Law Practice Is Changing At Light Speed

A Palo Alto startup is way ahead of the curve.

Lawyers are a notoriously slow bunch to embrace change, especially when it comes to technology. But sometimes it just takes a disruptive event to finally nudge an industry into the future. Due to the pandemic, 2020 will forever be remembered as the year that the legal industry went virtual.

Attorneys have replaced in-person meetings with video conferencing platforms like Zoom (most have even figured out where the mute button is by now). Watercooler conversations have found a new home on messaging applications like Slack and Microsoft Teams. And prescient attorneys are leveraging platforms like XIRA to build future-proof virtual legal practices that also enable remote lawyering.

While the shift to virtual practice was accelerated by necessity, both clients and attorneys are starting to appreciate the benefits of delivering legal services remotely. After all, who wants to trek downtown for a 30-minute meeting when you can simply hop on a video conference with the push of a button? And why would a solo attorney have to shell out for expensive office space when they already have a perfectly good desk just steps from their bedroom? Or why should a single mother have to find and pay for childcare just to get legal advice?

For many clients and attorneys, virtual practice simply makes more sense than the classic model of in-person services.

The legal industry, among other professional verticals, is not going to snap back to the “old normal” after social distancing ends. The natural course of industries is to evolve, and disruptive events bring sudden impacts. Consider World War II, the event to which the pandemic is most often compared. The American economy did not return to its pre-war “normal” after the war ended in 1945 — instead, nearly every aspect of the economy was fundamentally changed, resulting in the fundamental expansion of almost all industries.

The legal industry is now at a similar inflection point.

The lawyers who succeed tomorrow will be those who recognize this reality today. They will be those lawyers who view disruptive change not as a challenge to be overcome, but as an opportunity to stake a claim to a bigger piece of turf in the new normal.

But how can small firms and solo attorneys, who lack access to the technological and marketing budgets of bigger shops, possibly hope to compete in this new world of virtual legal practice?

Well, thankfully, innovative cloud-based platforms like XIRA are stepping in to level the playing field.

XIRA has put together an amazing user-friendly platform that manages a legal practice with ease. Imagine if your Clio, Lawpay, Calendar, Dropbox, messaging, Zoom, and your assistant worked together seamlessly in an integrated package. That’s what XIRA has built. In addition, it markets you to potential clients and lets them book your available time. There is no need for you to buy any ads or run a marketing program because XIRA helps clients find you. Most interestingly, they don’t tie you into a contract or subscription. You pay nominal platform fees as you generate business. XIRA’s small fee structure is explained by their CEO, Reza Ghaffari “We are not interested in making a quick buck. We are in it for the long-haul to dramatically expand the industry and aim to have 500,000 attorneys on the platform by 2030.”

It works like this: XIRA’s marketing wizards attract high-quality clients to XIRA’s search page. Clients enter a few key details such as the practice area and location where they need help. XIRA then pulls up a list of profiles of matching lawyers.

The next part is where XIRA truly stands apart from other platforms.

When clicking on your profile, clients can see your calendar and instantly book a consultation for your available time slots. They receive an email confirmation of their booking, and your calendar is automatically updated to reflect the appointment. Just like that you have a meeting with a new client — and all you had to do to make it happen was set up a profile! It helps you reduce and eventually eliminate any staffing cost you may have for scheduling clients.  It also increases your client acquisition rate since 61% of clients contact only one attorney, and if they can schedule an appointment with that attorney, 85% of the time this results in an engagement.  If you don’t have this capability, you run the risk of responding slowly and diminishing your chances to turn the lead into a client.

When it comes time to meet your new client, the entire interaction can be managed through XIRA’s secure audio and video-conferencing technology.

Links to your meeting room are automatically generated and added to your calendar.

XIRA provides you with an integrated case management system as well as a secure document vault.  You and your client can start sharing files while the case management system connects all the various activities and documents, ensuring that all the information is at your fingertip.  No need to pay monthly fees for separate case management, communication tools, calendaring, billing, or storage software packages.

When it comes to real-time communications with your clients, XIRA provides a secure messaging system.  All of these exchanges are tracked and accessible via the XIRA case management tool.

The platform provides a fully integrated solution freeing you from paying monthly fees for separate packages and eliminates the burden of technology integration.  The process also removes all the administrative work from client acquisition, meaning your time is freed up to focus on what you do best: providing quality legal advice to your new client.

Oh, and you won’t have to worry about any headaches when it comes time to get paid either.

XIRA collects the client’s payment information during the signup process and provides you with intuitive tools to invoice your client for your time and other expenses.

The bottom line? XIRA isn’t just an innovative marketing platform — it’s also a turnkey cloud-based virtual legal office. You bring your law degree, your talent, and your experience. Let XIRA handle the rest.

Currently XIRA is available in California but has plans to roll out nationwide around the end of the year.

There is no cost to join XIRA, no subscription. It only takes 10 minutes to create your profile and establish your gig-practice – and they might just be the most significant 10 minutes of your entire legal career.