Battling Dragons as You Start Your Solo Practice
I see more lawyers these days who are launching their solo practice. Some line up office-sharing arrangements while others decide to go slow by initially working from home. An article I wrote for the Oregon Bar Bulletin, “Home Alone: Where to Hang Your Shingle” may give some ideas for lawyers thinking about this option. An [...] - Read More
(Source: Just Oregon Lawyers Blog) - 09/03/10

Turbulence in the Cloud…
The closing down of Intuit's Quicken cloud based application raises questions regarding the dangers of law firms basing their practices on the cloud. - Read More
(Source: Thoughtful Legal Management) - 09/03/10

Friday PMA Blog Roundup - 09/03/10
Body: We're covering two weeks of posts from the law practice management advisors this time, so there's plenty of excellent content worth checking out: Sheila Blackford blogged about the importance of planning ahead to make sure your firm winds down properly. Beverly Michaelis offered some tips on hiring legal support staff and collecting on accounts receivable. Laura Calloway wrote about the benefits and dangers of temporary backup files, particularly in Microsoft Office. Dan Pinnington added to the ongoing discussion about collaborative family law agreement frauds that have emerged recently. Jared Correia blogged about business card optimization, establishing naming conventions as part of a records management process, and some helpful le... - Read More
(Source: ABA Site-tation) - 09/03/10

Tarheel, Boy: North Carolina Bar Association Proposed Ethics Opinion Helpful for Compliance with Massachusetts Data Privacy Law
Before we get started, I’d like to direct your attention to a really great cause (keep reading, this will cost you no money) that my friend Jamie alerted me to:The Cystic Fybrosis Foundation is seeking $250,000 through the Pepsi Refresh Project to purchase and distribute breathing devices for infants with cystic fibrosis. If you want to help, please vote for the project here. Voting ends September 30.What’s good about the Pepsi Refresh Project: (1) It’s not your money, it’s Pepsi’s. (2) All you have to do is register and vote. (3) It makes it easy to do something good today.. . . We’ve written here numerous times in relation to the new (becoming less new by the day) Massachusetts data privacy law and regu... - Read More
(Source: Law Practice Advisor) - 09/02/10

ABA TechEZ Training: Microsoft Quick Parts and Google Tricks
Body: Two new ABA TechEZ Training Tuesdays recordings are now available for ABA Members: Efficient Drafting with Microsoft Office Quick PartsIn this Training Tuesday session we look at ways to cut down on the time required for drafting e-mail messages and Word documents by using Microsoft Office's Quick Parts feature to store and instantly insert blocks of frequently-used text. Quick Parts can enable "document assembly-lite" capabilities within Microsoft Office. 15 Google Search TricksGoogle isn't just for basic web searches. Need to track a package? Check flight status? Convert currency or measurements? We demonstrate how you can use the regular Google search tool in fifteen different ways you may never have expected. ABA TechEZ Training T... - Read More
(Source: ABA Site-tation) - 09/01/10

Get on the Partnership Track With the CBA Partnership Toolkit
The Canadian Bar Association’s new Partnership Toolkit is a comprehensive collection of information aimed at lawyers trying to navigate the oftentimes confusing and difficult path to partnership. Lawyers will find a wealth of advice here in the form of self assessments, audio podcasts and articles in both web and PDF formats. The site can be navigated in an interactive and animated menu style as well as a traditional series of links. Some of the highlights of the Toolkit in include: A self assessment questionnaire to help you decide if partnership is right for you. An audio podcast… [more] - Read More
(Source: Slaw: Dan Pinnington) - 09/01/10

Get on the partnership track with the CBA Partnership Toolkit
The Canadian Bar Association’s new Partnership Toolkit is a comprehensive collection of information aimed at lawyers trying to navigate the oftentimes confusing and difficult path to partnership. Lawyers will find a wealth of advice here in the form of self assessments, audio podcasts and articles in both web and PDF formats. The site can be [...] - Read More
(Source: Avoid a Claim) - 09/01/10

