If you are hard at work building your online presence, with a website, a blog (or two) and social media accounts, soon you'll find that managing the "back end" can make you a little, well, batty. Preferences. Security settings. Passwords. Comments! Gwynne Monahan, community manager at Clio, has a solution to the comments complexity at least: She manages them all for multiple sites with Livefyre. For today's Friday Five, she has five reasons you're going to love it. ...

There are about 23 different business processes in most law firms. They range from new client intake to check requests to conflicts checks. When there's a problem with one of them—maybe it takes too long or there are too many errors—believe it or not, it isn't always the underlying technology that is to blame. In the consulting world, we speak of the three-legged stool. Technology is one of the legs. Your people are another leg. But many stumble on the third leg: the process leg. A three-legged stool needs to be balanced; otherwise it will fall. In many cases, you can solve the problem using your existing technology and existing people by merely improving the process. ...

It may be among the toughest conversations you ever have to initiate. But when you think a colleague is in trouble—experiencing difficulties with drugs and alcohol or spiraling into a seemingly intractable depression, for example—it is worse, for both your friend and the firm, to avoid the issue. We’ve asked professionals in the know for advice on approaching a colleague, and offering constructive help and support when these delicate issues arise. ...

Unfortunately, most lawyers aren't particularly excited about the idea of networking. Even lawyers who've taken steps to get help with business development will object, inevitably, when it's time to test their networking ability. Two primary fears seem to be the basis for their lack of enthusiasm and their objections. So let's take a look at why those fears are unfounded. ...

No one takes their baby to a gynecologist for a routine checkup. No one goes to a cardiologist for an ankle sprain, or to a dentist when they have chest pains. So why, I ask, do distant relatives call me to draft prenuptial agreements when: (1) Who are you? (2) I had no idea you were even engaged, and (3) I am a litigator, not an estate planner. The problem with being a lawyer is having a family.

Chrometa is a background timekeeping application popular with attorneys. For lawyers who think it’s a drag to start and stop a timer, and find it nearly impossible to capture their hours contemporaneously, a product like Chrometa—which will automatically and intelligently create a log of your computer time—can be a godsend, as it potentially makes time tracking a far more palatable endeavor.

In January, we unveiled National Purchasing Partners and Verizon's list of the top iPhone and iPad apps being used by lawyers at the start of 2012—the "first annual." Since things move swiftly in the apps world, we asked for an update—who can wait a year?—and here it is: NPP has compiled a bonus download just for us with updated descriptions and links to more than 40 of the most popular iPhone and iPad apps for lawyers—organized by trial and pretrial apps, legal reference apps and apps to aid your productivity. ...

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 ...