Managing a Law Firm

A big part of a lawyer’s role is negotiation, and that means numbers. A lawyer has to be able to calculate the value of whatever is being negotiated. Case evaluation is part art and a lot of math. Pulling a number out of the air and hoping the ...

It seems that every solo lawyer I meet has a list of things they would like to be doing better in their practice. Sometimes the motivating factor is business growth, sometimes it’s efficiency. At the heart of many “to do” items, though, is ...

During the ABA TECHSHOW 2017 program "The Startups Are Coming," Andrew Arruda suggested we reframe the sentiment to: "The nimble companies are here to help you." Not as sexy but a lot more accurate than an analogous popular refrain: "Robot ...

Chaos sounds the death knell for any solo attorney’s practice. It breeds confusion, distraction and disorder. Unfortunately, for most solos, chaos is the natural state of affairs. The reason is simple: The practice of law consists of many moving ...

Unhappy clients often choose to file ethics complaints against their poor-performing lawyers. What leads to their unhappiness? It may come as a surprise, but most ethics complaints are not about incompetence. Instead, most complaints revolve ...

Analysis of a new report on $19.6 billion of approved legal department invoices reveals that to maximize firm profits, partners should focus on developing and retaining senior associates and providing clients with services in multiple practice ...

Last week, we shared highlights of ABA TECHSHOW's exposition hall, with a big list of what's new in legal technology. Today, top practice management technology pros (including faculty and former ABA TECHSHOW chairs) share their personal favorite ...

This is something old-school lawyers say a lot: "Your best sources of referrals are your existing clients." And, for word-of-mouth, referral-based law firms, it’s probably true that referrals from other lawyers or from existing clients are 1-2. ...

I'll begin by pulling the Band-Aid off quickly: After 15 years, I'm leaving the e-discovery space. For those who know me, this will come as a really big surprise — especially given my longtime social media moniker "eDiscovery Gold.” In truth, ...

When talking with lawyers about Evernote, I often get the same comment: “I heard it was a good productivity tool so I downloaded Evernote, but I haven’t figured out how to get started with it.” Fortunately, there are some simple ways to ...