1.0 Other - Office Management CLE Credit – A/V Approval #1119409 Recording Date - September 11, 2019

Meeting Location Date Time Topic

King County Bar Association 1200 Fifth Avenue - Suite 700

Seattle, WA

Wednesday, September 11, 2019

12:00 PM to 1:15 PM

Building a Location-Independent Law Practice - See the

World and Work From Anywhere

AGENDA 12:00 PM Introduction 12:10 PM Presentation: ‘Building a Location-Independent Law Practice - See the World and Work

From Anywhere’, by Devon Thurtle Anderson, Skepsis Technologies LLC and Sea-Tech Systems

Whether your professional goals have you working remotely from a week-long deposition in Florida, or permanently from a sailboat in the middle of the Pacific, building a location-independent firm takes some basic strategic planning and know-how. In this presentation, we’ll cover some of the strategies and tools you’ll need to make your law practice location-independent, including:

• Choosing Software • Handling Phone Calls • Working with Staff • Accessing (and Budgeting for) Internet • Automation

1:15 PM Adjourn

SPEAKER BIOGRAPHY Devon Thurtle Anderson, Skepsis Technologies LLC and Sea-Tech Systems - Devon is the CEO of Skepsis Technologies, a company that provides bookkeeping, virtual assistant, and software selection services for attorneys. She is also the CFO of Sea-Tech Systems, which provides on-grid and off-grid communications solutions to full-time digital nomads. Devon has been working remotely - from full-time depositions in California, to officing on her boat as she and her family traveled the Pacific, to seeing the country by RV - for nearly 10 years. Prior to establishing Skepsis and Sea-Tech, Devon managed and grew two successful law firms, with her own practice focusing on complex commercial litigation in the construction and insurance industries.

HOW DO I EARN CREDIT FOR SELF-STUDY

OR AUDIO/VISUAL (A/V) COURSES?

For pre-recorded A/V (self-study) programs, although the sponsor should apply for

accreditation, lawyers need to report the credits earned for taking the course.

To add an approved course to your roster, follow the procedures below:

Go to the "mywsba" website at www.mywsba.org/.

Log in.

Click on the "Access MCLE" link in the "MCLE Info" box on your home profile

page.

Click on "Add Activity." Search to find the approved course in our system. (See

search suggestions on the screen.)

Adding a Recorded Course Select Recorded Course from the Add New Activity screen.

This will prompt you to search for the activity in case the activity has already been

accredited in the MCLE system.

You can search by Activity ID or by specific Activity Details. For the Activity Details

search, you can use keywords for the title, sponsor name and date.

After entering your search criteria and selecting Search at the bottom of the screen, a list

of possible activities will be provided.

You can select the correct one by clicking the Activity ID. This will take you to the

specific activity. Entered the date(s) on which you began and ending viewing this

recorded activity.

Then claim the correct credits for which you attended this activity in the Credits Claimed

fields and click the Submit button at the bottom of the page.

You will receive a confirmation message at the top of your screen stating, “The activity

has been added to your roster.

Don’t Wait Until Retirement To Make Your Travel Dreams Come True:

Building A Location-Independent Law Firm

Who the heck are you?

Building A Mobile Law Firm: Five Simple Steps

1. Plan It.

2. Automate

3. Outsource

4. Budget Strategically

5. Execute

1. Plan

2. Automate

3. Outsource

4. Budget Strategically

5. Execute

Plan It.Start your mobile business plan early, and work on it often.

Plan It: Gather Your RequirementsUNDERSTAND YOUR BUSINESS

• What are you delivering to customers?• Your Skills & Knowledge: Legal Research, Analysis, Drafting• Your Advice: In person or remote

• Phone, video, email• Your Representation: In person or remote

• Phone, video, email

• How will you deliver it when you are no longer physically located in your home/office?• Virtual – fairly easy, just need access to the online systems• Yourself – need ability to travel, book travel, and/or video/voice

conferencing, or maybe just email

Plan It: Gather Your RequirementsUNDERSTAND YOUR BUSINESS

• Challenges:• In-Court Appearances: Litigation Practices• Original Signatures: Estate Planning Practices

These challenges can be solved! Just make sure you factor it into your requirements-gathering in Step 1.

Physical Business Location

Use A Proxy:

Dockside Mail

• Physical Address

• Registered Agent

• Mail Scanning

• Package Receiving

& Forwarding

Pro Tip: Make sure your mail service has a verifiable, physical street address. Not just

any PO Box will do.

