Virtual Law Practice

Tag: online legal services

  • Consumer Law Revolution Ebook

    ConsumerLawEbookCoverI’ve created a new page on this blog for my new ebook: Consumer Law Revolution.

    This ebook is the precursor to my full book that should be published by the ABA LPM sometime later this year. The ebook provides an introduction to the concept of branded networks and online marketing tools for lawyers.

    For the book, I researched almost all of the legal tech startups and branded networks from both the lawyer and consumer perspective. These case studies are in the full book as are all of the important ethics issues surrounding lawyer collaboration with these companies to engage with and provide legal services to the public.

    I wanted to make the best practices portion of this material free and available to practitioners because I don’t know of any other resources out there like this and it’s needed. As most of you know by now from my writing, I believe that the legal profession should find ways to collaborate with companies providing legal services online. It will be a significant way to increase access to justice for certain legal services. Not for all services, not for all clients, and not for all lawyers – see my book on unbundling or that ebook for reasons why not. However, it will be significant for large segments of the public needing basic legal services and may lead to other forms of collaboration and innovation in the delivery of legal services that could expand access in ways we can’t see right now.

    For those who are venturing into this area of lawyer advertising/delivering legal services online in their law practice, this ebook and the full book to come should be a helpful guide.

    As always, I welcome feedback.

  • 15 Technology and Legal Services Delivery Predictions for 2013

    Every six months I used to write a post with a list of virtual law practice updates or related items that had been “in the news.” Elawyering and virtual practice have become so mainstream these days that doing this would result in a ridiculously long list of references.

    Instead, I’m going to compile a list of my top 15 predictions for the coming year that relate to virtual practice. These are based on the research I’ve done for my upcoming book as well as the presentations and consulting work that I’ve done over the past year.

    1. We will continue to see the number of legal technology start-ups being introduced to the consumer legal marketplace. [For a list of these players, stay tuned for the release of my ebook: Consumer Law Revolution coming later in Jan. 2013]. These companies are going to focus their efforts on consumers, but will also attempt to cultivate strong attorney branded networks that will provide their services with the value add of licensed legal assistance.

    2. Existing legal tech startups may be acquired or backed by larger legal service companies, companies catering to other industries in addition to legal services, or fail to obtain the funding necessary to scale to the next level.

    3. Of the technologies introduced in these platforms we will see two interesting developments that will be a little different than the typical Q&A or forum platforms typically offered to consumers. These companies are adding better matching systems using algorithms, consumer preferences, and online behavior to match the legal needs of the individual with the appropriate legal guidance/forms and potentially with the best lawyer to handle their particular legal need. We will also see the expert systems in some of these platforms increase in sophistication as they learn and improve from user feedback.

    4. The focus of these companies’ services will start to shift more from business law and startup legal services to more personal legal services for the average consumer.

    5. We may see companies negotiating with other non-legal social media and networking applications for access to user data which may be used to help predict or identify consumer’s legal needs as a way to target advertising for their platforms.

    6. Lawyers will become more aware of the need for online marketing that extends beyond the use of social media and focuses more on brand building online using analytical tools that focus on ROI rather than just online reach.

    7. More lawyers, especially solos and small firms, will consider joining forces with one or more of these legal startups. Navigating those networks and figuring out how to convert any leads generated from them into paying clients will be a learning process for both the lawyers and the companies looking to maintain and develop strong relationships with lawyers. (more…)

  • Wall Street Journal Covers Rivalry in Online Delivery Space

    Last week I was interviewed by the Wall Street Journal for an article that was published today regarding companies that deliver basic legal services online and how this impacts both the public and legal professionals.

    I used to write a post every six months compiling developments in virtual law practice. It has become so mainstream now that I think my list that started out a couple years ago with about twenty items would far exceed a reasonable blog post length. The online delivery of legal services is now something larger firms and the media are finally paying attention to. The recent law suit filed by Legal Zoom against Rocket Lawyer has brought the online delivery model on the radar of the legal profession and business world. Why? There is clearly a latent market for online services coupled with a legal profession at a cross roads.

    From today’s WSJ article:

    …demand for high-end legal services fell after the recession, as deals slowed and big companies pushed back on legal bills, and it has yet to recover.

    Meanwhile, some legal entrepreneurs are looking for gold in a largely untapped vein: ordinary people seeking affordable alternatives to traditional lawyers. The idea is to provide access to legal services online, the same way many now look for jobs, pick restaurants and shop.

    Given this recent interest in the space, I’m anxious to get my latest book out there. It will hopefully be published by the spring. I keep having to update the manuscript as more legal tech start-ups enter the market with interesting new models of delivery. (more…)

  • Slides: Delivering Unbundled Legal Services Over the Internet

    These are slides from the ABA Annual 2012 presentation by Will Hornsby, Richard Granat, and myself.

     

  • Slides – Consumer Law Revolution: Online Marketing Tools for Lawyers

    These are the slides from my part of the panel presentation from the College of Law Practice Management (COLPM) Futures Conference last Friday at Georgetown Law Center in D.C. Some of this talk included research from my forthcoming book on the subject.

