These slides are from the ABA Annual 2012 presentation by Will Hornsby, Richard Granat, and myself.

1. Delivering Unbundled Legal
Services Over the Internet
2012 ABA Annual Meeting
Stephanie Kimbro
Richard Granat
Will Hornsby

2. Overview
 Introduction to Unbundling Legal
Services
 Ethics Considerations
 Best Practices
 Use of Technology to Deliver
Unbundled Legal Services
 Unbundling and the Future of Legal
Services

3. Introduction to Unbundled
Legal Services
 What are unbundled legal services?
 The DIY client
 The market for unbundled services

4. What are unbundled legal
services?
 The lawyer breaks down the tasks associated with a
legal matter and only provides representation to the
client pertaining to a portion of their legal needs.
 The client accepts the responsibility for doing the
footwork for the remainder of their legal matter until it is
completed.
 Also termed limited scope representation (LSR) or
discrete task representation.

5. Legal Services a la Carte
5

6. Is there a market for
unbundled services?
 We live in a DIY society.
 Consumers understands that when a product or
service has a DIY component, it tends to be more
affordable. This is seen as an acceptable tradeoff
for doing a little or a lot of the footwork.
 In the current economy, many lower to moderate
income individuals are more than willing to do the
extra work to save money on their legal needs
 Online legal service companies, such as
LegalZoom, have educated consumers about DIY
legal services.

7. People do not know about it
Familiarity with Unbundling
0% 1% Very familiar
5%
6% Familiar
18%
Somewhat familiar
71% Not at all familiar
Not sure
Refused

8. But they like it when they find out
about it
Talk to a Lawyer About Unbundling Very likely
2% 0%
Somewhat
20% likely
34%
Somewhat
12% unlikely
Very unlikely
32%
Not sure
Refused

9. Economic Benefits
 Expands the market for legal services
as price is reduced.
 Enables the lawyer to develop a
relationship around a limited task which
can lead to a larger engagement.
 Reduces “friction” and “risk” in selecting
and working with an attorney.
 Generates legal fee revenue where
there maybe none.
9

10. Benefits of Unbundling
 For the public:
 Greater access to the legal system for
individuals of lower to moderate means.
 Lessens burden on court system handling pro
se litigants without guidance
 For the professional:
 Attorneys may provide an alternative form of
legal services to a different client base
 Tap into the latent market for unbundled ,
online legal services

11. Meeting Client Needs
 Understanding the needs of your clients
enables you to create a service mix that
is responsive to a range of client needs
at prices they can afford.
 You don’t have to provide full scale
legal services to every client who wants
to use your services.

12. Why consumers choose it
 Control
 Affordability
 Convenience
 Value billing
 Less intimidating
 Better lawyer access

13. Un-Bundling as a Response:
Reducing Friction
13

14. Unbundled Services
 Ghostwriting
 Drafting pleadings, briefs, declarations or orders
 Document review
 Conducting legal research
 Negotiating
 Making limited appearances
 Advising on court procedures and courtroom behavior
 Coaching on strategy or role playing
 Preparing exhibits
 Organizing discovery materials
 Drafting contracts and agreements
 Providing legal guidance or opinions
 Providing direction to resources such as local and state rules
 “Collaborative lawyering”

15. Ethics of Unbundling
Rule 1.2(c) – Limited Scope
Representation
Rule 1.1 – Duty to Make Inquiry
Rule 1.3 – Zealous Advocacy
Rule 3.3 – Candor to the Court

16. Rule 1.2(c)
 Reasonable under the circumstances
 Informed consent
 Adopted by 41 states
 Some require writing
 Important not to exceed scope of
agreement

17. Rule 1.1
 Duty to inquire –
 Nicols v. Keller

18. Rule 3.3
 Candor to the court
 States split on ghostwriting
 No need to identify yourself
 Need to identify documents where done by a
lawyer

Need to identify that you prepared the
documents

19. Best Practices
 Making the decision to unbundle
 Limited Scope Engagement
Agreements
 Educating Your Client
 Termination of Limited Scope
Arrangement

20. Educating the Client
 Checklists and detailed instructions
 Keep Digital Records of your
Interactions with the Client