Go Paperless

Paper Checks• Use Your Bank’s Bill Pay Service• Hire a Remote Bookkeeper To Issue Checks For you• Dockside Mail will deposit checks for you

Paper Invoices• Use cloud-based invoicing systems to email bills to clients

Incoming Snail Mail: Mail Scanning (EG Dockside)• Minimizes Junk Mail• Everything Goes to Your Email• Notary• Faxing

Telephone

Considerations• How many minutes do you generally

use calling each month?• What countries will you be calling to

and from?• How often do you need a phone

connection? If you can email a customer back right away, can the phone call wait a few days?

• Do you have staff that can handle phone calls for you? Is that sustainable for hours, days, weeks, or longer?

• Is audio quality critical?• Do you need the same phone

number all the time, or can people calling you manage rotating cell/satellite phone numbers?

Possible Solutions

• Google Fi

• Skype

• VOIP over Satellite (can be cheaper than satellite voice calling)

• Save Airtime with Voicemail Transcription

Internet/DATAConsiderations

• How much data do you use per day? Per month?

• How fast does your connection need to be?

• How often do you need a fast connection versus Getting by with a slower connection versus no connection?

• Where will you be traveling?

To Do

• Install Tripmode (Mac & PC)

• Tripmode.ch ($8)

• Track Your Data Usage Per day, Per month, and Per App

DATA USAGE(GIGS to MEGS)

Stop thinking about gigabytes

• On satellite you worry about megabytes

of data (1024MB in a GB)

What is a Megabyte?

~25 x 40KB Excel Files

~1000+ standard emails (no attachments)

~Half of an iPhone camera photo via

email (full size)

~3.6 seconds of Netflix in standard def (1

second of Netflix in HD)

DATA USAGE: COMMON TASKS

GOOGLE: 400KB to load Google.com + 200KB to display search results (1st page)

GMAIL: 6MB Just to load the initial Gmail Inbox

FACEBOOK: ~3.8MB full page loadAll of the above sites continues to consume bandwidth while idle

WELLSFARGO:PC Browser: 3.2MB full page load to account summary~ 1.1MB to login page + 2.1MB to account summary after login+100KB to show account details/transactions (lots of caching of the initial load)

Mobile App: 1.1MB to do the same task from a mobile app

YOUTUBE CONTENT CREATION:15 Minute HD Video upload – ~1GB (1000MB)

SSL Encryption (Good) also means no compression (Bad)

DATA USAGE: SOLUTIONS

SATELLITE FIREWALLS

• Cloud and/or Onboard

EMAIL COMPRESSION (Cruisers email)

USE LOW BANDWIDTH SITES

• Facebook Basic

• Gmail Simple HTML

POST TO BLOG VIA EMAIL

• BANDWIDTH MANAGERS

• PC / MAC = TRIPMODE

• BLOCK SPECIFIC APPS

• AD and FLASH BLOCKERS

• EDIT NETFLIX SETTINGS

• LIMIT TO Standard Def

• USE MOBILE APPS (YMMV)

• PACKAGETRACKR

• TRACK PKGS VIA EMAIL

EMAIL

• Can be very powerful, and lower bandwidth than websites

• Get rid of spam so you’re not spending expensive cell or satellite airtime on it• Gsuite• Office365

• When on satellite, your standard email program won’t work

• Understand satellite email systems and how they’ll interface with your primary email system

EMAIL DATA USAGE COMPARISON

Download a 1.97MB Email that is already compressed (ie: photo)

Cruisers Email 1.97MBPractically zero overhead(Same as email size, with mid-download restart if failure occurs

Gmail (Basic HTML version) 2.10MB100KB more than the email size(view inbox –previously cached, click on email, download attachment)HTML *might* restart, depends on all sorts of factors

Outlook (Update IMAP folder, download new emails) 2.70MB700KB more than the email sizeIf download fails in progress, Outlook downloads again from the beginning

There is data consumption over and above the actual content you need.

BANKING• Use your bank’s online bill

pay service to eliminate the need for physical checks• Pro Tip: Bill Pay checks from

IOLTA!

Get a card without international transaction fees, and with rewards:

• Schwab• Nordstrom

• Move clients to electronic payments

• LawPay

• Headnote

• Pro Tip: Electronic Payments = Faster Payments & Higher Collection Rates

• Pro Tip: Electronic IOLTA Deposits = Electronic IOLTA Refunds. Solves the IOLTA/Bill Pay problem

Equipment & Power

• Laptops and Routers generally need AC power

• Requires an AC Inverter

• Consumes batteries

• Newer laptops are more efficient

• Laptops and Tablets recommended over desktops

• 12VDC capable equipment is recommended

• Try to get a 12V (cigarette lighter) plug for your equipment

• !! Vessel Battery voltage fluctuates (10-14VDC)

• Protect Your Equipment

• Voltage regulators

• Power Converters

• And salt…

• Apple’s Applecare is great for salt damage

Automate It.Doing business remotely is easier when business does itself.

