1.0 Other - Office Management CLE Credit A/V Approval #1119409 · 1.0 Other - Office Management CLE...
Transcript of 1.0 Other - Office Management CLE Credit A/V Approval #1119409 · 1.0 Other - Office Management CLE...
1.0 Other - Office Management CLE Credit – A/V Approval #1119409 Recording Date - September 11, 2019
Meeting Location Date Time Topic
King County Bar Association 1200 Fifth Avenue - Suite 700
Seattle, WA
Wednesday, September 11, 2019
12:00 PM to 1:15 PM
Building a Location-Independent Law Practice - See the
World and Work From Anywhere
AGENDA 12:00 PM Introduction 12:10 PM Presentation: ‘Building a Location-Independent Law Practice - See the World and Work
From Anywhere’, by Devon Thurtle Anderson, Skepsis Technologies LLC and Sea-Tech Systems
Whether your professional goals have you working remotely from a week-long deposition in Florida, or permanently from a sailboat in the middle of the Pacific, building a location-independent firm takes some basic strategic planning and know-how. In this presentation, we’ll cover some of the strategies and tools you’ll need to make your law practice location-independent, including:
• Choosing Software • Handling Phone Calls • Working with Staff • Accessing (and Budgeting for) Internet • Automation
1:15 PM Adjourn
SPEAKER BIOGRAPHY Devon Thurtle Anderson, Skepsis Technologies LLC and Sea-Tech Systems - Devon is the CEO of Skepsis Technologies, a company that provides bookkeeping, virtual assistant, and software selection services for attorneys. She is also the CFO of Sea-Tech Systems, which provides on-grid and off-grid communications solutions to full-time digital nomads. Devon has been working remotely - from full-time depositions in California, to officing on her boat as she and her family traveled the Pacific, to seeing the country by RV - for nearly 10 years. Prior to establishing Skepsis and Sea-Tech, Devon managed and grew two successful law firms, with her own practice focusing on complex commercial litigation in the construction and insurance industries.
HOW DO I EARN CREDIT FOR SELF-STUDY
OR AUDIO/VISUAL (A/V) COURSES?
For pre-recorded A/V (self-study) programs, although the sponsor should apply for
accreditation, lawyers need to report the credits earned for taking the course.
To add an approved course to your roster, follow the procedures below:
Go to the "mywsba" website at www.mywsba.org/.
Log in.
Click on the "Access MCLE" link in the "MCLE Info" box on your home profile
page.
Click on "Add Activity." Search to find the approved course in our system. (See
search suggestions on the screen.)
Adding a Recorded Course Select Recorded Course from the Add New Activity screen.
This will prompt you to search for the activity in case the activity has already been
accredited in the MCLE system.
You can search by Activity ID or by specific Activity Details. For the Activity Details
search, you can use keywords for the title, sponsor name and date.
After entering your search criteria and selecting Search at the bottom of the screen, a list
of possible activities will be provided.
You can select the correct one by clicking the Activity ID. This will take you to the
specific activity. Entered the date(s) on which you began and ending viewing this
recorded activity.
Then claim the correct credits for which you attended this activity in the Credits Claimed
fields and click the Submit button at the bottom of the page.
You will receive a confirmation message at the top of your screen stating, “The activity
has been added to your roster.
Don’t Wait Until Retirement To Make Your Travel Dreams Come True:
Building A Location-Independent Law Firm
Who the heck are you?
Building A Mobile Law Firm: Five Simple Steps
1. Plan It.
2. Automate
3. Outsource
4. Budget Strategically
5. Execute
1. Plan
2. Automate
3. Outsource
4. Budget Strategically
5. Execute
Plan It.Start your mobile business plan early, and work on it often.
Plan It: Gather Your RequirementsUNDERSTAND YOUR BUSINESS
• What are you delivering to customers?• Your Skills & Knowledge: Legal Research, Analysis, Drafting• Your Advice: In person or remote
• Phone, video, email• Your Representation: In person or remote
• Phone, video, email
• How will you deliver it when you are no longer physically located in your home/office?• Virtual – fairly easy, just need access to the online systems• Yourself – need ability to travel, book travel, and/or video/voice
conferencing, or maybe just email
Plan It: Gather Your RequirementsUNDERSTAND YOUR BUSINESS
• Challenges:• In-Court Appearances: Litigation Practices• Original Signatures: Estate Planning Practices
These challenges can be solved! Just make sure you factor it into your requirements-gathering in Step 1.
Physical Business Location
Use A Proxy:
Dockside Mail
• Physical Address
• Registered Agent
• Mail Scanning
• Package Receiving
& Forwarding
Pro Tip: Make sure your mail service has a verifiable, physical street address. Not just
any PO Box will do.
