by Matthew Pitts
There are two emerging areas in the realm of e-lawyering. One seems to have received more attention than the other. Based on my observations, e-lawyering discussions typically focus on virtual law office software served in the cloud. The cloud is another name for the internet. This software is delivered as SaaS (Software as a service). This type of cloud computing allows law firms and sole practicioners to manage their practice and store files completely online, without the need to install any special software. Obviously this has many advantages.
Legal Zoomish Service
The second area of e-lawyering is the online delivery of legal services. This type of e-lawyering no doubt involves more than an out-of-the-box solution, perhaps. For example, Legal Zoom® claims to offer a seamless experience to its users by allowing them to take care of legal matters from the comfort of their home. This is considered online legal service delivery. Sure, it involves great work to get started, however Legal Zoom® has served over 1 million people. This is a baffling number considering the amount of lawyers there are in the United States who would otherwise be perfectly capable of serving this market of consumers.
The fact is that this second type of e-lawyering is the most challenging and also the most promising. In my opinion, a virtual law office should work in conjunction with an online legal service firm.
Online Legal Service Firm and SaaS
Have no doubt or fear that the future will bring SaaS services geared toward providing online legal service delivery rather than law practice management software. Some VLO software slowly moves into this market by allowing lawyers to communicate with clients and collaborate with documents via an online space. However, this is nothing new and could be achieved in many ways.
The next generation SaaS legal service delivery vehicles will be much more capable. Indeed they will vary greatly and must be jurisdiction specific. Jurisdiction specific SaaS legal service delivery software alleviates the problem of UPL and also ensures that the software is optimized for the laws of a particular jurisdiction.
Yes, I believe the future of e-lawyering and the legal service industry is extremely bright.