What's new in the practice management technology zone? Here are a few quick links to new products and updates — some debuting this week — plus a few applications to help you prepare for trial. Clio announced two new major features yesterday at the Clio Cloud Conference in Chicago: Campaign Tracker and Clio Payments, along with eight new integrations. Clio Payments is a fully integrated credit card processing platform, and Campaign Tracker lets you track leads acquired through your various marketing campaigns, whether phone calls or online form submissions — meaning you can tie billings back to the originating marketing campaign and assess where your marketing budget is getting results. ... READ THE REST

First, let’s get some terms straight. These days, journalism schools are teaching students that a "press release" should be called a "news release." Last time I heard, television, radio, cable and the Web don’t use printing presses. So starting now, it’s a news release. Don’t be shocked, but there’s a really good chance your news release will be deleted without anyone really looking at it. Even if they do, there’s also a chance they won’t think it’s as important as you do. The fact is, a busy, large city newsroom gets hundreds of releases a week. I know. I’ve been there. There's a whole lot of competition for space and airtime. . . . READ THE REST

Once a year, the College of Law Practice Management meets at its Futures Conference to induct new Fellows into the College and discuss issues of importance to the delivery of legal services. This year’s meeting took place October 8-9 at Chicago-Kent College of Law. I was fortunate to be able to attend this meeting and want to share my observations ... READ THE REST

Every few years, state ethics officials issue a questionable decision in the legal marketing ethics area. The ones that make you scratch your head and think, “Really? What planet do they live on?” In Florida, for example, officials thought a law firm’s use of a pit bull logo and a phone number of 1-800-PIT-BULL was deceptive, misleading and manipulative. That decision was upheld by the Florida Supreme Court. Another example occurred in New Jersey, where the high court stopped that state’s attempt to prevent lawyers from advertising their selection by Super Lawyers and Best Lawyers of America. New Jersey regulators thought the use of superlatives had the capacity to materially mislead the public. Today, the spotlight is on Ohio. ... READ THE REST

Good ideas come from all sorts of unlikely places. A Walgreens insert in a recent Sunday paper contained a list of ways to make our brains healthier and more productive. A few of the recommendations were particularly interesting to me. Write in red ink. A new study out of Germany found that the color red "binds" into our memory better than other colors. ... READ THE REST

You’ve got a nice little Saturday going: You didn’t get the job you wanted coming out of law school, but you’ve been running your own solo law practice for a few years now, and it feels like you’re starting to turn the corner. You’ve kept up on your networking, of course, and developed a number of key relationships with more experienced lawyers. Then, the unthinkable happens: One of your contacts offers you a job … as an associate at her law firm. Stop. The. Presses. You were cruising along, and now all of a sudden, you’re faced with a big, fat fork in your road, and you’re twisting like spaghetti.

Stop buying into the Superman complex and consider the ramifications of not taking care of yourself.

It's a win-win. The best strategies for keeping your startup on the straight and narrow, ethics-wise, are often the same strategies that help your practice grow. Mark Bassingthwaighte, risk advisor for malpractice insurance carrier ALPS, knows a bit about the common ethics traps and practice management missteps that can beat down solos and small firms. These tips from his e-book, "The ALPS Guide to Getting Started Solo," will help you rise to the challenge of starting your practice and hanging in for the long term. ... READ THE REST

How did we decide our days would be broken up into “weekdays” and “weekends” and “business hours” and “personal time?” If you are someone’s employee, these concepts make sense. But not necessarily if you’re an entrepreneur or in an eat-what-you-kill environment. I have long said that there’s no division between my professional and personal lives. I’m one person all the time. The same idea should apply to my time. I don’t have to divide my life into work hours and personal time. It’s all time. ... READ THE REST

“Your Honor, this is a motion to vacate the most recent order and request for rehearing. Unfortunately, our failure to appear was caused by a calendaring error in our office.” How embarrassing. Yet, “calendaring” or “docketing” (depending on your jurisdiction) errors happen regularly. Some of the causes of these mistakes can be eliminated by avoiding certain phrases when communicating about date and time setting.