Virtual Law Practice

Tag: Technology

  • LTN Innovative Use of Tech Award

    InnovationI’m pleased to share the news that the virtual law firm I joined last spring, Burton Law LLC, has won a Legal Technology News 2012 Innovation Award in the category of Most Innovative Use of Technology in a Small Law Firm. Here is the ALM press release.

    I’ve described our firm’s tech structure on this blog before when I announced my move from solo virtual lawyering to this different structure of virtual practice. The LTN article announcing the award briefly explains the tech we use in the firm. However, we have also now added DirectLaw to the list of software that we use to deliver services to clients. As someone who has unbundled online services for the past seven years, getting the document automation and assembly piece of the puzzle into our firm’s structure was an important addition to the usual cloud-based delivery of legal work.

    You can read the LTN article’s brief description of our firm’s technology here. Chad Burton, the founder of our firm, will be attending LegalTechNY to receive the award for the firm. Chad is always one step ahead of the curve when it comes to exploring new technologies and processes that might be integrated into our firm’s model. Almost once a week he is sharing with us some new iPad app to increase personal productivity. I’m sure he’ll return from LegalTechNY with a few more new tools and ideas to share with the firm on Yammer.

    I was also very happy to see that John Mayer received an award as Champion of Technology for his work at CALI, eLangdell, and the A2J Author software. The article should have also mentioned the MOOC he developed last year on Digital Topics in Law Practice which is an awesome free online educational resource that all lawyers interested in virtual law practice should go through. Congrats on the well-deserved recognition, John!

  • Ch-ch-ch-changes: Rocket Lawyer Acquires LawPivot; TR Joins the Club (finally)

    snakeeatsfrogJanuary is the usual month for companies to launch new products or make announcements. Most launches come before the tradeshow at LegalTechNY. Two announcements this month are of interest to the virtual lawyer. First, Rocket Lawyer acquired LawPivot.

    Will this make a huge difference in terms of competition in the online delivery of legal services space? Probably not. I wrote about LawPivot as one of the case studies in my new book. Here was my run-down of what they offer:

    LawPivot provides both the free question and answer service and the paid. However, it uses a crowdsourcing model that allows the individual or company asking a legal question to receive multiple responses from attorneys rather than being limited to just one response. The system analyzes user data and trends on its site to create an algorithm that matches the most qualified lawyers to respond to the user’s legal question. The company received $600,000 in venture capital funding from Google Ventures and other investors in January of 2011.

    Unlike other question and answer sites, the lawyer network at LawPivot is more selective and focuses on “over 2,000 lawyers from some of the most prestigious private practices and law firms.” [This may change since Rocket Lawyer’s network is not selective.] The focus of the company is to provide legal services related to startup entrepreneurs and business law. Consumers who post a question from the network online may receive responses from several lawyers in their jurisdiction. Unlike some services, the user is able to ask additional follow-up questions from the list of respondents before determining if there is one that he or she would like to retain. [This may be integrated into Rocket Lawyer’s referral system to their lawyer network?]

    For lawyers who wish to join the LawPivot network, the company has added a gamification component to motivate lawyers to respond to questions. There is a point system and lawyers may receive points for questions answered. This point system is based on an algorithm that determines how well and how quickly the lawyer answers the question. The acquired points move the lawyer up through different “levels” on their profile. This ranking is visible to the public as well as information about the number of public questions asked, private questions asked, thanks received from users, and profile views. Along with the point system, there is a “Confidential Q&A Percentile Ranking” which displays the lawyer’s percentages regarding “well-received answers”, “questions seldom go unanswered”, “answers promptly” and “contributes to the LawPivot community.” [I’m guessing this will stay in because that’s what makes it such an effective marketing tool for the lawyers as a Q&A feature.]

    But really, the only thing Rocket Lawyer was missing from it’s online menu of offerings to the consumer was a robust Q&A platform. Almost every other legal tech company that I studied for my book had a Q&A component and most started out with that basic piece of the SEO puzzle. I think this means that Rocket Lawyer will have an even broader reach of its services to the public. It will also mean the lawyers joining its network will have another engagement option to consider.

    And for the second announcement of interest, Thompson Reuters has (finally) hopped on the cloud-based practice management bandwagon. Lisa Solomon does not give it a great review. But at this point, lawyers wanting a practice management system in the cloud have plenty of options to find the one that has the right mix of features that their firm needs.

    I remember back at the start of 2009 when I was pitching the concept of online practice management, client portals, and other features for a virtual law office. It is extremely amusing to me years later to see how this has all developed out – which companies listened, what advice they choose to take, which features they choose to develop over others that I told them the legal market would demand.

    What do I see with these two new year announcements? I see a lot more merging to come and maybe a few drop-offs. First adopters of innovative systems and business concepts who ignored the legal industry naysayers and pushed forward are the companies that are staying ahead. Legal tech startup business models that cannot effectively monetize or provide a truly unique online service in the legal marketplace will merge in with larger companies and become feature sets.

    Here’s an open challenge to the legal tech industry for 2013: SURPRISE ME. I’m getting bored and unimpressed.

    Really, this is pretty much business as usual and that’s never at the speed I would like. But hopefully, the consumers will benefit as the most effective technologies and business models are tightened down and push forward to deliver better legal services online. Maybe we can even have some fun getting there.

  • 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…)

  • Slides: Delivering Unbundled Legal Services Over the Internet

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

     

  • Final Slides from Law Practice Management Class

    These are the slides from my final session for a Wake Forest Law School course on law practice management this fall. I taught the course online and used a virtual law firm simulation to teach ethics and other best practices for unbundling legal services and online delivery.

    As the slide content makes obvious, the students were asked to read Susskind’s End of Lawyers? and my book on virtual law practice as well as many other articles, videos, and ethics opinions related to both traditional firm management and the integration of technology in practice management. This is just the last slide deck from the series of 14.

    In our final class, we looked at how the legal industry is changing and how the students may adapt to these changes as new associates in law firms or as solo practitioners. We had some interesting discussions in this course because the students came from such diverse backgrounds and with many different plans for their legal careers. Several were even a tad argumentative or resistant at first even to the idea that these changes might affect the way they had thought they would practice law upon passing the bar.

    I hope by the end of this course rather than depressing the students, I gave them some new ideas about how to direct their legal careers within a law firm or how to create their own unique business models.

     

  • Updated List of Products that Facilitate Virtual Law Practice

    I have finally updated the list of products and services used by virtual law firms whether its for direct online delivery of legal services to clients or for remote lawyering in general.

    This fall I taught a course on technology in law practice which required that I research and update myself on all of the new products and services out there, including iPad and other mobile device apps that could be used in practice management for a virtual law firm. The updated list is here. As always, suggestions are welcome.

  • 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…)

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