Vancouver, BC, Oct. 13, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Clio, the leader in cloud-based legal technology, announced the winners of the fourth annual Reisman Awards. Recipients included Clio customers who have demonstrated law firm excellence and innovation over the last year.
“We were absolutely blown away by the amazing ways Clio customers leverage our platform to better the lives of their clients, employees, and communities,” said Jack Newton, CEO and Co-founder of Clio. “This year has been one of immense and rapid change, presenting a variety of new challenges. We’re proud to recognize legal professionals who are making a profound impact on the world through their work.”
The 2020 Reisman Award recipients are:
Best New Law Firm: Schneck Immigration Law
Best New Law Firm honors a newcomer who has weathered the trials of entrepreneurship and come out on top. After working at a large firm, Kristen Schneck, broke out on her own to found a firm that focused on creating a culture of career growth for women, while creating a more diverse and inclusive workplace that could better serve the needs of the Pennsylvania community. Now considered a leading voice in Pennsylvania on the topic of Immigration Law based on Humanitarian, Schneck has seen great success and has added 3 additional staff is currently adding a second partner immigration attorney
Best Growth Story: Jodi Ann Donato, Esq., LLC
Best Growth Story honors a firm that has experienced exceptional gains. After suffering an office fire in December 2017, Donato Law moved into a temporary office in New York, only to experience a second setback when a pipe burst due to the cold. Thankfully, Jodi Ann Donato, stored the vast majority of her work in Clio and was able to recover over time, without any downtime. Fast forward to 2019, and Donato Law took in 21% more cases than they did the previous year, almost doubling between October 1, 2019 and December 31, 2019, compared to the same period from 2018. On top of this, Donata Law’s accounts receivable is the lowest it has ever been in their 27 years of practice and they didn’t have to institute collections actions against any clients in 2019.
Community Champion: Osborn Gambale Beckley & Budd PLLC
Community Champion honors firms that prioritize giving back to their communities, whether it be through pro bono work, donations, volunteering, mentorship, or another altruistic activity. Counsel Carolina (Osborn Gambale Beckley & Budd PLLC) is an equal access law firm committed to closing the justice gap in North Carolina, which sees almost 80% of the civil legal needs of regular people not being met every year. To make justice more accessible and affordable for all, Justin Osborn and his team travel around the state hosting free legal advice events in their custom 33ft RV or onsite with community partners. Since we opened in April 2019, we've hosted
59 events in 13 cities, volunteered 1308 hours of pro bono service, and helped over 799 people in their community.
Legal Innovation: Roche Legal
Legal Innovation honors a practice that has successfully challenged industry norms, either through technology, delivery of legal services, or meeting the needs of a non-traditional market. Based in the UK, Roche Legal is dedicated to giving a voice to the elderly and vulnerable while also demystifying the legal process and changing perceptions about the profession. The driving force behind Roche Legal is their dedication to embracing new technology to ensure they offer unique client service innovations. Outside of meeting clients, virtually, and creating eBooks clients can use to navigate the legal process, Roche Law, also offers clients an innovative online Will writing and Lasting Power of Attorney service. This took two years to develop and has just four sections for the client to complete. Their remote Will writing system gives clients a prompt and efficient service wherever they are in the world without having to rely on a postal service.
Excellence in Client Service: Ceiba Forté Law Firm
Excellence in Client Service honors a practice that has successfully implemented a client-centered approach to running their firm that is better for their clients and their business. Ceiba Forte Law Firm focuses on serving the Minnesota Hispanic community with their civil, business and employment matters. To ensure that the experience they provide clients is approachable they inject a little fun in the consultation process offering story cards to better capture the way a client feels about their case and use visual charts to ensure they know why the client is asking the questions they are. To ensure legal services are affordable they offer alternative fee arrangements like flat fees, contingency, and hybrids. A core belief at Ceiba Forte Law is adapting to the needs of every client, especially for hard working Hispanics, foreigners and immigrants, and communicating in a clear way to ensure all their clients understand the legal process and are at ease.
Named for Clio’s very first customer, Catherine Reisman, an entrepreneurial attorney whose feedback helped shape the software, The Reisman Awards celebrate the legal industry’s game changers, groundbreakers, and pioneers.
“By recognizing firms of different sizes and at different levels of success, we’re highlighting the most enterprising and ambitious of our community,” said Newton. “Our customers are on the leading edge of this industry, and we’re proud to honor their hard work.”
Learn more about the Reisman Awards at clio.com/the-reismans/.
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About Clio:
Clio, the leader in cloud-based legal technology, empowers lawyers to be both client-centered and firm focused through a suite of cloud-based solutions, including legal practice management software and client intake and legal CRM software. Clio has been transforming the industry for over a decade with 150,000 customers spanning 100 countries, and the approval of over 66 bar associations and law societies globally. Clio continues to lead the industry with initiatives like the Legal Trends Report, the Clio Cloud Conference, and the Clio Academic Access Program. Clio has been recognized as one of Canada’s Best Managed Companies, a Deloitte Fast 50 and Fast 500 company, and, most recently, Company of the Year, Anchor Success by the British Columbia Tech Association. Learn more at clio.com.