Interested in using a virtual paralegal for your virtual law practice? I was one of the interviewees for a recent podcast for The Virtual Paralegal on Legal Talk Network discussing virtual law firms. The co-hosts, Lynne DeVenny and Vicki Voisin, asked great questions covering security and confidentiality issues involved in working with virtual paralegals in a virtual law practice. This would be a useful podcast to listen to for both attorneys thinking about hiring a VA for their practice and paralegals interested in learning what an attorney would look for in hiring someone to work in a virtual law office.
Tag: online legal services
-
Transitioning with a Virtual Law Practice
Over the past couple weeks I have spoken with two or three attorneys who have been laid off from their positions at large law firms. A couple of them knew that the practices of their BigLaw firms were not sustainable in this economic environment and had the foresight to pad their savings. Now they are considering opening virtual law practices as a way of transitioning from a large law practice into the next phase in their legal career.
The trend of opening a virtual law practice as a method of career transition seems to be growing. Previously I had been working with attorneys who wanted to use a virtual law office (VLO) to generate additional online client revenue for their existing law practices or who wanted to go completely web-based for the flexibility and better work/life balance. Transitioning with a virtual law practice is another use of the technology to consider.
A VLO could be a great way of keeping an attorney’s resume up to date and allow them to continue practicing law while they transition from one phase of their legal career to the next or perhaps phase into retirement, taking only the online clients they want to continue to handle. Maybe an attorney needs to move with their spouse to another state but has yet to sit for another state’s bar exam. They could continue to practice law of the state they are licensed in through a VLO while studying and moving to another jurisdiction.
The technology is flexible so that conflicts of interest checks can be run against any previous law practice contacts and export features would allow an attorney to export the data contained in a VLO into another law practice management system once the attorney had completed the transition in their career. If the transitional VLO took off, generating a steady online client base, then the attorney would have the option of keeping their virtual doors open and operating a completely web-based VLO or adding it to whatever practice of law they join or open for themselves.
Or an attorney transitioning into retirement and closing the doors to their traditional law practice might use a VLO to retain a select number of clients to work with on the side online while enjoying their retirement by traveling and not being tied down to a physical law office. They could even use a VLO to transition out of a practice by using it to communicate and work online with their partners and associates in the traditional law office while they cruise around on a yacht or go hiking in the mountains. As long as they could carry their iPhone or Blackberry around with them and get wireless access, they could transition gracefully out of the firm remotely.
These are just a couple ideas about how to use a virtual law practice to transition through phases of a legal career. I’ve written before about how both men and women in the legal profession could use a VLO to take time off to care for their families and transition in and out of a traditional law office using the technology for that purpose. Let me know your thoughts on other ways that legal professionals could use a virtual law practice to transition between phases in their lives and careers.
-
Article Notes Rise in Virtual Law Firms
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.
-
Spring Virtual Law Office Update
By now the word has circulated that the ABA Techshow website has posted the audio file from Richard Susskind’s keynote presentation at the ABA Techshow in Chicago earlier this month. I wasn’t able to attend the event and accept the Keane Memorial Award for Excellence in Elawyering. However, my husband, the programmer who designed my virtual law office software, attended to accept the award on my behalf. The presentation came with a lovely plaque that I will hang in my home office. Of course none of my online clients will get to see it, but I will have to find a way to “decorate” my VLO with some mention of the award.
Thanks to all of the Twitterers in the audience, I followed the presentation from home and got a good overview of the speech from tweets. Today I finally had time to listen to the ABA audio file of Susskind’s speech. He’s a very dynamic speaker which is something that you just can’t get from following a speaker on Twitter. I was also happy to hear that at the end they included the ABA Task Force’s presentation of the award to my VLO and my husband’s acceptance speech. Since I wasn’t there to accept it in person, it was nice to hear how it went.
In other news, my VLO received the Family Favorite Attorney Award for the third year in a row from the Wilmington Parent Magazine, a local parenting publication that many of my online clients read. This award means a lot of me because it comes from some of the individuals and families that I work with online. It has helped each year to build my confidence in my virtual elawyering skills and to generate additional client referrals. A couple articles were also published about my VLO in the NC Lawyer’s Weekly and other law-related publications. Hopefully all the attention will generate additional interest in virtual law practice and the delivery of legal services using technology.
Aside from my own virtual law practice, my company, VLOTech, received the 2009 Coastal Entrepreneur Award and was invited to meet with a panel of business experts to discuss the company. It was a great opportunity to learn from other entrepreneurs who have taken their dreams, accepted the risks and made it happen.
This spring has been a busy one both personally and professionally. My goal is to return to blogging more about actual virtual law practice in the summer months as things settle down a bit.
-
Virtual Law Office Listed as a “Law Firm Website That Works”
The April edition of the ABA Journal published an article entitled Law Firm Websites That Work. Under the category “Virtuality”, my virtual law practice is described along with illinoisdivorce.com.
The article consulted a list of panelists to provide suggestions for law firm websites that are productive in the categories of branding, solo, innovation, virtuality, all business, and youth appeal. Take a look at these websites and the marketing techniques and services they offer their clients. There may be ways to integrate aspects of several into your own ideas for a virtual law practice website.
-
BigLaw Attorneys Taking to Virtual Law Practice
The ABA Journal published an online article today about the progress that Virtual Law Partners (VLP) has made in recruiting attorneys from large law firms. One of the reasons for the growth is the downturn in the economy and large law firm layoffs. The beneficial reasons cited for the move to a virtual law firm by the former BigLaw attorney include having to put in fewer billable hours for the same return in client revenue and he was able to take with him the majority of his clients and continue to work with them remotely.
VLP has an interesting structure for a virtual law practice because each attorney in the virtual firm works independently, but all of the attorneys pool resources as a single network. I’m not clear on the actual technology and security they use to work remotely with each other or with their clients. However, it will be interesting to see how their network holds up as it continues to grow and add attorneys.
From their example, solos and small firms can see the benefits of practicing law online and how this option can be available for an attorney who may never have been interested in working for a large large firm. It does not take the infrastructure of a brick and mortar law office with a huge staff and a fortune in marketing and advertising to be able to provide quality legal services to the public online. As the way of the future, virtual law practice will allow the solo practitioner and small firm to really compete on the same level and to form the same online and social networks as attorneys who formerly worked for BigLaw. It’s already happening on a small level and will continue to grow as the technology remains affordable and allows for increased attorney collaboration. The playing field is leveling off.
-
Recipient of the ABA James Keane Memorial Award for Excellence in ELawyering
I’m excited and honored to announce that I have received the 2009 ABA James I. Keane Memorial Award for Excellence in eLawyering. From the ABA’s Law Practice Management website:
“The James I. Keane Memorial Award gives recognition to law offices or legal organizations that have developed legal service innovations delivered over the Internet. Thus, the focus of the award is the innovative delivery of personal legal services, with special attention given to firms and entities that serve both moderate income individuals and the broad middle class.”
The James I. Keane Memorial Award will be presented during the annual ABA TECHSHOW in Chicago following the keynote presentation by author Richard Susskind. A description of my virtual law practice will also appear in the ABA’s Law Practice Magazine and other ABA Law Practice Management Publications.
For the past three years, I have operated my web-based virtual law office (VLO), Kimbro Legal Services, LLC, in North Carolina providing estate planning and small business assistance online to clients state-wide. The Keane Award is recognition for this work, and I can’t express how grateful I am to be this year’s recipient. I hope that my VLO encourages other attorneys to consider virtual law practice either as a completely web-based system or to add some component of technology to their law practices that will allow them to provide more accessible and affordable legal services to the public.