Go Paperless
Paper Checks• Use Your Bank’s Bill Pay Service• Hire a Remote Bookkeeper To Issue Checks For you• Dockside Mail will deposit checks for you
Paper Invoices• Use cloud-based invoicing systems to email bills to clients
Incoming Snail Mail: Mail Scanning (EG Dockside)• Minimizes Junk Mail• Everything Goes to Your Email• Notary• Faxing
Telephone
Considerations• How many minutes do you generally
use calling each month?• What countries will you be calling to
and from?• How often do you need a phone
connection? If you can email a customer back right away, can the phone call wait a few days?
• Do you have staff that can handle phone calls for you? Is that sustainable for hours, days, weeks, or longer?
• Is audio quality critical?• Do you need the same phone
number all the time, or can people calling you manage rotating cell/satellite phone numbers?
Possible Solutions
• Google Fi
• Skype
• VOIP over Satellite (can be cheaper than satellite voice calling)
• Save Airtime with Voicemail Transcription
Internet/DATAConsiderations
• How much data do you use per day? Per month?
• How fast does your connection need to be?
• How often do you need a fast connection versus Getting by with a slower connection versus no connection?
• Where will you be traveling?
To Do
• Install Tripmode (Mac & PC)
• Tripmode.ch ($8)
• Track Your Data Usage Per day, Per month, and Per App
DATA USAGE(GIGS to MEGS)
Stop thinking about gigabytes
• On satellite you worry about megabytes
of data (1024MB in a GB)
What is a Megabyte?
~25 x 40KB Excel Files
~1000+ standard emails (no attachments)
~Half of an iPhone camera photo via
email (full size)
~3.6 seconds of Netflix in standard def (1
second of Netflix in HD)
DATA USAGE: COMMON TASKS
GOOGLE: 400KB to load Google.com + 200KB to display search results (1st page)
GMAIL: 6MB Just to load the initial Gmail Inbox
FACEBOOK: ~3.8MB full page loadAll of the above sites continues to consume bandwidth while idle
WELLSFARGO:PC Browser: 3.2MB full page load to account summary~ 1.1MB to login page + 2.1MB to account summary after login+100KB to show account details/transactions (lots of caching of the initial load)
Mobile App: 1.1MB to do the same task from a mobile app
YOUTUBE CONTENT CREATION:15 Minute HD Video upload – ~1GB (1000MB)
SSL Encryption (Good) also means no compression (Bad)
DATA USAGE: SOLUTIONS
SATELLITE FIREWALLS
• Cloud and/or Onboard
EMAIL COMPRESSION (Cruisers email)
USE LOW BANDWIDTH SITES
• Facebook Basic
• Gmail Simple HTML
POST TO BLOG VIA EMAIL
• BANDWIDTH MANAGERS
• PC / MAC = TRIPMODE
• BLOCK SPECIFIC APPS
• AD and FLASH BLOCKERS
• EDIT NETFLIX SETTINGS
• LIMIT TO Standard Def
• USE MOBILE APPS (YMMV)
• PACKAGETRACKR
• TRACK PKGS VIA EMAIL
• Can be very powerful, and lower bandwidth than websites
• Get rid of spam so you’re not spending expensive cell or satellite airtime on it• Gsuite• Office365
• When on satellite, your standard email program won’t work
• Understand satellite email systems and how they’ll interface with your primary email system
EMAIL DATA USAGE COMPARISON
Download a 1.97MB Email that is already compressed (ie: photo)
Cruisers Email 1.97MBPractically zero overhead(Same as email size, with mid-download restart if failure occurs
Gmail (Basic HTML version) 2.10MB100KB more than the email size(view inbox –previously cached, click on email, download attachment)HTML *might* restart, depends on all sorts of factors
Outlook (Update IMAP folder, download new emails) 2.70MB700KB more than the email sizeIf download fails in progress, Outlook downloads again from the beginning
There is data consumption over and above the actual content you need.
BANKING• Use your bank’s online bill
pay service to eliminate the need for physical checks• Pro Tip: Bill Pay checks from
IOLTA!
Get a card without international transaction fees, and with rewards:
• Schwab• Nordstrom
• Move clients to electronic payments
• LawPay
• Headnote
• Pro Tip: Electronic Payments = Faster Payments & Higher Collection Rates
• Pro Tip: Electronic IOLTA Deposits = Electronic IOLTA Refunds. Solves the IOLTA/Bill Pay problem
Equipment & Power
• Laptops and Routers generally need AC power
• Requires an AC Inverter
• Consumes batteries
• Newer laptops are more efficient
• Laptops and Tablets recommended over desktops
• 12VDC capable equipment is recommended
• Try to get a 12V (cigarette lighter) plug for your equipment
• !! Vessel Battery voltage fluctuates (10-14VDC)
• Protect Your Equipment
• Voltage regulators
• Power Converters
• And salt…
• Apple’s Applecare is great for salt damage
Automate It.Doing business remotely is easier when business does itself.
