February 22, 2012

You are here: Home / Archives for law practice management

Legal Writing Pro: Are “Indemnify” and “Hold Harmless” the Same?

February 22, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Drafting reformers hate couplets. They say, for example, that “terms and conditions” means nothing more than “terms.”

But can couplet aversion go too far? Take “indemnify” and “hold harmless.” Double trouble—or a distinction with a difference?

At least one authority claims that “hold harmless” protects against losses and liabilities, while “indemnify” protects against losses alone.1

Yet not all courts agree. Black’s Law Dictionary treats the two as near synonyms. And some experts even suggest cutting “hold harmless” and leaving just “indemnify.”

A Couplet to Love

My advice: Leave “indemnify and hold harmless” intact. If anything, you should add to this phrase, not subtract.

You can include language that clarifies what the indemnifying party promises to indemnify:

Seller shall hold harmless and indemnify Buyer against any losses, liabilities, and claims arising out of or relating to this transaction.

You can also spell out when the seller is obliged to indemnify the buyer: When the buyer incurs a loss or a liability? Thirty days after the buyer gives notice? After the claim is resolved?

Defend Yourself

If the seller intends to defend the buyer against claims, you could also add “and defend.” Thus “Seller shall hold harmless, indemnify, and defend Buyer.”

You Are Hereby Absolved

Some courts suggest that “hold harmless” is broader than “indemnify” because it prevents a seller, for example, from holding a buyer responsible for claims arising out of the buyer’s own negligence.2

But do you really want to rely on this distinction? Just state whether the seller intends to indemnify claims arising from the buyer’s own negligence.

Want More?

For more on indemnification and other key boilerplate provisions, I highly recommend Tina L. Stark’s Negotiating and Drafting Contract Boilerplate (2003).

_____

  1. Mellingkoff’s Dictionary of American Legal Usage 286 (1992).
  2. See, e.g., Rooz v. Kimmel, 55 Cal.App.4th 573, 582 (1997) (explaining that defendant not seeking indemnification but relying on “the general ‘hold harmless’ provision … to prevent plaintiff from directly recovering against defendant for damage he incurred from defendant’s own negligence.”).

Ross Guberman is the founder and president of Legal Writing Pro, an advanced legal-writing training and consulting firm. He has conducted more than a thousand programs on three continents for many of the largest and most prestigious law firms and for dozens of state and federal agencies and bar associations. Ross is also a Professorial Lecturer in Law at The George Washington University Law School, where he teaches an advanced seminar on drafting and writing strategy. When you see the logo, you’re reading an article from Legal Writing Pro, where the article originally appeared.

Filed Under: Practice Management Tagged With: , , , ,

Coach’s Corner: Do Your Due Diligence on New Clients

February 15, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Under Rule of Professional Conduct 1.16, a lawyer may withdraw from representing a client if “the representation will result in an unreasonable financial burden on the lawyer or has been rendered unreasonably difficult by the client.”

However, withdrawing from a representation already begun is extremely difficult, as much of the rest of Rule 1.16 attests. An attempt to withdraw without adequate communication about and careful records of the difficulty that the client has caused — whether for nonpayment of fees, lack of cooperation or some other failing — may bring a state bar disciplinary action requiring future work without pay to fulfill ethical obligations toward the client.

Withdrawal cannot be done without reasonable notice to the client, allowing time for employment of other counsel, surrendering the client’s papers and property and refunding any advance payment of fees that have not been earned.

The simple fact is that no lawyer needs to contend with such headaches. The antidote to withdrawal is to undertake full due diligence before entering into a formal engagement agreement with the client. At the time of engagement, a lawyer must determine whether the goals of the client are understood and can be met. This also requires determining whether the client will facilitate achieving those goals. And facilitation, as Rule 1.16 suggests, means paying the bill and cooperating with the lawyer.

Due diligence on the client’s willingness and ability to pay should be documented in the initial engagement agreement. This investigation is a step that too many lawyers neglect, though it can be as simple as requesting a credit report from one of the consumer credit agencies or from a business credit reporter such as Dun & Bradstreet.

Once it is clear that prospective clients can pay, a signed engagement stating the terms and responsibilities for payment attests that they will pay. Clients who cannot or will not sign a fee agreement or pay a retainer, or who want to start now and pay later, should be considered suspect.

Cooperation is a similar issue. Avoid a client with unrealistic expectations or demands. Discussing engagement terms will frequently uncover the client who will in the future express irritation with delay, chronically complain about everything, demand constant or instant attention or expect unrealistic or abnormal hand-holding. Telltale signs are when prospective clients:

  • insist that their matter is “life and death”; such clients will often be future sources of last minute emergencies that at best are irritating and at worst can result in errors under pressures;
  • use pressure tactics to urge that their matter be handled immediately.
  • demonstrate a bad attitude toward lawyers and the judicial system, or suggest that they know better than the lawyer what needs to be done; and/or
  • cannot articulate what they want their lawyer to achieve.

Due diligence is a business essential. When you determine that a client will perceive what you do as being worthwhile and valuable, you are more likely to have successful engagements and a financially successful firm. Conversely, rejecting potential problem clients before representation will enhance that success by eliminating fee-collection difficulties and possible malpractice claims.