Unique Pro Bono Consortium Resolves I-35 Bridge Collapse Litigation
I was proud to read in the National Law Journal that my friend and law school classmate, Chris Messerly, led a unique consortium of 17 pro bono law firms to settle the lawsuits resulting from the August 2007 Interstate 35W bridge collapse over the Mississippi River in Minneapolis.Chris is with Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi, the Minneapolis-based litigation firm that agreed to handle the case pro bono. Chris was president of the Minnesota Trial Lawyers Association at the time of the collapse, which led him to orchestrate the group of firms to handle the matter without compensation.�According the interview with Chris in the National Law Journal, the unique group of firms worked well together for the benefit of the victims:We had teams f... - Read More
(Source: Reid My Blog) - 08/31/10

Facebook Places
Body: The recently launched location based service Facebook Places allows you to see where your friends are and share your location in the real world. If you are at a conference and Facebook Places reveals that some of your best friends are at the same conference, this can be a great thing. The Facebook Blog further discusses the benefits of Places in the posting “Who, What, When, and Now...Where.” � Facebook Places takes advantage of the growing popularity of location-based social media made popular by Foursquare and Gowalla. These websites, sometimes referred to as geotagging or geosocial sites, use your mobile devices as a GPS device. This makes it easy to share your favorite places, keep up with friends and discover new pla... - Read More
(Source: ABA Site-tation) - 08/31/10

Can’t Read It! – 08/30/10
Would you like to read articles on the web without the surrounding clutter? Would you like to control the relative size of the text in web page articles? Would you like to print only the article in a format that is truly readable? - Read More
(Source: PMATips) - 08/31/10

Revisiting America at the Minnesota State Fair
Yesterday my youngest son Kendall and I visited the Minnesota State Fair, a 149 year tradition that has been at the same fairgrounds in a suburb of St. Paul (about 4 miles from where I grew up) for over 100 years. It was our first visit in 5 years.The Minnesota State Fair is 320 acres of food, fun, exhibits and people watching. The fair attracts over 1.8 million visitors in the 12 days leading up to Labor Day. There is plenty to do and see--from the huge farm tractors showcased on Machinery Hill to the games and rides on the Midway; from jam, honey, quilt and Christmas tree decorating competitions to the booths hawking “Miracle Mops”; from the pig and cow barns full of prize-winning livestock to the nightly grandstand performanc... - Read More
(Source: Reid My Blog) - 08/31/10

Legal Productivity: The Blog, Not (Necessarily) The Thing
This late August, Rocket Matter, purveyors of legal productivity software (or, “practice management software”, as we frequently refer to it here), launched a new blog, labeled, aptly (see, I wasn’t kidding): “Legal Productivity”.The Legal Productivity blog promises much and many good postings relative to law practice management, a subject dear, as you know, to mine own heart. The Legal Productivity blog does not replace Rocket Matter’s company blog, which will continue to feature product-related news and notes, it merely moves the law practice management conversation to another webspot. Rocket Matter’s Larry Port explains, in the transitional post at Rocket Matter’s original blog.Being the sel... - Read More
(Source: Law Practice Advisor) - 08/31/10

Cool Tools - Sprint Overdrive 3G/4G Mobile HotSpot
Recently I was in a hotel room checking something online with my laptop when my teenaged son noted the unfairness of the situation. We had two laptops (one PC and one Mac) plus an iTouch and iPad in the room.... - Read More
(Source: Law Practice Tips Blog) - 08/30/10

Accounts Receivable Do Not Improve Like Fine Wine
Unlike a fine cabernet sauvignon, your accounts receivable are at their best when less than 30 days old – and they definitely do not improve with age. Quite the opposite, in fact. The older you allow your accounts receivable to become, the more they cost you and the less likely your chance of 100% recovery. [...] - Read More
(Source: Oregon Law Practice Management) - 08/30/10

Kudos to the ABA for Representing Our Profession Against Unwarranted Regulation
Kudos to the ABA for standing up to the FTC who want to add another layer of regulation on lawyers. The FTC wants to include lawyers in their "Red Flag" financial rule, but a D.C. Court ruled earlier this year that the FTC has no authority to regulate lawyers. So the FTC decided to appeal. Leading that charge is the ABA. According to the National Law Journal, [t]he Federal Trade Commission has no authority to lump lawyers in with creditors in the enforcement of regulations that govern the prevention of identity theft, attorneys for the American Bar Association said in court papers filed in a federal appeals court in Washington. The ABA brief, filed Friday in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, responds to FTC papers that argue t... - Read More
(Source: Reid My Blog) - 08/30/10

