January 4 of this year marked my firm’s second anniversary! It has been an exciting two years! I’ve learned so much, both personally and professionally. In some ways, it seems like I’ve been in solo practice for much longer, but in other ways, I feel like I’m just getting started.

When I started my firm, very few attorneys had web-based law practices. So it is especially rewarding to see the virtual law practice model becoming more mainstream as attorneys harness technology to make legal services more affordable and accessible to their clients.

In an article in Forbes last week, Susan Cartier Liebel discussed another benefit of utilizing technology to deliver legal services online – it has allowed women lawyers to balance family commitments with building a solo practice. I was so flattered to have been mentioned in this article.

You can read “Women Lawyers Without Borders Rock Legal Practice” by clicking on the link.

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When I opened my virtual doors a year and a half ago, very few lawyers operated in the virtual realm. But the virtual law practice model is becoming more mainstream as attorneys harness technology to make legal services more accessible, convenient, and affordable for their clients.

The focus of the September/October issue of the American Bar Association’s Law Practice Magazine concerns virtual law practices and explains how technology is changing the way legal services are delivered.

In their article “The Next Five Years – Predictions for the Future of eLawyering” Richard S. Granat and Marc Lauritsen, co-chairs the ABA/LPM eLawyering Task Force, predict that almost all law practices will use a secure portal, similar to the one I use, to deliver legal services to their clients online within the next five years. They also expect to see:

an accelerated movement toward mobile computing, less demand for traditional firm office space, and an ever-growing number of lawyers free to move about to conduct their practice “anytime, anyplace.”

I was flattered to have been mentioned in this magazine’s the cover story, “Moving To a Virtual Practice Model – Do You Have the Right Stuff,” as a firm having success with the virtual law practice model. You can read the full article by clicking here.

You can read all the articles in the September/October issue of the magazine by clicking on this link.

Related posts:

1. The Law Practice Revolution
2. My Virtual Law Firm

NB: I recently wrote a guest post for Massachusetts estate planning attorney Danielle G. Van Ess’ blog about steps I have taken to ensure my children will be protected while my husband and I are away on vacation alone. Below is an excerpt of the post as well as a link to the full post.

A few of weeks ago, my husband called with some exciting news. He earned an all-expense paid trip at work for himself and a guest to Aruba! We leave the middle of June for five days. I can’t wait!

Despite my excitement, my mommy brain has gone into overdrive as the trip approaches. As I’ve mentioned before, I get a bit anxious traveling away from my children, especially when both my husband and I are traveling together.

Yes, I know that the odds of being involved in a car accident are astronomically larger than being involved in a plane crash, but I still get nervous.  And with Osama Bin Laden now dead, my anxieties are heightened because there are a few mean people in the world who are really mad at us.

So I’m relieved that my husband and I will be taking separate flights. I will fly out of Houston after dropping my kids off at my mom’s house, and my husband will leave from the east coast. We also will be talking separate flights back. I’ll be flying back to Houston for a two week visit, and he will be traveling to North Carolina.

With flight plans out of the way, I took some other steps to ensure that my kids will be protected my absence. If you plan to leave your children in the custody of a friend and family member this summer, doing the following things may give you some peace of mind too.

To read the full post, click here.

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When I started my solo practice last January, I must admit I was a bit nervous. I believed that clients would benefit from a web-based law firm because:

• It’s accessible 24 hours a day and 7 days a week from any location
• It allows clients to handle their legal needs on their schedule rather than traditional office hours
• It allows me to keep my overhead low and provide clients quality legal services in the most cost effective way possible

But a part of me worried. What if no one else saw the value of it? What if all the time and energy I expended on starting my practice were for naught?

That’s why it’s been so rewarding to see how far my firm has come in just over a year. It’s growing and getting a lot more exposure, thanks to so many of you!

Just this month, the Texas Bar Journal featured an interview of me, which you can read by clicking here. And last week, Hani Sarji wrote an article about my firm in Estate of Confusion on Forbes.com, which you can read by clicking here.

More and more people are recognizing the benefits that web-based law firms provide. So I’d like to take this opportunity to thank so many of you who have been an integral part of my firm’s growth. I appreciate all your encouragement and support!

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As Americans live longer, Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia is on the rise. I read recently that the incidence of people with Alzheimer’s doubles for every five years past age 65, and that a recent study showed that one in seven people over age 70 has some type of dementia.

The New York Times recently published an article about caring for loved ones with dementia, and provides some helpful information about how to best respond to the confusion and delusions that often accompanies this disease.

Rather than pointing out the errors of your loved ones and correcting them, the article suggests that caregivers refocus and redirect them. Because of the brain damage caused by the disease, trying to correct them when they are confused only causes distress. So for example:

When a person with dementia says she is waiting for her husband to come pick her up, it’s not helpful to say, however gently, “He died 10 years ago, remember?” Better to respond with, “I’m sure he’ll be along any minute. Meanwhile, why don’t we walk outside and see the flowers/look at the photos in this book/have some ice cream?”

For other helpful tips about caring for a loved one with dementia, visit the Family Caregiver Alliance by clicking here.

Related posts:

1. What To Do When a Loved One Dies?