Over Half (56%) of Consumers Expect Good Law Firms to Offer Legal Services Online

PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. and LONDON, May 7 /PRNewswire/ -- A majority of consumers expect good law firms to offer their services online in the next couple of years, a survey of over 2,000 people has shown.

The online poll, carried out by YouGov* on behalf of Epoq UK, the UK affiliate of Epoq US, also revealed that nearly half (47%) of consumers would be more likely to choose a law firm that offered the convenience of online access to legal services and documents over one that had no online service capability.

Some 56% said they expected good law firms to give customers the ability to use their services online in the next couple of years.

Consumers see online services as a chance to reduce their legal fees. Over two-fifths (43%) agreed that they would change law firms if an alternative firm offered a reduced fee in return for the consumer providing initial details about their matter online.

The research uncovered no significant differences in attitudes between age groups, with only consumers 55 or older being less concerned with online service delivery. Slightly more men (50%) than women (45%) said they were more likely to choose a law firm which offered online services.

"As the Internet has become an ever increasingly popular way for both consumers and businesses to access and buy a range of goods and services, the legal profession is finding it too needs to address client demand for convenient and affordable services," commented Richard Granat, CEO Epoq, US, Inc. and DirectLaw, Inc., a web-based virtual law firm platform for law firms that enables delivery of legal services online. "While this research was conducted in the United Kingdom, the UK legal market is not much different than the US legal market. The research shows that more and more consumers are expecting legal services to be delivered online. Law firms that don't pay attention to these accelerating trends will lose market share to law firms that embrace the future."

"Our DirectLaw web service is helping law firms of all sizes do just that. It provides them with a cost-effective online capability, which allows them to offer their clients a convenient way of creating legal documents online and at a fixed or reduced fee, collaborating with their attorneys online, purchasing legal advice online and paying their legal bills online. This is the future for legal services in the United States, particularly for solos and small law firms."

Editor's Notes: *All figures, unless otherwise stated, are from YouGov Plc. Total sample size was 2,266 adults. Fieldwork was undertaken March 2-4, 2010. The survey was carried out online.

About Epoq Legal

Epoq Legal is the UK Affiliate of Epoq, US, Inc., the leading provider of automated legal forms and documents over the Internet to consumers and small business in the United States. Since 2000, Epoq Legal (www.epoq.co.uk) has been developing new and innovative legal solutions. The firm is a trusted provider to many of the world's leading financial institutions and now provides intelligent legal document services to over 1 million of their customers.

About DirectLaw, Inc.

Launched in 2008, DirectLaw (www.directlaw.com), a subsidiary of Epoq, US, Inc., is leading the way in giving law firms an online legal service capability that enables them to take advantage of the mobile Internet and the demand by consumers for working with their lawyers online. Based in Owings Mills, Maryland and Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, DirectLaw provides a virtual law firm platform that is offered as a subscription-based Software as a Service (SaaS) that creates for law firms a virtual presence on the Internet through their existing web sites almost instantly and for a low monthly cost. For more information visit DirectLaw.com.

About Richard Granat

Richard Granat is president and founder of Epoq, US, Inc., and DirectLaw, Inc.. He is also founder of www.mylawyer.com, a consumer-oriented web site that offers free legal forms, free legal information, and a national network of virtual law firms that offers legal services online for an affordable fee. Additionally, Mr. Granat is managing partner of MarylandFamilyLawyer.com, founded in 2003 as the first virtual law firm in Maryland, and prototype for the DirectLaw Virtual Law Firm Platform. Mr. Granat is also chair of the eLawyering Task Force of the Law Practice Management Section of the America Bar Association, a member of the section's council and is a fellow in the College of Law Practice Management. He is a member of the Maryland and District of Columbia Bar. In 2010, Mr. Granat received the American Bar Association's Louis M. Brown Lifetime Achievement Award for Innovation in the Delivery of Legal Services.

SOURCE DirectLaw, Inc.