I've been through a few fashion trends and I appreciate others' perspectives on style. In our profession, it’s important to look ... professional. Looking good can help bolster your self-confidence and can certainly affect how others see you. But the next time you're in a room full of lawyers comparing ties and admiring each others' socks, ask yourself if that's really what you came to do. (You know. You've been there. It happens.)

The Internet is awesome. It's also horrible. It's the greatest timesaver in human history (okay, maybe air travel, but it's up there). It's also the biggest time-suck. With so much information and so many resources available at your fingertips, it can save your butt (anniversary gift overnight shipping, anyone?). It can also make you one.

If you want people to notice you online, it doesn't take a marketing genius to know it's all about the visuals — a photo, infographic or video will out-pull your wall of words every time. (A photo of you will help, too.) We're not advocating posting random graphics (unless, of course, there's a compelling business reason behind that cat wearing clothes). But since adding good graphics to your website, blog or social media means your message is more likely to be seen and shared, it does make sense to invest in your visuals. The good news is there are tons of fun and easy-to-use apps that will help marry your words with attractive, highly shareable graphics. Here are five mostly free options to stoke your creative fires. ... READ THE REST

A holiday card catalog arrived in the mail a few weeks ago. I’m mostly a holiday purist who believes that you shouldn’t start celebrating the December holidays until after Thanksgiving. However, there are exceptions when holiday activities require weeks of preparation. Many businesses send out holiday cards to their clients and important contacts. Before you start thumbing through those catalogs too intently, let me ask you a few questions. ... READ THE REST

If you are seeking ways to reduce your legal research costs, here is one good option: Google Scholar. It is an online research service you can use to find cases and secondary sources for free. If you want to know how to harness the power of Google Scholar — and impress your colleagues and clients with your stellar research skills — here are five good tips to get you started. ... READ THE REST

People expect a lawyer to be able to answer tough questions. But what if you don’t know the answer? I still remember my first day in torts class. Old man river, my respectable professor, called on me to analyze an opinion from some archaic case. “Ms. (unfortunately easy-to-pronounce maiden name), is this paragraph law or […]

Sending an email is fast, and you can transmit at any hour, but that may be where the effectiveness and efficiency ends. Remember the bad old days of telephone tag? You would waste time swapping phone messages until you could finally have a discussion with meaningful, real-time give and take. Wait — what? Meaningful, real-time conversation to quickly iron out issues once you connect? That sounds pretty good. But combining telephone and email for a 1-2 punch may be the most effective communication choice yet.

As if you need any help adding things to your to-do list, right? You are justifiably more interested in removing things — or at least checking them off. But hang on, and I hope you'll see the sense of it.

I’ve been waiting a long time to write this post — almost four years! Ever since Apple introduced the iPad in 2010, I believed it would make the perfect platform for a practice management tool. Attendees at iPad seminars also asked about it: “What practice management tools are available for the iPad?” For a while there, I didn’t have a good answer for them. The major cloud practice management companies eventually rolled out iPhone apps, Android apps, and web apps for their services. While these tools are undeniably useful, I’ve always thought that a mobile practice management tool should offer that full-featured dashboard, so you can see your entire practice at a glance — just like on your laptop or desktop computer. With the recent rollout of Rocket Matter for iPad, mobile lawyers finally have that option. ... READ THE REST

Working together in a law office isn't always rainbows and puppies. There can be some serious dustups, and we all know what that means — somebody's work isn't getting done. We asked a couple of experts from the Association of Legal Administrators to give us their best tips for handling and resolving differences of opinion between people in the office — lawyers or staff. Today Denise Abston and Cindy Schuler tell us what they do when it's time to step in. ... READ THE REST