Practice Management

Technology eReport: Setting Up a Web-Based Virtual Law Office

Posted on November 20, 2009
Check out my article in the November issue of the ABA GP/Solo & Small Firm Technology eReport: Setting Up a Web-based Virtual Law Office.  From the article: Consumers are actively seeking more affordable and convenient access to legal services over the Internet...

Minimum Requirements for Delivering Legal Services Online

Posted on November 18, 2009
Co-chairs of the ABA eLawyering Task Force, Marc Lauritsen and Richard Granat, have submitted a draft set of minimum requirements for delivering legal services online which was published in this month’s Law Practice Today.  As a member of the Task Force, we have discussed these minimum requirements as a set of guidelines that attorneys will be able to [...

Does Your Virtual Law Practice Need a Phone Number?

Posted on November 16, 2009
When I first opened my virtual law office almost four years ago, I wanted to handle every aspect of my practice online.  With most of my client base, this worked fine and was what they preferred as well.  I have an estate planning and small business setup practice and the majority of my clients are [...

Keane Award Nomination Info Available

Posted on November 16, 2009
The updated materials for the ABA Jim Keane Award for Excellence in ELawyering have been posted on the ABA website for the 2010 Techshow and on the ELawyering Task Force website.  Requirements to be considered for the award are listed as well as an online nomination form...

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Response to ?Ethical Pitfalls of Virtual Law Practice?

Posted on November 10, 2009
This past week an article came out in Lawyers USA Online entitled, “Ethical pitfalls of virtual law practice.”   The article discusses some of the ethics risks that exist in this form of law practice.  However, there are a number of safe-guards and smart practices that an attorney may engage in to avoid these “ethical pitfalls...

Excellence in eLawyering: ABA Keane Award Nominations

Posted on November 03, 2009
It’s that time of year again to consider sending in your nominations for the ABA’s James I. Keane Memorial Award for Excellence in eLawyering. The Award is presented by the Law Practice Management Section’s eLawyering Task Force at the ABA TECHSHOW in Chicago at the end of March...

?In the Meantime?? ? Temporary Operation of a Virtual Law Office

Posted on October 28, 2009
  Over the past year I?ve spoken with attorneys who have been laid off from Biglaw firms and are seeking new positions or attorneys who have just passed the bar and are having trouble finding a position to launch their legal careers.  Both groups of individuals are working hard to establish or reinvent themselves within the [...

Susskind Predicts: ?Disaster Ahead for Lawyers Unwilling to Change?

Posted on October 19, 2009
  Richard Susskind, author of The End of Lawyers? Rethinking the Nature of Legal Services, has written a guest post for the Legal Rebels blog entitled “Disaster Ahead for Lawyers Unwilling to Change. “   Susskind looks at changes in the profession as well as the impact that the economic recession has had on our clients...

Online Drafting Resources for your Virtual Law Practice

Posted on October 16, 2009
  One of the most useful methods of teaching yourself how to draft legal documents is to read a variety of samples.  If you’re a virtual solo, you may not have had the previous experience of a traditional firm’s files to learn from.  And let?s face the truth ? your client has most likely gone online and searched [...

Spreading the Word about Virtual Law Practice

Posted on October 06, 2009
  Many of you have read the news that VLOTech, the company co-founded by my husband and I, was acquired last week by Total Attorneys (TA), a Chicago-based company providing services and products to legal professionals.  The acquisition is going to be great for clients of VLOTech as well as other attorneys considering virtual law practice...

Online Document Signing for Your Virtual Law Practice

Posted on September 30, 2009
  One of the questions I hear regularly about virtual law practice is related to the execution of legal documents and how that process can be handled through a virtual law office.  I’ve written before on this blog about the establishment of the attorney/client relationship online and how an attorney may rely on a clickwrap agreement to [...

60 Sites in 60 Minutes from Practical Skills CLE

Posted on September 25, 2009
  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...

lawtechTalk Screencast Features Cloud Computing

Posted on September 11, 2009
The recent screencast from lawtechTalk features cloud computing and your law practice.   Attorney and law and tech blogger Nicole Black explores features of VLOTech, NKrypt and NetDocuments.  You may watch the screencast for free for a limited time by contacting her here...

