Equity release law firm is released from the burden of paper post

Since 2008, Equilaw has developed an outstanding reputation as a specialist law firm in equity release, working with clients over 55-years old.

Today, the business employs 80 staff and their shared expertise has been recognised with eleven ‘Best Conveyancer’ awards at the annual Equity Release Awards. 

Keen to retain their position as a market leader, making sure that documentation is processed effectively, is critical to their success.

Being ready to quit the old ways

Equity release law is complex and much of the documentation associated with it requires hard copy processes for signing and sharing information, including legal packs, forms, and ad-hoc letters and communications with clients. Much of this post is time and service-critical, especially when clients have meetings scheduled for signing paperwork with solicitors. When that paperwork isn’t received quickly, customers have the right to complain and may be entitled to compensation or it can result in a solicitor’s wasted time visiting the client. 

The team had been using Royal Mail, franking and stuffing envelopes, and the daily post collection at 5pm meant that most of the team spent much of their afternoon preparing each day’s outgoing mail. And with so many people all trying to print and stuff envelopes, errors are inevitable. These could have serious consequences if paperwork became muddled as this would represent a breach of data protection rules. 

Creatures of habit nervous about switching from in-house

The team needed a modern, efficient way of handling all of their post, that could also grow with the business and had the flexibility to handle different requirements but they were also creatures of habit and nervous about switching to digital. 

“The teams love it, never had any complaints” – Josie Hanks, Team Leader

An initial conversation with the Postworks team revealed that the service could save each case manager at least 45 minutes every day (30 minutes looking at their post and 15 minutes bringing it down to the post room!). 

The Equilaw team compared several inbound and outbound post options but Postworks was chosen because there were not large set up fees or high ongoing costs. Equilaw is a forward thinking company with a preference for being technology driven so they felt that Postworks, as a technology company, could grow with them the best.

Now the outbound post is digitised

Today, Postworks is sending 90% of the firm’s post, and receiving their inbound post too.

Because Postworks are sending out Equilaw’s letters, relevant  attachments and reply envelopes are automatically added – something the office team often forgot to include while aiming for the 5pm deadline. This turned out to be useful contingency planning when a few weeks later the team were responding to Covid lockdowns and limited office access!

“We’ve never had any negative feedback. I don’t think we’d ever go back. It moulds to what we want to do and the team at Postworks are all lovely!” – Sarah Robertson, Operations Manager

Any incoming letters are all automated

For the inbound post, the Postworks system automatically recognises replies that have been sent back in and who they have come from thanks to the clever Postlink™ technology unique to Postworks. 

“We absolutely love working with Equilaw, and creating a solution that automates and completely digitises the mail processes that are so key to their business operation, was one of my favourite projects. Equilaw are an incredibly forward thinking firm who understand that technology can help power their success and growth” – Marvee-Lisa Booker, Chief Growth Officer at Postworks

And Postworks’ smart tech links them both together

Postworks system also recognises, from the outbound document pack, who the Case Handler is, so when Equilaw’s clients send their documents back, they automatically go back to the Case Handler responsible and they get notified to let them know that case paperwork has arrived back in. 

“It’s idiot-proof and there’s a solution to every letter! Support respond really quickly too” – Equilaw

It’s saving the Equilaw team huge amounts of time having to open the post, read it to find out who it’s from, find who the case handler is and then distribute it internally. 

Documents which can be handled electronically, such as initial client paperwork, are all scanned in and automatically pushed into Equilaw’s document management system via the PostworksAPI. 

The result is a big increase in efficiency and turnaround in meeting deadlines and a beautifully smooth, complete digital mailroom.

“If you’re considering Postworks, just do it! It’s modern, easy to use, and our teams love it. Paper quality is great, scanned documents save time, and the drag and drop interface is really intuitive. It’s also helping us be more sustainable as a company… It means a lot to us.” – Josie Hanks, Team Manager

If you’re a law firm looking to have your inbound and outbound mail made smarter, faster, and carbon neutral,  there is a better way! 

Give Postworks a call on 0370 334 1516 or email [email protected] and we’ll help you get started on the journey of digitising your post.