First, how many competing companies are out there at this point for providing SaaS to law firms? Are there several companies competing for VLO business or just one or two strong ones?

Second, I’m curious what level of customization a lawyer has over the client interface. How individualized to the specific law firm is the client interface?

Lastly, if it’s alright, I’d like the option to quote from this article and the comments on the blog which I’m writing to catalog my investigation into launching my own VLO. I’m following Ms. Kimbro’s checklists from her book and writing posts along the way. The more sources you have, the better, right?

You’ve asked some very good questions, including some I asked myself.

With respect to competence, I had this conversation not too long ago with Stephanie Kimbro, who had discussed this issue with Will Hornsby and Rich Granat. Their opinion is as follows:

“As attorneys, determining the competency of an individual is not our job. We didn’t go to medical school and I are not qualified to make that call. We can only use the best of our abilities to ensure that the client understands what he or she is signing and what the consequences of signing it will be. This is traditionally determined by having a conversation with the client in person. Even then you might not recognize an illness such as dementia, which can come and go, but as an attorney, we cannot be expected to go to greater measures than determining that they understand what they are signing.

So, in the virtual world there are several ways to determine capacity. First, clients have to fill out a client intake form online. This contains all of the questions I would ask if I were meeting them in person. Usually if there is a problem, a red flag will first show up in the response or lack thereof. I also have the ability to schedule phone calls and web conferences with clients. I have sometimes extensive text conversations with clients back and forth about provisions in a document or what they are trying to accomplish. Also, before the documents can be enforceable, they must be notarized in front of two witnesses. The notary acknowledgment is written to have the notary check the driver’s license of the person signing the document and the witnesses attest to the capacity of the signer.

With a combination of those methods, I feel comfortable that I am not drafting documents for someone holding undue influence over the client. I would also think that if a person were going to commit fraud or undue influence online, they would pay less and go to a document preparation service rather than come to my virtual law office.”

Nevertheless, when people call asking me to draft a will for an elderly client who they admit has dementia, the beginning stages or Alzheimer’s or who supposedly wants to disinherit a child, for example, I decline representation and refer them to an attorney with a physical law office who can take a good look at the situation and make sure the clients rights are protected.

With respect to the proper execution of the documents, I limit my representation to drafting the documents and also provide very detailed instructions on how to execute the documents in compliance with the statutes.

There are two issues that I am concerned with though. One, I think that part of your job as an estate planning attorney is to assess the capacity of your clients and try to determine whether what they want you to do for them is really their own free will. How do you go about assessing this in a virtual practice setting? Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you turned down an estate planning representation because it just didn’t seem right? Do you verify identities?

What do you do to ensure that the documents are properly executed? I would assume you provide a letter of instruction to your clients on how to properly execute the documents. Do you follow up afterwards in anyway to ensure that everything is done correctly? What about if you are funding a trust with a house? Do you take charge of the recording or leave that to your clients as well?

Would appreciate any thoughts you might have.

I do however think it makes good sense to have your blog Rachel on your website as well. I find it to be very efficient and the reader doesn’t have to change sites to get more detail on who you are and what you do.

Similar to Rania’s practice, with my own virtual law office, I also was surprised by the type of clients that I have registering online. I initially thought they would be younger individuals in the age range of 20-30 and I targeted my advertising that way at first. However, most of my online clients are in the age range of 35-50 and I also have some older retired clients in their 60s and 70s. That was not what I expected, but if you think about all of the grandparents going on Facebook these days to keep in touch with the family, it does make sense that if they can use Facebook and email, they would be comfortable communicating with an attorney through a secure client portal.

As our client base gets younger, I think we will see even more of a demand for online legal services. I know Rachel Rodgers with her online practice focused on younger entrepreneurs is seeing this trend now.

Kudos to the trailblazers for sharing their experiences with the rest of us!

Thanks, again, this was great!