Obviously, Attorney at Work lives here on the Internet. As does nearly everything else in the civilized world. But sometimes—be it solar flares, high winds, an ISP blunder or a vast electronic conspiracy—you lose access for a while. An hour. A day. A week! And even though you’ve often said, “Sure, the Internet is addictive, but I’m no addict” … you are lost without it. Well, believe it or not, there are still a few things you can do offline. Enter this week’s Friday Five, unplugged. We’ve got some great ideas for you whenever you have new-found non-Internet time.

The cloud offers lawyers unparalleled software-as-a-service (SaaS) resources to manage their practices, organize documents and communicate with clients—but it can also blur the bright-line ethics rules. To safeguard the integrity of files in the cloud, you must think critically and creatively about the ethical and practical implications of using SaaS providers. State bar ethics opinions haven't kept pace with the issues. So for now, you have to devise your own strategy to keep out of trouble. Here's a set of guidelines regarding SaaS Service Level Agreements (SLAs) to help you do just that.

Stop right there! Before you take step one to create your law firm's new website, pause to figure out what it is you really want your website to do—and who you want it to attract. Define your intended visitors as narrowly as possible. Do you want to appeal to recently injured autoworkers, for example, or in-house counsel of global technology corporations? Those are two very different websites. Ready now? Here is a fistful of basic, but absolutely critical, things to keep in mind as you get started on your new website. ...

Business travel can be bad for your health. In fact, studies show that health risks increase as travel increases. Extensive travelers are 92 percent more likely to be obese and 260 percent more likely to rate their health as poor. They also have higher cholesterol, higher body-mass indexes and high blood pressure. Even people who […]

In previous posts, Ritchenya Dodd discussed how to break through inbox clutter to deliver targeted messages, and evaluated the template-building capabilities of online email marketing services. Today, she discusses managing email contact lists to ensure your messages reach the right people—and how to avoid becoming an accidental spammer. If you’ve decided to invest time and effort into […]

Nobody really likes packing, lugging around and living out of a suitcase, but luggage is a necessary evil for road warriors. Luckily, there are simple tactics to prevent needless luggage-related stress. This week's Friday Five brings you packing tips from Jason Womack, author of Your Best Just Got Better: Work Smarter, Think Bigger, Make More. He says it’s easy!

Networking. You know you have to do it, but does the thought of engaging in endless awkward conversations at cocktail parties leave you cold? Does another round of seemingly irrelevant meetings of trade or civic or association groups make you want to scream? Do you find it difficult to engage in meaningful conversation with a client over lunch? If this describes your networking efforts then you’ve been wasting your time. ...

It’s a word that trips off the tongue without stopping to visit the brain on the way out. We use it all the time—and then ignore it as we go about the business of marketing our practices. That word, that concept, is "competition." When somebody wants what you’ve got, that’s "coveting." When someone is working to get what you’ve got or want, that’s "competing." It’s pursuing business—the prospective client—even as other lawyers are pursuing them. And it’s protecting your clients from being successfully wooed by other lawyers. It's not performed by the mere mechanics of marketing—but by strategy.

One of the fundamental "tools" of the attorney arsenal has long been the yellow legal pad. I keep an abundant supply of these around my office, but as my law practice has evolved from paper to digital, I depend more on my Android tablet and smartphone for notes and reminders. Android has an abundant number of apps for note-taking, some of which are fantastic, and some that fail miserably. Here are a few favorites.

Sometimes a law firm name tells us a lot. A firm name composed of three guys, some of whom may have passed on, tells us the firm has been around for a while. "The Divorce Clinic" tells us what they do. If you need help with a merger, don’t bother calling them. "The Resolution Center" tells us how they approach matters. Don’t look for the pit bull lawyer there. You would think that the ethics rules governing firm names would be consistent from one state to another, but they do vary and are worth noting. If you build up a brand name and then find out you need to change it, you’ve wasted a lot of time, energy and money. So when naming, or renaming, your firm, you want to be ethical from the get-go. ...