In recognition of National Pro Bono Week, I’m taking a minute to share what pro bono means to me as a solo practitioner and the owner of a virtual law office. Kate Bladow from Technola pointed me to this report from the Bellow-Sacks Project at Harvard which advocates a holistic approach of applying multiple forms of delivering legal services to serve the public.
With my own practice I provide a combination of pro bono, “low bono” and unbundled legal services on my virtual law office. (more…)
Today’s Legal Technology section over at Law.com has an article about the increasing number of solo practitioners who are profiting from going virtual. As I’ve blogged about in the fall of last year, operating a virtual law office is a great way for a solo or small law firm to compete in this difficult economy. The general public, our clients, are seeking more affordable legal services and they want the convenience of using technology to acquire those services. After all, being able to take care of your legal needs at 1am without having to take time off of work or arrange for child care saves money as much as a reduced legal fee.
I have noticed an increase in my virtual law practice since last October and many of my online clients are forthright about why they decided to come to my VLO instead of going to a traditional law firm. My clients are scattered across the state so at the same time that I am helping my clients, I am also helping my law practice by being able to expand my client base and compete with traditional solo practices in my state.
Working with VLOTech to set up other attorneys with virtual law practices and seeing the increase in interest in the web-based technology assures me this is a trend that is not going anywhere anytime soon. Check out some of the newest VLOs in my links to the right.
The Law.com article talks about virtual law practices that communicate through email (usually unencrypted and not secure), phone and Internet but does not really give us the details on what technologies these virtual law practices are using. The focus is also on collaboration virtually between attorneys rather than online attorney and client communication. Let’s hope data security is a primary concern for these practices with whatever technologies they are using to deliver legal services. Expect to see future articles that focus more on attorney/client online communication to deliver legal services online.
More middle income Americans are choosing to handle their legal matters themselves because they cannot afford to hire a traditional attorney. The International Herald Tribune reported this growing trend in an article last week. The downturn of the economy has made the cost of traditional full-service law firms unavailable for many Americans. In order to resolve their legal matters, many middle income individuals are turning to self representation.
The increase in numbers of pro se litigants has begun to burden court administrations on different levels. While court clerks and other assistants are not permitted to provide legal advice to pro se litigants who come to the courthouse seeking free legal guidance, these administrators are obligated to provide pro se litigants with the necessary legal forms and procedures that they will need to proceed with their case. When the instructions on these legal forms are not followed, court administrators must then go through additional work contacting the pro se litigants to rework the legal forms or assist them with scheduling court dates.
Once inside the courtroom, judges are burdened by the increased number of unassisted pro se litigants when they are obliged to provide basic directions to the pro se litigants regarding standard courtroom procedures. Attorneys who find themselves standing opposite a pro se litigant when presenting a matter to the court must exercise patience. They may find themselves rewording their statements so that the pro se litigant will understand the issues. Overall, the case may take more time and become more expensive than it would have been if handled by legal professionals.
There is a high demand for affordable and accessible legal services to fill in the gap between full, traditional legal representation and unassisted, pro se representation. Unbundled legal services may provide individuals with an affordable option. By retaining an attorney for assistance in filling out legal forms and for basic guidance on the legal process, the individual who would otherwise be a pro se litigant is assisted to the level where he or she is not as much of a burden on the court administration and other legal professionals he or she encounters in the legal system.
Many Americans who are searching for an affordable solution to legal services are turning to online companies like LegalZoom for form-generated legal documents. However, these legal documents and kits for sale are not actually reviewed by an attorney nor is the individual legal situation of the online consumer evaluated by a legal professional before he or she purchases the legal product. A worse trend is that many members of the public are finding samples of legal documents online and attempting to revise these documents on their own without any legal guidance.
Web-based virtual law practices can provide the public with unbundled legal services that include more personalized attention to individual legal matters. Attorneys operating a VLO communicate directly with their clients securely online. Because of the low overhead associated with running a VLO, the attorney may pass on his or her savings to provide unbundled legal services at a more affordable price than traditional legal services. Clients may acquire the quality legal assistance they can afford so that they may perform the footwork at the courthouse themselves.
As with any prospective client that walks through a physical law office, it is the responsibility of the attorney running the VLO to evaluate each online client on a case by case basis. If the prospective client’s unique situation requires full-service representation, then the attorney must either meet with the client in person for additional legal assistance or refer the client to another attorney.
Given the continuing rise of pro se litigants across the country, an attorney operating a VLO and offering unbundled legal services provides a much needed option in the delivery of legal services to the public. He or she may provide unbundled legal services online through a VLO either as the sole form of legal services offered or as an addition to a full-service law firm. In addition, an attorney launching a VLO taps into a vast and growing consumer market that can be served using secure technology that does not raise the attorney’s law practice overhead.
As more state bars continue to revise their rules of professional conduct and ethics decisions to address the use of technology in the practice of law, legal professionals who understand the importance of using technology to deliver legal services online will need to step forward to educate and defend the critical need for this as an option to provide affordable and convenient legal services to lower and middle income Americans. A VLO providing unbundled legal services is a practical solution that serves both the public and the legal profession.
I have been enjoying the personal contact with clients that I think only can really happen in a small law practice. My clients don’t have to wade through the secretary and paralegals to communicate with me. I’m available 24/7 through the website and I check it at all hours of the day and night which makes it more convenient for everyone. At some point, I would like to put testimonials up on the website from some of the clients. I think some people may still have the misperception that practicing online removes you from real interaction with the clients, but I’ve not found this to be the case. People communicate online today more than they do in person. I know I shop and bank online more than I visit a mall or stop in to chat with my local bank representative. I see my online law services as an extension of services available to the community in a more efficient and affordable manner through the Internet.
There is a great article in the San Francisco magazine by Natasha Sarkisian about how younger generation lawyers are starting their own law firms as a way to escape the “biglaw” partnership track as the traditional, end-all-be-all of practicing law. It is definitely a trend that I’m thrilled to be a part of. The writer of MyShingle.com is another lawyer who started her own small firm and really supports the efforts of other attorneys in making that life change. My practice may be a new concept right now, but give it a couple more years and there will be more competition out there! The more the merrier!