20 of the 60 Tips in 60 Minutes

Posted on September 07, 2009
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 [...

NC State Bar Journal Covers the Online Legal Professional

Posted on September 01, 2009
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...

LexisNexis® Estate Practice & Elder Law Center Podcast

Posted on August 12, 2009
This past month I gave a podcast interview for the Lexis Nexis Estate Practice & Elder Law Center about my virtual law office. The session discusses how I provide estate planning services to my clients online as well as how other attorneys are using the web-based technology to deliver legal services in other states...

Podcast Interview on The Virtual Paralegal

Posted on August 04, 2009
  Interested in using a virtual paralegal for your virtual law practice?  I was one of the interviewees for a recent podcast for The Virtual Paralegal on Legal Talk Network discussing virtual law firms.   The co-hosts, Lynne DeVenny and Vicki Voisin, asked great questions covering security and confidentiality issues involved in working with virtual paralegals in [...

Social Networking Policies for a Virtual Law Practice

Posted on June 14, 2009
Last week I gave a brief presentation for the Legal Services National Technology Assistance Project (LSNTAP) about developing policies for online social networking. While researching for the presentation and round table discussion, it occurred to me that having a policy in place for social networking is a wise idea for a virtual law practice...

Transitioning with a Virtual Law Practice

Posted on June 05, 2009
Over the past couple weeks I have spoken with two or three attorneys who have been  laid off from their positions at large law firms.  A couple of them knew that the practices of their BigLaw firms were not sustainable in this economic environment and had the foresight to pad their savings...

Article Notes Rise in Virtual Law Firms

Posted on May 25, 2009
Today’s Legal Technology section over at Law.com has an article about the increasing number of solo practitioners who are profiting from going virtual.  As I’ve blogged about in the fall of last year, operating a virtual law office is a great way for a solo or small law firm to compete in this difficult economy...

Twitter and the Virtual Law Office

Posted on May 05, 2009
  I’ve been using Twitter on almost a daily basis since last summer as @StephKimbro.  I started using it out of curiosity and am at over 1400 updates.  I have met many new people both in the legal profession and in other industries through Twitter...

Spring Virtual Law Office Update

Posted on April 24, 2009
By now the word has circulated that the ABA Techshow website has posted the audio file from Richard Susskind’s keynote presentation at the ABA Techshow in Chicago earlier this month.  I wasn’t able to attend the event and accept the Keane Memorial Award for Excellence in Elawyering...

Online Helicopter Parents Hit My Virtual Law Office

Posted on April 07, 2009
Over the past couple months I’ve noticed an increase in the number of parents who are registering as clients on my VLO and requesting legal services on behalf of their adult children.  A fellow attorney on  Twitter commented that this must be the newest form of helicopter parenting...

Virtual Law Office Listed as a ?Law Firm Website That Works?

Posted on March 25, 2009
The April edition of the ABA Journal published an article entitled Law Firm Websites That Work.  Under the category “Virtuality”, my virtual law practice is described along with illinoisdivorce.com. The article consulted a list of panelists to provide suggestions for law firm websites that are productive in the categories of branding, solo, innovation, virtuality, all business, [...

Guest Post - The Rural Lawyer?s Technology Choices

Posted on March 25, 2009
In this guest post, I asked Bruce Cameron, Esq., author of The Rural Lawyer, to share how he uses technology in his law practice.  He makes a great point that the type of technology we choose as attorneys should depend on what will work best to serve our clients...

Metadata - NC Bar Proposed Ethics Opinion

Posted on March 16, 2009
A proposed ethics opinion by the NC State Bar covers the review and use of metadata.  The proposed opinion dated January 22, 2009 states the following conclusion, …a lawyer must use reasonable care to prevent the disclosure of confidential client information hidden in metadata when transmitting an electronic communication and a lawyer who receives an electronic [...

BigLaw Attorneys Taking to Virtual Law Practice

Posted on March 09, 2009
The ABA Journal published an online article today about the progress that Virtual Law Partners (VLP) has made in recruiting attorneys from large law firms.  One of the reasons for the growth is the downturn in the economy and large law firm layoffs.  The beneficial reasons cited for the move to a virtual law firm [...