DOCUMENT MANAGEMENT
Store your documents in a cloud service
• Anywhere access
• Sharing
• Mail Scanning Integration
Common Examples:
• Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive (NOOO!), DropBox, Apple iCloud.
• We use all of them… But DropBox has been the best
Internet/Email Automation(And Management)
Satellite Optimized Email
• Great for satellite and other slow connections
• By default, not integrated with your business email –but it can be
• Automation Tools• Zapier • Cruisers Email Satellite
Mail Service• Capable of integrating
with your business email system so emails appear seamless to your customers
Cloud-Based Software
Features• Purchase a la carte – Pay for the
tools and features you need, and not the ones you don’t
• Their IT people manage all your systems (and problems) for you• Gmail, Office365• Document Storage
• Enterprise-level encryption for privacy and security
• Enterprise-level backups and recovery
• Can eliminate need for an office or on-call IT person
• Great for collaboration with employees and contractors
Drawbacks
• Requires Internet some or all of the time
• Monthly subscription costs
Outsource It.If it’s not your core competency, leave it to the pros.
Bookkeeping & Payroll
*GREAT!* place to start your outsourcing because it’s a big administrative time sink, and pros can do it more quickly and cost-effectively. (See ”Basic Budgeting,”
coming up!)Considerations
• Set up your accounting systems correctly from the start
• Who will handle this for you?
• Will you ever want to be out of touch on a payday? Is running payroll yourself, filing taxes, or making sure vendors get paid timely worth rearranging your whole cruising schedule for? (Experience says no.)
• Desktop or cloud-based Accounting software?
Possible Solutions
• Most business owners will need to outsource this to make their cruising business successful
• Xero
• Way more user friendly than Quickbooks
• Cloud only
• Gusto
• Best payroll service out there
• More affordable than all others we’ve worked with
Have you considered a Virtual Assistant or Virtual Legal Assistant?
• Go through a service; no staff to manage
• Training time is 3-6 months
• Hugely flexible
• Use your VA/VLA to minimize your reliance on expensive internet connections
What can a VA do for you?
• Data entry
• Schedule Management
• Email responses
• Research vendors, customers, marketing opportunities, even your next anchorage!
• Travel booking and management
• All things admin
• Make you even more money by handling billable tasks!
Budget It.Don’t spend (or spendthrift) yourself out of business.
Basic Budgeting Framework
• What is the hourly value of your time?
• How many hours will the proposed equipment/service save you?
• In addition, how much does the proposed equipment/service stand to increase revenues?
• How much does that equipment/service cost per hour?
• If Time + Revenue > Cost = DO IT!
Budgeting for Internet
• Circle back to step 1: Plan.
Planning your Internet/DATA
Considerations
• How much data do you use per day? Per month?
• How fast does your connection need to be?
• How often do you need a fast connection versus Getting by with a slower connection versus no connection?
• Where will you be cruising?
To Do
• Install Tripmode (Mac & PC)
• Tripmode.ch ($8)
• Track Your Data Usage Per day, Per month, and Per App
Budgeting for Internet
• Circle back to step 1: Plan.
• Minimize your bandwidth and speed requirements as much as possible • Automate• Outsource• Schedule/Time Management • Firewalls & Filters
• Tripmode• External Controls (Integra Control, Wave Wifi,
Optimizer)
Budgeting for Internet
We’re still back in Step 1: Plan.
• Minimize your bandwidth and speed requirements
• Measure and know your Bandwidth, speed, and timing requirements
• Choose a system that will provide the internet system you need at the least cost
• If it doesn’t budget out, circle back and make changes as needed
Budgeting for Internet
After you plan: Select The Least-Cost System. Hierarchy of internet costs:
1. Wifi
2. Cellular
3. Satellite
The system with least cost and widest availability will include, and efficiently manage, all 3 technologies.
Wi-FiEquipment
• Wifi Booster: Don’t expect to be able to connect to Wificonsistently without it from mobile vehicles (RVs, boats)
• DIY Bullet options are very difficult for non-techies to use, and often lack critical features for cruisers
• Wave Wifi from sea-Tech is the easiest to use option, with great bandwidth-controlling features for cruisers
• Cost: $345 - $794
Service
• Inherently insecure
• Often Free or low-cost
• should be your primary source of internet when available
• Unreliable
• Short-Range: Will only work in Marinas and Anchorages with Shore wifi nearby
Budgeting for Wifi
Do the math
• How much does the proposed wifi system & Service Cost?
