Stephen Williams
Why Your Child Custody Lawyer Needs Technology
Anyone with a Facebook, Twitter, or “Insta” account knows the ability of technology to connect us. The ability to connect with your lawyer and effectively communicate is crucial to your case, your children, and to your peace of mind.
In a world of innovation, lawyers continue to do way too many things exactly the same way they always have. (Imagine if your pediatrician worked like this.) Lawyers send letters via “snail-mail”, set up in-person meetings that could be handled by phone or email; we have “status conferences” at court that last less time than it takes everyone in the case to get to the courthouse, and certainly less time than it would take for a tech-savvy judge to get everyone on a conference call. But hey, it’s the way it’s always been done, right?
The troublesome part of it, from the lawyers point of view, is that many individuals, as clients, still expect their lawyer to work like this, but our failure to utilize the available technology is a disservice to our clients. It’s like anything else. If efficiency goes up, price goes down, and we lawyers can be effective for our clients.
When working with a lawyer, technology can grant you access to the expertise of your counsel in a way never possible before the last 10-15 years. On the other hand, if your lawyer “doesn’t do email,” then be prepared to do your best through other modes of communication.