Finders’ Keep: The Use of Naming Conventions Within Records Management
You can chock this posting, as well as my many others, up to my essential laziness. Yes, it’s true, I am, in fact, essentially lazy: I’d rather be lying on my couch, eating chips (and picking the stray chip pieces out of my chest hair--no, those don’t get thrown away) and watching SportsCenter right now. (Oh, that’s gross? Really? Would you rather work, or eat chips on a couch? That’s what I thought.) Unfortunately, I worry too much about getting fatter, and about making money (not independently wealthy, despite what my lifestyle might otherwise suggest) to do that. So, I still have to, like, work at LOMAP, and meet with our clients. As I’ve mentioned before, after meeting with clients, I always settle ba... - Read More
(Source: Law Practice Advisor) - 08/27/10

Save Your Bacon – Or Cook Your Goose?
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 during these dog days of summer and do a related post of my own. But first, the original inspiration. Ms. Berinstein, who is [...] - Read More
(Source: The Last Word) - 08/26/10

Lawyers and Smartphones
Body: The results of the 2010 Legal Technology Survey Report indicate that more than three-fourths (76%) of respondents personally use smartphones, up from 64% in the 2009 survey. The brands most often cited by survey respondents were BlackBerry/RIM (66%), followed by the iPhone (20%) and Palm (9%). Overall U.S. smartphone usage paints a slightly different picture. ComputerWorld reports that during the first half of 2010, Android was the top operating system in smartphone sales, closely followed by Research In Motion's BlackBerry OS and thirdly, Apple's iOS. � Android, developed by Google, is an operating system for mobile devices boasting more than 70,000 apps. August 2010 saw the release of the Verizon Motorola Droid 2 with a physical ke... - Read More
(Source: ABA Site-tation) - 08/26/10

Update on ongoing collaborative family law agreement frauds
The following is the text of the August 26 2010 e-blast LAWPRO sent to Ontario lawyers warning them about an ongoing collaborative family law cheque scam. Almost every day LAWPRO® hears from lawyers who find themselves the targets of various kinds of frauds. While this message is not a full fraud alert, we felt we [...] - Read More
(Source: Avoid a Claim) - 08/26/10

When Lawyer Advertising Seems Too Good to be True . . .
Radio and TV advertisements seem to be dominated by recession inspired debt reduction and tax reduction services that claim to save a person thousands of dollars or extract them from huge IRS liabilities for just pennies on the dollar. I've always wondered how that can be true. Well, maybe it's not!The State of California has brought suit against "The Tax Lady" Roni Deutch, one of the best known advertising lawyers on television. In their complaint, the California Attorney General states the defendant(s) "regularly violate California law while preying on consumers who cannot afford to pay their tax liability and are facing collection actions by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). In order to convince consumers to pay Defendants thousands of... - Read More
(Source: Reid My Blog) - 08/25/10

Nothing Lasts Forever: The Importance of Planning Ahead
When launching a new law practice, take time to plan ahead for when your law practice will end. You may have every intention of running your firm until you are in your 70s or 80s. But what happens to your law firm if you are suddenly gravely ill and in the hospital? What happens if [...] - Read More
(Source: Just Oregon Lawyers Blog) - 08/24/10

Just a Couple of Business Card Sharks . . . : More on Business Card Optimization
This week, Jim Calloway, Director of the Oklahoma Bar Association's Management Assistance Program, and I were quoted together in "Business Card Sharks: A Creative Business Card Can Be The Ace Up Your Sleeve", an entertaining and informative article, written by Michael Rappaport for The Canadian Bar Association's PracticeLink.(How did I get quoted in this article? I don't know. Jim was probably pulling some strings behind the scenes.)In addition to the linked article, from north of the border (or, south of the border, if you're reading this at the North Pole), you may be further edified by my previous blog post on business cards, available here. For even further edification, review Jim's own robust article on business cards, available at the... - Read More
(Source: Law Practice Advisor) - 08/24/10