• What’s my earning potential with it?
• What’s my earning potential without it? (Maybe $0)
• If increased earning potential > Cost = Do it.
CellularEquipment
• Can hotspot to your cell phone
• Extend Cell coverage 10-20+ miles with a cell booster• Cost: $899
• Use cell data throughout you boat with a cellular router• Cost: $995 - $2370
Service
• Inherently secure
• Again, it’s hierarchical from a cost perspective• Local SIM• Your US Carrier SIM• Global Sim
• If outside North America, order is:• Local SIM• Global SIM• Your US Carrier SIM
Cellular
Local Sim
• Telcel, claro, BTC, ALIV
• Usually least expensive ($3-$5/GB)
• Fast: 3G/4G/LTE where available
• New phone number in every country
• Can’t get and use until you’re already checked into country
US Carrier SIM
• Verizon, AT&T, Tmobile, Google FI, Etc.
• Depending on carrier, generally cost-effective in North America (Canada, US, Mexico)
• Can be very expensive outside North America
• May throttle your speeds
• Keep your current phone number
• Use anytime you need it
• Cell companies may cut you off for excessive roaming
Global SIM
• Telestial, Google FI
• Usually More expensive than local sims, but outside N.A., usually less expensive than your US carrier (~$10/GB)
• Fast: 3G/4G/LTE where available
• Stable phone number, but may not be US depending on carrier
• Use anytime you need it
Cellular: Booster vs. Router
Cell Booster
• Boosts existing cell signal on your phone 10-20+ Miles
• Does not give internet to any other devices on your boat (unless you hotspot)
• Requires external antenna, internal amplifier, and internal antenna
• Can self-install
• Geo-Limited: Each system works in a certain region, so get the right system for your region
• Will not integrate with your external or onboard wifi systems
• North American Kit: $899
Cell Router
• Stronger signal than your phone alone
• Shares internet to all devices on your boat
• Optional external antenna can provide extended range similar to a cell booster
• Can self-Install
• Global: Use one system worldwide
• Can integrate with your external And onboard wifi systems
• Kit: $1625 - $2370
Budgeting for Cellular
Do the math:
• How much does the proposed Cellular system & ServiceCost?
• What’s my earning potential with it?
• What’s my earning potential without it?• Given the unreliability of international wifi, your earning
potential without a cellular backup system will besignificantly inhibited
• If increased earning potential > Cost = Do it.
Budgeting for Internet
Hierarchy of internet costs:1. Wifi2. Cellular
• For many remote law firms, you can stop here – this will be enough• For those short times you’re truly out of touch, you may (or may not)
need:3. Satellite
• On a per-byte basis, satellite is 100-1000X more expensive than cellular• Save significant money on per-GB and per-MB cell/sat airtime by putting
together a tiered hardware system
Budgeting for Satellite Internet
To plan your satellite system, it’s critical to have a handle onStep 1: Plan.
• Minimize your bandwidth and speed requirements
• Measure and know your Bandwidth, speed, and timingrequirements
• Choose a system that will provide the internet system youneed at the least cost
• If it doesn’t budget out, circle back and make changes asneeded
Budgeting for Satellite Internet
The more you pay for hardware, the less you’ll pay per MB
• Note I said “MB”, not “GB”
• But, the higher monthly $ and Data Commitment you’ll have to make
• $0.18-$15.00/MB @ 128Kbps to 10Mbps
Budgeting for Satellite Email
Least Cost Overall
• Data-capable satphone
• Satellite wifi hotspots• Iridium GO!• Redport Glow• Globalstar Sat-Fi2
(Limited Coverage Area)
Hardware Cost• $500 - $1500
• Airtime Cost:• $60 - $140 / mo
• Great for calls and email without attachments
• No web browsing
• Pro tip: Get a flex unlimited plan
Reduce your Email data budget with Cruisers Email Service
35 Seconds
190 Seconds
120 Seconds
13 Minutes
No Compression
Cruisers Email
No Compression
Glo
bals
tar
Irid
ium
Test sending & receiving 14 plain-text e-mails
with a total file size of 47k
Cruisers Email
Smart Budgeting for More Than Email:Satellite Broadband By Land and By Sea
Budgeting for Satellite Internet:Low Speed Satellite Broadband
• Requires a Dome
• Domes do not require power when not in use
• Speeds 100kpbs – 750kbps
• Voice quality varies from ok to great
• Email compression is still critical
• Slow web browsing capable
• Some systems are geo-limited
• Some Geo-Limited networks offer unlimited data plans
Budgeting for Satellite Internet:Low Speed Satellite Broadband
Hardware
• Cost: $3000 - $7000
• One-time purchase
Note: monthly outlay is higher, but cost per MB is far less than email-only options!