Ed Poll is a nationally recognized coach, law firm management consultant, and author who has coached and consulted with lawyers and law firms in strategic planning, profitability analysis, and practice development for over twenty years. Ed has practiced law on all sides of the table and he now helps attorneys and law firms increase their profitability and peace of mind. He writes a syndicated legal column, Coach’s Corner, where this post originally appeared on January 23, 2012.
Filed Under: Practice Management Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Janet Raasch: Competitive Intelligence – An Essential Component of Better Law Firm Decision-Making (Part 2)

February 9, 2012 By 1 Comment

Editor’s Note: This is the second section of a two-part article. Click here to read Part 1.

Competitive intelligence profiles

When preparing to meet with a potential client, lawyers often ask marketers or librarians to prepare a profile of the client.  “All too often,” said McDavid, “this is done just a few hours before the scheduled meeting – and we need to scramble.

“Even with very little lead time, you would be surprised at how much information you can turn up by simply visiting and mining the potential client’s website,” said McDavid.  “You should also search company or firm pages on social media sites.”

When you have a little more lead time to prepare – like for a proposal or the resulting beauty contest – then you can delve more deeply into client background.  Good sources for public companies include SEC filings.  Good sources for private companies include Dun and Bradstreet reports.

A good profile addresses some or all (depending on your time and research skills) of these categories:

  • Quick facts
  • Company overview
  • Business segments
  • Products/services
  • Business partners
  • Board of Directors
  • Key executives
  • Key developments
  • Representative clients
  • Legal issues and litigation
  • Locations
  • Case studies
  • Patent information
  • Marketing strategy
  • Competitors
  • Sources
  • News articles

Armed with this type of information, your lawyers and law firm are well-prepared to make good decisions about how to approach a potential client (or anyone else), and how to make a good impression once the contact takes place.

Competitive intelligence on people

Sometimes you need information about an individual rather than a company.  This person could be a client, a prospective client, a competitor, opposing counsel, a potential hire or a potential merger partner.  When you know something about the person you are meeting with, you can plan appropriately.

Sometimes, you need other kinds of information about people.  For example, you might need to track down a former employee or a potential witness.  “When such a person has gone ‘off the grid’ electronically, you might not have much to go on,” said Goater.  “This is where creativity comes into play.

“In one such case, a former executive had been gone from a company for five years,” said Goater.  “He had a common name, which made the search even more difficult.  Someone recalled him saying that he wanted to take over his family’s farm.  By using the farm subsidy database and narrowing the search by general geographic area and the man’s age, we were able to locate him for our client.”

Another reason to search for people is to acquire their contact information for use in a marketing database.  Good sources of contact information include telephone directories, professional directories and professional licensing agencies (if you know a person’s profession).  Online sources include a search on Yahoo! People.

Many of the commercial and general resources mentioned in the “companies” research section in this article work just as well for people.

“We often use a site called Jigsaw, owned by Salesforce” said Goater.  “It is a business-to-business contract database populated by marketers and salespeople around the country.  By contributing their contacts, users gain access to the database.  It includes 30 million contacts.  It is an especially good source for the contact information of individuals below the usual c-level executives that show up in most directories.”

If you know a person’s location, you can search local and regional media for mentions of their names and activities.  Social media – like Martindale Hubbell, LinkedIn, Facebook, Google+, Twitter, and YouTube — are also good resources.  So are blog searches.  Social media include contact information, but they also broaden your research with less formal “chat” about people, their activities and the companies they work for.

“In gathering information about people,” said Goater, “you want to use a wide variety of sources – and you want to be very careful to validate any information you find before you act on it.  There is a lot of faulty information out there.  There are also privacy concerns.”

Today, information about companies and individuals is widely available. In fact, you could easily drown in all the data.  The trick is to focus your search in light of your business goals.  With this information in hand, you are well-positioned to make good decisions about the future of your law firm – and its work.

Janet Ellen Raasch is a writer, ghostwriter, and blogger (www.constantcontentblog.com) who works closely with professional services providers – especially lawyers, law firms, legal consultants and legal organizations – to help them achieve name recognition and new business through publication of keyword-rich content for the web and social media sites as well as articles and books for print. She can be reached at (303) 399-5041 or jeraasch@msn.com.
Filed Under: Practice Management Tagged With: , , ,

Janet Raasch: Competitive Intelligence – An Essential Component of Better Law Firm Decision-Making (Part 1)

February 1, 2012 By 1 Comment

Editor’s Note: This is the first section of a two-part article. Click here to read Part 2.

Important law firm decisions should never be made in a vacuum.  Instead, they should be made with an abundance of the right information in hand.  For many law firm decisions, “the right information” means competitive intelligence.

Competitive intelligence is defined as a systematic and ethical program for gathering, analyzing and managing information about the external business environment – information that can affect all of a law firm’s plans, decisions and operations.

Competitive intelligence can be information about organizations – like your clients, potential clients and adversaries.  It can be information about other law firms – like collaborators, opposing counsel or even potential merger partners.  It can be information about the legal needs in particular industries or markets.