DOCUMENT MANAGEMENT

Store your documents in a cloud service

• Anywhere access

• Sharing

• Mail Scanning Integration

Common Examples:

• Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive (NOOO!), DropBox, Apple iCloud.

• We use all of them… But DropBox has been the best

Internet/Email Automation(And Management)

Satellite Optimized Email

• Great for satellite and other slow connections

• By default, not integrated with your business email –but it can be

• Automation Tools• Zapier • Cruisers Email Satellite

Mail Service• Capable of integrating

with your business email system so emails appear seamless to your customers

Cloud-Based Software

Features• Purchase a la carte – Pay for the

tools and features you need, and not the ones you don’t

• Their IT people manage all your systems (and problems) for you• Gmail, Office365• Document Storage

• Enterprise-level encryption for privacy and security

• Enterprise-level backups and recovery

• Can eliminate need for an office or on-call IT person

• Great for collaboration with employees and contractors

Drawbacks

• Requires Internet some or all of the time

• Monthly subscription costs

Outsource It.If it’s not your core competency, leave it to the pros.

Bookkeeping & Payroll

*GREAT!* place to start your outsourcing because it’s a big administrative time sink, and pros can do it more quickly and cost-effectively. (See ”Basic Budgeting,”

coming up!)Considerations

• Set up your accounting systems correctly from the start

• Who will handle this for you?

• Will you ever want to be out of touch on a payday? Is running payroll yourself, filing taxes, or making sure vendors get paid timely worth rearranging your whole cruising schedule for? (Experience says no.)

• Desktop or cloud-based Accounting software?

Possible Solutions

• Most business owners will need to outsource this to make their cruising business successful

• Xero

• Way more user friendly than Quickbooks

• Cloud only

• Gusto

• Best payroll service out there

• More affordable than all others we’ve worked with

Have you considered a Virtual Assistant or Virtual Legal Assistant?

• Go through a service; no staff to manage

• Training time is 3-6 months

• Hugely flexible

• Use your VA/VLA to minimize your reliance on expensive internet connections

What can a VA do for you?

• Data entry

• Schedule Management

• Email responses

• Research vendors, customers, marketing opportunities, even your next anchorage!

• Travel booking and management

• All things admin

• Make you even more money by handling billable tasks!

Budget It.Don’t spend (or spendthrift) yourself out of business.

Basic Budgeting Framework

• What is the hourly value of your time?

• How many hours will the proposed equipment/service save you?

• In addition, how much does the proposed equipment/service stand to increase revenues?

• How much does that equipment/service cost per hour?

• If Time + Revenue > Cost = DO IT!

Budgeting for Internet

• Circle back to step 1: Plan.

Planning your Internet/DATA

Considerations

• How much data do you use per day? Per month?

• How fast does your connection need to be?

• How often do you need a fast connection versus Getting by with a slower connection versus no connection?

• Where will you be cruising?

To Do

• Install Tripmode (Mac & PC)

• Tripmode.ch ($8)

• Track Your Data Usage Per day, Per month, and Per App

Budgeting for Internet

• Circle back to step 1: Plan.

• Minimize your bandwidth and speed requirements as much as possible • Automate• Outsource• Schedule/Time Management • Firewalls & Filters

• Tripmode• External Controls (Integra Control, Wave Wifi,

Optimizer)

Budgeting for Internet

We’re still back in Step 1: Plan.

• Minimize your bandwidth and speed requirements

• Measure and know your Bandwidth, speed, and timing requirements

• Choose a system that will provide the internet system you need at the least cost

• If it doesn’t budget out, circle back and make changes as needed

Budgeting for Internet

After you plan: Select The Least-Cost System. Hierarchy of internet costs:

1. Wifi

2. Cellular

3. Satellite

The system with least cost and widest availability will include, and efficiently manage, all 3 technologies.

Wi-FiEquipment

• Wifi Booster: Don’t expect to be able to connect to Wificonsistently without it from mobile vehicles (RVs, boats)

• DIY Bullet options are very difficult for non-techies to use, and often lack critical features for cruisers

• Wave Wifi from sea-Tech is the easiest to use option, with great bandwidth-controlling features for cruisers

• Cost: $345 - $794

Service

• Inherently insecure

• Often Free or low-cost

• should be your primary source of internet when available

• Unreliable

• Short-Range: Will only work in Marinas and Anchorages with Shore wifi nearby

Budgeting for Wifi

Do the math

• How much does the proposed wifi system & Service Cost?

• What’s my earning potential with it?

