The virtues of going virtual
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www.plaintiffmagazine.com
JANUARY 2021
The virtues of going virtual
The pandemic has forced many law firms to become
virtual; this one intends never to return to the brick-
and-mortar days
By Eric Toscano firm have long existed, recent develop- and staff work remotely, documents are
ments in the law and the widespread digital and saved to a cloud-based filing
When the shelter-in-place orders acceptance of remote work have now made system, and clients interact with the firm
first went into effect in March 2020, the the move to virtual all but inevitable. primarily via email, telephone, and
pressing issue on the minds of most These trends may be anathema to videoconferencing software (with the
law-firm owners was survival. Operating those who embrace the classic ideal of a occasional in-person meeting). A virtual
in a brick-and-mortar environment was law firm – the glass-walled office replete setup benefits the firm, the team, and
simply how things had always been done. with modern décor, conference rooms, the client, allowing firms to make
How else could consultations; prepara- suites, cubicles, and a reception area. operational adjustments and scale
tions for depositions, mediations, and Nonetheless, the exigencies of the more quickly.
trials with clients; or the exchange of COVID-19 era have forced law firm A virtual law firm presents a myriad
documents take place? How could a law owners to refocus on a law firm’s core of benefits to the firm itself – namely,
firm send and receive mail and deposit functions: data management, communi- eliminating commercial office space,
checks? And, perhaps most importantly, cations, and advocacy. Ultimately, a in-house computing equipment, paper
without an office, how could a law firm brick-and-mortar office is not necessary and paper-related equipment, and
ensure employees and contractors to the performance of these functions. telephone hardware; expanding the
working remotely would stay focused on Similarly, much of the equipment and workforce beyond its geographic area;
delivering high quality services for the supplies previously considered essential and establishing a more efficient system
firm’s clients? to the day-to-day functioning of law for mail processing.
Through trial and error, law firms firms – telephone handsets, fax machines, Eliminating commercial rent
slowly found solutions to these prob- copy machines, and sticky notes – have With the entire team working
lems. Court reporters began allowing been replaced or rendered obsolete by remotely, there is no need for full-time
depositions via Zoom. Mediators likewise software. commercial office space; ad hoc office
began offering mediations via Zoom. A post-COVID-era law firm need space with a reception area and confer-
And courts adopted Zoom in addition to only be able to (1) communicate efficient- ence rooms available hourly will suffice.
CourtCall for virtual appearances. The ly and effectively with its team, clients, The dilemma of “outgrowing” your
Judicial Council adopted emergency vendors, contractors, and court person- physical space as your team expands is no
rules to facilitate offsite work. And law nel; (2) perform the legal work necessary longer an issue. Time spent researching
firms ramped up their use of telecom- to achieve the clients’ desired outcome in commercial office space, negotiating a
munications technology for remote a setting that protects client confidences; lease, furnishing an office, moving to a
collaboration. (3) advocate on behalf of clients at new space to accommodate an increase or
I believe many of the changes depositions, mediations, and trial; and decrease to your workforce, and all other
adapted by the legal industry in the era (4) facilitate the transfer of money with time spent managing a commercial space
of COVID-19 are here to stay. In a vendors, clients, courts, and defense can be spent on more productive client
post-pandemic world, the push toward firms. All of this can be accomplished work or on growing your firm. But more
offering and delivering legal services more effectively and at a lower cost, all transformative than the time savings is
virtually will continue, with more law firms while maintaining better team morale, the cost savings. Commercial space in
permanently abandoning brick-and-mortar through a virtual law firm. urban areas – particularly the San
offices, availing themselves of an overseas Francisco Bay Area – can run even a
workforce, and fully eliminating paper The virtual law firm small firm thousands of dollars a month.
from their practice. While the technology What exactly is a virtual law firm? A virtual address that includes a reception
and tools necessary to operate a virtual It is a law firm in which all employees area, scan-to-email services, and ad hoc
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JANUARY 2021
conference rooms in downtown San answered via software using a traditional A virtual law firm must have a robust
Francisco, conversely, can run just over handset, a headset connected to a laptop system for processing incoming and
$1,000.00 per month, resulting in the or desktop, an app on a smartphone, or outgoing mail. Incoming mail should
savings of tens of thousands of dollars all of the above. It also allows the firm to be scanned, with digital files emailed to
per year. obtain telephone numbers with a local the person or persons responsible for
Eliminating computing equipment area code for individuals working from processing, filing, and distributing digital
A remote workforce also eliminates anywhere in the world. Not only is IP copies of paper mail to the team.
