Immigration software news and updates.

Law school provides little in the way of education concerning the managerial and business side of legal practice. One result is that when immigration lawyers want to eventually launch their own practice, many get stuck.

Starting and running an immigration law firm is, in the most basic sense, starting and running a business. And with that comes the need for guidance, mentorship, and the right attitude to help you thrive in a competitive field. Having the appetite to take risks, approaching situations from a perspective of learning, seeing opportunities in challenging situations, and overcoming self-limiting beliefs are all part of a mindset for success.

In this article we’ll look into four important business mindsets immigration lawyers should have to successfully run or grow their firms that law schools don't teach.

1. Expect failure and learn to reflect on it

The word “failure” can sound scary. Thinking about the possibility of “failing” in the immigration law context immediately brings to mind a worst-case scenario where your client finds themselves having to appeal a decision, face a visa denial for an employee they’re expecting, in removal proceedings, etc.

But this isn’t the only way immigration lawyers can “fail” in their practice - you can also fail in ways that won’t hurt your clients but can teach you something about your business. You may be “failing” if you’re struggling to bring in enough clients, or if you can’t get clients with specific types of cases you’re trying to add to your practice. You might land a client for their H-1B but then “fail” to have them come back to you for their Green Card application. You might spend thousands of dollars on a marketing campaign and “fail” to see any return on your investment.

When facing failures, there are two ways you can react:

• Beat yourself up and pick yourself apart regarding everything you did wrong and adopt a negative outlook about the future, or
• See failure as a learning opportunity that allows you to reflect on what may need to change to achieve a better outcome moving forward.

Failure, big or small, is part of being an entrepreneur. The better prepared you are to face it, the better off you will be in moving forward. To prepare yourself for failure without being paralyzed by constantly expecting things to go wrong, adopt these habits:

• Stay close to your support system, personally and professionally. Not only will this help you maintain a sense of belonging, but it can also help you see things more clearly when you’re having doubts or facing a challenge. Reaching out to mentors from school or an old job, or even connecting with other lawyers in a Facebook Group can help you share your concerns and feel less overwhelmed. On the other hand, staying connected with friends and family over things not related to your work can help you maintain a sense of balance.
• Evaluate failure objectively. A setback in your legal practice is not a reflection of how worthy you are of success or your innate value as a person. At the same time, reflecting on whether a setback opens up a new opportunity or is a wake-up call to make changes can also help you see things differently. Instead of dwelling on what went wrong, focus on what’s next and start taking steps to move forward.
• Take care of yourself. Immigration law is a complex, mentally challenging practice that demands high levels of effort and probably produces high levels of stress for most lawyers. Add to that the responsibilities of running your own firm and, if you’re not making a conscious effort to stay balanced, you risk burnout. Keeping yourself balanced could entail something small, like going for your favorite coffee or tea, taking a short walk outside, exercising, meditating, leisure reading or audiobook listening, catching up with a friend, and the like. The important thing is to make room for the things that help you clear your head. Self-care actions can help you keep your stress levels in check, which is good for you and your clients.

2. Cultivate Resilience

In the same way in which legal education largely focuses on the application of rules and procedures, business education often focuses on how to achieve the best results and maximize your firm’s performance and rate of success. But what we’ve seen in the past two years is that systems are fragile, and the environments where we work can be unpredictable.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, lawyers in the immigration field faced extended closures of USCIS field offices, embassies and consulates abroad, and overnight changes in DHS regulation. There are always things that are outside of your control, but there are times, like during the pandemic, where the key to success is on how well you can work around challenges and bounce back. For example, think about what happened at your firm when offices were forced to close in the spring of 2020. How did you communicate with your clients? How quickly were you able to be up and running from the home environment? How much would you say you struggle to adapt to a new working environment, not only in terms of workspace, but also in adjusting to the changes in processing times?

When so much is out of your control, shift your focus from performance to resilience. Think of resilience as “the capacity to absorb stress, recover critical functionality, and thrive in altered circumstances”. In other words, how do you keep going when the waters are at their roughest? How do you make your firm more resilient?

• Look for opportunities in challenging situations. This could be offering services in a new immigration category, teaming up with another lawyer for referrals that can keep the client flow going.
• Consider change a constant as opposed to an inconvenience. Accepting that change is a given and that innovating in your practice can consistently help you create opportunities and adjust to unexpected circumstances when they occur. For example, it was most likely easier for a firm to adjust to closing their office in the pandemic if they had multiple ways to communicate with their clients (email, messaging, social media, etc.) than if they typically communicated with clients by phone calls only.
• Look forward. Think about the changes and adjustments you are putting in place during a crisis that will help you be better off in the future and how they will help you improve your practice in the long term. Resilience comes from embracing challenges as a learning opportunity and being open to what the circumstances you’re in allow you to learn.

You can’t control other people’s actions, and you certainly can’t control the pace at which USCIS works or the decisions DHS makes. Think about how your firm will operate sustainably through changing circumstances and how the resilience you build through your daily actions can help your firm grow and sustain itself in the long term.

3. Take risks, even if they scare you

Being a lawyer, especially an immigration lawyer, probably means you’re more risk-averse than the average entrepreneur. But calculated risks, and the understanding that taking risks is part of growth, can expand your perspective on what’s possible for your law firm.

For many, fear of risk is closely tied to fear of failure out of the belief that the greater the risk, the greater the possibility of failure. Cultivating a growth mindset can help you overcome, even if only to an extent, your fear of risks.Taking a risk could look like starting a social media campaign on TikTok to reach new potential family immigration clients despite not feeling comfortable on camera, or spending thousands of dollars to go to a conference in your specific business immigration industry niche without knowing whether it's going to be worth it. Without those risky moves, you can't grow.

Yes, you might feel a bit embarrassed about the idea of being on TikTok, but if your video gets 10,000 views and you land a few new clients, might it be worth it? If you spend $1,500 on an industry conference and land a new small corporate client that wants you to handle all their H-1B visas and Green Cards, might that be worth it? Risk is important for growth!

Everyone that you on social media who seems effortlessly confident had a first video or post that they were scared to post at the time, and everyone who confidently walks around conferences and knows everyone went to their first conference years ago and knew no one.

Everybody starts somewhere, and there’s no better day than today.

4. Reach out to customers

Getting clients through word of mouth is great, and many immigration lawyers have built substantial practices that way. But if you want more than that, it's important to realize that you have to reach out to your prospective clients proactively as well, even if the thought of it feels scary or uncomfortable. There are lots of ways to get started, like contacting your existing network and community to collect email addresses through free valuable content, utilizing an email campaign or newsletter, speaking at industry events, and more.

