Immigration software news and updates.

Sharing your knowledge about immigration law is essential to establishing how knowledgeable, relatable, and trustworthy you are, both to potential clients and your peers. It can help you grow your referral network and maximize your client’s lifetime value, increasing your positive impact as an immigration lawyer and as a result, securing the future of your practice.

Whether you’re a newer immigration lawyer or have many years of experience, there are multiple ways in which you can get the opportunity to speak in front of others to share your knowledge about immigration law and connect with both clients and other experts. But before we dive into a few common opportunities you might be able to leverage, the first thing that’s really helpful to do is to figure out what your area of expertise is and create content around it.

First, figure out your area of expertise and create content

In general, if you’re working on implementing a marketing strategy for your immigration law firm, one of the most important things you should do is figure out your area (or areas) of expertise and brand yourself as a specialist rather than a generalist, especially as a solo or small firm, to stand out from your competition. One of the best ways to brand yourself in such a way is to create content - whether blogs or social media posts or videos - focused on that area of expertise.

There are two reasons behind this. First, when you create informative content that showcases your expertise, it helps people learn about the solutions you might have to their immigration questions. For example, a clear blog post or YouTube video that explains their visa type, how to think about eligibility for that visa type, and, say, tips on how to approach the application, would educate them and also make you one of the first attorneys they think of when they’re ready to move forward with their immigration case.

But second, and more importantly for purposes of this article, when you create and share content on social media, whether your email newsletter, YouTube channel, Instagram or TikTok account or other marketing channel, it helps you practice articulating your expertise in a way that others find engaging and can understand, which you can then use as an example when you’re looking for a speaking opportunity. If a conference organizer or YouTube channel host can see or hear you speak about your area of expertise, or at least read what you’ve written about it, they might be more inclined to invite you as a speaker since they’d be more comfortable knowing that you’ll truly educate their audience and keep them engaged.

3 ways to land speaking opportunities as an immigration lawyer

Once you’ve figured out your area of expertise, and especially if you already have some content you can share about it, whether a blog or prior videos you’ve recorded and shared, the next step would be to try and land speaking opportunities. Keep in mind that different speaking opportunities can have a different impact, e.g. speaking at an AILA conference would help expose you to your immigration attorney colleagues while getting on a podcast aimed at your target clients would help build your brand in front of prospects.

With that said, here are three different types of speaking opportunities you can pursue as an immigration lawyer.

Conference organizers

Industry conferences happen all year long and all around the world, and it’s always prestigious to be able to speak at a conference. Typically, conference organizers have calls for proposals that allow their members (or sometimes non-members) to pitch potential topics. They don’t always require prior speaking experience and in fact sometimes prefer speakers who are new to speaking at that conference to give conference-goers variety and diversity.

You’ll have to narrow down what industry conferences you can apply to speak at, but one framework to consider is whether you want to speak in front of your peers and colleagues or potential clients. For example, as an immigration attorney, if you want to speak in front of colleagues, some conference organizers you can pitch would include the American Immigration Lawyers Association, your state bar association, or national bar associations like the American Bar Association or Federal Bar Associations, all of whom hold numerous conferences all year.

On the other hand, if you want to speak in front of potential clients, consider organizations in your target industry. For example, if you work in business immigration and your clients are HR or in-house global mobility teams at companies, consider reaching out to organizations like Worldwide ERC and their various local chapters, SHRM and others. If you handle investment-based immigration, consider chambers of commerce or other community investment organizations. And if you’re a family immigration attorney, consider an organization that supports your target audience, like a local YMCA, a religious or cultural center, etc., that holds events regularly.

Social media channels and accounts or podcasts

New digital media outlets, including podcasts, YouTube channels, or individual or law firm Instagram, Facebook or TikTok accounts, for example, all present great opportunities to get to speak in front of an audience. Whether it’s a YouTube channel focused on a particular immigrant demographic that you could record a video for answering specific immigration or going live on Instagram or TikTok together with another account that already has a large following of people you’d like to reach, or being a guest on an industry podcast if you’re on the business or investment immigration side, there are content creators out there with existing audiences that would benefit from your knowledge and expertise. To help you convince these creators to have you on as a guest, you can link to a video or blog you’ve put out in the past about your particular topic so they can get a sense of your style and what you specialize in.

CLE organizations

One final way you can get the opportunity to speak in front of an audience interested in your area of immigration expertise is through a Continuing Legal Education (CLE) organization for a credit-granting webinar or course. Some organizations, such as Lawline, provide online continuing education, which may allow you to be a contributor over a longer period of time and asynchronously. In other instances, bar organizations like AILA and the others mentioned above often hold CLE classes outside of fully organized conferences. And still other organizations, such as Law.com, hold events all over the world so you can potentially get a speaking opportunity outside of the US to educate individuals on your niche within immigration law.

When speaking engagements lead to business, you need to manage the growth.

When you become better known as an immigration law expert through, among other things, more speaking opportunities, your firm is more likely to grow as a result of the increased exposure. As your firm continues to grow, you’ll need a case management platform that can grow and adapt with you.

Dockewise offers just that - an immigration CRM, a full library of immigration forms, easy-to-use client questionnaires and industry-leading API integrations, Docketwise is the immigration case management platform that will help you stay up to date on all your cases, communicate easily with your clients, and otherwise build and manage your immigration law 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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Video is one of the most powerful tools you can use to grow your immigration law firm and increase awareness of yourself as an immigration expert, both among your peers and your ideal clients. In fact, according to Entrepreneur magazine, businesses that use video grow 49% more from one year to the next than those that don’t.

Maybe you already knew that video is effective at capturing people’s attention and being entertaining (pet videos are a great example of this) but hadn’t considered how you, as a lawyer, could use it to build your immigration law firm. This article looks at some of the reasons why video can be an effective way to make an impression on others, which platforms are a good place to start depending on what your area of immigration practice is, and how to ensure your content is of the best quality possible to make the most of the videos you post.

Let’s dive in.

Why is video a good idea for immigration lawyers?

Video is a good idea for immigration lawyers for the same reasons it's a good idea for other professionals - using video as part of your marketing strategy can help those who view it see you as more relatable, more knowledgeable, and more inviting as an attorney. In a way, it’s easier for a client to connect with you if they’re already familiar with what you look like, your tone of voice, and the way you approach your practice.

