Jamil Kassimali is licensed to practice law in the State the Missouri and is a registered member of the Bar Association of Metropolitan Saint Louis.  He received his Bachelor of Science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and his Juris Doctorate from the University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law.  Prior to founding his own solo practice, Kassimali has had experience working on both state and federal cases that encompassed a wide variety of legal issues, including: commercial and private real estate, insurance, child custody and support, sexual harassment, bankruptcy, employment discrimination, public administrative proceedings, estate planning, corporations, zoning, municipal transportation and nuisance ordinances, and criminal defense.

To read more about Kassimali Law, please visit the virtual law office website.

Combs earned her Bachelor of Business Administration from Baylor University and her law degree from South Texas College of Law, magna cum laude.  Combs has been licensed to practice law in Texas since 1994.  She currently resides in North Carolina and provides legal services related to Texas Law online through the virtual law office website.   As the busy mother of three young children, Combs appreciates the flexibility that her virtual law office provides for her family life as well as the benefits for her online clients, many of whom are also young families seeking estate planning services.

For more information about Texas Wills and Trusts Law Online or Rania Combs, Attorney at Law, please visit the website which includes a blog and resources for prospective online clients.

From the program description, the topics that will be covered include:

What is a “virtual law firm”

The benefits of delivering legal services online

The web architecture for a virtual law firm

Online applications, such as web-enabled document automation

Ethical issues in the delivery of online legal services, including confidentiality, security, unauthorized practice of law, client identification, conflict of interest checking and client authentication procedures

Criteria of vendor selection

The costs associated with setting up a virtual law practice

Marketing your brand and virtual law practice online

If  you are interested in virtual law practice or are operating a virtual law firm, please consider attending this session.  In addition to practical advice on this form of delivering legal services using technology, the session will also provide 1.5 hours of CLE credit in most states.

This newest release of the VLO Forms Feature allows for the creation of forms from PDF Acroforms.  PDF Acroforms are the same editable forms as those used by the IRS and other government agencies.  This expanded feature leads to a new workflow option for an attorney’s virtual law practice. 

Want to compete with the LegalZooms of the marketplace for online clients but also provide high-quality legal services?  The VLO Forms Feature permits you to provide these affordable and convenient services along with the benefits of the other VLO features to handle the client’s matter just as you would if they came into a traditional law office.  Our goal is to give attorneys the tools to meet the clients’ needs whether it is through the use of PDF forms or more personalized communication with the attorney through the VLO interface.

We have created two tutorial videos to walk VLO customers through this new option and have described the process in more detail below.  

Using the Forms to Serve Clients & Generate Revenue
 
An exciting new option with this update is that the PDF form, once it is converted to a VLO form, may be exported back out to the PDF form you originally uploaded.  After the client has filled out the form online, you may preview and save a hard copy of the completed form for yourself or provide that completed PDF document to the client for review or purchase in one step.

An Example Way to Use The PDF Forms Feature

• A client registers and asks for a form to be submitted to the court. You have your own version of this form with field names designed to work with the VLO and you have a VLO form that was created from this PDF version of the court form.
 
• You give the client a fixed fee quote of what you will charge them for the form and your review, and attach the VLO form for the client to fill out online.

• The client accepts the quote and fills out the requested information.
 
• You review the information and created PDF from the client’s form using the option to upload the final PDF to the client as his or her final legal product.

• When you do this, the amount you entered in the quote field for the quote that you provided will become the total due immediately.
 
• Once the total due has been paid, the final PDF will be unlocked for the client who may then open the PDF and print a copy to take to the court for filing.

Step One: Creating PDF Acroforms
 
The first step is to create PDF Acroforms from the existing forms that you use to work with your clients.  These could be client intake forms, worksheets, or PDFs from your local courthouse or government entity. You may create a PDF Acroform for free using Open  Office, but there are other options.  The same process may be done with Microsoft Office and a plugin, such as CenoPDF.  The full version of Adobe Acrobat also has the option to build forms in the same method as used in the Open Office demo, but the Help Text field in Acrobat is called Tooltip. This Tooltip becomes the VLO Label that clients see. 
 
Step Two: Using Forms in the VLO
 
Once you have created a PDF Acroform there is a new option in the Forms Library to create a VLO form from PDF.  The software will import your PDF and create a new form for use in the VLO.  You may then edit the form and add in your unique instructions and legal guidance to assist the client in filling out the form online.  After this form is completed you may continue to use it from your Forms Library with new online clients without having to go through the creation or editing steps again.

