Practice Management

And Now, For Something Completely Different

Posted on October 12, 2015
A few years ago I told a friend and colleague that one day I would post this Monty Python reference on my social media accounts and that’s how they’d know I’d stepped away from the legal profession: “And now, for something completely different...

Slides: Increasing Online Engagement with Gamification

Posted on April 09, 2015
These are slides from my presentation at DATA2J, a roundtable conference hosted by Prof. Elizabeth Chambliss, Director of the Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough Center on Professionalism at the USC School of Law. In my presentation, I addressed ways to increase online engagement between the public and lawyers through the use of gamification...

Gamification for Access to Justice

Posted on April 03, 2015
Here is a working paper I wrote that looks at ways to increase online engagement between the public and legal professionals using gamification for the purpose of increasing access to justice. This is the last of the research and writing I have produced this year during my Stanford Law Fellowship...

Gamification in Law Firms

Posted on March 22, 2015
Here is my draft working paper on Gamification in Law Firms which looks at the use of gamification in law firms to increase productivity and collaboration, among other benefits. This paper provides a framework for approaching implementation of a gamification strategy within the law firm...

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Virtual Law Practice: Second Edition Released

Posted on March 09, 2015
The second edition of my book, Virtual Law Practice, will be released from ABA LPD Publishing this month. (There will be a digital copy for sale in the coming months and eventually it gets released on Amazon for those of you who want other purchasing options...

Webinar for Future of Legal Services Commission

Posted on February 09, 2015
Here is the video from my presentation to the ABA Future of Legal Services Commission. I was asked to discuss virtual law practice and online engagement through gamification.  This is part of a series of webinars that the Commission is holding. You can check out the other videos on their website, including talks by Will […]

Practicing Law Online Ebook

Posted on December 16, 2014
Here is the revised version of the Practicing Law Online ebook, which I first released in 2008 and updated in 2010. This revised edition of the ebook examines different business models for virtual law firms and goes beyond solos and small firms to apply the concept of virtual practice to larger firms and in-house legal departments...

Commission on Future of Legal Services Seeks Feedback

Posted on November 06, 2014
I was honored to be asked to participate in the ABA President’s Commission on the Future of Legal Services this year and next. This Commission is calling for Issues Paper feedback now through December 10th. For my legal tech friends and colleagues, if you have something to say, now is a good time to get it on the […]

Consumer Law Levels Up

Posted on October 29, 2014
Two new options for consumer legal services entered the market in the past week. They are different in nature, but both provide alternatives for legal assistance and guidance. Both include different levels of legal guidance from licensed lawyers and some elements of self-help and unbundling of legal services...

Meaningful Play & Legal Games Research

Posted on October 17, 2014
The annual Meaningful Play Conference (@meaningfulplay, #mplay) is being held this week at Michigan State University. This game conference takes an academic approach to how games can be used to educate and persuade the players. The conference explores how games can be designed and developed for meaningful purposes acknowledging that …games have the potential to impact players’ beliefs, knowledge, […]

Online Bidding for Clients

Posted on March 23, 2011
Today’s Wall Street Journal published an article on Shpoonkle, an online auction site similar to eBay where lawyers can bid on clients.  Both Susan Cartier Liebel and Scott Greenfield had blogged about this site in the past month.  Robert Ambrogi even chimed in that the concept is old news and will hopefully fall to its demise sooner rather [...

Evolution of the VLO 1.0

Posted on March 18, 2011
When my husband and I sold VLOTech, our legal software as a service solution that created virtual law offices, to Total Attorneys in the fall of 2009 we were anxious to see some of the items on our development list taken to the next level.   Almost a year and a half later, I’m excited to [...

Choice of Law in Cross-Border Practice

Posted on March 14, 2011
Below is the comment I submitted this morning to the ABA Ethics 20/20 Commission Working Group on Uniformity, Choice of Law, and Conflicts of Interest in response to their request for feedback on the issues paper on Choice of Law in Cross-Border Practice...

Unbundling Legal Services Webinar Slides

Posted on March 11, 2011
Check out the slides from a webinar I gave yesterday for AVVO which provides the basics of unbundling legal services with ethics issues and best practices. Unbundling Legal Services As the owner of a virtual law office for going on six years now I’ve heard multiple times from other attorneys that because I 1) use [...

Call for eLawyering Solos to Innovate

Posted on March 10, 2011
Jordan Furlong over at Law21 has published a post describing the 21st-century solo practitioner and announced a competition to drive innovation. Furlong lists what he sees are four characteristics of the new solo lawyer.  One of these characteristics is the ability to innovate...

Virginia & the Ethics of Cloud Computing in Law Practice

Posted on March 01, 2011
James M. McCauley, ethics counsel for the Virginia State Bar, has written an article for the February issue of the Virginia Lawyer Magazine, entitled ?Cloud Computing ? A Silver Lining or Ethical Thunderstorm for Lawyers?? Even if you aren’t licensed to practice in Virginia, I would recommend reading this well-balanced article on cloud computing...