Consider these five reasons as to why video is a great tool to use consistently to grow your law firm:

• Video improves your search engine visibility: In a poll conducted by Entrepreneur magazine, 65% of business executive respondents said that if they see a brand video, they will visit the brand’s website. Moreover, people can watch video across multiple devices, which makes you more accessible as an expert. This is in contrast to written content, which is not always mobile-device friendly.
• Video keeps people on your page for longer: Most people find video more engaging and easier to follow than reading, as it engages two senses at a time: watching and listening.
• Video leads to better retention: It’s more likely that people will remember something they watched in a video as opposed to something they only read about. In fact, 90% of the information processed in the brain is visual, so it’s safe to say that information presented visually is easier for the brain to work with.
• Video leads to more conversions: According to Oberlo’s Top 10 Video Marketing Statistics, 93% of businesses using video for marketing have landed a client thanks to a video they put on social media, and 73% of consumers say they were influenced to make a purchase after watching a video on social media. In addition, 88% of those using video as part of their marketing strategy feel satisfied with the Return on Investment (ROI) they’re getting out of the videos they make.
• Video is more shareable: If you’re working on growing your referral network (client and professional), video is one of the tools that will help the most. According to Small Biz Trends, “92% of mobile video consumers share videos with others.” When you look at the frequency at which video is shared compared to the frequency of shares of text and images, it’s much more likely that you will get in front of more people’s screens if you’re on video.

The numbers are very clear in how effective video can be to reach a wider audience, but you may still be wondering what platforms are the best for an immigration lawyer to post videos.

Here are the platforms you can share video content as an immigration attorney, and why.

Let’s not only look at some of the biggest, most popular, and most effective platforms to reach a wider audience, but also think about when would it make sense for you to use one over the other.

YouTube

Given how long it’s been around, the variety of content you can find on it, and how many people use it, it’s hard to dispute YouTube’s position in the general online space: YouTube is the second most used social media network in the world, with over 2 billion (yes, billion with a B) active users each month worldwide. That’s a lot of potential viewers.

There are two clear advantages that YouTube presents in terms of its position as a platform to share video content online as part of your marketing strategy:

• Google owns YouTube, so Google search results feature YouTube videos prominently. For example, if you have a YouTube channel, videos on your channel that feature specific search results, say, if someone searches for “how to file for Adjustment of Status” and you post a video on YouTube explaining how to do that, your video will appear on Google Search results.
• Also, YouTube is ideal for long-form video content since it doesn’t have time limits for video like many other social media apps do (we’ll discuss that on the next point).

YouTube is a good platform to create immigration law marketing content no matter what type of immigration law you practice. it does appear to be better for family immigration as most of the existing channels at the moment cover family-based immigration law.

Instagram, TikTok and Facebook

If you want to create shorter videos, some of these other platforms may be a better fit. Shorter form videos are the most popular kinds of videos on Instagram, TikTok and Facebook, although it is possible to share longer videos in all of them, including most recently TikTok, which now allows for videos up to 10 minutes in length. Even with the longer lengths, however, the most popular and reshared forms of video on these platforms are shorter forms such as Reels and Stories on Facebook and Instagram, and the shorter videos that TikTok has become better known for.

These short-form videos can be great for answering common questions in a concise, engaging format, which in some platforms, you can save for your audience’s future reference and to reshare with others. In addition, short form videos and posts may appear on the suggested posts of people who don’t follow you on Instagram “Explore” page or as part of TikTok’s “For You Page” that recommend content based on past searches or people that you follow. So in the same way that a search engine may show you other “related searches,” platforms like TikTok and Instagram may show you content that is relevant to your viewing history, which increases the chances of your video reaching a wider audience.

LinkedIn

If you feel like the prior platforms are too informal for you, LinkedIn may be your ideal platform. Widely considered as the most professional social media platform, LinkedIn is a great place to share videos aimed to establish you as a field expert and expand your professional network. You can, of course, repurpose videos you’ve made for another platform and share them on LinkedIn, or focus on making videos just for LinkedIn.

For employment-based or investment immigration attorneys, LinkedIn is likely to be the best platform to focus on when it comes to video content. That’s because LinkedIn, as a business-focused social media platform, tends to be where HR, investment and other business professionals spend their time, and where they’re more likely to explore business-related content rather than when they may be on Instagram or Facebook or YouTube in their personal capacity.

Your law firm website

Here are three ways in which you could use video on your website to present yourself in a more relatable way, to help your ideal clients feel more comfortable with you, and allow other lawyers to get a feel for your knowledge in your area of immigration law:

• Introducing yourself in a short video: if you’re an immigrant, or immigration is part of your family story, sharing part of your story in a video can be a powerful way to connect with prospective clients on your website who may find things in common in your personal experience that helps them build trust.
• Talk your website visitor through the process of working with you. Here you can explain, step-by-step, what the prospective client would need to do to start working with you, (e.g., “Once you reach out to my office through the form below, you’ll hear from one of our staff to set up an initial consultation. At that consultation…” etc.), thus making it easier for a prospective client to imagine working with you and increasing the chance that they take that next step.
• Explain your specialty within immigration law or describe possible situations your clients may have been in and how you helped others as a way to show your expertise and separate yourself from your competition.
• Embed social media videos onto your website, which is one way to make it easy to add content to your website without having to record specifically for the website.

Hopefully this article has been helpful to both educate you about the value of video content as part of your law firm’s marketing plan as well as where to focus your efforts when you do decide to get serious with video content.

Docketwise: case management solutions made by and for immigration lawyers

Now that you’re determined to focus some more time on marketing, streamlining your firm is more important than ever so you can save time and energy for more creative work. From a full library of immigration forms to client questionnaires in multiple languages to an industry-leading set of API integrations, Docketwise helps 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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Marketing your immigration law firm is a multifaceted process, one that involves being visible and focusing on specific knowledge. And while it is possible to find clients through sharing your knowledge online, especially on social media and at community events, old-fashioned referrals should not be discounted nor forgotten, particularly referrals from other lawyers.

But to get a referral from another lawyer, they need to be aware of what you do and also be able to see for themselves how well you do it, either through having worked with you, from client testimonials, or from your content through social media, at conference panels or elsewhere.

Building that awareness amongst other attorneys is what this article is about. Let’s discuss some of the ways you can do that to position yourself as an expert and stay at the forefront of other lawyers’ minds when it comes to referring your ideal client to them.

1. Use social media as a thought leader

Show that you’re an expert in your niche by sharing content from short-form posts to long-form articles to information videos or audio-only interviews. Of course social media has made this incredibly easy and effective. But which platforms should you use?

We’ve written about how to use social media to build an immigration law firm, but in short, here are a few important tips on maximizing your brand amongst peers via social media.

