Stop writing 600-word client updates
The hardest part isn't the technology. It's getting over yourself.
The hardest part of switching from long client emails to short videos isn’t the technology. It’s getting over yourself.
A small but growing group of lawyers has stopped writing 600-word client updates and started recording 90-second videos instead. The benefits are real:
Clients actually watch them
You explain complex stuff once, in plain English, with your tone of voice intact
You spend less time agonizing over phrasing
Clients feel like they’re being talked to, not lectured
Tools like Loom and Tella make this easy. Click record, talk for 90 seconds, send the link. No editing. No production. The whole thing usually takes less time than drafting the email would.
Where this works best
Not every email should become a video. But a lot of the ones lawyers spend the most time on are perfect candidates:
Walking a client through a draft document or a redline
Explaining what a court ruling actually means for their case
Updating a client on where things stand and what’s coming next
Breaking down a settlement offer along with your recommendation
These are the emails that take an hour to write because you keep second-guessing the phrasing. A video skips that loop entirely.
Why lawyers don’t do it
So why aren’t more lawyers doing this? Because being on camera feels weird at first. Because you can’t proofread a video the way you proofread an email. Because the first one feels awkward, and lawyers don’t like feeling awkward.
None of those reasons hold up. Your clients don’t care if you say “um” once — and the newer video tools will strip out the “ums” and “ahs” automatically if you want them to.
Clients care that you take the time to walk them through what’s happening with their case.
How to start
Pick one email this week — the kind you’d normally spend 45 minutes drafting. Open Loom or Tella. Record yourself talking to the client like you would on the phone. Send the link.
That’s it. The first one will feel weird. The second one won’t.
The bar isn’t a polished broadcast. The bar is “more useful than the email I would’ve sent instead.”
That’s a low bar. Clear it.
;-)
Ernie
P.S. In the Inner Circle, we test tools like this together so you don’t have to figure out which ones are worth your time.
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https://ernietheattorney.net/