Site of the Week: Unsuck it.com
The Website of the Week this week is Unsuckit.com. The site's function is "What terrible business jargon do you need unsucked?" But it may work for legal jargon, too. Some examples: Low-Hanging Fruit e.g. Our budget’s tight on this one,... - Read More
(Source: Law Practice Tips Blog) - 08/24/10

Go Out to Lunch – Don’t Go Out for Lunch – 08/24/10
Go out to lunch - Don't go out to lunch - which decision will serve you the best results? - Read More
(Source: PMATips) - 08/24/10

Google Bookmarks--Storing Internet Bookmarks Online
Body: Internet bookmarks can be useful for keeping track of websites when doing research online. One inconvenience of traditional browser-based bookmarks is that they are stored locally and available only�on a�single computer. In contrast, several online/social bookmarking services such as Delicious and Google Bookmarks store bookmarks online, allowing you to access them from any computer with a browser connected to the Internet. � Google Bookmarks may be convenient for those who already use Google services like Gmail or Google Docs--you can add to and access your Google Bookmarks in a browser anytime you are logged into your Google Account. To access Google Bookmarks you can drag a simple Google Bookmarks bookmarklet into the Bookmarks o... - Read More
(Source: ABA Site-tation) - 08/24/10

Know Who You Hire
The best predictor of future behavior is past behavior. Love him or hate him, this quote from Dr. Phil says it all when it comes to hiring legal support staff. Before joining the Professional Liability Fund in 1996, I operated the Multnomah Bar Association’s Legal Placement Service. During my tenure,�I interviewed and screened thousands of [...] - Read More
(Source: Oregon Law Practice Management) - 08/23/10

Managing Your Client’s Expectations
For many clients, the decision to get a lawyer is a scary one. How much will it cost me? When do I have to pay? Will the lawyer be able to help me? What will the lawyer do to fix my problem? How long will this take? All questions that run through your client’s mind [...] - Read More
(Source: Just Oregon Lawyers Blog) - 08/19/10

How to........ From GPSolo Magazine
Words rarely fail me, but I cannot say enough good things about the July/August 2010 ABA GPSolo Magazine with a theme of "How To." Every lawyer should look over this edition of the magazine and all of the articles are... - Read More
(Source: Law Practice Tips Blog) - 08/19/10

Pilot Project for Expedited Jury Trials
Multnomah County is offering an expedited track for civil jury trials�effective immediately pursuant to UTCR 5.150, adopted out-of-cycle by the Oregon Supreme Court on May 6, 2010. In�it’s Justice Media Release, the Oregon Supreme Court stated “The goal is to provide speedy and economical disposition of civil cases and to increase the use of jury [...] - Read More
(Source: Oregon Law Practice Management) - 08/19/10

Fourth Judicial District Draft Rules Available for Review
The Fourth Judicial District draft Supplementary Local Rules are available for examination here. The rules will be reviewed at the next meeting of the Uniform Trial Court Rules Committee and will become effective February 1, 2011. - Read More
(Source: Oregon Law Practice Management) - 08/19/10

Follow Me On Twitter @jimcalloway (and stop by LexTweet)
In preparing for an American Bar Association online webinar on social media, I stopped by LexTweet. LexTweet is a service of LexBlog that aggregates and ranks lawyers and others associated with the legal profession who use Twitter. I was impressed... - Read More
(Source: Law Practice Tips Blog) - 08/19/10

Prefab Modules: Legal Workspace Offers Hosted Desktop Solution for Lawyers
Legal software takes time to download. It also costs money to update. And, even if you don’t know that, your IT guy does. You know, the guy that bills you for that stuff. But, if you want an alternative method for establishing and updating your desktop legal software platform, there is, potentially, a way to acquire the whole she-bang, with little to no effort on your part, and at a cost savings to you. Legal Workspace offers a hosted legal desktop solution for attorneys. Setup is done remotely, and Legal Workspace’s engineers won’t even need to access your computer. Maintenance of programs takes places behind the scenes, as well, again, performed by those cheerful and lovable elves (well, I guess they’re really &l... - Read More
(Source: Law Practice Advisor) - 08/19/10

