Maureen+Eggert

= PART I = = Benefits = = 1. Convenience and accessibility to client (busy people, elderly or infirm who find it difficult to leave the house = = 2. Convenience to attorney regarding work-life balance = = 3. Unbundling and low overhead lowers cost of services to clients = = 4. Lower costs of services allows attorneys to help those who previously fell between poor enough to receive legal aid and those able to afford traditional legal services = = 5. Not only does it allow attorneys to help more people, it opens new markets; both those who could not otherwise have afforded gotten legal assistance and those who like the technology. = Negatives
 * 1) Security/confidentiality concerns of keeping materials on a/the cloud system
 * 2) Need to constantly maintain/update technology knowledge
 * 3) UPL (forming attorney/client agreement)
 * 4) May loose personal touch found via interactions with client
 * 5) Limits to type of practice (i.e. limitations mentioned in the webinar such as trial practice).

= 1.@StephKimbro: VLP is a professional law practice online, a secure portal accessible to both the client and the attorney = = Twitter Debate: Virtual Law Offices—Game Changer or Business as Usual? Posted May 7, 2010 By [|Molly McDonough] [] = . 2. **eLawyering is doing legal work - not just marketing - over the Web. Pioneering practitioners have found dramatic new ways to communicate and collaborate with clients and other lawyers, produce documents, settle disputes, interact with courts, and manage legal knowledge. ELawyering encompasses all the ways in which lawyers can do their work using the Web and associated technologies. Think of lawyering as a "verb" - interview, investigate, counsel, draft, advocate, analyze, negotiate, manage, .. - and there are corresponding Internet-based tools and technologies.** ABA LPM Sect. eLawerying taskforce: [] = 3. A Virtual Law Office, or VLO, is an online law practice that exists through a secure log-in portal and can be accessed by both client and attorney anywhere an internet connection is available. In contrast to a traditional law practice, a VLO allows attorneys and clients to communicate securely over the internet, download or upload documents, and conduct other business normally conducted face-to-face over the internet. [] = 4. The ABA Law Practice Management Section's [|eLawyering Task Force] (disclosure: I am Co-Chair of the eLawyering Task Force), defines a "virtual law practice" as one that offers to its clients a secure client portal, as part of the law firm's web site, where the client can log in with a user name and password, and interact with their attorney, as well as consume other online legal services. A virtual law practice is more than simply communicating with clients by email and never meeting with clients face-to-face. In order to have a "virtual law practice" by our definition, you have to have a web site and a portion of that web site has to be dedicated as a secure portal for clients. Without this distinction, many law firms can claim that they are "virtual law firms" simply because they use email extensively, as the ABA Study seems to imply, giving the impression that integration of Internet technologies as part of their legal service delivery system is much higher than it actually is. Post to E Lawyering Blog [|**http://www.elawyeringredux.com/2010/07/articles/virtual-law-practice/2010-aba-legal-technology-survey-report-on-elawyering-questionable-data/**]
 * PART II **

HOMEWORK #2 TBA

HOMEWORK #3


 * Forsyth County, NC (Small Claims, District & Superior)**

1. Does the court support efiling? NO

While our county does not, there is a pilot program for civil courts in a few counties

[]

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

3. Does the court website have an online docket or calendar? (if yes, include a link)

SC - NO

D – asst. counties []

Superior Yes - []

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

Small Claims -

[] District & Superior– []


 * NC Supreme Court**

1. Does the court support efiling? If yes, what is the best URL? YES - []

Attorneys register here []

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

3. Does the court website have an online docket or calendar? (if yes, include a link) Yes - []

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


 * U.S. District Court for the Middle District of NC**

1. Does the court support efiling? []

2. Does the court support efiling for self-representing litigants? Yes & No []

“Pro se filers shall file paper originals of all complaints, pleadings, motions, affidavits, briefs, and other documents which must be signed, or require verification or an unsworn declaration under any rule or statute. The Clerk's Office will scan these original documents into CM/ECF, but will also maintain a paper file.”

3. Does the court website have an online docket or calendar? (if yes, include a link) []

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

HOMEWORK # TBA

HOMEWORK #4 1. Define two (2) discrete tasks that could be “unbundled” from different areas of law practice.


 * 1) Name change – Divorcing women are probably the biggest “market” for this services but anyone who wants to change his/her name for non-fraudulent reasons find this a very easy procedure. There is no reason that an attorney is needed.
 * 2) VERY simple wills, such as when a single, no kids person buys an house. There are already books like the Nolo publications

2. Define a task that lends itself to being converted into a “digital application?” such as a website, smart phone app or downloadable program.

3. List some of the risks (at least three) involved in “unbundling legal services?” a. Loss of face to face contact may impact both client satisfaction and may pose hazard in not being able to tell if you have illiterate, mentally unstable, suffering from dementia, or simply a garden variety wack-job (seeing the tinfoil hat helps in quick identification of the latter) b. Matter is more complicated issue than first represented, either to clients lack of knowledge or to intentional misrepresentation. c. Court distrust and prejudice towards on-line lawyering
 * 1) Many years ago when I lived in Florida, the court had a special simplified divorce for a couple with no children or property. They could go to the courthouse, be given a form by the clerk and the clerk could file it – no lawyer needed. However, since BOTH parties HAD to be present at the clerk’s office, the problem arose when one of the couple was in prison and was not permitted to appear anywhere outside their present detention facility. Some combination of on-line form and Skype should be able (if it is not already) to make the process available to incarcerated persons and their spouses.
 * 2) If there isn’t one already there should be an app to figure child support paymets based on the state chart

4. 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.

A wide variety of traffic citations could benefit from this. If a potential client merely has a speeding ticket, or failed to pay their registration, s/he likely just needs reassurance and some idea of what happens at the courthouse or in traffic court (if s/he gets that far). This could be met via informative material and/or a phone/Skype/chat conversation. The may be form to fill out and/or fee to pay. This could also be done online, particularly if the court will accept electronic payments. If the matter is something like a speeding ticket for over 10 or 15/mph, yet another in a series of speeding tickets, or something serious like drunk driving charges, the should be contact information for either the attorney and possibly referrals to appropriate lawyers.

Homework #5 [] cases [] code [] regulations

Homework #6

Homework #7

Homework #8

1&2. __Find the definition for unauthorized practice of law for your jurisdiction and at least one other state.__ North Carolina Rules [] Florida Rules Governing The Investigation And Prosecution Of The Unlicensed Practice Of Law 10-1 Preamble  [|http://www.floridabar.org/divexe/rrtfb.nsf/FV?Openview&Start=1&Expand=10#10] specific definition []

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.__