• Use a professional social media platform such as LinkedIn or Twitter to share thought leadership to your network or community.
• Engage in immigration lawyer Facebook groups by helping other attorneys think through case strategies, law firm management challenges and other aspects of practicing immigration law.
• Share your thoughts on regulatory changes or celebrate your clients’ successes.
• Ask questions when you’re stuck so that you create a back-and-forth relationship with other attorneys on social media. Giving advice is professionally helpful, but asking for advice and taking it from others builds personal relationships too.

Simply make sure to engage with other immigration attorneys no matter what social media platform you’re on, and build relationships with them online just as you would in person. By doing that while also showcasing your expertise through your own content, more and more people will get to know you and what you specialize in simply through your online presence, and will begin to refer your ideal clients to you over time.

2. Speak at immigration and other conferences or events

Speaking at industry events is a great opportunity to show your knowledge to other lawyers and extend the reach of your professional network beyond your geographical area, as industry events are often regional or national. If you’re concerned about not being well known enough to get invited to speak at a conference, keep your eye open for announcements in industry newsletters with calls for panel ideas and new speakers at upcoming events.

Conference organizers want their events to be as innovative as possible, so proposing panels on hot topics may increase your chances of getting an invitation to speak at an event even if you’ve never spoken before.

Also, don’t rule out industry conferences that your clients might attend, even if your attorney peers might not. For example, if you’re an immigration attorney focused on employment immigration in the medical field, apply to speak at a national nursing or physician conference. On the flip side, if you’re a family immigration lawyer working with a particular community, see if you can speak at a community meeting or gathering to spread the word about what you do and how you help individuals specifically within that community. And so forth.Last but not least, sharing your expertise through a published outlet can increase visibility for you and your firm.

3. Get your writing in a publication or try to get on the news!

Here are some examples of what “getting published” could look like:

• Legal publications, such as the AILA Think Immigration blog, the ABA Journal, or other bar association publications, especially state bar associations can be a great place to start. There’s often publicly-available information about how to submit articles for publication, like:
• AILA’s call for writers and editors
• ABA Journal’s guidelines  
• Federal Bar Association’s rules
• Industry publications, such as the following:
• SHRM’s HR Magazine, the All Things Work newsletter, and the SRHM website. You can see their publishing guidelines and contact information for pitching content on their website.
• Worldwide ERC’s Mobility magazine: Not only does this organization provide opportunities to get published, but also speaking opportunities and social media ambassadorships. You can find guidelines and current opportunities on their website.
• Tech publications such as Wired magazine. Here are Wired’s guidelines for pitching stories and opinion pieces.
• Local or mainstream news: This may require some help from a PR agency or someone in your network to get you in front of a video camera (or, these days, on Zoom), but being able to provide commentary and insight on new immigration policies or other breaking news specific to immigration stories can help you build rapport in front of millions of people who can then refer you if and when someone they know has an immigration question.

Ultimately, the goal of all this is to put your thought leadership out into the world in a way that allows your colleagues to learn about you and your area of expertise. Once they do that, they can then refer work to you instead of someone else when the opportunity presents itself.

Let Docketwise help you manage the immigration referrals that come your way.

If you’re an immigration lawyer, a forms and case management tool isn’t enough for you to handle referrals successfully and efficiently - you need a client relationship management system or a CRM, as well. That’s why at Docketwise we’ve built CRM capabilities on top of our best-in-class immigration forms and case management software.

All told, with our CRM, full library of immigration forms, easy-to-use client questionnaires and industry-leading API integrations, Docketwise helps you stay up to date on all your immigration cases, communicate easily with your clients, and otherwise build and manage your immigration law 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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Language diversity and immigration processes go hand in hand, which means that in your immigration law practice, you may work with clients or companies with a variety of language needs. Depending on the context, you or your clients may need the services of either a translator, an interpreter, or both.

Even though the terms translator and interpreter are used interchangeably at times, they aren’t actually the same thing as there are differences between the work that each does. Let’s look at those differences, along with some recommendations for translation and interpreting services well-suited for the language needs of an immigration lawyer.

What’s the difference between a translator and an interpreter?

Both translators and interpreters move meaning between two languages, but the difference between translators and interpreters lies in how communication is done. Interpreting involves speaking and listening, while translating involves reading and writing. Usually, translators have more time to complete their work, which helps ensure meaning is as closely preserved as possible between languages, especially when language structures differ.

You can often determine whether you need a translator or an interpreter based on how the final product will be completed. For example, if a client of yours needs to translate a document from their country of origin into English, they will need a translator. If you have a client who doesn’t speak English who’s appearing in immigration court, you will need an interpreter.

Important things to consider when looking for translators and interpreters

Now let’s look at a few important things you should consider when you’re looking for a translator or interpreter to support you while managing an immigration case.

1. Accuracy

One of the most important aspects of looking for a translator or interpreter is accuracy. If you are having a document translated, it’s important to make sure that the translation is as accurate as possible in terms of communicating not just the text, but the nuances in each language that go beyond the text and cannot be translated or interpreted in exactly the same way.

2. Speed

The second important aspect you’ll want to consider when you’re looking for a translator or an interpreter is speed. When interpreting, an interpreter’s level of ability to communicate quickly and accurately in the limited time you may have to deliver the message across is critical. In translations, it’s also important that the translator you hire can complete projects within the short timeframes you often have in immigration cases while still providing accurate translations.

3. Niche language familiarity

Just because someone can speak a language or dialect, that doesn’t mean they will be an effective translator or interpreter. Immigration law has specific vocabulary that a translator or interpreter will need to be familiar with, either to interpret or translate. The same is true with other technical vocabulary - for example, if you’re looking for a translator for documents that show the “exceptional ability” of a candidate, the translator will need to know the technical language of the field the supporting documents refer to in order to produce an accurate translation.

With all that in mind, let’s go over some translation and interpreting options you can look at next time you need a translator or interpreter.

Where can you find translators?

When it comes to translators, you can choose to work with a translation company with general experience or a company specialized in immigration/legal translations.

For immigration-specific translations, we suggest looking at ImmiTranslate, Motaword, Morningside Evaluations and RushTranslate as starting points. All offer certified translations, with a focus on the most common documents translated for immigration processes: civil documents (eg. birth and marriage certificates), academic credentials and evaluations, work experience evaluations, expert opinions and publications, business plans, and more. All of these platforms have online applications that walk you through the process of uploading documents for translation and detail how long will translations take.

If you’re a Docketwise user, ImmiTranslate should be your first choice, as the two are integrated. To connect the two, simply sign into Docketwise on the ImmiTranslate page and upload your documents for translation. Then, Docketwise users can select documents directly from their Files tab and with one click send those documents to ImmiTranslate for translation.

