A common theme among the attorneys I interview — especially among those who have been practicing for a few decades — is the notion that the legal profession has lost some of its luster. There was a time when being a lawyer brought you the admiration and envy of your neighbors and friends.

Today, thanks to a variety of factors (poorly produced commercials from personal injury attorneys being chief among them), the legal profession has become the butt of jokes and a bit of a punching bag in our society. I've got to think this latest brainchild to come down the pike is going to stoke that fire a bit more ... or will it?

In a society obsessed with having everything how we want it when we want it, a few creative souls have stepped up to provide virtually instant access to a lawyer via a new website, www.lawyerupnow.com.

It may take you two days to get your suits back from the dry cleaners, several hours to get your prescription filled (after waiting two months to see the doctor), and an hour to get your photos back at the drugstore, but fear not scofflaws — an attorney is just a click away.

The next time you call up your favorite pizza house to order you and your buddies a pie, when you hang up the phone, call 877-72-LAWUP and you can be well into a session with a professional, local attorney by the time the delivery boy rings the bell.

I found this impossible to believe, even after visiting the company's website (www.lawyerupnow.com) so I rang up the CEO and co-founder of the site, Chris Miles.

Miles is a Connecticut guy with a background in risk management and insurance. He assured me that indeed, they do guarantee you will be talking to a local attorney with an average of 10 years legal experience within 15 minutes of calling the toll free number. He also talked about how the company came to be and it stemmed from a story shared with him at a Halloween party in 2009.

A father was telling how his son had been pulled over with a car full of friends and the trooper had ordered the men out of the car while it was searched. Nothing was found, but the dad explained the frustration knowing that his young son didn't have a lot of options at the moment, didn't know his rights and could have used some quick legal advice had the situation turned out differently. As Miles told me, the problem with criminal defense is that most people don't have an attorney ready to call, and so when trouble arises, they are often left hanging out to dry.

That story was the impetus to start LawyerUp. Miles says the business kicked off officially on Memorial Day and LawyerUp currently serves Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut. But don't worry folks, Miles says the next state on the horizon is New York.

As for the notion that LawyerUp might in some way tarnish the reputation of lawyers, Miles says his experience has been just the opposite with attorneys embracing the concept.

"I've had attorneys calling from California, the Pacific Northwest, Florida, attorneys in the criminal bar are interested," he told me, "and to a man, they all say this (lack of quick access to an attorney) is a real problem."

"What's been really gratifying is the criminal bar has been very supportive," Miles continued. "We had a bunch of ideas initially and we worked with a group of criminal defense attorneys who told us which ideas were stupid and they helped us get some structure that actually made sense given the way the system works."

While it may seem peculiar to be able to order an attorney over the phone, in the case of the types of criminal cases LawyerUp is focusing on, time is usually of the essence.

"The lawyers tell me the biggest problem is that they don't see their customers until after the facts are done," Miles said. "Somebody comes into the office two or three days later after they have been arrested and what's done is done."

It is then left to the lawyer to advise his new client of his options — options Miles says are often more limited then they would have been had an attorney been retained immediately following an arrest.

Miles hopes to expand LawyerUp eventually nationwide, a proposition he calls challenging based on the varying laws not only state-by-state, but even within different counties in a single state.

"We have lawyers in the network in many states across the county," he said. "For example, right now we have lawyers in New York, but we don't have enough to advertise and be able to guarantee our response time."

Because the laws vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, Miles said a client arrested in Buffalo really needs an attorney from Western New York, not a downstate lawyer who may not be familiar with the nuances of Erie County laws. With interest growing, he expects to be up and running in New York in the near future

As for his base clientele, it may come as no surprise that Miles anticipates a bulk of his business coming from younger people.

"The statistics say you are more likely to be arrested than to be the driver involved in a car accident until you hit your 40s," he said. "So looking at those numbers I would say anybody could be a customer, but we know peak arrest rates are when you are 18-20 — when you are too young to legally drink, but you are a grown adult."

There may not be any hard statistics to back me up on this, but I am guessing the peak pizza delivery audience is also those folks between 18-20. Not old enough to legally drink, but old enough to get the late-night munchies. Maybe Miles and Co. are onto something after all.