Virtual Law Practice

Tag: Practice Management

  • 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.

  • Update on Proposed NC Ethics Opinion on Cloud Computing

    I was notified this past week that the NC Bar Ethics Committee met at the end of July and decided to send the proposed ethics opinion, 2010 FEO 7 “Subscribing to Software as a Service While Fulfilling Confidentiality and Preservation of Client Property” to a subcommittee for further study.  They will be providing an update on the status of the opinion again after the Ethics Committee’s meeting in October. 

    Is anyone aware of other state bar committees that are reviewing this topic?  I believe that the ABA Center for Professionalism is currently reviewing cloud computing and considering the need to create some form of guidance or regulation related to the use of it in practice management.  The elawyering task force is also working on drafting guidelines for the use of cloud computing.   It would be great to know if there are other state bar initiatives related to SaaS, cloud computing or virtual law practice.

  • Ethics Considerations: Guest Post on Mass. LOMAP Blog

    The final guest post in my three-part series for the Massachusett’s Law Office Management Assistance Program (LOMAP) has posted on the blog.  This final post covers ethics considerations in virtual law practice including both the attorney’s responsibility to thoroughly research their software provider as well as best practices for the ethical management of a virtual law office.  

    Below is the introduction to the post.  Many thanks to Jared Correia for the opportunity to share my research and writing with the readers of the LOMAP blog.

    From the guest post:

    The delivery of legal services online carries with it a number of ethical concerns; however, these ethical concerns are not all that unlike those that have traditionally been addressed by offline law firms. The online lawyer is able to mitigate risks associated with virtual law practice just as a traditionally-practicing attorney would with an offline practice when, for example, installing and using software for law practice management. There are two separate categories of ethics matters to address in connection with the virtual practice of law. The first pertains to the attorney’s duty in selecting the service provider that will be setting up, hosting and maintaining the virtual law practice. With any cloud computing service, there are precautions that must be observed in researching and choosing a software provider. The second category of potential ethics concerns relates to the attorney’s daily operation of the virtual law office; and, the focus there is on ways to mitigate potential malpractice risks when working with clients online. Further issues related to each category are discussed in greater detail below; and, in addition, suggestions are made and additional resources are pointed to, for further guidance.

    You can read the rest of the guest post on the LOMAP blog.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • Virtual Lawyering In the News & Upcoming Presentations

    Online posts and podcast:

    Jim Calloway and Sharon Nelson have published a new podcast on The Digital Edge entitled “Virtual Lawyering Goes Mainstream.”  Calloway and Nelson discuss ways that virtual lawyering is starting to take off within the legal profession. 

    Over at the Slaw.ca blog, Sharon Nelson and John Simek has a post entitled “The Virtual Lawyer Stampede.”

    Jim Calloway also discusses virtual lawyering on his practice management blog under the post “Virtual Law Offices Are Becoming a Real-World Alternative.”

    Live Presentations:

    I will be participating in three events at the ABA Annual Meeting in San Francisco in a couple weeks that are related to virtual law practice.  

    • August 5th, Thursday, 10:30am, 20/20 Vision: The Impact of Technology and Globalization on Ethics for the 21st Century Lawyer. This is a panel discussion in which I will be touching on cloud computing and virtual law practice.
    • August 5th, Thursday,12:30 to 2 pm, Legal Rebels: 10 Ways to Build Your Perfect Practice and Career.  I will be attempting to give a 6 minute presentation of 20 slides on a topic related to elawyering.
    • August 6th, Friday, 2:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m., The Virtual Law Firm: How to Build Your Practice in An Online World.  I will be presenting with Will Hornsby, Richard Granat and Marc Lauritsen at this session.

    Update (via elawyering blog):  

    eLawyering Task Force Meeting, Saturday, August 7, 2010, Hilton Hotel, Union Square, 9:00 – 11:00 A.M.Open Meeting
    National Conference of State Bar Presidents, Joint Workshop 3A – Keeping Pace with the Evolving Practice of Law

  • Secure Client Portals to Deliver Legal Services Online

    The delivery of legal services online depends on the use of a secure client portal where the attorney and client can interact. This is the key feature of a virtual law practice and what distinguishes it from other online legal services and law firms that claim to be “virtual” by using unencrypted email.

    I’ve noticed in the past year that several new versions of the secure client portal have been introduced. Some of these are even developed specifically for legal professionals and most are designed for use by solos and small firms interested in delivering legal services online. If you are considering opening a virtual law practice, you might want to take a look at these different applications. Some of them have free trials and are still in beta.

