Virtual Law Practice

Delivering legal services online

Marketing

Online Legal Services Gets a Boost from ABA & Rocket Lawyer Partnership

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I was surprised and happy to hear the news today that the ABA announced its partnership with Rocket Lawyer on a pilot project to help match up ABA members with online clients. I’ve been researching and writing about lawyer collaboration with branded networks like Rocket Lawyer for the past couple of years with a focus on ethics issues and best practices. I wrote a book about the best practices for lawyers who wanted to work with these companies and make connections with clients through them. ...READ MORE

Regulating Lawyer Online Advertising? Welcome to the Party.

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I was on a call last night preparing for a panel presentation at the Univ. of San Francisco where we will be discussing lawyer advertising and regulation. The event is entitled Legal Ethics in the 21st Century: Technology, Speech, and Money. I’m going back through some of my materials on this topic and thought I’d share. The below is a sidebar from my book about lawyer online advertising. With the Florida Bar going crazy with restrictions on lawyer blogs, it’s time to start pushing this matter forward. ...READ MORE

Online Legal Marketplace Book Release

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My new book about the online legal marketplace, Consumer Law Revolution, was released today from the publisher and pre-orders should be shipping this week. I’m excited to share this book with the legal profession. It dives into an area that is growing in practice and where we don’t have clear, established best practices to guide us. The online legal marketplace naturally involves technology and the unbundling of legal services, but also new forms of online lawyer advertising and collaboration with non-lawyer legal service companies that provide online marketing tools and platforms for lawyers to connect with consumers. ...READ MORE

Virginia State Bar Publishes Virtual Law Office Ethics Opinion

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The Virginia State Bar has published Legal Ethics Opinion 1872 on virtual law offices and the use of temporary office space on March 29, 2013. The ethics opinion acknowledges that virtual law offices and temporary or leased office spaces do not always go together, but it addresses both from the standpoint of ethics issues, such as providing contact information in marketing, supervision of lawyers and nonlawyers in the firm, confidentiality of the tech and competency using it to work with clients online. ...READ MORE

New York Publishes New Ethics Opinion – Had a Pow-Wow with NJ?

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The NY State Bar Association Committee on Professional Ethics has published a new ethics Opinion 964 on April 4, 2013 that affects virtual law offices. The opinion is more related to lawyer advertising rather than about virtual law offices but it affects advertising for virtual, traditional and hybrid delivery models. The opinion was prompted by an inquiry from a lawyer who delivers immigration law services primarily online. Like many lawyers with virtual law offices, the lawyer rarely meets with clients in person and communicates using video conferencing and other digital methods of communication. ...READ MORE