Getting serious about solving that irritating practice management problem but need a little help? Did you know that you can access — at no charge — hundreds of Attorney at Work daily dispatches by simply searching our archives? There you'll find practitioners' perspectives and expert how-to's on countless conundrums (be it the best billing formats or what the well-dressed wear in court). Speaking of great advice, here are the five most-read Attorney at Work posts from the past 30 days. These are really good ideas! ... READ THE REST

Here’s one for the books. You can bank on it. Clichés are overused phrases that everyone knows. Pundits of good communication advise shunning clichés as unoriginal and boring — which is why readers of these posts may be surprised to see me take a contrary view.

Lawyer, writer and writing instructor Gary Kinder wants lawyers to get to the point quickly in their communications with clients. “Too often lawyers write a letter to the client and won't tell them the answer to the client’s question,” he says. Or if they do, they frequently bury the answer pages deep into the letter.

If you’re subjecting yourself to an online cattle-call and hoping it will somehow result in a new job, you’d better hope that part of the job description is “sheep-like; blindly follows the crowd and pointless instructions from people whose interests are not aligned with theirs.”

From the co-author of "Internet Legal Research on a Budget." Why spend good money on legal research when so many free options are available online? Habit. Fear. Lack of time? "Sometimes it's just easier to stick with the tools you’ve used over the years," says Carole A. Levitt, a nationally recognized expert on online legal research and a former law librarian and attorney. "Yet with cost-conscious clients scrutinizing legal bills, how many lawyers can afford to keep depending on fee-based resources when free alternatives are available?" To help lawyers find reliable low-cost resources online and use them effectively, Carole collaborated with lawyer and current law librarian Judy K. Davis to write “Internet Legal Research on a Budget” (ABA, 2014). They tested and evaluated the best legal research sites — describing how to use each site, often step by step, and with plenty of screen shots. Saving money is always worth investigating, so we asked Carole for a few quickly digestible nuggets to get you started. Download your free copy of "10 Must-Know Tips for Internet Legal Research on the Cheap," and you'll find links to go-to spots for resolving legal quandaries on the cheap. Just click here to get the download.

We all have habitual ways of relating to other people, and chances are your habits haven't changed much over the years. So ask yourself, does the way you communicate and behave foster positive relationships with clients, colleagues, family and friends — or send them running for the nearest exit? Try applying these five tips and see if it improves how you connect with people — and how you feel about yourself, too. 1. Take a good look at yourself. Does it seem like you're always crossing wires and failing to connect with the people in your life? Look back on your last three encounters with clients or colleagues. ... READ THE REST

There are countless ways lawyers can and do compete with one another for work. We have price — what work costs; process — how work is performed; personality — the lawyer’s and her firm’s; place — one’s geographic location; principles — “honesty,” “integrity,” “work ethic.” Those and countless others that don’t start with “p” are all characteristics that lawyers emphasize in an effort to differentiate themselves.

Question: A partner from a local firm is joining our practice in a few weeks. It's been several years since we hired a senior lateral attorney, and, honestly, it didn't go so well the last time we did. Can you give some good tips on integrating a new lateral hire into our firm?

It's unavoidable. If the goal you and your colleagues have set for your firm is a high rate of growth, you are going to be banging your heads against a wall every day. So it’s important to know up front whether that wall is made of bricks or gold. Will the gain be worth the pain? These are the 10 steps I used to accelerate growth at a previous employer from start-up to nearly $1 billion a year — and use today with TheFormTool. While no approach to business will work in every circumstance, these steps are highly adaptable to a law firm — whether a national firm or a solo practice. Depending on the size and complexity of your practice, these steps could take days, weeks or months to fully implement. But if growth is your target, it will be worth it. ... READ THE REST

What’s the biggest predictor of a law firm’s success? Hint: It’s not the firm’s bottom line.  1. Clients are canaries. Research into seven failed professional services firms, four of which were law firms, indicates declining client satisfaction is an early predictor of a firm’s demise. Likening clients to “canaries that were used in coal mines to detect […]