Undoubtedly, the internet has contributed to the evolvement of countless new and innovative opportunities. For example, many businesses realize they can change how they offer their services. Property lawyers are no different. Therefore, a virtual law firm can be an intelligent decision for your practice and clients.
When it comes to the real estate business, one thing to learn from the pandemic is that lawyers can work remotely, leaning on digital tools to serve their esteemed clients. Although this was a response to the situation, the juicy part is that being virtual property lawyers have advantages for your clients and practice.
If you are still wondering if this is a good option, here are eight reasons and benefits of having a virtual legal practice.
Related: 5 Ways Property Lawyers Will Help You Save Money on Real Estate Investments
8 Reasons to Set Up An Online Law Firm
1. Reach more clients
Although it may seem confusing and intimidating, a virtual law firm is a legal outfit where property lawyers use internet-based tools to operate and offer their legal services. That doesn’t change the services you provide but how you deliver them.
By having a virtual law firm, you can reach clients all over the world. So one could imagine that the number of cases for property lawyers would reduce if they tried to find daily leads in their local market.
Expanding your reach depends on the firm’s objectives and areas of practice. If you want to pursue this, speak to your law firm’s SEO expert.
2. Time and location flexibility
One of the most attractive benefits of having a virtual lawyer is that this model enables you to work wherever you are while giving you more time. Since you are serving clients over the internet instead of a physical office, there is no need to go to the office every time
That can save you from commuting daily unless your house is close to your office. It can also improve your productivity since you are not interrupted by the distractions that come with an office. But, of course, this same benefit applies to your clients, too!
3. Reduce your costs
One of the essential advantages of having a virtual property lawyer is that they can reduce costs. By going virtual, you might need to invest in the following:
- Internet
- Computers
- Cloud software and computing services
- A website for your law firm
- Software and tools to run your practice
If you run a virtual law firm, you don’t need to pay a much for rent since you don’t need to be in competitive location. If you decide to go virtual, your utilities expenses will all decrease.
4. It is convenient for clients
So far, we have talked about how you benefit from serving clients online, but what about your clients? As mentioned before, one of virtual law firms’ main characteristics is that most of the communication and services are delivered over the net.
That means that clients can go online and comfortably schedule a Zoom, Skype or GoToMeeting call with you or someone in your firm when it’s more suitable for them (and you).
There are no enough hours in the day. So, giving your current and potential clients a chance to schedule an online meeting is very convenient since it saves them time travelling to your office.
Now, you may still have clients that want to have a face-to-face meeting, and that’s okay. But just allowing people a chance to use a more convenient communication channel can make you look more accessible.
There are plenty of ways that clients can benefit from a virtual law firm. For example, if you need your client to send you documents, they can upload them to your cloud storage. The results? Everyone involved saves time and money.
5. It makes your law firm more innovative
As you can see, being a virtual property lawyer allows you to offer the same legal services that a regular, brick-and-mortar law firm does while it creates a lot of new opportunities for your practice:
- Offer high-quality video calls.
- Accept payments online.
- Move from on-premise to cloud software.
- Book consultations and appointments online.
- Ability to work from anywhere.
Property lawyers that go virtual are leaning towards new and innovative products that can make their work and client experience more efficient and enjoyable. But, since this is a new business model for law firms, it can also come with some challenges.
As a property lawyer, you likely know how a brick-and-mortar law firm works and the processes you need to run your practice. That is because there’s a well-established business model that you can follow.
We’re still in the early days of virtual law firms. As a result, the blueprints for this business model are still under development. Is this bad? Not at all! It’s an excellent opportunity for law firms to innovate and build systems that allow them to fulfil their services more quickly and efficiently.
It may take time to find out what your virtual law office needs, but you have something innovative, unique, and convenient to offer to your clients when you do.
6. It is attractive for your employees
If you think about it, there are plenty of reasons why a remote job may be attractive for your employees:
- Saving time and money on commuting
- Having more flexibility over their schedule
- Increasing productivity
- Having the flexibility to use more casual dress attire
Some studies have shown that working doesn’t hurt your employee’s productivity; it may increase since they can focus on their activities without being interrupted. In addition to reducing your costs, a virtual law firm also allows you to attract talent from a bigger pool of candidates. And that leads to our next point.
7. Ability to find and attract more talent
A physical office can have some location constraints. Unfortunately, these limitations also apply to the pool of people you can hire. Think about it. With a physical office, you cannot consider candidates too far away to commute to your office.
However, virtual law offices can look at a broader pool of candidates since location is no longer a significant constraint. Now, you can focus on finding the best people for the job rather than finding someone who can get to your office.
Of course, some positions may require you to hire someone locally. But if needed, you can look for candidates in other cities and states.
8. Online businesses are growing
A 2015 study showed that only 3.7% of people use the phonebook to find a property lawyer. You can imagine how small that number has shrunk since then. The truth is that people rely more on the internet to find their service providers, including property lawyers.
So, it’s not surprising that many law firms are starting to implement and offer virtual features to their clients. Although many of these features were a response to the pandemic, they proved to be cost-effective and time convenient for clients.
The way law firms operate is changing. And even though you may not want to go virtual, there are some things that you can add to your law firm to make your clients’ experience more enjoyable.
Conclusion
My goal with this article was that you found at least one or two compelling reasons for having a virtual law firm. There are many benefits of using this business model that can help you grow your practice while reducing your costs.
