Firm operations
What to ask a new tax client for
One document does most of the work, and the things that carry real money forward are not in it — they are with the previous preparer, who is easier to reach in November than in February.
5 min read
Writing
The work around the work.
Document collection, client portals, signatures and retention — the administrative half of running a firm, which is the half clients actually see. Written for small and mid-size practices with no IT department behind them.
16 articles
All articles
Firm operations
What to ask a new divorce client for
The documents worth requesting at intake, which of them can wait — and the ones that get harder to obtain every month nobody asks for them.
5 min read
Firm operations
What to ask a new estate planning client for
The documents worth requesting before a first meeting, grouped by what they decide — and the one category that quietly overrides the will you are about to draft.
5 min read
Firm operations
A client portal or a shared drive: an honest comparison
A drive is cheaper, faster to set up and already paid for. Here is the short list of things it genuinely cannot do, so you can decide whether any of them apply to you.
5 min read
Firm operations
Looking at Clio alternatives for a two-attorney firm
Most small firms shopping for an alternative are really asking one question — am I paying per seat for a suite I use a third of? Here is how to answer it before you book any demos.
6 min read
Firm operations
What a conflict check in software can and cannot do for you
Software can search your own files and make somebody look before a matter opens. It cannot know the other side, and it cannot make the judgement. The line matters.
5 min read
Client experience
What to look for in a client portal: a checklist for law firms
Fourteen questions worth asking before you buy a client portal, and the three that most demos quietly avoid.
6 min read
Security & privacy
A practical guide to collecting client documents securely
Secure document collection is mostly process, not cryptography. Here is the process, from the request through to retention.
6 min read
E-signatures
Are electronic signatures legally binding? What US firms need to know
The short answer is usually yes. The useful answer is about evidence, exceptions and what your signing process can prove six months later.
6 min read
Firm operations
Building a document intake workflow that survives your busiest month
Intake fails at volume for structural reasons, not because people stopped trying. Here is how to build one that holds.
6 min read
Security & privacy
Two-factor authentication, explained for a firm with no IT department
What the second factor actually does, which kind to use, and how to roll it out across a small firm in an afternoon.
5 min read
Client experience
The first 48 hours: onboarding a new client without a single attachment
A two-day onboarding sequence, hour by hour, that gets documents in and sets the tone for the whole engagement.
5 min read
Firm operations
How to stop chasing clients for paperwork
Chasing is a symptom. Most of it comes from four fixable causes, and the firms that escape it changed the request, not the reminder.
6 min read
Firm operations
Going paperless without losing the file: folders, naming and retention
Scanning everything is the easy part. The decisions that determine whether you can find a document in four years are made before the scanner arrives.
6 min read
Growth
What clients quietly notice about how your firm handles their documents
Clients cannot judge your legal work. They can judge everything around it, and that is what they describe when somebody asks them for a referral.
5 min read
Most of this is easier with one place to put things.
Pertavo gives a firm a single secure place to collect client documents, message clients, assign the work and get a signature on a PDF. Tell us how your intake runs today and we will show you the difference.