It seems that every solo lawyer I meet has a list of things they would like to be doing better in their practice. Sometimes the motivating factor is business growth, sometimes it’s efficiency. At the heart of many “to do” items, though, is a desire to create a more ethically sound practice. Where do you start? Don’t […]

The Legal Marketing Association Annual Conference is where lawyers and legal marketers go to get up to date on the latest techniques, trends and tools. Here are top content-related takeaways from last week’s confab in Las Vegas.

Regarding your self-promotion, I have good news and I have bad news. Good news: There are more opportunities to promote yourself than ever before. Bad news: The sprawl of marketing opportunities is so fractured and vast, you'll need multiple personas to cover them all. Think of yourself as not just one lawyer. You’re an entire firm — a matryoshka doll in an Armani suit. To serve these nested personas, you need more than one biography.

During the ABA TECHSHOW 2017 program "The Startups Are Coming," Andrew Arruda suggested we reframe the sentiment to: "The nimble companies are here to help you." Not as sexy but a lot more accurate than an analogous popular refrain: "Robot lawyers are coming to take your jobs." Andrew exhorted legal professionals in another session to sit next to the engineers in the room, learn from them, team up and work together to innovate. So, I dutifully ran down to Startup Alley in the expo hall to interview some of the nimble companies, and was able to catch a few before the hall shut down. They were great sports. Here, with minimal editing, are their stories in their own words.

Chaos sounds the death knell for any solo attorney’s practice. It breeds confusion, distraction and disorder. Unfortunately, for most solos, chaos is the natural state of affairs. The reason is simple: The practice of law consists of many moving parts at all times, each of which is dynamic and contingent. Take a simple example from my personal injury practice: a car accident.

Unhappy clients often choose to file ethics complaints against their poor-performing lawyers. What leads to their unhappiness? It may come as a surprise, but most ethics complaints are not about incompetence. Instead, most complaints revolve around basic customer service expectations. They involve issues that, even without specific ethics rules in place, would make any reasonable person agree the lawyer should be disciplined.

While there are infinite ways to spend money marketing your law firm, only some will deliver the right return on investment. In my experience, especially in today’s increasingly digital marketing environment, finding and working with the right search engine optimization (SEO) firm is still one of the best investments a small law firm can make.

Analysis of a new report on $19.6 billion of approved legal department invoices reveals that to maximize firm profits, partners should focus on developing and retaining senior associates and providing clients with services in multiple practice areas. The reasons: First, the average year-over-year hourly rate increase in 2015 for associates was 7.3 percent — more than double the 3.6 percent rate increase for partners. Second, firms that provide clients legal services in multiple practice areas charge higher than average rates for most, if not all, of their services.

Question: "A growing number of millennials are joining older generations in law firms. What are generational communication differences, why do they matter, and can understanding them improve performance across our firm?" In this edition of "Ask the Experts from the Legal Marketing Association," Jonathan Fitzgarrald says it's time to assess your firm's generational "markers."

Last week, we shared highlights of ABA TECHSHOW's exposition hall, with a big list of what's new in legal technology. Today, top practice management technology pros (including faculty and former ABA TECHSHOW chairs) share their personal favorite tips and takeaways from the programs and presentations. Here are picks from Jim Calloway, Darla Jackson, Natalie Kelly, Tom Lambotte, Sharon Nelson and John Simek, Nora Regis, Deborah Savadra and Reid Trautz.