The ABA Standing Committee on the Delivery of Legal Services has held a series of hearings on the use of technology to provide personal, civil legal services over the Internet and the policies that govern that use. Specifically, the Committee is examining:

• The range of providers who are using technology to provide legal services through the Internet and the scope of those services. The Committee’s initial observations indicate that corporations, state courts and governmental entities are using the Internet to provide document preparation and collateral legal services more commonly than practitioners who provide personal, civil legal services;
• The benefits and detriments that have resulted from the use of technology to provide legal services over the Internet. The Committee has obtained feedback from various legal service providers and other interested entities;
• Emerging trends and possible future directions of technology providing legal services via the Internet; and
• The policies and authorities (rules, statutes, case law, ethics opinions, etc.) that have emerged to govern the use of technology for the delivery of legal services and whether those policies are consistent with the need to balance consumer protection with access to affordable legal services and justice.

Input from the hearings is providing guidance to assess whether policies need to be amended or promulgated that will maximize the use of technology in ways that enable practitioners to provide efficient, affordable and responsible legal services as set forth in the ABA's Strategic Plan.

The Committee anticipates releasing a report resulting form the information it has gathered in the summer 2009. Anyone interested in providing additional information should contact .