Home featured Digital eCommerce Featured Digital Who needs an office when the future is already here Stephanie Zillman November 7, 2013 There are a few professions which evoke a certain ‘old-school’ feel. Innovation isn’t the done thing. Talk of technology means email and often not much else. The law is one prime example – but who says it has to be? Leonie Chapman has been a lawyer for over a decade in banking and finance law, and has worked for some of Australia’s biggest name corporates. A desire for greater flexibility led her to think outside the box. Armed with the experience of working in an activity-based work environment, (working from anywhere with just a phone and a laptop) and seeing friends and family with businesses without access to legal services – the idea for a virtual law firm came into being. “The idea started getting really big, and then we eventually refined it, and came up with what we think is the perfect solution for small to medium enterprise, and financial institutions, who don’t necessarily need to go to the large, external law firms that are extremely expensive, and sometimes difficult to deal with,” Chapman tells DB. And so LAWYAL Solicitors was born. The way it works means any Australian business can seek and gain legal advice from an experienced lawyer, entirely online, using just a laptop, tablet or mobile. Chapman says that by stripping away the unnecessary frivolities of law firms, like maintaining expensive offices with water views,