The family law calculation software that offers top quality product and top quality service
This article was produced in partnership with ChildView Inc.
Mallory Hendry of Canadian Lawyer sat down with Susan Roberts, president of ChildView, to discuss the company’s most recent accolades.
Canadian Lawyer’s seventh annual Readers’ Choice Awards recognizes outstanding legal products and services, and once again ChildView Inc., developer and marketer of the ChildView family law software, is on the winners’ list.
“I’m thrilled our customers are so positive about what we do,” says Susan Roberts, president of ChildView. “We work hard to provide a top quality product and top quality service.”
With 116 winners reflecting 85 different companies, seven categories with 38 subcategories and 3,200 votes from Canadian Lawyer readers, ChildView was among the top three vote-getters in Practice Areas Specific Software/Solutions - Family Law. Over the years, Canadian Lawyer has perfected its methodology for the awards in order to shine a light on the true top tier products and services lawyers depend on to drive efficiency in their practice. This year voters were welcome to nominate businesses not already listed following the magazine’s initial research, and for Roberts this was a welcome change.
“This time around, the win has even more meaning — the results are reflective of what consumers in the legal profession really feel,” she says. “We’ve made significant enhancements to the program in the last few years and I’m pleased our users have responded so enthusiastically.”
The approach at ChildView is one of ongoing improvement, with extra features being continuously added. The team works constantly to “stay on top of anything that affects the calculations, in particular all of the ongoing income tax and benefit changes that affect things in the background, as well as any kind of legislation that might impact what we do,” Roberts says, adding that as part of her role, she reviews those things on a daily basis.
They also take a holistic approach at ChildView, where on top of the software itself they also offer on-going, in-depth, online workshops, a popular “Let’s Talk About . . .” section on their website that explores commonly misunderstood or unexplained topics, as well as unlimited support for their software and related child and spousal support calculation issues. This dedication to the industry likely played a role in ChildView also coming in as one of the top ten companies overall that received the highest positive response rates from readers. The achievement speaks volumes, Roberts says, because “our software is very specific to family law, whereas a company that can deal with any area of law, because it offers something more general, would have a broader customer base to vote for them.”
Joining ChildView on the list of companies with the highest positive response rates is ACL Family Law software, with which ChildView is fully compatible, Roberts notes. With the click of a mouse, ChildView users can create a file that can be opened by ACL and populate the relevant fields — yet another way family law lawyers can leverage two industry leading software programs to make their practice that much more efficient.
The recognition among family law lawyers only highlights the fact that the ChildView software speaks for itself.
“It’s exceptional quality at a reasonable price,” Roberts sums up. “Our focus is on providing the best possible program and services to our client base. We’re continually improving and moving the program forward, and making sure that in doing so we don't compromise on quality.”
Susan Roberts joined ChildView Inc. in 1996, assumed the role of general manager in 1998 and became president in 2001. Since 1997 she has done numerous workshops across Canada for justice departments, family law practitioners, and others on the intricacies of calculations within the Guidelines, and the interrelationship between the Guidelines and the Income Tax Act.