If you don’t require an immigration-specialized translation service, there are other online platforms you can use: Lionbridge and Blend Express stand out. Lionbridge crowdsources their translators, which means they have a broad pool of experience and availability and Blend Express boasts their work with some of the largest companies in the US as proof of their experience.

You can also, of course, source your own translation if you need a translation but not a certified one. Freelancer sites like Upwork or Fiverr are good places to look.

Where can you find interpreters?

For interpreters, context is important. There are instances where you will be required to use an interpreter that fits certain qualifications, and other times where you may be able to work with an interpreter from a broader pool.

If you’re looking for an interpreter for a court case, you can search the National Court Interpreter Database for an interpreter that fits the language skill you need. The federal court system classifies the interpreters in their pool as federally certified, professionally qualified, or language skilled. Plus, fees are already set up by the court system, so you know exactly what to expect in terms of expense, and can plan for present or future cases where you may need a court interpreter accordingly.

It’s worth noting that US Immigration Courts provide interpreters for non-citizens who are placed in removal proceedings at government expenses. On the other hand, the Asylum Offices of US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) require applicants for asylum who have been summoned for asylum interviews to bring along their own interpreter, if they need one.

In the same way you can find translators online, you can also find interpreters. Companies like Lionbridge, LanguageLine, and DayInterpreting provide interpreting services on demand and can connect you to an interpreter over the phone in over 200 languages and dialects. On-demand interpreters can be incredibly helpful for client meetings when there is a language barrier, or in the event of an unexpected need, such as if a client is detained by the authorities.

As always, you can use freelance interpreters, but those may be more difficult to find and you may not be able to use them in every instance you may need due to a lack of certification or availability, for example.

Docketwise is a streamlined solution for immigration case management

At Docketwise, we’re building an immigration case management, forms management and CRM platform that suits law firms of all shapes and sizes. We pride ourselves on our entrepreneurial spirit, our focus on building features for all types of clients, and our industry-first open API that allows our users to connect Docketwise to a number of other platforms, to streamline your work with easy access for you, your staff, and your clients as needed.

If you’re new to Docketwise, and would like to try and see if it’s a good fit for your firm, schedule a demo on our website today.

If you’re an existing Docketwise client, thank you for preferring us for your immigration case management needs!

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Employment-based immigration law can be unpredictable. Sometimes cases require extremely long processing times, while other times there are hectic periods involving short-lived filing windows. That means that you sometimes have to balance the demands of a short filing window for a high volume of specific cases that your law firm cannot reasonably accommodate with existing staff and resources. What can you do in this situation?

The simple answer is that you may want to consider getting help from a contract attorney.

This article dives into some instances where that might be the case, so whether you’re a law firm that encounters this situation or a lawyer who might be looking for extra work, this article is for you.

Some examples of when to consider temporary contract employment-based immigration attorneys

Here are just a few examples of instances when it might make sense for you and your firm to hire a contractor to help you with a temporary peak in employment-based cases.

During H1-B cap season

H-1B “cap season” is the months-long period during which employers submit registrations for potential H-1B beneficiaries applying for H-1B visas. During H-1B cap season, law firms not only help their clients complete H-1B registrations, which in itself requires at least some amount of information gathering and coordination, but also eventually prepare full H-1B petitions for those who were selected in the H-1B lottery (or in some cases prepare full H-1B petition even before the lottery). The point here is that during this time, the volume of work is very likely to significantly increase, and for law firms that don’t have available staff to reassign to H-1B cap cases, hiring contractors to help out during this period is a great solution. This way you can meet deadlines and expectations on your H-1B cap cases without ignoring your other work and falling behind.

When priority dates suddenly become current

In the same way you may have a high volume of H-1B cases during cap season, you may find yourself with a higher-than-usual volume of clients whose priority dates suddenly become current and who need your assistance filing their Form I-485 to adjust status. Plus, given that priority dates have been known to retrogress (go backward after moving forward), filing Adjustment of Status applications in a timely manner (i.e. before the end of the month and the following month’s visa bulletin is released) is crucial. In this instance, hiring a contract lawyer to help handle a temporary but drastic increase in I-485s that need to get out the door can be a great way to meet the deadline without burning out or making mistakes.

Sporting events and other temporary situations

There are other, less common examples of temporary situations where a high volume of immigration-based work is needed, such as when a sports team needs to suddenly bring an entire team of athletes and support staff into the US for a one-time event. In such a situation, the immigration law firm handling that team’s immigration work may want to bring on temporary help for those cases without necessarily hiring additional full-time staff.

Of course this list is by no means exhaustive and other similar situations exist, but hopefully this has been a helpful illustration of a few common scenarios when immigration law firms may need to hire contract workers to temporarily support a high volume of casework.

The next question is: who can you hire to help you with this type of work?

Ideal professionals to provide temporary support for employment-based cases on a contract basis

If you’re new to hiring a contract lawyer for employment-based immigration work, consider these three possible options:

• New attorneys trying to get work to learn more about immigration law through practical experience. If your budget is limited, or the assistance you need doesn’t require deep experience and expertise, consider giving a fresh law school graduate some experience while easing your firm’s workload. If you hire new attorneys, their rates might not be as high as someone with more experience, so as long as you have someone to supervise and guide them, you can have an “army” or attorneys helping you keep up with a high volume of work while also gaining valuable work experience.
• Mid-career immigration attorneys who choose to work on a project basis. Reaching out to a lawyer who is working in a limited capacity (for example, someone raising a child or caring for a loved one) to help you during this short period of time could be a great option, especially if you have experience working with them, or have seen their work before. For many attorneys, this kind of contract work helps them stay active and up to date on regulations and procedures even while they aren’t able to work full-time.
• Immigration attorneys winding down their career who want to do some work but don’t want to work full time. Immigration lawyers who are wrapping up their professional careers and taking a smaller workload could be a great option to help you on a contract basis. With them you would have the benefit of their extensive experience, which can save you time in terms of training (you may even learn a thing or two!), while still getting the work done that you need to get done. This could also be a fantastic opportunity for an experienced attorney to mentor or coach attorneys with less experience at your firm, which would result in long-term benefits of an otherwise short-term employment relationship.

Finally, the last question that remains is - how can you find someone to help you on a short-term contract basis for high-volume employment-based immigration work?

Finding contract attorneys for high-volume employment-based immigration work

To find an attorney to help your firm on a contract basis with employment-based immigration work, we suggest starting with those you know, and from there, going outwards. Here are some examples of what you can do to find the right contractor.

