A virtual lawyer may need a physical office

I apologize for my absence last week. I had a greater than normal workload and spent most of the week fighting fires. I also closed the deal on my new office lease and needed to select vendors for all the normal office services. So, why does a virtual lawyer need an office? I started my own law practice five years ago, working out of my house. On the rear of the house is an addition with a separate entrance, which provided a perfect space for Continue reading →

Virtual Lawyer vs. Virtual Law Practice

Yesterday, I helped a lawyer in a mid-sized firm by sharing some information about how to perfect a security interest in a patent. She expressed her appreciation and asked how she could help me. I said, “read my blog called The Virtual Lawyer”. Her response was “Oh, I have a friend who turned down a partnership at a big firm to start a virtual law practice with a few others and they have no office. I’ll tell her about your blog.” I wanted to say, Continue reading →

Definition of a “virtual lawyer”

Why did I pick “The Virtual Lawyer” as the title for this blog? It just seemed to fit my ideal notion of the future practice of law. I liked the idea of being able to work any where at any time by having access to people, information, and tools. Computers and the Internet make that possible. But what do the words “virtual lawyer” mean? Since I adopted the name, I felt obligated to look up the definition. I was happy to see that when I Continue reading →

Information Overload!

There is too much information available over the Internet. There are news sites, newsletters, search engines, blogs, message boards, podcasts, news readers, news feeds, and wikis. I am constantly finding and checking new sources of information like widgets for weather. And, that doesn’t include all the old sources of information like calendar alerts, favorite lists, voice mails, faxes, IM, and cell phone messages, not to mention newspapers, postal mail, and my favorite “post-it memos”. What is the best strategy for information management? First, you have Continue reading →

How can you attract the best clients?

The best clients may or may not be the biggest clients or the most profitable clients. For my corporate/business practice, the best clients are the ones that value my services and want to build a long term relationship. So how do you find clients that value legal services? How do you build long term relationships? When I first started practicing law, I had this image that business development meant putting on my sales and marketing hat, heading out to some networking event, and then rounding Continue reading →

How do you say “thanks” in the blogging world?

The way to say “thanks” in the blogging world is to post a thoughtful and responsive comment. I appreciate those of you who already gave me comments in person or sent emails about my blog. I am very interested in your feedback, but I’d prefer that you post your comments on this blog site. That’s the best way to express appreciation to a blogger. That’s how the blogging world works. (Of course, if you want your comments to remain private, in person or email communication Continue reading →

Which are the best legal blogs?

The great power of the Internet is the facility with which information can be shared. As a result, we all learning from one another all over the world. So, who are the best thought leaders in the legal community and how do I find them? Now that I am officially in the blogging world or “blogosphere” as it is more popularly known, I feel compelled to find out who are the leaders of this universe of knowledge. I started by doing a search on Technorati, Continue reading →

Will I really blog everyday?

Maybe. I’ll write because I want to write, not because I have to write. Several people have said that they really enjoyed reading my new blog, but they think that I am putting too much pressure on myself by having to write everyday. First of all, I did not say that I would write everyday. Nor did I say I wouldn’t. I merely expressed a desire to write everyday. On February 16th, I wrote: “Back to my New Year’s resolution…. The promise that I made Continue reading →

How many lawyers does a firm need?

The largest U.S. law firm, Baker & McKenzie, now has over 3500 lawyers according to The NLJ 250 posted on Law.com. As a solo practitioner, I think about adding one or two lawyers, maybe growing to five or ten in few years (or maybe staying solo). I can’t imagine growing into a firm with hundreds of lawyers, let alone thousands of lawyers. And, on a day-to-day basis, I don’t think much about what the big firms are doing. Most of the time it seems that Continue reading →

Thinking about sharing documents over the web?

In the spirit of collaboration, I have been looking at various technologies that would allow lawyers to share information over the web. How should lawyers share documents in cyberspace? I am familiar with Wikipedia, but I don’t know how to set up my own wikipedia page (and I’m not sure I want to collaborate with the whole world, just yet). Wikipedia has some information about contract law (e.g., Integration Clause), but I don’t who is writing this stuff or for what jurisdiction. Also, I have Continue reading →