    As fast as the technology for virtual law practice changes, it’s worth keeping an eye on what’s coming down the pipeline in client/attorney online communication.  The features that allow you to communicate with your clients online varies.  So far, no one is keen on having their online clients choose avatars or going beyond realtime chat and video communication.  As usual, my imagination fueled by reading too much sci-fi tends to exceed our current capabilities in terms of practical and cost-effective implementation of current technology for law practice management.

    With all of these below, check out the level of security each provides.  Look for end-to-end encyption of the transmission of any sensitive law office data.  You will want the basics — written online communication in some fashion that is recorded with date and time (for ED and CYA of the attorney), online files or other methods of organizing documents, calendaring or the ability to schedule communications with the attorney, uploading and downloading documents, limited client management features to protect them from themselves, etc.  Some client portals are going to work better for unbundling legal services online for many clients and others are more suited to larger online projects with a single client or two.  Keep in mind the chosen structure of your virtual law practice and the needs of your online client base when you are reviewing the products.

    Here are a few new client portal products I’ve run across, along with some that have been around for a few years now.  Know of any other technologies that create secure client portals?  Drop me a note in the comments.

    MyCase Client Manager
    Wizilegal
    DirectLaw
    VLOTech
    Advologix (client portal is not the focus and costs extra)
    HoudiniEsq (was announcing client access this summer, still in beta)
    BaseCamp  (not developed for legal professionals, may not have certain malpractice checks in place)
    ZohoProjects  (not developed for legal professionals, but if your clients are attorneys or other professionals, perhaps a way to collaborate online on a project.  Not sure about the security of this and also there are probably not the same malpractice checks in place)

  • Pop-Up Disclaimers on Florida Attorney Websites?

    Take a look at the new Florida State Bar rule on attorney online advertising, 4-7.6 “Computer Accessed Communications.”  In particular take a look at page 10 of the PDF. The ABA Journal also ran an article this week on the rule.

    Fortunately, the State Bar is holding off on the rule enactment until August 16th in order to hear additional comments after groups from the FTC to the ACLU claimed it violates First Amendment rights. If you are an attorney licensed in Florida, where were you when this was going through the comment stage?  Now is the time to chime in.

    Here’s a snip-it. Try to keep your mouth from dropping open when you get to the last line: (more…)

  • Marketing a Virtual Law Office – Guest Post for Mass. LOMAP

    The second post in my three-part series on virtual law practice has been published on the Massachusetts Law Office Management Assistance Program (LOMAP) blog.  This post discusses how to market a virtual law office while complying with state bar rules and regulations regarding law practice marketing and advertising.  From the post:

    Marketing a virtual law office requires some out-of-the-box thinking. It also requires careful balancing of the application of non-traditional marketing methods with continuing compliance with state bar rules and regulations regarding attorney advertising. Where state bars are silent on specific forms of online advertising or the use of technology, attorneys must interpret existing advertising rules and regulations to fit the context of modern-day practice. …

    While in many ways the strategy for marketing a virtual law office does not differ substantially from the strategy for marketing a traditional law firm, the methods for advertising a virtual law office are most often online options, and are mostly digital, rather than paper-, or phone-, based. The methods used to market the virtual form of practice must be utilized with consideration as to where the prospective online clients are coming from and as to how the firm will deliver legal services to those clients online. In some cases, the marketing of a virtual law practice may cost less than the marketing of a traditional law firm.

    However, there are also unique risks associated with marketing unbundled, online legal services. Forms of online marketing and methods of building a brand change rapidly, as the technology underlying the internet and marketing on the internet shift over time. Before you begin to market your virtual law office, you must understand what your firm’s comfort level is with respect to using and keeping up with technology (and that “keeping up” includes addressing prevailing security issues, like those implicated by Massachusetts’ new data privacy regulations); you’ll also need to have a grounded knowledge in your state bar or ethics agency’s stance on attorney advertising and online marketing. …

    Continue reading the rest of the post on the LOMAP blog and look for the final post in the series that will cover ethics concerns and how to mitigate the risks.

  • Lawyerist Guest Post: Marketing Unbundled Legal Services in a DIY Economy

    Here is a link to a recent guest post I wrote for the Lawyerist blog about marketing unbundled legal services. It has basic advice for the virtual law practice providing unbundled legal services to clients online.  From the post:

    How do you market a law firm as a provider of unbundled legal services? As with all attorney marketing, the practical considerations must fall in line with the ethical requirements of our profession. To market unbundled legal services, a firm might consider the following:

    And then it goes on to discuss each of these topics in more detail.

    1. Size up the competition

    2. Plan out unbundled services and packages

    3. Invest more in online marketing

    4. Network, network, network

    5. Educate prospective clients

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