the need for purchasing and maintaining telephony fully customizable and scalable, In our firm, for example, client records
expensive computer equipment. In it also eliminates the need for any are immediately returned to the client after
California, employers must indemnify hardware other than a headset connected they are scanned; contracts and other
employees “for all necessary expenditures to a computer. Most IP telephony systems important documents with original
or losses incurred . . . in direct conse- also offer fax-to-pdf and pdf-to-fax signatures are kept; checks are immediately
quence of the discharge of [their] duties.” services, eliminating the need for deposited; and all other paper copies are
(Lab. Code, § 2802, subd. (a).) With facsimile equipment. shredded after scanning. The few original
respect to computing equipment, Expanding workforce outside of contracts, papers with original signatures,
compliance with Labor Code section geographical area deposit slips, and other important docu-
2802 likely requires employers to either But perhaps the greatest benefit a ments are mailed to a dedicated team
provide employees with computing equip- virtual environment presents to the firm member at least once per week for storage
ment or reimburse them for the use of is the freedom not to be bound by at a secure remote location. For outgoing
their own personal computing devices. geography when expanding its workforce. mail, our team members have been
The elimination of a traditional brick- The option to work remotely allows the instructed to send emails with pdfs attached
and-mortar office makes a law firm ever firm to find the best personnel anywhere for printing to virtual office staff for
more reliant on powerful computing in the world – and in most cases at a printing and delivery.
devices. A virtual law firm should always fraction of the cost of hiring locally. Since the start of the pandemic, a
have minimum computing requirements Consider an executive assistant. Accord- party represented by counsel who has
and give employees the option of either ing to Glassdoor, the average annual base appeared in an action or proceeding has
using a firm-purchased laptop or pur- salary for an executive assistant in the San been required to accept electronic service
chasing their own and being reimbursed Francisco Bay Area is $63,728. (https:// of a notice or document that may be
monthly for the firm’s use of that www.glassdoor.com/Salaries/san-francisco- served by mail, express mail, overnight
equipment. By and large, however, executive-assistant-salary-SRCH_IL.0,13_ delivery, or facsimile transmission. This
employees will prefer to use their own IM759_KO14,33.htm) A fulltime, highly rule was initially established by the
devices, maintaining them with greater qualified executive assistant based outside Judicial Council. (See Emergency Rules
diligence than a company-issued device. the Bay area is likely available for much Related to COVID-19, Rule 12(b).) In
Eliminating paper and paper-related less. Depending on the firm’s needs, September 2020, the California legisla-
equipment hiring highly educated and highly ture amended the Code of Civil Proce-
The elimination of paper also qualified overseas personnel can save the dure to codify this emergency rule. (See
eliminates costs associated with paper firm tens or even hundreds of thousands Code Civ. Proc., § 1010.6, subd. (e)
file cabinets, long-term storage of client of dollars in payroll per year while (1)-(2).) The practical result is that, as of
paper files, reams of paper, photocopy simultaneously providing the overseas three months ago, the individual in your
machines, and industrial shredding worker with a satisfying, challenging, firm responsible for serving documents
services. While relatively modest in and well-paying job and enriching the can do so electronically from any location
comparison with the savings related to firm’s culture. in the world.
commercial space, the elimination of Setting up an optimized system for Virtual office staff should also handle
paper also obviates the need for at least mail processing and check depositing check depositing as part of a comprehen-
two positions: in-house file clerks and A virtual law firm also eliminates sive remote system. The virtual law firm
mailing clerks. the need for a mail clerk. This position should provide the virtual office staff with
Eliminating telephone equipment should be replaced by virtual office staff specific instructions on where and how
Technological advances in voice who scan and email paper mail as it is to deposit the checks, requiring approval
over internet protocol (also known as IP received. Today, virtual offices such as in advance from a team member as to
telephony) have rendered telephone Regus or Intelligent Office offer a variety whether checks should be deposited into
equipment unnecessary. IP telephony of services, from mail scanning to check the firm’s operating account or trust
allows telephone calls to be placed and depositing to mail forwarding. account.
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JANUARY 2021
Individual and team benefits employers are responsible for indemnify- lower-value matters that it was not
A firm can realize several other ing employees for all necessary expendi- economically feasible to pursue when the
benefits from a virtual setup. Abandoning tures or losses incurred in direct conse- firm was saddled with the higher over-
dedicated commercial office space does quence of the discharge of their duties. head costs associated with a brick-and-
not necessarily mean sacrificing a work (See Lab. Code, § 2802, subd. (a).) In mortar office. This benefits clients with
environment. A law firm owner-operator other words, a virtual law firm must meritorious matters that previously did
who works out of a home office dedicated reimburse remote employees for the use not meet a firm’s baseline economic
exclusively to the firm may be eligible to of their personal space and, if applicable, threshold.