• Start with your personal network: Notify your network that you are open to or looking for part-time work. A post on your professional social media or an email blast to your professional contacts is sufficient, but make sure to give some details about the work you’re hiring for and clearly note how anyone interested can contact you for more details.
• Bar association job boards: Both lawyers open to working on a contract basis, and the lawyers who may need them, post what they’re looking for in job boards. AILA, different state bar job boards, the Federal Bar Association, and the American Bar Association job board are some examples for you to use and explore.
• Gig economy sites, like Upwork or Freelancer: This should be a last resort, as it is more difficult to verify experience and credentials on these sites. However, it’s still possible to post both your availability if you’re a lawyer looking for extra work or look there if you’re a law firm seeking help.

Hopefully this article has made the case for when, who and how to hire contract workers when your immigration law firm suddenly has to deal with a high volume of employment-based immigration work. The last step is to make sure you have the right software at the foundation of your firm! And that’s where Docketwise comes in.

Manage your immigration law firm with Docketwise

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 clients. Should you need to bring reinforcements during H-1B cap season or any other high-volume period of time, you can easily add your contract lawyer to your Docketwise account to collaborate with them, give them access to what they need, and remove them, as needed, when the work concludes. Docketwise makes document and information sharing seamless and helps you keep your clients’ information secure.

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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Writing immigration briefs can be as laborious and time consuming as it is important. It’s a task that requires background research, careful drafting, and even more careful fact-checking and proofreading. Outsourcing the job of writing your immigration briefs to someone with more experience in legal writing, more agility with legal database research, or simply more time, can be an incredibly effective time-saver.

That’s what this article is about - getting help with and outsourcing immigration brief writing. First we’ll go through the benefits of outsourcing in general, and then we’ll share some ideas of how you can specifically outsource brief writing for your immigration firm.

Let’s jump in.

Five benefits of outsourcing legal writing

Outsourcing in the legal space is growing in popularity as law firms are quickly catching up to other industries that have been outsourcing for many decades. Today, we’re seeing more and more outsourced services for lawyers, including digital transcription services, virtual receptionists, and even paralegal services.

Indeed, the idea of outsourcing beyond administrative tasks is also gaining traction, including court appearances and legal writing, our topic for this article.

In general, outsourcing can:

• Help you offer competitive rates to your clients. Outsourcing tasks, including brief writing, to a contractor is more affordable than hiring an additional employee, especially if your volume of clients may not justify a new hire. Thus, outsourcing brief writing keeps your costs, which you can then pass on to your clients by way of more competitive rates, attracting even more clients as a result.
• Keep your practice flexible and sustainable. You may not always be financially able to hire an employee or keep an employee on staff, especially during down times. Outsourcing to a skilled legal brief writer allows you to keep the lights on and sustain your practice more easily regardless of what’s happening in your life or the broader economy that may impact your firm.
• Help you maintain focus on specific areas of your business, especially if you’re in the growth or client acquisition phase and need to allocate more time to business development than handling every aspect of your cases.
• Offer a high standard of representation. If one of your cases goes to court, whether the BIA, a Court of Appeals, etc., and you have never dealt with that before, it makes sense to work with a more experienced brief writer that has had success in immigration court, which is different to the “regular” court system. Hiring an experienced brief writer, especially if they’re an immigration lawyer, would help provide the best representation possible and would enrich your knowledge with the expertise of the other lawyer for more cases in the future.
• Foster the work-life balance you want: If you went solo after working for a bigger law firm that had seemingly unlimited resources, including on-staff brief writers, you may get burnt out from the writing aspect of immigration work. Outsourcing this task can help you manage your work hours more effectively and avoid overworking.

Whatever your reason for wanting to outsource, defaulting to outsourcing whenever you have a case going to court or require writing a briefing may be your go-to solution. Let’s go through some of the best ways to outsource this kind of work.

How to outsource legal writing work:

Some of the suggestions in this section are applicable to outsourcing in general, so we won’t spend too much time on them. However, there is a growing field of legal tech platforms specifically focused on outsourcing that we want to highlight here, as they may be great places to find a lawyer or other professional to work with on writing immigration briefs:

• Referrals through your personal network: Your personal network, including former law classmates, colleagues, acquaintances from professional events, lawyers you’ve connected with through social media such as LinkedIn or Facebook Groups, etc. Sometimes we forget that simply asking those around us for guidance or support can be the best way to get what we need!
• AILA and other bar association networks: The American Immigration Lawyers Association, and most state bar associations, will have a job board where both lawyers and other legal professionals looking for work and those looking for help can post and connect.  
• Search online on gig economy sites, like Upwork or Freelancer, talk to prospective immigration brief writers and try them out. You may want to ask for a sample of a previous brief to be included with each application for you to review in the vetting process.
• Online platforms oriented to outsourcing legal work: platforms such as Lawclerk, Attorneyatwork, and Hire an Esquire exist for the purpose of helping lawyers outsource work. All point out the speed at which the concept of outsourcing work is taking hold among lawyers, and the growth projections for the field in upcoming years. Unlike a general gig economy site, all the professionals you’ll find in these sites are in the legal industry, which helps you narrow your search from the start.

One very important reminder before outsourcing legal writing is to check your state bar’s rules on disclosure of hiring contract lawyers. Some states require you to disclose, while others don’t, so be sure of that before outsourcing your immigration brief writing. Remember that you’re always responsible to ensure you’re in compliance with ethics rules and regulations in your state.

Manage your immigration law firm with Docketwise

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 clients. Should you need to outsource a court appearance, you can easily add your contract lawyer to your Docketwise account to collaborate with them, give them access to what they need, and remove them, as needed, when the court appearance is over. Docketwise makes document and information sharing seamless and helps you keep your clients’ information secure.

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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At Docketwise, we’re proud of how well our software plays with others. 🤝 We were the first immigration software product to offer an open API, and we think tech integration fuels growth more than simply building feature after feature in a siloed manner.

That being the case, we wanted to put an article together highlighting and sharing information about our current list of integrations.

Because our commitment to making the most effective immigration platform is demonstrated in the time and effort we put into building integrations with other tools that make Docketwise users even more successful.

Today we have integrations with fifteen tools and services that help our users maximize efficiency and success:

• LawPay
• QuickBooks
• Zapier
• Google Calendar
• Legalboards
• Outlook Calendar
• Outlook Email
• YoTengo Bot
• Gmail
• ImmiTranslate
• LaborLess
• LegalMate
• MyCase
• Clio
• PracticePanther

Which one would you like to see next?

A Review of Integrations Available with Docketwise Immigration Software

As immigration law firms become more sophisticated and there is more technology available that services law firms, integration between platforms is crucial. Docketwise has always been striving to create a holistic tech ecosystem for our users , from launching the industry’s first open industry’s first open API to partnering with a number of platforms that immigration lawyers use, to building out integrations to make lawyers’ lives easier.

