Florida criminal defense firm grows 725% with Lawmatics

Joel Leppard
CEO & Managing Attorney,
Leppard Law
The results
10
hours saved per week per employee
101
%
YoY growth rate
12
%
conversion rate increase

save hours each week

increase revenue

convert more leads

X
%
increase in lead conversions
X
%
increase in marketing spend
X
new staff hired
Firm facts
Practice Area
Criminal Defense
Business Size
25 Staff
Location
Orlando, Florida
Switched From
Clio Grow
Meet Joel Leppard
Joel Leppard started Leppard Law in a borrowed office with a mission to stand as his clients’ bulwark in legal representation. Fast forward to today and Joel has grown his firm from negative capital to a team of five attorneys and 20 staff members. The firm specializes in helping professionals facing DUIs and domestic violence charges, emphasizing personalized attention often unavailable at larger firms. Joel’s tech-forward philosophy drives operations, ensuring that every client receives fast, clear communication and a seamless experience.

Using technology to provide the best client legal services is our tagline. Lawmatics is a key part of that.”

Joel Leppard

CEO & Managing Attorney, Leppard Law

The mission

As Leppard Law took on more cases, keeping up with leads became a growing challenge. Joel looked for ways to streamline his operations without adding unnecessary complexity. He wanted technology that fit naturally into how his firm worked, rather than forcing his team to adjust to clunky systems. After hearing rave reviews from colleagues who had already used Lawmatics, he saw potential in the platform and made the switch. Today, it’s the backbone of how the firm runs.

Challenges

Scaling personalization

Leppard Law built its reputation on treating every client like their only client. But as the firm grew in size, keeping that personal touch got tricky. Before Lawmatics, the firm used text templates and text expanders to speed up communication, but it was still a hands-on process. Messages had to be triggered manually, making it hard to reach clients at the right moments.

Processing lead volume

As a high-volume criminal defense firm, Leppard Law gets hundreds of leads every month, making it critical to manage them efficiently. Figuring out which cases were the best fit while keeping up with timely follow-ups was a constant juggling act. Without automation, the team spent valuable time manually sifting through leads, chasing down potential clients, and assessing eligibility — all on top of managing active cases.

Disjointed tech tools

Before Lawmatics, Leppard Law relied on a patchwork of tools — Mailchimp for emails, various texting platforms, and Zapier to tie things together. Keeping everything running smoothly took way too much admin work, and things could still slip through the cracks. Tech issues could eat up significant time, distracting from client work because there was no easy way to connect everything.

Within Lawmatics, you really can run an automation on every little form or field."

Joel Leppard

CEO & Managing Attorney, Leppard Law

Benefit highlights

Scaling with automation

Leppard Law leverages Lawmatics to automate repetitive tasks, freeing up valuable time for attorneys and staff to focus on higher-level work. “I’m just trying to automate the crap out of everything,” Joel says, emphasizing the firm’s commitment to efficiency. By cutting down on administrative tasks, the team can spend more time on strategy, case preparation, and developing strong relationships with clients.

Easy lead management

With hundreds of leads coming in every month, Leppard Law needs a system that can quickly sort and vet potential clients without overwhelming staff. “You can't spend all your time nurturing all those leads and figuring out which ones are going to come up to pay,” he says. Lawmatics automations ensure that every inquiry receives an immediate response, allowing the firm to identify quality cases fast.

Personal client experience

Leppard Law puts client service first, ensuring every interaction feels personal and prompt. The way Joel puts it, “It doesn’t matter how good you are in the courtroom if you don’t provide good service to clients.” Lawmatics makes it seamless, automating key touchpoints so clients stay informed without the team getting bogged down. The firm keeps its high-touch approach, but now with less busywork and more impact.

Cooperative technology

Lawmatics tracks lead sources across all intake channels, including phone calls, which make up a large share of Leppard Law’s inquiries. CallRail logs these calls and triggers an automatic follow-up. “They immediately get a text message and fill out a Lawmatics form.” With CallRail data flowing into Lawmatics, the team gets clear reports that show which marketing efforts are paying off, making it easier to adjust strategy and spending.

Growth

Leppard Law’s commitment to efficiency and innovation has skyrocketed their growth. By leveraging automation, the firm has been able to scale operations without sacrificing the personalized service that sets it apart. “We hit 725% growth over three years,” Joel reports. In fact, Leppard Law was named in the top-five fastest growing law firms in the nation in the Law Firm 500 for two consecutive years.

Eliminated redundant software

Switching to Lawmatics for email marketing and CRM streamlined operations and cut out extra tools. With newsletters and campaigns built directly into Lawmatics, the team no longer needed outside platforms. “We recently ditched MailChimp in order to use Lawmatics,” Joel explains. Now, automated campaigns and built-in analytics keep the firm connected — without the clutter of third-party software.

Power features

Lead pipelines

Handling a high volume of leads is no small feat, but Leppard Law keeps things moving smoothly with automated pipelines in Lawmatics. The moment someone reaches out, they’re instantly placed into a tailored workflow — getting follow-ups, reminders, and next steps without the team having to lift a finger. “From the second someone comes in and the case opens… it’s all automated,” explains Joel. With fewer manual steps slowing things down, the firm can stay responsive to clients while saving time for other critical tasks.
Legal CRM Pipline
Custom Forms Image

Custom forms

Leppard Law simplifies intake by connecting all lead sources to Lawmatics custom forms. As Joel describes it, “Almost everyone comes in through a phone call or a form fill, whether that’s a Lawmatics form or a chat box.” Whether a client calls or uses the firm’s AI-powered chat, their information is captured instantly, eliminating the need for manual data entry. New matters then flow into Slack for review, where the team can quickly qualify leads and trigger the next step in the client journey.

Email and SMS

Clear, timely communication is critical in criminal defense, where clients often feel anxious and uncertain. Leppard Law ensures clients stay informed with automated email and SMS messaging through Lawmatics, delivering updates without overwhelming staff. “We previously had a text expander to send people texts, but obviously, it’s better to have that done automatically,” says Joel Leppard. Whether it’s appointment reminders or case updates, automated messaging helps ease client stress, ensuring no one is left in the dark while still improving efficiency.
Custom Email Suite

Lawmatics helps us instantly triage identify our best leads — and that's how you win a numbers game.”

Joel Leppard

CEO & Managing Attorney, Leppard Law

Future business goals

As Leppard Law looks ahead, the firm is focused on staying at the forefront of legal tech while scaling in a way that preserves its commitment to personalized service. Specifically, they want to identify more opportunities to leverage new technology like AI while continuing a sustainable growth trajectory.

Lawmatics certainly gives you a lot of peace of mind that you wouldn't have otherwise.”

Joel Leppard

CEO & Managing Attorney, Leppard Law
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