In her latest “Power User” series, Vivian Manning has been showing how to use Microsoft Word Styles to produce documents much more efficiently. In her last column, she showed how Heading Styles can be used to structure and even reorganize documents. This time, she shows how to use Heading Styles to automate your tables of contents. No more retyping page numbers!

There are generally two questions that worry dissatisfied attorneys as they consider leaving the law. First, "How do I know I’m ready (really, really ready) to leave the law?” And, "Once I decide I'm ready, what do I do about it?” How Do You Know You're Ready to Leave the Law? Many of us feel dissatisfied or unhappy in our jobs, or curious about what else is out there. Generally, though, these three indicators signal when you should seriously consider leaving the law. ... READ THE REST

My wife is about a million times smarter than I am. (No … 100 billion.) For my money, that’s the recipe for a successful marriage. I’m a lawyer; she’s a legal assistant. We don’t work together, though — because that would be the recipe for a failing marriage. Not only do I have a deep personal respect for my wife, but I also have similar professional respect for what she does at the office. She knows more than I ever did about substantive law, even if you count the corpus of what I did know when I was still an active practitioner, many moons past. Certainly, I’m biased, but I don’t believe this level of professional respect is of the same sort regularly accorded to support staff in law firms. In fact, I know it’s not. In too many cases lawyers view their support staff as expendable commodities, replaceable and performing functions on a lower level than they do.

Some lawyers spend hours upon hours each month working on their blogs, and yet they have no traffic to show for it. One reason is poor content. There are some common mistakes lawyers make when creating blog posts that do little to help their search engine visibility, much less improve their connection with clients. Here are five sure ways to sink your law blog. ... READ THE REST

The focus of this “One of a Kind” series has been on growth. Growth that's good. The steps and strategies identified in prior posts, which include establishing a niche expertise, a compelling personal brand and a robust content marketing strategy, will lead to more clients, more revenue, more staff and more opportunities. Exciting stuff.

Every year, like clockwork, Bob Denney takes the temperature of the legal profession and shares his firm’s observations on the most important business trends in the practice of law. Once again, this year Attorney at Work readers are the first to receive his latest report on “What’s Hot and What’s Not in the Legal Profession.” So what's the outlook for a profession in what's starting to feel like a permanent state of flux? Here’s the scoop. ... READ THE REST

Thanksgiving is traditionally a time to take a step back and reflect on what we have to be thankful for. For busy lawyers, taking the time to do this doesn’t come naturally. So I’m going to make it easy for you. I’m here to remind you of some things you should be grateful for. ... READ THE REST

Cloud-based file-sharing services like Dropbox, Box and Google Drive may help streamline the way we store and share sensitive documents, but they require an additional layer of security to ensure that confidential files stay safe. Recently, I was chatting with a forensic psychiatrist who consults on criminal and civil cases. He told me that lawyers regularly send him clients’ medical records, sometimes 100+ page documents at a time, without protecting the information and preventing it from falling into the wrong hands. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) requires that health records be strictly safeguarded, with security measures put in place to store and transmit electronic medical information. Lawyers who are not compliant with these rules could expose themselves to liability. ... READ THE REST

Similar-sounding words can have very different meanings. Sound-alike words have tripped up many a scribe. Because you may be spelling the word correctly but misusing it for the context, spell-check is of no help. Watch out! Incorrect usage will reflect badly on your legal writing and distract the reader from your message.

How long have you been a subscriber to Attorney at Work? Those of you who have been with us from the very beginning have been receiving “one really good idea every day” since December 2010. By our count, today marks 1,000 really good ideas in your email inbox! While we’re not the kind who stop to celebrate just anything, 1,000 posts seems a worthy achievement. To celebrate, we’re taking time out from our regularly scheduled Friday 5 programming to send out a great big THANK YOU to all of our subscribers, contributors and sponsors — and do a little bragging. Here are five things you may not know about Attorney at Work. (Turns out these are about you, too.) READ THE REST