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

Trust accounting has always been a hot topic for ethics regulators. Understandably, of course, since how lawyers handle their clients’ money goes not only to the heart of the trust between a lawyer and a client, but it can also have wide-ranging ramifications for the public's perception of the profession. None of us are well-served by headlines about lawyers stealing or mishandling clients’ money. Right now trust accounting is getting a fresh wave of attention in California as the state bar (the ethics regulator in that state) considers whether to begin instituting random trust account audits. ... READ MORE

In our Spotlight Q&A, Attorney at Work interviews leaders in the legal technology industry to find out what makes them tick as entrepreneurs and businesspeople — and what they're planning next. MyCase's Matt Spiegel was a busy practicing lawyer before digging in full time to launch MyCase in 2010. While Matt's law firm continues to thrive, these days he focuses mainly on his role as Founder and GM of MyCase, leading the overall direction of the company and its namesake practice management software. READ MORE

Before a new airplane rolls off the production line and is put into service, it undergoes exhaustive inspections until it’s certified as completely airworthy. Even more inspections take place before and after every single flight takes off, for the duration of the plane's life. The airline industry knows these inspections help eliminate catastrophic air disasters. So when you step on an airplane, you know meticulous inspections have taken place to correct any problems before the wheels leave the ground.

In Attorney at Work's Spotlight Q&A, we talk with the people inspiring, driving and creating the next new things in the legal technology industry — like NetDocuments' Product Manager Bradlee Duncan. During his dozen-plus years with NetDocuments, Bradlee has held a few titles: Quality Assurance Engineer, Customer Support Tech, Professional Services Consultant and Trainer. "The cross-functional knowledge has helped me understand our users as well as our infrastructure requirements when evaluating a new feature request," he says. READ THE INTERVIEW

Would you like it if your law firm's website pages attracted more visitors from search engines? Improving your pages’ meta description tags can help.