Integrations enable two or more platforms that were not created by the same developer to “talk” to each other and exchange information as needed. And when you’re managing information pertaining to the same case on different platforms, whether it’s billing, scheduling, or immigration forms, avoiding double data entry and otherwise streamlining your use of multiple platforms is key.

Let’s explore the integrations Docketwise has today.

A review of Docketwise’s Integrations

Here are the integrations that Docketwise has as of June 2022, and a bit of information about each of these tools, organized in alphabetical order. We will not be focusing so much on what these tools do individually, but instead how you can use them with Docketwise to optimize your case management.

Clio

Clio’s multiple products are designed to help lawyers collaborate from one platform: you can organize your cases, track and manage your time, and bill clients right from the same platform. Docketwise’ integration with Clio allows you to “keep contacts and matters synced across both platforms”. Once you activate the integration, your Clio contacts will be migrated to Docketwise and vice versa. Also, each time a new update occurs on either platform for one of those synced contacts, the other platform will be automatically updated with the same information. You can activate this integration in your Docketwise Account Settings.

Gmail

This particular integration allows you to push emails and attachments from Gmail to Docketwise. You can send files and emails from Gmail, and have them stored in the appropriate client’s profile page and the matter page on Docketwise. When the add-on is authorized, you can also find your Docketiwse clients on Gmail by sender or receiver. This way, if you receive something on your Gmail address, you can add it to your Docketwise client portal, ensuring that all users on your Docketwise account have access to it.

You can install the add-on as an individual if you’re a solo Docketwise user, or as an admin for other staff members if you have multiple users on your Docketwise account.

Google Calendar

Integrating your Google Calendar to your Docketwise account keeps all your appointments, meetings, and events in order and in one place. With this integration, you only need to create your event once on Google Calendar, and it automatically syncs to the Docketwise Events calendar, or vice-versa in the other direction from the Docketwise Events calendar to your Google calendar. You can add as many advance notifications as desired, and all attendees, whether your staff or the client, will receive these reminders by email. This can help you ensure everyone required in a specific meeting is aware of when it’s happening, and helps avoid confusions with scheduling by keeping one centralized calendar for you and your firm.

ImmiTranslate

Certified translations can be one of the most cumbersome aspects of immigration casework. ImmiTranslate provides professional, certified document translations from a vast array of foreign languages to English, which are accepted by US immmigration authorities.

Now picture this: you have a client that submitted a document for their case that needs translation. Instead of printing and mailing to a translator, or forwarding the document electronically to someone else, with the ImmiTranslate integration to Docketwise, you can transfer your documents from Docketwise to ImmiTranslate directly. Just select the documents in question and ImmiTranslate does the rest. To get started, sign into your Docketwise account and follow the steps provided by ImmiTranslate to activate the integration and learn more about pricing.

LaborLess

If you work in employment-based immigration, this integration is for you. LaborLess helps you post your Labor Condition Applications (LCAs) for your H-1Bs, H1-B1s and E-3s, by letting you create an electronic record of your LCA using your notice. When you confirm your LCA is accurate, you post and monitor its progress. By integrating with Docketwise, you can add this completed step to your employment-based clients’ portal, which also helps your clients or their HR departments see their progress. LaborLess also allows you to store your Public Access Files (PAFs) and access them through your Docketwise dashboard.

LawPay

As a billing platform, LawPay helps you complete one of the most important tasks in your job: issuing and collecting payments. If you have a Docketwise account, through which you can already send invoices to your clients, the LawPay integration enables you to take credit card payments by including a payment button with the invoice. You can also share invoices to the Docketwise client portal and with the LawPay integration active, a payment button will be included on the client portal. Adding the integration to your Docketwise account is easy: once you log into your Docketwise account, click on Account Settings, and choose “Activate LawPay”.

When your clients make a credit card payment, it will be processed through your LawPay account, yet thanks to the integration, it also shows on the Docketwise invoice. In addition, LawPay also allows you to set up default accounts for payments, create payment plans for clients so the client is billed automatically at set intervals, and more. Adding this integration is a great way to automate your payments and give your clients an easy option they can access for payments no matter where they are.

As a caveat, with the recent acquisition of MyCase (which just a few weeks prior acquired Docketwise) by LawPay’s parent company, AffiniPay, we’ll be working on even deeper integrations down the road.

LegalBoards

LegalBoards is a workflow and task management platform that helps you organize and assign case work tasks, as well as monitor their progress. Integrating with Docketwise allows you to create boards for each step of your immigration cases, create automatic emails when needed along the process, and keep Docketwise up to date as tasks are marked as completed on LegalBoards. This integration is ideal for law firms with multiple members involved in case work: you can try it for free and activate the Docketwise integration to see if it’s a good fit.

LegalMate

LegalMate focused on offering two types of payment options: upfront payments, and payment plans. Given that most immigration lawyers operate on flat rate pricing, a payment integration that allows you to collect one-time payments, or break them down on a client-by-client basis is ideal to secure the funding you need to keep your work going and ensure filings are completed on time.

LegalMate only charges you or use once a case has been paid for. Its payment plan feature also helps you provide a better customer experience, as those who are unable to pay a whole fee upfront can plan ahead for monthly payments, giving both you and your clients peace of mind.

To learn how to integrate LegalMate with Docketwise and start offering payment plans for your clients, check out LegalMate’s tutorial on their website, or schedule a demo to try the integration out.

MyCase

Integrating MyCase with Docketwise helps you sync two types of information across the two platforms: contact details and matter details, though with the recent acquisition of Docketwise by MyCase, we do expect the integration to get deeper as time goes on.

When it comes to contact information, not all fields are the same across the two platforms; however, the most important information will transfer automatically, such as the contact’s name, phone number, email address, and physical address. When a contact is in one platform and doesn’t match to any other contacts in the second platform, a new contact will be created. It’s important to keep in mind that these overwrites and new contacts created do not occur every single time, or necessarily with the exact same information. Once the integration is activated, though, synchronization is automatic across platforms. An important thing to keep in mind when you’re setting up this integration is to fully allow sync permissions so that information updates properly. For more detailed instructions on this integration, check out Docketwise’s support page, which includes instructions and tutorials.

Outlook Calendar

Just as with the Google calendar integration, Docketwise offers the same functionality for Microsoft email clients, as well as for Outlook Calendar. By syncing your Outlook Calendar to your Docketwise Events calendar, any meetings and events you create on Outlook Calendar will sync to the Docketwise Events calendar once the integration is in place. This way, everything that you have scheduled in your Outlook Calendar is visible to those with access to your Docketwise account, ensuring your team is on the same page and avoiding duplicate or missing appointments.

