July 2003

Volume 4, Issue 7

Editors

Cherie W. Blackburn

Robert W. Pearce, Jr.

John C. McElwaine

 Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough, L.L.P.

1-800-237-2000

www.nmrs.com

Nelson Mullins has more than 275 attorneys firm-wide, with over 25 attorneys having significant representation of e-commerce clients in areas including patent, copyright and trademark protection; business planning, securities and venture capital; and licensing, distribution and contract preparation. 

Atlanta Contacts

Neil Grayson

neg@nmrs.com

  Lloyd Farr

lgf@nmrs.com

  Charleston Contacts

Cherie Blackburn

cwb@nmrs.com 

Robert Pearce

rwp@nmrs.com

John McElwaine

jcm@nmrs.com 

Charlotte Contact

Larry Scott

ljs@nmrs.com

Myrtle Beach Contact

Franklin Daniels

fgd@nmrs.com 

Columbia Contact

Mark Dukes

mcd@nmrs.com 

Greenville Contact

Marvin Quattlebaum

amq@nmrs.com 

William Herlong

wdh@nmrs.com 

Online Divorces Explode

For fees ranging from $50.00 to $300.00, an ever growing number of Internet companies, computer-savvy lawyers and state court officials are helping couples separate online.  The couples are being provided with the appropriate forms and varying degrees of assistance to help arrange their online divorce.  Over the last year, visits to the divorce section of the California Court systems online divorce website have soared from 6,800 per month to approximately 15,000 per month.  Two of the Internet companies providing such services, CompleteCase.com and LegalZoom.com claim to have provided services to over 20,000 clients nationwide in the past three years.  Reactions to this growing trend of online divorce vary, with religious leaders showing dismay that divorce has become even easier to obtain and the American Bar Association studying the issue of the unauthorized practice of law by these Internet service providers.  Traditional divorce lawyers do not appear to be too worried though, because the online divorce style is well-suited only for uncontested divorces where no significant assets or children are involved.  Source: Wired.com.

First Class of Internet-Schooled Lawyers Pass California Bar Exam

The first 10 graduates of Internet-based Concord Law School took the California Bar Exam, with six of the Bar applicants successfully passing.  Each of the graduates had spent four years acquiring their law degrees solely through classes that were offered online.  Concord Law School, which is owned by Kaplan, the standardized test preparation company, has seen its enrollment swell to nearly 1,200 students.  However, many of those will for one reason or another fall behind schedule and many will eventually drop out.  At Concord, lectures are heard over streaming audio and real time with question and answer sessions being replaced by chat room conversation.  One benefit the online law students seem to enjoy is that if they miss a challenging question, the teacher can choose private humiliation, via email only to the offending student, versus the public humiliation that is possible for someone sitting in a classroom full of students.  Source: MSNBC.com.

Online Personal Ads Generate Huge Profits and Intense Competition

Matchmaking on the Internet has turned into a huge gold mine for many companies.  One company says that it is the “e-Bay for human beings.” Online personals have become such a big business that most major newspapers have added online personal sections to their websites.  One study suggested that paid personals online exceeded $300 million in revenue last year with a huge increase expected for 2003.  One matchmaking site, “www.match.com,” claims that it has more than 766,000 subscribers paying $24.95 a month, with users creating catchy profiles that are available for free to any visitor.  However, if contact with the person listed in the profile is desired, a payment by the visitor is required.  Claiming that it’s the next step in dating, match.com said its 2002 revenues were $1,025,000 with profits reaching $36.1 million.  Source: Internetnews.com.