Why Do Today What You Can Put Off Until Tomorrow
This was a sign proudly displayed in the office of a lawyer I visited some years ago. At the time, the lawyer was still relatively successful and held out the habit of procrastination as if it were a badge of honor. A failed relationship and nearly 20 legal malpractice claims later, the sign is no longer [...] - Read More
(Source: Oregon Law Practice Management) - 08/18/10

Cool Tools - Dropbox
I've decided to create a new category today called Cool Tools. These tools will primarily be very useful and practical tools that can be used in a law practice, but I reserve the right to post about some tools just... - Read More
(Source: Law Practice Tips Blog) - 08/17/10

The iPad Show – 08/17/10
If you have jumped aboard the iPad train, using the powerful adaptability of this device, you may be interested in the iPad Show. - Read More
(Source: PMATips) - 08/17/10

Scammers Never Rest: 5 Tips to Protect You & Your Clients
Despite the lazy days of summer, scammers never rest. Neither should we when it comes to protecting our clients’ and our own personal information. In the June 21, 2010 Lawyers USA Online article by Nora Tooher, “Online bandits pilfer client trust account,” we learned about the risks of online banking from the experience of Florida [...] - Read More
(Source: Just Oregon Lawyers Blog) - 08/13/10

The Ultimate Guide to Gmail – 08/10/10
The Ultimate Guide to Gmail by Taty Sena is a handy, very informative PDF guide to using Gmail. It also includes valuable links to Gmail shortcuts and a Gmail cheat-sheet. It explains labels, setting, advanced settings, filters and more. If you are using Google Docs, Google Calendar, Tasks, or need help on just about any [...] - Read More
(Source: PMATips) - 08/10/10

If You Wonder if Someone is Watching You, Click Here
The Wall Street Journal just finished running a fascinating and downright scary investigative series revealing how our privacy is compromised when we are surfing the Internet or using a cell phone, and how big players such as Microsoft have purposely failed to provide tools to protect our data in order to cash in on the on-line advertising bonanza.The What They Know series began July 30 with The Web’s Gold Mine: Your Secrets, which Doc Searles (of Cluetrain Manifesto, et al) has pronounced as the tipping point in on-line advertising. That is, when people realize how much they are being tracked they will opt-out of providing data to surreptitious data miners who, in turn, will move on to greener (as in money) pastures on the Internet.A... - Read More
(Source: Reid My Blog) - 08/09/10

Three Tips in One – 08/04/10
Three Tips in One TIP ONE – Practice Management Advisor Reba Nance from the Colorado Bar recently wrote this great tip for sending email directly from Word. Composing and Sending an E-Mail Without Ever Leaving Microsoft Word – Word 2007, 2003 and 2000 Many of us spend much of our time in Word. Wouldn’t it [...] - Read More
(Source: PMATips) - 08/04/10

Free Cleaning Service for Women Undergoing Chemo
As a cancer survivor, I know that something as mundane as cleaning the home becomes an insurmountable task during chemo, and I wish I had known about this when I underwent my treatment. - Read More
(Source: PA Law Practice Management) - 08/03/10

7 Reasons to Take Your Practice Digital
In his July Lawyers USA column, our good friend Jim Calloway strongly encourages law firms to move away from paper files to digital files, and provides seven compelling reasons to make the move now. I’ve been an advocate of this too, but not as strongly or cogently as Jim puts forth in his column. Definitely [...] - Read More
(Source: Busy Lawyer's Guide to Success) - 08/02/10

Law firm Websites
I find that many small law firms have reserved a domain name and have set up their email to use that name, but they have no Web page yet. I think that it’s really important to have some kind of Web presence if you are giving out your email address and it ends in something [...] - Read More
(Source: SC Small Firm) - 07/30/10

Do You Know What to Do if You or a Client are Attacked on the Web?
If you've ever had to try and get someone who is posting your materials on their site without permissioin or someone who has posted malicious information on the web dealt with, it can be a confusing and daunting task. The Law Technology News Daily alert email has a link to How to Protect Client Reputation From Web Attacks which provides a nice overview of things to do including the absolute need to use the complaint procedure of the hosting site. - Read More
(Source: Compujurist) - 07/29/10

