Online Legal Practice. Need for a Debate
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Technological developments often bring in sweeping changes in the life of people. Often such changes affect the economic conditions of persons and may even affect their livelihood. Thus, the advent of auto-rikshaws in a city has eliminated the manual rickshaws and the Jatakas (Horse Driven Coaches), TV has affected Newspapers and now Internet is affecting every walk of life.

The natural tendency of people in such cases is to "Resist Change" and try to prevent technological developments taking root. Opposition to Napster is an example to such a tendency. However the experience of other inventions such as "Xerox" in the past indicate that eventually, people in the society will allow innovations to take over and those who donot want to change has to perish.

The same logic applies to professions. If a professional does not move with the times, he will become marginalised. The advent of Internet has made a significant impact on many professions, even in India. However when it comes to "Online Practice", many  professional bodies in India have tried to ban it.

In India, many internet savvy legal professionals are itching to use Internet for providing consultancy services. But the Bar Council has held that even having a web site by a lawyer may be a violation of the norms of the Bar Council.  

Time has come to start a debate on whether lawyers are to be prevented from using the power of Internet to further their business. 

The issues are

1. If a lawyer creates a web site for himself and posts his credentials, is it "Solicitation of Business"? or "Self Introduction"?
2. If a lawyer starts advising through Internet, does it amount to legal counseling?

There are both ethical and legal issues involved in this debate. While I strongly advocate that the lawyers should be permitted to use the Internet, I am aware that there is a strong opposition for the same in the community. I invite all lawyers to express their opinion in this regard so that we can start preparing for the future. 

As a thought starter, I invite attention of readers to the article published by Stanford Law School which discusses with many of the issues involved in the American context.

Read a Detailed Article by Darren Franklin of Stanford University



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