Patrick+Stiehm

=**FIRST SESSION**=

Five Positive Things About a Virtual Law Office

1. Greater geographical reach; 2. Flexible working hours; 3. Greater mobility (travel and still practice law); 4. Easier to set cheaper fees and this attract more clients; and 5. Can live any place in the world.

Five Negative Things About a Virtual Law Office

1. Isolation, both personal and professional; 2. Difficulty developing close client relations; 3. Family intrusion on your work time; 4. Defining your practice areas; and 5. Less in court work.

Definitions

A **virtual law firm ** is a group of lawyers with diverse expertise that are banded together through technological means to provide a suite of services to its clients. []

“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**, succinctly defined … as:

Definition of 'Virtual Office'
A business location that exists only in cyberspace. A virtual office setup allows business owners and employees to work from any location by using technology such as laptop computers, cell phones and internet access. A virtual office can provide significant savings and flexibility compared to renting a traditional office space. Meetings can be conducted via teleconferencing and video conferencing, and documents can be transmitted electronically. Some companies even provide virtual office services to give virtual offices the prestige associated with physical offices, such as an important-sounding address, a professional phone-answering service and even occasional rental of office space and conference rooms.

[|http://www.investopedia.com/terms/v/virtual-office.asp#axzz1mHfB7TxL] and

[|http://www.investopedia.com/terms/v/virtual-office.asp#ixzz1mHfFqP9q]

=**SECOND SESSION**=


 * FIVE ** benefits/advantages to Document Automation are:
 * 1) Greater speed in preparing original documents for clients using previously created templates;
 * 2) Original documents can be prepared for clients at far less expense to them while still profitable for the law firm;
 * 3) If the documents are well crafted there is less likely to be professional liability;
 * 4) There is less need for support staff on a per document bases; and
 * 5) The firm can service a larger number of clients by virtue of time saved.
 * FIVE ** pitfalls/problems/barriers to Document Automation are:
 * 1) Over reliance on templates with little or no tailoring of documents to the particular matter at hand;
 * 2) <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Poorly prepared templates;
 * 3) <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">The danger of using inappropriate temples for the client’s needs;
 * 4) <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Inadequate review of the finished product; and
 * 5) <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">In multijurisdictional practices, using a template created for a jurisdiction other than the client’s jurisdiction.

** MEMO ** Adoption of this type of software for our areas of practice, i.e., commercial finance and family law, holds certain positive potential. In the commercial finance area, we principally do transactional and litigation work for our clients. All of our clients in the commercial finance industry are sophisticated and for that reason are capable of providing most if not all of the information necessary to assemble both transactional documents and/or litigation documents. This would be efficient and effective for both our office and the client. Oftentimes because of the workload at our commercial finance clients is difficult to extract the essential information from them because of the other demands on their time. Simply answering a few questions at the time they refer matter to us will, in my judgment, often result in an initial draft of either a transactional document or a litigation document with substantially less or no need to go back for additional information. The family law section of our practice is different however. Typically our clients in this area of practice are not sophisticated, have little or no experience with dealing with lawyers and/or legal matters. This is further complicated by the fact that in many cases English is not their first language. Nonetheless a document assembly program for use in the various services we provide in family law, i.e. divorce, separation agreements and international parental kidnapping could all be useful if the information provided online by the client is kept simple and understandable at the time of the contact. I do not recommend that we immediately implement the use of document assembly software. Rather, I recommend we investigate what is in the market and actually use a number of programs that appear appropriate within the office so that we have experience using the programs ourselves. If these initial studies prove satisfactorily then I suggest we implement, on a trial basis one of the programs with selected clients. On the commercial finance side, I recommend, given our good relationship with Very Bright Financial Company, we start with them. On the family law side, I recommend that we start with one or two new incoming clients. After a test period we can make a final judgment on using this type of software based on our experience.
 * TO: ** Mr. Fairly Bright
 * FROM: ** Henry Hotshot
 * REF: ** Document Assembly Software


 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 32px;">Homework Assignment #3 **


 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">TECHNOLOGY AND THE COURTS **

Answer the following questions.…


 * Prince William County, Virginia Circuit Court**

1. Does the court support efiling? No.

2. Does the court support efiling for self-representing litigants? No.

3. Does the court website have an online docket or calendar? No.

4. Does the court website have any forms that can be used online or downloaded? No.


 * Supreme Court of Virginia**

1. Does the court support efiling? No.

2. Does the court support efiling for self-representing litigants? No.

3. Does the court website have an online docket or calendar? No.

4. Does the court website have any forms that can be used online or downloaded? No.


 * U.S District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia**

1. Does the court support efiling? Yes. []

2. Does the court support efiling for self-representing litigants? Yes. []

3. Does the court website have an online docket or calendar? Yes. []

4. Does the court website have any forms that can be used online or downloaded? Yes. []

**<span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode',sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">FOURTH SESSION - UNBDUNDLING LEGAL SERVICES / LIMITED SCOPE REPRESENTATION **

**<span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode',sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">Define two (2) discrete tasks that could be “unbundled” from different areas of law practice. **

