Kerry+Margason

Kerry Margason Homework

Assignment 1

__Five Positive Things about Virtual Law Practice__

1. Flexibility in use of time and resources 2. Low overhead costs when working directly from home 3. Ability to reach a larger number of potential clients 4. Unbundling of Services 5. Streamlining of services through the use of forms and templates

__Five Negative Things about Virtual Law Practice__

1. Complications in litigation issues 2. Privacy issue concerns 3. Not conducive to some types of practice such as criminal case or custody disputes 4. Difficult to make that "personal connection" between the client and attorney 5. Some risk in "unbundling" legal services. Client could potentially suffer without his/her attorney "on the ground."

Definitions for Virtual Law Practice

A “virtual law firm” or “virtual law office” is characterized by access by the firm’s clients to a password protected and secure web space where both the attorney and client may interact and legal services are consumed by the client. More specifically a virtual law firm can be defined as having a secure client portal that is accessible from the law firm’s web site. The "client portal" is what enables a law firm to have a law practice on the Web. Through this secure portal, for example, a client can have private discussions of legal matters online, purchase legal advice online, assemble documents through the web browser, download and upload of documents for review, and pay legal bills online. [] //“//[E- Lawyering is] all the ways in which lawyers can do their work using the Web and associated technologies. These include new ways to communicate and collaborate with clients, prospective clients and other lawyers, produce documents, settle disputes and manage legal knowledge. Think of a lawyering verb—interview, investigate, counsel, draft, advocate, analyze, negotiate, manage and so forth—and there are corresponding electronic tools and techniques.” //eLawyering or virtual lawyering requires that a client be able to log in to a secure web space with a user name and password where they can access the firm’s legal services.//See: [|eLawyering Task Force, American Bar Association, Law Practice Management,]for more information and material on this topic. []
 * What is a Virtual Law Firm?**
 * What is "elawyering"?**
 * elawyering can be defined as:

__Ms. Kimbro's definition__: By the basic definition, a completely virtual law office (VLO) is 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. A VLO provides attorneys and clients with the ability to securely discuss matters online, download and upload documents for review and handle other business transactions in a secure digital environment. With a VLO, an attorney’s clients benefit from the convenience and accessibility. The attorney benefits from the flexibility of a virtual law practice, an online client and revenue generating software, and lower overhead associated with setup and maintenance of a nontraditional law office. []

__Virtual law practice__ is one form of e-lawyering that is facilitated by the use of software as a service (“SaaS”), one form of cloud computing.8 A virtual law practice is a professional law practice where both the client and the attorney communicate through a secure online client portal, accessible anywhere the parties may access the Internet. The technology used to create a virtual law office provides the same level of security used by banking, investing, and government entities needing to protect confidential client information.9 Clients log into a secure account site where they may conduct a number of different transactions online with their attorney and members of the firm. []