If you want to work with a high volume employment immigration client, for example, it’s unlikely that they will reach out to you randomly, like through a Google search. Which means if you want that kind of client, you will likely have to figure out a way to reach out personally. This might include attending networking events (virtually or in-person) the client might be attending, sharing valuable content targeting the client on more professional social media platforms like LinkedIn, and showcasing your results to establish yourself as an effective immigration lawyer any other way you can.

Let Docketwise simplify your immigration case management so you can focus on growth

We’ve focused a lot on the importance of developing a mindset for growth that focuses on adapting to change, reflecting on what can be improved, and moving forward. If you’re committed to applying these mindset tips and growing as a professional each day, you need a system to manage your cases that can be a constant, reliable go-to in the midst of any changes.

Enter: Docketwise.

Thanks to our client relationship management tools that consolidate all client information and communication, case management tools that streamline form-filling, case status, billing, and communication, and more, you can focus your energy on growing your immigration law practice.

If you want to learn more about Docketwise, schedule a demo, or sign up for our Immigration Briefings newsletter for daily and weekly immigration updates!

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While you’re in law school, there are essentially two routes laid out for your law firm career path: joining an established law firm, or starting your own. For this discussion, let’s leave aside other practice environments such as government employment or the non-profit sector. Typically, most lawyers start with an internship in a firm to gain experience and get an idea of the niche they want to specialize in - including immigration. After that comes the decision to either stay in the law firm environment or go off on their own.

If you do decide to start your own firm, regardless of your level of experience, approaching your immigration law firm venture with the right business mindset is extremely important to your future success. That’s our focus in this article.

How can you benefit from working with a mentor? How can you grow by focusing on a niche? How can you succeed by using marketing to give value to your clients? What is the importance of always being creative? And why is it worth investing in yourself and your business, even if you can’t see the benefits right away?

Most law schools won’t teach you these business mindset traits, but they can make a significant difference in how things play out, so let’s dive in.

1. You don't have to know everything before starting your immigration firm - leverage mentors instead.

Mentors are a fast track to lessons and experience that otherwise may take years, or decades, to learn on your own, so find and leverage a good mentor or mentors as you get started and throughout your career.

State bar associations have seen an increased interest in mentorship programs for lawyers, and veteran lawyers see them as an opportunity to continue building a sense of connection to the profession as it evolves. “What you are going to learn is what I had to learn the hard way, both professionally and personally”, says Doug Ashworth, a coordinator of the State Bar of Georgia’s mentoring program.

A mentor can help you find opportunities in the profession, apply their lessons and experiences while you are building your own career, develop your leadership skills, and even share your own knowledge in areas where your mentor may need help, like new technology skills.

Look for a mentor who has weathered changes and is enthusiastic about sharing their knowledge and experiences with you. There’s no shortage of immigration policy changes today, and mentors are a great way to learn the professional expectations of everyday practice, whether you’re just getting started with your own firm or have been running a practice for some time and want to take things to the next level.

2. Find a niche in immigration law and focus on it.

It’s tempting as a new immigration lawyer to think that it would be better to offer the greatest possible variety of services to appeal to a bigger client base, but it may actually be more effective and growth-oriented to build your knowledge and experience in a market within a specific niche within immigration law, especially if you’re starting out as a solo practitioner or very small practice. To decide on your niche, think about your goals and personal values, including the workload you want to have, the type of cases you want to deal with, and whether there are agencies or departments tied to the immigration system that you’d rather (or rather not) work with, such as the Department of Labor, or the immigration court system.

And if you’re concerned about cornering yourself into just a handful of potential clients, don’t be - there are two ways in which having a niche is a net positive in the immigration law field:

• Immigration law is a federal practice, so you can always take clients from around the US or even from overseas which makes your potential client pool potentially larger than it may seem. Thanks to the availability of virtual tech tools, you can have virtual consultations with prospective clients anywhere in the world in a matter of seconds.
• When you are an expert in a specific area of immigration law, you can also build your client base through referrals. Fellow lawyers who don’t work in that particular niche of immigration may choose to partner with you or simply refer clients to you, and former clients who’ve seen success with you may refer your services to other potential clients they know.

Other than working with clients and building a track record of success in your niche, you establish yourself as an expert by sharing what you know consistently to an online audience.

3. Share your immigration expertise through marketing, and don’t expect anything in return.

Share your knowledge as much as you can through actionable content that people can understand and connect to. The actionable content could be articles in a blog or newsletter, posts, comments, or livestreaming on a social network, a presentation at a community event or a guest appearance on a podcast. Considering all the different (and often free) platforms available nowadays, sharing what you know is easier than ever.

Why is this so important? Not only will a consistent and clear content presence on the internet make you easier to find for potential clients who search for answers that you may have (e.g., “what are the best visa options for chess masters?”), it will also help you establish yourself as an attorney who is committed to helping people, as an expert in your niche, and as a person who has your clients’ best interests at heart.

4. Be creative and take opportunities to innovate, risky as they may be.

2020 and 2021 saw lockdowns, border closures, executive orders, travel bans and restrictions, and of course, COVID. With all of those challenges, many at once, some immigration lawyers questioned whether they would be able to work at all and make it through this time. But with these lockdowns and closures came a shift to a more online-based business model, and many lawyers started to find new opportunities.

From litigation against the federal government due to the restrictions affecting clients to virtual consultations to reach new clients, these unexpected changes opened new ways for many immigration lawyers to survive, and in some cases thrive.

So if you’re a new immigration lawyer, or even an experienced one, approach your work and the situations that surround it with creativity and a mindset focused on seeing opportunities that allow you to withstand challenges as you go. Because the skills you will need to succeed as a lawyer go beyond knowing statutes and regulations - your law firm is also a business, and finding solutions to market challenges, working well with changed circumstances, and handling pressure in a way that lets your creative problem solving take shape in practice, is key to success.

5. Investing in your immigration law firm today is an investment in your success tomorrow

According to the Census Bureau, 99% of businesses in the US are small businesses, and about two-thirds of all jobs are in small businesses. But small businesses often have small budgets, which makes it hard to make investments in the business and lose money today even if those investments promise greater returns and success in the future.

But that couldn’t be farther from the truth.

Yes, it can be hard to look at the cost of, say, new tech tools that can help your business grow when you’re getting started or when you’ve been chugging along at a certain pace and you can’t even imagine that level of growth yet. It can be hard to justify adding thousands to your marketing budget when that means thousands less in your pocket at the end of each month. It may seem like a bad idea to hire contractors or freelancers to help you with something you can do today in your business, though you know that keeps you from spending your time getting more clients.

