VLaw - legal services without having visit an office

Ebborn Law is improving the way people access justice by providing legal services using smart technology.

What is VLaw™?
VLaw™ is a collection of proprietary systems and processes designed to enable people to access legal services over the World Wide Web.  Even thought the system is in its first stage, VLaw™ already has a broad array of components, including:
  • Video-over-internet delivery of the Family Legal Advice Service and urgent protection orders
  • Direct-link video with refuges
  • Web-based portal for social services and FDR mediators
  • Scan-to-email functionality for refuges to alert firm of urgent cases
  • JEMIMA™ integrated practice management software
  • Quality control systems, policies and procedures

These components have been designed with the concept of a holistic, wrap-around service for clients in mind - meeting their needs, not forcing the traditional ways of operating a law firm on them.  Whilst innovative in a very traditional industry, VLaw™ will bring advantages to the profession as a whole.  It has the potential to bring competitive advantages to law firms along with a number of wider benefits to external organisations and society, including:
  • Increased access to justice, particularly in areas that are not well-served by legal aid providers
  • Savings in legal aid budgets due to efficiencies at the point of delivery
  • Reduction in the economic cost of people taking time off work to visit with their lawyer
  • Significant potential for lowered costs to run refuges (or other social services) as support workers will no longer need to accompany clients to a law firm
  • Decreased threat-risk within the firm as JEMIMA™ uses a case management tracking system to ensure nothing falls between the gaps
  • Opportunities for B2B and Private-NGO relationships to develop

This was merely the first stage of development for VLaw™.  Future stages will see greater levels of access granted to clients to the firm’s database, meaning they will be able to access their own documents and collaboratively work on them with legal staff; an app that assists clients to keep tabs on appointments and Court dates, as well as negotiate and communicate in a safe way with the other party; full integration of JEMIMA with smart business equipment, and; enhanced networks of lawyers who could be employed on a full- or part-time basis from anywhere in New Zealand.

VLaw™ is a benchmark for new ways of delivering legal services in the 21st Century. Because of this we have a responsibility to ensure it is developed carefully, taking into account both the opportunities and threats potential new technologies offer.

We particularly wish to thank Spark Business Canterbury, Ricoh and FairWay Resolution for their technical support, along with our social service partners who contributed much to the development of VLaw™.

VLaw in action

Part of the VLaw™ system started with the Direct Video Linkage pilot with Battered Women's Trust in Christchurch. A dedicated communication system was been established with the Trust's office that allowed for victims of domestic violence to meet with a lawyer without having to leave the safety of the refuge.

The key principals we adhere to when delivering legal services over the World Wide Web are that the quality of service must be equivalent to standards experienced by our ‘regular’ customers, and; that special consideration must be given to confidentiality and privacy issues, and the correct identification of clients.

Whilst any Ebborn Law client can access our lawyers using VLaw™ system, priority is given to those people who normally would have difficulty accessing a Family Legal Aid or FLAS-registered lawyer. Certain areas of New Zealand with few legal aid lawyers, such as the West Coast and Marlborough, are examples of where VLaw™ has proven most useful.
Clients must have access to video and audio transmission equipment and a suitably high speed internet connection (ADSL is acceptable, VDSL2 or fibre is preferred). In some instances Ebborn Law will have agreements with specific agencies or organisations to deliver priority service to their clients.

VLaw™ has also been used to provide family law services to remote parts of New Zealand, even as far as the Chatham Islands and Australia!  The experience is relaxed and very easy, and much of the paperwork can be completed electronically.

Ebborn Law helps a variety of agencies support their clients using the VLaw™ system. If you deal with vulnerable people and have trouble finding family lawyers who will provide the Family Legal Advice Service, or Family Legal Aid, then contact Jarrod Coburn on (03) 339 2233 or email here.