We smiled when we read the name of Diana Stepleton’s upcoming session at this year’s MILOfest:”Hugging Your Clients.” Client service is one thing, but making your clients feel they have been hugged is something else altogether. So we asked the Ruby Receptionists GM to elaborate. Here are a few smart ways you can improve your […]

Much has been written and said about the value of forming client teams, but a recent conversation made me realize not all lawyers understand what that actually means.

The annual Legal Marketing Association Technology West conference is the equivalent of the State of the Union for law firm marketers. It’s a hands-on, application-oriented meeting with presentations from those at the top of their fields. Many presentations are data-driven, with speakers sharing surveys that show the current state of the legal marketing industry, with lessons for firms and marketers drawn from Google analytics. And it’s not just about BigLaw. Often, the most interesting sessions are presentations from small firms and those working with very limited budgets.

We’ve all found ourselves trapped in a dead-end conversation at a networking event. Someone drones on about a topic in which you have no interest. Or, it’s simply someone you don’t like. Or maybe you just don’t want to spend that much time with any one person. You need an escape that doesn’t require you to be rude.

By now you've probably seen the video The Evolution of the Desk. It got us thinking (and looking askance at our own desks!). If this is the space where we spend our days, it says so much about us. But … what exactly does it say? Attorney at Work readers are always curious about how — and where — other lawyers do their thing — eager to pick up a trick or hint for doing things better or more efficiently. So we asked some of our favorite contributors to give us a glimpse into their office world by taking a quick photo of their desktop to share. (We asked that they take an in situ photo and skip the tidying up — we'll leave it to you to figure out who complied.) ... WATCH THE SLIDESHOW

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