It was more pleasant than her last experience with a lawyer, she recalled. This time I got what I wanted so quickly. Until recent years, lawyers were generally not allowed to advertise. But the Internet is creating an amalgamated marketplace that can offer smaller law firms greater reach. Now I have access up and down California, as opposed to my area.
Some sites advertise flat-fee services.
Now we see a lot less of that. And much of that has to do with the amount of information available on the Internet. His firm has dropped its hourly rates in favor of flat fees. Though the economic potential may seem compelling, the Internet raises ethical issues, like the tenuous line between legal information and legal advice and the definition of a lawyer-client relationship where the two may never meet. It also complicates states' jurisdictions in a medium that is effectively borderless.