Virtual Law Practice

Tag: VLOTech

  • Setting Guidelines for Virtual Law Best Practices

    A small group of companies providing software as a service (SaaS) products to legal professionals will begin meeting to discuss the use of SaaS technology in law practice management.  The group also hopes to discuss among other things a set of minimum security requirements for SaaS products used by attorneys.  As a co-owner of VLOTech, I am excited to be included in this group of innovators and entrepreneurs when they meet for the first time next week. 

    Last week, the ABA’s eLawyering Task Force held a conference call which I was able to join in on.  Over the next several months the Task Force will be working to establish a set of malpractice standards or guidelines for attorneys using technology to deliver legal services.  The Task Force plans to meet at least once a month to discuss these malpractice standards among other issues.  The goal would be to establish a set of guidelines that could be approved by the ABA’s Law Practice Management Section and posted on the ABA’s website.  Attorneys interested in establishing virtual law practices or in using technology to practice law in any form would be able to refer to these standards and present them to their state bars in support of their virtual practice methods.  

    Hopefully input from both the SaaS group and the Task Force will be combined in the final version of any guidelines, and that these guidelines will address both the needs of the legal professional as well as the general public’s need for more affordable and convenient legal services.

  • Podcast Interview about Virtual Law Offices

    Check out the podcast interview of me that was recorded recently by Ed Poll of the LawBiz Blog.  Ed is an expert in law practice management, and his blog is a wealth of useful knowledge and resources.  On the podcast, he and I discussed virtual law practice, VLOs, and how attorneys are using the technology to deliver legal services to clients online. 

    Ed brought up a good point at the end of our discussion that I thought was worth expanding on in a future post on this blog.  He suggested that virtual law offices might be another possible method of transition for an attorney who is looking to wind down their legal career or sell their traditional law practice.  It’s certainly something to think about as many attorney in our profession are nearing retirement age and are looking for more flexibility in the way that they practice law. 

    Thank you to Ed and LawBiz for giving me the opportunity to share my experience in virtual law practice with others in the profession.

  • Top Ten 2008 Developments in Virtual Law Practice

    Happy New Year!  The following is my list of the top ten developments in the delivery of legal services using technology that have happened in the past year.  Please feel free to expand on this list in the comments.  I’m also including at the end my predictions for virtual law practice in the new year.

    1.  Richard Susskind’s book, The End of Lawyers? Rethinking the Nature of Legal Services, is published.  The book discusses “disruptive technologies” that allow attorneys to provide legal services online.  Susskind predicts that attorneys who adopt rather than resist these changes in the technology used to deliver legal services will prosper as the profession adapts to marketplace changes.  The public’s need for affordable and accessible legal services will drive the legal profession’s use of technology to meet this demand.

    2.  State bars and other professional legal organizations offer CLEs and sessions geared at teaching attorneys best practices and security standards for using technology in their law practices.  Popular topics include email security, online backup solutions for law office data, minimizing metadata and using scanners to decrease the use of paper.  See the ABA’s Legal Technology Resource Center’s website for a list of 2008 articles.  In addition to increased law and technology management education in the profession, several state bars provide specific ethics decisions with approval for virtual law offices (VLOs) and/or allow for attorneys to provide unbundled legal services online.

    3.  More attorneys turn to piecemeal technologies and free online apps to collaborate with each other and their clients online.  Basecamp, Google Docs, Adobe ConnectNow, Webex, GoToMeeting, and Dimdim are a few of the popular web-based tools.  

    4.  New web-based, software as a service (SaaS) law practice management products launch, including Rocket Matter and Clio.  Popular legal blogs and listservs discuss the pros and cons involved in the use of “cloud computing.”  The discussions center on the security and backup concerns with a hosted system.

    5.  VLOTech sets up web-based, virtual law offices (VLOs) in Alabama, Maryland, South Carolina, Texas and Virginia with more VLOs planned in Alaska, New York, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and North Carolina for the upcoming year.  The technology aims to provide attorneys with the flexibility to operate a completely online law office or to combine the technology with a traditional law practice and offer unbundled legal services online.  “VLO” becomes a more recognized term for a web-based virtual law practice and elawyering.

    6.  Virtual Law Partners opens its doors as the newest example of BigLaw using technology to allow its attorneys to work remotely and collaborate on legal cases.

