Killer Law Office Taskmastering with Pen and Paper

November 14, 2011 by
killer-taskmastering

If you are a modern lawyer, you need help tracking things—it’s what those of us in the business call “task mastering.” For instance, like me, you may need a list of items to file when you need to change your name. Or a list of things to do to prepare for a client meeting at Starbuck’s. While you could use online apps such as Don’t Forget the Beer or turn to your Amiga computer for help, those things really seem like toys sometime. Which is why there is a better option for tracking and maintaining your tasks: pen and paper. Here are our top tips for working with these underutilized taskmastering workhorses.
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Filed Under: Practice Management Tagged With: ,

Tips for the Employed Lawyer Concerned about the Apocalypse

October 14, 2011 by
law-practice-apocalypse-featured

We get bags of mail each day, most of it asking for more advice about running the Commodore Amiga. But we get a number of questions about what a law practice should do in the event of an all-out apocalypse. It’s a great forward-thinking question that few legal marketing or practice managements experts have considered or discussed. Beginning today, however, we are rolling out our Law Practice Apocalypse (LPA) series. We’ll provide advice on how best to plan for an apocalypse, what to think about, and what technology to consider.  And we expect to book a few conference gigs over the next several months, so look for us. Some of the things we’ll be covering:
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Five Signs You’ve Become an Old Codger Lawyer

September 27, 2011 by
Image of older shirtless man

Whenever I am in the office and going about my work, I get side comments from staff that loosely translate as “sure, whatever, Old Bone Kenobi.” It generally comes when I ask Greg to fax something for me or if I’m hanging out at the water cooler in the lobby and talking about practicing law out of my car. Over the years, though, I’ve noticed the comments are increasing, so much so that I’m concerned I’ve become what’s well-known in the legal marketing business as “Old Codger Lawyer,” a species of lawyer that is at least two generations behind but still proudly unaware of it. Thankfully, I’ve done some initial research and, thanks to younger associates, have some advice on what to look for and what to avoid. [Read more...]

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Top Tips for Stripping Metadata from Faxes

July 12, 2011 by
white-out

As a lawyer, you cannot get through a deposition today without someone hitting you over the head with a fifty pound bag of metadata. It seems that, wherever you look and whatever you do, lawyers and practice management experts are complaining about how you failed to wash or clean or scrub, as if you’re constantly stinking up the joint. But while lawyers and e-discovery vendors have concentrated primarily on electronic document scrubbing, they have overlooked a fundamental source of metadata: the fax machine. Luckily, we have a few key steps you can take to assure that your next fax transmission does not inadvertently disclose fascinating minutiae of your or your client’s life. [Read more...]

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Four Things That Suck But Are Ethical

June 28, 2011 by
Ethical Things That Still Suck

Lawyers like to complain a lot about sucky things, particularly sucky things that are unethical. It’s part of the occupation. Often, however, the perceived suckiness is, in fact, completely ethical. Like office hot tubbing with opposing counsel’s daughter. Or using Times New Roman. Wrong and sucky. But ethical. Here are four things we rank as sucky but that still manage to stay within the ethical bar.
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The Dogs of Law

May 10, 2011 by
With their keen ability to sense territorial, ethnic, and grooming background of jurors, jury selection canines (JSCs) are able to provide critical information to trial attorneys. Rex, a certified JSC, examines a potential juror.

The recent hubbub over the raid on Osama bin Laden’s compound brought to the world’s attention the use of dogs in war. Following dogs, Slate reminded us about oft-forgotten cats of war. But what about law? For at least a generation, specially trained dogs have been used in various capacities in the practice of law, in pretrial procedure, class action coordination, or for sophisticated legal research projects. Here, we profile four uses of dogs in the practice of law. [Read more...]

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Lawyer Whispering: The Basics

April 4, 2011 by
horse-whispering

Lawyer whisperers, also known as attorney tamers, work with lawyers to understand the instincts and herd mentalities that make the practice of law sane and effective. Clients have often used attorney tamers to help them understand and communicate effectively with their own attorneys. More recently, lawyers are hiring their own lawyer whisperers because they don’t know what else to do to advance their careers, particularly after their social media strategies have tanked. If you are a struggling lawyer, a recent law school graduate, a burned out paralegal, or even a successful horse whisperer, consider a career as a lawyer whisperer. Here are some things to understand. [Read more...]

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Top Five Uses for Your Aging iPad

January 28, 2011 by
ipad-plate

Look at yourself in the mirror and be honest. Your iPad is getting up there and it’s starting to show real signs of age. It’s slow, heavy, and takes a long time to boot up. Worse, its luster has worn off, you’ve forgotten the meaning of the cute engraved message on the back, and you can only find the energy to tweet a few times each day about it. Though tough to do, it’s obviously time to repurpose.

But, good news in all the glum. In addition to at one time being a revolutionary electronic device, the iPad came with several built-in functions that few people have yet to use, all thanks to the geniuses at Apple. To wit: [Read more...]

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How to Practice Artisanal Law

January 24, 2011 by
Artisanal Law Courtroom Practice Lawyers

Like farming, the practice of law will inevitably move into the 20th century, bringing with it innovation and intensifying pressures for efficiency. While we are big believers in innovating as soon as you have to, innovation may not always be the best choice. In fact, with the “slow food” movement and other “back to basic” initiatives such as the debtors’ prison and eradicating childhood polio, there are real opportunities today to reinvent your practice. And what better time to do so than as a slow artisanal lawyer.

What is the slow law movement and how do you become an artisanal lawyer? Good questions. Here are three key components and a short explanation.
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Filed Under: Professional Development Tagged With: ,

Like Gas, Bill Your Time by the Gallon

January 18, 2011 by
gasprices

People use a lot of gasoline. These same people are very familiar with the gasoline pricing structure, which they generally don’t care about or even notice. As a lawyer, use this to your advantage and associate the price of gasoline — a frequent necessity — to the price of legal services, a definite necessity. Here’s how.

First, set your fees in the same way gas stations set their gasoline prices, per gallon and to the tenth of the cent. In other words, the experts are right. Get away from a time-based billing system and use a gallon-based system instead. While it’s still associated with time, paying for legal services by the gallon just sounds a lot better than by the minute. Plus, it seems like you get a lot more.

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