But the time you could save by hiring a freelance or full-time staff member to help with administrative tasks, or the efficient management of your caseload with a tech tool is all but guaranteed to make the investment worth it. Investing in your business, and yourself as a business owner, can help give you back the time, and often peace of mind, to work on expanding your client base, building a larger following, and growing your business.

Use Docketwise to streamline the rest of your immigration practice

When you’re getting started, and as your immigration law firm grows, streamlining your caseload and keeping each of your clients’ timelines in one place is key. Docketwise can help you streamline and digitize your practice so that you can spend more of your time working on your immigration law firm, not in it, and applying your legal knowledge to achieve the most positive outcome possible for your clients.

If you want to learn more about how Docketwise can help you streamline your practice — from client questionnaires to form-filling to case management and more — schedule a demo to talk to one of our team members.

And don’t forget to sign up for our Immigration Briefings newsletter for daily and weekly immigration updates!

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Effective communication is essential in every workplace, but it can be challenging to keep communication clear if you’re talking to your team members on multiple platforms. When information ends up scattered across multiple places, it’s harder for everyone to follow the conversation and refer to important information easily.

Thankfully, internal communication systems that consolidate information and eliminate clutter have become more common over the past few years. So whether you and your firm are looking for a virtual space where you can just talk, or something that provides more structure by team or project, there’s something out there for you regardless of your needs.

6 Modern communication tech tools that immigration lawyers should consider.

Here are some of today's most popular and versatile internal communication tools you can use with your staff.

Slack

Slack focuses on messaging and the ability to customize your virtual work environment to your needs. Slack revamped its user interface in 2020 to make it more straightforward for new users, and was acquired by Salesforce in 2021. As an example of the kind of traffic that Slack can handle, all 380,000 of IBM’s employees - Slack and Salesforce’s parent company - use Slack for internal communication.

Slack allows you to organize your communications by topics in what they call Channels. Slack also includes video and voice call capabilities, as well as messaging and Slack Connect, which allows you to connect with other companies you may be working with who also use Slack. For example, if you’re working with a long-term corporate client, or an outsourced paralegal, you can invite them to one of your Channels if they’re also on Slack.  

You can see a more detailed breakdown of its features on their website and follow their five tips to get started to see if Slack is right for you and your firm.

Microsoft Teams

If you use Microsoft Outlook to host your immigration law firm’s email account, you may already be familiar with Microsoft Teams. But if you don’t, or if you simply haven’t used Microsoft Teams yet, it’s a bit like Zoom and Slack together in one place.

For example, in addition to video conferencing and text chatting, Teams also lets you and your firm employees work and share files during meetings, save those files with encryption technology, and automatically upload them to the cloud so they can be available across devices from anywhere.

In some of the paid versions of Teams, which you get access to with a Microsoft 365 plan, you also get a transcript of the meeting for future review or to share with someone who may not have been able to join.

(If you’re interested in transcription services more generally, check out our blog post on the topic!).

Microsoft Teams is free to try out with a corporate or consumer email account. Teams meetings allow up to 100 people, which gives you a lot of room to try out the features with your collaborators.

Google Chat

Don’t be fooled by the name. Google Chat is not your typical instant messaging service. The revamp of G Suite into Google Workspace brought new features to Google Chat to make it a more comprehensive internal collaboration tool. If your firm is already using Google Workspace, Google Chat may be an easy fit for you and your team.

Some of the things you can do in Google Chat, beyond sending and receiving messages, include building chat rooms for specific teams to work together (similar to the Slack Channels), sharing documents (similar to Microsoft Teams), delivering presentations and video conferencing, and sharing files from Google Drive.

Google Chats allows you to invite up to 250 people to a video conference, and creates a link on Google Meet from Chats which simplifies the process of joining the meet. To get started trying Google Chat, first check what kind of Google Workspace plan you have to see how Chat  features you already have included. But know that if you have Google Workspace, you already have Chat!

Discord

Discord describes its mission as “making it easier for you to talk regularly with the people you care about.” With a focus on video, voice, and text, Discord allows you to create topic-based channels where you can connect with your team members. One of the best features of Discord is that you can use video and voice without having to set up a link specifically for that purpose. In early 2021, Discord also added Stage Channels, which allows users to broadcast audio to other listeners, as opposed to everyone being able to talk.

Discord became popular through online gamers when it first launched six years ago. During the pandemic, people with different interests started using Discord’s “servers,” which are basically chat rooms similar to Slack’s Channels. Discord prides itself on its open environment and considers itself simply “a place to talk”.

One example of how to use Discord for internal communications is creating a server for Adjustment of Status case discussions, another for Citizenship discussions, etc. if you practice family-based immigration. You can do something similar on the employment-based immigration side too. Asking a team member to moderate is a great way to give others responsibility and evaluate their leadership skills if your firm is growing.

If you’re running a fully virtual firm, Discord could be a creative and next-generation way to collaborate with your team members while you’re all in different spaces, especially if you have a fully remote practice and never really see each other in person.

WhatsApp for Business

You may already have WhatsApp or use it to chat with your friends and family, share pictures or documents, send voice notes, make video calls, or use group chat. All these features from the “personal” WhatsApp version are also part of WhatsApp for Business.

WhatsApp can be used either on your desktop or your phone, and uses your internet connection instead of your cell phone plan, regardless of your location. Conversations and group chats can also be synced across devices, so you have access to the same conversations no matter how you log in.

Installing and using WhatsApp is free. WhatsApp also uses end-to-end encryption so that the only people with access to a conversation are the people in it.

Signal

Almost all of the tools we’ve highlighted above are owned by large companies, which for some people raise privacy concerns or the like. Enter Signal. Signal is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, and was born from a desire to create a communication platform that’s independent of “Big Tech” and keeps privacy at the forefront of their service.

Similar to other communication platforms, you can send messages, videos, photos, and voice notes using Signal, whether with one person, or multiple people in a group. Signal uses an internet or data connection to operate, so a phone plan is not needed. Best of all, Signal is free to use and available to download anywhere in the world, and you can feel like a little bit of a tech rebel using it.

Bring it all together with Docketwise for your immigration forms, case management, CRM and more.

Regardless of the communication platform you choose, Docketwise is the case and form management platform for you. With Docketwise, you can streamline your immigration casework so you can focus on what’s most important: ensuring every step of your client’s immigration timeline is successfully completed.

From a full library of immigration forms to client questionnaires in multiple languages to an industry-leading set of API integrations, we help you stay up to date on all your cases, communicate easily with your clients, and otherwise build and manage your firm.

