Demand For Online Attorney Services Growing

By Tracey Read | Sep 12, 2022, 3:08 PM EDT

Consumers have increasingly become accustomed to remote services ever since the COVID-19 pandemic began, and the legal market is no different.

According to a new survey released Monday by online attorney search website LegalMatch.com, 80% of respondents reported they are comfortable working with an attorney remotely.

"Working with an attorney remotely is more convenient and less time-consuming than physically going to a law office," LegalMatch CEO Matt Griffith said in a statement. "It also became a necessary factor for legal services during the COVID-19 pandemic. The survey data confirms the legal industry's hard shift toward remote legal services that's occurred over the past few years, which should make things easier long-term for both lawyers and legal consumers."

When asked, "What would make you more comfortable with the idea of working with a remote attorney?" nearly 71% of respondents answered, "knowing that they are capable of doing whatever needs to get done."

Other top answers were, "knowing I could save money" (54.8%); "knowing that if we needed to go into court that they can make it" (47.82%); "knowing I could save time" (44.85%) and "knowing I could get a better, more specialized attorney" (45.90%).

More than 77% of respondents cited phone calls as their favorite specific remote technology used to complete their legal needs, followed by email (73.22%); e-signatures/document signing (58.02%); texting/online chat (57.69%); secure online document sharing (56.53%); video call capabilities (52.89%); automated case status updates (47.77%); remote court appearance capabilities (44.30%) and remote payments (40%).

Griffith was not immediately available for further comment.

--Editing by JoVona Taylor.

Original article: https://www.law360.com/pulse/articles/1529461