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.

Does your practice project a welcoming image — or are you sending a different message to prospective clients? In his "Welcome Mat" series, Oklahoma attorney Noble McIntyre offers tips on creating a welcoming law office — from telephone etiquette to office design to the people on the front line. Below: Some dos and don'ts for reception areas and conference rooms. So you've had a promising initial phone call with your prospective client. Chances are your next interaction will be a meeting at your law office. Look around. Does your firm’s physical environment reinforce your brand and convey the identity you want it to? For example, is your firm large and growing? Small and planning to stay that way? Your reception area and conference room will set the tone for how clients perceive your practice, especially at that first meeting. READ MORE

Don't you wish you had a superpower, or at least some handy mobile tools, that would help you get, keep and cross-sell more clients? Well, wish no more. Law firm business development experts are producing apps that can help with motivation, information and even training for all your client-getting activities. (As for your possible personal superpowers, you’re on your own.) We asked Deborah McMurray, who recently launched the Velocity app, to give us the scoop on hers and two related apps. ... READ MORE

All it takes is a quick eye-popping view of Riverview Law’s television campaign to understand the disruptive force of this InnovAction Award-winning U.K. firm. For law firms stuck on the billable hour, it's likely to be indigestion-inducing. Fixed fees. For everything. Every. Thing. In this week's Friday Five, Andy Daws, responsible for Riverview’s growing footprint in North America, answers the question, “Wait … they can’t do that, can they?” Lead, follow or get out of the way. ... READ MORE

Prior to working with a sixth-year associate recently, I reviewed her online profiles. After we had talked for an hour, I noted that her bio was a complete disconnect from her practice. While she originally had been assigned to the firm’s estate planning area, she'd spent the past three years on commercial real estate matters, which was also the practice she wanted to develop. When I asked why the bio contained nothing about her recent experience, she said it hadn’t been updated since shortly after she joined the firm. I spend a lot of time working with lawyers to improve their firm bios and LinkedIn profiles. I know what some of you are thinking: “Is it really that important?” The answer is yes, and the reason is that buying behavior is changing. READ MORE

Joe stormed into my office and demanded to borrow my nine iron. It has a nice feel and weight, and I use it to practice swings in the office when I felt tense or meditative. Joe looked tense — but not very meditative. “What's up?” I asked. “That slimy little bastard has gone too far this time,” he replied heatedly. “I'm gonna take him out!”

Nobody ever thinks a data loss is going to happen to them. But it can, and likely will, happen to you, if you practice long enough — and, sometimes, even if you don’t. Inside of the first two years of my first career as a practicing lawyer, my firm experienced a significant data loss involving a burrito, an ex-Navy man, and some questionable plumbing that extended all the way to a medical office with which we shared a building. (I’ll let your mind take you the rest of the way there.) But that was a decade ago — several lifetimes in terms of technology — and the data management landscape for law firms is now qualitatively different.

Research-based legal rankings have become annual fixtures in law firm marketing calendars, especially as the main directories' cachet increases. Listings can be a great opportunity to publicize and enhance the reputation of individual lawyers as well as your firm's practice areas. Making it onto these lists, however, is not always as simple as it sounds. ... READ MORE