Lawyer Skills

To use a comparison from my days as a high school teacher, tactics are to objectives as strategies are to goals. You and your client are in different businesses (unless you do legal malpractice work) and have different business goals. But ...

Secure client communication is a major concern for lawyers. Encryption is your best option for protecting confidential and sensitive information you exchange by email, text, voice and video calls with your clients. ABA Formal Opinion 11-459, ...

There are places where you can tell a joke and places where you definitely shouldn’t. Generally, the courtroom is not the first choice for stand-up comedy. Unless you’re Paul Farahvar. Farahvar took improv classes at Chicago’s Second City comedy ...

Good improv comics have an ability to walk onto a stage and connect with an audience effortlessly. It may seem like this is because of their innate acting talent, but that's only part of it. Improv training gives these actors a toolbox of ...

With spellcheckers and online grammar guardians such as Grammarly, proofreading has become a nostalgic pastime for some writers. But proofreading is more than spotting typographical errors; it is a chance to impartially consider usage and ...

In a country with increasingly diverse demographics, effective marketing must appeal to but not insult any group. Sticking to One's Own. People may be most comfortable consulting a lawyer in their own demographic, but that ...

Get to the Point has previously preached that specificity enhances credibility. In fact, I’m working on a cross-stitch with this aphorism to place on the office wall. Using an unsupported superlative flouts this rule.

Most of us have a generally good grasp of English usage and punctuation. The problem is that some usage and punctuation errors are so subtle and pervasive that we are tricked into thinking they are correct. Additionally, language use is ...

You can’t be persuasive if your message is confusing. Whether you’re arguing a motion or giving an interview on a political issue, clarity is what counts. A qualifier changes the meaning of another word or phrase. Too many qualifiers convolute ...

Last month’s United Airlines overbooking debacle and the subsequent PR disaster and brand implosion has me thinking of the value of communicating clearly. There’s much to be critical of in United’s behavior and initial poorly worded erstwhile ...