At Filevine we care deeply about our customers and the millions of clients & matters they represent. With the spread of novel coronavirus (COVID-19), you’re likely in the midst of important considerations about next steps and the safety of those you serve.
This is a new threat that we have to fight in a new way–not with weapons, but with community. We prevail together by being accountable to one another and for each of those who are vulnerable. It’s a test of who we are, a small set of actions each of us has to do on our own to benefit people we may never know.
Today we’re sharing what we’re doing to ensure your legal operations continue running smoothly. To the technology companies, service providers, and difference makers that serve our community, we make this open call: What can you do to help?
Immediate Action to Help Your Practice
Free, Temporary Licenses for Emergency Staff Increases
With all of the challenges you’re facing from this crisis, worrying about having to add licenses for staff members who must unexpectedly work remotely shouldn’t be one of them. That’s why effective immediately Filevine is giving away free, temporary licenses to any of its customers who need to take emergency measures so their employees can stay productive.
100 Complimentary Minutes of Legal Answering Services
Between moving staff and worried clients, this may be a difficult time to keep up with calls. Filevine’s legal answering service, Ringbird, is here to help. We’re giving non-Ringbird customers 100 minutes of call overflow services for free, for as many as we can without compromising on quality. And if you’re already a Ringbird customer, we’re waiving your overage fees and reducing your per-minute rate, for any minutes beyond your contracted volume, to a maximum of $1.90 per minute.
#LegalWFH Community
We hear from hundreds of legal professionals like you who are making the transition to a paperless, work from home (WFH) office in light of COVID-19. So we’re taking the lead by starting a new forum where you can talk through best practices and ask questions to your peers. This is a time to come together as a community and share what’s working. Join the conversation in the LegalWFH group on Slack or by using the hashtag #LegalWFH on Twitter.
How Filevine is Handling COVID-19
Reduced Travel
Filevine is taking proactive steps to reduce travel, effective immediately. While we may still need to make in-person visits from time to time, we are taking precautions to ensure the safety and well-being of our staff and those visited. We have also encouraged employees to follow suit in regards to personal travel and carefully follow all CDC travel restrictions and advice.
Team Members Working Remotely
As of March 13, Filevine is requiring all employees to work remotely as a proactive measure to prevent potential spreading of COVID-19. We’re carefully monitoring the situation and will continue the remote work policy as long as needed.
With over 200 employees in five offices across the country, Filevine has cultivated a culture of remote work and is already well-versed in virtual operations. We understand the importance of the readiness and ability to work anywhere, anytime, which is exactly why we’ve built Filevine for that express purpose for your firm.
Increased Cleanliness
Even though offices are closed to all non-essential personnel, Filevine has also increased office cleanliness. This includes increased cleaning frequency and even more sanitization availability.
Evaluating and Monitoring the Situation
Filevine teams have been closely monitoring and evaluating information and instructions from the CDC and WHO as they come to light. The health and well-being of our customers and employees is our top priority. We are prepared to continue service to our customers and care for our employees as we work remotely and minimize the spread of COVID-19.
Business as Usual with the World’s Most Trusted Infrastructure
Filevine will continue to provide the best service possible to customers and act as the operating core for legal. As remote work becomes more and more necessary, now is the time to lean on Filevine. We empower legal professionals to better serve their clients on the most secure and reliable platform—AWS. Working on the cloud is more important than ever as we continue to get work done remotely. Your law firm can continue business as usual by depending on Filevine.
How You Can Use Filevine to Reduce Risk
Minimize Physical Paperwork and Utilize the Cloud
Go paperless as soon as you can. Firms that have already gone paperless are making the transition to working remotely much more easily than those that haven’t. Keep all documents in the same secure location within Filevine. Storing documents on the cloud eliminates the need for physical paperwork and lessens risk of contamination.
Using the document management and generation features available in Filevine will enable your firm to minimize physical paperwork and limit the spreading of germs. Keep your important documents in the most secure place available—the cloud.
Work from Anywhere, Any Time
With all of your case files, team collaboration, client communication, and other important information gathered and safely secured on the cloud, you can access it from anywhere. Pull out your phone, computer, or tablet to work remotely as self-quarantine measures continue to be encouraged.
Keep In Touch Without Being In-Person
Though it may not be wise to see your clients face to face at this time, you can still keep in constant communication with them through features in Filevine. Text, email, and fax with your clients to keep them informed about their case and ensure that they feel heard and understood.
Brush Up on Your Filevine Best Practices
Filevine was built from the ground up with mobility in mind. We have live training webinars nearly every day. Familiarize yourself and your team with our help section and join in on the trainings to learn best practices so your firm is best prepared to take advantage of Filevine’s features and capabilities.
Avoid Becoming a Target
Criminals and other bad actors can use natural disasters and periods of economic unrest to trick firm employees into making risky decisions they would otherwise not normally make, playing off of fears, poor communication, or relaxed compliance with corporate policies. During these times it’s important to remember a few things:
- Be diligent about not opening unsolicited emails, clicking on embedded links in emails, and turn on multi-factor authentication to your email accounts if your firm hasn’t done so already.
- Requests for changes to wire transfers, ACH, or other electronic payment instructions should not be followed during a disaster and should still require two people to authorize them if they are large.
- Ensure your home or business computer is fully updated with the latest security patches from Microsoft, Apple, and other regularly-used programs like your web browser.
- Try to follow your standard business practices as much as possible and remember, if something doesn’t feel right, it likely isn’t.
Filevine will continue to empower legal practices to provide the best possible service to their clients as we closely monitor the COVID-19 situation and move forward with the care of our customers and employees in mind.