Competitive intelligence can also be information about people – like the people you will meet in a pitch, in the boardroom, in the courtroom (like opposing counsel or an expert witness) or in a hiring interview.

In any of these settings, knowledge of companies and people is power.

“When gathering competitive intelligence, there is a wrong way and a right way to go about it,” said Wanda McDavid.  “The wrong way is typified by computer hackers like Lisbeth Salander in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.  As much as we enjoy the book and the movie, and want Lisbeth to succeed, we cannot condone her tactics.  This kind of corporate espionage makes for good entertainment, but bad – and unethical – business.”

“The ethical gathering of competitive intelligence complies with all applicable laws – domestic as well as international,” said McDavid.  “It is obtained from legitimate online and print sources, in both public and subscription databases.  When obtained by interviews (either with targeted competitor staff and customers or as general field research), the ethical interviewer discloses up front both her identity and the purpose of the interview.”

McDavid and her colleague Judy Goater discussed the ethical gathering and use of competitive intelligence by law firms at the monthly educational program of the Rocky Mountain Chapter of the Legal Marketing Association.  The program was held January 10, 2012 at Maggiano’s Little Italy in downtown Denver.

McDavid is president and Goater is director of services development at Access Information, a Denver-based firm that specializes in the discovery and compilation of competitive intelligence for use by law firms.  Both have master’s degrees in librarianship and vast experience in the legal industry.  The PowerPoint slides from this presentation have been made available on the company website, in the “training” section.

“Before starting any competitive research project,” said McDavid, “it is essential that you have a plan.  Thanks to the Internet, there are an almost unlimited number of resources out there.  You can waste a lot of time and money searching them all.  If we know your goals for a particular research project, we can help you concentrate your resources on the most likely, valid and reliable sources for your purpose.”

Competitive intelligence on companies, competitors and adversaries

Some sources of competitive intelligence about companies, competitors and adversaries are paid and some are free to the public.  Because of the nature of their work, many law firms and law librarians already have access to many of the paid resources.  These include products offered by industry giants LexisNexis and Thomson West.

“For industry research, I also like to use a product called Profound, offered by MarketResearch.com,” said McDavid.  “They offer a wide range of reports for purchase.  An entire report can be costly but, if you know exactly what you are looking for, you can order just part of a report for a lesser fee.

“And don’t forget,” said McDavid.  “Many of these paid resources are available for you to use free of charge at the Denver Public Library.”

Free resources for company research include www.llrx.com and Zimmerman’s Research Guide.  In its database, Zimmerman’s offers links to both company information and company personnel.  “Both of these sites are great places to start if you are trying to get an overview of the kind of research that is out there,” said McDavid.

The Virtual Chase product by Justia.com offers business research as well as county and municipal law resources.  Information on companies can be found at Hoovers, Yahoo! Finance, Google Finance, Nexis company information and ValuationResources.com.

“A lot of good research is available from Google,” said McDavid.  “We all know how to do a Google search, but much more refined searches and results are available via the Google Advanced General Search Page.  Google Scholar and Google Advanced Scholar Search offer useful results that have been ‘purged’ of casual hits.”

Court and government sites – especially the Secretary of State’s office — include public records and a wealth of useful information.  “If you want to know where a company is headed,” said McDavid, “check the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Database.”

Janet Ellen Raasch is a writer, ghostwriter, and blogger (www.constantcontentblog.com) who works closely with professional services providers – especially lawyers, law firms, legal consultants and legal organizations – to help them achieve name recognition and new business through publication of keyword-rich content for the web and social media sites as well as articles and books for print. She can be reached at (303) 399-5041 or jeraasch@msn.com.
Filed Under: Practice Management Tagged With: , , ,

Justin Ross: “I think it’s going to be okay” – The Value of Continually Encouraging Your Client

January 25, 2012 By 1 Comment

We are all familiar with the proverbial “bed-side manner,” or lack thereof, associated with physicians. However, rarely do we hear of the same for attorneys. Most times, our clients are relying on us to guide them through the most difficult time in their lives, and most clients have no idea what to make of the situation. Simply acquiring a good result may not be the most important task with which we are assigned.

Although it seems elementary, I think we, as legal professionals, forget that we are obligated, as counselors at law, to reassure our clients. In the words of Ted Borrillo, my mentor’s mentor, it is very important to tell your client, up front and often, “It’s going to be okay.”