• What’s my earning potential without it? (Maybe $0)

• If increased earning potential > Cost = Do it.

CellularEquipment

• Can hotspot to your cell phone

• Extend Cell coverage 10-20+ miles with a cell booster• Cost: $899

• Use cell data throughout you boat with a cellular router• Cost: $995 - $2370

Service

• Inherently secure

• Again, it’s hierarchical from a cost perspective• Local SIM• Your US Carrier SIM• Global Sim

• If outside North America, order is:• Local SIM• Global SIM• Your US Carrier SIM

Cellular

Local Sim

• Telcel, claro, BTC, ALIV

• Usually least expensive ($3-$5/GB)

• Fast: 3G/4G/LTE where available

• New phone number in every country

• Can’t get and use until you’re already checked into country

US Carrier SIM

• Verizon, AT&T, Tmobile, Google FI, Etc.

• Depending on carrier, generally cost-effective in North America (Canada, US, Mexico)

• Can be very expensive outside North America

• May throttle your speeds

• Keep your current phone number

• Use anytime you need it

• Cell companies may cut you off for excessive roaming

Global SIM

• Telestial, Google FI

• Usually More expensive than local sims, but outside N.A., usually less expensive than your US carrier (~$10/GB)

• Fast: 3G/4G/LTE where available

• Stable phone number, but may not be US depending on carrier

• Use anytime you need it

Cellular: Booster vs. Router

Cell Booster

• Boosts existing cell signal on your phone 10-20+ Miles

• Does not give internet to any other devices on your boat (unless you hotspot)

• Requires external antenna, internal amplifier, and internal antenna

• Can self-install

• Geo-Limited: Each system works in a certain region, so get the right system for your region

• Will not integrate with your external or onboard wifi systems

• North American Kit: $899

Cell Router

• Stronger signal than your phone alone

• Shares internet to all devices on your boat

• Optional external antenna can provide extended range similar to a cell booster

• Can self-Install

• Global: Use one system worldwide

• Can integrate with your external And onboard wifi systems

• Kit: $1625 - $2370

Budgeting for Cellular

Do the math:

• How much does the proposed Cellular system & ServiceCost?

• What’s my earning potential with it?

• What’s my earning potential without it?• Given the unreliability of international wifi, your earning

potential without a cellular backup system will besignificantly inhibited

• If increased earning potential > Cost = Do it.

Budgeting for Internet

Hierarchy of internet costs:1. Wifi2. Cellular

• For many remote law firms, you can stop here – this will be enough• For those short times you’re truly out of touch, you may (or may not)

need:3. Satellite

• On a per-byte basis, satellite is 100-1000X more expensive than cellular• Save significant money on per-GB and per-MB cell/sat airtime by putting

together a tiered hardware system

Budgeting for Satellite Internet

To plan your satellite system, it’s critical to have a handle onStep 1: Plan.

• Minimize your bandwidth and speed requirements

• Measure and know your Bandwidth, speed, and timingrequirements

• Choose a system that will provide the internet system youneed at the least cost

• If it doesn’t budget out, circle back and make changes asneeded

Budgeting for Satellite Internet

The more you pay for hardware, the less you’ll pay per MB

• Note I said “MB”, not “GB”

• But, the higher monthly $ and Data Commitment you’ll have to make

• $0.18-$15.00/MB @ 128Kbps to 10Mbps

Budgeting for Satellite Email

Least Cost Overall

• Data-capable satphone

• Satellite wifi hotspots• Iridium GO!• Redport Glow• Globalstar Sat-Fi2

(Limited Coverage Area)

Hardware Cost• $500 - $1500

• Airtime Cost:• $60 - $140 / mo

• Great for calls and email without attachments

• No web browsing

• Pro tip: Get a flex unlimited plan

Reduce your Email data budget with Cruisers Email Service

35 Seconds

190 Seconds

120 Seconds

13 Minutes

No Compression

Cruisers Email

No Compression

Glo

bals

tar

Irid

ium

Test sending & receiving 14 plain-text e-mails

with a total file size of 47k

Cruisers Email

Smart Budgeting for More Than Email:Satellite Broadband By Land and By Sea

Budgeting for Satellite Internet:Low Speed Satellite Broadband

• Requires a Dome

• Domes do not require power when not in use

• Speeds 100kpbs – 750kbps

• Voice quality varies from ok to great

• Email compression is still critical

• Slow web browsing capable

• Some systems are geo-limited

• Some Geo-Limited networks offer unlimited data plans

Budgeting for Satellite Internet:Low Speed Satellite Broadband

Hardware

• Cost: $3000 - $7000

• One-time purchase

Note: monthly outlay is higher, but cost per MB is far less than email-only options!