<span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode',sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; vertical-align: baseline;">1. Change of venue motion, (request) by defendant in collection action – In one of the jurisdictions in which I practice, a well known consumer lender starts all of its collection actions in one city, even though it is suing people state wide. The change of venue motion (request) is a rather simple form that could be easily provide along with instructions on how to get it filed and served, etc. <span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode',sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; vertical-align: baseline;">2. Doing a fictitious name filing – This would be potentially very helpful to many small d/b/a’s, regardless of their legal structure, i.e., sole proprietor, partnership, LLC or corporation. **<span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode',sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">Define a task that lends itself to being converted into a “digital application?” such as a website, smart phone app or downloadable program. ** <span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode',sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; vertical-align: baseline;">LegalZoom has already done this. You are not really unbundling legal service of the kind we were discussing. By doing this you are taking the lawyer out of the picture. **<span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode',sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">List some of the risks (at least three) involved in “unbundling legal services?” ** <span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode',sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; vertical-align: baseline;">1. Inadvertenly straying out of the agreed area of service to a closely related area and thus unintentionally expanding the scope of representation <span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode',sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; vertical-align: baseline;">2. Lack of client understanding of the limitations of the unbundled service <span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode',sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; vertical-align: baseline;">3. Failure to recognize that the client needs full legal representation resulting, in the client suffering damages that would otherwise be avoided **<span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode',sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">Think of a “digital application” that could automate a legal task, AND bundled with legal advice to be sold for a fixed fee? (re-bundling concept). Describe it in your homework. ** <span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode',sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; vertical-align: baseline;">How does this differ from 2 above? I don’t think it does.

<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode',sans-serif; font-size: 24pt; vertical-align: baseline;">Homework Assignment #5

**<span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode',sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">FREE LEGAL RESEARCH **

<span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode',sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; vertical-align: baseline;">The web pages for the primary legal source in the Commonwealth of Virginia are:

<span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode',sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; vertical-align: baseline;">The Code of Virginia can be found at:

[]

The Virginia Administrative code can be found at:

[]

Opinions for the Supreme Court of Virginia and for the Court of Appeals of Virginia can be found at:

[]

=<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; vertical-align: baseline;">Homework Assignment #6 = <span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">1. Linked In <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">[|http://www.linkedin.com]

<span style="color: red; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">You own <span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> the information you provide LinkedIn under this Agreement, and may request its deletion at any time, unless you have shared information or content with others and they have not deleted it, or it was copied or stored by other users. Additionally, <span style="color: red; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">you grant LinkedIn <span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> a nonexclusive, irrevocable, worldwide, perpetual, unlimited, assignable, sublicenseable, fully paid up and royalty-free right to us to copy, prepare derivative works of, improve, distribute, publish, remove, retain, add, process, analyze, use and commercialize, in any way now known or in the future discovered, any information you provide, directly or indirectly to LinkedIn, including, but not limited to, any user generated content, ideas, concepts, techniques or data to the services, you submit to LinkedIn, without any further consent, notice and/or compensation to you or to any third parties. Any information you submit to us is at your own risk of loss as noted in Sections 2 and 3 of this Agreement. <span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">2. Face B __<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">ook __ <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">[]

<span style="color: red; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">You own <span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> all of the content and information you post on Facebook, and you can control how it is shared through your privacy and application settings. In addition:

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">1. For content that is covered by intellectual property rights, like photos and videos (IP content), you <span style="color: red; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">specifically give us the following permission <span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">, subject to your privacy and application settings: you grant us a non-exclusive, transferable, sub-licensable, royalty-free, worldwide license to use any IP content that you post on or in connection with Facebook (IP License). This IP License ends when you delete your IP content or your account unless your content has been shared with others, and they have not deleted it.

__<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Similar Provisions: __ <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">1. Both acknowledge continued and continuing ownership of content to the user of the web site (how kind of them); <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">2. Both grant themselves virtual unlimited use of the content; and <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">3. Both provide that they owe you nothing. __<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Differences: __ <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">1. Face Book’s rights terminate when you delete the material. LinkedIn does not seem to have a similar provisions. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">2. Although they try to get to the same place the wording is very different.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> __Form EULA__ <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">You own the content you post. By posting you grant us a right to use as we see fit, including but now limited to (create your own laundary list here).

<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode',sans-serif; font-size: 24pt; vertical-align: baseline;">Homework Assignment #7

<span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode',sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; vertical-align: baseline;">1) Write an analysis describing your impressions of how well the A2J interface works (or doesn’t) and how well it will work if it gets scaled up to larger and more complicated legal documents and situations.

My experience in using the A2 J interface was largely negative. It worked fine until I got to the point where I had to start filling in information with respect to specific of my supposed criminal record. This called for completing a grid form with the information which I found to be largely meaningless without a sample form available that would've showed a typical conviction record and so-called rap sheet. This effort to prepare an expungment attention that is very much Illinois specific, was perhaps a poor choice to use in trying to complete the process of using A2J as a learning exercise. Another way to handle it would be to provide a sample, fictional, conviction record and rap sheet so that one would have a reference that could be completed vis-à-vis Illinois sample. Absent a complete experience where I was able to wind up with a completed document it is difficult to form an opinion as to how well the program would scale up to larger and more complicated legal documents and situations.

