Virtual practice

Remote working in a time of crisis

Advice from the MD of Inpractice UK on coping with the current crisis, with insights from several other PMS suppliers. The impact of Covid-19 is being felt by all of us to varying degrees. People should work from home if they can but that may not be possible yet for everyone in your practice. As […]

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The business case for remote working

The decision to change the Azrights business model and just retain a meeting room wasn’t one I took lightly. With distant memories of Yahoo’s Marissa Mayer putting an end to remote working at the company back in 2013 I was unsure what the latest thinking on remote working was when I took the plunge in 2017 to […]

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The virtual law firm three years on

More than three years ago I wrote an article for this Newsletter extolling (in the main) the benefits of using a virtual approach to working in the digital age by virtualising legal services. The last three years have seen a further embedding of virtual law firms in the legal marketplace, with Keystone Law becoming a […]

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The “dispersed” law firm

Nick Holmes and I have been covering “virtual law firms” in the Internet Newsletter for Lawyers since 2006. In May 2007, I wrote an article called “Virtual Law Firms – where we are now” which looked at several of the firms we had already covered, and cross linked this with the size of firm, the […]

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Setting up a commercial firm on a virtual model

I founded Summerfield Browne Solicitors at the beginning of 2014. The firm specialises in advising on business and commercial law and we offer these services throughout England and Wales. We advise a wide range of companies from start-up to established international companies and from a diverse range of sectors. We now have offices in London, […]

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Reinventing law

ReInvent Law London 2014 took place on 20 June. This was its third London outing. It appeared first in 2012 as Law Tech Camp and was renamed ReInvent Law for 2013. I have attended all three and gave a presentation at this year’s event. ReInvent Law is the brainchild of Daniel Katz and Renee Knake […]

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The best of both – bricks and mortar and virtual

The coming of the much-vaunted information age, improvements in digital and internet technology, and the increasing requirement for law firms to diversify and innovate over the last ten years has led to a series of interesting experiments in business models for lawyers. Law firms (as demonstrated by the success of such firms as Excello Law, […]

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Clerksroom – a virtual chambers?

The meaning of the word “chambers” depends on who you ask, or where you look for the answer. The Bar Standards Board defines the word through the code of conduct and its use has many meanings in the code. The Bar Standards Board and the Bar Council records office allow you to elect to be […]

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The Blacklaws Davis hybrid law firm model

Traditional high street law firms are under attack on every front. The recession reduces their bread and butter property work and they face ever rising overheads and staff costs. The solution for some firms has been to specialise and to gain competitive advantage by adopting a more businesslike approach and IT solutions. Three years ago […]

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I’ve been virtual for ages!

A response to the article on virtual firms in the last issue of the Newsletter Is it a good idea to label one’s firm as “virtual”? To be honest I try to disguise my virtualness rather than boast of it. I suspect there are a large number of other firms which are virtual, but which […]

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Virtual law firms – where they are now

A virtual law firm – Woolley & Co Over the last couple of years, we have covered a whole series of virtual firms in this newsletter. In some cases, the firms have sprung up as a fully-formed (but usually one-person) virtual firm; in others, the firm has gently moved from being a “normal” firm with […]

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Setting up a virtual firm

Just over a year ago I set up Lawbridge Solicitors as a virtual firm after 21 years as a partner in a High Street practice. As the partner responsible for my former firm’s IT, I had been interested in the idea of a virtual law firm for some time. The increasing financial pressures on High […]

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