Part of the “hook” of the virtual law office is that you can work from anywhere, clients and money coming in while you sleep.  Work from a coffee shop, lounge poolside and stay home with the kids watching Dinosaur Train all day.  Unfortunately, someone ripped out the crucial final chapter of the instruction manual.

None of it works unless you work your ass off, day and night, until you’ve attained a level of success that makes you comfortable.  And even then, you’re going to have to work to remain relevant and sharp.

It’s a short chapter, no doubt.  But it’s an important one.

Garbage In, Garbage Out.

That’s the secret of every business, from hardware stores to java joints and back around again.  Lawyers who run their own practices – real or virtual, untethered or office-bound – are business owners.  We need to bring in business, we need to do a kick-ass job for our clients, and then we need to go out and get more business.  The pipeline’s got to be filled consistently or we’re filing our own bankruptcy cases next week.

Some lawyers will tell you to blog, others point to social media.  The old school folks tell you to get out there and press the flesh.

It doesn’t matter what you do.  The thing is, you’ve got to do it.

Once the client’s made the decision to hire you, there’s the whole “do a great job” thing.  Not a good job.  Not a passable one.  Not a job that will keep the grievance committee satisfied.

A great job.  An awesome job.  A heart-stopping, holy-crap work product has got to come out of your office.

Anything less is forgettable.  And if it’s forgettable, it’s forgotten.

You can relax a bit when you’ve established yourself in the marketplace, but make no mistake – you’re still running a business.  Show me a successful CEO who works less than 80 hours a week and I’ll go out and buy a hat – then I’ll eat it.  And not someone who’s “successful on my own terms, without the need for remuneration” either; I demand to see bank account balances.

A virtual law office is a great way to lower overhead, work from anywhere in the world and expand your client and staffing pool beyond your geographic limitations.  But next time someone tells you that a virtual law office is going to solve the problem of the 24 hour day you can go right ahead and show ‘em the door.

What are you doing to make your practice a successful one?

Image credit:  Kmo139

The virtual law office is the promise of nirvana – work from home in your sweatpants, watch television between client phone calls, and never have to shower again. Sure, you’ll end up smelly and fat. Even more fun is that you’re probably not going to make any money.

Experts agree that it’s incumbent upon the attorney to market the virtual law office much in the same way as they would a brick-and-mortar firm, but that message seems to be lost on most practitioners.  Rather than becoming adept at the harsh realities of online legal marketing – that content, search engine optimization and the social graph are key to being found online – they seem to fade into the background, taking little if any action.

It’s almost as if the attorneys who buy into the virtual law office concept are treating it as a side-hustle of sorts.

No wonder so many lawyers have come to me lately bemoaning the fact that they aren’t making any money with their virtual law firm.  From what I can tell there are three primary reasons for this, and a nifty 8-point action plan that will turn it all around.

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My son Jeremy, whose company is Never Stop Marketing, advises me that what a client wants to hear at the outset is your value in solving the client’s problems, not your credentials.

By this measure, if you work as effectively alone from a home office or from an WiFi hot spot then it should not matter to the client. This is true, to a point. The client will look at your credentials, seek to determine that you are a person of substance, not just a cellphone number or a post office box number that may disappear overnight. If you have a history, then use it. If you are creating your professional life, then think about how to provide these assurances. Is volunteering to the client that you have professional malpractice insurance advisable and comforting ? I have not seen references on web pages, but it is an idea for the sole practicioner to describe that you have coverage unless you think that this makes you a target.

As for the digital age and me, we go back to its beginnings. A 1984 D.C. bar magazine pictures me on the sidewalk in front of the United States Supreme Court with the first model of the Macintosh computer.

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Like most tech geeks, I had planned to buy an iPad, but I also vowed to resist temptation and wait for the next generation of the device.  After all, I had my MacBook Pro, my iPhone and an iPod Touch.  I reasoned that I just didn’t NEED an iPad right now; I was going to wait to see what niche this device would fill.

Then, just prior to the NACBA conference in San Francisco, I had an opportunity to visit Apple’s headquarters in Cupertino.  (I’ll admit to being somewhat of an Apple Fanboy, having never owned a Windows machine.)  In the company store there, I touched it.  I held the iPad in my hands and I knew I had to have it, next generation or not.  Two days later, I was waiting in line with my friend, Jay Fleischman, and at 5:15 PM I held the box containing my 64gig 3G iPad in my hands.

Due to prior commitments, I didn’t have much time to do more than activate it through iTunes that night and fell asleep with it on the table next to my bed.  The next morning, I  vowed to use it during my all-day presentation at NACBA.

A Step towards the Clouds

This is truly an evolutionary device and a step closer to true cloud computing.  I quickly found out that there was no direct method of moving my outline of the NACBA presentation to the device.  The iPad doesn’t have a visible file and folder hierarchy like most computers. Instead, it is like the iPhone/iPod Touch in that you interact with your data through the apps.  The files holding your data are not visible.

Well, I had this PDF with the presentation outline.  How was I going to get my outline on it so I could use it during the presentation?  Quickly thinking back to the way I had previously used my iPhone in Court, I emailed the document to myself.  Opening the email, I could read the one page PDF outline right there in the Mail App.  Problem solved.  With the email open in front of me, I used the iPad all day in the five sessions I had.