Outlook Email

Anything that is sent to your Microsoft email client can be synced to your Docketwise account, so you can continue keeping track of the messaging you send and receive through your email in the roadmap to each client’s immigration case on Docketwise. If you receive files through your Outlook email, you can bring these same files into your Docketwise portal for easy access and maintaining everything in one place, which saves you time and confusion

Quickbooks Online

Docketwise is one of over 650 apps that integrate with Quickbooks Online, so not only is this great for Docketwise users, but also signals that it’s possible that other platforms in your tech stack also integrate with Quickbooks Online. The Docketwise integration with Quickbooks is only available to Docketwise Suite or Docketwise Enterprise customers. This integration pushes the invoices you create in Docketwise to Quickbooks (so the identical invoice is created there) and pushes payments recorded in Docketwise to Quickbooks. In Quickbooks you would do your other accounting functions besides invoicing like monthly account reconciliations, tax reports, etc.

To activate the integration, make sure you log into both Docketwise and Quickbooks at the same time so you can activate the integration on your Docketwise account settings. Docketwise’s Help Center offers a detailed webinar video about the integration and written step-by-step instructions to set up default accounts and create trust requests, and explains the syncing process between Quickbooks and Docketwise.

PracticePanther

PracticePanther is a legal practice management system designed to help you keep track of all aspects of a case in one place, including files, invoices, calls, notes, along with tracking time and expenses. As far as how Docketwise syncs with PracticePanther, the focus is the same as with other practice management systems we’ve referenced here: syncing contacts and matters. Once the integration is activated, changes on PracticePanther will sync automatically to Docketwise. And while syncs will be automatic once the integration is complete, it does happen at the end of the day, so if you need to see something synced before the end of the day, you can always do it manually by clicking a button on your Docketwise dashboard. The Docketwise Help Center provides instructions for manual syncing, along with how to complete the integration of these two platforms.

YoTengo Bot

YoTengo Bot is a chatbot created by an immigration lawyer to manage initial conversations and frequently asked questions, as well as redirecting clients to a specific immigration specialist in your firm, depending on the question they ask. Each of these interactions with either a lead or an existing client can be added to a client’s set of interactions, whether it’s a conversation, a future scheduled appointment, or a source shared to provide a potential or existing client more information on next steps. YoTengo can be a great way to monitor the reach of a new marketing or client acquisition strategy, and how effective is your firm at engaging leads by providing actionable information upon first interactions while saving you time on administrative tasks.

Zapier

Zapier not only integrates with Docketwise, it also helps you connect Docketwise with over five thousand apps. In order for online platforms and applications to integrate, an integration has to be written in the form of code (known as an API, or application programming interface). Zapier fills the gap between apps that don’t have a direct integration by acting as an integration hub that allows you to connect products that don’t connect directly. In this way, you can keep contacts synced between Docketwise and other products that don’t integrate directly with it by going through Zapier.

Docketwise consistently applies cutting edge technology to immigration case management

Docketwise prides itself in its dedication to pushing technology forward in the immigration space. And our integrations are just one of the ways to do that, thanks to our open API to help you build a tech stack for your firm that will best streamline your process, improve efficiency, and enhance communication and client satisfaction.

To learn more about Docketwise, schedule a demo on our website and subscribe to our Immigration Briefings newsletter to continue learning more about Docketwise and all things immigration and technology.

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One of the great benefits of practicing immigration law is that, as a federal practice, you can work with clients outside of your state. This allows you to reach more people and grow your firm. However, the farther from you your clients are, the more challenging it could be to serve them in person, especially if their case goes to court.

If you work with immigration cases that involve appearing in courts, the possibility of needing to travel for a court appearance may be keeping you from trying to get clients outside your area, and getting in the way of your growth. But the question is, is it always necessary for you to personally show up in court?

The short answer to that is no, not necessarily. Outsourcing — a term that you may be more used to hearing in the context of manufacturing or technology development — is also possible when it comes to appearing in court. Yes, you can outsource a court appearance to a lawyer who is closer to the location of your court appearance, helping you maintain a high standard of service for your clients, even if you cannot be there yourself.

In this article we explore some reasons why immigration attorneys outsource their court appearances, and some ways to do that if you’re interested in exploring it. Let’s dive in.

Two common reasons immigration lawyers may outsource court appearances

Here are two possible situations you may find yourself in as an immigration lawyer that may warrant exploring potentially outsourcing a court appearance to another lawyer.

1. You want to build a practice but aren’t good at in-person court hearings.

Every attorney has their strengths and weaknesses. Some attorneys aren’t great at or really dislike appearing in court, while others love it, are great at it, etc. Indeed, immigration law is largely practiced outside of the court system, as most processes are completed at an administrative level. So unless you choose to represent clients in removal proceedings or federal court litigation, you might accrue very little, if any, experience in court. In this case, law firms who are able to get clients, whether through a robust referral network, marketing practices, etc. who need representation in court but don’t want to or or don’t feel equipped to do so can consider hiring an attorney to do their court appearances for them.

2. You have a virtual firm and can’t travel to court appearances.

Because immigration law is federal, firms can handle cases across the US regardless of where their office is located. For some immigration cases, all the work can be done remotely with document sharing, video calls, etc. But for cases that require court appearances, it becomes a challenge if your client is in another part of the country. In this case, you can have someone else appear on your behalf and help with the court appearance part of the case.

Now, how do you go about finding a lawyer to outsource your immigration court appearances to? Let’s move into that in more detail.

How do you find attorneys to appear in court for you?

Below we’ve outlined three strategies you can follow to find attorneys around the country to appear in court for you. Some of these are longer-term strategies that may yield relationships and connections beyond a one-time court appearance, while others are more transactional.

• Leverage your existing immigration lawyer network and social media channels like LinkedIn or Facebook groups for immigration lawyers or in other communities. This way, you can see if anyone can help you appear in court in a certain area, time, or date. You might be surprised to find how someone you know might be able to and interested in helping.
• Check with bar associations, such as the state bar association where you need help, the Federal Bar Association’s immigration section, or the AILA career center or member directory for individuals who have the expertise you need and are open to or looking for work.
• Hire a contract attorney through attorney hiring sites such as Lawyexchange, or even look through gig economy sites such as Upwork. Even though sites like Upwork and Fiverr have job postings in a range of fields and with a range of skills, you can specify what you need in your search - you may be surprised here as well with who’s listed on these sites and how they can help you.
• Consider an ongoing partnership with an attorney or firm located in the area where you need to hire someone to appear for you.