Having pondered this concept, I would suggest the following should occur with every single client:

  1. Re-assure your client. Most clients have never gone through a divorce, custody battle, criminal charges, personal injury, etc. They need to be re-assured that the process is (or should be) designed to provide justice and fairness, and that, except for those very unusual cases, a breakdown of the system will not mean that their life is over. Clients need to be told this from the beginning of your representation. Do not patronize your client. Be honest about the risks and repercussions. However, do not forget to tell your client that there is “a light at the end of tunnel.”
  2. Share a professional, or personal, experience. Think of a case that you have handled, or a personal situation that you have gone through, that could be of benefit to your client. Without divulging confidence, share that story with your client. This is a moment when your experience as an attorney uniquely equips you to counsel your client.
  3. Repeat step 1 and, if necessary, step 2. Most every case is a marathon. Clients will experience emotional ups and downs throughout. Merely encouraging your client at the beginning of the case likely will not suffice for the entirety of the case. Make a mental note to be encouraging to your client every single time you have contact with them. If you do not have frequent contact, consider placing a call or e-mail to your client solely for the purpose of encouraging your client.
Justin Ross is an attorney at Pickard & Associates PC and focuses his practice on domestic relations, dependency & neglect, criminal defense, and personal injury. Justin is also chair of the First Judicial District Bar Membership Committee. He contributes to the First Judicial District’s monthly Proclamation, where this article originally appeared.
Filed Under: Practice Management Tagged With: , , , ,

Legal Writing Pro: Avoid These Clichés Like the Plague

January 18, 2012 By Leave a Comment

1. An Apple a Day

Example: “The State prosecuted the astronaut on a more serious charge because it wanted a second bite at the apple.”

Don’t distract your reader with an imaginary fruit salad. Instead, explain why your opponent shouldn’t get what it wants: “The State added a new charge only because the court rejected its first bail request.”

2. Giant Ball of Twine

Example: “Her state tort law claims were inextricably intertwined with Medicare regulations.”

Popular variations: inextricably linked and inextricably connected.

Don’t get stuck in the tangled web. Instead, emphasize why the connection matters: “Unless the provider violated Medicare regulations, Plaintiff’s state tort claims must fail.”

3. Your Eminence

Example: “Dr. Smith’s resume demonstrates that she is eminently qualified to opine on damages.”

Have you ever heard of an expert who is qualified, but not eminently so? I didn’t think so. The same goes for such expressions as eminently reasonable and eminently clear. Just stick to the facts: “Mary Smith is qualified to testify because she has a doctorate in economics and has testified in 24 other federal antitrust cases.”

4. Slip Sliding Away

Example: “If the Court allows large punitive damages in this case, it will head down a slippery slope.”

When I was in law school, my contracts professor challenged us to get through our entire course without once using the phrase slippery slope. We held out for just two days before someone slipped. In its place, just explain the danger of not doing what you want: “If the Court allows large punitive damages here, Defendants will be forced to pay many times for the same claim.”

5. Bald Faith

Example: “Plaintiff’s conclusory allegations and bald assertions cannot withstand scrutiny.”

I’m convinced that some of us lawyers develop keystrokes for these couplets. Is any allegation not conclusory? Is any assertion not bald? Judges tell me that these predictable pairs are like fingernails on the chalkboard. Better to focus on what makes the assertions so bald: “Although Jones claims promissory estoppel, he cites no facts to suggest that he relied on Smith’s alleged promise.”

I’ll stop now so I don’t go down a slippery slope of my own. But if I’ve opened Pandora’s box here and you think clichés are the Achilles’ heel of legal writing, please send me more of these tempting truisms—either the ones you love to write or the ones you hate to read.

Ross Guberman is the founder and president of Legal Writing Pro, an advanced legal-writing training and consulting firm. He has conducted more than a thousand programs on three continents for many of the largest and most prestigious law firms and for dozens of state and federal agencies and bar associations. Ross is also a Professorial Lecturer in Law at The George Washington University Law School, where he teaches an advanced seminar on drafting and writing strategy. When you see the logo, you’re reading an article from Legal Writing Pro, where the article originally appeared.

Filed Under: Practice Management Tagged With: , , , , ,

Understanding Your Avvo Rating: How It’s Calculated and Why You Should Care

January 12, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Avvo is a free online directory of lawyers that the public can use to search by state and practice area. You may be asking yourself, isn’t that basically the business White Pages, or the bar association’s Find-A-Lawyer directory, or Martindale-Hubbell revisited? Pretty much. A lawyer’s Avvo profile is essentially an online résumé or portfolio that lists achievements, publications, biographical information, and, if the lawyer is so inclined, photographs and videos of his or her choosing.

Unlike those more, ahem, venerable (or stodgy, depending on your perspective), ways to find a lawyer, lawyers seem to absolutely hate Avvo. It raises the ire of lawyers, in part, because Avvo represents a visible credibility check. A lawyer’s Avvo profile frequently will show up in the top 10 Google results, and Avvo crawls state ethical records and posts any run-ins with the Office of Attorney Regulation. This has resulted in several lawsuits from lawyers with a rap sheet.

That’s not the greatest criticism though—most of our fellow professionals keep their noses clean. The greater complaint is that, along with your fluffy profile, Avvo posts a rating out of 10.

According to the site: The rating is calculated using a mathematical model that considers the information shown in a lawyer’s profile, including a lawyer’s years in practice, disciplinary history, professional achievements, and industry recognition.

The term “mathematical model” is something I tend to associate with being what I would be unable to calculate. Avvo also claims their model is proprietary, which leads me to believe that it is a formula for some amazingly strong, light, and beautiful polymer—or something. With those considerations in mind, I set about cracking their formula by adding and subtracting credentials from my profile.

