You At Work

Legal question-and-answer sites—they're sometimes controversial but ultimately worth the effort. At least that’s been my experience. I’ve used legal Q&A sites as part of my San Diego-based criminal defense law firm’s marketing outreach and, ...

Congratulations! Your law firm has a brand. In fact, maybe several. You may have no control over it, but when people hear your name and recognize it, they think ... something. So the first question is whether you want to control your law firm ...

Is anybody actually steering the ship at your law firm? Many smaller firms I visit across the country seem to have this in common: a passive practice management style, defined by reactive decision-making. Typically in these ...

Meet this month's Enterprising Lawyer, solo appellate specialist Walter Sargent. In 1996, Walter left the Colorado Springs office of a large Denver-based law firm to start his own solo practice focused entirely on appeals. The ...

Ever open up Google Hangouts or Skype to hear someone (okay, you) say, “Cripes! Where did that come from?” when the camera captures a side of your office you rarely notice? It’s not your bobblehead collection. It’s that sloppy stack of papers ...

Some people always know exactly what to say. When words fail the rest of us, these people deliver the smooth segue, the clever comeback, the perfect parting shot. How do they do it so effortlessly? Maybe they've taken a page from Patrick Alain's ...

In an interview earlier this year, Laurel Bellows, managing partner of her Chicago business and employment law firm and current president of the American Bar Association, was asked, “How do you do it? How do you do work-life balance and is it ...

Future of lawyers: Five big ideas from Suffolk Law Institute. With Professor Andrew Perlman at the helm, Suffolk University Law School in Boston recently created the Institute on Law Practice Technology & Innovation. Its purpose: To “study ...

Who are these “enterprising lawyers”? Actually, they are easy to spot. Look for the happier, more engaged lawyers. Deeply invested in the power of the work they do for their clients, they have ample interests beyond the practice of law as well. ...

Staff members do a tremendous amount of work for your firm, and they interact directly with clients in numerous ways. And by the way, Model Rule 5.3: Responsibilities Regarding Nonlawyer Assistants is in play. So you will be on the hook for any ...