    7.  LegalZoom comes under fire over filing fees that the legal document service company charges to online clients, in particular in relation to the filing of trademark applications with the USPTO.  Critics of invention submission companies and of companies that provide form-generated legal documents in general spoke out about what they saw as the potential misleading of the public by online companies offering legal services where an attorney was not involved in reviewing the final legal product. 

    8.  With more attorneys practicing law using mobile devices and relying on electronic forms of communication with clients and other attorneys, management of electronically stored information (ESI) became more of a concern.  Solos and small firms are expected to understand e-discovery and ESI management in their daily practices.  Check out the archives of the EDD Blog co-authored by Bob Krantz and Jeffery Fehrman.

    9. Larger numbers of attorneys adopted popular online social networking tools to meet up with others in the legal profession.  Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Legal OnRamp, JD Supra and other sites connect attorneys with each other and prospective clients. 

    10. Some useful law and tech/practice management blogs came online this year, including Law 21, Above and Beyond KM, 3 Geeks and a Law Blog, and Law Practice Matters, among others.  Blogging continues to grow as an attorney marketing tool and is used as a method of providing the public with basic legal information and resources. Law blogs remain a method for attorneys to educate themselves and network in their individual practice areas.  The Louisiana State Bar’s proposed rules of professional conduct touch on attorney blogging, social networking and other forms of online attorney communication causing some concern and originating in a lawsuit from attorneys in that state. 

    My predictions for virtual law practice in 2009:

    1.  Attorneys will continue to question web-based, hosted software providing law practice management tools. However, companies providing SaaS legal products will band together to establish standards regarding the security of their products for the benefit of the legal profession and the reputation of the companies and the saas business model. 

    2.  The ABA will move forward with proposing standards or policies for the delivery of legal services online. The eLawyering Task Force as well as the Standing Committee on the Delivery of Legal Services will both play a critical role in establishing these guidelines.

    3.   Attorneys hit hard by the downward economy will seek out ways to minimize their law practice overhead using technology.  Some will use piecemeal software solutions to minimize overhead in law office administrative tasks. Others will consider opening completely web-based VLOs to get rid of the law office lease and expand their client base statewide or nationwide depending on their practice areas.  

    4.   More attorneys will realize that customer service is the key to growing a successful practice and that the public is demanding more efficient and convenient legal services through the use of technology.  This will prompt more attorneys to provide unbundled legal services online to clients either as the sole form of virtual law practice or in addition to their traditional law office practice.

  • Avoiding the Unauthorized Practice of Law (UPL) in other Jurisdictions with a Virtual Law Office (Part Two)

    Part I of this post on the unauthorized practice of law in other jurisdictions addressed the following questions:  How does a virtual law practice avoid UPL in other jurisdictions? and If a website is accessible internationally, then how can a VLO be limited to provide legal services only in the state(s) in which the attorney is licensed?

    How is it clear with a Virtual Law Office (VLO) when the attorney/client relationship is established?

    An online client receives adequate notice through his or her individual homepage in the VLO as to the different statuses of the case.  Notice is provided to the online client when the attorney has reviewed the client’s question and posted a response, when the attorney has accepted or declined representation, when the attorney provides details of the scope of representation, and when the attorney has completed legal representation and is formally closing the online case file.

    The attorney/client relationship begins when the online client has registered on the VLO and requested legal services from the attorney.  The client is notified when the attorney has reviewed and responded to his or her legal question.  Then the client is asked follow-up questions by the attorney or is presented with the price quote or terms of representation for the online client to accept or decline.

    Through the VLO, the attorney has several options to define the scope of representation, including providing clients with a traditional written retainer letter uploaded to the system, writing out personalized messages to each client and requiring that the client accept a customized clickwrap agreement solidifying the terms of the attorney/client relationship, or using both traditional and online clickwrap methods.  Basically, the same procedures for establishing attorney/client relationship and defining the scope of representation that are used in a traditional law practice can be integrated into a VLO.

    I would argue that using the technology actually provides clearer notice to the clients of the establishment of the attorney/client relationship and the scope of representation. It may also do a better job of keeping the clients informed of their case status than occurs with a traditional law practice.  One of the biggest malpractice complaints from clients is that their attorney does not communicate effectively with them regarding their case.  The VLO handles so much of the process for the attorney automatically. It also gives clients the ability to check for themselves the status of their file and to review their previous discussions with the attorney.