Essentially, every lawyer starts at 5.6. The “formula” is this: for every credential added in a different category, an attorney gets three tenths of a point. Peer reviews are worth the same. Publications in the same periodical are discounted a bit. That’s basically it. Add three publications and a presentation, and, by their formula, you are now a 6.9-rated lawyer.

There is a caveat to the site: The Avvo rating is not intended to be the only thing you use in choosing a lawyer.

Yeah. Right. Just like how Ebert’s thumb or Pitchfork’s numerical rating is only a small consideration in figuring out what movies to watch or music to buy. It’s absurd to think that legal services can and should be rated this way, but the Avvo profile is there, whether or not you claim it.

The best solution is just to spend a few minutes filling out the profile. We already have LinkedIn, Facebook, Justia—what’s one more? It really is nothing more than a summary résumé. In the event that a lawyer doesn’t choose to claim and fill out the profile, his or her information still appears on the website, along with any ethical concerns. However, an ethically clean but otherwise unknown (at least, to Avvo) attorney is not assigned a rating and is tagged as “no concern.”

Although building your Avvo profile is the practical solution—and it is a bit silly to get worked up about some website—something still rankles about the idea that the quality of a lawyer’s services can be determined by adding and subtracting résumé lines. To the extent that consumers are buying what Avvo is selling, complaining about it isn’t going to help. It’s up to us to manage the public perception of our profession relationships and public service.

Chris Mommsen is a criminal defense attorney in Denver.

The Docket eFile brings features from your favorite Denver Bar Association publication to you digitally. When you see the logo, you’re reading an article from The Docket. You’ll also still be able to read the full issue online at denbar.org/docket.

Filed Under: Practice Management Tagged With: , , , ,

Coach’s Corner: How Do You Increase Revenues?

January 4, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Law is a business and planning is the first responsibility of a business owner. Business revenues will not increase without a plan to identify the desired outcome and define what is necessary to achieve it. A law firm that does not plan for how to increase its revenues will wind up a practice reflecting whatever walks in the door. It is doubtful that serendipity and whim are the best paths to revenue growth. Taking any or all of these steps offers far greater likelihood of success.

  1. Emphasize Collections. Stipulating payment rates and terms in the engagement agreement and then enforcing them is the best way to maintain and increase revenues.

  2. Hire Laterals. This enables the firm to add revenue from experienced practitioners who have specifically desired skills and a strong book of business to enhance revenues immediately.

  3. Leverage Technology. By making the practice of law more efficient through time savings and efficiency at routine tasks, computer technology reduces costs, enhancing volume and revenue.

  4. Rethink Compensation. A compensation model that ties base compensation to involving other firm lawyers in legal service teams allows for blended rates that maximize profits and revenue.

  5. Outsource Functions. Engaging outside suppliers for transcription, research, document review, data entry and billing reduces cost and frees resources to focus on revenue-generating services.

  6. Raise Rates. There is no prohibition against raising rates at any time, the only ethical obligation is that legal fees be “reasonable.” A firm’s growth history, professional reputation and success, the difficulty of the matter and the sophistication of the client are among the factors that are considered in determining whether a fee is reasonable.

  7. Reduce Overhead. Money spent for space and staffing may be hard to cut, but the best way to do it is throughout the business cycle rather than waiting until income slows.

  8. Stop Discounts. Lawyers should resist client requests to discount any fee specified in the engagement agreement, and should never propose a discount themselves.

  9. Target Clients. Firms can increase revenue notably by focusing on demographics, occupation, location, financials and other characteristics of clients who provide the most desirable work.

  10. Unbundle Services. Structure a laundry list of unbundled services and fixed prices/fees to create a flexible fee structure. It’s the same model used by the airlines to enhance income.

Ed Poll is a nationally recognized coach, law firm management consultant, and author who has coached and consulted with lawyers and law firms in strategic planning, profitability analysis, and practice development for over twenty years. Ed has practiced law on all sides of the table and he now helps attorneys and law firms increase their profitability and peace of mind. He writes the LawBiz® Tips E-zine, where this post originally appeared on August 30, 2011.
Filed Under: Practice Management Tagged With: , , , ,

Tom Matte: 7 More Social Media Tips to Bring Leads to Your Law Firm

December 29, 2011 By Leave a Comment

The main reason most law firms start using social media is to generate leads. Make sure you are getting the most from your efforts and creating the awareness that will pay off.

I recently read an article on Social Media Today entitled, “7 Reasons You’re Not Generating Leads From Social Media.” Now here’s a topic that looks interesting, since I get asked about the connection between social media and leads quite frequently. As it turns out, lead generation is the top reason most B2B marketers say they are using social media in the first place, so if leads aren’t coming in, it’s probably difficult to justify the time and cost of social media, right?

So using this article as a base, I thought I would talk about 7 ways you can start generating leads from your social media activities.

Go where your prospects are. This may seem obvious, and it is. While I think it’s a good idea to be on all the major platforms, spend most of your time where your next client is hanging out most of the time. This may mean more focus on LinkedIn than Twitter. Or vice versa. Or if your law firm is targeting a specific industry, look for industry-specific social media platforms and start building awareness there.

