Virtual Law Practice

Tag: ABA

  • Call for Comments – ABA Ethics 20/20 Commission Reviews Cloud Computing and Client Confidentiality

    This afternoon the ABA Commission on Ethics 20/20 sent an email through the listserv announcing a public hearing in mid-October in Chicago.  The Commission is looking for comments on two topics: 1) “Client Confidentiality and Lawyers’ Use of Technology” and 2)  “Lawyers’ Use of Internet Based Client Development Tools.”  I’ve uploaded the first of these issues papers which you can review here: 


    ABA Ethics Commission 20/20: For Comment: Issues Paper Concerning Client Confidentiality and Lawyers’ Use of Technology

    Most of the issues discussed in this paper have some impact on virtual law practice.  One of the Commission’s suggested options for action is to “propose amendments to the Model Rules of Professional Conduct, such as Model Rules 1.1 (competency), 1.6 (duty of confidentiality), 1.15 (safeguarding client property), or the comments to those Rules.”  

    Therefore, it’s important that those of us interested in the delivery of legal service online take the time to read this paper, and if there is a perspective that is missing, to submit a comment before the deadline of December 15, 2010.   I contributed Chapter Three of my book and may submit a comment as well after I’ve had time to review and digest the two issues papers again.

  • A Legal Rebel

    The ABA Journal has turned its attention to solo practitioners for this year’s group of “Legal Rebels.”   I am pleased to announce that the Journal has bestowed this title upon me for my virtual law office.  The article written by Stephanie Ward for my profile gets to the heart of why I started my virtual law office several years ago.  I’m honored to be on this year’s list with fellow solos, Carolyn Elefant and Bruce Cameron, both of whom I have gotten to know online over the past few years through our common concerns as busy solo practitioners. 

    I wasn’t intending to rebel against anything when I started my virtual law office – it was more a matter of necessity being the mother of invention.  As I realized the potential of virtual law practice to be one solution to the lack of access to justice in our country as well as a more family friendly legal career path, I became more determined to spread the concept to the legal profession and to study ways in which the technology could be used ethically to serve the public and legal profession.  But I’m just getting going…..

  • Video: Leverage the Internet to Serve Your Clients and Grow Your Practice

    At the ABA Annual Meeting last month I participated in the ABA Journal’s Legal Rebel‘s program, “10 Ways to Build Your Perfect Practice & Career” hosted by Matt Homann. The presentation requirement was that I cover 20 slides in 6 minutes. I had a lot of fun preparing for this one. It’s not as easy as you might think to get all of your ideas out in 6 minutes as the slides progress whether you are ready to move on or not.

    Here is the video of my presentation:

  • Videos: Ethics and the Virtual Law Office

    Below are two videos taken at ABA Annual a couple weeks ago that were just published on the Legal Currents blog.  I’m talking about virtual law practice, where I see it going in the future and about some of the key ethics issues for attorneys to be aware of before adding a virtual law office to their practice management.

  • Virtual Lawyering Promoted at ABA Annual

    There was a lot of coverage related to virtual law practice and the delivery of online legal services at this year’s ABA Annual Meeting in San Francisco.  Compared with even a year ago, this topic is fully on the radar of attorneys and bar officials concerned with virtual law practice for both solo and small firms.  However, this time there was also interest as it relates to larger firms, the outsourcing of legal services and the globalization of law firms.  

    I sat on a panel discussion entited “20/20 Vision: The Impact of Technology and Globalization on Ethics for the 21st Century Lawyer” and was pleased to see a packed audience as well as have the majority of audience questions pertain to virtual law practice.  Here is a link to a video interview of our panel’s moderator, Judith Miler. 

    The questions from the audience after the panel discussion were the same ones I hear at a lot of presentations.  The primary concern is still related to the basic security of entrusting law office data to cloud computing.  The second greatest concern is about the verification or authentication of client identity online.  “Can you really form a relationship online without seeing the whites of their eyes?”  Sometimes it’s just a matter of being comfortable with the technology and getting used to using it to communicate that helps answer these questions.  Overall, the response was positive and hopefully, the details and resources I provided in the manuscript for the attendees will go a long way in answering their questions about the security and cloud computing concerns in virtual law practice.

    Will Hornsby joined Marc Lauritsen, Richard Granat and myself for a lively panel discussion on virtual lawyering on Friday.  Richard informed me that he also provided a presentation on virtual law practice to a room of state bar presidents and other bar officials who were very receptive to these concepts in practice management. 

    ABA President Carolyn Lamm during her presentation on Sunday night on a panel entitled “Lawyers Surviving in a Darwinian World” mentioned online legal service companies and emphasized the legal profession’s reponsibility to step up to meet the needs of the public who are going online to seek out legal assistance.   The ABA Journal has a write-up of her comments during the presentation. 

    Social media was also a hot topic at several CLE sessions at the annual meeting.  At one of the vendor booths I picked up a copy of Wild West 2.0: How to Protect and Restore Your Reputation on the Untamed Social Frontierby Michael Fertik and David Thompson.  I’ll try to post a review of the book on this blog when I get a chance to read through it.  Even the Twitter hashtag for the event was active this year indicating a growing comfort by my fellow attorneys to embrace technology to communicate.  And to top it off, I got to meet Heather Armstrong, mommy-blogger and famous Dooce.comwriter, at the WestlawNext CLE about social media in the workplace. 

