New Features to Help You and Your Clients on the Justia Lawyer Directory During COVID-19

To help lawyers reach potential clients during the COVID-19 pandemic, Justia has added new features to the Justia Lawyer Directory.

Approximate Read Time: 2 Minutes

The Justia Lawyer Directory has always been a great place for consumers and businesses to find and compare attorneys who meet their needs. Our directory is free for all attorneys to get a full featured profile and free for all to use. With communities throughout the United States issuing shelter-in-place orders to flatten the curve of new cases of the COVID-19 pandemic, what people are seeking in an attorney has changed. In response, we’ve added new free features to help users find attorneys with whom they can communicate for their legal needs.

Video Conferencing

Since the shelter-in-place orders have made it difficult (or impossible) to meet with a client in person, many lawyers are turning to video conferencing solutions in order to meet face to face with their clients and potential clients. An attorney who offers video conferencing is especially attractive to consumers who are trying to find an attorney right now. To make it easier for them to find attorneys who offer video conferencing, and easier for lawyers to show that they offer video conferencing, we’ve added a new section to our profiles in which attorneys can indicate which video conferencing services they use.

This information is visible on attorney profiles, and we have added an “Offers Video Chat” indicator on listing pages and search results for profiles that have indicated that the attorney offers video conferencing. Consumers can filter their search results or listing pages by using our filtering feature to show only attorneys who have indicated that they offer video conference meetings.

This new feature is available on all attorney profiles, including free profiles, at no cost. To add this indicator to your profile and listings, edit your profile and select which video chat services you support on the new editing page.

If you are not yet offering video chat meetings but are interested in doing so, be sure to check out our guide on selecting a video conferencing solution. The major consumer services, which are FaceTime (Apple Only), Google Hangouts, Skype, and Zoom, are very easy to use, and all have some free plans. And once you learn how to use one or more of the video conferencing platforms, make sure to update your Justia Lawyer Directory Profile.

Business Hours and “Open Now” Indicators

Many law firms, like other businesses, have adjusted their hours of operation during these trying times. We’ve added the ability to indicate the business hours for each office location on your profile.

You can indicate the business hours for each day individually. We’ll display these business hours on your profile in the office locations section, as well as adding an “Open Now” indicator whenever your hours of operation indicate that you are currently open for business. You can specify separate hours for each office listed on your profile.

This new feature is available on all attorney profiles, including free profiles, at no cost.

We Are Never Done

These new features have been added extremely efficiently by our dedicated team of designers and developers, who jumped into action to implement them immediately even when working remotely. We are always working hard to add new features and services to help consumers and attorneys alike, and you can expect more new features and options in the coming weeks as the COVID-19 crisis continues.

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