Bankruptcy Week Day 4 Recap
Read this post for a recap of day 4 of Bankruptcy Week.
  • Bankruptcy Week
  • legal
  • tech
NextChapter Team
Published on May 14, 2020

 

Day four of Bankruptcy Week, sponsored by NextChapter and Fastcase, brought more informative sessions from experts in legal and tech. The all-virtual bankruptcy conference is free to attend and is streamed live on Livestorm.

 

Here’s a roundup of day four.

 

Session 1: Don’t Leave Money on the Table: Getting Paid and Better Serving Your Clients in 2020 with LawPay

Jordan Turk gave this talk, who is a practicing attorney and the Content and Compliance Manager at LawPay. The platform offers an easy solution for attorneys so they can accept secure online forms of payment.

 

Jordan’s session covered how to streamline law firm payments and thus save time and money for the firm. The product demo offered attorneys a look at how easy it is to use LawPay.

 

What was covered:

  • The importance of billing and collections for your practice and how to be consistent, reliable, and reduce friction when taking payments.
  • Clients today expect online payments, so law firms must be up to date and meet client expectations. COVID-19 has increased the need for easy, virtual payments.
  • An explanation of credit card processing fees, IOLTA compliance, and PCI compliance.
  • Benefits of offering online payments including improved communication, instant payment confirmation, and appealing to younger clients.
  • Advice on how to get paid easier when billing clients, like billing regularly and near payday.

 

Session 2: Bifurcated Bankruptcies with Matt Hartley

Matt Hartley is the Co-Founder and Managing Director of Fresh Start Funding, a resource for attorneys that aims to make bankruptcies more affordable. Before founding Fresh Start, Matt worked as a bankruptcy lawyer and owned one of the largest consumer bankruptcy firms nationwide.

 

Matt’s bifurcated bankruptcies talk was an overview of how this type of solution works and allows attorneys to help clients in need.

 

What was covered:

  • Fresh Start Funding was created to make bankruptcy affordable to all people so that they can get their lives back in order.
  • Fresh Start Funding's services: line of credit, payment management, credit reporting for debtors, and training for attorneys.
  • There are very firm guidelines from courts on how to bifurcate a case properly, and you must properly disclose what is happening in a bifurcated case to a client so they can give their informed consent.
  • Bifurcated cases are beneficial for clients because they make it possible to afford an attorney, file right away, and rebuild their credit.
  • On the attorney side, bifurcation is a smart addition to your practice because more people retain and refer you, and marketing is more effective with a $0 down option.

 

Session 3: Marketing Your Law Firm with Jim Christy

Jim Christy is the CEO of Postali, a legal marketing agency that helps firms grow and attract more clients. Jim brings almost 10 years of experience to the table, helping practices get new business and improve their marketing and operations.

 

Jim presented tips for lawyers in the realm of marketing, covering the basics and best practices in our current climate.

 

What was covered:

  • Law firm marketing 101: establish an identity, gain attention through marketing, and track KPIs.
  • How to define your law firm's identity and unique value proposition (why someone should hire your firm over another).
  • A website is where the bulk of your content lives, and should be user friendly and personalized to your law firm.
  • An explanation of digital marketing efforts for lawyers including, organic and paid social, google ads, SEO, lawyer directories, and more.
  • Using direct mail and traditional media to reach consumers effectively.
  • Schedule a call with Jim to learn more about legal marketing and how Postali can help your law firm reach its objectives: https://calendly.com/jchristy-postali

 

Session 4: Ask the Expert with Ron Drescher

Ron Drescher is Managing Attorney at Drescher & Associates and focuses on business cases, bankruptcies, and commercial litigation. He has over 150 five-star Avvo.com and Google reviews and has been practicing bankruptcy law for 35 years.

 

In this Ask the Expert session, Ron answered questions from legal professionals, offering his insight and experience to help other practicing attorneys.

 

What was covered:

  • Answers to a wide variety of questions about bankruptcy law.
  • A CRM (customer relationship management) platform is the most important tool for a lawyer, as it manages and organizes contacts.
  • The power of content marketing for lawyers and sending out drip campaigns to your marketing list.
  • More about Ron's course, Complete Bankruptcy, which was created to help attorneys who are completely new to the field of bankruptcy. Get information here: https://0vgjtlzd.pages.infusionsoft.net/
  • Why surges in cases are often delayed after major events like COVID-19, and how long we can expect the influx in filings to last.

 

The final day of Bankruptcy Week is packed with sessions to round out attorney resources and sum up the state of the industry.

 

Here’s a look at what’s coming tomorrow:

Friday, May 15

Session 1: BK Books and Fastcase with Erin Page at 11AM ET

Session 2: Bankruptcy Systems and Workflows with Ron Drescher 2PM ET

Session 3: The Client-Centered Law Firm: How to Succeed in an Experience-Driven World with Jack Newton at 4PM ET

Register for Bankruptcy Week today to catch the last day’s sessions. It’s free!