Airtime
• Unlimited Americas Coastal plan for Inmarsat fleet one: $250/mo• On the slower side
(100kbps)
• Iridium Certus• $150 - $2500 / mo• Faster: 700kbps
Budgeting for Satellite Internet:High-Speed Satellite Broadband
• Domes require power when not in use
• Speeds 5-20 MBPS+
• Voice quality Generally good
• Email compression is still critical
• Full web browsing capable
• Some systems are geo-limited
• No unlimited plans
• Can suffer from network congestion
How Fast?
Email an iPhone Photo
Emailed Photo
IridiumHandheld
Or Go!
InmarsatFleet One
GlobalstarSat-Fi2
IridiumCertus
KVHv3HTS
43KB ~3 min ~4 secs ~5 secs <1 sec <1 sec
126KB >7 min ~11 secs ~15 secs ~1.5 secs
<1 sec
923KB >52 min <2 min ~2 min ~10 secs ~2 sec
2.2MB >2 hrs ~3 min ~4.5 min ~24 secs ~4 secs
How Much$?
Email an iPhone Photo
Emailed Photo
IridiumHandheld
Or Go!
InmarsatFleet One
GlobalstarSat-Fi2
IridiumCertus
KVHv3HTS
43KB $5.00 $0.21 $0.21 $0.30 $0.04
126KB $11.00 $0.63 $0.63 $0.86 $0.12
923KB $75.00 $4.50 $4.50 $6.30 $0.90
2.2MB $300.00 $11.00 $11.00 $15.40 $2.18
Budgeting for Satellite Internet:High-Speed Satellite Broadband
Hardware
• Mini VSAT:• Dome: 37-60Cm
• $17,000+
• VSAT• 80cm+• $30,000+
Airtime
• No unlimited plan for mini-vsat
• $1000 - $3500 + /mo
• But, for high data users, cost per MB is *way* lower than cheaper systems
Optimize Your Budget: International Least Cost Phone routing
Cellular Phone Calls
• Roaming Internationally with US Cell phone is generally about$0.20/Minute
• T-Mobile and Google Fi
• Incoming calls sometimes free, outgoing you usually pay for
• Local SIM Cards are sometimes cheaper but will be an internationalnumber
• Forward calls from US number to your International SIM
• Call Quality Varies
• Good LTE networks with Voice over LTE will sound great
• Skype usually sounds great, FB , WhatsApp, etc calls are not asgood
• Satellite voice quality is variable, but some are better (ie: KVH,Certus)
LEAST-COST Call ROUTINGEXAMPLE
Voice Services (T-Mobile + Google Voice + Skype)
• T-Mobile One Plus plan (better for international roaming)
• Skype with Seattle Skype-In Number and Skype-Out Calling Plan
• Google Voice is free, but has no international calling features
Incoming Calls
1. Incoming Calls go to T-Mobile Cellular Number
2. Google Voice (Free) Intercepts call
3. GV Forwards call to T-Mobile Phone AND Skype-In Number
4. T-Mobile Phone AND Skype App ring on mobile (Can answer either)
Outgoing Calls
1. Call from T-Mobile Phone a $0.20/Min
2. Call from Skype using Skype out = Free with Unlimited Skype calling and Unlimited T-Mobile Data. Skype uses T-Mobile number as caller ID
Client Conference Calls
Avoid Satellite If Possible
Skype Audio Quality is Excellent
Use KVH or new Iridium Certus if you have to use Satellitesince both use SIP
Execute it.Execution starts well before your bon voyage.
Execute it.
• Socialize with your colleagues as appropriate
• Consider a “soft transition”: a work from home transitionperiod
• Do “practice travel” for only a week or so at time to shakedown and fine tune your location-independent law firm
OTHER THOUGHTS
EVERY BUSINESS IS DIFFERENT
UNDERSTANDING YOURS IS THE FIRST STEP
DON’T BE AFRAID TO GET HELP
Skepsis Consulting Services
READ 4-HOUR WORK WEEK
Don’t Forget Why You Are Doing
This…
GET OFF THE COMPUTER
AND EXPLORE…
PAY ATTENTIONTO WHAT YOU MIGHT
BE MISSING…
AND GET OUT OF YOUR
COMFORT ZONE!!
