As founder, I don't want to restrict the scope of the group, but do want to give it direction. For me, VIRTUAL is the new MOBILE. Several years ago, we looked in envy at the lawyer who could pack everything up on a laptop, leave his office and go on-site to a client, or set up shop as the local coffee shop to conduct business.

For me VIRTUAL has two meanings. The first is the VIRTUAL practice of law, the organization of legal specialists, and the ability to tackle real world problems without the real-world restraints of walls. VIRTUAL means collaborative lawyering that is more than just meeting in a conference room. It means the ability to pull together a team of six people to focus on a problem from within a particular firm, as well as outside the firm walls, and even the firm partnership. In consulting, I have pulled together on short notice virtual support teams with players from North Carolina, New York, Oregon, Chicago and Philadelphia, took advantage of their diverse expertise, and resolved a problem in under an hour.

The second meaning is really VIRTUAL, where the work is done in the virtual world, being that lawyers meet their clients online, market services ONLINE, expose their expertise online, establish their credentials online, and get to know and work with people online. I have people who I have met online that have become part of my VIRTUAL team. I have checked out their credentials online, determined their skill level and made hiring decisions on that basis.

So as far as vision, I hope that gives you at least one of my definitions of the VIRTUAL LAWYER and virtual practice. My hope is this group will invent and support that type of practice, and enable those persons whether they be dipping their feet in the waters, or those who have taken the plunge to do what they do better and more profitably, and of course, have fun.

BestThinking is where I will take the best posts to LinkedIn group of the same name and invite the authors to turn them into articles and white papers that we can post on LinkedIn.