Airtime

• Unlimited Americas Coastal plan for Inmarsat fleet one: $250/mo• On the slower side

(100kbps)

• Iridium Certus• $150 - $2500 / mo• Faster: 700kbps

Budgeting for Satellite Internet:High-Speed Satellite Broadband

• Domes require power when not in use

• Speeds 5-20 MBPS+

• Voice quality Generally good

• Email compression is still critical

• Full web browsing capable

• Some systems are geo-limited

• No unlimited plans

• Can suffer from network congestion

How Fast?

Email an iPhone Photo

Emailed Photo

IridiumHandheld

Or Go!

InmarsatFleet One

GlobalstarSat-Fi2

IridiumCertus

KVHv3HTS

43KB ~3 min ~4 secs ~5 secs <1 sec <1 sec

126KB >7 min ~11 secs ~15 secs ~1.5 secs

<1 sec

923KB >52 min <2 min ~2 min ~10 secs ~2 sec

2.2MB >2 hrs ~3 min ~4.5 min ~24 secs ~4 secs

How Much$?

Email an iPhone Photo

Emailed Photo

IridiumHandheld

Or Go!

InmarsatFleet One

GlobalstarSat-Fi2

IridiumCertus

KVHv3HTS

43KB $5.00 $0.21 $0.21 $0.30 $0.04

126KB $11.00 $0.63 $0.63 $0.86 $0.12

923KB $75.00 $4.50 $4.50 $6.30 $0.90

2.2MB $300.00 $11.00 $11.00 $15.40 $2.18

Budgeting for Satellite Internet:High-Speed Satellite Broadband

Hardware

• Mini VSAT:• Dome: 37-60Cm

• $17,000+

• VSAT• 80cm+• $30,000+

Airtime

• No unlimited plan for mini-vsat

• $1000 - $3500 + /mo

• But, for high data users, cost per MB is *way* lower than cheaper systems

Optimize Your Budget: International Least Cost Phone routing

Cellular Phone Calls

• Roaming Internationally with US Cell phone is generally about$0.20/Minute

• T-Mobile and Google Fi

• Incoming calls sometimes free, outgoing you usually pay for

• Local SIM Cards are sometimes cheaper but will be an internationalnumber

• Forward calls from US number to your International SIM

• Call Quality Varies

• Good LTE networks with Voice over LTE will sound great

• Skype usually sounds great, FB , WhatsApp, etc calls are not asgood

• Satellite voice quality is variable, but some are better (ie: KVH,Certus)

LEAST-COST Call ROUTINGEXAMPLE

Voice Services (T-Mobile + Google Voice + Skype)

• T-Mobile One Plus plan (better for international roaming)

• Skype with Seattle Skype-In Number and Skype-Out Calling Plan

• Google Voice is free, but has no international calling features

Incoming Calls

1. Incoming Calls go to T-Mobile Cellular Number

2. Google Voice (Free) Intercepts call

3. GV Forwards call to T-Mobile Phone AND Skype-In Number

4. T-Mobile Phone AND Skype App ring on mobile (Can answer either)

Outgoing Calls

1. Call from T-Mobile Phone a $0.20/Min

2. Call from Skype using Skype out = Free with Unlimited Skype calling and Unlimited T-Mobile Data. Skype uses T-Mobile number as caller ID

Client Conference Calls

Avoid Satellite If Possible

Skype Audio Quality is Excellent

Use KVH or new Iridium Certus if you have to use Satellitesince both use SIP

Execute it.Execution starts well before your bon voyage.

Execute it.

• Socialize with your colleagues as appropriate

• Consider a “soft transition”: a work from home transitionperiod

• Do “practice travel” for only a week or so at time to shakedown and fine tune your location-independent law firm

OTHER THOUGHTS

EVERY BUSINESS IS DIFFERENT

UNDERSTANDING YOURS IS THE FIRST STEP

DON’T BE AFRAID TO GET HELP

Skepsis Consulting Services

READ 4-HOUR WORK WEEK

Don’t Forget Why You Are Doing

This…

GET OFF THE COMPUTER

AND EXPLORE…

PAY ATTENTIONTO WHAT YOU MIGHT

BE MISSING…

AND GET OUT OF YOUR

COMFORT ZONE!!