    Is it UPL in another jurisdiction to draft a legal document, such as a Will, for an online client who is a resident in another state?

    It is my understanding that it would constitute the unauthorized practice of law in another jurisdiction if an attorney used his or her VLO to draft a legal document that pertained to the laws of another state where the online client was a resident but where the attorney did not have a license to practice law.

    However, if the attorney operating the VLO were partnering with attorneys or legal assistants on his or her VLO who were licensed in other jurisdictions, then this would be different.  For example, a virtual paralegal could work on the VLO to draft a Will or other estate planning document for a client a jurisdiction where the virtual paralegal was familiar with that state’s estate planning laws.  The virtual paralegal would then flag the document for review by the attorney on the VLO who was licensed in that online client’s state.

    My understanding is that the review and approval of that legal document by the attorney licensed to handle that state’s laws would permit the virtual paralegal to complete the transaction for the online client without it constituting UPL in another jurisdiction.  You can see through this example how a solo law practice taken online with a VLO could grow very quickly across multiple jurisdictions if well planned out.

    How does the issue of UPL in other jurisdictions relate to legal document automation software?

    Some attorneys are choosing to provide legal services online by using document automation software, similar to the way that LegalZoom and similar companies provide legal documents across jurisdictions.  There is a separate issue here which pertains to assisting a nonlawyer (the software vendor or legal form provider) in the practice of law.  If this form of providing legal services interests readers, I recommend that they check out Richard Granat’s recent blog post regarding the automated delivery of online legal services, or online document assembly, as it relates to UPL.

    VLOTech is preparing a feature for the first of next year that allows attorneys to create forms for clients on the VLO to fill out and send to the attorney securely on the system in addition to the existing VLO forms of communicating online with the client.  The forms could be anything from estate planning and family law questionnaires to customized client intake forms based on the attorney’s virtual law practice areas.  Since the forms would be generated by the attorney individually for the VLO and not pre-packaged from a vendor, then it should avoid the UPL issue completely.  It will be interesting to see how attorneys practicing law online will choose to integrate this additional feature in their virtual law practice.

    Online Resources Regarding UPL

    ABA Model Code, Rule 5.5 Unauthorized Practice of Law; Multijurisdictional Practice of Law

    State by state comparative analysis of UPL – Cornell University Law School, American Legal Ethics Library

    BTW:  By no means do I claim to be a legal ethics expert.  I practice law online from my VLO and work with other attorneys nationwide to set up VLOs.  These issues interest me and I love hearing and learning from other’s experiences.  If anyone has specific ethics decisions from their state bar pertaining to UPL in other jurisdictions and online law practice, I’d love to hear about it.  Please share!

  • Taking Advantage of the Economic Downturn

    Attorneys considering opening a virtual law practice should take a look at Susan Cartier Liebel’s recent blog post “Is Now The Perfect Time To Start Your Solo Practice?”  The post is motivational and gives great examples of why and how attorneys may make the most of the economic downturn to create innovative law practices. 

    Along those lines, I just finished writing a post on the VLOTech blog about how web-based virtual law offices are the ideal way for a solo or small firm practitioner to turn a bad situation into a growing law practice.  From low overhead to providing more cost-effective and efficient services, VLOs are a great way to serve clients who are seeking out convenient and affordable legal assistance.  This is also a good way to build client loyalty and grow your virtual practice through referrals.

    I’ve seen an increase in my virtual law practice client base since this summer.  Many of my clients, especially the estate planning clients with families, are very upfront with me.  They can’t afford a traditional law practice.  They can’t take the time off work to go in for multiple appointments in a law office.  Or they don’t want the added cost of paying for child care while they meet with a paralegal or attorney in person.  They need flexibility in payment methods and the ability to pay online with a credit card or through Paypal.  They need to be able to work with me online on their own time even if that is at 1:00am in the morning. 

    How do I think attorneys can take advantage of the economic downturn?  Respectfully understand your clients’ economic concerns and give them what they need in this difficult time.  With my web-based VLO, I have more flexibility in my practice and it doesn’t hurt my bottom line.  Efficient and affordable customer service will create client loyalty that will continue in good times and grow your virtual law practice over the years.

  • 60 Websites to Check Out – From the Practical Skills CLE

    Last week I co-presented a CLE session at the NC Bar Center with Lee Rosen, of Rosen Divorce Law fame, and Erik Mazzone, the Director of the Center for Practice Management at the NC Bar. The conference was the Bar’s Annual Practical Skills CLE which is geared towards newly minted attorneys and others wanting to brush up on practical lawyering skills. The presentation was titled 60 Websites in 60 Minutes, and the goal was to share useful websites with the attorneys in the audience along with throwing in some fun, stress-relieving sites.

    My 20 websites focused on open source or shareware applications that could be useful to an attorney opening a solo or small firm practice and wanting to keep their overhead down. I also tried to focus on security for the mobile attorney, such as Truecrypt or PCTool’s free, secure password generator. Here is the list of websites that were presented. I’ve thrown in brief descriptions under the ones that I covered.

    60 Websites in 60 Minutes – 2008 NC Bar Practice Skills CLE

    Google Maps

    Jott

    Truecrypt
    Truecrypt is free, open-source disk encryption software. There are multiple uses for this software, especially for the mobile attorney. For example, create an encrypted drive containing sensitive data and place it and Truecrypt on a USB key. When you use a laptop to practice law remotely, mount the encrypted file as a drive on your temporary computer and use the file system like a normal drive. When you are done, unmount the drive and the only thing visible left on the USB key will be the encypted file. So if you loose your USB key or it is stolen, all they will be able to see is the encrypted file.

    Cornell Legal Research Engine

    iStockPhoto

    Firefox 3+ No Scripts
    Firefox 3 is the safest web browser to use. Add NoScripts to the program and it’s even better. If you are using web-based apps to practice law, I recommend switching from Internet Explorer to Firefox 3 with add-on security.

    VLOTech

    SugarSync

    Thunderbird
    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.

    Grand Central

    PB Wiki

    Open Office
    OpenOffice.org is the free open source version of Microsoft Office. It includes word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, graphics, databases and other applications. It runs on PCs and Macs which makes it useful if you are collaborating with others. It has easy to use applications, great compatibility with other programs and you don’t have to buy a new version to install each time it has an update.

    Wakerupper

    Jing

    Zaba Search
    ZabaSearch is a website that provides contact information for just about anyone you are trying to locate. The site claims to contain three times more telephone numbers and addresses than the White Pages Directory. Good for investigating.

    Evernote

    Elance

    PCTool’s Password Generator
    PCTools.com provides a secure password generator. You can specify password length, phonetics, letters, mixed case, numbers and punctuation.

    WordPress

    Google Analytics

    7 Zip
    7-Zip is open source software you can use to compress large files. A useful tool if you need to email or upload a larger file to a client or counsel.

    LinkedIn

    Comodo

    Product Wiki
    Productwiki is a free product review site written by consumers. Includes software, computer, electronics products reviews and more. Shows competing products and pros and cons for each.

    Google Docs

    TinyURL

    DaFont
    Designing a logo or letterhead for your law practice or looking for an eye-catching font to use in a presentation? Dafont.com has a large directory of free fonts for install on your Mac or PC.

    Alltop

    DimDim

    Twitter
    Twitter has become a popular social networking site for attorneys. You can follow individuals as well as different news and business organizations, such as the ABA Journal or Legal Voices, which follows twitter commentary from the legal industry.

    Public Library of Law

    Project Draw

    Second Life Bar Association
    If you are interested in learning about the developing legal system in the virtual reality world, Second Life, or if you just want to meet up with other tech-savvy lawyers from across the world, consider attending a meeting of the SLBA at the Second Life Justice Center. Free CLEs and other legal conferences are being held at the center on a regular basis with speakers who are in the top of the IP and Cyberlaw fields.

    Todoist

    Soocial

    Uncyclopedia
    Strictly for stress relief, Uncyclopedia is a parody of Wikipedia with over 100,000 humorous encyclopedia-style entries created by users. Check out the entries related to the legal profession or feel free to edit an entry for a creative writing break.

    Google Calendar

    37 Signals

    Solo Practice University
    Solo Practice University is a new 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. Teachers will include law professors and legal professionals and the courses will be a combination of media from web conferences to podcasts and ebooks.

