In my previous post, I talked about the importance of capturing your sparks of genius in one centralized repository so you can organize, review and then act on them. Now let's look at three lesser-known ways to do that with the ultimate capture tool: Evernote. The first marries the analog world with the digital world, using paper notebooks; the second is a fantastic service for transcribing audio notes; and the third is my favorite app for entering information—fast!

"Why Your Blog Sucks and What to Do About It" is Sam Glover's topic at the upcoming Lawyernomics 2013 conference. We talked with Sam last week to get a preview, and to learn a bit more about how wrong lawyer blogs can be. If you blog, or if you're thinking about it, he has some mind-rattling thoughts for you. And he's not just a-woofin'. Sam has driven the site Lawyerist.com to become one of the legal online world's heavy-hitters—while continuing to practice law! Five Reasons Your Blog Sucks (Probably). While Sam has a whole lot more to say (there are, apparently, many ways a blog can suck), for today's Friday Five we snipped these five reasons. ... READ MORE

Many clients behave like their lawyers are doctors. They only visit us when they face serious problems that require an expensive and time-consuming fix. They are unhappy when they walk in, mad that they are there in the first place, mad that they didn’t come sooner—and mad when you tell them what it will cost for you to fix their legal problem. What does it mean when you experience this situation with a client? Well, it’s likely the client is telling you that lawyers suck. ... READ MORE

If your practice involves large deals and larger documents, then you know the drafting havoc that word processing can create. Clearly, we save time when we start with legacy documents, copy and paste from other matters, and have each party make their own revisions to the deal documents. But we can also end up with documents with terms that are undefined or defined more than once, defined terms that are not used, and terms or phrases used inconsistently (unintentionally) within a document or across several related documents. EagleEye, an add-in to Microsoft Word 2007 and 2010 designed for lawyers, does not eliminate the need for proofreading, but I believe it can help speed up that process in three important ways ... READ MORE

On the one hand, the social Internet has become perhaps the most revolutionary communications tool in human history. On the other, it has also been called "a shallow and unreliable electronic repository of dirty pictures, inaccurate rumors, bad spelling and worse grammar, inhabited largely by people with no demonstrable social skills." But, for better or worse, most of us would agree the Internet, as a place to share knowledge, engage in dialogue and socialize, is here to stay.

If you were one of the 108 million Americans watching Super Bowl XLVIII, you know what I mean when I say it’s a rare few of us who’ll ever feel the adulation Jacoby Jones enjoyed when he ran back the first kickoff of the second half for a 108-yard touchdown. You just don’t get that […]

Today is the first in a new edition of "Ask the Experts" produced in collaboration with the Association of Legal Administrators. ALA told us that one of the most troubling issues on law firm managers’ desks right now is computer “cyber-attacks.” So we asked six top legal technologists to weigh in on this question: "Cyber-attacks are on the rise, and our firm is very concerned that client confidentiality may be compromised. What are some of the short-term and long-term tactics we can implement to minimize this risk?" Robert Baumgarten, Elias Montova, John Sroka, George Theochares, Stephen Wilder and Rob Wilson have some answers. ...READ MORE

Stephanie Kimbro will speak on "The Consumer Law Revolution: Lawyer Collaboration with Branded Networks" at the Lawyernomics 2013 conference in Las Vegas on April 27. Her topic is a hot one—and as author of three books on related topics and recipient of the 2009 ABA James Keane Award for Excellence in eLawyering, Stephanie is much in demand. We managed to catch up with her with a few questions for lawyers who may be about to take the virtual leap. ... READ MORE

If there is one thing I know to be true about lawyer marketing, it is that you will get out of something what you put into it, and nothing more.

It's a simple fact that being organically ranked number one on Google is still one of the most effective ways to drive traffic to your website. Even the savviest marketers may be unaware, though, that regular algorithm updates by the good folks at Google can completely unravel online marketing strategies. Because of software updates, those who once boasted “page one” status on Google searches may literally become invisible to prospective clients. ... READ MORE