When you open a solo or small law practice, making money may be your biggest concern, and you may feel like you have to accept every job that comes in the door. I’ve been to networking events where other law firm owners say that’s what they did until they had enough money in the bank, and enough opportunities for business to be more selective in the cases they accepted. When I hear stories like this, I cringe. I think it’s wrong to take any case you can get ...

This week the International Legal Technology Association Annual Conference served up almost 200 programs plus an expo hall full to overflowing with technology products and services. The conference usually focuses on big-picture enterprise-wide issues like, well, big data and e-discovery and migrating to the cloud. This year, how law firms are coming to grips with personal technology was a hot topic as well. On the conference floor and in ILTA TV interviews, legal IT pros swapped thoughts on the "BYOD" (that's "bring your own device," not "bring your own drugs" ... or "dog") issues created by the rise of smartphones, iPads and the personal cloud—and how to support and secure all those non-conforming devices lawyers are bringing into the firm. ...

I'm always surprised when I meet someone who doesn't use Evernote. It's cross-platform (works on Mac, Windoze, iOS and Droid), painlessly syncs just about any kind of data you put into it—emails, images, PDFs, webpages, plain text—integrates seamlessly with ScanSnap scanners, and it's free (though you can pay for a Premium account). I've been using Evernote for about a year. At first it was mainly for personal use—saving web pages, scanned documents and receipts, recipes. But then I learned how useful it could be in my law practice ...

As a solo practitioner with a demanding work and family schedule, I’m always on the go. Between client meetings and depositions, I’m often attending parent-teacher conferences and baseball games and shuttling the kids to school, music and dance classes. My practice depends on my ability to take calls from clients, access files and handle paperwork […]

When was the last time you bought an entire album of music from a single artist? Most of us create playlists with tracks purchased on Apple iTunes from multiple artists and albums. We create exactly what we want to jive with our moods and circumstances. Freedom of choice is important to us as consumers, and the convenience of the Internet has only made this trend more pervasive. The shift in consumer culture has affected the legal profession as much as any industry. Consumers are looking for ways to pick and choose legal assistance the same way they address their other purchases. They want choice, free information, fixed prices and a more hands-on approach to meeting their own needs. ...

Every law firm has a trust account and an operating bank account and allows clients to pay with a check or cash. But in this day, many clients also want to know, “Do you accept credit cards?” There are many options to consider when deciding if you’ll accept credit cards. Recently I asked two groups on LinkedIn—one for small and solo law firms and one for small business owners—which service they use to accept electronic payments. The following were the top five responses. ...

Your long-tenured secretary arrives at work one morning and forgets to turn on the lights to her workstation, misfiles a court pleading and fails to confirm a client meeting. You want to believe it's just temporary but you fear it's something more. Your compassion may make the difference between paying employment lawyers to help you navigate through a legal quagmire—or resolving a human issue quickly, without conflict or drama.

Here are a few tips to organically and meaningfully grow your Twitter presence.

You stand at the front of the room to make your presentation, but this time it's different: You are doing it all with your iPad! With a little preparation and practice, you can use your iPad as a sleek, subtle tool to educate and convince your audiences—without a supporting IT cast. As always using your iPad instead of the technology you've grown comfortable with comes with a few challenges. The hurdles of presenting on your iPad can all be overcome with apps, practice and maybe a few adjustments to how you work. Let's take the challenges one by one. ...

Let me guess—you don't have time to think about your reputation in your community, much less devote extra hours to volunteer activities. After all, you're already doing a lot for your community by doing what you do best—providing reliable legal services. Well, that may be true, but if you're ignoring your community, then you're only doing things halfway—and you're doing yourself a disservice, too. Getting involved in the community can mean a commitment of time and energy, but it doesn't have to be prohibitive. Here are five ways you can get involved and build your reputation at the same time. ...