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.

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 […]

When it comes to texting, you may not be in the same league as teens, but as texting becomes more and more a part of our lives, the inevitable has started to happen: Overuse injuries—carpal tunnel, eye strain, and neck and back pain. Here are some tips for those of us (and you know who you are) who just can’t put the smartphone down.

At Attorney at Work, we propose that 2011 is the year to explore kindness as a universal business principle. Acts of kindness not only bind clients and colleagues to you, they can be the key to improving employee (and practice) performance. Trendwatching.com even identifies “random acts of kindness” as the number one consumer trend for the coming year. It's a pretty easy concept to embody.

Don’t be the victim. Scammers have become more brazen in their attempts to lull unsuspecting lawyers into trusting them, and bad check frauds targeting lawyers are on the rise. But you don’t have to let it happen to you. Learn how to recognize a scam and avoid becoming the defrauded victim. ‘Tis the  season to be […]