Are you challenged to meet the expectations of clients who want more value without paying for it? You’re in good company. According to the Thomson Reuters 2017 State of U.S. Small Law Firms Study, 59 percent of respondents say clients who demand more for less are a moderate or significant challenge. But only 20 percent […]

ZokuVault is a virtual safety deposit box for estate planning information. Which makes sense, because all the things people used to place in safety deposit boxes are now mostly virtual items: bank accounts are electronic, so are documents. The idea behind ZokuVault is that all those electronic documents related to estate planning are in disparate places. ... The best use of ZokuVault is as a "whole family" file repository, where relevant financial information is maintained and updated across generations.

You’re articulate, right? You appreciate and emulate good legal writing. So why do you turn off so many listeners and readers so soon?

You’ve heard it hundreds of times: You need to network! If you want to build your client base, get referrals, establish your brand and be a better lawyer, networking is required. But when you’re already busting your tail to bill 1,800 (or more) hours per year, and striving to be involved in your community, stay somewhat healthy, and maintain your personal relationships, networking often falls to the bottom of the list. Here are three easy ways to make networking part of your routine, so it no longer has to be another dreaded item to check off the list.

Well, now, there’s a radical notion, eh? Were you inclined to reject it out of hand as mere headline click-bait? Or did it make you think about that big client from whom you get most of your origination credit and your firm gets so many billable hours? Have you ever thought about Fortune 500 companies […]

A few months back, Harvard Business Review published a terrific article titled "In a Distracted World, Solitude Is a Competitive Advantage." The authors reference numerous sources, from Yoda (Star Wars) to Eric Schmidt (Google) to David Rock (Your Brain at Work), to propose that working in a quiet mental and physical space maximizes the quality and the quantity of the work accomplished. Getting the work done is, after all, the ultimate objective among the many we wrangle each day. This notion of focusing on the work first reminds me of a partner in my former law firm.

So you’ve spent a year creating content. You’ve written articles, created a client newsletter, are active on a blog and comment thread on your bar association website. You publish and provide comments in the local business press. And you should be proud. But creating content without a robust distribution strategy is like an elaborately wrapped box with nothing in it. It just sits there.

What's worthy of your technology investment next year? We asked the practice management technology pros to recommend one good way for lawyers to upgrade their tech in 2018. Here's wise advice from practice management technology pros Heidi Alexander, Sheila Blackford, Joyce Brafford, Jared Correia, Tom Lambotte, Sharon Nelson and John Simek, and Lee Rosen.

Pay-per-click, PPC, paid search — these terms might be familiar to you. Perhaps you’ve even tried Google AdWords but found this digital marketing channel unsuccessful. Usually, that is due to a poorly optimized account instead of the channel “not working." Google receives well over 100 billion searches per month, and more companies are actively following best practices for ranking their websites organically. With so much competition, you can’t afford to leave PPC out of your firm's marketing strategy.

Cybercrime is quickly chipping away at clients’ trust in how law firms manage and secure sensitive financial data. Some have even launched class action lawsuits in protest. As state bar associations are beginning to clamp down on technology incompetency, you cannot afford to cut corners with safeguarding your clients’ personal data. In fact — as the ABA has indicated — you have an ethical obligation to take reasonable steps to protect that data. That is where Abacus Private Cloud enters the picture.