Virtual Law Practice

Tag: State Bar

  • Proposed NC Ethics Opinion on Cloud Computing Returned to Subcommittee

    The Ethics Committee at the North Carolina State Bar voted to send the proposed formal ethics opinion 6 (FEO 6), entitled “Subscribing to Software as a Service While Fulfilling the Duties of Confidentiality and Preservation of Client Property” back to the subcommittee to reconsider responses they received to inquiries #1 and #2.

    Both of these inquiries contained worrisome minimum requirements for the use of cloud computing that many of the technology providers and attorneys using cloud computing are not certain can be practically implemented without resulting in severe restrictions on the use of a wide number of cloud-based applications.

    The Ethics Committee received responses from groups such as ILTSO and the LCCA as well as from individual attorneys both licensed in NC and across the country.  You may read the LCCA’s detailed response on their website. Some of the responses from individuals included:

    – Nicole Black, author of the soon-to-be published by the ABA/LPM Cloud Computing for Lawyers, provided this response;

    – Erik Mazzone, Director of the Center for Practice Management at the North Carolina Bar Association, wrote about the opinion on his Law Practice Matters blog;

    – Richard Granat, co-chair of the ABA eLawyering Task Force, wrote critically of the proposed opinion on his elawyering blog; and

    – I posted the comments that I submitted to the Committee on this blog a few months ago.

    We should have some idea by the end of October about the revisions, if any, that will be made to the proposed opinion by the subcommittee.

     

  • 60 Sites in 60 Minutes from Practical Skills CLE

    Last week I had the pleasure of co-presenting the final session for the North Carolina Bar Association’s Practical Skills CLE with Erik Mazzone and Lee Rosen.  The Practical Skills CLE is intended for recent law school graduates and attorneys who are transitioning into new practices or getting ready to hang their own shingle. 

    I’ve spoken with many newly licensed attorneys here in North Carolina but also across the states who still do not have any idea where they will be working.  Finding an entry level job as an associate in this poor economic climate is not an easy task.  This is forcing many new attorneys to open up their own law practices without the benefit of a couple years of mentoring and real-world experience in the legal profession.  This is an opportunity for those of us who have been actively practicing law and running our own businesses to help our colleagues into the profession and to equip them with the skills they need to avoid malpractice risks and succeed in their chosen careers. 

    In the 20 websites that I presented during our Practical Skills 60 Sites in 60 Minutes session, I tried to choose sites that might be useful for an attorney just starting out. I started with Pipes to show how you can efficiently hunt down and organize the wealth of legal resources that are online.  Then I added to the list a number of the blogs that I have been reading for years that provide me with useful knowledge about starting out in law practice or that have links to good resources.  Among the listed blogs are a number of useful apps and a couple just for fun.

    Pipes: A tool that aggregates and mash-ups content from around the web to create a customized feed.  Use simple commands combined together to create more useful, powerful feeds.  Start your morning off reading regular law practice management blogs and other specific practice area blogs for useful practice tips and updates.

    Open Congress: OpenCongress combines official government information with related news and blog coverage.  If you want to find out the story behind a bill or what your representative is doing in office, this is the place to go.

    Cornell American Legal Ethics Library:  This digital library contains state by state codes and rules related to ethics and professional responsibility.  Search by jurisdiction or topic.  If you operate a virtual law practice, this is a great resource for checking out the rules and regulations of other states where you may be practicing law virtually or to help you avoid UPL in other jurisdictions.

    Solo Practice University:  SPU is a web-based educational community for attorneys that teaches the “practice of law” and fills in the gaps that law schools tend to ignore, such as the practical, how-tos of running a law practice.  Specific practice areas are taught as well as marking, ethics and other topics related to law practice.  There is a monthly fee but it provides valuable access to some great mentors and practical knowledge about the profession.

    Google Voice:  Create a Google phone number and route calls to your home, business, or mobile devices.  A useful tool for blocking and screening calls with other features, such as voicemail transcripts, storing, sending and receiving text messages from one device or online to other devices. Rather than calling multiple numbers to reach you, your clients dial one number and it tracks you down to the phone you can answer or takes the call to voice mail.  A great tool for the mobile attorney with a virtual law practice.

    Penzu:   This app is for the attorney who enjoys writing but doesn’t want the world to read it. Start a free, private online journal.  Some law firms are prohibiting their associates from blogging publically.  Use this tool to get your stress relief without exposing your frustrations with the practice or inadvertently sharing your clients’ confidential information.

    Techmeme: This popular website is a resource of technology and trends that can help you run your law practice and your life.  Focusing on the practical application of technology in daily life, it combines the best tech stories of the day into an easy-to-scan page with 24/7 updated content.

    Cloud Ave:   If you want to learn about and keep up to date on cloud computing and SaaS, this blog provides non-biased reviews, news and practical information that can be applied to the use of the tech in a law practice. 

    Divorce Discourse:  This blog was created for the family law practitioner by Lee Rosen and the Rosen Law Firm. Updated regularly with useful content.  Also check out the Stay Happily Married and Divorce Talk Radio.  I’m not even a family law practitioner, but I find the tips in this blog to be useful as well as entertaining.  

    Law 21:  Written by Jordan Furlong, a Canadian lawyer and legal journalist, this blog addresses the changes that are taking place in the legal profession, such as the impact of social media and technology used to practice law.

    JD Supra:  Part marketing and networking opportunity, part repository of form documents.  JD Supra hosts thousands of legal documents submitted by the lawyers who drafted them.

    MyShingle:   Written by attorney and author of Solo by Choice, Carolyn Elefant, this blog caters to solo and small law practices.  The site provides useful resources for starting, managing and marketing a solo or small firm practice.  She also has a great resource of links to other sites.

    Seismic:  This company has some great free apps to help you manage your online social media, from video to iPhone to in-browser tools.  Host your law firm videos, share links, text, video and photos from a single screen.  Create lists to separate family, friends and work. 

    Law Practice Matters:  Written by the NCBA Director of Practice Management, Erik Mazzone, this blog is a great resource for law practice management news, tips and tech reviews.   

    Tripit:   This website lets you organize  and share your travel plans by building an online itinerary that you can monitor and receive alerts about travel delays and share with others. 

    eCycling:  A resource for IT asset disposal and electronics recycling.  Use this site to find out the best way to recycle or dispose of your law practice electronics in a secure and eco-friendly way.

    HARO:  Help a Reporter Out (HARO).  Subscribe to these emails & scan them to see if you have a legal expertise that a report needs as a source for their articles.  Is an easy and free law practice marketing method that can pay off if you commit to reviewing it regularly.

    lawtechTalk:   NY attorney and prolific legal blogger, Nicole Black, created lawtechTalk as a resource for reviewing online legal technologies and social media for lawyers. On the website she posts regular screencasts that review and demo legal tech.

    Robert Ambrogi’s LawSites:  Written by Massachusetts attorney, writer and media consultant Robert Ambrogi, this site reviews new and useful website for the legal profession.  Check out his Lawyer2Lawyer podcasts that are also posted on the blog.

    Wolframalpha:  Want to know where the web is headed?  WolframAlpha is a long-term project across all professions based on a new form of knowledge-based computing.  Think of a combination between Google and Wikipedia.  Consider how this may affect legal research, your practice and the public’s ability to access the law.

  • 20 of the 60 Tips in 60 Minutes

    The NC Bar Association held its Law Tech Expo this past week.  Erik Mazzone, the Director for the Center of Practice Management at the Bar, did a great job of reviving the Expo.  I look forward to this being an annual event for our Bar Association and anticipate its growth considering the important role that technology plays in the legal profession today.  It was a pleasure to meet such well-known speakers as Sharon Nelson, John Simek and Britt Lorish Knuttgen at the event.  VLOTech also had a booth in the hall alongside other exhibitors and we were excited to introduce our SaaS product for virtual law practice to the attendees.

