Starting a Debate

In marketing my virtual law practice, I'm considering throwing a little fuel on the fire. It's well known that the law is a very traditional profession. The basic staples of a traditional law practice are proudly guarded as sacred by the old guard; business rules proven time and time again to work so why change them.

While the N.C. Bar Association has made many wonderful efforts to push the legal profession in N.C. into wider usage of technology, there remains a large percentage of practicing attorneys who have the mind-set that nothing beats face-to-face legal counseling. On the other hand, there are a handful of younger attorneys coming into the profession who grew up attached to their laptops, took the bar exam on their laptop even, and can't imagine work or life without the methods of communication afforded by the Internet and other technological devices. I'm of the latter group which is why I chose to practice online.

I think both the traditional way of practicing law and my way have something different to provide the public. Provided that the rules of ethics are closely followed, I don't think that either way of practicing is going to shame or ruin the reputations of attorneys (which has not been in good shape in the past twenty years anyway). In fact, I think both practices can compliment each other and attend to different markets in the legal field. So, in marketing my business, I am planning on presenting this debate between the traditional method of practicing and the virtual way as an article for the local paper and see if they recognize it as a topic that affects and would interest their readers. It would be great to have a dialogue with local attorneys about the pros and cons of a more technological law practice. Can't wait for the feedback!