Below is an article that I wrote on the changing face of mentorship in the legal profession. I was asked to write it for a legal publication last year, but for space reasons they were not able to publish it. I think it’s an important topic so I’ll share. In this article, I focus on alternative forms of mentorship that take advantage of technology and the Internet to assist a new generation of lawyers who may have difficulty finding mentors upon passing the bar.

I’m honored to be speaking at Stanford Law School on May 2nd as a speaker sponored by CodeX: Stanford Center for Computers and the Stanford Program in Law, Science and Technology, and the Stanford Center on the Legal Profession. The titled of my presentation will be “Unbundling and the Future of Legal Service Delivery”. You can read more about it here. I’m looking forward to some challenging and productive discussion.

Please take a minute to fill out this brief survey. It will help out a great team of law students that are doing some research into how people use online services to fill their legal needs.This law student team is part of the Law Without Walls program. I’m serving as an Entrepreneur Advisor this year and have been really encouraged by the participants and their eagerness to think outside of the box to come up with their “project of worth.”

The Association of American Law Schools (AALS) is holding its annual conference in D.C. this week. I’ll be taking part in a panel discussion entitled “Technological Innovation in Practice and Education.”

If you will happen to be in or near Columbia, South Carolina on September 23rd, please consider joining me for the SC Bar’s 2011 Solo & Small Firm CLE and Annual Meeting entitled “Exploring the Business Side of Law Firms.” There will simultaneous tracks on law office technology and practice management, with sessions ranging from cloud [...]

This morning the International Legal Technology Standards Organization (ILTSO) published its standards for the use of technology in law practice. This resource has been a long time in coming.  The standards will be open for public comment and feedback after it has been out there for awhile.  It will be a continual work in progress [...]

This Wednesday, April 6th at 1:00pm Eastern, I’ll be co-presenting an online seminar about delivering legal services online hosted by ALI-ABA and the ABA Law Practice Management Section.  The hour-long session will be in a discussion/interview format and focus on the topics discussed in my book, Virtual Law Practice: How to Deliver Legal Services Online.   Mark Robertson, [...]

Thank you to NC Jolt for inviting me to speak to law students at UNC School of Law in Chapel Hill last week. Special thanks to 3L John Kivus (@kivus) for making the connections. I appreciated the opportunity to share this topic with the next generation of legal professionals. Awesome questions from the attendees as [...]

Jordan Furlong over at Law21 has published a post describing the 21st-century solo practitioner and announced a competition to drive innovation. Furlong lists what he sees are four characteristics of the new solo lawyer.  One of these characteristics is the ability to innovate.  Solos may have more flexibility to take the risks necessary to come [...]

An attorney operating a virtual law office relies more on online marketing and social media to develop their reputation and an online client base.  Some virtual law offices are creating YouTube tutorial videos that will walk prospective online clients through their virtual law office registration process and explain how legal services are delivered online. Below [...]