    At the Law Tech Expo, I sat in on a panel discussion on practicing law in the cloud and co-presented the 60 Tips in 60 Minutes session with Erik Mazzone and Lee Rosen.

    This would be an amusing story if it weren’t so frustrating at the time:  I protect my netbook by using Truecrypt so that if it were ever stolen, no one would be able to access my law office data.  One of the sites I was presenting was Truecrypt.  Right before our presentation, we all connected our computers out so that the video will show up on the auditorium screen.  The Truecrypt screen comes up asking for the password, but won’t even let me enter it.  Fortunately, I also travel with the portable CD drive and restore CD so it wasn’t a problem once I got back to the hotel.  However, I had to jump over to the Bar Center’s podium computer to present my 20 sites rather than using my netbook.  It’s the perfect example of how one of my 20 tips can be used to protect your law office data — although not exactly the way I had wanted to demonstrate it.

    Snafu aside, the presentation was fun and the audience responsive.  I’m looking forward to presenting another 20 of the 60 Websites in 60 Minutes for the Practical Skills CLE in a couple weeks.

    Here are the 20 tips that I presented from our session with summaries of the sites.

    PrimoPDF:  A free PDF creator allows you to create PDF files from 300+ file types.  For example, turn a Word doc into a PDF and secure with passwords for digital storage, sending to clients, etc.

    Portable Hard Drive:  Easy to use for backup of law office data. Run nightly backups with Truecrypt and Sycntoy for security.  When traveling, it’s easy to take your law practice along with you.

    Truecrypt: Free open source encryption software. Works with PCs & Macs. Multiple uses for this software, especially for the mobile attorney.  Ex.: Encrypt files on your USB key or portable hard drive.

    Zamzar:  Free online file conversion.  Convert files to doc, image, video and music formats.  Useful for working w/clients, other attorneys using different programs to share data.

    ZOHO Projects: Creates a project management space for collaboration that is based on social networking.  Map out projects with a team, assign tasks, schedule meetings, work on documents, hold forum discussions and more.

    Pipes:  A tool that aggregates and mashups up content from around the web to create a customized feed.  Use simple commands combined together to create more useful, powerful feeds.

    Google Voice: Create a Google phone number and route calls to your home, business, or mobile devices.  A useful tool for blocking and screening calls with other features, such as voicemail transcripts, storing, sending and receiving text messages from one device or online to other devices. Rather than calling multiple numbers to reach you, your clients dial one number and it tracks you down to the phone you can answer or takes the call to voice mail.

    Meebo: Communicate in real-time with your contacts across platforms including IM and other social networking apps.  This tool lets you combine all of your contact lists in different apps into one.

    Thunderbird 2:  Thunderbird 2 email application has superior security and privacy features, including phishing protection, industry leading junk mail filters, and support for user privacy and remote image protection.

    Open Office:  Free open source version of Microsoft Office, includes word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, graphics, databases and other applications.  It runs on PCs and Macs, has great compatibility with other programs and you don’t have to buy a new version to install each time it has an update.

    Billeo:  A secure tool to manage online transactions, such as payments, passwords, and receipts.  Works in your browser to allow for one-click access.

    Penzu:  This program is for the attorney who enjoys writing but doesn’t want the world to read it. Does your law firm prohibit or discourage you for writing in a public blog?  Start a free, private online journal and keep writing.

    Scribefire:  This is an extension to your Firefox browser that lets you post easily into your blog.  Click and drag, drop formatted text from pages and post it on your blog.

    Glance:  Easy tool for desktop sharing with audio conferencing.  Use for web presentations, conferences, training, or general communicating.  Allows others to take control of your mouse as well as view your desktop.

    iContact: Send clients newsletters and email blasts about your practice and changes in the law without being blacklisted. Use it in conjunction with your blog or website to transfer subscribers to your email updates.

