Last week, Washington became the eleventh state to close its ethics investigation into the Total Attorneys online advertising model without making any finding of wrongdoing.  The complaints against thirteen Washington attorneys were part of a national campaign by one Connecticut lawyer to attack Total Attorneys’ Internet marketing services to lawyers.  The complaints, filed in April 2009, alleged that Total Attorneys President Kevin Chern and more than 500 attorneys across the country had violated the various states’ Rules of Professional Conduct simply by participating in the Total Attorneys advertising platform.

Last spring, when Total Attorneys CEO Ed Scanlan met with Purse of Hope founder Kristen Hendricks to discuss partnering to create Total Impact House, a home for teenage sex-trade victims in Africa, the two agreed that there had to be more involved than writing a check.  Total Attorneys’ leadership and employees embraced that concept, and began creating a unique, relational program that keeps Chicago volunteers personally involved with the residents of the house in Gulu.  Recently, Scanlan took that personal involvement to a new level:  he and his wife Ashley have just returned from a visit to Total Impact House and Purse of Hope’s drop-in center in Bwaise.

Nearly a year after a Connecticut attorney filed ethics complaints against more than 500 lawyers participating in the Total Attorneys group advertising platform, a Connecticut Statewide Grievance Committee panel has declared that Connecticut attorneys using the service did not pay for recommendations in violation of Rule 7.2 of the Connecticut Rules of Professional Conduct and did not otherwise violate the Rules.

In an unprecedented procedural move, a three-person panel of the Connecticut Statewide Grievance Committee today dismissed complaints against five Connecticut attorneys accused of violating the state’s Rules of Professional Conduct by subscribing to Total Attorneys’ group lawyer Internet-based advertising program.  The Connecticut action was part of a campaign by a single Connecticut attorney, who filed complaints last spring against more than five hundred lawyers  in 47 states.  The complaints were dismissed after the close of Chief Disciplinary Counsel’s evidence, before the Respondents offered a defense to the charges.

UPDATED We recently released a press release stating that the Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission (ARDC) had advised Total Attorneys’ President Kevin Chern that “it had found no wrongdoing” in its investigation into the allegations raised in a complaint filed by a Connecticut attorney.  We would like to clarify and correct that statement.  Rather than state that the ARDC had “found no wrongdoing” we should have stated that it closed its investigation “with no finding of wrongdoing". Although the ARDC advised that it had decided to close its investigation with no action against Mr. Chern, it did not make any affirmative findings.

CHICAGO--(October 2, 2009) – Total Attorneys, Inc., a managed-services provider that helps small law firms and solo practitioners, announced today its acquisition of Virtual Law Office Technology, LLC (VLOTech). Based in Wilmington, N.C., VLOTech provides a secure, web-based interface that streamlines the delivery of legal services to consumers and businesses.

Change comes for legal services provider amid record growth

CHICAGO (Jan. 21, 2009) – Infra-Strategy, the premier provider of legal services for small law firms, announced today that the company is re-branding as Total Attorneys.  The Total Attorneys brand comes from Infra-Strategy’s existing rapidly growing legal services business, according to Edmund Scanlan, the founder and CEO of Infra-Strategy.

CHICAGO (Feb. 26, 2009) – Total Attorneys, the premier provider of legal services for small law firms, announced today that the company is holding a charity fundraiser Friday to benefit the American Cancer Society.

Two-day workshop to help lawyers achieve better work-life balance

CHICAGO (March 17, 2009) – One of the greatest challenges facing lawyers today is juggling the demands of the job with personal and family commitments. The Total Practice Management Association (Total PMA) will teach lawyers to work smarter, not longer, at the Get a Life.^™ Conference, taking place May 27-28 at the Hyatt Regency in Chicago.

CHICAGO (March 19, 2009) – Total Attorneys CEO Edmund Scanlan and President Kevin Chern have been selected for induction into the Chicago Area Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame.