BCT Consulting Credits Lawyers With Spike in Technology Business

BCT Consulting, the largest IT consulting firm in California's fast-growing Central Valley, has seen business increase 35 percent and expand statewide in response to harsh economic realities.

Lawyers with expertise in bankruptcy, water and family law are seeing an unprecedented demand in client need.

Gary Sawyers, a water lawyer with offices in Fresno, Los Banos and Monterey, said, "Lawyers and their clients work from hotels, their cars, their homes and multiple office locations. At the same time, clients want quick, and sometimes instantaneous, responses. Technology allows lawyers to meet clients' needs."

He edits documents for clients in San Francisco and emails them between meetings in Los Angeles. Calls to Sawyers' office are seamlessly forwarded to his cell phone or home office and documents are scanned and emailed for review and revision.

California lawyers are also leaving firms to go solo and cut overhead expenses. As a result, more lawyers are creating websites and investing in search engine optimization that allows them to be found quickly by potential clients searching the Internet.

Eric Rawn, owner of BCT (Business Computer Technology) Consulting in Clovis, Calif., said, "The world has evolved into an instant gratification society fueled by technology." His 13-year-old company provides services for law firms and other small businesses that include computer support, website design and phone technology with voicemail-to-email capabilities.

Erin Rhames-Childs, a family law attorney in Fresno, has voicemail transferred automatically into email, which creates a client "paper trail." She said, "When I'm sitting in court, voicemails are sent to my iPhone. It has caller I.D., the length of the message, and I can listen or read the text."

Increased use of the BlackBerry, iPhone and Treo has people working non-stop. Rawn said, "But few people can do their whole job with a mobile device. It mostly allows for quick reaction. If 80% of all email and mobile computing is reacting, the other 20% really needs to be performed on a laptop or desktop PC. These days, our clients work 24/7, so support calls come at midnight and 2 a.m."

Rawn added, "The need to be as efficient as humanly possible is the goal of any successful law firm. Technology is the cheapest and quickest way to get to the end goal. Return on investment is huge."