Recipient of the ABA James Keane Memorial Award for Excellence in ELawyering

Posted on February 25, 2009
  I’m excited and honored to announce that I have received the 2009 ABA James I. Keane Memorial Award for Excellence in eLawyering.  From the ABA?s Law Practice Management website: ?The James I. Keane Memorial Award gives recognition to law offices or legal organizations that have developed legal service innovations delivered over the Internet...

Tech Review - Keeping in Touch with Clients Outside the VLO

Posted on February 19, 2009
  Check out my tech review of iContact that came out in the Law Practice Today Webzine this week.   I handle all confidential communications and transactions between myself and my clients through my virtual law office.  However, iContact is a service that I’ve used to send newsletters and updates to clients regarding specific areas of law or [...

New Toy for the Virtual Law Practice

Posted on February 11, 2009
  Last week I purchased a notebook, the Eee PC 1000H, for my virtual law practice and I want to recommend it for those attorneys taking their practices online.   Since my law office is completely web-based, I have a number of different computers, including a PC and MacBook, which I switch out depending on where I will be [...

Three Years into My Virtual Law Practice

Posted on February 02, 2009
  I’ve been preparing materials to teach a course on virtual law practice for Solo Practice University (SPU).  Lawyers USA just published an article about SPU here.  I hope some of my blog readers will join me for the virtual law practice course...

Congrats to the Virtual Courthouse

Posted on January 28, 2009
Congratulations goes out to the Virtual Courthouse for receiving the 2009 ABA Louis M. Brown Award for Legal Access.   Each year the ABA gives out the Brown Award to recognize projects or programs that have addressed the need for legal services to members of the public who are in the middle class or of moderate [...

Update to Virtual Law Practice EBook

Posted on January 19, 2009
  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 [...

Setting Guidelines for Virtual Law Best Practices

Posted on January 14, 2009
  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...

Podcast Interview about Virtual Law Offices

Posted on January 10, 2009
  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 [...

Top Ten 2008 Developments in Virtual Law Practice

Posted on January 01, 2009
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...

ABA Elawyering Task Force Conference Call

Posted on December 30, 2008
  The ABA’s Elawyering Task Force will hold a conference call next week on January 9th at 10:00am Eastern time.  The website has an incorrect date on it as the meeting had to be rescheduled for the first of the new year.  If anyone is interested in discussing the delivery of legal services using technology, you [...

Attorneys Discuss Virtual Law Practice

Posted on December 20, 2008
Check out two blog posts discussing virtual law practice from Chuck Newton and Jay Fleischman, both attorneys who use technology to practice law outside a traditional law office.  Newton’s post Is Virtual Virtually Impossible? prompted Fleischman’s post An Open Response to ‘Is Virtual Virtually Impossible?’ As I commented on Newton?s blog, I believe there is [...

How Does a Virtual Law Office Close Shop for the Holidays?

Posted on December 17, 2008
  For the past couple of years, I have kept my VLO open through the holidays.  I can log in remotely and check the case queue while traveling or on vacation so it?s not a problem to keep up with my self-imposed response policy.  The VLO sends a notice to let me know when there is [...

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

Posted on December 15, 2008
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 [...

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

Posted on December 11, 2008
  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 [...

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

Posted on December 08, 2008
  Frequently I am asked about the unauthorized practice of law in other jurisdictions and how a virtual law practice can avoid this malpractice risk.   In a two-part post, I’ll address some of these ethics questions.  As more VLOs open and collaboration among attorneys creates VLOs operated by attorneys licensed in multiple states, the issue grows [...

State Bar Regulation of Online Lawyer Communication

Posted on December 03, 2008
  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 [...

Unbundling Legal Services in a Virtual Law Practice Benefits the Public

Posted on December 01, 2008
  More middle income Americans are choosing to handle their legal matters themselves because they cannot afford to hire a traditional attorney.  The International Herald Tribune reported this growing trend in an article last week.  The downturn of the economy has made the cost of traditional full-service law firms unavailable for many Americans...

List of Sites Containing Tips to Market a Virtual Law Office

Posted on November 14, 2008
  In a recent blog post, I discussed how an attorney with a VLO can attract paying, online clients to a VLO.  As promised, below is a list of websites and blogs that provide useful marketing tips and resources for solo and small firm practitioners.  This list only includes sites that provide marketing resources and tips...