Remote Tools for Our Valued Clients

We all miss the ease of in-person social interactions, but we can connect in new ways. Our remote tools make it easy for you to get your legal needs met, even if you can't leave home. You may be familiar with these tools, but if you are not, we've provided a guide below.

If you have any questions regarding any of the tools mentioned below, feel free to reach out to any of our attorneys or staff.

ELECTRONIC SIGNING

E-signing a document is as easy as answering your email. If you are asked to e-sign a document, you will receive an email sent through one of software programs. We use several programs for e-signing so your email might come from MyCase.com or DocuSign.com. If you don’t see the email, it might be in your spam or junk folder depending upon how tight your spam filter is.

Once you receive the email, you will be given step-by-step instructions on how to sign using that particular program. If your email comes from MyCase.com, you will click on the blue button that says “View & Sign Document” to read and sign your document, and also place a checkmark to show that you acknowledge that your e-signature will be treated the same as if you had signed using a pen on paper. Once you have finished signing, copies of the document will be emailed to you and our firm.

The DocuSign process is similar although it has a few more steps, which are explained as you begin the e-signing process. If you need more information about DocuSign, you can find it here.

VIDEO CONFERENCING

We use the popular video conference software Zoom to enable us to have video conversations with an individual or groups of people. There are multiple ways to access a Zoom meeting, but if you are working with us, we will send you an email that includes the day and time of the meeting, and a link that you can click to join the meeting.

You can use any computer with a camera and a microphone, or a mobile device to join a Zoom meeting. Most desktop computers these days have both built-in, but if you lack either of those devices, they can be purchased and plugged into your computer’s USB ports.

You can download the Zoom Desktop Client for Mac, Windows, ChromeOS and Linux at https://zoom.us/download#client_4meeting

For mobile devices, you can download Zoom from the App Store or Google Play.

You can join a test Zoom meeting to familiarize yourself with the platform and test your microphone/speakers before joining a Zoom meeting. Visit zoom.us/test and click Join.

If you are having a video meeting with one of our attorneys or staff members, you will receive an email that will include the time and date of the meeting, a password, and a link to join the meeting. You will click on the link, and then will be asked to click again on the “Open Zoom Meetings” button. You will need to enter your password to join the meeting. After you do so, you might see a message that the host has not yet arrived. You will have an option to test your microphone while waiting. After the host arrives, you will have choices on how to join the meeting: by phone or by video and with your microphone on or muted. Although there are other ways to join Zoom meetings, and more ways to set them up, this is the basic info you need to start chatting with us face-to-face but not in the same space.

For more in-depth info, you can visit Zoom support at https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us or you can search for a video on how to join a Zoom meeting on YouTube, which can be easier than searching through FAQs on a support site.

SENDING DOCUMENTS

You can still mail copies of documents to us at 263 Main St., Level 2, Placerville, CA 95667, or place them in our drop box at that location. But it is also convenient to send them to us by email or by uploading the documents.

When you send documents by email, we recommend that you send PDF files, rather than photos (jpgs) of your documents. If you own a scanner, you can do this easily by setting the scanner settings to scan the documents as a PDF and then attaching them to an email. Although not essential, it’s also helpful if you give each document an explanatory name, like “2010 Lease 234 Broad St,” if you can.

If you don’t own a scanner, you can still accomplish this from your mobile phone by using one of the pre-installed programs described below, or by downloading one of the many scanning programs from the Google Play or the App store, such as Camscanner.

If you need additional help with the scanning process, YouTube has many helpful videos on this topic as well.

Apple

Since 2019, Apple has added a scanning function to its Notes app, which is installed in every iPhone.

Instructions on using the Note app for scanning can be found here:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT210336

After the document is scanned, it can be emailed by tapping on the familiar icon for sending items by email or text messages.

Android

Users of Android mobile devices can scan documents to Google Drive app and send them from there. Most Android phones have the Google drive pre-installed, but it can be downloaded from Google Play if you don’t have it.

Instructions on how to use the Google drive scanner can be found here:

https://support.google.com/drive/answer/3145835?co=GENIE.Platform%3DAndroid&hl=en

The document will be stored in your Google Drive, named as Scanned plus the date and time. You can then select the “Send a Copy” option from the menu in Google Drive to email the documents to us.

Uploading

Or, if your case involves many documents and you are familiar with uploading documents, you may ask your attorney whether the option to upload documents to your case is available.