As always your feedback is welcome and encouraged.  Please do not hesitate to let us know if you have any questions or concerns.  Have a Happy Thanksgiving.
 
Kind regards,
 
Benjamin, Stephanie and the Team at Total Attorneys.

From the firm website:

Chris founded this office based on two principles:

1.  Everyone should have equal access to quality legal services; and

2.  We all should do our part to lower our negative impacts on the environment.

Through this website Chris strives to fulfill these principles.  Using a secured internet based software, the Firm provides unbundled legal services at a lower cost, with a lower environmental impact, as compared to brick and mortar law firms.

Chris McChesney received his Bachelors of Science degree in Wildlife Ecology and Conservation from the University of Florida in Gainesville, FL and his law degree from The American University, Washington College of Law.  He is licensed to practice law in both Florida and Maryland.  McChesney has experience working for multiple Federal agencies, the District of Columbia, and non-profits and served as a Presidential Management Fellow for the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) and the U.S. Department of Justice.  In addition to his solo practice, McChesney continues to work as a realty specialist for HHS.   For more information about McChesney and the virtual law practice, please visit the website.

The idea of the Nevada Virtual Law Office (NVLO) was born from Andy’s love of technology and desire to make legal services reasonable for the average person. He wants to make sure people have good quality and easily accessible legal counsel at rates they can afford.

Urban has 26 years experience in the legal profession including working in private practice and serving as the second attorney in the Henderson, Nevada City Attorney’s office.   More background on Urban’s extensive legal experience is located on his virtual law office website.  Urban holds a law degree from Gonzaga University School of Law in Spokane, Washington and has extensive experience  in contract matters, local government purchasing issues, bid protests, eminent domain matters, public records and Nevada open meeting law issues as well as wills, trusts and probate matters.

Susskind looks at changes in the profession as well as the impact that the economic recession has had on an attorney’s clients.  He mentions disruptive technologies as another factor that will force legal professionals to find more innovative ways to provide legal services or face the consequences of losing their practices to the competition who will find ways to embrace the circumstances.  

If you are considering virtual law practice, whether as a solo or working with other attorneys to form a virtual law firm, this article is one more motivational reason to consider a web-based method of delivering legal services.

Benjamin Norman and Stephanie Kimbro, co-founders of VLOTech, are working closely with Total Attorneys to build dynamic legal products and services that will allow attorneys to provide legal services to the public online and create virtual law practices that expand their business potential.

“Combining with VLO Tech furthers our mission to improve the quality and delivery of legal services for consumers and attorneys,” said Kevin Chern, President of Total Attorneys.

“It was really a match made in heaven,” said Kimbro. “Their product generates leads, but [attorneys] were missing the ability to work remotely with clients.”  Norman said he plans to travel to Chicago regularly during the transition to continue the development of the project, then work remotely from Wilmington.  “We will be able to work with their developers and their infrastructure,” Kimbro said.

As a result of the acquisition, VLOTech clients will benefit from the knowledge and experience of Total Attorneys as the leaders in offering products and services to solos and small firms.  Development of the VLOTech software continues to be driven by the feedback of its attorney users, and both Benjamin and Stephanie look forward to continuing to work with attorneys who understand that the future of the delivery of legal services will be found online.

VLOTech has been working with Total Attorneys to find ways to integrate the VLOTech software into their products and services. This exciting joining of forces will provide existing VLOTech clients with the services and products that Total Attorneys offers which will help them to grow their virtual law practices.

Both Co-Founders of VLOTech, Benjamin and Stephanie, will now work for Total Attorneys on the virtual law practice software.  We know that this is the future of the delivery of legal services and we want to be a part of it!  Stephanie will be a Total Attorneys Evangelist as well as continue to operate her virtual law office in North Carolina.  Benjamin will join the Total Attorneys team as a senior developer.

We look forward to the exciting and innovative advancements that this will bring to law practice management and the legal profession.

Washington received a BA from Skidmore College and a JD from the University Of Pittsburgh School Of Law.   She is a member of the New York State Bar Association, the Metropolitan Black Bar Association and the American Bar Association’s Young Lawyer and Business Divisions.  Before admission to the bar, Washington provided legal services to the modest-income community in Pittsburgh.  In addition to being the proud mother of a toddler,  when time permits, she provides pro bono legal services to the New York City community.