receive a monthly reimbursement personal computing equipment used for Finally, with the ability to utilize
corresponding to the fair market value of work purposes. This could amount to a overseas labor at reduced costs, firms can
that space. Additionally, operating in a monthly non-taxable reimbursement on hire more staff dedicated to an exception-
virtual environment allows a law firm to top of the remote employee’s wages and al client experience – whether in the form
track communications more diligently the additional savings of any costs of a client concierge, client happiness
with other team members, clients, associated with a commute. manager, or expanded intake team.
opposing parties, and court personnel. Working remotely also reduces
(In a paperless environment, no one runs the risk that employees will contract Virtual office: A case study
the risk of losing an important document COVID-19 and other infectious diseases I decided to transition my San
in a stack of papers on one person’s in an office setting. It also reduces the Francisco-based tenant rights law firm
desk.) Another benefit is retention. A fully risk of injury during a commute or while from a brick-and-mortar firm to a fully
remote workforce with a team that does at the workplace. virtual firm in the summer of 2019.
not have to commute generally leads to And while attorney employees Several factors contributed to this
higher team morale and, consequently, necessarily need to be within driving decision. Among them the high rental
lower turnover. In the event a law firm distance or a short flight of a courthouse cost of commercial office space in the
must separate with an employee, the for trials, the same is not true of non- San Francisco Bay Area, the high cost of
process can be as simple as changing the attorney staff. Indeed, non-attorneys labor in the Bay Area, and, with the
separated employee’s passwords and working remotely who are not bound by demand for labor far exceeding supply
deleting his or her online accounts. geography have the flexibility of living (and an unemployment rate close to
A virtual law firm also benefits the anywhere in the world with a reliable zero), the paucity of high-caliber legal
firm’s employees and contractors by Internet connection. Additionally, personnel looking for work in my
adding more hours to their day, providing depending on the position, these staff geographic area.
monthly reimbursements for use of a members can enjoy flexible hours in the Generally speaking, going virtual
dedicated home office and personal time zone in which they reside. involved four steps: (1) establishing a tele-
equipment, improving morale, lowering Finally, working remotely means communications infrastructure, (2) going
the risk of contracting COVID-19 and greater convenience and better accommo- paperless, (3) hiring offsite exclusively,
other illnesses, offering the flexibility of dations for team members with mobility and (4) ditching the brick-and-mortar
living and working anywhere in the world, issues, vision impairments, or other office.
and better accommodating team mem- physical disabilities. Step #1: Establishing a telecommuni-
bers with disabilities. cations infrastructure
Eliminating the commute is probably Benefits to the client We first decided how internal and
the single biggest team perk in a virtual A virtual law firm also benefits the external communications would be made
law firm. Commutes are both expensive firm’s clients. A virtual firm that conducts in a remote environment. For internal
and time-consuming. Eliminating them all client consultations and interactions by (i.e., intra-firm) written communications,
means saving the team member money email, phone, and teleconferencing saves telephone calls, and videoconferencing,
and repurposing commute time for both prospective new clients (PNCs) and we used Microsoft Teams. In addition to
relaxation, friends, family, and, yes, more clients the time and expense of a visit to full integration with the Office365 Suite,
work-related projects. Less time stuck in the law firm’s physical location. In the era Teams allowed us to eliminate all intra-
rush hour traffic or in a crowded subway of COVID-19, clients of all ages and levels firm email. Externally (i.e., outside
is likely to lead to a happier team of sophistication have been forced to the firm), we would continue to use
member, improving morale. learn how to use Zoom and other Outlook (email) for written communica-
Additionally, all else being equal, videoconferencing software. tions, RingCentral for telephone calls,
employees stand to gain financially from Additionally, with lower overhead, a and Zoom for videoconferencing.
working from home. As noted, California plaintiff ’s firm may be able to handle RingCentral is a fully customizable system
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JANUARY 2021
that also includes email-to-fax and area, one employee in Southern Califor- and-mortar law firm to a virtual law firm
fax-to-email capabilities, unique confer- nia, and one employee in Dallas, Texas. and embracing these changes will allow
ence call numbers for each user, and Our international team includes staffers your firm to realize tens or even hundreds
unique local numbers for each team based in Mexico, El Salvador, Honduras, of thousands of dollars in savings,
member. and Columbia. improve your team’s morale, and offer
Step #2: Going paperless Step #4: Abandoning the brick-and- your clients a better overall experience.