If you want to learn more about Docketwise, schedule a demo at the link below, or sign up for our Immigration Briefings newsletter for daily and weekly immigration updates!

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In March 2020, COVID shut down US workspaces, including immigration law offices. Thousands of immigration attorneys suddenly had to figure out how to work remotely and were forced to start taking virtual consultations.

Even with the pandemic entering a different stage thanks to vaccines, virtual consultations haven’t gone away entirely. And as the world starts to open up, and as many immigration lawyers are adopting a virtual immigration practice, immigration lawyers are now wondering: Should I just make all my consultations virtual?

Let's run through the many pros of taking virtual consultations, and balance that out with some of the cons.

Benefits of taking virtual consultations for immigration lawyers.

There are a number of reasons that immigration lawyers continue to take virtual consultations, whether temporarily or permanently.

Continued COVID safety

Even though hundreds of millions of people have received a COVID vaccine, many lawyers still want to minimize contact with other people when it isn't essential. Now that we are also seeing the spread of more contagious variants that infect the vaccinated (what are called “breakthrough” infections), you may want to continue keeping yourself and your clients as safe as possible by holding virtual consultations. Maintaining virtual-only consultations also creates a routine for you and your potential clients that requires little to no adjustment should your area return to the more stringent restrictions of last spring, as we are seeing in different parts of the world.

You can take immigration consultations with prospects who aren’t local

Given that immigration law is a federal practice and immigration lawyers can take clients from anywhere in the US, virtual consultations make it easier for lawyers to accept and retain clients who aren't necessarily in their area. This can help you expand your practice, especially if you’re a family-based immigration attorney used to relying on local residents.

Virtual immigration consultations can actually be more efficient

Many attorneys have stated that when prospective clients take the trip to meet in person, they tend to come with a lot more questions and have been known to overextend their stay. In this instance, short of kicking a prospective client out of your office, this results in longer consultations which can disrupt your schedule and get in the way of other work. With a virtual consultation, it’s easier to stay on schedule, and the prospective client may feel less inclined to keep asking questions since they didn’t have to make a physical trip to your office. Plus, you can even require an online form for the potential client to fill out to describe their specific issue ahead of time so you can go straight to the issue during your virtual consultation.

You can get supporting documentation virtually, and in advance of the consultation

Having access to any information or documentation electronically, ahead of time, for a virtual consultation means you don't have to shuffle through and make sense of paperwork, on the spot, during the consultation. Instead, you can review them on your own time and before the meeting and then focus on the main issue. You can also save time by sending documents that need to be signed virtually ahead of time and have your clients sign electronically using a service like DocuSign or HelloSign.

You can more easily end a virtual consultation if it's not a good fit

Whether you quickly learn that you don't handle the kind of case the prospective client has, if they're clearly just trying to get free advice, or if for some other reason you can't help, cutting a phone call short, especially if it's a free consultation, is easier than cutting someone off who has taken the time and effort to physically come to your office. With a virtual consultation you can easily save both your and their time without coming off as rude or short.

You can dress more comfortably

If you're not meeting prospective clients in person and instead are taking virtual consultations, you can dress more comfortably or casually at work. Sure you may want to throw on a professional top during the consultation, but that means you can wear jeans, or even sweatpants or pajamas on the bottom and continue to do great work, and no one will be the wiser. This can also help you move between activities such as a school run or tending to a pet more easily without a full change of clothes or shoes.

You can charge more for in-person consultation and have a cheaper virtual option

For immigration lawyers who charge for consultations, some charge more for in-person ones than virtual ones. Many immigration lawyers have shared that this has several benefits. First, by offering a lower-cost virtual version, the higher price of in-person consults pushes more prospective clients to go virtual. Second, for those prospective clients who insist on still coming in person, you can make a bit more money from the additional effort and have that as a revenue source even if not every consult turns into a full client.

Possible challenges of taking virtual consultations for immigration lawyers. 

Despite all the pros, there are always some counterbalancing factors. Here are some potential cons to consider when thinking about whether or not to move to solely virtual consultations.

Virtual consultations may be a good fit for you, but not your ideal clients

If you work with individuals who don't have access to a computer or smartphone, might be less tech-savvy, or otherwise unable to use tools like Zoom or Skype, virtual consultations may turn these individuals away. So depending on your niche, you may still want to consider in-person consultations, depending on the case or type of client you’re looking for.

You lose out on some of the body language inherent in face-to-face consults

In person it's easier to pick up nonverbal cues that can indicate whether you should dive deeper into a certain aspect of a prospective client's comment or, on the flip side, if it looks like they aren't interested in you or your service but you want to convince them to work with you. If you don't have in-person meetings, you lose out on some of the cues that you could pick up in person that might help you lock in a client or make a stronger case.

You end up in front of the computer all day

Talking to a prospective client in person forces you off your computer screen for 30 or 60 minutes which can be, for some, a welcome break. Working in front of the computer all day may not be for everyone: working remotely for extended periods of time may also increase your levels of stress, anxiety, and social isolation, although the evidence is still not conclusive.

Docketwise is the ideal case management platform whether you take in-person or virtual consultations

Whether you decide to only take virtual consultations or go back to seeing at least some prospective clients in person, ensuring that you have the best case management platform is key.

With Docketwise, you can streamline your immigration casework so you can focus on what’s most important: supporting your clients.

From a full library of immigration forms to client questionnaires in multiple languages to an industry-leading set of API integrations, we help you stay up to date on all your cases, communicate easily with your clients, and otherwise build and manage your firm.

If you want to learn more about Docketwise, schedule a demo at the link below, or sign up for our Immigration Briefings newsletter for daily and weekly immigration updates!

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The COVID-19 pandemic launched millions of professionals around the world into the world of remote work, and with that came a long-overdue remote work revolution for the legal industry. Many lawyers and legal professionals that may have not considered the possibility to work remotely were suddenly forced to do so, and, as a consequence, realized that practicing law remotely may not be that far-fetched of an idea.

And while it’s still up in the air to what extent lawyers and law firms more generally will continue to be fully remote, it's important for lawyers, especially immigration lawyers, to know HOW to practice remotely.

Why especially immigration law firms?

Given that immigration is a federal practice, it’s already the case that immigration law firms take cases from all over the country. Many lawyers who practice entirely in the field of immigration actually have their office in, or make appearances in, state(s) other than that in which they are licensed. Moreover, there are a number of US immigration lawyers practicing US immigration law from locations abroad. Nevertheless,  despite rarely, if ever, seeing many of their clients in person, most immigration lawyers were historically working out of physical offices. It was a situation that begged the question whether the business could be done remotely.