YOU CAN DO IT!www.sea-tech.com
www.calendly.com/dmta/letstalk425.466.8161
7001 Seaview Ave NW Ste. 160-485 Seattle, Washington 98117
[email protected] www.skepsistech.com
425.466.8161
Building A Location-Independent Law Firm: Don’t Wait Until Retirement To Make
Your Travel Dreams Come True! By Devon Thurtle Anderson
CEO, Skepsis Technologies
It was a glorious day at the office. A light breeze tickled my skin as it traveled through a
doming blue-sky overhead, bleeding a light sapphire as far as the eye could see in every
direction. The quiet chatter of the local fishing fleet droned in rhythmic and melodic Spanish
over the radio, while my laptop on its perch rocked gently in the waves. It was time for a break
from work, and instead of heading to the water cooler or the coffee pot, I turned to the jib sheet
and winched in. I checked the fishing lines, in hopes of finding another succulent ahi tuna for
dinner, but to no avail. After a stretch, and sat back down and turned back to writing my
summary judgment motion.
We had always wanted to sail the world, but life – namely work – kept getting in the way. Of
course, that’s why so many people wait until retirement to travel or become location -
independent; work gets in the way. But what if you could turn the paradigm inside out? What
if you could have your cake and eat it, too? With some carefu l planning, you can.
At a high level, running a location-independent law firm can be distilled into five steps. While
I list them in a particular order here, you'll find in practice that the steps tend to blur a bit, and
go in iterations; setting up your business to make money while maintaining location-
independence is a fluid process, moving forward and backward through its cycle just like the
tides.
Keep in mind this high-level list is exactly that: high-level. Each law firm is different, and to
set up your law firm for location-independent success, each step should be explored and detailed
far more carefully than what we’ll have time for today. As with many things in life, the devil
is in the details. If at any time you’d like professional help diving i nto those details, you can
schedule a free consultation with me here: https://www.calendly.com/dmta/letstalk
Step 1: Plan It.
Running a location-independent law firm is not an afterthought; instead, it's as much a part of
your 2-year, 5-year, or 10-year plan process as is managing your savings; planning your mode
of travel; researching destinations; learning to work with your life partner on the road; funding
your travels; and finally making your big “bon voyage.” Start planning your location-
independent law firm early and often, so the firm and its processes are no stranger to you once
it becomes your normal day-to-day.
The planning stage of developing a location-independent law firm is mostly about requirements-
gathering. What are your requirements for running your firm in general?
This is a crucial step because, in an office, many of these requirements we take for granted. For
example, your location-independent firm may not have the advantage of simple things like a
mailing addresses, cheap and fast internet, and a never-changing U.S. phone number. When
you take your firm on the road (or the high seas, or the mountain peaks – whatever your
7001 Seaview Ave NW [email protected] Ste. 160-485 www.skepsistech.com Seattle, Washington 98117 425.466.8161
pleasure), none of those things are a given. So, sit down, and start thinking about what the
requirements of your mobile law firm will be.
First, consider that some areas of law may be more challenging to practice remotely than others.
For example, a practice with a high volume of litigation often requires court appearances, which
you may or may not be in town for. Similarly, an estate planning practice may require original
signatures on non-digital paper, and long-term storage of those original signatures. That’s not
to say that these requirements can’t be managed; just be sure to include them on your list at this
brainstorming and requirements-gathering stage so it can be managed later.
Addresses. Next, what will your address be? The WSBA requires attorneys to provide an
address, but it’s not practical to change your address to the next town ever y week, or send letters
addressed to “Sailing Vessel Sea Trail, Somewhere -In-The-Middle-Of-The-Pacific, Planet
Earth.” Next, will you require a physical street address also, or will a PO Box suffice? (Hint:
You’ll need a physical address for certain banking and governmental purposes.)
Pro Tip: Find an all-inclusive mailing service with a verifiable, physical street address; not
just any PO box will do. A great solution for this is Dockside Mail, located at Shilshole Marina.
http://www.docksidemail.com Not only can Dockside serve as your physical address and also
as your registered agent, but they can also scan and then shred all your mail for you; filter out
all your junk mail; send faxes for you; deposit checks; and scan checks to you, which you can
then deposit to your bank via mobile deposit by taking a photo of the scanned check on your
computer screen.
Paper. Now consider what paper you currently use in your practice. What can you get rid of?
(Hint: You can get rid of all paper except those pesky original signatures we mentioned above.)