Going paperless was a multistep mortar office
process. We began by investing in a In February 2020, my office down- Virtual law firm recommended
high-quality onsite scanner and estab- sized from a large office space with three software, hardware and vendors
lishing a system whereby paper mail was internal suites in downtown San Francisco Software
opened, scanned, and immediately to a single office suite occupied by me • Office365 (Excel, Word, Outlook,
shredded rather than filed. We request- only. In June 2020, we finally abandoned PowerPoint, Teams, OneDrive, Stream,
ed that all vendors send us bills and that office suite when my family moved etc.) (office productivity)
invoices electronically rather than by into a new home with a dedicated office • RingCentral (IP telephony for external
postal mail. And we routinely asked suite with a private bathroom, lounge, telecommunications)
counsel for their consent to serve and storage closet. At the same time, we • Zoom (external videoconferencing)
documents electronically. (Before the had all mail redirected to a new virtual • Clio Manage (law practice management
pandemic and Emergency Rule 12, office in downtown San Francisco. That software)
opposing counsel would only consent to office currently handles incoming mail • Clio Grow (law practice CRM)
electronic service of documents about processing, outgoing mail processing, and • Adobe Acrobat Pro DC (PDF manage-
half the time.) Although we originally check depositing. ment)
used Dropbox for cloud-based file Although I was initially unsure what • Dashlane (password management)
storage, we moved to OneDrive in early it would be like to work full-time out of a • Birdeye (reputation management)
2020 to keep everything within the dedicated home office space (especially • Bonusly (team incentives)
Office365 environment. Going paperless with a kindergartener and a newborn), I • QuickBooks Online (accounting)
also required us to find a virtual office can now definitively say I have never been • Hootsuite (social media management)
vendor that would scan and email paper more productive. When I lived a mere two • Mailchimp (email marketing)
mail upon receipt, deposit checks at our miles from my downtown office in San Home office hardware
bank, mail outgoing documents to third Francisco, it still took me thirty minutes • Dell Latitude 7000 Series Business
parties according to our instructions, one way to get from the door of my home Laptop with a minimum i7 Processor
and ship original documents to an to the door of my office. Eliminating that and 16GB of RAM (laptop)
offsite location at least once a week. commute has allowed me to repurpose • Dell Thunderbolt Dock WD19TB
We finally took this step in June 2020. five hours per week. I now never miss (docking station)
Step #3: Hiring offsite exclusively bedtime with my five-year-old. I enjoy • Two Dell monitors of any size (one for
By the time we first downsized our lunch on our patio with my wife and sons videoconferencing and one for work while
office, only two team members needed to rather than sitting at my desk. videoconferencing)
transition from in-office to a remote work • Wireless keyboard and mouse (any
environment. One had a second work- Closing thoughts type)
from-home job and was thrilled to be able The COVID-19 pandemic has • InnoGear Microphone Stand Adjust-
to fully eliminate her commute. Although presented law firms with existential able Suspension Boom Scissor Arm Stand
my firm has had remote team members challenges and opportunities. The with 3/8”to 5/8” Screw Adapter Shock
since it was founded in January 2016, we post-pandemic world will be one in Mount Windscreen Pop Filter Mic Clip
made our first overseas hire with the help which everyone is comfortable using Holder Cable Ties for Microphones
of a staffing agency in July 2019 and have Zoom, law firms may serve all documents • Samson Q2U USB/XLR Dynamic
never looked back. We now rely on this on opposing counsel electronically, and Microphone Recording and Podcasting
staffing agency to fill all non-attorney clients will be more inclined to interact Pack (Includes Mic Clip, Desktop Stand,
positions in our firm. Our current team with their attorneys via non-traditional Windscreen and Cables)
of twenty-two is now evenly split between means. Court reporters will continue to • Bose Companion 2 Series III Multime-
domestic and international team mem- offer depositions via Zoom, mediators will dia Speakers — for PC (with 3.5mm AUX
bers. Our domestic team includes seven continue to allow mediations via Zoom, & PC input) (PC speakers)
employees based in the Bay Area, two and courts will continue to allow remote • Fujitsu ScanSnap iX1500 Color Duplex
employees in the greater Sacramento appearances. Transitioning your brick- Document Scanner
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JANUARY 2021
• AmazonBasics 24-Sheet Cross-Cut Paper, CD and Credit Card Eric L. Toscano is the Founder, CEO, and
Home Office Shredder with Pullout Basket Managing Attorney of Tenant Law Group, PC, a
Virtual office vendors San Francisco-based law firm founded in 2016.
• Intelligent Office (https://www.intelligentoffice.com/california/ Dedicated exclusively to the representation of renters,
san-francisco-financial-district/local) (virtual office, conference the firm helps California tenants recover money for
space, mail handling, and check depositing) their losses. Law Firm 500 recognized Tenant Law
• Dia Systems, LLC (https://www.diasystems.net/) (managed IT Group as the 22nd fastest growing law firm in the
systems) United States in 2019 and the 12th fastest growing
• GetStaffedUp (https://getstaffedup.com/) (overseas staffing Toscano law firm in the United States in 2020.
agency)
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