely (and habitually) accessing this information on their smart phone. That’s why I’m excited about the new app from MyCase for iPhone and iPad, and I think our clients will love it. Check it out in the app store.

Not only can our attorneys and staff access our case management system directly from the app, but so can our clients. Until now, no other case management system has created a mobile app with a portal for clients to access their case information. Here’s how it works: when we open a new file, the client is sent an email with a link to sign on to their case page. They can’t see any other client’s file or information, only their own. As for security, MyCase boasts bank-grade security and is built on Amazon’s EC2 cloud computing platform.

To sign on, the client creates a password online and can then download the app to sign in using their smart phone. From the client’s page online or from the app, clients can see documents created in their case and a calendar that shows upcoming hearings, depositions, or anything else scheduled in their case. Clients can quickly comment or ask questions about upcoming calendar items or a document filed in the case directly from within the app. The client, the lawyer, or the lawyer’s assistant, can send a direct message to anyone assigned to the file directly from the app. This is a much faster and easier way to communicate information to a client compared with sending a paper copy through snail mail.

Better Communication Means Happier Clients

Consider the convenience to a personal injury client – ever look at your phone while you’re sitting in a doctor’s waiting room?  And after all, the most important thing in the lawyer-client relationship is communication. Although we still use the phone a lot, this is a new communication tool that will help us deliver even better service and better communication between our firm and our clients.