Open our Secure Client Portal

Click the blue dot image below to reach our Secure Client Portal

We built our portal to allow an extra measure of convenience and security for our clients. Using the portal, you can:
a. Check the available schedule and book a meeting at a time and day convenient for you, 24/7, with no need to wait for the 9-to-5 phone operator or voicemail.
b. Send us messages directly, avoiding email providers who can intercept, read, and sell your personal thoughts and desires.
c. Check your account with us.
d. Send us documents and other personal papers directly to our server, so they never transit any third party systems looking to intercept, read and monetize your information.
e. Call us directly from your home, office, cell, or even directly from your laptop computer.

We started using tele and video conferencing during the pandemic outbreak. More variants have arisen, making some still uncomfortable about face-to-face, but all share the pain of the high gasoline cost required for travel. Electronic meetings easily solve both these challenges.

Here are the meeting choices we offer along with videos showing you how you can use them. For certain cases, like family law and divorce which have a high probability the case can be concluded without requiring an in-person and instead allow video appearances before a judge, we encourage you to learn either Zoom or Webex because they are the two systems selected by the Tennessee courts system. What's more, they're generally easy and fun to use -- a good skill to have.

Zoom

Zoom has become very popular of late. The schools are heavily invested in Zoom and Tennessee courts have recently adopted Zoom and WebEx exclusively. So we recommend using one of the two. They are very easy to use, but if you want to see a Zoom tutorial video, here's a good basic one, click below.

If you decide to use this system, here's where you can start -- Sign up for Free Zooms --
 

PLEASE NOTE: If we hold an attorney / client conference by Zoom you will be sent by text a link to our Burdette Law Zoom Room -- BUT -- If our your case goes to a Zoom hearing in front of a judge, we will send you a different link for the Zoom Room used by the particular court.

WebEx

Here is the other system the courts are using, WebEx. It is a product of Cisco Systems, a company which has been associated with computer networking since nearly day one. This one has found lots of use in healthcare, so by learning to use it, you may be preparing for your next appointment to see the Doc.
For a short intro tutorial on using WebEx, check this video.

If you decide to use this system, here's where you can start -- Sign up for Free Webex --

FaceTime

FaceTime is exclusive to Apple® products. If you have an iMac, iPad, or iPhone, MacBook FaceTime software is already installed and ready to use. Apple already installed a camera, mic, speakers in your device. What are you waiting for? No downloads are required for Apple® products, we simply exchange our Apple ID's and we're ready to see, hear, and easily exchange files, documents, etc. Rememember your little MacMini - he'll need a camera and mic (see, there was a reason it was so inexpensive).

If you have an iPhone, iPad, iMac, or MacBook you are already setup, signed in and ready to go with FaceTime.

Google Meet Hangouts

Meet / Hangouts is a product of Google. If you have an Android Phone (Samsung / Moto / LG / Pixel / etc.) or Android Tablet, or a Chrombook, or a Chrome browser you are well on your way to using Meet (once called Hangouts). .

If you decide to use this system, here's where you can start -- Sign up for Free Google Meet Hangouts --

 

Alternatives

Many people have tried Skype. We know it's been around a long time and now belongs to Microsoft. We also hear persistent talk that it will be merged into Teams or Office 365, and then sooner or later you end up needing to pay $50 to $100 to Microsoft each and every year. There are other free alterntive to use, the courts do not use Skype or Teams, so we would rather leave that one alone for the time being.

There is usually a free Linux alternative to most everything anymore. Most are said to be very secure -- maybe because few people use it or are aware of it - so how would they 'hack' it? -- for Videoconferencing, it is Jitsi. We can offer Jitsi conferences, an open source system free of charge download that seems to be mostly US made.

To use Jitsi on your Audio / Visual equipped desktop / laptop follow this link
Click to sign up / sign in to Jitsi
To use Jitsi on your Android phone or tablet --
Click to download from the Play Store to your phone or tablet
To use Jitsi on your iPhone or iPad --
Click to download from the App Store to your phone or tablet

Exchanging Documents

After we've had a video conference, we'll probably need to exchange documents at some point. The convenience of a video conference flys out the window if you need to run around to office supply stores to copy or scan documents. Fear not, you can do this stuff on your smart phone. Click here to learn how your iPhone or Android phone can become a free copier / scanner machine by using no - or low cost software.

Signing your electronic documents

Now that you have become adept at slinging your documents around the world at the speed of light, there will soon come a day when somebody wants you to sign one of those documents. Fear not, there are fairly easy and zero cost ways of doing that as well. Click to see some free methods of adding your signature to your digital documents, plus how we can notarize your signature via video conference.

Document format

It's almost inevitable in our world with various kinds of computers and software that we will have documents in a different format than your computer can understand, or digest, or whatever it is that computers do. We use .pdf .doc and .docx formats because the courts, and most businesses seem to have standardized on those file types. If your machine does not have a .pdf reader, or a pdf editor, there are a number of alternatives that allow you to convert to basic text. If you want to complete forms, and send us the sorts of documents your computer / tablet / phone produces, that's fine. We can convert your info back into the format courts want to see. Click to see some free methods format conversion, for almost any computer / tablet / phone.

Your Home Network

If your house is like ours, your home network / your WiFi system has been severely strained this past year. We have done a lot of work on our home networks in a number of houses. In the hope some of our experience may help, please click here to read more. Click to see some home networking / WiFi / internet service provider tips.