Outlook Tip: Quickly Delete Outlook Emails Permanently
Most people delete Outlook email messages by clicking on the Delete command or using the Delete key on their keyboard. However, this doesn't permanently delete the message; rather, it sends it to the Outlook Deleted items folder. And there it sits in most cases, waiting to be permanently deleted when the user finally gets round to using the Empty Deleted Items command (from the right click context menu). - Read More
(Source: Compujurist) - 07/27/10

Save 20% – But Only for One More Week
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% discount on all it’s books and CLE products through July 30th. (As is always the case with discounts, some restrictions apply.) I try [...] - Read More
(Source: The Last Word) - 07/26/10

Success Costs 20% Less This Week Only!
All ABA books including the Busy Lawyer’s Guide to Success: Essential Tips to Power Your Practice are discounted 20% through July 30, 2010. Head to the ABA Webstore and check out our book and other terrific books–including some of our favorites from Jim Calloway & Mark Robertson, Dennis Kennedy and Tom Mighell, and Sharon Nelson [...] - Read More
(Source: Busy Lawyer's Guide to Success) - 07/26/10

Tip: Composing an E-Mail Without Leaving MS Word
? You know its gonna make it that much better … Wouldn’t it be nice …? Music and Lyrics by: Brian Wilson, Tony Asher, Mike Love, recorded by The Beach Boys. This is a “Tip” from my colleague and friend, Reba Nance, who is a fellow PMA (Practice Management Advisor) for the Colorado Bar Association: [...] - Read More
(Source: Thoughtful Legal Management) - 07/23/10

Energizers and Sappers…
? Taking all of my energy, energy, energy Taking all of my energy…? Lyrics and Music by: Louis Biancaniello, Rico Love, Sam Watters, Wayne Wilkins; recorded by: Keri Hilson. This guest post is courtesy of Beth Flynn of the Ohio State University Leadership Center and is one of her “Leadership Moments” emails. The OSU Leadership [...] - Read More
(Source: Thoughtful Legal Management) - 07/22/10

Improving Your Practice With Checklists – And More
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 park-and-ride lot at the airport in Atlanta and had no car keys – with darkness falling and a three hour drive back to [...] - Read More
(Source: The Last Word) - 07/22/10

Old hard drives
A few years back, a professor at a well-known law school told me how his university dealt with old computer hard drives. “We used to pay students to smash them with sledge hammers,” he recalled, “until someone got a piece of metal in his eye. Then we stopped.” Around the same time I heard this [...] - Read More
(Source: SC Small Firm) - 07/21/10

Hey, job applicant and employees – don’t forget your wall!
Here's some advice for both job applicants and employers doing the interviewing - don't forget social networking sites! There have been a number of stries over the past 18 months about job applicants who have had potentail job prospects crash and burn after less than thoughtful tweets and Facebook postings. Applicants need to get smarter about how what they tweet and post can impact potential employers and employers need to understand the world of social media. - Read More
(Source: Compujurist) - 07/21/10

Read ‘Avoiding ethical pitfalls with electronic documents’ co-authored with Bryan Sims
The State Bar of Wisconsin has published a two part article I co-authored with Bryan Sims of The Connected Lawyer in the July editions of its InsideTrack e-newsletter. Titled 'Avoiding ethical pitfalls with electronic documents' , part 1 is on Metadata and part 2 is on Redaction. - Read More
(Source: Compujurist) - 07/19/10

Gear Review: Tom Bihn Empire Builder
I'm a bit of a bag geek. I really like briefcases, luggage, messenger bags, backpacks, man purses, and all manner of vaguely embarrassing ways to cart my junk around. I even know where to find cool bags on Etsy, which I am pretty sure could get me kicked out of my fantasy football league. I have lots of bags, and I admit it is kind of a problem. Particularly when I end up rocking a bag that makes me look like this:     One briefcase that I've been using for better than a year now, and which poses no such threats to my masculinity, is the Tom Bihn Empire Builder:     The Empire Builder is the standard bearer in the Tom Bihn briefcase line. For those who don't geek out over bags, by the way, Tom Bihn is the eponomously-n... - Read More
(Source: Law Practice Matters) - 07/19/10

New on the AvoidAClaim blogroll: The Ethical Quandary
I am pleased to add The Ethical Quandary blog to the AvoidAClaim blogroll. The Ethical Quandary features posts on legal ethics and litigation issues by Michael Downeyand several other Hinshaw Culbertson LLP lawyers. This blog has great posts on legal, ethics, discipline, risk management, and related business and professional issues, albeit with a bit of [...] - Read More
(Source: Avoid a Claim) - 07/15/10

