Question: "Why should we blog? We have a website. Clients hire lawyers because of a relationship, not because they see you on the Internet. Besides, a blog can be pretty self-aggrandizing. Other lawyers in the firm think the partner who blogs is just building a following so he can go off on his own." In this edition of "Ask the Experts," the Legal Marketing Association members Tina Emerson, Jim Jarrell and Stacy Smith let loose on why a blog plus your website is a good idea — and how to best use it to build client relationships ... READ MORE

You just can't avoid talk of school this time of year. It seems everyone is scurrying along on a scavenger hunt for essential supplies and first-day fashions, or losing sleep over what our "babies" will need in the dorm room. It's all about getting ready for school. Maybe you should join in, too, and get ready to write a little learning into your fall calendar! For this Friday Five, we're looking at five big events sure to expand the outlook of your law practice. So, what's on the fall class schedule? ... READ MORE

I’ve come to like Outlook 2013 quite a bit (despite the confusing blue icon). It contains some new features that I’ve wanted, or have had to employ workarounds for, or had to use third-party software to resolve. So, I thought it might be helpful to those forced to upgrade to Office 2013, using Outlook for email specifically, to point out some ways Microsoft got it right.

When I hear the phrase “red velvet rope,” I picture a Studio 54-esque scene with a line of people outside of a night club who are either on the VIP list or hoping they're hot enough to convince the bouncer to let them through. Many of us have left our night club days behind, but author Michael Port says we still need a red velvet rope. When opening a law practice, many lawyers believe they need to take every case that comes in the door. Port takes the opposite view and recommends turning away prospects who don’t fit the profile of your ideal client.

Question: I know we're not recouping many of our law firm's costs from clients. How do you effectively manage a cost recovery program? Four members of the Association of Legal Administrators — Grace Carr Lee, Vicki Hughes, Kimberly Giertz and Rob Mattern — explain a few of their methods and offer key insights in this edition of "Ask the Experts." ... READ MORE

Here's the situation. You're stranded in a future legal market, vast and unfamiliar, and you need to launch a new legal career. Luckily, you get to start off with several skills and talents in place — but it's a limited quantity, and you'll need to choose carefully. Which ones will help you the most?

As the world moves faster (and it does, doesn’t it?), you have to move faster, too, not only to keep up, but to amaze and astound your clients in a highly competitive field. While it may not astound them, your ability to quickly create, share and finalize documents at the drop of a client’s hat […]

Between deadlines, billable-hours requirements, responsibility for bringing in clients and so much more, we all know the legal profession can be taxing. Add to that responsibilities for family and any associations or boards you may belong to, and the daily pressure on a lawyer can be overwhelming. The stress most endure would make a cardiologist shudder. That is why it is so important to make sure your productivity system is absolutely under control, all the time. I know it's not easy, so this is for those of you who may have let your time management system slip, and those who may feel intimidated at the thought of starting anew.

No matter how they hear about you, there’s a pretty good chance that, at some point, people will search for your law practice online. What will they find when they perform these searches? What can you do, if anything, to influence what they see?

Which apps do lawyers like to use? For our summer download, A Matter of Time, National Purchasing Partners (NPP) identified a list of 20 — many of them free — for document review and markup, scanning, recording, note-taking, time-tracking and much more. For this week's Friday Five, we take a closer look at five of the iPhone and iPad apps aimed at revving up your practice's productivity ... READ MORE