Now, even as some lawyers go back into the office, if you’re thinking about staying fully remote or even partially remote, setting up the right remote work environment is the key to success.

This article discusses the merits of running a remote law firm and some tools and processes to explore if you want to do so successfully.

Let’s dive in.

3 Major Benefits of Running a Remote Immigration Law Firm

What legal professionals have noticed thanks to the experience of working virtually during the pandemic is that there are benefits to a remote practice that are worth considering.

Mobility

Thanks to the growth in tools and tech to streamline legal work, the work of legal professionals has become more location-flexible than ever. If working from anywhere is something that you have learned to enjoy during the past year and a half, going fully remote can be an attractive option.

Reducing Costs.

Unless your state requires you to have a physical space to practice (check your state bar rules), the most obvious cost reduction when you go remote is not having to pay for permanent office space and equipment. Going remote also allows you to reduce costs in support staff by outsourcing to professionals such as virtual paralegals and receptionists.

Access to a larger talent pool

Hiring in the immigration space has always been a national exercise since a licensed attorney in any state can practice immigration in any other state. However, not all attorneys are willing to move. Having a remote practice means you can hire from anywhere in the country without asking the candidate to move to wherever you’re located. This makes it easier to find the right candidate and eliminates the cost of relocation.

If the above benefits sound interesting to you, great. But how do you actually make a virtual immigration law practice work? In other words, what tools or processes should you consider or adopt to succeed in a remote environment?

Here are 7 basic things you should have to successfully run a remote immigration law firm.

For immigration lawyers who are looking to go remote, especially those starting their own firms, let’s go through some of the most important things you’ll need for success.

• An updated website. In this day and age, a website would be obvious to most lawyers, but you’d be surprised how many lawyers, especially those early in their career, operate without a website. Others were caught by surprise by COVID and went into lockdown without a proper or up-to-date online presence. A modern and easy-to-use website is simply essential if your immigration law firm is going virtual. If you’re technically inclined you can build a simple website with premade templates on sites like Weebly, Squarespace or Wordpress. If you’d like to outsource this task, finding a marketing or web development agency, especially one that works with law firms (even better if they focus on immigration lawyers), is the way to go.
• Email addresses. Again, another seemingly obvious one that, nevertheless, needs to be called out. Lawyers who are just getting started and might not have a website, or are in the process of creating one, might not have a specific email address for their legal services. Using an email service, whether through your domain provider or an email service like Outlook or Gmail, allows you to have an official email address rather than asking clients to email “PunkRocker85@Hotmail.com” - believe it or not, this still happens. Additionally, you can create alias email addresses like “info@” or “questions@” to organize your emails and, in some cases, add some more legitimacy to your firm’s image.
• A phone number. No, this doesn’t mean you have to give our your personal cell number to clients and prospects, although many attorneys still do. Instead, you can use a VoIP service like RingCentral, Vonage or Phone.com to set up a dedicated phone number for your firm. These Voice over IP services forward calls to your cell phone but without giving away your private number. This is especially important for family-based practitioners whose clients might be most comfortable talking about their immigration case over the phone.
• Video conferencing. Given that you’re not running a brick-and-mortar office anymore, your clients want to at least see your face when talking to your about their case, even if remotely. Using a video conferencing tool like Zoom, Google Meet, Webex, Microsoft Teams or others is a great way to connect personally without being in person. If using Google or Microsoft, for example, for your domain, email service, etc., you can access Meet and Teams as part of the whole suite. Some of these services will also offer transcription services so you can automatically record and get notes from client calls. If they don’t, however, you check out our recommended transcription services.
• Social Media. This is more on the marketing side, but if you have a remote law firm, your marketing should be digital as well. There are a lot of digital marketing best practices for immigration attorneys, but one major piece of advice when you’re just getting started is to pick one social media platform and focus on it, at least at first. Here’s a breakdown of the different platforms, based on the type of law firm you might operate. For family-based immigration law firms, a focus on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok is a good idea. Facebook Groups are an especially good way to connect with specific communities of both lawyers and prospective clients and offer support both ways. Instagram offers a diversity of video-based tools for long and short form content (IGTV and Reels) as well as captioned pictures. And TikTok is quickly becoming a go-to for quick Q&A and niche-based communities in the immigration space.\ \ For employment-based and other business immigration law firms, LinkedIn and YouTube are best, especially when it comes to establishing yourself as an expert in your area of focus and connecting with your target clients, be they investors, entrepreneurs or HR departments.
• Growth tools. Fully remote firms are great for solos, but you can grow your team and remain fully remote too! This means hiring staff that’s fully remote and equipping them with the tools. For internal communication, tools like Slack, Trello, or Microsoft Teams are important to keep everyone on the same page and ensure tasks are assigned and completed in a timely manner. You can find employees by looking on virtual paralegal or receptionist sites, and of course can always advertise job openings on traditional sites like Indeed.com or monster.com.
• Case management. The ABA’s eLawyering Task Force stipulates that as part of keeping their work remote, a law firm needs to use a secure portal for clients and lawyers to access and collaborate. This portal has to be secure, encrypted, and require a username and password to log in. Choosing a case management platform with a secure client portal can help you fulfill this requirement while also managing your practice electronically and in the cloud instead of with paper client files, documentation and applications.

At the end of the day, if your remote law firm is going to be successful, you need the right tools, processes and mindset to work in a remote environment. Your firm’s cases should be accessible everywhere and to everyone via a cloud-based platform. That’s why it’s important to have a robust all-in-one immigration case management platform.

And that’s what we’re building at Docketwise.

Docketwise is the case management platform you need for your virtual immigration law firm to succeed.

Our main goal at Docketwise is to help immigration lawyers do what they do best - focus on doing great work for their clients while knowing that the rest of their practice is streamlined, automated and digitized. Docketwise can help you streamline and digitize your practice so that you can spend more of your time applying your legal knowledge to achieve the most positive outcome possible for your immigration law clients.

If you want to learn more about how Docketwise can help you streamline your practice — from client questionnaires to form-filling to case management and more — schedule a demo to talk to one of our team members.

And don’t forget to sign up for our Immigration Briefings newsletter for daily and weekly immigration updates!

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After many months of hard work, we're thrilled to announce the launch of Smart Forms 3.0 with Packet Assembly. Smart Forms 3.0 is a giant leap forward for immigration form preparation and was built on our core tenets: Collaboration, Simplicity and Accessibility.

The Evolution of Smart Forms

My co-founder James and I designed Docketwise's Smart Forms 1.0 six years ago after James helped me with my green card application.