    I think Michael Mills, who was on the panel with myself, Marc Lauritsen and Tanina Rostain, made a wonderful point when he asked whether our profession’s reluctance to use available technologies that make legal knowledge available to a larger majority of the public is actually “immoral.” It is certainly malpractice to not use it, but I think he is right, if it’s available and can be implemented by law firms or at least made accessible through legal services organizations to increase access to justice, then yes, it borders on being immoral.

    I tried to argue that some of these companies creating new platforms to deliver legal services might collaborate with  private practitioners as well as legal aid services  to increase alternatives available but also help lawyers to build their online brand and market their full-service or unbundled legal service offerings. I’m not sure about what reception these ideas had because it was the end of the day and that always limits attendee questions.  Would love the feedback.

  • Consumer Law Revolution

    I will be speaking on a panel at the College of Law Practice Management (COLPM) Futures Conference this Friday at Georgetown Law Center in D.C.
    Our panel will be discussing the following topics:
    • How is technology changing delivery of legal services to consumer?
    • How is tech changing how lawyers who serve consumers practice?
    • Will the consumer law movement shape the broader market for legal services?  Do we see signs today that consumer law developments are already doing so?
    • Will constraints – for example, client or lawyer conservatism, immature technology, or ethical barriers – limit a more rapid evolution or a real  revolution?

    I am charged with speaking about lawyer marketing using Internet-based platforms. My co-panelists are Professor Tanina Rostain, Michael Mills, and Marc Lauritsen. I will post any slides from my part of the presentation at a later date.

  • Slides from Digital Lawyering Program

    I posted a sample of slides on Slideshare from the Tech in Law Practice session for the Digital Lawyering Program that I’m teaching online for the University of Dayton School of Law this fall. Note that this is just a sample from one of the classes, we have an entire syllabus full of different topics involving law practice technology, including all the ethics issues and best practices.

    We are using Marc Lauritsen’s book The Lawyer’s Guide to Working Smarter with Knowledge Tools as the framework for discussion and Richard Susskind’s End of Lawyers? Rethinking the Nature of Legal Services. We are also reading some of the chapters from my books and using podcasts and videos from other experts. The students have access to a virtual law firm simulation as well as several other legal tech applications for them to get hands-on, practical experience based on their future career paths and what interests them.

    Next up in the program is a session on Social Media for Lawyers.

  • NC Proposed Ethics Opinion – Use of Leased Time-Shared Office Address

    There is a proposed North Carolina ethics opinion that may affect virtual practitioners who use leased time-shared offices or PO Boxes as addresses because they work from home or only need to meet with clients infrequently.

    Proposed 2012 Formal Ethics Opinion 6 “Use of  Leased Time-Shared Office Address or Post Office Address on Letterhead and Advertising” was considered by the NC State Bar Ethics Committee at their meeting on July 19, 2012. The proposed opinion will be published in the next issue of the State Bar’s Journal and public comments will be accepted. Depending on the feedback received, the Committee will either adopt the opinion or decide whether to drop or revise it before meeting again.

    For those of you familiar with the “bona fide office” rules of some states, the questions raised in the proposed opinion will ring a bell. (more…)

  • ABA Annual: Delivering “Unbundled Legal Services” Over the Internet

    If you are attending ABA Annual in Chicago in a few weeks, please join myself, Richard Granat and Will Hornsby, for our CLE panel discussion about delivering unbundled legal services online. The program is sponsored by the ABA Standing Committee on the Delivery of Legal Services and will be held on Friday, August 3rd from 3-4:30pm. Additional educational materials will be provided to attendees. Here is the program description:

    The concept of delivering “unbundled” or “limited legal services” is not a new idea, but the idea becomes much more powerful when these legal services are delivered over the Internet as an online legal service. This program will help all law firms, but especially solos and small law firms, learn how to design an “online limited legal service”. Issues discussed include: designing and pricing the legal service; Internet applications that support online delivery; marketing “unbundled legal services online” ; ethical issues that need to be considered, including the creation and termination of the attorney/client relationship, the limited legal service retainer agreement, and confidentiality of client data. Existing models for delivering “unbundled legal services” online will also be discussed as well as the economics of this approach to online legal service delivery.

  • Online Legal Services – Updated List for Big Law

    Ron Friedmann over at his Prism Legal Blog has posted an updated list of big law firms delivering online legal services. Neota Logic sponsored the updated list and most likely provides the technology that facilitates the online delivery process for some of the listed firms. (I am a fan of Neota Logic and have been sharing how it works and its potential with the law students I teach.)

    I share some of Ron’s thoughts about the direction that online services are heading at least in the Big Law arena. It’s difficult to see how the changes affecting the legal profession in the UK under the Legal Services Act with its encouragement of alternative business structures is not going to eventually trickle over to the US. In the process that will encourage technology companies and innovative law firms to adapt to alternative forms of legal service delivery, including online and those that rely on decision-making and document assembly and automation systems.

    It’s also interesting to see that financial services are the primary online service for most of these firms. I would hope that as the technology becomes more affordable to customize, firms will see the potential in adding other practice areas. They might consider adding those services in practice areas that are transactions-based and delivered online to supplement other unbundled or full-service offerings that are delivered traditionally. If you are keeping track of the development of online delivery, Ron’s post is a good resource.

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