Managing a Law Firm

The Eagles are one of the best-selling bands of all time. "Their Greatest Hits (1971-1975)" is the third best-selling album of all time. The Eagles also kind of suck. Don’t believe me? Listen to "Disco Strangler" or "James Dean." Now, granted, ...

Apple does something amazing. Of course, they do a lot of amazing things as they weave their technology into our personal and professional DNA, but they've nailed one thing for sure: the services side of their products. Just walk into an Apple ...

Have you ever left a phone charger behind in a hotel room even though you carefully looked before checking out? Returned from grocery shopping only to remember you forgot the milk? Operated on someone, sewed them up, and then realized you left a ...

Hourly billing actually did not become of age in the legal profession until the 1950s, after a series of reports showed that firms that charged by the hour were more profitable than those that charged on the basis of the service sold. Those ...

Calendar management continues to be a major source of anxiety among legal professionals — with good reason. Calendar-related errors are the leading cause of malpractice actions against lawyers, accounting for more than a full third of all ...

“I don't know what to do!” he cried. “Now we're forming committees to make decisions.” I had listened to his travails for the last year as his firm slowly moldered. Morale was bad, profits had slipped down over time, senior partners had become ...

We’ve all seen how technology can help level the playing field, allowing smaller firms and solos to compete with larger rivals, and scale quickly to meet clients' needs. That’s good news for small firms and clients alike. But just because a firm ...

Some lawyers still think a brand is a logo, the firm name or a tagline. Others don’t see how branding applies to the legal profession at all. Even those who embrace the notion struggle mightily to get it right.

This Friday, let's clear the decks and lay down some fresh thinking. You know, the kind that changes up the way you do things, results in better service to your clients, makes people in the office happier and gets you out of that rut. There's a ...

Think back through a couple of recent decisions you’ve made or helped make, whether at work or in personal life. Did they turn out well? Was that because you did a good job of choosing? Was there any wasted motion or acrimony? Be honest. On ...