Law Column:

Virtual law office fills void

Fri, Dec 18, 2009 (3 a.m.)

Andy Urban, former Henderson assistant city attorney, is making his law practice a virtual reality.

Urban accepted a severance package from the city last summer after 27 years, but wasn’t ready to retire at the age of 57.

His city position allowed him to have a small private practice on the side in which he could do wills, probate and contracts on his days off as long as he didn’t advertise his services. But after leaving the city, Urban didn’t see himself ramping up a practice like other attorneys with a full-time practice. Instead, he says he turned to the Internet to create a niche and provide people with access to legal services that they could afford.

Those who need a lawyer can go online to sites such as legalzoom.com, download legal forms, fill them out and send them in for review and receive instructions on how to execute them, but Urban says he wanted to go beyond that. Using software from a North Carolina firm, Virtual Law Office Technology, Urban set up a Web site, nevadavlo.com that allows clients to work with him primarily over the Internet rather than come to an office for consultations.

By accessing Urban’s site, people are able to register and set up an account free of charge where they have their own home page to ask legal questions and get advice. The system notifies Urban, and he is able to respond through the Web and seek additional information and have the prospective clients upload information to their page.

Urban quotes them a price over the Internet, and prospective clients can see his prices listed on the site for his services. If needed, he can talk with them on the phone and meet them in person to follow up with the signing of any legal documents, he says.

Urban has a part-time office on Anthem Village Drive to meet with clients, but says he’s even exploring using a webcam to have video conferences with those who prefer that way to communicate.

“Everything can be done without people leaving their home until it’s time to sign the documents,” Urban says.

A virtual law office is perfect for individual attorneys or small practices rather than any big law office, Urban says. The Web site even accepts debit and credit cards, he says.

“With this economy so bad, people are going to pay the rent over preparing a will, Urban says. “But if they can see upfront that it is going to cost them $150, then they can budget for it. By going online, they know they don’t have to take off work to go see an attorney. This isn’t the old way of hiring an attorney when you are not sure how long it will take and the hourly rate is $250. You get the first month’s bill and you are into several thousands of dollars. People want to know today what it’s going to cost. They shop for legal services just like they do for a lot of other things.”

Urban says his overhead is low. He pays $260 a month for the virtual law office technology and $20 for a webmaster. His part-time office costs him $150 a month.

Since he launched the site in October, Urban says he has had 23 clients on the system and gets most of his referral business through word of mouth. He says launching a virtual law office wasn’t a big leap for him.

“I have always been interested in computer technology,” Urban says. “I made an effort to get the city attorney’s office to increase the use of that type of technology. It just seemed like a natural way to continue that interest.”

One pitfall of the virtual office is serving the elderly who do not use computers and prefer to work over the phone or meet in person, Urban says.

He says the virtual law office will become more common because practices are going to have to better incorporate technology to be more competitive and reduce overhead.

“I truly see it becoming more popular,” Urban says. “It is not going to be as big for corporations and big businesses but for small businesses and individuals it will be.”

Legal Aid Center wins grant

The Nevada Women’s Philanthropy has awarded a $325,000 grant to fund a new attorney for three years at the Children’s Attorneys Project at the Legal Aid Center of Southern Nevada. It will be used on the foster care early intervention program.

The new program seeks to represent children from the first day they are removed from their homes because of abuse or neglect, says Barbara Buckley, the center’s executive director.

The grant will help serve 400 people over the next three years, Buckley says. With the current resources, the center is able to serve about half of the children in foster care.

Foreclosure mediation program

The Nevada Supreme Court has appointed 75 mediators to nearly double the number handling cases of the Foreclosure Mediation Program that launched July 1.

The mediators were sworn in Dec. 11 for the program that allows homeowners to request mediation with lenders after a default notice is filed.

The Supreme Court reports 522 mediations have been conducted and another 1,064 have been scheduled. Since July 1, 32,662 default notices have been filed through Dec. 4 with 3,272 requests for mediation.