It Can’t Happen to Me!
- Filed Under: Practice Management
Three Alabama lawyers lost their office to a fire a couple of weeks ago. According to a subsequent article indicating that the fire was of suspicious origin, the security company monitoring the…
Read MoreWant to Earn More? Change Your Perspective
- Filed Under: Practice Management
When I was a kid one of the games we would play was to stare at a geometric figure, such as the one above, until it would “flip” and we could see…
Read MoreThe End of Clients?
- Filed Under: Practice Management
Richard Susskind’s book, The End of Lawyers?: Rethinking the Nature of Legal Services, has recently come out in paperback. The book discusses how changes in technology are eroding, and will continue to change, the work available for lawyers. Today, though, I’m more concerned with the possibility of the end of clients – those of solo practitioners and small firms.
Despite the fact that the recession has been declared officially over, I continue to receive calls from lawyers, especially solo and small firm lawyers, who are having trouble maintaining their practices. Almost uniformly, they report that their business has just fallen off and doesn’t seem to be showing any signs of returning. I’ve been puzzling over these mysterious, disappearing clients. Were they going to other lawyers? Were they solving their problems without resort to the established legal system? Is it simply that so many people have lost their jobs? Last week the happenstance of finding two diametrically opposed news items at the same time gave me a clue to what I’m afraid is happening.
Save Your Bacon – Or Cook Your Goose?
- Filed Under: Practice Management
A blog post by Jan Berinstein with those eye-catching words in the title grabbed my attention this morning. So much so that it inspired me to shake off the blahs I’ve had…
Read MoreSave 20% – But Only for One More Week
- Filed Under: Practice Management
I couldn’t do my job without the great books that LPM Publishing puts out, which is why I want to pass on the word that the ABA Webstore is offering a 20%
Read MoreImproving Your Practice With Checklists – And More
- Filed Under: Practice Management
Back in March, when I attended ABA TECHSHOW in Chicago, I left my keys in a desk drawer in my room at the Hilton. Needless to say, when I arrived at the…
Read MoreDon’t Get Caught With Your [Redacted] Down!
- Filed Under: Practice Management
With the advent of e-filing, e-discovery and e-production, redaction has moved from something any lawyer can do with a big, fat black Magic Marker to a techno-legal skill-set that has become more…
Read MoreCan John Wooden’s Seven Principles Make You a Better Lawyer?
- Filed Under: Practice Management
The airwaves on Saturday were filled with the sad news of the death of John Wooden, legendary coach of the UCLA basketball team. I’m not a huge sports fan, but as I…
Read MoreMust Read: Time Management for Attorneys
- Filed Under: Practice Management
I’ve read a lot of time management books, so when Time Management for Attorneys: A Lawyer’s Guide to Decreasing Stress, Eliminating Interruptions & Getting Home on Time by Mark Powers and Shawn…
Read MorePay Your Legal Assistant’s Dues, Make Yourself Happy
- Filed Under: Practice Management
I’ve been after my legal assistant, Kristi Skipper, to provide a guest post for The Last Word. She has graciously done so, and here, in her own words, are her Top 5…
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