Virtual Law Firms Benefiting From Virtual Addresses

For years, law firms of all sizes followed a similar pattern when it came to running their mailroom. These firms would dedicate time and labor to opening, sorting, and filing incoming mail that could be used for more pressing legal work.

Small firms required legal secretaries or assistants to step away from other tasks to open, sort, and deliver incoming mail. Larger firms often used a dedicated mailroom, which involved substantial labor costs and required plenty of physical space. The traditional system for filing away this correspondence and other documentation was not much better. This process drained resources and dramatically increased the amount of physical space each firm needed to hold years’ worth of thick paper files.

Now technology is transforming the way many practices operate – and law firms of every size are utilizing this technology to streamline their mailroom process. For a variety of reasons, including improvements in digital scanning technology, virtual law firms are replacing the traditional brick and mortar experiences.  The concept of a virtual law firm is made available by the use of a virtual mailbox or virtual address, sometimes even referred to as a digital mailroom. A virtual address is an actual street location that serves as a firm's functioning business address. Firms are able to select the location of their business address from a list of virtual addresses, typically made available from virtual address providers.  Mail sent to this address is then automatically forwarded to the virtual address provider’s processing facility. 

At Earth Class Mail, all mail sent to our virtual addresses is routed to our secure mail processing facility, where incoming mail is received, scanned and digitized. File storage occurs in the cloud; making files and documents readily accessible for use in support of a case.  By using a service like Earth Class Mail we’ve seen many smaller firms avoid overwhelming office expenses and we’ve allowed larger firms to be more agile. In addition to a significant reduction in cost-savings, lawyers can focus more on their practice, creating an experience tailored toward customer service and building relationships.