YOU CAN DO IT!www.sea-tech.com

206.792.9560sales@sea-tech.com

www.calendly.com/dmta/letstalk425.466.8161

devon@skepsistech.com

7001 Seaview Ave NW Ste. 160-485 Seattle, Washington 98117

info@skepsistech.com www.skepsistech.com

425.466.8161

Building A Location-Independent Law Firm: Don’t Wait Until Retirement To Make

Your Travel Dreams Come True! By Devon Thurtle Anderson

CEO, Skepsis Technologies

It was a glorious day at the office. A light breeze tickled my skin as it traveled through a

doming blue-sky overhead, bleeding a light sapphire as far as the eye could see in every

direction. The quiet chatter of the local fishing fleet droned in rhythmic and melodic Spanish

over the radio, while my laptop on its perch rocked gently in the waves. It was time for a break

from work, and instead of heading to the water cooler or the coffee pot, I turned to the jib sheet

and winched in. I checked the fishing lines, in hopes of finding another succulent ahi tuna for

dinner, but to no avail. After a stretch, and sat back down and turned back to writing my

summary judgment motion.

We had always wanted to sail the world, but life – namely work – kept getting in the way. Of

course, that’s why so many people wait until retirement to travel or become location -

independent; work gets in the way. But what if you could turn the paradigm inside out? What

if you could have your cake and eat it, too? With some carefu l planning, you can.

At a high level, running a location-independent law firm can be distilled into five steps. While

I list them in a particular order here, you'll find in practice that the steps tend to blur a bit, and

go in iterations; setting up your business to make money while maintaining location-

independence is a fluid process, moving forward and backward through its cycle just like the

tides.

Keep in mind this high-level list is exactly that: high-level. Each law firm is different, and to

set up your law firm for location-independent success, each step should be explored and detailed

far more carefully than what we’ll have time for today. As with many things in life, the devil

is in the details. If at any time you’d like professional help diving i nto those details, you can

schedule a free consultation with me here: https://www.calendly.com/dmta/letstalk

Step 1: Plan It.

Running a location-independent law firm is not an afterthought; instead, it's as much a part of

your 2-year, 5-year, or 10-year plan process as is managing your savings; planning your mode

of travel; researching destinations; learning to work with your life partner on the road; funding

your travels; and finally making your big “bon voyage.” Start planning your location-

independent law firm early and often, so the firm and its processes are no stranger to you once

it becomes your normal day-to-day.

The planning stage of developing a location-independent law firm is mostly about requirements-

gathering. What are your requirements for running your firm in general?

This is a crucial step because, in an office, many of these requirements we take for granted. For

example, your location-independent firm may not have the advantage of simple things like a

mailing addresses, cheap and fast internet, and a never-changing U.S. phone number. When

you take your firm on the road (or the high seas, or the mountain peaks – whatever your

7001 Seaview Ave NW info@skepsistech.com Ste. 160-485 www.skepsistech.com Seattle, Washington 98117 425.466.8161

pleasure), none of those things are a given. So, sit down, and start thinking about what the

requirements of your mobile law firm will be.

First, consider that some areas of law may be more challenging to practice remotely than others.

For example, a practice with a high volume of litigation often requires court appearances, which

you may or may not be in town for. Similarly, an estate planning practice may require original

signatures on non-digital paper, and long-term storage of those original signatures. That’s not

to say that these requirements can’t be managed; just be sure to include them on your list at this

brainstorming and requirements-gathering stage so it can be managed later.

Addresses. Next, what will your address be? The WSBA requires attorneys to provide an

address, but it’s not practical to change your address to the next town ever y week, or send letters

addressed to “Sailing Vessel Sea Trail, Somewhere -In-The-Middle-Of-The-Pacific, Planet

Earth.” Next, will you require a physical street address also, or will a PO Box suffice? (Hint:

You’ll need a physical address for certain banking and governmental purposes.)

Pro Tip: Find an all-inclusive mailing service with a verifiable, physical street address; not

just any PO box will do. A great solution for this is Dockside Mail, located at Shilshole Marina.

http://www.docksidemail.com Not only can Dockside serve as your physical address and also

as your registered agent, but they can also scan and then shred all your mail for you; filter out

all your junk mail; send faxes for you; deposit checks; and scan checks to you, which you can

then deposit to your bank via mobile deposit by taking a photo of the scanned check on your

computer screen.

Paper. Now consider what paper you currently use in your practice. What can you get rid of?

(Hint: You can get rid of all paper except those pesky original signatures we mentioned above.)