    There were also some vendors that I spoke with who are making an effort to facilitate virtual law practice for attorneys.  This might be in response to the ethics and UPL complaints raised by some state bars to the documents produced by legal service companies.  Both Legal Zoom and Rocket Lawyer are combining their document assembly and automation technologies with the ability to connect an attorney with the consumer going online to fill out and purchase basic legal forms.  I’m reaching out to both vendors to find out more about how their systems will allow for this type of delivery to be controlled by the attorney as a practice management tool for delivering online legal services. 

    The overall tone I left with at the end of the annual meeting was that technology to deliver legal services online and to communicate with our clients and other legal professionals is embraced as the future. Rather than the over-emphasis on the security and risks that I’ve seen the past few years at other conferences, the tone seems to be an acceptance of virtual law practice and a move towards finding ways to responsibly integrate it into our practice management toolboxes.  I much prefer this optimistic, but realistic, mood.

  • Revising Ethics Rules to Facilitate Virtual Law Practice

    I’m on a panel discussion this morning at the ABA Annual Meeting about the impact of technology and globalization on ethics for the 21st century lawyer.  One of the questions that I expect will come up will be about the need for ethics rules to be revised to reflect the changes in practice management that involve virtual law practice and cloud computing.  Which rules do I think need to be revised?

    Based on my research, not many state bar ethics rules or advisory opinions actually address the use of cloud computing or the delivery of legal services online.  The North Carolina State Bar’s proposed opinion related to SaaS in law practice managment that was published this summer is one of the first to my knowledge.  There are opinions out there that are related to the hosting of law office data by third-party providers, but none that really discuss the actual delivery of legal services online to clients. 

    My main concern with the development of any future ethics opinions is that they should not attempt to define the technology too narrowly.  This is a problem that attorneys have now in trying to interpret the existing rules and regulations based on way that they were drafted years ago.  Try figuring out how to apply rules related to email, fax and cell phone usage to the cloud computing apps you currently use in practice management.  There is a lot of uncertainty in trying to comply with the rules when the rules weren’t really written to take the rapid growth of technology into consideration.  (more…)

  • Virtual Law Practice at Legal Rebels Kickoff

    The ABA Journal’s Legal Rebels is kicking off the 2010 tour with a presentation during the upcoming American Bar Association Annual Meeting in San Francisco.  I’ll be presenting 20 slides in 6 minutes related to innovation in the delivery of legal services online and how it can be used to grow your law practice. The presentation starts at 12:30 p.m. Thursday, August 5 at the expo floor at George Moscone Center West. They will be posting the video of my speech at legalrebels.com later in September and I’ll post the slides up on slideshare afterwards.  If you are in town for the Annual Meeting, please join us.

  • The Future of the Legal Profession is Client-Centric

    This past week the ABA LPM Section held its spring conference in Las Vegas. Of the many topics covered in the sessions and CLEs, the one recurring theme was that the changes in our profession are being driven by the clients. Some of these changes include increased customer service, response time, alternative billing, online access and use of technology by the firm to cut costs and make legal services more easily obtainable and affordable. This client-centric focus on law practice management is important because once these changes have been made by the attorney, there is little room for going back.

    Imagine telling the client who has enjoyed online access to the status and files of his case that he must now make in-person appointments in your office and will receive the invoice in the mail in 7-10 business days. Or imagine telling your clients who you provided flat fees for legal services that you will now be charging them by the billable hour rate and instead of a number they can budget, giving them a guestimated range they will owe you upon services rendered. (more…)

  • NC Bar Ethics Committee Reviews Cloud Computing Inquiry

    For some reason, a firm here in my home state decided it was in their best interest to ask permission of the NC State Bar before using a SaaS product.  *really big sigh*  So now those of us who have been using SaaS applications for years for everything from email, tasks and calendaring to delivering legal services online now have about one week to step forward to provide comments related to the inquiry. 

    The question posed was:  

     Is it within the RPC for an attorney/law firm to use online (“cloud computing”) practice management programs (e.g., the Clio program) as part of the practice of law?  These are instances where the software program is accessed online with a password and is not software installed on a computer within the firm’s office.

    (more…)

  • 2010 ABA Keane Award for Excellence in eLawyering

    This year’s 2010 ABA Keane Award for Excellence in eLawyering was awarded to the Rosen Law Firm.  Lee Rosen was presented the award by eLawyering Task Force co-chair Richard Lauritsen at the keynote luncheon at Techshow yesterday.  Following the presentation, Ari Kaplan was the keynote speaker discussing the convergence of technology and marketing. 

    The Rosen Law Firm is a NC-based law firm providing divorce and family law services to clients.  The firm has mastered the use of technology to market their services and to communicate with and educate the public.  The site has even spun off a separate website called StayHappilyMarried.com.  Lee hosts Divorce Talk Radio from the firm’s studio with a live call in show and records educational videos staring the firm’s attorneys for clients to watch online. 

    Check out the site to see the many different creative uses of elawyering.  Congratulations to Lee and the Rosen Law Firm.

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