What did it take for me to become a virtual lawyer?  I was sitting on the terrace, looking out over the beach in Acapulco.  It was 85 degrees and sunny, yet the breeze coming off the water kept me cool.

My vacation was hard-fought, and well-deserved after the sprint leading up to the change in the U.S. Bankruptcy Code in October 2005.  I took a sip of my morning coffee and pondered whether I’d have lunch in the hotel or at a little taco place my wife and I had discovered the day before.

My laptop chirped at me, and I snapped on my headset.  It was time for a consultation appointment.  Virtual bankruptcy lawyer springs to action, leaving the coffee behind!

There was a time when the notion of a virtual law office was unheard of. A law firm operating without books, without desks, and without a physical location was unprofessional and extremely unorthodox.

No longer is that the case. Companies such as VLOTech and DirectLaw will help you get your virtual on. Free and low-cost applications help shuttle you to the cloud, where a world of wonder awaits you. Work from the beach, across the world, or just from your home with the dog by your side.

Lovely, no?

But here’s the problem – and it’s a real one.  The VLO model is largely an online document and communication repository for lawyers.  But a VLO does not help you become a profitable virtual lawyer, or to transform your law office into a virtual one.

My firm has a physical location, but I’m not enamored of going there.  I’ve got a totally different mindset.  The mindset of a virtual lawyer, not one of a land-based attorney.

Take, for example, the story I told you at the beginning of this piece.  You may be amazed, entranced or just shocked that I could work from the beach in Acapulco.  But when you break it down, it’s not amazing whatsoever.

The Virtual Lawyer’s Tools Are Not Amazing

I don’t use any of the VLO platforms mentioned above; they’re excellent, but not what’s in my bag.  I relied, and continue to rely, upon a few basic sets of tools:

Phone:  Skype, a computer-based application, allows me to make and receive phone calls to a regular U.S.-based telephone number using only a computer with Internet access.  Costs me under $100 per year for a local number.  But if I didn’t want to go that route, I could simply use my cell phone with global roaming on it.

Internet-Based Faxing:  People use faxes, much to my chagrin.  I use MaxEMail, but there are a number of excellent providers out there.  Here’s how it works: someone puts a piece of paper into their fax machine, dials a local (or toll-free) number, and faxes it to you.  Instead of the page coming through a fax machine, it shows up in your email box as a PDF.  Once again, it costs me under $100 per year to keep this going.

Case Management:  I currently use RocketMatter, but have used Basecamp in the past.  It gives me the freedom to access client information on the go, and it’s reliable so long as I’ve got an Internet connection.  Basecamp allows me to give clients access to their documents, RocketMatter does not.  But there’s a solution.

Client File Access:  I use Dropbox, which allows me to synchronize files among computers and backs up to the cloud.  Using Dropbox you can share a specific folder with any other Dropbox user; all they need is an account, which they can get for no cost.  Tell your client to get a free Dropbox account, and then share their file with them.  When the matter is closed, revoke the sharing privileges.

My File Access:  Once again, I use Dropbox.  There are other solutions out there, but I like Dropbox because it’s got tons of features and is accessible from my Android device (they’ve got an iPhone and iPad app as well).  To get files from paper into my computer I either scan them using my ScanSnap scanner or, ideally, have clients fax them to me (remember, those faxes come through as email attachments in PDF format).

Staff Communications:  We use Google Talk to communicate.  Nuff said.

Calendaring and Appointment Setting:  We use Google Calendar for our calendars in the office, and a web application called AppointmentQuest to allow people to set up appointments to speak with us.  Appointment Quest is not the only system out there, but it does allow us to block off times when we’re not available and move stuff around.

Email:  Google Apps.  Free, web-based, accessible using our phones, and lots of storage.

The Virtual Lawyer’s Mindset Makes the Difference

Nothing outlined above is earth-shattering, nor is it custom-made.  It does, however, reflect the reality that we can work anywhere, any time.  Our clients need not be technologically advanced, either; the only thing they need is a telephone – everything else is on our side.  So it makes no sense to me when a lawyer tells me that they don’t go virtual because their clients aren’t tech-savvy.  That’s an excuse, not a real reason.

If you want to be a virtual lawyer, all you need to do is take a step outside.  Then another.  And then another.  Repeat until you’re in a comfortable location, and then open your laptop.  Keep the cell phone charged, maintain connectivity to the Internet, and get down to business.  That’s pretty much all there is to it.

The chains aren’t real.  All you have to fight against are your own preconceived notions about where you work.

To be sure, there are things you’ll need to do in order to prepare for that walk outside.  But once you have the mindset, the solutions to the other minor problems will soon come into sharper focus.

Photo credit:  Giorgio Montersino (via Flickr).