Family Law Firm Doubles Efficiency Using MyCase

Easterling Family Law

How Easterling Family Law Grew Their Firm With MyCase 

After opening their doors in 2016, Easterling Family Law was on the hunt for a reliable case management solution to propel their practice into the 21st century. With the goals to go paperless and better their customer experience, the firm wanted an online place where their clients could securely access important case documents and information. After shopping around and finding other “clunkier” case management solutions, they were drawn to the firm’s “growth potential with MyCase.” 

We recently spoke with Chelsea Wansley, a paralegal at Easterling Family Law, about her firm’s experience using MyCase. 

Wansley cited the most valuable features of MyCase (to meet their needs) as:

• Billing and invoicing
• The Client Portal 
• Document management 

Using these features, Easterling Family Law achieved internal and external growth. Read on to discover how using MyCase enabled the firm to grow, increase clientele, double efficiency, and even collect more invoices. 

Increased Efficiency Through Organization

With the goal of becoming paperless, Easterling Family Law was looking for excellent document management functionality. Wansley remarked how cumbersome it would be to keep all physical files in a small office such as theirs. “We have cases that go on from 2018 if not longer, so keeping all the big boxes is unrealistic. We’re not this industrial law firm.” 

When asked what improvement she’d seen since using MyCase, Wansley responded, “I’d say tenfold it is organization. No matter everybody’s best efforts to be organized with paper, it pales in comparison to being able to have everything organized on MyCase. We have all correspondence, all pleadings, all notes, all financial documents—literally anything that is paper is going to be in MyCase for that client. Templates are the same thing. In firm documents, we have the different templates segmented out by their topic.”

Among other organization features, Easterling Family Law utilizes the MyCase calendar, which is integrated with their Google calendar. Wansley commented, “We all see what’s going on all day long—if clients are coming in, a meeting was moved, or if time is opened up. Every minute is valuable so being able to see everyone’s time is helpful.” 

Team Collaboration: Getting on the Same Page

The Easterling Family Law team works primarily in the office, but MyCase provides them the flexibility to collaborate no matter where they are. Wansley commented that if an attorney is in court for the day or if the team is working remotely over the holidays, “We can still do everything we need from MyCase.” 

She also stated that before MyCase, they couldn’t work remotely in the same, secure way. Sharing documents and maintaining version control was a particular pain point that MyCase has addressed. 

“Having [all versions] stored in one place chronologically infinitely helps. That’s probably the top thing that helps us collaborate. If someone is working from home or even if we’re all in-office, being able to see everybody’s versions is the best thing for our team.”

Using LawPay to Increase Collections

Wansley also elaborated on using LawPay to accept online payments and flexible payment plans for their firm: “It’s great because we’re able to do everything that we need to do—payment plans, flat fee agreements, hourly agreements. We can do invoices and set up payment plans as soon as prospects contact us, which I think is a nice set-it-and-forget-it process.”

Utilizing online payments, payment plans, and automated invoicing and reminders has helped Easterling Family Law increase collection and ultimately impacted its revenue. Wansley explained, “I know for a fact that we collect more because not every client is in North Carolina, so it would be physically impossible for them to pay us [in person]… And I know we’ve collected more because of payment plans for clients who owe us. It gives us the flexibility to do those recurring payments as they need. Some clients can only pay a certain amount and that changes as their income changes. Having the ability to track that and do automated reminders is how we receive more.” 

Time Tracking = Money Savings 

“The biggest perk of MyCase is the amount of money that you save tracking your billing. MyCase saves us lots of money and earns us lots of money,” Wansley explained. “Being able to effectively track our time, coordinate with one another, and see other people’s time is huge. You get interrupted a million times a day. Having all the timers and all the trackers—it’s like ‘Oh yeah I was actually working on that.’ I’m so glad I didn’t forget to log that time.”

Relying on MyCase has not only helped Easterling Family Law capture every billable minute, it’s also helped them see how they are spending their non-billable hours. This provides insights into their practice and allows them to identify opportunities to increase efficiency.  

“It’s helpful to have billable and nonbillable time be visible, specifically from a paralegal’s perspective, because there’s a lot of time in the day that is not necessarily expensed to the client. We can see what we did throughout the week.”

Providing a Better Client Experience

Because Easterling Family Law is a small firm, their attorneys take a “one-to-one approach” with their clients. They see each case as unique and tailor their services to each individual. According to Wansley, the Client Portal helps them do that. It enables the attorney to effectively communicate and collaborate with each client and allows the client to access essential information. Everyone can review filed documents, drafts, and items that opposing counsel has sent over, all in one location. 

“[Clients] don’t need to dig through email. And when we’re referencing multiple things, it’s easy for the client to go on that conversation journey with us. We say these are the best people on their worst days, so they are having a tough time. Having everything we reference in one place is a helpful thing for them. 

For the client, it feels more professional to have everything at their fingertips, specifically [around] billing. There aren’t questions like  ‘What are you doing on my case? What is all this money going toward?’ It’s all right there.”

And because the MyCase Client Portal is a secure, password-protected form of communication, Easterling Family Law can provide clients with peace of mind. 

“The Client Portal is a good option for people who don’t have secure means of email or phone communication, like in the case of domestic violence victims,” Wansley explained. “Even for people who are separating peacefully and it’s an amicable divorce, sometimes they haven’t told their spouse yet. They may leave their computer or their iPad lying around, and don’t want their spouse to see emails or texts pop up.” 

Building a Stronger Firm Every Day

Since they started using MyCase in 2016, Easterling Family Law has grown from a solo practice to a firm with three practicing attorneys and three supporting staff members. With MyCase in its corner, this firm is unstoppable—they’ve doubled efficiency, grown their team, and increased their caseload. 

Curious to see what your firm can do with MyCase? Try MyCase free for 10 days.