Columns

Not long ago, I was asked to make a presentation at a state bar's Law Practice Management Committee luncheon. Topic? Getting clients, of course. When we opened things up for questions, a gentleman in the back said, “You make it sound like the ...

Self-employed lawyers rely heavily on their ability to propel their businesses forward — more so than lawyers employed by others or partners of large firms. Fail to keep the engines going and your practice will close. Too much propulsion, ...

Figuring out what to write about on my blogs is a challenge I face every week, especially with our firm's patent blog. (I practice intellectual property, but not patent law.) I worry that my posts won’t be helpful or interesting enough to be ...

You’re an unstoppable legal machine. You churn through a hundred pages of briefs and legal research every day. You’re running two phones, a tablet, a laptop and a portable fax machine off a light pole at the airport. Your inbox is an email ...

I once defended a product liability case where the client was adamant that the product always be called a “personal watercraft.” It most definitely was not, he insisted, a Jet-Ski. The issue was the use of a trademark to refer to a similar ...

It can be tough to keep up with the content hamster wheel. Especially if you are trying to keep pace with bigger firms that seem to push out client alerts 24/7. So don’t drive yourself crazy. Get off the wheel. There’s still a way to publish ...

Whether you are a solo attorney or in a big firm, the ability to generate business is critical to your success. But we all struggle with how to do it without draining our bank accounts. So here are some tips on how you can get a referral ...

A number of years ago, a good friend shared what he considers the "magic business development pill." It's simple. There are only two ingredients: 1) Make your conversation all about the client or potential client) and keep it about them; and ...

There’s no denying it: Lawyers have the highest behavioral impairment rate of any profession. Research has shown it, and it is spotlighted in the media, as in a recent New York Times feature on a lawyer who tragically spiraled into addiction ...

As a lawyer and businessperson, you have two jobs in one. Some of us, including me, add the job of professional speaker to our already teeming calendars. Maybe you've considered taking on some speaking gigs yourself. What's a typical day in the ...