Hong Kong lawyers to examine moving practices online as rents soar

Like thousands of young lawyers in the city, Sebastian Ko uses online tools to do his job - drafting and sharing legal documents on mobile devices, preparing due diligence checks on cloud-computing platforms, and working overtime from home on desktops to meet deadlines.

But under the current rules, young solicitors such as Ko cannot embrace the technology in the same way as their American and English counterparts, who established virtual law offices more than a decade ago.

Such cloud-based offices would be especially useful for lawyers in Hong Kong, Ko said, given the skyrocketing rents.

However, the city's solicitors - numbering about 9,000 - must abide by strict confidentiality requirements under Law Society rules. In practice, that means they can work only from a fixed office, even though the technology is there to allow them to work flexibly from home or elsewhere.

"Many lawyers I know believe that greater reliance on technology in legal practice could help make lawyers and clients more efficient, and could benefit clients' access to legal services," said Ko, an associate at law firm Debevoise & Plimpton.

It appears the Law Society has taken note. Its president, Stephen Hung Wan-shun, recently announced a new working group would look into the idea of allowing virtual practices.

"Law firms across the globe are confronted with similar cost issues. In response, new business models have evolved in other jurisdictions to explore opportunities to service clients' legal needs through virtual instead of bricks-and-mortar offices," Hung wrote in last month's issue of the society's official journal, Hong Kong Lawyer. Citing a study by the society, Hung said law firms faced average rent rises of 247 per cent last year from 2004.