Practicing Law Without An Office Address: Law Review Article Published

Posted on February 23, 2011
Below is a law review article I wrote recently for the University of Dayton Law Review, Volume 36:1, entitled “Practicing Law Without an Office Address: How the Bona Fide Office Requirement Affects Virtual Law Practice.”  // PRACTICING LAW WITHOUT AN OFFICE – From the law review article (see citations in full version above): This Article [...

Outsourcing and the Virtual Law Office

Posted on February 18, 2011
A virtual law office relies on a third-party provider to operate.  A legal SaaS provider maintains my virtual law office and the data is hosted on a server that is maintained by another third-party company that has leased its servers to my SaaS provider...

Animated Movie Intro for a Virtual Law Office

Posted on February 14, 2011
An attorney operating a virtual law office relies more on online marketing and social media to develop their reputation and an online client base.  Some virtual law offices are creating YouTube tutorial videos that will walk prospective online clients through their virtual law office registration process and explain how legal services are delivered online...

ABA Ethics 20/20 Addresses Choice of Law Issue in Virtual Law Practice

Posted on February 06, 2011
Virtual lawyers and multijurisdictional virtual law firms take note: The ABA Commission on Ethics 20/20 has released yet another issues paper proposing changes to ethics rules that could affect the delivery of legal services online.  This newest paper comes from the Working Group on Uniformity, Choice of Law, and Conflicts of Interest and is entitled ?Choice of [...

Upcoming Events Related to ELawyering, Virtual Law Practice

Posted on February 03, 2011
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s School of Law presentation on virtual law offices, next Thursday, February 10th at noon.  - Unbundling Legal Services: Ethics and Best Practices, ALI-ABA Teleconference, February 24, noon-1:30pm EST...

Death, Succession Planning & the Virtual Law Office

Posted on January 26, 2011
Death.  The issue recently crept up in a presentation I gave about virtual law practice.  Then, the question that most of us like to avoid came up again on a personal level when in December I needed open surgery myself and in preparation started questioning what would happen to my virtual law office if I weren’t around to [...

Welcome Competition ? Pushing Virtual Law Practice Into the Mainstream

Posted on January 24, 2011
Be prepared this year to see major changes in new legal SaaS products that promote the online delivery of legal services.  Also expect to see greater acceptance of virtual law practice by the mainstream legal profession as legal SaaS vendors band together to set standards for the industry...

WebJD: Online Self-Diagnosis of Legal Ailments?

Posted on January 18, 2011
I’ll confess that I use WebMD’s symptom checker way more than I should.  Sometime it’s to reassure myself that the situation does not warrant a trip to the doctor’s office.  I like the user interface – the fact that I don’t have to come up with a multitude of keywords for symptoms, but can just scroll [...

CA Ethics Opinion: Duty of Confidentiality & Use of Wireless

Posted on January 14, 2011
The California State Bar has published its newest ethics opinion, FEO 2010-179, related to the use of technology in law practice, specifically addressing the attorney’s duty of confidentiality to clients when using technology that may be accessed by a third-party...

The Xemplar Attorney

Posted on January 10, 2011
I’m honored to be named the first Xemplar Attorney, a new project sponsored by LexisNexis to acknowledge and encourage attorneys to use innovation in law practice.  The project has an incredible board of well-known attorneys, including Bob Ambrogi,  Nicole Black, Rodney Dowell, Carolyn Elefant and Gina Madsen, who will select an attorney each month to feature [...

Heading into Year 6 with my Virtual Law Office

Posted on January 10, 2011
2011 will be the sixth year that I have delivered legal services online using my virtual law office.  Many of the changes I have seen since that first year have been positive.   There is greater acceptance within the profession of the use of technology to deliver legal services...

2010 Review of Virtual Law Practice in the News

Posted on December 31, 2010
It’s time again for a recap of virtual law practice news and articles since my last compilation this summer.  As usual, the goal is to provide a resource of links to articles, podcasts, and videos that discuss developments in elawyering and the delivery of legal services online...

Law Firms Providing Unbundled Services Online to Meet Public Demand

Posted on December 30, 2010
Gary Munneke, Chair of the Law Practice Management Committee, at the New York State Bar Association has written a thought-provoking article entitled “Dueling Sanctions . . .  And More” in a recent NYSBA publication.  He refers to an incident reported by the ABA Journal  about a law firm that came under heat from another firm for [...

Legal Cloud Computing Association Forms, Responds to ABA 20/20 Ethics Commission

Posted on December 16, 2010
I’m excited to announce the formation of the Legal Cloud Computing Association (LCCA).  See the formal press release below my comments.  About two years ago when I was owner of VLOTech, Larry Port of Rocket Matter reached out to me, Jack Newton (Clio) and Richard Granat (DirectLaw) about forming a group to address the concerns [...

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