Many lawyers are intimidated by technology issues, including how to keep their data safe. Yet in a world where large cities can be held up by ransomware attacks and hackers can shut down multinational law firms, we are far past the point where solo and small firm lawyers can ignore cybersecurity issues. Plus, under the ABA Model Rules, we have a duty to maintain technological competence. And it is hard to see how operating with no security in place can possibly meet this burden. One simple step every solo and small firm lawyer can take is the use of a VPN.

At first glance, communications may seem like a bygone problem for lawyers today. Haven’t smartphones made it easier to stay in constant contact with your clients? It’s true that smartphones offer you more mobility and instant, real-time communication via text messaging, but those tools alone are relatively one-dimensional. They may foster contact, but they limit comprehensive engagement, as they lack the abilities to easily archive and organize client calls and voicemail messages or handle faxes.

As you edit your work product, pay special attention to instances where a stronger verb could replace a verb and its direct object. Besides being less persuasive, weak verbs plus explanatory words lengthen your writing [not, “make it longer”].

Let me tell you a story about a brainy brief writer. She was smart, hardworking and loved practicing law. But she had few clients of her own. This made her beholden to others at her firm. Over the years, she came to believe she could never be a rainmaker. Then one day, the brief writer had enough. She left and started her own firm. Suddenly responsible for her own fate, she let go of the belief that she could not attract clients and embraced the idea that different people do it in different ways. And she soared. That brainy brief writer with no clients was me. If I can do it, you can do it. Here are five steps to get you started.

Few would argue lawyers’ ethical responsibility to communicate with clients using email. It’s fast, secure, cheap and provides a digital paper trail. Or that lawyers have a duty to safeguard clients’ private information, which means understanding risks associated with various tools, whether email, text messages or document storage in the cloud. How do these ethics standards apply to the use of emerging technologies like artificial intelligence?

A personal brand is the thing that sells you when you’re not there to sell yourself. Here’s a primer on lawyer branding. To borrow a phrase from Charles Dickens, for young lawyers in today’s legal market, it’s both the best of times and the worst of times. Worst of times because there’s no place to […]

In "Why Lawyers Really Struggle with Work-Life Balance," I listed six steps to building a practice that runs smoothly and allows you to have a life: 1) acquire better management skills; 2) implement better technology; 3) create and install better systems and procedures; 4) develop better teams; 5) build better market focus; and 6) deliver better legal services. So let's talk management.

When awards season and Chambers nominations roll around, some firms find themselves scrambling to cobble together nomination applications. It’s understandable. I’ve been on both sides: crafting nominations, judging entries and writing copy about the winners. Initially, I thought crafting great narrative in a nomination would clinch the deal. There was gold there, and I just needed to weave it together properly. But I’ve become convinced that a Man Booker winner could draft your nomination and it wouldn’t guarantee a win. Why?

The key to a profitable law practice is to work smarter, not harder. One important tool that allows you to do this is document assembly. For 30 years, HotDocs technology has been used by law firms worldwide to improve their document production processes. Listed below are several best practices gained from thousands of small law firms that use HotDocs each day.

To save time and labor in writing emails, consider composing templates or boilerplates that can easily be inserted into new emails and email messages you respond to. That’s the premise and promise of Ant Text, an add-in for Outlook and Outlook Web Access (OWA) running on Exchange Server 2013 and above, which includes Office 365.