iTicket.law is not like other law firms.
While the word “law firm” often evokes images of mahogany desks and file cabinets filled to the brim with papers, Chapel Hill-based iTicket.law’s office looks more like something out of the TV show Silicon Valley, with ping-pong tables that double as conference tables and file cabinets stuffed with T-shirts and “swag boxes.” Though that makes sense because iTicket.law is a law firm-turned-tech startup, which concentrates on litigating traffic tickets in 68 North Carolina counties.
iTicket.law was the brainchild of Founder and attorney Daniel Hatley. He saw the need for a service like iTicket.Law after he got a speeding ticket while driving through Harnett County, N.C., while he was in law school. Like most people in his situation, Hatley hired a lawyer to handle the case for him, but he was struck by the lack of transparency in the process. After five months in the dark, Hatley finally received the news that his case was handled.
“At iTicket, we’re focused on the process,” Hatley said. “We’re going to use our best efforts to get a good outcome, but it’s how we get there that matters to the client. Our client doesn’t just want to get a good outcome, but not have any input in the process or any window as to what is going on. They want to know where their case is.”
iTicket.law uses carefully tailored proprietary software to make litigating traffic tickets as painless and transparent as possible. On the user end, this means 24-hour sign-up for new cases, instant notifications and an online interface that makes it easy to find answers without having to talk to their lawyers on the phone, if customers don’t want to. On the attorney’s end, the iTicket software organizes case information, so they don’t have to. Instead, they can focus on their true value-added job—litigating the case.
Most importantly to CEO Tom Kuell, clients have access to information about their cases in real-time. And if they are confused by something, the iTicket staff is just a phone call away.
“You don’t want to feel ignored or belittled by your attorney,” Kuell said. “You want to feel like you matter.”
iTicket.law’s technology makes it that much easier for its staff to do their jobs, so employees can focus on providing quality service. iTicket’s close to 3,000 5-star reviews on Google are evidence they’re doing a good job at it.
“It’s not just leveraging technology, it’s putting bodies on the problem, too,” Hatley said. “So when you call, you get to talk to someone about your case, and they can fairly effortlessly be on exactly the same page as you.”
Behind the bells and whistles of its software and technology, iTicket.law is still a law firm at its core. In addition to the iTicket.law’s 19 attorneys, it hires UNC students who are either in law school or on a pre-law track as clerical staff.
The firm also employs 16 workers from Extraordinary Ventures, a Chapel Hill-based company with the goal to increase neurodiversity in business. At iTicket.law these workers, many who may have difficulty finding employment elsewhere because of their developmental differences, work on a mailing project that helps drive business for the company.
“We like to think of ourselves as giving back and being engaged in the community,” Hatley said. “These are the things that keep us in Chapel Hill instead of Raleigh or Durham.”