Provide valuable content. I’ve written quite a few blog posts on the importance of providing good content, so I won’t rehash that here. But if all you are putting out on  your social media pages is information about you, your practice or your law firm, people will quickly grow bored and you will sound completely self-centered. Mix it up with some interesting articles about a topic of interest to your prospects, comment on other people’s posts and retweet valuable information too. Remember, it’s social, so one-way push messages can’t be all you do.

Create strong calls to action and consider creating targeted landing pages. If someone really likes what you have to say, make it easy for them to reach out to you by creating a call to action. It can be something as easy as making your phone number and email address easily accessible. Or better yet, send readers to a landing page where they can find further details, a white paper or some other item of value. In return, ask for their contact information. Targeted landing pages are a great way to expand your database and find out who is really interested in hearing more of what you have to say.

Get the most from your social media real estate. I’m amazed at how many times I go to a law firm’s Twitter page and see no information in the bio space or a Facebook page with nothing on the info page. Whatever you do, provide readers the information they need about your firm, a way to get to your Website easily and other ways to reach out to you as well. Make sure your messaging is consistent throughout all platforms too, so no matter how someone finds you, they see and hear the same thing and walk away with a good idea of what your law firm does.

Integrate email and social media. How many emails do you send a day? I’d be willing to bet it’s at least scores and probably more than 100 on many days. So why not include links to your social media pages in your email signature? If you have an offer on a landing page, include that information there as well. It will generate awareness for your social media work, and it’s easy for someone to forward to a colleague or friend to broaden your reach even more.

Display highly visible social share and follow buttons. While you are adding your social media buttons to your email, make sure they are on your Website too. Not just your home page, but your blog pages, your bio page and possibly your practice area and industry pages. Make it easy for people to share and follow you and your firm, and they will.

Measure the effectiveness of your social media efforts. All this is well and good, but in the end, you need to measure how well you are doing and make adjustments as needed. Set up a time to regularly review your social media traffic, activity and audience. Has any business come to your firm that can be directly tied to social media activities? Are you in the right place or should you branch out and try some new platforms?

What do you suggest? Are your social media efforts paying off in leads?

Tom Matte is CEO of Max Advertising, and focuses his endless enthusiasm on crafting creative and lasting marketing and advertising for law firms, helping them to ultimately grow their practices. Whether a 10-person firm or one of the Am Law 100, he works with firms of all sizes. Tom blogs at the The Matte Pad, where this post originally appeared on December 7, 2011.
Filed Under: Practice Management Tagged With: , , , , ,

Barron Henley: Microsoft Word’s AutoCorrect Feature

December 21, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Word’s AutoCorrect feature automatically corrects commonly misspelled words on the fly and with no intervention on your part.

To Create an AutoCorrect Entry

Even though Word includes hundreds of commonly misspelled words in AutoCorrect, you might want to add a few of your own.  To do this, follow these steps:

1.  In Word 2007, click Office Button → Word Options → Proofing → AutoCorrect Options button.  In Word 2010, click the File Menu → Options button → Proofing → AutoCorrect Options button.  The following dialog will appear.

2.  In the Replace box, type the word as you commonly misspell it.  In the With box, type the correct spelling of the word.

3.  Click Add and then hit OK.

4.  Test it by typing the keys, followed by a space.  The keystrokes should be replaced by the AutoCorrect text.

Legal Tip – Use AutoCorrect Proactively

Passively, AutoCorrect is very useful, but we recommend using it proactively.  In other words, try creating AutoCorrect entries which automatically insert words or phrases which you frequently type and/or which are annoying to type.  However, remember to use non-word acronyms for the “replace” word.  An easy way to handle this is to add “/” in front of your “replace” words.  For example, I created an AutoCorrect entry that replaces “/aff” with “Affinity Consulting Group, LLC.”  Using this technique has the potential to significantly increase your typing speed.

AutoCorrect Smart Tags

The AutoCorrect Options button first appears as a small, blue box when you rest the mouse pointer near text that was automatically corrected, and changes to a button icon when you point to it.  For example, assume that I use an AutoCorrect entry of “/irc” which converts into “Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended”.  The thin rectangle under the word “Internal,” below, is the AutoCorrect Options button.

If you hover over the rectangle above, it changes into a button and presents you with the following options:

As you can see, the option to undo the auto-correction is included.

Adding AutoCorrect Entries while Spell Checking

During a spell check, if you encounter a word that you often misspell, you can simultaneously correct it and create an AutoCorrect entry for the misspelled word by clicking the AutoCorrect button, which appears at the bottom right hand corner of the Spelling and Grammar dialog.

Barron K. Henley is an attorney, legal technologist, and founding member and president of Affinity Consulting Group LLC, Columbus, Ohio, which has provided legal technology consulting to more than 500 law firms nationwide. He is a member of the ABA Law Practice Management Section and the Technology Committee, (General Practice, Solo and Small Firm Section) as well as a member and former chair of the Ohio State Bar Association Law Office Automation and Technology Committee. Mr. Henley is a frequent continuing legal education speaker on legal-specific technology issues for state and local bar associations and CLE providers.

