At Filevine, we promise perpetual innovation. And that’s what you’ll see in our latest update: a faster workflow, simpler scheduling, and intelligent customization.
Among the latest optimizations and improvements, here are three that are already making waves:
1. Diversified Folders for Diversified Firms
With the latest update, you can now create different folder templates for different project types. This means that whenever you begin a new project, you’ll have the default folder structure you need to securely store the specific set of documents that project will generate.
Why is this important? Different areas of law require different organizational structures. The documents you drum up during a transactional matter will differ from your litigation work. Some firms will use different folder structures for their immigration work versus their criminal defense work versus their workers’ comp cases, and so on.
The sky is the limit: any recurrent folder structure can be saved as a ready-made template in Filevine.
This change is particularly relevant in an age of growing firm diversification. New York firm Tarter, Krinsky & Drogin notes that picking up additional practice areas is a key strategy for firm growth. This became particularly clear with the last recession. While many single-area firms suffered, “[t]hose firms who offered a wider selection of practices were better able to survive and even experience growth,” they write.
Even if individual attorneys are specializing in narrow fields, they’re often gathered into firms with specialists in other areas. A report on this trend out of Harvard Business School found that “the growing complexity and integrative nature of client issues demand that professionals collaborate with others throughout the firm (and often around the world) who have the complementary specialist expertise necessary to develop and serve clients.”
In order to manage that diversity within one firm, you need both advanced collaboration tools and increasing customization abilities. Filevine weaves both of those ideas together to build a tool perfectly suited to any cutting-edge law firm.
As firms increase their complexity, Filevine will find even more ways to tame the resulting chaos into harmony.
2. Automate Your Emails
Speaking of taming chaos, Filevine is also rolling out a feature to speed up and simplify case-related emails.
Email Action Buttons let you automatically generate any email you regularly send while processing a case. You could create templates for:
- Welcome emails
- Messages showing your client how to use their portal within Filevine, or how to text directly into their case file
- Client-care messages for recurring special events, such as birthdays
- Requests to insurance adjusters
- Police report requests
- Appointment reminders
- and more.
In these email templates you can insert data fields, which means that the relevant information will be automatically pulled from the client file. The emails are sent from your default email host or application, and you can make any desired changes or additional personalizations before sending them off.
You’ve already seen how automatic document generation can speed up and simplify your work. Now, the Email Action Button brings that same capacity to electronic messages.
At the end of your life, do you think you’ll say you wish you spent more time writing emails? This smart, intuitive feature saves you from tedium and frees you up for more important and higher quality work. Learn more about Email Action Buttons here.
3. Master Your Calendar
Famed Texas attorney Levi McCathern II represents the Dallas Cowboys. But his star-studded reputation didn’t matter when he missed a deadline by 41 minutes and lost millions of dollars. Instead of paying out $250,000 for a settlement, the case went to a jury and left his client on the line for $7 million. Of course, McCathern has now been sued himself for his mistake.
When attorneys lose control of their schedules — even by minutes — everyone suffers. That’s why Filevine’s latest update gives you more tools to master your calendar.
Now you can run reports on any upcoming calendar events or deadlines. See them set out before you for any upcoming day, week, or month, along with all location information and notes. You can also limit your search by criteria.
With the resulting report, you can click on any event or deadline to go immediately to its spot in your calendar. Learn more here.
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