Regardless of the area of law you practice, you will probably utilize some form of case review process or initial consultation. In the offline world, you probably would not accept a case before you had the opportunity to review the pertinent facts. Furthermore, you'd also want to explain certain aspects to the client. In the online elawyering world, the same should hold true.
The Online Case Review
I'll dive into specific aspects of the case review process in the elawyering context in later discussions. For now, I'd like to focus on some of the ways that an online case review process is more efficient than its offline counterpart. In addition, I'll discuss some ways that the case review process can be used as a foundation for further client interaction and service delivery.
Online Case Review v. Offline Consultation
In your elawyering application you will need a way to begin to deepen the business relationship between yourself and the client. Rarely will you retain a client on the first visit to your application. In fact, a potential client should not have access to any process specific areas of the application until they have completed some form of case review/initial consultation. In the offline world, the potential client would call your office and your assistant (or you) would schedule a time for the consultation. Not only would the time have to be convenient for the client, but it would also have to fit into your schedule. Compare this to the online case review that allows a custom one-on-one experience with each potential client, simultaneously.
What the Case Review Should Accomplish
The case review process will be one of the first real commitments that the potential client has made to accessing legal services via your application. It is important that you have a plan for the data that you capture at this point, and that it is kept to a minimum. Avoid collecting too much personal information during the case review process. Instead, focus on gathering substantive information that tends to affect the way in which you would handle a particular case.
For instance, for a family law child support application, you'll need to collect basic but important information. Does the potential client pay or receive child support? Does the potential client need to respond to child support or initiate a new modification action? If they need to respond to child support paperwork, when did they receive the paperwork? Etc. This type of information is crucial to laying the framework for a completely seamless and customized client experience.