Collective Family Law Group

A bold decision to change

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When Caralee Fontenele took over Collective Family Law in 2012, she made a bold call. Instead of simply inheriting a law firm, she reshaped it.

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“I realised I didn’t want to provide general practice services,” Caralee says. “It just felt inefficient. I wanted to focus and be really, really good at one thing.”

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That one thing? Family law. Caralee pivoted the entire firm to focus on this practice area, cutting out all other legal work in the process. It was a risk, but it paid off.

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Today, Collective Family Law runs across three busy offices in South-East Queensland, helping families through separation, divorce and the sensitive moments in between with compassion, speed, and smarts.

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From slow and manual to fast and automatic

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Like many modern firm owners, Caralee was ready to leave slow, manual admin in the past. She wanted tech that actually made her life easier, not just another system to wrangle.

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“As tech has been evolving, that’s been one of the challenges, I’ve continually thought about, ‘what’s next?’” Caralee says.

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“Law has always felt so manual. I wanted to move all that heavy lifting away from me as a director.”

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Clio gave the firm a much-needed upgrade. It unlocked integrations, made finding support simple, and helped the team gain better visibility across the law firm.

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One of those integrations? VXT.

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Truth be told, Collective Family Law wasn’t hunting for a new phone system. They’d only recently upgraded.

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But once they learned how VXT worked with Clio, and tried out features like automatic time tracking, call recording, and AI phone call transcripts and summaries, the decision to switch was easy.

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“We weren’t particularly looking for a new phone system… but when I understood what VXT could do for us, it was a no-brainer.”

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“Sometimes it’s jolly hard to get solicitors to time record”.

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If you’re a law firm director, you’ve likely said something similar before:

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“Sometimes it’s jolly hard to get your solicitors to put their time recording in.”

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For Collective Family Law, VXT was able to automate this process entirely.

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“VXT makes recording time easy.  With automatic time tracking you literally hang up the phone and it’s logged in Clio.”

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That’s time saved for the team and dollars saved for the firm.

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Better client service with call recording and transcripts

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When you’re discussing emotional family law matters, the last thing you want is a distracted solicitor scribbling notes mid-call.

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With VXT’s call recording and AI phone call transcripts and summaries, attorneys can stay present during conversations, and go back and check details later.

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“You don’t have to take file notes or try to remember what was said thanks to the call recordings and transcriptions. I can just engage with the client on the call instead of trying to take notes and talk at the same time.”

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“The voice recording is excellent. It’s so good to know you can go back and look at any team member’s call. You’re not guessing anymore.

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“It’s not about micromanaging, it’s about making sure our clients are being served well.”

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Call recording also helps mitigate risk and resolve disputes.

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“We have great records, so when clients come back with questions, we’re confident in our answers.”

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“If there’s been a complaint or a client said ‘I wasn’t told that’ you can see the transcription or listen to the recording.”

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“We should’ve got this years ago”

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VXT has changed the way Collective Family Law works, from the way they handle calls, to how they record time, to how they care for clients.

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Like any firm, there was hesitation about switching systems though. But once Caralee and her operations manager, Femke, shared what VXT could do, the energy flipped.

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“Everyone is used to the system they know and don’t really want to change. But once we explained what it is, why we’re switching, and what it can do, the team got excited. We did a training session and everyone was raving about what was to come.”

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Collective Family Law is a great example of what happens when a forward-thinking firm pairs the right people with the right tech.

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“VXT changed the way we practice. It feels like we should’ve got it years ago.”

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Key benefits

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• Automatic time recording - Attorneys can hang up the phone and log their call time straight into Clio.
• AI transcriptions and call recording - The team don’t have to focus on taking notes during the call and can focus directly on the client needs and check the records later.
• More confident client service - With accurate records the firm have been able to take out any of the guesswork and improve their follow-ups.
• Better business visibility - Managers can review calls to ensure quality service without micromanaging.

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