Law offices tend to be set up quite traditionally. Plenty of lawyers are still users of fax machines and their offices usually contain ancient beasts known as stenographs. It is no surprise that lawyers tend to hire traditionally as well. But there's an alternative route to traditional hires that may benefit your practice: the virtual assistant.

While you probably don't give it much thought, the value of answering your phone properly can be enormous. On the other end of a ringing phone may be a potential client worth thousands of dollars or someone who may be able to refer many new cases to you. How the phone is answered—assuming that someone actually answers!—has a big impact on how many of those calls develop into new business.

Even if your practice isn't in transition right now, it's good to stay on top of the market trends for planning purposes. Twice a year, Bob Denney identifies the most important current trends in the business of practicing law, including what's hot and not in practice areas. This time around, Bob's taken a deeper look at those practice areas just for Attorney at Work readers.

When it comes to self-promotion, are you your own worst enemy? Sometimes you just have to get out of your own way and simplify your thinking about establishing a public voice and a presence—be it via the traditional media, social media or a combination. Here are some actions you can take now to increase or expand your exposure.

Starting your own law firm is similar in many ways to starting any business. You already have the law stuff: You've been to law school. You’re a good lawyer. You have clients who will stay with you. That’s the law stuff. But what about the business side?

Every morning, Outlook initializes with a trusty Microsoft registered trademark to greet you, and you go along merrily sending emails and calendar invites like a pro. There’s more to our steadfast friend Outlook than churning and burning emails and invites: There’s hidden treasure in that little icon. Knowing some of these hidden Outlook treasures can improve the efficiency of a software application you already own and use daily. Here are some favorites.

Go on, you know you want to. Throw the mess on your desk into piles and head home early. Pour a nice tall cool one, put your feet up in a shady spot and take a bite out of your summer reading list. Don't have a list? That's what we're here for. Today's Friday Five features five collections of reading lists. Now there's absolutely no excuse to be found in your office over the weekend!

When I was an associate, the most prominent item on my desk was a big, black, ugly toad that sat on the front corner and stared at me expectantly all day, every day. Occasionally it would ring and I would be jerked from the safe haven of legal research and thrust into the paralyzing world of human interaction

On the legal gossip sites, we can watch careers—and entire firms—rise and fall and wonder, "What in the world were they thinking?" In his new book, Tough Calls from the Corner Office, Harlan Steinbaum asks just this question to America's top business leaders, who tell the stories behind their single-most important business decisions. Here, he sums up the universal lessons learned from their "tough calls."

If you are only using your LinkedIn profile as an online resume, then you're missing the boat! Merrilyn Astin Tarlton has five extremely useful tips for using LinkedIn to boost your business development.