Some solutions to some of the paper problems law firms run into include:
Paying Bills: use your bank’s bill pay service instead
Receiving Checks: use a mail service that will deposit checks for you
Client Invoicing: use a cloud-based solution that will issue invoices electronically
Managing Trust Funds: Find a bank that will allow you to issue IOLTA checks via Bill
Pay, and also one that will allow you to do mobile deposits for IOLTA accounts
o Electronic trust deposit services, such as LawPay and Headnote, allow you to
refund client money electronically as well as collect it – clients love this, because
just like attorneys, clients don’t like having to make an extra trip to the bank
Payments From Clients: start training your clients now to pay their bills electronically
o My favorite service: Headnote
o Another option, especially if you’re looking to integrate with Clio or certain
other programs (but you’ll pay higher fees, even though their published rates
appear lower – book a call with me if you’d like to understand why): LawPay
o Increase your rates as needed to “bake-in” credit card fees with your legal fees,
so clients view online payments as a convenience and a value -add of working
with your firm, not as a penalty
o Studies show that attorneys who accept electronic payments have, on average,
faster pay rates and higher collection rates
Phones. Another area to plan is your phone requirements. How much talk time do you use in
an average month? How much do you use in your highest month? How does your current cell
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phone plan cover the countries you’ll actually be traveling to, and how do your travel plans fit
with any contract you might currently be stuck with? If you’re traveling outside North America,
chances are that your current cell carrier is not the way to go, because even if they do allow
roaming, your service fees will skyrocket. Instead, look for options that have low-cost roaming,
or a full suite of truly international services. Some services to consider include:
Skype. Skype has great call quality even when your internet connection is less than
stellar, and can cost less than $10/month. (Whatsapp and similar options will drive
you crazy with dropped and inaudible calls on slow internet connections.)
Google Fi. Contract-free, low monthly fees, with reasonable international calling
options, and free international data roaming. Even better, you can add as many data -
only SIM cards as you like for no extra charge, so you can use your free international
data in iPads, hotspot devices, and more. You can even pair your free international
data from Google Fi with data calling from Skype, and never have to pay a cent for
international call roaming, no matter where your location-independent law firm takes
you. (Hint: Use Skepsis’ referral code when signing up, UHH8EC, and you and Skepsis
will both get $20 off your bill after the first 30 days.
Pro Tip: If you get on the internet travel boards, you’ll get a lot of advice to just “Get a local
SIM for each country! It’s cheap and easy!” It typically is cheap, and it typically is easy, if
you’re not trying to run a business. But if you are running a business, then that local SIM will
give you a local phone number, and your phone number will change every time you change yo ur
SIM, so you’ll have to: (1) notify all your new clients of your new number with every new SIM
you purchase; (2) hope the international phone number doesn’t spook your clients into thinking
it’s a scam; (3) hope your clients won’t scoff at having to pay international calling fees just to
reach you; and then (4) start the process all over again in the next new country. Now, if you
paid a local SIM with a stable virtual phone service like Skype, then that’s a great answer for
a lot of digital nomads.
Internet. A digital nomad lives and dies by the internet. So, before you leap, know exactly
what your internet requirements are. How much data do you use per day? Per month? How
fast does your connection need to be? How often do you need that fast conne ction, and how
long can you get by on a slower connection or no connection in between? To what
countries/oceans/land masses will you be traveling, and what internet options are available
there?
Pro Tip: Install Tripmode on your Mac or PC. It’s $8, and it will give you invaluable metrics
on your data usage that you’ll need during you planning stages. Then, once you take off, you’ll
be using it to manage your bandwidth and keep your internet costs low.
Step 2: Automate It.
Now, while you still have relatively inexpensive and reliable internet, and support staff -
whether that's employees or just the occasional babysitter - take the time to automate as much
of your law firm as you can. This will make you and your firm run more efficiently, and be
more hands-off, so you can spend more time actually doing the adventuring you've worked so
hard to achieve. (True, you could continue the rat race and simply do it from random loc ations
throughout the world – but is that really what you’re building your location -independent law
firm for?) Automation will also help your firm to maintain itself during periods when you're
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off-grid, so you can save money on satellite equipment and other work-arounds during excursion
and down time.
Cloud Document Storage. We love Dropbox for document storage. Box is another great
option. Cloud document storage is critical for sharing files with staff and clients; for getting
your mail, and an almost unlimited number of other tasks. They’re also great for automation
because you can set up automatic tasks, such as creating and saving new documents like an
engagement letter when you create a client in Clio; automatically notifying your mail service
that you’d like them to open and scan to you a certain piece of mail (or regularly discard a
certain piece of junk mail); and more.
Pro Tip: Stay away from OneDrive. It works okay in office environments, but in a digital
nomad’s environment – where you need to be able to control your internet usage, access
documents from all over the globe, and integrate with apps that are 100% secure but maybe
Microsoft doesn’t know that – well, in that situation OneDrive is going to drive you crazy.