Some solutions to some of the paper problems law firms run into include:

Paying Bills: use your bank’s bill pay service instead

Receiving Checks: use a mail service that will deposit checks for you

Client Invoicing: use a cloud-based solution that will issue invoices electronically

Managing Trust Funds: Find a bank that will allow you to issue IOLTA checks via Bill

Pay, and also one that will allow you to do mobile deposits for IOLTA accounts

o Electronic trust deposit services, such as LawPay and Headnote, allow you to

refund client money electronically as well as collect it – clients love this, because

just like attorneys, clients don’t like having to make an extra trip to the bank

Payments From Clients: start training your clients now to pay their bills electronically

o My favorite service: Headnote

o Another option, especially if you’re looking to integrate with Clio or certain

other programs (but you’ll pay higher fees, even though their published rates

appear lower – book a call with me if you’d like to understand why): LawPay

o Increase your rates as needed to “bake-in” credit card fees with your legal fees,

so clients view online payments as a convenience and a value -add of working

with your firm, not as a penalty

o Studies show that attorneys who accept electronic payments have, on average,

faster pay rates and higher collection rates

Phones. Another area to plan is your phone requirements. How much talk time do you use in

an average month? How much do you use in your highest month? How does your current cell

7001 Seaview Ave NW info@skepsistech.com Ste. 160-485 www.skepsistech.com Seattle, Washington 98117 425.466.8161

phone plan cover the countries you’ll actually be traveling to, and how do your travel plans fit

with any contract you might currently be stuck with? If you’re traveling outside North America,

chances are that your current cell carrier is not the way to go, because even if they do allow

roaming, your service fees will skyrocket. Instead, look for options that have low-cost roaming,

or a full suite of truly international services. Some services to consider include:

Skype. Skype has great call quality even when your internet connection is less than

stellar, and can cost less than $10/month. (Whatsapp and similar options will drive

you crazy with dropped and inaudible calls on slow internet connections.)

Google Fi. Contract-free, low monthly fees, with reasonable international calling

options, and free international data roaming. Even better, you can add as many data -

only SIM cards as you like for no extra charge, so you can use your free international

data in iPads, hotspot devices, and more. You can even pair your free international

data from Google Fi with data calling from Skype, and never have to pay a cent for

international call roaming, no matter where your location-independent law firm takes

you. (Hint: Use Skepsis’ referral code when signing up, UHH8EC, and you and Skepsis

will both get $20 off your bill after the first 30 days.

Pro Tip: If you get on the internet travel boards, you’ll get a lot of advice to just “Get a local

SIM for each country! It’s cheap and easy!” It typically is cheap, and it typically is easy, if

you’re not trying to run a business. But if you are running a business, then that local SIM will

give you a local phone number, and your phone number will change every time you change yo ur

SIM, so you’ll have to: (1) notify all your new clients of your new number with every new SIM

you purchase; (2) hope the international phone number doesn’t spook your clients into thinking

it’s a scam; (3) hope your clients won’t scoff at having to pay international calling fees just to

reach you; and then (4) start the process all over again in the next new country. Now, if you

paid a local SIM with a stable virtual phone service like Skype, then that’s a great answer for

a lot of digital nomads.

Internet. A digital nomad lives and dies by the internet. So, before you leap, know exactly

what your internet requirements are. How much data do you use per day? Per month? How

fast does your connection need to be? How often do you need that fast conne ction, and how

long can you get by on a slower connection or no connection in between? To what

countries/oceans/land masses will you be traveling, and what internet options are available

there?

Pro Tip: Install Tripmode on your Mac or PC. It’s $8, and it will give you invaluable metrics

on your data usage that you’ll need during you planning stages. Then, once you take off, you’ll

be using it to manage your bandwidth and keep your internet costs low.

Step 2: Automate It.

Now, while you still have relatively inexpensive and reliable internet, and support staff -

whether that's employees or just the occasional babysitter - take the time to automate as much

of your law firm as you can. This will make you and your firm run more efficiently, and be

more hands-off, so you can spend more time actually doing the adventuring you've worked so

hard to achieve. (True, you could continue the rat race and simply do it from random loc ations

throughout the world – but is that really what you’re building your location -independent law

firm for?) Automation will also help your firm to maintain itself during periods when you're

7001 Seaview Ave NW info@skepsistech.com Ste. 160-485 www.skepsistech.com Seattle, Washington 98117 425.466.8161

off-grid, so you can save money on satellite equipment and other work-arounds during excursion

and down time.

Cloud Document Storage. We love Dropbox for document storage. Box is another great

option. Cloud document storage is critical for sharing files with staff and clients; for getting

your mail, and an almost unlimited number of other tasks. They’re also great for automation

because you can set up automatic tasks, such as creating and saving new documents like an

engagement letter when you create a client in Clio; automatically notifying your mail service

that you’d like them to open and scan to you a certain piece of mail (or regularly discard a

certain piece of junk mail); and more.

Pro Tip: Stay away from OneDrive. It works okay in office environments, but in a digital

nomad’s environment – where you need to be able to control your internet usage, access

documents from all over the globe, and integrate with apps that are 100% secure but maybe

Microsoft doesn’t know that – well, in that situation OneDrive is going to drive you crazy.

