There is no doubt that the internet has created countless new and innovative opportunities. For example, many businesses realize they can change the way they offer their services. Attorneys are no different. In fact, having a virtual law firm can be a smart decision for your practice, clients, and your personal life.
What is a virtual law firm?
A virtual law firm is a law practice that operates remotely. In virtual law firms, there is often no brick-and-mortar office that employees work from every day. Instead, lawyers can work from their homes or anywhere else. Or they can have a physical office but expand their geographic reach by operating virtually.
In a virtual law firm, legal services are delivered to clients using modern telecommunications technology as opposed to through in-person face-to-face meetings. Nonetheless, virtual law firms are regulated in the same way as traditional law firms.
Since COVID-19, over 80% of law firms transitioned to working remotely some or all the time. With this meteoric change, the way lawyers work has changed dramatically, and their tools with it. Every law firm might now be called a “virtual law firm” to some degree.
However, no matter how a lawyer defines a virtual law firm, lawyers must acknowledge certain aspects of their practice, including:
- Office Address Requirements – Two distinct types of office address requirements exist in the legal field: a physical office requirement and an advertising office requirement. Depending on your state or district, these requirements vary widely.
- Client Engagement – Cloud-based client portals are quickly becoming a requirement for keeping a client and their lawyer aligned on a case. Tools that allow quick retrieval of documents and electronic signature authentication help streamline their day-to-day operations.
- Cybersecurity – The sharing of information and documents and communication between lawyers and clients must be fully secured and encrypted and require users to sign in with a username and password.
- Practicing Within Jurisdiction – While your practice may be virtual, your ability to practice in different states is not. Virtual law offices need to be extremely diligent in avoiding the unauthorized practice of law, or UPL.
Becoming a virtual law firm comes with many benefits, both on an individual and business level.
The benefits of having a virtual law firm
- Reach more clients
A virtual law firm provides a unique way to deliver your services. Since you are using technology to deliver your services virtually, you can now serve clients that are outside of your physical office location’s radius. By having a virtual law firm, they’re able to reach clients all over the world. - Provide convenience to your clients
Nowadays, people seek convenience – anything that can help them save time and money. By providing your clients with a virtual option, they can go online and comfortably schedule a video conference call with you or someone in your firm when it is more suitable for them. Online meetings are very convenient since it saves them the time of traveling to your office. - Make your law firm more innovative
Having a virtual law firm creates a lot of new opportunities for your practice:
- Offer high-quality video calls.
- Accept payments online.
- Move from on-premise to cloud software.
- Book consultations and appointments online.
- Ability to work from anywhere.
It’s a good opportunity for law firms to innovate and build systems that allow them to fulfill their services more easily and efficiently. You are more likely to attract more clients when they know your law firm has something innovative, unique, and convenient – which also reflects who you are.
- Online businesses are growing
Many people are increasingly relying on the internet to find their service providers, including attorneys.
So, it’s not a surprise that many law firms are starting to implement and offer some virtual features to their clients. Virtual law firms have proven to be cost-effective and convenient for clients.
Start Building Your Virtual Law Firm Today
Improving productivity, securing sensitive client information, and cultivating collaboration across judicial practices are top priorities for the legal community. At Vidyo, we pride ourselves on providing secure and compliant video conferencing for lawyers and law firms. Security is what we do best. Our advanced video capabilities empower law firms with an approach to maximize attorney time, maintain attorney-client privilege, and ensure business continuity.
Contact our judiciary expert today to experience the benefits of our judiciary conferencing solution firsthand.