    Goog 411

    Pandora

    Home Office Lawyer
    Home Office Lawyer is a popular law blog written by Grant Griffiths, a Kansas Family Law Attorney, who runs his law practice from a home office. Home Office Lawyer as well as Grant’s other blog, Home Office Warrior, have great information on the latest technology and other law practice management tools that can help an attorney run a home-based law practice or lower their law office overhead.

    Chrome

    Manager Tools

    Legal OnRamp
    Legal OnRamp is a lawyer networking site where attorneys contribute content and participate in online forums and groups. Members may use the site to meet other attorneys worldwide who specialize in a particular area of the law or join in the OnRamp marketplace to find out about new client opportunities.

    Lojack for Laptops

    Duct Tape Marketing

    Adobe Connect Now
    Adobe ConnectNow, currently in Beta, is a great way to interact with other professionals from your computer. The application is free and you may use screen sharing, chat, notes, audio and video to hold online meetings. If you are planning on using a virtual or remote legal assistant, this might be a great way to handle an orientation or training. The security may not yet be there with this application, so I would not recommend using it for communicating with clients at this stage in its development.

    JD Supra

    NewsGator

    Open Congress
    OpenCongress combines official government information with related news and blog coverage. If you want to find out the story behind a bill, this is the place to go.

    Clipperz

    Law Practice Matters

    ABA eLawyering Task Force
    ABA’s Elawyering Task Force is part of the ABA Law Practice Management Section and provides an introduction to the increasingly popular trend of using technology to provide legal services online. Even if all you are doing is setting up a web site for your law office, this is a good site to visit for practice tips.

    Delicious

    Presentation Zen

    Techmeme
    Techmeme is popular website that can keep you up to date with 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.

    Stay Happily Married

    Kiva

    Major Geeks
    MajorGeeks is a trusted website that provides downloads for your computer that will repair, back-up, and protect your system. Check out the anti-virus and backup downloads.

  • Interest in Virtual Law Practice Spreading Across the States

    Over the past month, I’ve heard from several attorneys who will be opening their own web-based virtual law practices.  The following states are on board now: SC, IL, VA, AK, GA, TX, MD, TN and KY.  Some attorneys are still in the process of speaking with their state bars about providing unbundled legal services.  One solo practitioner is working with a law professor to write a manuscript that addresses the benefits and potential ethics issues that may arise in operating a VLO.

    I’m excited about the growing number of VLOs, not only because I run a company that provides the web-based technology, but because most of the attorneys that I have spoken really see the value to the public of offering online unbundled legal services.  While many in the public can turn to Nololaw and Legalzoom for legal document drafting, these options do not provide the public with direct and personal communication with a licensed attorney.  A web-based VLO can provide this service and still keep the costs affordable for individuals who otherwise may not have been able to seek out an attorney. 

    Aside from generating additional online client revenue, the one thing I hear over and over again about why an attorney wants to open a VLO is because they are tired of spending more time working than living.  Sometimes the comment is coming from a law partner who is fed up after putting in years at one firm and missing out on his or her children growing up.  Or it’s from a newly graduated law student who does not want to end up like their overworked parents and wants to start out with flexibility from day one.  There are different stories, but the underlying tone is that these professionals love practicing law and want to find a way to stay in the legal profession without sacrificing their personal lives. 

    I’ve said before that I don’t think virtual law practice is for everyone, and the risk is no different than hanging your own shingle as a solo on a brick & mortar law office.  But if you really commit to the concept and the work that it takes to market it and to set up good practice standards for VLO management, then I believe virtual law practice can provide wonderful work/life balance for an attorney. 

    As for my own virtual law practice, this summer I am busy enjoying the benefits of running my own solo practice from home.  The third year of solo VLO practice has brought more referrals and returning small business clients my way.  It’s a sign that I must be doing something right.  I’ve also honed down the advertising and marketing techniques that work best with my VLO which I hope to share with VLOTech clients when they hang their virtual shingles. 

    I will be co-presenting another CLE session for the NC Bar Association at the end of September.  The session will be similar to the ABA TechShow’s popular “60 Websites in 60 Minutes.”  Some of the websites I am presenting would be useful to the virtual law practitioner so I will be sure to post those links and info. after the CLE presentation. 

