FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions

Frequently Asked Questions

PLANS AND SUBSCRIPTIONS

You can begin using the address immediately after you subscribe and make your first payment. Our on-site staff is informed and ready to accept visitors or mail on your behalf.

However, please note we do require you to fill out a USPS form 1583, before any mail starts to arrive. As required by the USPS we must have Form 1583 available for examination by the postmaster and the Postal Inspection Service.

After subscribing, you will receive an instant welcome email with instructions and a link to fill out USPS 1583. It will also give you the option to schedule a free online notary to notarize the form, as required by the USPS.

We aren’t in the long-term lease commercial real estate business.

With FirmVO, your commitment (if you can even call it that) is month to month with no cancellation fees. We don’t lock you in. 

Should you require or desire a contract term of 1-3 years, we would be happy to provide that. Contact us at (877) 603-1962 and we will send you an agreement on the spot.

We have built our plans to be fully inclusive. We are not in the business of charging our members any hidden fees or overage charges. 
 
 This means a member subscribed to the correct plan, should never incur an additional charge. 
 
There are just three possible scenarios, where you would be charged an overage fee as a member of FirmVO, they are:
 
1. If you go over on your call answering service, we will give you an additional 30 minutes for $59, to ensure there is no interruption in your services
 
2. Going over your USPS forward limits, will result in a charge of $10 per additional forward + the postage. 
 
3. Going over your scan limits, will result in a per item charge of $5 per mail item opened that includes up to 10 pages, + $0.40 for an additional page thereafter.

Each FirmVO subscription includes services for one entity. Should you want to set up an additional entity, you will need to set up an additional full-priced subscription

An additional d/b/a can be added at a cost of $49 per month and are added to the floor directory listing. Your current plan features and allocations will stay the same.

If your firm wants full-time office space with COVID 19 safety and sanitation protocols already in place, please call us toll-free at (877) 603-1962 or email us to discuss your needs.

We offer tailored hybrid office plans for firms looking to have a mix of offices, to be used on a rotation basis (hot desking) and a virtual office setup at the same time.

It's the best of both worlds - usually applicable to firms with more than 10 attorneys who are looking to save atleast 80% on their current office expense.

PRICING

Most virtual offices will take any kind of business as a customer and charge a substantial fee just to get set up. FirmVO isn’t most virtual offices.

Only attorneys can become customers, ALL plans include a $0 set up, and you’ll be up and running in 48 hours.

Costs depend on the specific location and market. Please reach out to discuss your specific location.

MAIL MANAGEMENT

We use a standard manila envelope. We ship it to the address you choose when requesting your forward in the portal.

If you request a bulk forward of all of your mail, we will fit as much as we can in one envelope. If there is still mail remaining, we will use a second envelope. Please note this will account for another forward per plan allocations.

You sure can, just let us know when you sign up that you would like to enroll in mail auto-forwarding.

The front desk staff will automatically forward your mail on Fridays.

You can use this service for forwarding weekly (Profesional and Executive Plan) or bi-weekly (Starter Plan). You can request us to send the mail USPS standard or FedEx with tracking (ground or overnight). Postage charges and subscription overage rates apply. 

With our Executive and Enterprise plan, you are able to receive checks and send outbound mail to and from your virtual office location.

When it comes to checks, our front desk staff can either go to a local bank branch on your behalf or you can send us a bank check scanner to use.

With outbound mail, all you would have to do is email us a document you want to be sent, just don't forget the address of where you want it sent.

We will put it in an envelope, add stamps and send it out on your behalf the same day. The will be postmarked as sent from the city of your virtual office, even if say, you are out of the country. 

FirmVO is unable to initiate a change of address or a forwarding request with the USPS on behalf of a new client. Unfortunately, the postal service just doesn't allow for it.

It's also important to note, that the required USPS form 1583, is not a change of address or a forwarding request with the USPS.

Should you require a change of address, make sure to visit the Official USPS Change of Address® website, where you can make the change of address request directly with the USPS.

ABOUT FIRMVO

New York Judiciary Law section 470 an anachronistic century-old statute, requires New York attorneys based outside the state to maintain a physical office within the State.

An open question today is what is necessary to meet the requirements of the law for New York attorneys, currently residing out of state.  For example, the recent case of Schoenefeld v. Schneiderman (find the case text here) explored this question.

However, uncertainty remains in the minds of many as to the precise requirements for compliance. However, it is clear that until this law is repealed, a physical office in some form is necessary for nonresident attorneys to practice ethically in New York.

We have studied the definition of a physical office and have created and built FirmVO's professional and executive plans to be in compliance with 470 and other ethical pitfalls.

Let us explain why - with a FirmVO plan, you are sharing and paying for the use of an office, a conference room, and legal support staff on site. These staff members and facilities are extensions of your firm like they would be in any law office sublease arrangement.

We also include signage indicating your firm's name outside the suite and the office facility, Our facility is an attorney-only site with staff trained in privilege and confidentiality and the handling of service of process. In addition, we offer a unique license agreement to nonresident attorneys, written to reflect the concerns around satisfying Judiciary Law 470.

We believe, in good faith, the facilities, and services we are providing satisfy the mandate of Judiciary Law 470, however, in the end, that is a decision you must make as a practicing New York attorney.

Disclaimer: FirmVO Inc. makes no guarantee that our office meets the requirement for nonresident attorneys of maintaining a physical office under New York law.

You can book rooms for the same day ~99% of the time. We ensure short-notice availability by limiting the number of attorneys on plans which include access to physical space and by acquiring more space when needed.

If being able to book rooms for focused work, meetings and physical or virtual depositions are important, we recommend starting on a Professional or higher plan which includes 4+ hours of on-demand private office and conference space and discounted prices for additional hours.

You certainly can and we certainly will.

Our front desk is trained and ready to accept any service of process received from the state or courts immediately after you sign up.

You can also use the address for the Courts, the State Bar Association as well as on your website and marketing materials.

We can and we do.

To date, we’ve scanned almost 1,000,000 pages, sent nearly 250,000 time-sensitive mail alerts, and answered over 70,000 phone calls.

Our systems scale so that no matter how large your firm is, you’ll get your mail notifications promptly, calls will be answered and patched through properly, and documents will be scanned and sent quickly.

We also can offer more than the Executive Plan includes, we offer Enterprise and Custom plans, contact us for more details.

In short, FirmVO is more than a physical office, area code, and address — it’s a suite of tools and services.

Mail management ensures you’re alerted of time-sensitive mail quickly and able to act on it with a click of a button. Live legal reception services ensure every client is greeted professionally and politely whether in person or on the phone. And practice management software (coming soon) makes it possible to keep and organize your cases, phone calls, mail and more in one place.

Click here to learn more about our suite of tools and services for attorneys.

LEGAL AWARDS

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AMERICAN BAR new
CIO new
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