Virtual Law Practice

Tag: ebook

  • Practicing Law Online Ebook

    Practicing Law Online Ebook

    Here is the revised version of the Practicing Law Online ebook, which I first released in 2008 and updated in 2010.

    This revised edition of the ebook examines different business models for virtual law firms and goes beyond solos and small firms to apply the concept of virtual practice to larger firms and in-house legal departments. The ebook walks the reader through the process of choosing a virtual law firm business model and examines methods of online delivery that work best with the firm’s practice area and client base. I also incorporated some of the design methodology and design thinking process I have learned here at Stanford.

    The updated 2nd edition of the full book has a lot more detail, including checklists and policies and procedures, and goes into topics such as online marketing, developing a virtual law firm business plan, ethics issues and best practices. The second edition of the book is with the publisher right now and should be out by the spring of 2015. I hope my readers enjoy this new edition of the ebook. Please consider checking out the full book in the spring. It’s full of case studies from law firms of all sizes as well as an appendix of sample documents, checklists, and ethics resources.

    The first publication of this ebook was created as a way for me to address all of the questions I was receiving from lawyers when I would give presentations about virtual law practice. Questions about ethics issues and cloud computing came up back then. Lawyers wanted to have a virtual law office, but they were hesitant because they did not understand how the technology would work and how that would comply with their jurisdictions rules. This first ebook was intended as a basic guide for setting up a virtual law office and geared towards solos and small firms. ebookcover

    Back in 2008 there was still a lot of controversy around the use of cloud computing in law practice – yes, basic cloud computing for practice management. There was even more controversy around delivering legal services to clients online. Only a handful of states had issued ethics opinions on the topic at that time and lawyers had a ton of questions, most of which related to ethics and malpractice concerns. A lot of misinformation was flying around. Jack Newton, founder of Clio, Larry Port, founder of Rocket Matter, Richard Granat, President of DirectLaw, and myself got together by phone for the first Legal Cloud Computing Association call to discuss how we could set industry standards, reassure state bars and lawyers, and counteract some of the false statements that were going around about cloud computing. A couple of us even sat in on state bar ethics committees and spent a considerable amount of our unpaid time advising and evangelizing to make sure restrictive rules and opinions that did not make sense from a technology perspective did not make it to print. So that first ebook, which has had hundreds of downloads since I released it, spent a lot of text looking at how SaaS and cloud computing work, what the benefits and risks of virtual law practice are, and how to apply best practices to avoid ethics issues.

    This time around revising the ebook I did not feel the need to focus on the same content. Many state bars have either published formal or advisory opinions approving of virtual law practice or third-party hosting of law office data. There is less skepticism about the consumer demand for online legal services and our profession’s ability to deliver it while complying with the rules of professional conduct. There are more hybrid virtual firms – traditional law practice incorporating some form of online delivery. More law firms are finding ways to unbundle their legal services which also facilitates online delivery. I receive fewer questions about ethics concerns and more about the successful online marketing of online services. I’m glad that I have my strong tech and ethics background for these questions, but I’ve had to learn a lot about business planning and management, online marketing and design to keep up.

    Thank you to those who have worked with me over the past ten years to develop and support the concept of virtual law practice. Future innovations on the model are no doubt on their way in the New Year.

     

     

  • Update to Virtual Law Practice eBook

    Please check out the latest, updated version of my free eBook, Practicing Law Online: Creating a Web-based Virtual Law Office.  Because the technology behind virtual law practice is changing at a rapid rate and because new state bar advisory opinions on the topic are starting to emerge, I plan on updating the eBook at least every six months.

    For this latest update, I conducted some additional research online through the Cornell University Law School’s American Legal Ethics Library which has a great state-by-state comparative analysis of the ABA’s Model Code.  There were some new state bar advisory opinions that related to third-party service providers, online backup and retention of law office data, email, online advertising and other technology related topics.  I included these in the different sections of the eBook relating to ethics and malpractice issues in virtual law practice.  I’m sure there are more formal and informal opinions from state bars out there that I did not find.

    Please share if you have any experience presenting technology-related law practice management questions or formal advisory opinions to your state bar.  I’ll post them on the blog and add the information to the eBook — with a hat tip to the sharer, of course.

  • Free eBook on Practicing Law Online: Creating A Web-Based Virtual Law Office

    I am pleased to announce that I have published an eBook entitled “Practicing Law Online: Creating a Web-Based Law Office.”  The book covers technology and ethics considerations in virtual law practice and provides best practice tips for providing online legal services.  The eBook is available for free here.  I welcome any comments and feedback.

  • ABA to Review the Delivery of Legal Services Through Technology

    Yesterday I received an email from a member of the ABA Division for Legal Services regarding the upcoming hearings to be held by the Standing Committee on The Delivery of Legal Services.  The Committee plans to examine the use of technology to deliver legal services online and will listen to presentations by technology providers and attorneys regarding the technologies used and any policies that governs its use. The Committee will then determine from the hearings whether the creation of policies is needed to assist practitioners in providing online legal services. 

    It’s during opportunities such as these when I sincerely wish I had a gift for public speaking and at least an ounce of charisma with which to transmit my ideas in front of a live group of people.  Unfortunately, I am a writer and more comfortable with a keyboard than a video camera and microphone.  I am going to submit to the committee my ebook which I have just finished entitled “Practicing Law Online: Creating a Web-Based Virtual Law Office.”  The ebook discusses the Web 2.0 technology used to practice law online and also looks at ethics considerations and malpractice risks while making best practice recommendations for operating a virtual law office.  

    I wish there were a way to share with the Committee the positive responses that I have received over the past two and half years from my online VLO clients and from the public in general to the delivery of legal services online.  I have formed close relationships with my clients and all of our communications were conducted through my VLO, never face to face. 

    If you can please allow a moment of bragging, recently, a first-time client of mine was so pleased with the online services I provided that she emailed a referral to her 100+ person mother’s group recommending my services and providing all of my online VLO information.  I have small business clients that come back repeatedly and refer their other small business friends.  They tell me that my online services are efficient, fairly priced and most important to them, convenient for the entrepreneur starting a new business who is often working a 9-5 job while getting off the ground.  They enjoy the ability to pay online, set up payment plans through the system and check on their legal matters 24/7 whenever it best suits them. 

    I hope that whatever policies the Committee comes up with will respect the fact that each individual virtual attorney may operate his or her VLO using different technologies and combinations of technology.  It should be the responsbility of the virtual attorney, as I have written in previous posts, to make sure that they understand the security and technology used by the VLO hosting company.  As with traditional law practices, I believe it is the resonsibility of the individual virtual attorney to create policies and standards for their virtual law practice that compy with his or her state bar’s rules and regulations for ethics and professional conduct. 

    My fear is that the delivery of legal services online may be restricted through any policies created by the Committee due to a lack of understanding regarding the security of the technology.  They may not be aware of the ability of features to be created within the VLO system that can provide safe and ethical communications between attorneys and the public, such as the conflict of interest checks, establishing the attorney/client relationship, jurisdiction checks, notice of unbundled services, etc. 

    VLOTech is a small, family-owned company.  We are growing quickly and forming new relationships with other attorneys interested in virtual law practice every day.  It’s an exciting time.  It’s clear to us from the responses we receive that a revolution is quietly happening in the area of the delivery of online legal services.  It’s driven primarily by the public’s desire for these services and secondarily by attorneys, largely solos and small firm practitioners, who want to use the flexibility of the technology to practice law for a variety of reasons.  There is no way VLOTech can pull together for a presentation in two weeks all of the research and positive feedback that we have assembled over the past three years and about which we are so excited to share with VLOTech attorneys and their clients. 

    Instead, I will be submitting my ebook which covers a lot of our research and hopefully this will be accepted for consideration by the Committee.   If you would like a free copy of my ebook, please feel free to contact me at skimbro@vlotech.net.  I will also write a post about the hearings following the presentations and let my readers know what happens as far as any statements or policies issued by the Committee that may affect virtual law practice.   If you would like to view the online hearing, details about the presenters and schedule will be posted on The Standing Committee on The Delivery of Legal Services’ website.

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