At the time, it was common for attorneys to hand their clients a questionnaire to complete. The attorney (or paralegal) would then enter the data on the questionnaire either into their immigration software or directly onto the forms.

This double entry seemed like a waste of time. Our core idea was to enable attorneys and clients to collaborate together to prepare immigration applications faster than if they worked on them apart.

Our team accomplished this with a simple online intake that attorneys could share with their clients to enter the information needed for the application. While simple on its face, we built the intake on top of a powerful algorithm that determined exactly which constellation of forms were required for the application and then automatically prepared the full packet based on answers to the intake.

Over the past six years we’ve continued adding superpowers to our Smart Forms. A few highlights I’m especially proud of include:

• attorneys can flag questions that the client didn’t fully answer and reshare only flagged questions
• attorneys and clients can add comments to questions, tag each other and respond to one another’s questions right inside the intake
• we translated the intakes into over 7 different languages
• attorneys can combine any combination of forms into a single intake, save the combinations for later or create their own intake with custom questions

Smart Forms 3.0

With SmartForms 3.0 we shifted our focus from the process of preparing the intake to the finished product our users submit to USCIS:

• a packet assembly feature that allows attorneys to combine forms and evidentiary documents into a single Smart Form
• an automatic table of contents listing all forms and documents
• the ability to share the completed packet (or any part of it) with one click
• plus a beautiful redesign and simpler navigation

We’re so excited for the thousands of law firms powered by Docketwise to begin using Smart Forms 3.0. Meanwhile, we’re hard at work on the next set of innovations. 🚀

Sincerely,
Jeremy Peskin
CEO @ Docketwise

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If you’re just starting your own immigration law firm and can’t keep up with case work, or want to simply get more help so that you can spend less time on case preparation and other administrative tasks, you might be thinking of hiring an immigration paralegal. But for many, hiring and managing a full-time, in-house paralegal may not be feasible financially, or may not be needed on a full-time basis. The solution? Consider hiring a virtual immigration paralegal to augment your staff.

Just like with receptionist tasks, which can be outsourced to a virtual receptionist, paralegal and other administrative case work can be outsourced. These tasks may include data collection, research, interviews, and drafting documents or reviewing forms related to your clients’ cases.

So let’s dive into what a virtual immigration paralegal is, how working with a virtual paralegal can benefit your immigration law firm, and a few specific virtual immigration paralegal companies, and broader immigration support services you can look at.

What’s a virtual immigration paralegal?

A virtual paralegal, is a paralegal that provides paralegal services remotely and often, though not always, as a contractor or outsourced service rather than as a full-time staff member. So, while a virtual immigration paralegal can be a full-time staff member who is simply working remotely, this article is going to focus on companies that provide part-time or as-needed immigration paralegal services remotely.

And in case you’re just getting started on your journey as an attorney and looking to hire your first paralegal, note that depending on your state, paralegals may or may not need to be certified. Make sure you’re aware of your state’s guidelines before you hire anyone. If you’re ever in doubt about the rules concerning working with paralegals, make sure you review the model rules set by the American Bar Association.

How can a virtual immigration paralegal benefit your firm?

One major benefit of hiring a virtual immigration paralegal is saving you time by removing the need to train and directly supervise a full-time employee. Instead, by delegating these tasks to an experienced virtual immigration paralegal, you can free up time to work on more substantial legal or business tasks, or to simply have more time for yourself and your loved ones.

Another benefit is reducing overhead cost. Hiring full-time staff can be expensive and, depending on where your practice is, not sustainable. Given that virtual immigration paralegals are contractors, work remotely, have their own computer setup and have their own benefits, you can get the help of a paralegal without the potentially unaffordable cost of a full-time employee.

Finally, hiring a virtual immigration paralegal gives you flexibility, since you’re only utilizing them when needed. For example, in the employment- based immigration context, certain periods of the year, like H-1B cap season, may be very high-volume in terms of administrative tasks and paperwork. Outsourcing those tasks to a virtual immigration paralegal can be incredibly helpful, especially if your firm is small. However, at times when your workload is manageable, or during times when you’re waiting on action from USCIS, you may not have a need for a paralegal. Working with a virtual immigration paralegal service gives you the flexibility to pay for paralegal support only during busy times only when they’re needed.

Now that we’ve discussed at least some of the benefits for a virtual immigration paralegal, here are a few such services to consider. But before we get to it, please note that Docketwise does not endorse or otherwise have any affiliation with any of the below companies - we are simply providing a non-exhaustive list of virtual immigration paralegal services for you to consider. Always do additional independent research before hiring any professional service!

With that, let’s dive in.

Here are some virtual immigration paralegal services to consider

As we noted above, virtual immigration paralegal services can support immigration attorneys flexibly, affordably and skillfully. In these short reviews, we’re focusing on the types of services each of these firms offer so you can get an idea of whether they are a good fit for your firm.

There are more options out there, since this is an industry still in a growth phase, but here are four options to get you started.

1. Immigration Document Solutions mostly focuses on support services for family-based immigration. With a strong focus on assisting attorneys in completing forms, IDS also assists in translations between English and Spanish, and notary services. All services have flat fees.
2. Paravisa Legal provides paralegal services for cases in both US and global immigration. With previous experience in one of the largest firms in the world, Paravisa’s staff provides support services in family and employment-based immigration in the US as well as work and business visas at a global level.
3. Pocket Paralegal has been providing virtual immigration paralegal services for over 15 years, long before today’s remote work culture. Pocket Paralegal focuses on areas of family-based, employment-based, asylum, VAWA and removal defense cases, specializing in VAWA waivers and asylum and other affidavits - two areas of immigration law that are complex, sensitive and time-consuming.
4. Immigration Paralegal Services was founded by immigrants and their services include family-based immigration, removal and deportation defense and broader legal research and brief-writing. IPS offers a combination of flat-fee and either hourly or per-project pricing, depending on the needs.

Outsourcing other immigration support services

You may be wondering whether there are other outsourced support services you could use to get additional help with non-paralegal work. If you’re looking for more general, legally-focused virtual assistants, check out our blog post on hiring a virtual assistant for your immigration law firm.

But if you’re looking for more specific back-office or secretarial support, here are just a few options to consider. And again, as mentioned above, always do additional independent research to see if these, or other services might fit your needs.  