Law Practice Magazine: Recognizing Risks and Avoiding Malpractice Claims
Do you know where the greatest risks of a malpractice claim come from? More importantly—did you know there are simple steps you can take to reduce the risk of a claim being made against you? The July/August issue of Law Practice Magazine is devoted to helping you avoid the dreaded allegation of legal malpractice, as [...] - Read More
(Source: Avoid a Claim) - 07/14/10

What Will Be Your Legacy?
I've been interested in the idea of legacy for a long time, probably since I first read Stephen Covey's Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. The topic became a lot more concrete and real to me a few months ago when my dad passed away. As I have dealt with my own grief over his loss and tried to help my mom do the same, I have also been afforded a different view of my father. I got to see the parts of his life that didn't belong to me, my brother, or my mother, but that he shared with the world through his work. My dad was a teacher for 30 some years, most of which were spent teaching biology in the same community college that he first attended as a student years before. In the days leading up to his funeral and in the weeks and months t... - Read More
(Source: Law Practice Matters) - 07/14/10

10 Great Expert Tips for Word 2010
PCMAG.COM has a great article on 10 useful Word 2010 power tips titled 10 Expert Tips For Microsoft Word 2010 . These tips go to core features that will have an impact every time you open a document based on the default template. Whether you're an expert user or someone just starting to use Word 2010, these are great tips to help you get the most out of Word 2010. - Read More
(Source: Compujurist) - 07/13/10

Can One be Too Frugal?
? Your a mean one, Mr. Grinch You really are a heel Your as cuddly as a cactus Your as charming as an eel, Mr. Grinch…? Lyrics by Theodor “Dr. Seuss” Geisel, music by Albert Hague, performed by Thurl Ravenscroft. Anyone who runs a business knows that it is profitable only if you have funds [...] - Read More
(Source: Thoughtful Legal Management) - 07/13/10

practicePRO and AvoidAClaim Blog mentioned in MAsses of Info e-newsletter
I was pleased and honoured to see a profile of practicePRO and its claim prevention resources, including the AvoidAClaim blog, in the Summer issue of MAsses of Info, the e-newsletter of the Massachusetts LOMAP program. The text of the article appears here: LOMAPs Around the World! We have, it appears, been very neglectful of giving [...] - Read More
(Source: Avoid a Claim) - 07/13/10

PCI Compliance for Firms Which Accept Credit Card Payments
Does your firm allow or require clients to pay by credit card? If so, you want to make sure you're meeting the requirements created by recent federal legislation regarding credit card companies. The new standards apply to anyone who accepts credit cards, including lawyers and law firms. - Read More
(Source: PA Law Practice Management) - 07/06/10

Don’t Get Caught With Your [Redacted] Down!
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 complicated and, potentially, more dangerous. After all, what could be more embarrassing to you or damaging to your client than having opposing counsel [...] - Read More
(Source: The Last Word) - 07/06/10

Happy Independence Day
- Read More
(Source: Law Practice Matters) - 07/04/10

HST Resources
A collection of HST resources for lawyers in British Columbia. - Read More
(Source: Thoughtful Legal Management) - 07/02/10

Resources for Lawyers Using Macs
Over the past few years, I have been getting more and more questions from lawyers who want to run their practices on Macs. Often these questions are from new solo practitioners, but increasingly I hear similar things from managing partners in larger firms. Small wonder, really. Between Windows Vista (RIP), software-as-a-service, and the Apple stock chart, it just makes sense for lawyers to at least consider whether they can run their practices on Macs. There are lots of great resources for Mac-using lawyers on the web, so I thought I would take a few moments to collect some of them here. This is by no means an exhaustive list, just the resources that I am most familiar with. If you have some other great ideas for lawyers who use Macs, pleas... - Read More
(Source: Law Practice Matters) - 07/02/10

More on the Apple iPhone 4
For those of you who have interest in the iPhone 4 and haven't made a move, PCMag.com has provided some additional resources for your researching pleasure. - Read More
(Source: PA Law Practice Management) - 06/30/10