<span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode',sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; vertical-align: baseline;">2) More and more people are accessing the web via smartphones. How should A2J look or act different if it is going to run on the smaller screen of a smartphone? Are there any killer features that it should have? Are there any features, that if missing, would prevent people from using A2J as a smartphone app?

<span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode',sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; vertical-align: baseline;"> I realize it is tempting to try to put anything and everything on smart phones these days. This is perhaps one area where it simply should not be tried. The screen is to small, even when turned on its side, to fill the interface out in a thoughtful and meaningful way with any type of detail. To the extent of the mobile device might be considered for the A2 J program I think a tablet would be far more appropriate than a smartphone.

<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode',sans-serif; font-size: 24pt; vertical-align: baseline;">Homework Assignment #8

**<span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode',sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">UNAUTHORIZED PRACTICE OF LAW IN THE 21ST CENTURY **


 * 1) <span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode',sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">1. Find the definition for unauthorized practice of law for your jurisdiction and at least one other state.

<span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode',sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">In Virginia there appears to be no clear definition for the unauthorized practice of law. In spite of this failure to define the unauthorized practice of law, to engage in it, whatever it may be, constitutes a Class I Misdemeanor. [] What I have been able to divine from my research is that the committee for the unauthorized practice of law has attempted to define what the practice of law is and extrapolate from that that anybody who engages in the activities so defined, when in fact such person does not have a license to practice law, such person is guilty of the unauthorized practice of law. []

In Maryland there also appears to be no clear definition for the unauthorized practice of law. Even though Maryland appears to admit that defining what the practice of law may be is difficult and varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, nonetheless if somebody who is not a lawyer licensed in any given jurisdiction engages in the practice of law, whatever it may be, they are guilty of the unauthorized practice of law. [] I think it is reasonable to conclude that although nobody can define the unauthorized practice of law, like pornography, the authorities charged with enforcing the rules against it, know it when they see it.


 * 1) <span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode',sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">2. Put links to these into your homework wiki page.

<span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode',sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; vertical-align: baseline;">See comments above.


 * 1) <span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode',sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">3. Find three news articles or blog posts on the web describing actual cases of unauthorized practice of law (and read them). Put links into the homework wiki. Look especially for situations where the unauthorized practice of law involved an online activity like a website, social network or email.

<span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode',sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">First Article: ”Seller of Online Legal Forms Settles Unauthorized Practice of Law Suit” The Wall Street Journal, August 23, 2011, []

Second Article: “Unauthorized practice of law on the Net” []

Third Article: “Silicon Valley Sees Gold In Internet Legal Services” []

**SESSION 9 SOCIAL MEDIA AND LAWYERING**
PART 1

Find three examples of a lawyer or law firm using social media effectively – that is – it provides a service or information that could lead to someone seeking out this lawyer or their firm as a client. These could be blog posts, twitter tweets, podcasts, Facebook pages, etc. If you can link them, put the link into the homework wiki with a short explanation of why you think they are effective use of social media.


 * First example from Facebook**: Terani Law Firm

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Terani-Law-Firm/240258739367420

The firm appears to have a very active page, i.e., frequent and current entries, that someone looking for a lawyer might go to and then decide to call, with a problem that them might have.


 * Second example from Linkedin**: http://www.linkedin.com/in/mhorwatt17170

This attorney is clearly emphasizing his commercial and business law back ground. I suspect it would not result in new, clients coming to him, but would help reinforce his reputations with current clients and collogues.


 * Third example is Katie Floyd** at: http://katiefloyd.me/

This attorney has a podcast http://macpowerusers.com/ twitter account @KatieFloyd and is on facebook http://www.facebook.com/katiefloyd plus others. I have no idea if all of her activity results in getting business but she sure is active on the web.

PART 2

Find three examples of a lawyer or law firm’s poor use of social media. If you can link them, put the link into the homework wiki with a short explanation of why you think they are effective use of social media. If you cannot link to them (or are uncomfortable doing so in a public forum), then explain the usage generically and why you think it is a poor use of social media.


 * I found more than three examples** of poor use of social media by lawyer. However, I am not going to name names or provide examples. I think taking on colleagues in this fashion is out of bounds.

PART 3

Use some form of social media (blog, twitter, Facebook, etc, etc,) to make people aware of the archive of this (http://tdlp.classcaster.net) course or of a specific class in this course that people might want to watch OR avoid. Use the hashtag #tdlp (if appropriate) so that others in the class and myself can find your work. Optionally, but a link to your social media work in the homework wiki.

I posted the following on my facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000188239752

I just completed a 9 week course entitled “Topics in Digital Law Practice.” It was free so the price was right. It was a mixed bag as far as both quality and interest was concerned. On the whole I found it interesting and there were more than a few things that I sure will prove to be useful in the future. The course has an archive at http://tdlp.wikispaces.com for anyone who might want to look at it.