HT Law: CRM and case management all-in-one

Helen Tarokic, Attorney and North Carolina Board Certified Immigration Law Specialist and owner of HT Law wanted to find a CRM solution to help the team work across different time zones, help match interpreters to clients and help manage complex data around important cases. There was also a project where a group of over 50 clients really needed help. 

“The government delayed on cases for victims of human trafficking. These clients had cooperated with law enforcement in a trafficking investigation and had been approved for a T Visa based on their cooperation. But the government was delaying, stopping these clients moving forward with their green cards, to be able to travel internationally and safely, and to be able to move on with their lives.   

Putting together an individual lawsuit for so many clients and trying to explain all the information to the right people was a massive project. We didn’t have a lot of time to figure out 50 individual communications.”   

Helen chose Workbooks because it was customizable to their needs and delivered where others couldn’t, bringing reliable CRM functionality alongside the case management functionality they needed. 

“The communication separated Workbooks from the others (HubSpot, Salesforce, Clio and Docketwise). They make you think about your internal processes – what is necessary and what isn’t. Do you need to spend this much money? Where are you wasting time? You question your own procedures and streamline them. We didn’t see that with other people that we could talk to. 

With the other CRM software, if you only have 20 clients a month and need something out-of-the-box, they might work. But we work on extraordinary humanitarian relief. There are thousands of data points. The work that we work with is not cookie cutter stuff. Within our industry there’s a lot of case management systems but they’re not CRM software so you can’t connect everything together. The CRMs don’t have enough case management functionality.” 

Creating clear, multilingual pricing, contracts and release forms 

Workbooks helped Helen and the team with their client data, enabling them to quickly get things moving for clients that had waited long enough for change.

“Workbooks helped us get 50 names into the system. We created a special template for that group lawsuit. We added the information that we wanted that group to hear, contracts, release forms – all in two different languages. There were a lot of different areas that needed signatures and careful review. 

This meant we could say to our clients – if you want to sign on to this lawsuit, we have group and bundled pricing. I was able to do all of that right before the holidays and it was so effective. Within a week, people were retaining us on those lawsuits. 

The communication mattered too. I like to explain to people their rights, all their obligations, what could happen, positive or negative. Workbooks helped us with just little tips on confidentially reaching our clients with clearer information – that made a big difference.”

The most important result of all – giving victims closure

The biggest benefit HT Law saw was the closure it gave their clients.

“We really were able to use 2023 and 2024 to leverage Workbooks. To be able to help people get some closure and move forward before there’d be any political change that might impact them was very cool.  

We even recorded videos in Spanish, Hindi and English to share a message from their lawyer and send private confidential messages to specific clients to the correct email. That helped each client make a decision on the next steps and decide whether they wanted to push the government a bit harder”

Using Workbooks as a litigation tool

HT Law needed more than a CRM; Workbooks helped them manage their cases too.

“We can now clearly see data on where clients live and the legal issues that they have,
you can clearly see who is in the most favorable jurisdiction. Those might be our main plaintiffs. But we can look at who else can go around them and find strength in numbers. So, we’re really using Workbooks as a litigation tool as well as a CRM.”

Releasing revenue held up by the government

HT Law were able to get the government to release a huge amount of revenue by using Workbooks CRM to manage clients’ contracts, communications, and build a group lawsuit.

“The lawsuits brought in $220,500 worth of legal fees to us because people were finally able to move on to their next stage. We’re working on more of these lawsuits now. We’re now working on another 60 opportunities to do the same.”

Freeing up time to help victims in need

Without Workbooks, the team would have spent hours doing the same work with a higher chance of error.

“It could take a dedicated team around 50 hours to get this work done. We could have spent all that time cutting and pasting the same offer, but there’s a high chance of human error if you do that manually. Then you’ve got to make sure that you send the right consent form. So, I don’t know how easy it would be to get organized to complete it all. It wasn’t just the savings; it was being able to identify the right people in the first place and Workbooks helped us do that.”

Protecting confidential information

A big factor in their decision about which CRM to choose came down to security.

“Protecting attorney-client confidential information is a top priority for us. Workbooks gives us the power to quickly access confidential information while giving us peace of mind that it’s secure. With multiple layers of network security protection, security built into the core of Workbooks, and options for advanced security – we’re in good hands.”