Subsequently, I discovered there are any number of ways to view documents on the iPad.  You can view PDFs in Mail, Apple’s Mobile Me app, or use a PDF specific app like GoodReader, iAnnotate, ReaddleDocs or any number of apps.  There are multiple ways of moving files from your computer to the iPad, but a majority of them use the cloud as an intermediary step.  You upload the file to servers hosted by the program providers and access those files from the cloud and either read them there or pull them down to the iPad.  Time will tell which approach works best for you and whether the app does what you want with your files once you access them.

Not Quite There

On the following Tuesday, I appeared in Bankruptcy Court in Connecticut and used the iPad to draft the terms of a stipulation in a contested matter.  The eyes of the Courtroom and the Bench were on me as I read the stipulation into the record from the iPad.  The document was created in the Notes app.  The note file transferred to my laptop through the Mail app so I could move the outline to my client’s folder on the server as a text document.  I didn’t need the iPad to do what I did, I could have just as easily done this all on the MacBook Pro I always bring to court.

I said this device is evolutionary.  The iPhone/iPod Touch was revolutionary.  The touch interface was truly a new way to interact with a computer.  Now after three years, we get it.  No need to point and click with a mouse, just point with your finger.  No need for a stylus.  Swipe through your apps and interact with your data or consume the content from the internet.

But the iPad is not totally a cloud device.  When you first fire it up, you need to activate it through your iTunes account by connecting it to your computer.  You sync your data and apps through iTunes through the USB port.  A lot of content is stored on the device.  I have over 5,000 photos, numerous record albums (yes, I’m from the vinyl generation) and a few movies on it using about 10 % of the storage in my 64gig unit.

We haven’t made the complete move to cloud computing yet.  There are those who complain that you can’t use a mouse with the iPad.  Some are trying to use a stylus to write on it.  And yet others have jail-broken the operating system to move files and apps on and off the device through a file folder system.  I’ve used PhoneView to access those folders without jail-breaking.

Once the cellular phone companies complete the move to 4G using compatible technologies and online storage becomes accessible from anywhere, the iPad will become the device to use as we transition from desktop to the cloud.  I get it.  Apple’s vision of the future has us using apps on our machines and the data will reside ‘out there’.  Truly time to Think Different.

Eugene Melchionne is a Connecticut bankruptcy lawyer, President of the Bankruptcy Law Network, and a long-time Mac user.

Photo courtesy of ancawonka.

The paper files are almost all packed up for shipping to the digital storage company. The expensive phone system is for sale on Craigslist. The office furniture is also listed for sale. In fact, so is the office. No, I’m not going out of business. I’m moving. My new office address might as well be 123 Virtual Lane, Virtual Reality, Anywhere 00000. In 10 short days, my law practice will exist only in the virtual realm. I’m giddy about this change. Oh, wait, I’m scared to death…no, um, I’m giddy. Scared. Giddy. Ok, I’m both.

I’m giddy that I won’t be tied to the office almost every day because that’s where client files are, and that’s where the fax machine is, and that’s where the scanner is. But, I’m scared because I don’t know how clients will perceive the change. Is it possible for a “real” attorney to maintain and grow a virtual practice? Will clients 200 miles away retain me sight unseen?

I know this is the “Untethered Lawyer” blog, but come on…does this really work? I haven’t even announced the change to my existing clients. I’m hoping the “Out to Lunch” sign on the door tricks them and they’ll just go away and call and ask when I’m coming back from lunch.

I’m giddy because the virtual law office technology I’m licensing will automate much of the “administrivia” of running a solo law practice, and it has some really cool features. But, I’m scared because, let’s face it, I’m not exactly an “early adopter” tech user. Geez, I still carry around a paper calendar instead of using my blackberry. So, the thought of mastering the vlo technology brings some trepidation. And what about only using my cellphone? It does have a tendency to drop calls at the most inopportune time. How long will clients put up with that?

I’m giddy because it will now really be possible for me to be fully productive from my home in Atlanta, or with my mom in the Chicago area, or at my cousin’s house near Raleigh, North Carolina, in addition to the dreamy beach in Tahiti. But, I’m scared because what if I can’t find enough new clients or generate enough new business from existing clients to pay for all that pie-in-the-sky traveling? What if clients aren’t comfortable with my new avatar look on Virtual Lane? [And yes I realize I could have the same trouble attracting clients to my brick and mortar office if I don’t do the right business development, but somehow the issues seem magnified in the virtual realm].

So, I’m giddy and I’m scared—total insanity. But, in 10 days, I’m going out to lunch and I won’t be back. Please check on me in 90 days to see if I’m in a straight jacket or drafting contracts on the beach.

Traci D. Ellis is a veteran attorney with over 19 years of legal experience, both in private practice and as in house counsel for several Fortune 500 and privately held companies, including as Vice President & General Counsel. She now concentrates her practice in the areas of general business law, real estate law and wills and trusts. Visit Traci’s virtual law office at www.traciellislaw.com.

Photo courtesy of @chris.

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