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Research suggests that life experiences, not material things, are the key to happiness. Nonetheless, by and large, people still choose to spend more of their money on material items because they believe they’re of greater value. After all, it’s ...

In last month’s column, "Stylin’ It in Microsoft Word," I showed how using Word's default Styles to format documents can make your life much easier — and urged you to "leave ’em as Microsoft set ’em." Still, I had a few requests from readers who ...

Recently, one of my clients attended a public utilities association meeting. It's an industry in which he has both a client and an interest. When I asked how things went, he marveled that there were no other lawyers in attendance (although there ...

The suicide of actor Robin Williams made many, including me, reflect on how problems related to depression and substance abuse can lead to desperate, irrational actions. Lawyers in general tend to be more susceptible to problems like these. ...

It is the nature of an abacus to shift — beads making time, marking off distance and space. An experienced abacist knows the score. Still, you’ve gotta have the stones to make the big moves. In 2014, it’s time for Abacus to reset the frame with ...

Ethics rules require you to keep your client informed (see ABA Rule of Professional Conduct 1.4). The client’s guidelines may require interval and event reporting. But sometimes it feels like nobody on the other end is reading your client status ...

Question: I'm an inexperienced lawyer, and naturally timid. How can I be expected to thrive in a networking environment? What's the best way to follow up after meeting someone? When should I ask for their business? In this ...

Branding. It's one of the most overworked and overanalyzed topics in the marketplace of ideas. Paradoxically, or perhaps consequently, it's also one of the most misunderstood. This misunderstanding isn’t a definitional one. There’s a general ...

If you’re a law firm owner or partner, you know the drill — when you’re not working in your business, you should be working on your business. For most of us, that includes a lot of networking — attending mixers, going to lunches, interacting ...

At "Hackcess to Justice" last week in Boston, lawyers and developers spent two days hacking away at a "technological-enabled solution" to improve access to justice. Sponsored by the ABA Journal and hosted by Suffolk Law School in Boston, ...