Email Management. When you’re traveling (and even when you’re not), your time is too

valuable to spend even 30 minutes sorting through the junk in your inbox each day. Set up rules

in your email to manage mail.

Pro Tip: If you’ll ever be doing email over satellite, be sure to use the Cruisers Email service

from Sea-Tech Systems. You’ll save hundreds, and sometimes thousands , of dollars per month

on your satellite data service with the Cruisers Email compression, and you can also

automatically manage downloads of your emails via satellite connections and extremel y slow

internet connections.

Step 3: Outsource It.

This is true for most law firms whether you’re digital or not, but it’s critical for location -

independent firms that often need to run on a fairly lean budget, both time - and money-wise: If

it’s not your core competency, leave it to the pros. You will save yourself infinite time and

money in the long run.

Have you automated all you can? Okay, now it's time to start outsourcing. Figure out what can

be done by any person on the planet other than you, and start handing that work off now. It will

take some investment of time on your part to get employees, virtual assistants, and others trained

up, but once you do, you'll see your business running smoothly without you having to intervene

every few minutes.

Pro Tip: To comply with your ethical requirements, ensure your virtual assistants and virtual

legal assistants (VAs and VLAs for short) have strong confidentiality provisions in their

contracts. To that end, we recommend working with a company that speci alizes in providing

services to law firms exclusively, like Skepsis, so you know your ethical obligations of

confidentiality to your clients are covered.

The number one place that attorneys should start outsourcing is with their bookkeeping. This

is critical for a number of reasons, the primary one being that they’re putting their law license

at risk each day they do their own books. Bookkeeping, like law yering, is a professional skill.

7001 Seaview Ave NW info@skepsistech.com Ste. 160-485 www.skepsistech.com Seattle, Washington 98117 425.466.8161

An attorney doing her own books is like a client running her own litigation pro se; not only will

she waste hours and hours of time (both her own and other people’s), and she decreases her own

chances of success, but also, she’s almost guaranteed to commit numerous instances of what

would be malpractice if she were an attorney. The analogy breaks down for attorneys doing

their own books though, because a pro se litigant can’t be slapped with a malpractice lawsuit

for trying to practice a professional skill she doesn’t have; the attorney doing her own

bookkeeping can, when she makes trust accounting mistakes. So, leave the profession skills

like bookkeeping to the pros, and save yourself time, money, and sleepless nights by outsourcing

your bookkeeping first and foremost.

Pro Tip: Law firm bookkeeping, and especially RPC-compliant IOLTA bookkeeping, is a

specialized area of law. And, just like you probably wouldn’t trust a generalist attorney to

handle your multi-million dollar litigation, you shouldn’t trust a generalist bookkeeping with

your law license. Hire a law firm specialist, like Skepsis, to do your bookkeeping. That way,

your bookkeeper will not only have the industry-specific knowledge needed to maximize your

firm’s profitability, but your bookkeeper will also have the skills required to maintain RPC -

compliant trust accounts and protect your law license.

Step 4: Budget It.

Strategic budgeting is the key to any remote business. And no, "strategic" doesn't mean that you

should make your location-independent law firm as cheap (or as expensive) as possible. Instead,

strategic budgeting means doing a cost-benefit analysis for each and every purchase, each new

client, and each hour of your time, factoring in non-monetary costs and benefits just as much

as the monetary ones.

For more information on this step, check out this article: https://skepsistech.com/beating-analysis-

paralysis-how-to-choose-new-software-services-for-your-firm/

Pro Tip: If you want your law firm to be truly remote – like “no cell or wifi for hundreds of miles” remote

– know that you can absolutely do that! But, it will require consulting with a professional regarding your

satellite internet options. I’m happy to have a free initial call with any practitioners interested in that

topic, which you can book here: https://www.calendly.com/dmta/letstalk

Step 5: Execute It.

Finally, it's time to execute your law firm’s plan. There will be bumps as you put your plan into

action, and so this step - execution - has to start well before you actually begin your new,

location-independent life.

Ideally, give yourself at least one year of initial execution, which includes some short travel

away from your office or home office, before you actually start running your firm as a long-

term digital nomad.

Live the Dream! Congratulations, you’re well on your way to running a location-independent law firm. Know that each

practice and each law firm are different, so careful planning tailored to your practice is key.

7001 Seaview Ave NW info@skepsistech.com Ste. 160-485 www.skepsistech.com Seattle, Washington 98117 425.466.8161

To help practitioners take their location-independent firm from dream to reality, Skepsis Tech offers

consulting services where we’ll plan and execute the right location-independent firm model for you.

You can book a free consultation to discuss your dreams further at

https://www.calendly.com/dmta/letstalk