Recent findings from our LexisNexis survey on the State of the Legal Industry show that corporate counsel want more from their outside law firms. 71% of those surveyed felt outside law firms were not doing enough to respond to the current economic climate. Over half of the lawyers surveyed feel that the industry will permanently need to change the way it does business to survive. Enter the virtual law firm.
While there seem to be many configurations that qualify as a virtual firm, in essence the virtual firm uses technology to replace traditional and costly law firm infrastructure to deliver additional savings to clients. They can be solo operations or modeled after large law firms. A common terminology is still evolving.
Virtual Law Firm Event in Connected
Virtual law firms are growing in prominence and becoming a valuable alternative for corporate counsel who want to realize savings while maintaining quality. Technology permits talented lawyers from all over the globe to collaborate and share resources equivalent to that of a big firm while keeping costs to a minimum. These savings are then passed onto clients at a rate of 30% to 40%. Given this situation, what will be the impact on the large firm model? Can firms expect to continue business as usual or will they need to change to survive? What about the makeup of virtual firms? Who are these lawyers, what do they look like, and how will this model continue to grow? What are the best practices of starting, running, and using a virtual firm? We will answer these questions over a two week period during our event: Virtual Law Firms.
Event Dates: 3/15/2010 to 3/31/2010
We have pulled together some of the best names from the virtual law firm scene to lead discussions on this event in Martindale-Hubbell Connected.
- Alan Wernick, Partner FSB FisherBroyles, LLP (Virtual Firm)
- Stephanie Kimbro, Kimbro Legal Services, LLC (Virtual Firm)
- Carolyn Elefant, My Shingle
- Richard S. Granat, Maryland Family Lawyer (Virtual Firm)
- Larry Bodine, Apollo Business Development (Blogger and Adviser)
- Jeremy Szwider, Director, Bespoke Law (Virtual Law Firm)
- Donna Seyle, Owner, Freelance Law Firm
- Bradley Clark, Associate at Gray & Becker, P.C.
These individuals will be posting guest blogs, leading forum discussions, and sharing special downloads in the two “home groups” for this event:
It all gets started today and tomorrow we offer our first Special Event:
Live Twitter Discussion (“Value Tweet”) hosted by Larry Bodine
Law firm marketing guru Larry Bodine will host a live Twitter discussion on Tuesday, March 16 2010 (tomorrow) from 12pm to 2pm EST. Follow all the action by searching for and using the hash tag #MHVT. The discussion will focus on the following questions:
- Impact of Virtual Firms on the Large Law Firm model?
- What clients are buying?
- The trend for major (Fortune 500) companies to abandon the AmLaw 100 and 200 firms for the top firm in a second-tier market, like Milwaukee, Omaha or Cleveland.
- Where law firms are putting their marketing dollars in 2010?
- Trend of the legal profession in light of virtual law firms and alternative fee models?
Check out our Event Page for even more information about the upcoming offerings including a webinar with Carolyn Elefant, Stephanie Kimbro and others. If you are not yet a member of Connected, registration is free and easy.
Related Posts
- Poll Results: Do Virtual Law Firms Pose a Threat to Large Law Firms
- VLOconomics: It’s The Client Economy, Stupid (Webinar on Virtual Law Firms)
- The Future of the Legal Industry (FOLI): Will Law Firms Survive the Next 20-Years?
- A Radical Future For The Legal Industry?
- Connected Event: Standardizing Litigation Guidelines (A Case Study in the Insurance Industry)
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
I know a lawyer on martindale since he is listed there. I have know this man since childhood and I am 65 years old. When I enter his name on your web-site I can find him but he has no phone number or e-mail address on your site. Why does he bother paying you to do business there since he cannot be contacted. His name is Lawrence F. Hilton. Do you care?
Hi Gail,
I’m not sure how this relates to my post about our Virtual Law Firm event, but I will try to find out why Lawrence does not have details listed. If he is a customer, it could be he never supplied us with an email address or phone number to display. We are happy to look into it and see how we can help. Also, if you want to tell him, Lawrence can add these details himself through our Martindale.com Connected site. It allows anyone, whether they are a customer or not, to create a profile which is then searchable on the Martindale.com database.
Thanks,
Mike