21. Limited Scope Agreements
 Provide client with a handout listing steps involved
in the process of the case.
Compare the full service representation to the
limited scope services that the client will be
receiving from the attorney.
Make sure the client is aware of the risks that may
be involved in their case by not choosing full-
service representation and help them to do a
risk/benefit analysis for this decision.
List exactly what services will not be provided to
the client as well as listing their responsibilities.
 Avoids misunderstandings or false
expectations

22. Terminating Representation
 Send the client an email letter or other
communication confirming that the
limited engagement has come to an
end
 This lets the client know that this is the
end of the services that they paid for

23. Use of Technology to Deliver
Unbundled Legal Services
 On-Line vs. In-Office Practice
 Document Automation and Assembly
 Virtual Law Firms
 Using technology to streamline the
unbundling process and prevent
malpractice

24. The Power of On-Line Service
 Digital technology is a powerful dis-
aggregator, enabling consumers to pick
and choose what they want, and how
and where they want it.
 Example is the music industry and how
digital technology changed the value
proposition for music.
 iTunes “Unbundled” music for all of us.

25. The Leverage of an
On-Line Service
 Powerful disaggregator enabling
consumers to pick and choose what they
want, and how and where they want it.
 Apple changed the value proposition by
reducing the need to purchase albums.
 You can increase your reach to web-
savvy clients throughout a state.
 You can use target marketing more
effectively on the Internet. You can
advertise on Google for a single
unbundled service.

26. Document Assembly &
Automation
 Good example of increasing leverage by
automating a service and delivering it over the
web. Once automated, the service can be
delivered over a wide area.
 Lends itself to delegation to a paralegal for more
routine aspects increasing leverage.
 Automating document assembly for online clients
 Intuitive online forms
 Purchased directly by the client after attorney
review or in conjunction with additional legal advice

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FINIS
H
You don't just ‘fill out’ an automated document – you create it.
The answers you enter create a custom legal document, built from a library of state-specific and relevant legal
text, that is tailored to client’s specific facts.

28. Web delivery
Customer journey
 Sophisticated process to deliver
law over the web
 Telephone Advice can be added.
 Each document can be reviewed
and approved by the lawyer in
charge.
 Price is based on value add as
distinguished from time spent
which can be very little.
Businessmax movie

29. Intelligent Calculators
Examples
 Child Support Calculators
 Bankruptcy Calculator
 Bankruptcy Debt Calculators
 Alimony Calculators
 Alimony Recapture Calculator
 Spousal Support Calculator

30. What is a virtual law firm?
 A virtual law firm is a professional law practice that is
located online through a secure client portal and is
accessible to both the client and the attorney
anywhere the parties may access the Internet.
 Other terminology: virtual lawyering, VLO, virtual law
firm, web-based or web-enabled law practice, online law
practice, delivering legal services online.
Username:
Password:
LOGIN

31. Ethics of a Virtual Practice
 Rule 1.14 - Client Competence
 Rule 5.5(b) – UPL
 Bona Fide Office
 Rule 1.6 - Confidentiality

32. Future of Unbundling in Legal Services
 Fixed priced legal services delivered online will
become a dominant pattern.
 Movement from passive law firm web sites to
interactive virtual law firms. Almost all solos and
small law firms will have some form of a “client
portal” in the next five years.
 Law firms delivering personal legal services to
individuals will increase “unbundled” legal service
offerings.
 Pressured by change in consumer behavior and
competitors like LegalZoom.

33. Resources
 Virtual Law Practice – How to deliver legal
services online, by Stephanie Kimbro
published by ABA/LPM, 2010
 Limited Scope Legal Services: Unbundling
and the Self-Help Client, by Stephanie
Kimbro published by ABA/LPM, 2012

34. Other Resources
 ABA Unbundling Resource Center
http://www.abanet.org/legalservices/delivery/delunbund.html
 ABA Standing Committee on the Delivery of Legal Services white
paper, “An Analysis of Rules That Enable Lawyers to Serve Pro Se
Litigants,”
http://www.abanet.org/legalservices/delivery/downloads/prose_whit
e_paper.pdf
 ABA’s Section of Litigation, Handbook on Limited Scope
Assistance, a Report of the Modest Means Task Force (2003)
http://www.abanet.org/litigation/taskforces/modest/report.pdf
 ABA ELawyering Task Force
http://www.elawyering.com

35. Questions & Comments