    Skype:  Free skype-to-skype calls with video, text message from Skype; forward calls to your mobile device, etc.  Multiple uses for online communication.

    Iceberg:  A web-based tool to develop your own custom workflow based app for your law practice or for individual projects.  Provides customizable applications to build on.  No code writing experience necessary.

    Virtual Paralegals:  For an attorney practicing law remotely or online, virtual paralegals are a useful resource for transcription, legal research, legal document preparation or other administrative activities.  There are virtual paralegal companies, independent virtual paralegals and virtual assistants that may work in different arrangements, such as on a regular basis for a solo or small firm or as added support on a project basis for a larger firm.

    Firefox Add-ons:  Download these add-ons for extra security for your Firefox browser.  Use no-scripts for safest web-browsing.

    Bing:  Microsoft’s version of the search engine.  Keep an eye on how it will compete with Google because it does use a different formula for ranking sites.  Attorneys should monitor their personal and professional online presence on a regular basis and this is one more search engine to check.

  • NC State Bar Journal Covers the Online Legal Professional

    Attorneys practicing law online and licensed in North Carolina may be interested in checking out the fall issue of the North Carolina State Bar Journal.  Several of the articles in the issue cover topics related to attorneys creating online presences, including avoiding ethical risks for law firm websites and using social networking, such as Facebook, Twitter and blogging. 

    As with most state bar publications covering topics related to technology, at least one of the articles comes with a stern reminder to follow the Rules of Professional Conduct and advises attorneys to consult with the ethics counsel at the State Bar before attempting to use any social networking as a marketing tool.  Wise advice.  I’ll freely admit that I took advantage of the ability to call the ethics hotline a few times both while working at a small firm and when I first went out as a solo with a virtual law practice.  The service is anonymous and a great way to get the reassurance and confidence you might need before taking any action.  There are more formal methods of getting written ethics advisory opinions, but being able to make a quick phone call for small matters, many of which may just be affirmation of good common sense, is a valuable service from the Bar. 

    With the lines between the personal and professional being so thin with many popular forms of online social networking, it’s good to know you can check with someone from the Bar who handles ethics issues on a daily basis.  It’s a “measure twice, cut once” philosophy and serves well for any professional placed in a position of trust by members of  the general public.

  • 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.

  • Assisting a Pro Se Litigant Online – Proposed NC State Bar 2008 Formal Ethics Op. 3

    The winter issue of the North Carolina State Bar’s Journal came out this week.  Of interest to attorneys practicing online with a virtual law practice, the Journal published the Proposed 2008 Formal Ethics Opinion 3, Assisting a Pro Se Litigant.  The proposed opinion had come out earlier this year but was only recently printed in the state bar’s publication.

    The Bar’s summarized its ethics decision:

    Proposed opinion rules a lawyer may assist a pro se litigant by drafting pleadings and giving advice without making an appearance in the proceeding and without disclosing or ensuring the disclosure of his assistance to the court unless required to do so by law or court order.

    How does this relate to a virtual law practice?

    Several virtual law office owners that I have worked with are planning on providing pro se litigants with unbundled legal services.  This would help to lessen the burden on the court systems in their state that are swamped with pro se litigants and at the same time allow the attorneys to tap into a different client base with a large need for legal services. 

    The technology of a web-based virtual law office would allow these attorneys to efficiently assist a large number of pro set litigants in any number of areas of law.  They could charge fees for legal services that are perhaps less than their traditional billable hour rates, but which make economic sense because the client is doing all of the footwork and the technology streamlines the process. 

    Of interest in this NC ethics opinion, the state bar specifically recognizes the public’s need for legal services to be delivered in less traditional ways. The ethics opinion references the NC 2005 Formal Ethics Opinion 10 which permits an internet based law practice to offer to work with and provide clients with online legal services, including providing services to pro se litigants. 

