Recently, I opened my own law practice here in Greenville, South Carolina. Right now, I am the only person working in the firm so I act as attorney, paralegal, boss, assistant, accounts payable, and everything in between. I have been extremely busy, and I have had some thoughts that perhaps some prospective clients may have some concerns about the type of attention that is paid to their case.
I thought a real-life story would help in explaining how things are going so far. Several months ago, long before I opened this law practice, my wife and I planned a trip to Chicago to meet some friends and celebrate a friend’s 30th birthday. We took in a couple of Cubs’ games at Wrigley Field. We left on Thursday morning and planned to return to Greenville on Sunday. This meant that I would be out of my office for two days. In a family law practice, a lot can happen over two days and I was a little nervous.
When I set up my practice, technology and the ability to practice from anywhere were high priorities for me. So I have set up systems, software, and utilize technology to allow me to do this. Some technology is as simple has having my iPhone, others things I use is Google Voice for telephone and voicemail, Google Apps for calendaring and e-mail, and Dropbox for storing documents and syncing between my computers.
During the weekend, I was able to use Google Voice to route all of my incoming office calls to my iPhone. If I was in a place that would provide necessary confidentiality (like my hotel room) I would take the call. If I was unable to take the call, the voicemail would then be transcribed and e-mailed to me so I could immediately have access to the message. If it was very urgent, I could make arrangements to respond quickly. While sitting at the Friday afternoon Cubs’ game, I received a voicemail from a client related to a custody/visitation matter. About the same time as her call, I received an e-mail with a fax message from the opposing counsel on that case. I was able to find a quiet corner of the stadium to call my client back to get an idea of what was going on. Then, I was able to send a fax back to opposing counsel – all from my iPhone in the upper deck at Wrigley Field.
So, I hope this story will show you that my law practice is more personal and the way that I have carefully set it up will allow me to serve all of my clients effectively and promptly even though I may not perform all of my work behind the desk of my downtown office.
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