Join Mr. Henley at CBA-CLE from January 18-19, 2012. He will be presenting 4 half-day programs – come for one or come for all!

1. Adobe Acrobat for Law Firms

Click here for registration information. Call (303) 860-0608 for homestudy information.

PDF files are everywhere and have become the format of choice when trading documents with other lawyers and clients, including e-filing requirements in Colorado state courts. We will teach you legal-specific features of Acrobat that will not only improve office efficiency, but protect your work product and clients’ information. Topics to be covered include:
  • Automatic Bates Numbering & Redaction
  • OCRing PDFs (making them text-searchable)
  • Electronic Document Security & Metadata Removal
  • Splitting Pages, Combining Pages, Removing Pages, and Reducing File Sizes
  • Review, Commenting, and PDF Collaboration
  • Adding Signatures and Stamps
  • The Snapshot Tool
  • Archiving Your Email
  • PDF Creation & Scanning Tips
  • How to Create Trial Notebooks, Document Binders, and Deal Books

2. I’m Buried in Paper – What Can I Do? Paper Reduction Strategies for Law Offices

Click here for registration information. Call (303) 860-0608 for homestudy information.

Technology has fundamentally changed the way lawyers draft documents, gather and manage case information, conduct research, communicate, and render services. In spite of these changes, many of us still manage paper today the same way it was done 50 years ago. It’s time to upgrade that approach. This seminar covers everything you need to create your own digital filing system, get your paper under control, and take full advantage of Adobe Acrobat and PDFs. Going digital means collecting all documents you’ve created and received, plus all related faxes, email messages, and attachments in one electronic system, organized by client and matter. It sounds complicated and expensive, but you’ll see that the tools you need are off-the-shelf, easy to use, and inexpensive. We’ll explain and demonstrate how scanners can be used in the law office to reduce paper, lower operating costs, and significantly improve efficiency. We will also discuss document organization and storage techniques that will allow you to locate any document (sent or received) in seconds.

3. Legal Drafting with Microsoft Word 2007/2010 – The Basics

Click here for registration information. Call (303) 860-0608 for homestudy information.

If you’re tired of wrestling with Word’s formatting every time you have to draft something more complex than a letter, this is your course. Word courses designed for the general public just don’t address the issues legal professionals face when drafting legal instruments. By contrast, this course is designed by legal professionals, for legal professionals. We’ll cover legal drafting issues such as automatic paragraph numbering, complex page numbering schemes, tables of contents, footnotes, and paragraph number cross-referencing. Not only will you learn how to control Word’s complex formatting attributes, but as part of this course you will also receive sample Word templates for pleadings, contracts/agreements, trusts and leases–all with the complex formatting built in and ready to go. This class assumes basic familiarity with Word and focuses exclusively on issues inherent to legal drafting. Topics include:
  • Explanation of the interfaces, ribbons, galleries, contextual tabs, the quick-access bar, and other new conventions.
  • How to fix the program default settings, most of which are inappropriate for legal documents and actually make the program more difficult to use.
  • Fundamentals of Word including advanced navigation and editing tips and tricks.
  • How to copy text from one document to another without formatting nightmares.
  • Create legal clause libraries with Word’s Quick Parts feature.
  • Understand once and for all how Word handles formatting. Learn how Word works and you’ll start controlling Word rather than the other way around.
  • Paragraph formatting including tabs, indents, auto paragraph spacing, keeping paragraphs connected and the right way to build signature lines and acknowledgments.
  • Get page numbering to work for you, even in complex, multi-section documents (like an appellate brief).
  • Controlling headers and footers in legal documents.

4. Microsoft Word 2007/2010 – Advanced Techniques

Click here for registration information. Call (303) 860-0608 for homestudy information.

If you want to master Word, there are certain concepts and features you must understand. This seminar will teach you what is going on behind the curtain so you’ll know exactly how to attack drafting issues and fix or avoid the formatting problems plaguing you now. We’ll cover styles (which grant you full control of formatting), macros (which allow you to automate repetitive tasks), and templates (which are the starting point for the legal documents you draft). Understand these topics and take your word processing to the next level of efficiency. Drafting complex documents in Word shouldn’t feel like punishment. Don’t get mad, get even — and learn to control Word. Topics include:
  • What styles are and why they’re the most important feature in word processing.
  • How to use styles to fix common problems, including: eliminating random font changes while editing, fixing formatting glitches when copying text from one document to another, adding automatic paragraph numbering to a document which has been manually numbered, cleaning up documents that were converted from WordPerfect, and fixing documents someone else sent you.
  • Using styles to quickly fix even the biggest formatting mess.
  • Using templates to streamline your document generation and creating model documents with fill-in fields.
  • Using templates to store and share styles, content, macros, auto text entries and toolbar modifications.
  • How to create “public” templates and share them with others on your network.
  • What macros are and when to use them.
  • Differences between AutoText, AutoCorrect, Quick Parts (new to Word 2007), and Macros.
Filed Under: Practice Management Tagged With: , , , , ,

Coach’s Corner: How Do You Fully Leverage Paralegals?

