Law Firm People Management

No one really likes conducting performance reviews. For some reason, lawyers seem particularly averse to providing feedback. Perhaps this is because much of the work lawyers do is based on individual performance, or because few lawyers are ...

Sure there are plenty of project management apps to keep us on task, personally. But can project management software be used for managing others, too? In "Project Management: Easy as 1-2-3," Brett Owens highlighted products to help you manage ...

Most lawyers eventually supervise other lawyers. How you handle this new responsibility can make all the difference in the quality of work you get and in your relationship with lawyers you may work with your whole life. Here are some tips on ...

You don’t need a coach to tell you that taking a partner or client to lunch is a great way to forge and further business relationships. But a recent—and for me, jaw-dropping—conversation with some women associates got me thinking there may be ...

Lawyers are good at many things, most of them associated with legal knowledge and analysis. We’re less good at many other things, most of them having to do with business and management. One of the things we’re least good at, I believe, is ...

One way us old guys comfort ourselves about aging is by proving our continuing usefulness to the firm through mentoring new lawyers. While we may think that pearls of wisdom just drip from our lips, I wonder: Do we really have anything useful to ...

I just hired a great new employee using LinkedIn Jobs. It turned out to be an incredibly easy and effective way to identify good candidates and fill the position with a minimum of effort. Deciding between candidates was the only tough part of ...

Some years back, I worked in an office where the boss was obsessive about how callers were greeted on the phone. Then a new receptionist was hired who just could not get the phrasing to his liking—no matter how hard she tried or how many ...

“I told him right to his face what the deal was. And you know what? That lying scumbag now claims I told him something else! I’m gonna nail him, his client and his client’s mother, if that’s what it takes to teach him not to lie to me!” ...

Law offices tend to be set up quite traditionally. Plenty of lawyers are still users of fax machines and their offices usually contain ancient beasts known as stenographs. It is no surprise that lawyers tend to hire traditionally as well. But ...