In this series, Oklahoma attorney Noble McIntyre has been offering tips on rolling out the welcome mat for clients and prospective clients. His first two posts provided pointers on phone etiquette and office appearance — but it's the people in your firm who set the tone. In this installment, Noble looks at how their behavior can help instill client confidence. In every interaction with a client, the people involved are the most important element. And on the firm's side, it’s not just about you, the client's lawyer, but about the other people in your office, too. ... READ MORE

The Legal Marketing Association (LMA) held its annual conference last week in Orlando, Florida, attended by more than 1,200 professional marketers. The buzz focused on a range of topics, from adapting to the “new normal” and sophisticated pricing strategies to using technology to market legal services and considering generational differences in your marketing message. 1. New normal. Jordan Furlong of Law21 and Edge International presented an audience of chief marketing officers with a startling image of two worlds colliding. The client’s world, driven by the need to reduce costs and improve efficiency is crashing into the law firm world, characterized by the billable hour, a reluctance to change and well-established client service delivery methods. READ MORE

The best way for potential clients to gauge chemistry and competence — short of meeting you in person — is by watching you in an online video. With a mere tap on their tablet or smartphone, they can get up close and personal for a sample of your style. While the technology gets easier, secrets remain about how to come across well on video. Drew Keller, expert on just that topic, will give tips on "How to Tell Your Story with Video" at Lawyernomics 2014. We asked him for a preview. ... READ THE INTERVIEW

Katy Goshtasbi provides an excellent yet simple definition of a personal brand: It's what people say about you behind your back. Essentially, it’s your reputation. As people have become more active on social media, though, the idea of a personal brand has expanded. Before social media, I suspect your reputation was largely based on what your professional peers thought of you in the workplace. Now, however, people share their activities and thoughts outside the workplace with pretty much everyone. This forces us to be more mindful about how our personal posts could affect our professional reputation. Recently, a law school asked me to speak about how to build a personal brand. ... READ MORE

When a lawyer runs afoul of the rules of professional conduct, there are consequences. Depending on the severity of the rule violation, discipline might consist of disbarment, suspension, reprimand (public censure) or admonition (private reprimand). What about being sent back to school for an ethics violation? States frequently follow ABA standards, which permit “other sanctions and remedies” that are “consistent with the purposes of lawyer sanctions.” Disciplinary officials have attempted to impose such “other sanctions” with mixed results. ... READ MORE

Loyal adherents to the professional dress code shudder at the arrival of warmer weather. Spring — especially that first 65-degree day — is the time when normally well-dressed lawyers are tempted to throw off their woolen suits and play hooky, at least where their wardrobes are concerned. Even a fleeting disregard for professional attire can take a toll. While every spring fling inevitably comes to an end, the images of inappropriately clad attorneys are forever burned into the brains of their clients, colleagues and supervising partners. You probably want to avoid that, so here are some guidelines to keep your frolic with spring fashion in check. ... READ MORE

When he started his solo practice, Bryan Sims knew he wanted a paperless firm: "I didn't want to pay for storage," he recalls. At ABA TECHSHOW 2014, Sims said a change of attitude is the key to a paperless path: "The first step is to change your idea of what it is to work. Work isn't generating paper, it's generating documents. Nobody generates documents on a piece of paper anymore, and your work product is information you store on a computer — not on paper." That's hard to argue with, eh? And there was plenty of other great advice at the conference on making the transition to paperless a lot less sticky for law offices. Whether you want to perfect your paperless workflow or simply be a more productive lawyer, these tips from ABA TECHSHOW can help you get more done — with less paper. ... READ MORE

These days it seems like everybody wants to claim, “I gave a TED talk.” The reason? These talks are famous for being fresh and interesting. TED talks are no longer than 18 minutes — ever. Official TED talks take place at TED or TED-licensed conferences and deal with Technology, Entertainment or Design, though TED talkers interpret those labels pretty broadly.

Having a website is like having a puppy. Once you bring it home, you still need to feed it, play with it and keep it clean.

Who are these “enterprising lawyers”? Actually, they are easy to spot. Look for the happier, more engaged lawyers. Deeply invested in the power of the work they do for their clients, they seem to have more energy for getting things done than anyone in the crowd. In this interview, we talk with Bill Marler, Managing Partner of "the food safety law firm" Marler Clark. Bill began representing victims of food-borne illness in 1993, when he represented Brianne Kiner, the most seriously injured survivor of the Jack in the Box E. coli O157:H7 outbreak, resulting in her landmark $15.6 million settlement. ... READ MORE