For many years, the legal industry was not one that was thought of as a space to implement and advance technology. In fact, lawyers were often seen as “laggards” when it came to adopting technology. However, times have changed and an entire industry in and of itself has emerged – legaltech. Low adoption rates of technology seem to be a thing of the past in the legal world, as legaltech spend has been consistently increasing since 2017, and is expected to increase by threefold between now and 2025¹. In fact, a recent study conducted by Litera reported that 86% of lawyers say that technology not only helps them complete their work faster, but also saves their firm money². With technology becoming an integral part of a law firm, it’s only natural to ask, “what technology solution is best for me and my practice?” In this article, we take a look at the tools and tech our clients are excited about for their trusts and estates practices.

New Law Business Model 

Many of our users are part of the New Law Business Model (NLBM) family, also known as ‘Personal Family Lawyers,’ and love how this system has transformed their practice. NLBM is a very active community, and the lawyers who are part of it are so passionate about what they do and how they serve their clients. New Law Business Model offers community engagement, mentorship and support to their members and is a great option for those lawyers who are interested in incorporating estate planning and administration into their practice, but have yet taken the plunge.

“I created New Law Business Model and Personal Family Lawyer because I had to reinvent the wheel to create systems for my business built around estate planning, and as I reinvented that wheel, I promised myself that if I cracked the code, no other lawyer would have to go through the painful reality and investment I did to create those systems for themselves. Over the past 20 years, I have cracked the code on how to have a life and law practice you love with an estate planning practice that works for lawyers, and their clients. And now, it's my joy to share it with the more than 400 lawyers licensed as Personal Family Lawyer firms, and those choosing to learn Life & Legacy Planning through New Law Business Model.” Ali Katz - CEO and Founder

As an added bonus, Ali Katz is offering our users and readers of this article free access to her latest book, which you can find here: https://get.newlawbusinessmodel.com/alis-nlbm-book-w 

Clio

When we hear ‘Clio’ we tend to think ‘billing.’ Clio is well known for their billing platform that makes it easy for lawyers to create custom bills and automated payment plans. While Clio’s billing platform received high praises from many lawyers, their client intake and document management tools are not to be overlooked. Clio’s client intake software allows law firms to create a better overall client intake experience, which in turn allows for lawyers to better qualify their prospects. Clio offers their users fantastic resources and 24/5 support, which means if you do hit a tech snag, help is just a click away. Our clients seem to like the platform and are interested to see what features roll out next. 

Lawyaw

Now part of the Clio family, Lawyaw is still a favorite among our trusts and estates lawyers. Lawyaw saves lawyers time drafting legal documents by converting word docs to programmable, cloud-based templates which can be filled, reviewed, and e-signed. One particular thing that we hear our users tend to like is the access to a library of on-demand and ready-to-use court forms and documents. We look forward to seeing how the Clio and Lawyaw relationship morphs over the next several months.  

DecisionVault

We continue to hear much buzz around DescionVault, as their software is specifically designed for trusts and estates attorneys. As experts in the T&E world, we understand the importance of creating a smooth intake experience for your estate planning clients, and are always interested in hearing about software that can do just that. DecisionVault’s goal is to create streamlined systems that reduce the amount of time it takes to manually enter planning information by essentially extracting data from the client’s data entry, and directly inputting into the legal documents lawyers use most. This in turn saves lawyers time and lessens the opportunity for data entry errors. We are consistently hearing positive feedback about DecisionVault from our clients and users. 

Legacy Architects 

Legacy Architects is a single-login platform simplifying the estate planning process for both attorneys and their clients. Legacy Architects helps attorneys and their clients manage all of the estate planning data, from intake, to planning decisions, to trust funding tracking. Founded by Bonnie Faucett, who wanted to streamline processes so that she could save her and her clients time…and she has done just that. Our clients are enthusiastic about Legacy Architects and feel supported by Bonnie and her wonderful team. 

“For lawyers it is imperative to leverage legal technology in order to have more time to do what you love. We can easily get bogged down with paper, admin, and things fall through the cracks. With more legal tech options to help us do our jobs better and easier, we can finally grow our practices without increasing the time we spend at the office and not with our loved ones.” - Bonnie Faucett, Esq., CEO & Founder 

Mycase

Mycase is a practice management software that certainly has no shortage of features. From client intake, lead and case management, to a client communications portal, Mycase has a lot to offer. While our Trustate users are primarily trusts & estates practitioners, Mycase seems to have offerings across several practice areas making it a great tool for lawyers who’s practice consists of multiple areas of law. Beyond their software, Mycase’s blog is filled with tips, best practices and articles pertaining to how to grow and market your practice.  

 Case Status

Case Status is the only all-in-one information hub for your clients; meaning they have access to case updates, portal access, automation, appointments, and more, all on an app directly via their phone. Case Status’s advanced client service platform drives fewer, yet more meaningful interactions with clients by integrating with case management software to enhance the client journey and improve client satisfaction. 

“When the average Net Promoter Score (NPS) for the legal industry is 32%, it's clear that something needs to change. More and more firms are looking at technology to help improve the experience that clients expect (and deserve). At Case Status, we are transforming the way law firms interact with their clients.” - Andy Seavers, CEO

Trustate

We couldn’t complete this article without taking a moment to talk about our own software. Our growing user base is consistently referring friends and colleagues to our platform, and we thank you for that. Our software is the only estate operations platform designed specifically to find and complete the tedious tasks associated with estate administration and trust funding. Our users can pick and choose the tasks they need assistance with, and, at the click of a button, push those tasks to Trustate for completion. Our newest features includes expertly tailored estate dashboards, estate discovery tools, a form library, and in-app chat functionality, so our users can chat directly with a Trustate estate concierge. Our goal is to continue to streamline estate operations and task completion so lawyers can spend more time focusing on sophisticated legal matters, and most importantly… their clients.

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¹https://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2020-02-10-gartner-predicts-legal-technology-budgets-will-increase-threefold-by-2025

²https://www.litera.com/forms/whitepaperthankyou-changinglawyer2022/

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