December 14, 2011 By Leave a Comment

The Role of Paralegals

Paralegals have long been considered a highly cost-effective form of leverage, undertaking routine legal tasks under the supervision of a partner while at reduced billing rates that are attractive to the client yet supportive of the firm’s bottom line. These paralegals may be employed within the firm itself or they may provide outsourced services in a virtual relationship. Either way, the most typical tasks they engage in are generally technical in nature: research, document review, organizing client files and the like.

Paralegals Enable a Firm to Create Additional Business

A paralegal’s fundamental task is to allow a firm’s lawyers to do more client or marketing work without running up against the danger of not properly addressing client needs. Paralegals enable a firm to create additional business, using the principle of leverage, that would not otherwise be possible, in addition to reducing lawyers’ stress level.

How to Leverage Paralegals

Once they understand the firm and its culture, paralegals can be leveraged not just through their technical abilities but also for their client service strengths. Consider such strategies as these:

  • Failure to return phone calls or respond to letters is the number one complaint clients have about lawyers. Lawyers may be otherwise engaged, but clients want to be assured that their matter is being dealt with. Having a paralegal step in and assure the client that their inquiry will be answered as soon as possible can prevent many client relations problems.

  • Clients want to know what’s happening with their matter. Even though the lawyer might be doing a great job, if the client doesn’t know that, there’s bound to be a problem – usually at fee-paying time. Paralegals can often handle the kind of communication that clients appreciate, by sending copies of documents, by writing, or making calls for updates. Clients kept informed at every step of their matter are happier clients. Happier clients pay their bills faster and refer other clients.

  • Clients should be able to connect directly with paralegals who may have an impact on their matter or who might be able to answer one of their questions. The client who walks away with an answer, even if not from the mouth of the attorney, is far more likely to be a satisfied client. That means that client service education training is a must for paralegals.

Direct Supervision of Paralegals is Important

In such activities, of course, lawyers must continue to exercise direct supervision of paralegals. But given that, paralegals in such roles can enhance client service and firm profitability.

Ed Poll is a nationally recognized coach, law firm management consultant, and author who has coached and consulted with lawyers and law firms in strategic planning, profitability analysis, and practice development for over twenty years. Ed has practiced law on all sides of the table and he now helps attorneys and law firms increase their profitability and peace of mind. He writes the LawBiz® Tips E-zine, where this post originally appeared on November 1, 2011.
Filed Under: Practice Management Tagged With: , , , ,

Tom Matte: The Importance of a Company Facebook Page for Small Firms

December 6, 2011 By Leave a Comment

A great, easy and free way to get your small firm engaged with your client or potential client is to create a Facebook company page.

A Facebook page connects your firm to the outside world without too much effort. This is a great way to market your firm in just a few short minutes. I know you are busy, but I promise it won’t take much time and the benefits definitely outweigh the effort of putting it together. Think about what you want to post and do your research up front before getting started though. Remember: Content is king!

Take these tips and get started on your Facebook page today.

  • Choose who will administer your Facebook page. This person will post regular Facebook updates and control what is put on the page. You can have as many administrators as you like, but a word of advice, choose a select group to make sure updates are relevant to your practice area and audience.
  • Post legal news and industry-related content on your Facebook page. This could include an article on a newly passed law or a pertinent court case. Always keep your audience in mind, and post things that would be interesting to them.
  • Post pictures of your firm at conferences, meetings and gatherings. It’s important to show your audience what you are participating in and how you are involved in the legal community. It’s also nice to post photos of any volunteer events or firm celebrations. People like to see that you have fun too.
  • Get professional head-shots taken of employees at your firm and post them to the page. Create an album for these pictures on Facebook titled, “(Your Firm Name) employees.” This allows your audience to feel like they know your firm without actually meeting all of the individuals.
  • Ask for feedback and engage your audience. Post questions on your Facebook page and encourage responses. People love to be engaged on Facebook. Create content that attracts your audience and keeps them coming back for more!
  • Don’t post any private information, obviously, such as court cases. Many people that have gotten fired, or worse, because of the personal information they posted, and for good reason. Remember, anything you put on Facebook is in the public domain – forever. Be smart about what you post.
  • Add tabs to your page that allow followers to see information about your firm in other places, like Twitter and YouTube. With a YouTube tab, for example,  you can post your firm’s webinars, commercials and any other videos so visitors can find them easily. Look into all the tabs that could benefit your Facebook page.

Facebook is a great way to reach more clients. This easy, free tool will engage your audience and eventually convert some of them into clients. Being actively involved with a Facebook page (along with a Twitter page, blogging and a LinkedIn page), can set your firm apart as a thought-leader in the legal industry.

Tom Matte is CEO of Max Advertising, and focuses his endless enthusiasm on crafting creative and lasting marketing and advertising for law firms, helping them to ultimately grow their practices. Whether a 10-person firm or one of the Am Law 100, he works with firms of all sizes. Tom blogs at the The Matte Pad, where this post originally appeared on May 9, 2011.
Filed Under: Practice Management Tagged With: , , , , , ,
« Older Posts