Ready to Buy the iPhone 4?
Here's a great article from CNet News providing all the FAQ about your upgrade options and pricing. The new iPhone goes on sale June 24th. - Read More
(Source: PA Law Practice Management) - 06/17/10

Are you Ergo?
Ergonomic, that is. I don’t need statistics to convince you that anyone who works in a law office spends a huge portion of her (and his) time sitting at a desk. I do, and I’m guessing you do too. Studies have found that ergonomic disorders are practically a pandemic problem in the U.S. What you [...] - Read More
(Source: SC Small Firm) - 06/15/10

Directory
Are you having challenges marketing your firm? Many lawyers feel that most referrals come from other lawyers. If you are a South Carolina Bar member practicing alone or in a firm with five or fewer lawyers, include yourself in the Solo and Small Firm Section’s Solo and Small Firm Practice Area Directory. The Directory is [...] - Read More
(Source: SC Small Firm) - 06/15/10

Who Uses iPad? Has AT&T’s Security Breach Left Them Vulnerable?
The iPad is sellling like hotcakes. Despite tepid advance reviews, the techno-users keep gobbling them up. Sales are strong home and abroad. But the recent security breach of AT&T's web site devoted to iPad users, has most users feeling very uneasy. - Read More
(Source: PA Law Practice Management) - 06/11/10

Who Inspires Your Ideas?
When you are starting a new venture, you need ideas — lots of them! Who inspires your ideas? Do you have a friend, colleague, or mentor who can plug into what you’re thinking about and help you with the inspiration of new ideas? If so, try to have lunch with this person as soon as [...] - Read More
(Source: Just Oregon Lawyers Blog) - 06/10/10

Can John Wooden’s Seven Principles Make You a Better Lawyer?
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 began to hear the reports detailing Coach Wooden’s life and achievements (including 10 NCAA national championships in 12 years), I couldn’t help but [...] - Read More
(Source: The Last Word) - 06/07/10

4 Tips For Lawyers to Effectively Use Social Media
Matt Silverman wrote an insightful article on Mashable containing four tips (with real-life examples) for lawyers to use social media as part of their business development strategy: While most law firms, big and small, tend to err on the traditional side, social media has created new opportunities for attorneys to flourish as thought leaders and entrepreneurs. A recent survey from communications consultancy Greentarget notes that, “While the more traditional marketing channels for law firm credentialing continue to dominate … in-house attorneys now are using new media platforms to deepen their professional networks; to obtain their legal, business, and industry news and information; and to enrich their social and personal lives... - Read More
(Source: Law Practice Matters) - 06/04/10

Provincial, Territorial and State Lawyer Licensing Databases
I have had calls from lawyers in the midst of handling apparent fraud attempts that were wanting to verify whether the lawyers named as the drafter of the collaborative family law agreements presented to them by the fraudsters were in fact real lawyers. There were names and signatures in the agreements – but nothing else. [...] - Read More
(Source: Busy Lawyer's Guide to Success) - 05/26/10

We Love Facebook, But Beware The Growing Fraudsters
Dan has written extensively on this blog, his PracticePro blog, and on Slaw.ca about the cheque fraud that is claiming victims across the legal profession in the U.S. and Canada. That fraudulent activity has yet to abate, and we are now faced with another type of fraud: Fake and stolen Facebook account fraud. Similar to [...] - Read More
(Source: Busy Lawyer's Guide to Success) - 05/02/10

Hobnob
This Wednesday, April 28, 2010, the South Carolina Bar is hosting a legislative reception from 6:00 to 8:00 pm. The reception is at University House at 911 South Stadium Road. And it’s free! So come on Bar members – here’s your chance to rub elbows with the big wigs from the Statehouse. Don’t miss this [...] - Read More
(Source: SC Small Firm) - 04/26/10

What to keep in your employee files: A small law firm’s guide
Our very good friend Jim Calloway wrote a great column for the April 22, 2010 LawyersUSA. It covers what should be in small law firm employee files. In many small law firms there is no formal personnel file or other records for employees besides payroll and tax records. Jim’s article suggests that, at a minimum, there [...] - Read More
(Source: Busy Lawyer's Guide to Success) - 04/23/10