Email Management. When you’re traveling (and even when you’re not), your time is too
valuable to spend even 30 minutes sorting through the junk in your inbox each day. Set up rules
in your email to manage mail.
Pro Tip: If you’ll ever be doing email over satellite, be sure to use the Cruisers Email service
from Sea-Tech Systems. You’ll save hundreds, and sometimes thousands , of dollars per month
on your satellite data service with the Cruisers Email compression, and you can also
automatically manage downloads of your emails via satellite connections and extremel y slow
internet connections.
Step 3: Outsource It.
This is true for most law firms whether you’re digital or not, but it’s critical for location -
independent firms that often need to run on a fairly lean budget, both time - and money-wise: If
it’s not your core competency, leave it to the pros. You will save yourself infinite time and
money in the long run.
Have you automated all you can? Okay, now it's time to start outsourcing. Figure out what can
be done by any person on the planet other than you, and start handing that work off now. It will
take some investment of time on your part to get employees, virtual assistants, and others trained
up, but once you do, you'll see your business running smoothly without you having to intervene
every few minutes.
Pro Tip: To comply with your ethical requirements, ensure your virtual assistants and virtual
legal assistants (VAs and VLAs for short) have strong confidentiality provisions in their
contracts. To that end, we recommend working with a company that speci alizes in providing
services to law firms exclusively, like Skepsis, so you know your ethical obligations of
confidentiality to your clients are covered.
The number one place that attorneys should start outsourcing is with their bookkeeping. This
is critical for a number of reasons, the primary one being that they’re putting their law license
at risk each day they do their own books. Bookkeeping, like law yering, is a professional skill.
7001 Seaview Ave NW [email protected] Ste. 160-485 www.skepsistech.com Seattle, Washington 98117 425.466.8161
An attorney doing her own books is like a client running her own litigation pro se; not only will
she waste hours and hours of time (both her own and other people’s), and she decreases her own
chances of success, but also, she’s almost guaranteed to commit numerous instances of what
would be malpractice if she were an attorney. The analogy breaks down for attorneys doing
their own books though, because a pro se litigant can’t be slapped with a malpractice lawsuit
for trying to practice a professional skill she doesn’t have; the attorney doing her own
bookkeeping can, when she makes trust accounting mistakes. So, leave the profession skills
like bookkeeping to the pros, and save yourself time, money, and sleepless nights by outsourcing
your bookkeeping first and foremost.
Pro Tip: Law firm bookkeeping, and especially RPC-compliant IOLTA bookkeeping, is a
specialized area of law. And, just like you probably wouldn’t trust a generalist attorney to
handle your multi-million dollar litigation, you shouldn’t trust a generalist bookkeeping with
your law license. Hire a law firm specialist, like Skepsis, to do your bookkeeping. That way,
your bookkeeper will not only have the industry-specific knowledge needed to maximize your
firm’s profitability, but your bookkeeper will also have the skills required to maintain RPC -
compliant trust accounts and protect your law license.
Step 4: Budget It.
Strategic budgeting is the key to any remote business. And no, "strategic" doesn't mean that you
should make your location-independent law firm as cheap (or as expensive) as possible. Instead,
strategic budgeting means doing a cost-benefit analysis for each and every purchase, each new
client, and each hour of your time, factoring in non-monetary costs and benefits just as much
as the monetary ones.
For more information on this step, check out this article: https://skepsistech.com/beating-analysis-
paralysis-how-to-choose-new-software-services-for-your-firm/
Pro Tip: If you want your law firm to be truly remote – like “no cell or wifi for hundreds of miles” remote
– know that you can absolutely do that! But, it will require consulting with a professional regarding your
satellite internet options. I’m happy to have a free initial call with any practitioners interested in that
topic, which you can book here: https://www.calendly.com/dmta/letstalk
Step 5: Execute It.
Finally, it's time to execute your law firm’s plan. There will be bumps as you put your plan into
action, and so this step - execution - has to start well before you actually begin your new,
location-independent life.
Ideally, give yourself at least one year of initial execution, which includes some short travel
away from your office or home office, before you actually start running your firm as a long-
term digital nomad.
Live the Dream! Congratulations, you’re well on your way to running a location-independent law firm. Know that each
practice and each law firm are different, so careful planning tailored to your practice is key.
7001 Seaview Ave NW [email protected] Ste. 160-485 www.skepsistech.com Seattle, Washington 98117 425.466.8161
To help practitioners take their location-independent firm from dream to reality, Skepsis Tech offers
consulting services where we’ll plan and execute the right location-independent firm model for you.
You can book a free consultation to discuss your dreams further at
https://www.calendly.com/dmta/letstalk