    As always, this blog is for discussing virtual law practice, especially ethics and a technology issues in operating a VLO.  I welcome any questions or stories about virtual law practice that anyone wants to ask or share.

  • How Will Virtual BigLaw Affect Solo/Small Firm VLOs?

    It was predictable that BigLaw would find a way into the world of virtual law practice. This week’s most popular legal news article was the introduction of Venture Law Group’s new law firm concept, Virtual Law Partner. This new virtual law firm has the goal of becoming BigLaw for the virtual practitioner and boasts of creating partners out of firm members who will have the flexibility to set their own rates and work their own hours. They will receive 85% of what they are billed under this scheme.

    The question: How will the launch of Virtual BigLaw affect solo and small firm virtual law practitioners?

    The answer may depend on the marketing techniques of the Venture Law Group both in luring newly licensed attorneys and bringing in clients for each individual partner’s virtual practice. One question is whether the partners in this virtual BigLaw firm are responsible for retaining their own clients or whether the firm assists their individual efforts. 

    The affect of Virtual BigLaw on solos and small firm VLOs may also depend on the company’s ability to influence the ABA and other State Bars as far as standardizing rules of professionalism in virtual law practice. It is certainly something I intend to follow closely in the coming months. 

    While the Venture Law Group’s Virtual BigLaw Firm does not appear to seek clientele out of lower & middle income America, if other Virtual BigLaw Firms crop up, then this could have an impact on solo and small firm VLOs.  One of the benefits of operating a VLO as a solo practitioner is that it allows me to compete on some level with the larger firms who are able to set up shop in just about every small town in my state. My VLO allows me to expand my client base and provide services to more lower and middle income individuals who might otherwise not go to a traditional law office for a variety of reasons (billable hour, intimidation, inconvenience, etc.).

    One of my hopes in starting my own VLO and in forming VLOTech was that I could work towards changing the bad opinions that many in the public have about attorneys. Sure, I want to have a successful career and make a good living, but I also want to show the world that there are alternative ways of practicing law that make legal services more affordable and accessible to the public. I wonder what impression Virtual BigLaw will make.

    Personally & professionally, I found it annoying that the head of this venture spoke in several interviews as if he invented virtual law practice and the idea of better work/life balance for attorneys through technology. He may have some major connections in the VC funding and legal world, but he did not invent virtual law practice or elawyering. My thanks to Carolyn Elefant for pointing this out in her Legal Blog Watch post “Are Virtual Law Firms Really a New Idea?”

    Attorneys have been practicing law online for years with different combinations of the technology available at the time. Web-based, software as a service (SaaS) business models are fairly recent to the mix. In my mind, virtual law practice is a collaborative effort of many individuals in the legal profession and the IT field. We learn from each other and create various methods of virtual law practice.

    Every attorney seeking to practice law online will need to decide which form of virtual law office they want to join or if they want to hang their own virtual shingle. Some attorneys may want to focus on form-generated legal documents while others may want to combine a VLO with a traditional litigation practice.   The type of VLO, the services it offers and how it operates, depends on how the attorney wants to set it up.  And now attorneys who want to join a Virtual BigLaw as a partner may have that elawyering option as well.

  • Checklist for Opening a Virtual Law Office

    The following is a basic checklist for attorneys considering opening up a virtual law practice.

    ___ Choose a VLO hosting company and find out what it will require in order to set up your VLO. Of course, I’m biased, but I recommend Virtual Law Office Technology (VLOTech).

    ___ Register a domain.

    ___ Retain a website designer to create a VLO website. It can be as simple as a single homepage or a more complex site with legal resources and articles for the public and your clients. Consider having a VLO website with blog functionality. Blogging on your VLO can be a useful marketing tool and resource for your clients. VLOTech refers its clients to Grant Griffith’s company, G2WebMedia. Griffiths, of Home Office Lawyer blog fame, has experience working with solo and small firm practitioners and creates websites with blog functionality to improve VLO marketing.

    ___ Make sure that any part of your website that handles confidential information, the actual VLO, registration and login for clients, is protected by an SSL certificate (https and the browser lock symbol). Your web hosting company may help you with this or you may need to purchase an SSL certificate separately.

