This time of year, many of us resolve to buff up our physical appearance—but what about our personal and professional appearance online? Outside of the home page, lawyer biographies are the most-frequently visited pages on law firm websites. They can make a strong first impression, or no impression at all. Here are some easy steps you can take to get your bio in shape.

Today in the Friday Five, we’ve got ideas to help brighten things up during the winter months. Depending on your level of frozen despair, you might find cheer in new ways to trick out your smartphone or organize your presentations. For more serious cheer, we've found an app that enlightens you to under-the-radar entertainment options in your neighborhood. Speaking of enlightenment, read what some Attorney at Work advisors have been writing elsewhere this week. But first, stare at something wonderful ...

Everyone knows you’re good at anything you put your mind to. And if you just had the time you could untangle your personal finances just like that. But it’s just too distracting to ponder that credit card debt, student loan and mortgage payment when you have to put all of your energy into your clients […]

Having a little trouble with accounts receivable? If you take care to spell out your ground rules up front—and secure signatures on engagement letters—clients will find it much harder to dispute your bills. But it doesn't end there. Follow these steps for every matter to make sure you get paid the money you are owed.

Creating a successful, lucrative law practice requires keeping up with trends, and knowing which ones create opportunity. There are over 60 trends listed in the current “What’s Hot and What’s Not in the Legal Profession” report, including practice specialties that are heating up—or growing cold—and how firms are managing and marketing themselves. Here's my advice on which trends solo practitioners and lawyers in smaller firms should be paying attention to—and how you can work them to your advantage.

The other day, in a team review of new hire candidates, I was stunned to hear someone say they’d never be able to work with “someone like that.” All three candidates were at the top of their classes. Each had interviewed superbly and came highly recommended. It turned out the remark wasn't prompted by anything found in the resumes. A young member of our team had naturally “Googled” each candidate.

It’s Friday again, which means it’s time to take five. Here are five items from the past week that strike us as particularly useful—or entertaining. From the Department of Very Cool. It’s a tiny credit-card reader called Square that plugs into your Droid, iPhone, iPad and more, letting you accept credit-card payments on the spot. Not […]

Poor writing skills can turn off potential clients and others, whether it's in an e-mail message or a formal proposal. It doesn’t matter if you’re the best lawyer for the job because people do draw conclusions based on the quality of your writing. So before writing that e-mail or letter to a client or that important memo to your partners, consider these five basic writing tips.

How do you get your online research under control when there's just so much to find, read and capture? Tom Mighell manages his online research with a system of quick steps that you can put to work in your practice, too. The process involves three Internet tools: Google Reader, Instapaper and Evernote. In part one of this three-part post, Tom shows how to get started with Google Reader.

Knowing the difference between a feature and a benefit when describing your practice can help you improve your marketing success. There’s a simple way to understand it. Think of a typical pencil. Features would include that it’s yellow and has six sides, a graphite core and a rubber tip. Benefits might be that it’s easily seen in a drawer, it doesn’t […]