The Rise of Virtual Legal Practices: Can You Run Your Practice Entirely Online?

6 min read

Here’s what you need to know about running a virtual law practice.

Digital technologies have revolutionized the world of law – so much so, in fact, that the long-standing practice of having a physical law office has now come into question. Legal practices across the world are adopting virtual working models, enabling their lawyers, paralegals, notaries, and legal assistants to work from anywhere. In some cases, legal practices go virtual in order to save on office rent; in other cases, they witnessed firsthand a productivity spike during the COVID-19 lockdown period and decided to adopt flexwork permanently. Whatever the reason, the virtual law office is here, and it’s growing. So what should you know about running a virtual practice? Here’s our guide to this innovative new working model.

What’s a Virtual Law Firm?

A virtual law firm is a legal practice where almost all of the legal and administrative work done in the course of that practice’s business happens online. Virtual law firms leverage emerging technologies to work remotely, using tools like email and Microsoft Teams to communicate. Virtual law firms lack a brick-and-mortar office; instead, staff members at virtual law firms work from wherever they choose – that could mean working from home, or from a coffee shop, a library, or a coworking space.

Instead of face-to-face client meetings, virtual legal professionals meet with clients using videoconferencing technologies like Zoom. Virtual law firms frequently have a secure client portal accessible via the practice’s website (in fact, this is a requirement of the ABA for American virtual law firms). 

There are even virtual paralegal and law clerk firms on the rise, like Ottawa-based BLSS and Vancouver-based Paralegals on Demand. These organizations offer remote paralegal and law clerk services for law firms, enabling firms to expand their team without adding to payroll.

What are the Benefits of a Virtual Legal Practice?

Starting a virtual legal practice has several key benefits. First and foremost, virtual legal practices benefit from reduced costs as a result of not having to rent or purchase a physical office space. Secondly, running a virtual legal practice means there’s no need to purchase office equipment or technology for your team – rather, your team members can use their own devices to work remotely.

Running a virtual legal practice also means that all of your client information and critical data is cloud-based, which reduces the need for physical storage and networking solutions like external hard drives or on-site servers.

Virtual legal practices offer superior work-life balance for employees; this is a critical advantage in an industry like law where burnout is all too common. When your team is able to work remotely, they feel more fulfilled and relaxed, which means they’re less likely to burn out.

Most virtual legal practices are completely paperless, which saves them money on document storage costs and printer ink while providing a superior client experience.

Finally, running a virtual legal practice enables you to expand your client base beyond your immediate geographic area, which can help make your law firm more profitable and more resilient in the face of changing local economic conditions.

How Do Virtual Legal Practices Help Clients?

Virtual legal practices aren’t just great for employees and firms – they’re also a great option for clients. When you run a virtual legal practice, you can serve clients from anywhere, which helps to increase access to justice for clients in remote or small communities that may not have local firms.

Virtual legal practices also save clients the hassle of having to come into a law office to have meetings or sign papers. With a virtual legal practice, your clients can meet with your lawyers from anywhere, so they can better schedule their days.

Finally, by helping to reduce overhead costs, virtual legal practices make it easier to offer clients affordable legal services. This is a key access-to-justice benefit of virtual legal practices that in-person offices just can’t match.

How to Start a Virtual Legal Practice

Before you take the leap to becoming a virtual-first legal practitioner, you’ll want to ensure you understand your jurisdiction’s regulations around practising law remotely. Some jurisdictions require legal professionals to have a physical office, which means you’ll need to maintain a main office space even if you choose to work from home.

If your jurisdiction permits you to work virtually, you’ll want to get started by creating a virtual legal practice plan. If your practice already has a business plan, you can update it to include virtual operations. If not, then now is a great time to build out a business plan.

Your virtual practice plan should cover things like your vision for becoming a virtual practice, your core values, which tools you’ll use to collaborate with remote colleagues, and how going virtual will likely impact your finances.

You should also consider how you’ll handle communications, client intake, and marketing when your team is working remotely. What tools and resources will you need in order to streamline your operations and enable totally-online work? How will your team talk to each other when they’re not in the same physical space? How will you get the word out about your practice when people can’t walk by and see your name on the side of a building?

Ethics and Privacy: Build Your Secure Client Portal

One of the major considerations you’ll need to make when going fully virtual is how you’ll maintain client confidentiality and adhere to ethical standards while working remotely. Simply emailing documents to clients is not only cumbersome, but also insecure. It’s too easy for unethical parties to intercept an unencrypted email, which means you’ll need to find another means of managing important client documents.

This is where secure online apps and portals come into play. A secure client portal makes it possible for you to confidentially share sensitive documents with clients online. You can also use a secure client portal to encrypt your communications with clients and colleagues, so you can maintain client privacy while conducting your necessary work.

Depending on your practice’s needs, you may also want to invest in a secure entity management platform like Appara. With Appara, you can access your entity records from anywhere using a cloud-based storage system with built-in ISO-accredited security measures. Appara also enables your organization to automate document creation and workflow management using artificial intelligence to save time and reduce costs. With Appara, you can instantly share auto-generated documents and indexes with clients, accountants, and colleagues for easy collaboration.

Other key apps and tools you’ll want to consider include accounting solutions, document management software, and e-signature technology. 

(Need a primer on the different apps and technologies you can use in creating a virtual practice? This blog article has you covered.)


Virtual law practices are on the rise, and for good reason – they improve access to justice for clients, help reduce overheads for partners, and create work-life balance for employees. While there are a number of considerations you’ll need to account for when starting a virtual law practice, it could prove to be a lucrative and fulfilling endeavour – especially if you’re looking to expand into new markets or new geographical areas.

What are some services your practice can offer virtually?

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