    ___ Establish an account with a credit card processing company to use for your online payments, such as PayPal or your bank. If you plan on taking retainers through the VLO, make sure that you have the approval of your state bar regarding transfer of the client’s funds to a credit card processing company before going into your trust account. There was some discussion about this on Solosez not long ago and I’ve posted about it here.

    ___ Draft the terms and conditions for use for your general website and the clickwrap agreement for your secure VLO website.

    ___ Establish a response time policy. For example, let clients know that you will respond to their online requests within 24 hours.

    ___ If you will be handling transactional matters, prepare any forms or worksheets for collection of client data. These may be uploaded to the clients through the VLO and downloaded for you to review once completed by the client.

    ___ If you will be using the VLO with existing clients or in a litigation practice, draft a letter or email to clients notifying them to register and use the VLO to keep track of their cases.

    ___ Decide how you plan on handling client engagement letters, either through the VLO case dialogue and clickwrap agreement or by traditional letter uploaded to the client, or a combination of both methods.

    ___ Decide which billing method or combination of methods you plan to use. Consider providing sample fixed fees, billable hour rates or a range of costs on your VLO website.

    ___ Discuss your planned VLO practices with your malpractice insurance carrier and ask about discounted rates due to the use of technology to reduce malpractice risks.

    ___ If you will be practicing remotely, review the security of your mobile devices.

    ___ If you plan on using the VLO in conjunction with other law office software, have a data backup policy in place.

    ___ Create a backup Internet access plan in the event that you only have one method of connecting to the Internet and it goes out.

    ___ Check with your state bar’s rules of professional conduct regarding advertising and website content before getting started on any marketing campaigns. (Hat tip to Aaron Johnston for reminding me to add this one!) I’ve written a little about this here .

  • A Primer on Virtual Law Practice Terminology

    Update: The appendix to the book Delivering Legal Services Online, contains a much more in-depth definition section covering elaywering, virtual law practice, cloud computing and other technology terms related to the online delivery of legal services.

    Virtual Law Practice Terminology for Beginners

    Given the rapid development of Web 2.0 applications to provide online legal services, I decided to create this mini-primer which will have to be updated regularly. Feel free to contact me with suggestions and additions. I’ve noticed a lot of confusion of terminology regarding online legal services so I thought this resource might be useful.

    eLawyering —  The term means the practice of law online and includes everything from form-generated documents for sale and purchase to emailing your clients from unencrypted “contact us” forms on attorney websites. The ABA has an eLawyering Taskforce that covers these issues.  Virtual law practice is one form of elawyering.  

    Virtual Law Practice — A professional law practice that exists online through a secure portal and is accessible to the client and the attorney anywhere the parties may access the Internet.

    Virtual Law Office (VLO) — A web-based law office which allows for the attorney and his or her clients to securely discuss legal matters online, download and upload documents for review and handle other business matters in a secure digital environment, including all of the backend management functions of a traditional law office. A VLO may be the sole software used by the virtual attorney or may be used in conjunction with a traditional law office to provide online legal services to clients.

    Virtual Lawyer — A licensed professional providing legal services through a virtual law office to online clients.

    Virtual Legal Assistant — A professional legal assistant who accesses the virtual law office and assists the virtual lawyer remotely. See Virtual Assistance for a Virtual Law Practice.

    Mobile Lawyering/Mobile Attorney — An attorney who makes use of mobile devices to practice law either with a virtual law office or in conjunction with a traditional law office.

    Web-based Law Practice Management Tools — Web-based, software as a service (SaaS) applications used in conjunction with other law office software to conduct administrative and management tasks, such as billing and time management, online.

    Paperless Law Office (also termed a “Green Law Office”) — A law practice that attempts through the use of technology to reduce or eliminate the amount of paper and law office waste that it generates.

    Virtual Reality Law (also termed Virtual Law) — This refers to the development of law in virtual reality worlds, such as the Second Life Bar Association.

    Virtual or Online Attorney Collaboration — Attorneys using technology to collaborate on legal cases or to network and share resources within the legal profession. Some online collaboration communities include VLOTech, JDSupra, Lexpertise, LawLink. The Lawyer’s Guide to Collaboration Tools and Technologies by Dennis Kennedy and Tom Mighell is a good resource.

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