1. Exigent provides both immigration law support services and general administrative task outsourcing. They do have more traditional visa petition drafting services for employment-based visas and green cards, as well as family-based immigration cases. But they also provide I-9 compliance and immigration court docketing support.
2. While Lawfecta offers paralegal services, their legal secretarial and virtual assistant services make them stand out as an outsourcing service. This may be a better fit for you if you’re on the market to outsource administrative services, but not necessarily paralegal services. One highlight of Lawfecta is that it allows you to pick a specialist to outsource based on their resumes, so you can hire a paralegal, virtual assistant, or legal secretary with the right combination of qualifications and experience.
3. Upwork is an open outsourcing marketplace with thousands of professionals performing every possible administrative task you may need help with. From virtual assistants to graphic designers, proofreaders, copywriters, accountants, customer support specialists, if it’s a job to be done, there is someone in Upwork who can do it for you at a competitive rate. If you’re unsure about jumping into outsourcing legal work, an administrative project through a freelancer you find at Upwork can be a good place to start. If you want to hire a freelancer with experience in immigration law, you can set that specific experience as one of your search filters in Upwork to limit the scope of applicants eligible to apply.

Even if you outsource part of your work, Docketwise keeps your case management in one place

Our main goal is to help immigration lawyers do what they do best - keep track of their work in one place. Docketwise can help you streamline and digitize your practice, so that you can spend more of your time applying your legal knowledge to achieve the most positive outcome possible for your immigration law clients.

If you want to learn more about how Docketwise can help you streamline your practice — from client questionnaires to form-filling to case management and more — schedule a demo to talk to one of our team members.

And don’t forget to sign up for our Immigration Briefings newsletter for daily and weekly immigration updates!

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Since COVID sent millions of professionals home, and as office space demand continues to remain lower than pre-pandemic, immigration lawyers who want to go back into an office environment without committing to a full-time, dedicated space, and who want to ensure COVID safety protocols, are increasingly looking to coworking spaces.

For a law firm that can’t or doesn’t want to support a long-term office lease, coworking spaces provide more flexible arrangements to access a space where you can meet with staff, clients, or both, but only as needed. And while it may seem like the concept of coworking spaces is new, it actually isn’t.

This article will discuss how coworking spaces work and some pros and cons of coworking spaces, especially for immigration lawyers. We’ll go over how you, as an immigration lawyer, can use a coworking space to your advantage for a more flexible office arrangement that gives you space to cultivate in-person interactions with your clients, staff, and colleagues.

A brief history of coworking and how it has become a stable alternative to traditional office space

Today, we associate coworking spaces with tech companies, freelancers, or startup founders. The concept of coworking has changed since it started in Germany in the mid-90s, and was mostly geared towards hackers. By the end of the 90s, the first space with flexible seating options for individuals and teams had opened in New York.

In 2005, coworking spaces became more mainstream when a startup entrepreneur from California named Brad Neuberg opened what is considered the first coworking space. His goal was to create a space where he and others could take advantage of the increased productivity that occurs when people collaborate, while maintaining the freedom to work on his own. If you’ve decided to take your practice fully remote, a coworking space could be a place to interact with other professionals and meet in person with your staff and your clients without keeping a permanent office you don’t need year round.

The coworking industry has grown so much that by 2012, there were over 2,000 established coworking spaces worldwide. By 2024, the number of coworking spaces around the world is expected to grow to over 40,000, through a combination of global franchises such as WeWork, and smaller franchises operating at the local level with a small number of locations in one country.

As a result of the pandemic, we are seeing traditional urban office spaces tinkering with providing co-working opportunities, as well as a rising number of coworking spaces, often set up by specific companies for their employees closer to the suburbs so people can enjoy shorter commutes.

So, after seeing the possibilities that a coworking space could offer, let’s look ahead and consider the advantages and disadvantages a coworking space could have for an immigration lawyer.

Pros vs. Cons of co-working spaces for immigration law firms

There are pros and cons to using a coworking space as an immigration lawyer that you should consider before looking around. Let’s get right into it:  

Pros:

• Work near others and concentrate better. While for some, working fully remotely from home is ideal, for those who do want an office environment without leasing an office full-time, you get to be around other people, which has been proven to help you concentrate (like in cafes).
• Amenities that are harder to have at home. You get access to amenities that are tougher and more expensive to fully have at home, like fax machines and large printers, professional cleaning, constantly flowing tea, coffee, and snacks, etc. This can be very helpful, especially in the beginning when you night be on a limited budget, or may need access to, say, a printer, during high volume times of year like H-1B cap season.
• Professional networking and socializing. At a coworking space, you get to take advantage of professional or social activities. This is especially great for solo lawyers who might not have coworkers - co-working spaces often have social events, even if socially distanced during COVID, which can be a nice way to meet new people, expand your professional network, attend informative sessions, and connect with community members who could eventually become partners or clients.
• Flexible arrangements based on your budget and needs. If it's just you and your computer, you can sit at a "hot desk" which is typically cheaper. If you need a conference room for a call, you can rent one by the hour instead of renting an entire office. Or if you rent an enclosed room at a coworking space, while pricier than just having an open desk, it's still much cheaper than renting a full "office" the traditional way.
• Building business. If you do immigration for startups or other small businesses, you can actually network with others in the co-working space in case they may need your immigration services, or build your network through referrals.

Cons:

• Taking impromptu calls with clients may be challenging. If you sit out in the open, others around you might be able to hear your conversation, which is annoying at best or, even worse, could be inadequate to protect your client’s confidentiality. If you want to rent a conference call or phone booth, it might not be available when you need it.
• Client hesitation. Clients may be wary of meeting you at a coworking space, even if you schedule the in-person meeting in a conference or meeting room. Knowing that a lot of other people are around, and not being in a totally private environment may make them feel uncomfortable.
• Potential COVID exposure. In today's time, there may still be an increased risk of COVID exposure simply based on the fact that people go in and out of co-working spaces constantly. Most co-working spaces, especially today, are extremely diligent with cleaning (e.g. WeWork or Industrious), but for some people that may still not be enough.
• Space and customization limitations. Unless you become a major co-working space customer, space still tends to be limited for regular companies. Even if you get a dedicated enclosed office for your practice, they’re typically still quite small, and can't be customized much.

Weighing these options, you can choose whether a co-working space is right for you. Here are a few of the bigger co-working spaces around the US and internationally, though check your area to see if there are local co-working spaces that might fit your needs better.

Wherever you choose to work, keep your immigration case management consistent with Docketwise

Wherever you decide to run your immigration practice, whether fully from home, at a traditional office, or somewhere in between at a coworking space, you need a cloud-based immigration case management platform to keep your practice safe, secure, and perhaps most importantly, mobile and flexible, just like you. With Docketwise, you can streamline your immigration casework so you can focus on what’s most important: supporting your clients, without worrying you left something at the office.

