Business plans. Marketing plans. Professional development plans. The hard drives and filing cabinets of lawyers are littered with them. For some, developing a plan is a worthwhile exercise and a means to a desired end: business development and marketing success. But for many others, the planning process becomes an end in itself. The essential next step — action — is never taken.

The staff evaluation form lands on your desk, with instructions to return it within a week. It’s time for the dreaded annual performance review. And it's dreaded not just by those being reviewed. If you are giving the review, it raises anxiety because you don't want to “be mean” (well, maybe some people do, but that’s a different subject), or you may be convinced this whole exercise is pointless because in previous years your feedback has fallen on deaf ears. For some law firms, though, the annual review may be the only time people talk about work performance, goals or how the office is functioning on a daily basis — the only opportunity to give and receive feedback. ... READ THE REST

A basic rule of good writing is to make every word count. “There is,” “there are” and “it is” are the weakest ways to start a sentence. Used this way, “there” and “it” are placeholders for the real subject of the sentence. They are particularly off-putting at the start of a paragraph. When you write, “There are three reasons this Court should reconsider its ruling,” you mean, “Three reasons this Court should reconsider its ruling exist.” Of course, you wouldn’t use this unnatural sentence format. Rather, think of the subject of the sentence (here, the three reasons) as half of a sentence.

As part of your law firm's strategy, you want (ideally) to align your pricing methods, metrics and communications with your clients' value proposition.

Question: I read so much about lawyers engaging in social media, but I see little evidence of its effectiveness. How is social media being used by lawyers in a way that is beneficial? For this edition of "Ask the Experts from the Legal Marketing Association," Stacy Smith, Christina Solomon and Ian Turvill weigh in with a reality check — and good advice. ... READ THE REST

Feedback is constructive information you can use to identify problems you need to correct and strengths you can build on. It can also give you new ideas that will revitalize your practice. But getting feedback, even when you asked for it, can still be fraught with anxiety. ("What if I hear something negative? What if I have to revamp everything I’m doing? Tell me again — why am I doing this at all?") If you’ve decided to seek out feedback, and have identified your goals, audience, timing, and methods for getting that feedback, you’re halfway to the finish line. (See "How to Ask for Feedback.") To get the rest of the way there, you need to know how to receive the feedback you’ve asked for. Knowing what to do with the information you get will help relieve some of your lingering doubts about the wisdom of this whole endeavor. ... READ THE REST

It may surprise some to know that I hold some very strong opinions. One of the burdens of having strong opinions is knowing when to share and when not to. Really, is it conceivable that others would not want to hear the wisdom dripping from our lips?

One of my favorite quotes is, “If you keep on doing what you've always done, you'll keep on getting what you've always got.” Although a bit inelegant, this phrase is particularly apt with respect to marketing and business development.

Even if your firm has a policy against it, there’s a chance that online shopping is happening in your office — especially during the height of the holidays. Why be concerned? For one, hackers are actively working to compromise any size environment. Two, if you or anyone in your office opens an email or clicks a link to an unsuitable website and the network gets infected, fixing the situation can be costly. Things to Do to Safeguard Your Data. Here are five tips to help steer clear of cyberattacks. And don't keep these to yourself.

If you’ve ever had someone say to you, “Come in here and shut the door," because you "need some feedback" on that project you just finished, you may have an instant aversion to the word “feedback.” For many of us, it’s a synonym for “criticism” or “blame." And really, who needs that? What It Is, and What It Isn’t. Misunderstanding what feedback is and how it works keeps many lawyers from using this powerful tool to improve their practices. The real concept is simple ... READ THE REST