Centerville lawyer expands practice into a virtual reality

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By Porttia Portis, Contributing Writer 8:49 AM Friday, March 4, 2011

Centerville lawyer Chad Burton turned the traditional business model for a law firm on its head to create the first virtual law firm in Ohio.

What started as a one-person law firm in February 2010 has grown to include two lawyers from Columbus and a recent addition from Cincinnati.

Burton decided to create the virtual law firm when he realized that the technology he was using was the same technology he could use to grow a bigger law firm.

“The idea of the firm is to take a look at what is the traditional firm model and leveraging technology that exists to provide what matters as cost effective services for clients,” Burton said.

The virtual law firm is able to provide a wider variety of services to clients in a more cost effective manner, Burton said. This lowers the firm’s overhead so that that costs savings can be passed to clients.

Kelly Henrici, executive director of the program in law and technology at the University of Dayton agrees that the virtual law firm can reduce overhead.

“Like any other service provider, in this difficult economy there is a need to streamline operations and reduce costs without sacrificing the quality of service provided. The virtual law office model works on the premise that attorneys can be mobile and use technology to their advantage, making them more efficient and improving the quality of service provided, all while reducing overhead and other costs,” Henrici said.

Lower costs and more services means good things for prospective Miami valley clients.

“A law firm exists to serve its clients,” Burton said.

Burton said that putting together the virtual law firm was fun and has plans for further expansion. Burton plans to add another 10 lawyers this year, including local lawyers. The firm also has aspirations to grow outside of Ohio into other states.

“From practical day-to-day aspects, it may be just as easy to work with a lawyer from California as it is to work with a lawyer from Cleveland,” he said.

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