About the Award
The purpose of this award was to give recognition to law offices that developed legal service innovations delivered over the internet. The focus of the award was on the innovative delivery of personal legal services, with special attention given to firms and entities that serve both moderate income individuals and the broad middle class.
About James I. Keane
James I. Keane was the founding Chair of the ABA Law Practice Division eLawyering Task Force.
About eLawyering
The eLawyering Task Force was created in 2000 when then-ABA President William G. Paul took the unusual and creative step of asking a Section to assume responsibility for an initiative to examine ways that lawyers could use the internet and other electronic resources to deliver legal services to people of moderate means more efficiently and effectively.
eLawyering is doing legal work over the internet. Pioneering practitioners have found dramatic new ways to communicate and collaborate with clients and other lawyers, produce documents, settle disputes, interact with courts, and manage legal knowledge. eLawyering encompasses all the ways in which lawyers can do their work using the web and associated technologies. For most lawyering actions (i.e. interview, investigate, counsel, draft, advocate, analyze, negotiate, manage, etc.) there are corresponding
eLawyering and its lawyer-less analogs present fundamental challenges for our profession. There are great dangers, but also great opportunities for attorneys. To be successful in the coming era, lawyers will need to know how to practice over the internet, manage client relationships in cyberspace, and ethically offer “unbundled” services.