There are likely other creative ways in which you can find an immigration attorney in another part of the US to appear in court for you, but hopefully these four scenarios can inspire you to consider expanding your practice, both geographically and in terms of the kind of work you do.

Consolidate your immigration law case management with Docketwise

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 clients. Should you need to outsource a court appearance, you can easily add your contract lawyer to your Docketwise account to collaborate with them, allow access to what they need to prepare for the case, and remove them, as needed, when the court appearance is over. This makes document sharing seamless and helps you keep your clients’ information secure.

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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When an immigration lawyer is thinking about setting up a law firm, a case management system is probably one of the first things that has to be put in place. But immigration law is very wide in scope, and not all firms have the same needs. Thus, how do you approach your search for a case management system?

There are two important considerations you should keep in mind when thinking about adopting a case management system for your practice:

• The size of your immigration law firm
• The type of immigration law you will be focusing on: family-based, or employment / business-based immigration.

Different law firms need different features. For example, solo or small firms may need flexible billing for individual clients while larger firms may need more sophisticated reporting and dashboards to support their corporate clients.

This article aims to give you some ideas on what to look for in a case management platform based on the size of the law firm, and we’ll split our discussion between family-based and employment-based as well.  

Choosing a case management system based on your firm’s size

When we’re thinking about the size of law firms, let’s think about solo and small, mid-size and large law firms. At the same time, it’s important to consider options for both family-based and employment-based or business immigration clients. Keep in mind that this is not an exhaustive list, but hopefully this will be helpful as you explore getting your first, or switching, case management platforms and deciding what’s best for you and your firm.

Solo and small immigration law firms.

Smaller firms tend to work with both fewer clients and smaller clients. A small firm may also be actively involved in the client acquisition process, and its stream of clients may depend on word-of-mouth referrals and more active outreach. At a high level, this means you need your case management platform to have options that are ideal for individual applicants and companies that likely have low volumes and thus low sophistication around immigration. This might look like:

• Easy-to-use questionnaires for foreign nationals to fill out with their personal information to fill out the necessary immigration forms, particularly in multiple languages, particularly for family members who may not have English language skills.
• Flexible billing options so that clients have the ability to pay in installments, defer payments, etc.
• Tasks and checklists, especially to help solo lawyers stay on track with cases who are managing and otherwise wearing multiple hats and who may not have established processes already in place.

Most importantly, it’s very likely that in a firm of your size, you are doing most of the work yourself, legal and otherwise. That means that an ideal case management system should help you with multiple types of tasks, whether they are financial, administrative, or managerial, for example, and allow you to complete all that work in one place.

If you’re not the only lawyer or staff member at your firm, and have a more steady stream of cases because you’ve become better known or have some larger-size clients, in case you practice employment-based immigration, your needs and the needs of your staff are going to be different. Let’s look at what would an ideal case management system include for a mid-size law firm:

Mid-size immigration law firms

At this point in time, your law firm may have a handful of attorneys and other staff members, and either a steady stream of family-based clients or maybe a few sizable employment-based or business clients (or at least a large enough number of small clients). That means you will likely have higher communication volume and handle more personal information for more clients. So, for a mid-size firm, it’s important to look at how a case management system fares in communication and security to decide if it’s a good fit.

Here are a few things to consider for this size firm in addition to the ones noted above:

• Look for a system that includes email and document templates for specific types of cases, since now you’re likely handling cases at some considerable volume and potentially are starting to see repeat cases and clients. Having templates will help you be more efficient and save you time.
• Team communication capabilities, so that you can talk to your various team members via the platform and keep all your work-related discussion in one place. This is especially important if more than one staff member is working on a case, and if you have staff helping with administrative tasks like accounting or receiving physical mail.
• Automation, to help you more efficiently organize and handle tasks, kick off processes and otherwise focus on less repetitive tasks.
• Strong security features, since you will now potentially have employees signing on in various places, and as employees come and go, you need to make sure no former employees have access to your firm’s cases. Strong security is always important when you’re handling client’s personal information, but when you add the possibility of staff turnover or people who have access to your case management system on a temporary basis as contractors, security becomes even more important.
• Basic reporting features are important, especially for your business clients who may want to get some immigration-related data and insights from you. Reporting features can also help you gain insight on whether a specific initiative, say, in marketing your firm, is giving you the results you intended.

When firms get larger with more consistent caseloads, and may have either a large staff, or multiple branches, a case management system takes on a different level of importance. With that in mind, your choice of a case management system should be informed by the needs of a potentially more demanding client base.

Large immigration law firms

Finally, in this instance, you will likely have a large staff and either a huge, consistent stream of family-based cases or large corporate clients that provide you with steady, volume-based immigration work. Here is what to consider for firms this size:

• A sophisticated client portal so that your corporate clients can log in and see or even manage some of their own immigration data. A client portal will allow, for example, a Human Resources department to provide updates to international recruits or out-of-country staff in immigration processes, and give them more direct access to you if they have questions or concerns, as well as a way to update information or for example, upload forms when a new status filing or renewal comes up.
• Sophisticated reporting functionality for clients that need to review immigration data for hiring purposes, to assess current staffing, to consider global mobility needs, for financial considerations and more.
• A way to manage prospective clients - basically a sales or marketing feature, or CRM - to track the business side of the firm. An ideal case management system should help you keep track of, and follow up on leads, in a way that helps you keep track of both existing and prospective clients in the same platform, or at least allow for integrations with such tools.
• The availability of integrations, to be able to plug your immigration case management platform into other tools your firm may be using, or may want to use, to build as sophisticated of a tech infrastructure as possible in order to maximize automation, customer support, business development, security and more, while seamlessly passing information between these tools and avoiding double data-entry, human error, etc.

Ultimately, different immigration law firms have different requirements, and finding a case management platform that truly suits every type of immigration law firm isn’t easy. But at Docketwise, that’s what we’re aiming for, because why not aim high, right?

For case management uniquely tailored to immigration law, try Docketwise

At Docketwise, we strive to build an immigration case management, forms management and CRM platform that suits law firms of all shapes and sizes. We pride ourselves on our entrepreneurial spirit, our focus on building features for all types of clients, and our industry-first open API that allows our users to connect Docketwise to a number of other platforms, to streamline your work with easy access for you, your staff, and your clients as needed.

If you’re new to Docketwise, and would like to try and see if it’s a good fit for your firm, schedule a demo on our website today.

If you’re an existing Docketwise client, thank you for preferring us for your immigration case management needs!

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