Immigration Technology

As immigration law finds its way deeper into the national discourse, more law firms are developing their own legal technology platforms designed specifically to bolster their immigration law practices. Like law firm-developed compliance apps, these new immigration tools aim to streamline some immigration law's intricacy and document-heavy processes to help firms automate workflows, grow their client base, and better serve the clients they have.

In early 2018, for instance, Littler Mendelson developed web questionnaire Travel Ban Navigator, with the assistance of AI automation company Neota Logic, to assess if an employee's travel to certain countries was impacted by President Donald Trump's travel ban.

"It was created to give some general guidance they could do on the fly in case they had to make a quick determination," said Littler Mendelson global mobility and immigration practice group chair and shareholder Jorge Lopez.

He stressed the app doesn't offer legal advice but provides a general understanding of the law as specifications and requirements change due to Trump's executive orders and court cases. 

Lopez also noted Travel Ban Navigator wasn't created to generate more clients. Rather, it was intended to offer clients a mobile review of their legal liability. However, providing the tool may lead to some follow-up consultation, he acknowledged. "It probably creates more billable hours by clients that want to confirm the information they've received," he said.

Indeed, while legal technology may automate work lawyers could bill to the client, it can also lead to clients reaching out for more information.

Take Montreal-based immigration law firm Exeo's chatbot Immigration Virtual Assistant (IVA), for example. Exeo co-founder and partner Marc-André Séguin said IVA was launched in 2017 as a way to democratize the information needed for the early stages of immigrating to Canada.

"Our firm was founded on the idea that the public deserves to have access to readily available information, and the reality is if this is your first experience immigrating—especially to Canada—the tools available now can be very confusing," Séguin said. "There's a lot of information in the domain."

He said the firm's chatbot is intended to answer the general questions asked during the first meeting with an immigration lawyer or immigration consultant, with follow-up in-person consultation strongly recommended.

"At the end of the day a chatbot can provide information but not advise," he said. "Once they've evaluated their options they'll need to work with a licensed consultant or attorney, and that's where we come in."

Legal tech's 24-7 accessibility is essential for any client, especially those that fear law enforcement, said Martin Valko, managing partner of immigration firm Chavez & Valko's Dallas office.

In June the firm released a cellphone app dubbed Lawpilot Guardian so clients can immediately call their lawyer and other contacts when they fear being apprehended or harassed. Audio recordings are stored on the cloud and lawyers can find their client's location through the app's GPS abilities. The app also includes a library of their rights in the event they are stopped by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), as well as immigration-related news curated by the law firm.

Valko said he and Nicolas Chavez, managing partner of the firm's Fort Worth, Texas, office, teamed up with developers to create the app for clients that are "afraid of coming into contact with law enforcement."

Valko also noted Lawpilot Guardian is a "sidekick" to a case management platform the firm is set to release in the fall called Lawpilot Solutions.

Valko described Lawpilot Solutions' on-boarding function, case and document management and other features as an effort to seamlessly automate running an immigration law practice. "You are trying to let attorneys focus on what they do best, which is their professional work, and let the mundane tasks be dealt with by technology so they can keep the overhead the same or lower and increase their caseload."

Valko noted he and Chavez are not coders, but the idea for the platform grew from a frustration over platforms not solving all of their administrative and practice needs. Lawyers connecting with tech developers to code their legalese is a growing and necessary trend, Exeo's Séguin said.

"I think law firms creating artificial intelligence, apps, chatbots or other apps is a great initiative. At the end of the day, this is 2019. People are looking for information online, and it's important law firms are part of that process no matter what practice they practice in."