    The key to this new proposed ethics opinion is similar to the NC 2005 FEO Opinion 10 because it requires that the online client provide “informed consent” to the limited online representation.  Through a VLO, the client is given adequate notice of the terms and scope of the online representation multiple times and is asked to accept these terms through two separate clickwrap agreements. 

    The ethics opinion also requires that the attorney make the independent judgment as to whether the services he or she offers can be competently provided to the client based on that client’s unique legal needs.  This is similar to the process any attorney should go through in a traditional law practice and is not different with a virtual law office.

    To summarize, this opinion is another nod from another state bar that a virtual law practice may provide services to pro se litigants, provided that the virtual law practice is handled properly by the attorney practicing law online.

  • State Bar Regulation of Online Lawyer Communication

    I have been fielding questions lately about the recent lawsuit filed in Louisiana regarding the Louisiana State Bar’s new proposed Rules of Professional Conduct and how they may affect blogging and other online social networking.  Attorneys operating virtual law practices tend to use blogging and other online communities in their daily law practice for the purpose of client development as well as to network and collaborate with other attorneys. 

    As I’ve worked with other attorneys nationwide to set up virtual law offices, I’ve been reading through different state’s bars rules of professional conduct and ethics decisions related to electronic communication and advertising.  Every state seems to have a different understanding of how attorneys are using the Internet in their law practices.  Sometimes it’s an archaic understanding and at other times it’s just not informed enough from a technology perspective to provide the guidance to attorneys as it was intended to do. 

    The new proposed Louisiana rules regulate lawyer advertising on blogs and other social networks and will go into effect in April of next year.  The lawsuit, brought by a Louisiana Construction Law Firm,  challenges the constitutionality of Louisiana’s new rules claiming that they will restrict free speech.  The full text of the Complaint is here.

    An attorney in the firm filing the lawsuit is active in online communities and forums.  He is a member of LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and other popular social networking sites.  He operates an educational blog about the construction industry and construction law.  As a blogger, he posts comments on other blogs and writes guest posts.
     
    The most interesting claim made in the complaint is that each incidence of “speech,” each blog post, each tweet, would have to be run by the Louisiana Bar prior to posting and would cost $175 per review.  Wow.  That might be doable for BigLaw, but would certainly not be cost-effective for a solo practitioner.  How could you make timely blog posts if you had to run it by a review team before posting?  I will be interested to read the response to this particular claim.   

    I’ve read Kevin O’Keefe’s opinion about the new proposed Louisiana rules and the lawsuit on his blog.  He seems to think the whole issue is being blown out of proportion and the rules will not be any threat to blogging.  O’Keefe is probably right. 

    What interests me more about this lawsuit and the proposed rule is the way that state bars are trying to draft rules that regulate their attorneys’ use of technology to communicate, not just to advertise their law practice, but to provide the delivery of legal services.

    Most of the rules and regulations that exist for each state bar related to electronic communication are out of touch with the technology that their attorneys are using.  Many ethics opinions and rules of professional conduct restricting attorney advertising through electronic methods were written when email was still new.  Most haven’t been updated since the mid-1990s.  

    In addition, the rules and ethics opinions that I have read seem to be out of touch with the general public they are intended to protect.  Maybe I’m off base here, but I think it’s past time that the legal profession reevaluates the experience and ability of the general consumer to find and retain legal services.  Yes, there will always be unscrupulous attorneys out there who will use online advertising to mislead the public.  However, there could be a better balance of 1) education on the part of the state bar regulators regarding the technology used by attorneys in daily practice and 2) addressing the public’s demand for affordable and convenient access to legal services through electronic methods.   

    I’ll be watching to see what happens in Louisiana.  In the meantime, I’m still compiling a state by state list of rules of professional conduct and ethics opinions that relate to an attorney’s use of technology in daily practice.  I’d like to provide this as a resource for attorneys wanting to practice with a virtual law office to see how their state bar as well as neighboring state bars have addressed the delivery of legal services online.

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