From a full library of immigration forms to client questionnaires in multiple languages to an industry-leading set of API integrations, we help you stay up to date on all your cases, communicate easily with your clients, and otherwise build and manage your firm.

If you want to learn more about Docketwise, schedule a demo at the link below, or sign up for our Immigration Briefings newsletter for daily and weekly immigration updates!

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When you’re first getting started with your immigration law firm, you may be able to handle the volume of calls you receive on your own. As your caseload grows and gets more complicated, administrative tasks like phone calls get incredibly time consuming. Remember, the most important asset you have is time. So, use it wisely by incorporating time-saving tools into your work whenever possible.

Think about the last time you called customer service: did you choose an option from the automated system, or did you try to get a real person to talk to? No matter how advanced technology becomes, people tend to find personal interactions more relatable and effective. A virtual receptionist is a way to personalize that first contact without delegating that task to a full-time, in-person team member.

Today we’ll cover the basics of remote receptionists, what to look for when you hire or outsource this service, and some existing remote receptionist services with experience serving law firms.

What is a virtual receptionist?

A virtual receptionist is exactly what it sounds like - someone who takes and redirects your calls, but doesn’t work in your office or is a direct employee. They specialize in managing your inbound calls, scheduling appointments, and addressing basic questions.

Because they’re the first line of contact with your immigration clients, there are some important characteristics you’ll want in your virtual receptionist:

• Customer-oriented and able to listen actively and lead your clients in the right direction,
• Able to manage confidential information appropriately,
• Personable and able to help your clients feel comfortable,
• Knowledgeable of the necessary information to redirect client questions,
• Multilingual capabilities to be able to interact with prospective immigration clients who might not be able to speak or feel comfortable speaking English.

One of the benefits of a virtual receptionist is that it makes that first contact between clients and your office more comfortable for clients since they’re not immediately thrust into a conversation with an attorney, which can be nerve-racking for some. Another advantage is that virtual receptionists have more flexible schedules, which means your immigration law firm’s phone can be open for longer than business hours.

There are many platforms that offer virtual receptionist services, and while your virtual receptionist may not have experience in immigration law per se, we’ve found three virtual receptionist companies that have experience providing this service for immigration law firms. We’ll go over them in order of how much human service you can get with them, starting with Ruby, which employs people for every remote receptionist position.

Immigration lawyer-friendly virtual receptionist services

Ruby: Customer engagement based on human interaction

Ruby assigns a virtual receptionist to your immigration law firm, which starts every interaction with a personalized message. Your virtual receptionist will redirect each call according to your instructions when you set up the service, either by sending the call to a voicemail, taking a message, or transferring the call to you or another staff member. Ruby’s virtual receptionists can also address frequently asked questions, schedule appointments, or complete forms.

Ruby offers three types of plans:

• Reception plans, which include a set number of minutes for a monthly flat rate,
• Chat plans, which include a set number of live chats for a set monthly price, or
• Bundled plans, which allow you to combine your reception plan of choice with a maximum number of chats per month.

Ruby offers a 21-day money back guarantee if you’re not happy with the service. Ruby is also associated with many state bar associations, which could save you some money, and integrate with some of the most popular tech tools lawyers use - check out our article on some of the best Tech and Tools for immigration lawyers.

Now, let’s move onto Smith.ai, which combines virtual receptionists with chat options.

Smith.ai - a hybrid between an in-person and tech-based receptionist

Smith.ai offers answering client inquiries via phone, text messages, and Facebook Messenger. When a receptionist is not available, a chat option on your website can assist your clients. Smith.ai also follows up with potential clients that complete contact forms on your website by sending a text message or email to initiate contact. Smith.ai integrates with over 30 different software platforms, including a number of legal tech platforms, many of which are used by immigration lawyers.

Same as Ruby, Smith.ai offers virtual receptionist and live chat plans. Unlike Ruby, Smith.ai’s plans are calls-based and not minutes-based. So you’re billed per number of calls, no matter how long or short they are. Another important feature Smith.ai has is that its receptionists will call back leads from your website to establish contact with them and see how your firm can help them.

Helpsquad - live chat focused on real-time answers

Similar to Smith.ai, Helpsquad provides around-the-clock managed chats, live chat and voice agents, and even a “do-it-yourself” option that allows you to set up and manage your website chat on your own. When it comes to assistance in the legal space, Helpsquad focuses on training its agents to provide answers to basic questions, so your potential clients have enough information before talking to you.

You get a set number of chats and FAQs for a flat monthly fee. If your immigration law firm has more specific needs and you need a customized solution, that’s possible too. To try Helpsquad for yourself, you can start with a 14-day free trial.

YoTengo.Bot - an artificially intelligent chatbot specifically made for immigration lawyers

An immigration lawyer’s answer to the time-consuming tasks of customer service, YoTengo,Bot focuses on asking the right questions to determine whether potential clients are a good fit for your firm, and get them connected to a specialized lawyer as soon as possible. YoTengo can also answer common initial questions clients have so that by the time you onboard a client, you can get right to the case at hand. Impressively, despite being a chatbot, YoTengo is bilingual, and understands both English and Spanish text.

YoTengo’s Starter plan works on websites, Facebook, Facebook Messenger, and Whatsapp. The Professional Plan makes the bot available on Google My Business as well. YoTengo is also integrated with Docketwise, making it even easier to transfer leads from YoTengo’s platform to your Docketwise CRM.

All of YoTengo’s plans include unlimited conversations and are based on monthly active contacts, with an option to add additional active contacts for a few cents. Thanks to the bot’s artificial intelligence and natural language processing, the longer it talks with your prospective clients, the more it knows about immigration law to help existing and future prospects even more effectively.

Common winning features of these remote receptionist services

All of these services include:

• Chat options, to ensure that someone is always there to answer questions and tend to contacts.
• Transcription services, so you can review conversation details.
• Bilingual assistance in English and Spanish.
• Flexible pricing features, which helps you plan your costs and provide more than a greeting to your clients.

The ultimate advantage of a remote receptionist is the help they provide in customer service management and retention.

For every other aspect of your immigration case management, there’s Docketwise.

If you’re still reading this article, you’re probably looking to further streamline your immigration law firm with a virtual receptionist. Whether you decide to go with a live receptionist, a pure chatbot feature or some combination of the two, trying new tools and constantly innovating your firm’s processes will lead you in the right direction.

If you want to learn more about how Docketwise can help you streamline and digitize other parts of your practice — from client questionnaires to form-filling to case management and more — schedule a demo to talk to one of our team members.

And don’t forget to sign up for our Immigration Briefings newsletter for daily and weekly immigration updates!

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