The American Bar Association has released a statement on minimum requirements for law firms delivering legal service online.
Under this definition, a "virtual law firm" is not simply a lawyer who does not have a physical office and communicates with clients by email.
Instead, the law firm must have a secure section of its website where a client can log in with a unique user name and password.
The purpose of the eLawyering Task Force minimum requirements is to provide guidance to attorneys who wish to deliver legal services online on how to comply with the professional rules of conduct that govern law practice in each U.S. state.
A completely virtual law office will conduct all business online, while some small practices choose to integrate a VLO log-in portal to provide more options to their clients.