"What you need is a mentor!" Everyone keeps telling you to find a mentor. But if you knew how to get one, you would probably already have one, right? When you look at the people around you, it may be that you already have a mentor—you just haven’t attached that word to the relationship. But if you really can’t name the person in your life who plays that role, it’s time to find one—or more!

Creating legal documents can be something like playing with Legos. How so, you might ask? Well, typically lawyers assemble new and individualized documents—contracts, briefs, opinions—by plugging together existing sentences and paragraphs from a kit of previously prepared precedents (i.e., the building blocks).

Most lawyers are wary of sending confidential client information via email. They understand that email isn’t 100 percent secure and many go to great lengths to set up cloud exchange systems where they can more securely transmit client documents. When it comes to their own websites, however, many lawyers are rather lax—after all, client information isn’t stored online so what is there to worry about? Here are some basic but critical steps you can take to protect your site—and make sure that the only one gaining access to your online home is you. ...

In a previous post, How Much Does It Cost to Start a New Solo Firm?, Ruth Carter, Carolyn Elefant, Stephanie Kimbro, Debbie Foster, Donna Seyle & Greg Siskind told us how much they think it would cost a new lawyer to start up a solo practice today ... from scratch. Manhattan litigator John H. Snyder recently left large-firm practice to do just that—and he fields plenty of questions from peers on this particular topic. So we were particularly interested in what he advises ...

The Allied Command in World War II spent more than two years preparing for D-Day. When asked about the plan—which resulted in the successful Allied invasion of occupied France—General Dwight D. Eisenhower commented, “The plans were useless, but the planning was indispensable.” I think about that quote often when strategizing about my own firm—and when I'm talking with lawyers who complain their firms are headed in the wrong direction, yet who are unwilling to step back and lead. It’s not that these lawyers are lazy. Far from it. They are working like mad to make their practices succeed. And that’s precisely the problem. ...

Google+ is Google’s effort to create a social media community. It seems like a lot of people have a Google+ account but don’t really use it. There is, though, one aspect of Google+ that differentiates it from the other social media sites and it is Google Hangouts. It’s my favorite part of Google+ and it has become […]

Let’s face it—redacting documents has never been a lot of fun. In terms of something to look forward to, it probably falls just above getting a root canal. But with new technology, there are ways to make it easier, if not more enjoyable. Using these tools, you can dispatch even large-scale redaction projects with a minimum of pain and drama. Try these strategies for making redaction a bit easier.

Since it’s often a less hectic time for professionals, given the proliferation of vacation days being spent, summer is usually a season for getting re-centered. It's an especially good time for entrepreneurs, like attorneys, to work on outstanding—typically administrative—projects and bigger-picture plans. To that end, here is a list of important summer projects for your law practice, upon which you can ply your energies. ...

One reason lawyers buy iPads is to work productively away from the office. When it comes to editing legal documents, however, any time saved by working on an iPad may have to be spent, and then some, to repair the damage done by various document editing apps. Here are some strategies to help you edit documents on your iPad without creating additional problems—or to at least help you minimize the time needed to repair them after iPad editing. ...

In February, time management guru Paul Burton explained here why clearing peripheral clutter improves your focus. Brilliant! We all need that. So, we dutifully scooped the piles off our desk … and plopped them into tidy baskets and bins under the desk. Everything felt so much better. For a while. But, alas, those bins under the desk are now […]