All Our Tips
Deciphering Meaningless Computer Error Messages
At some point or another, every computer user has had Windows or another program lock-up and crash. After this happens, you will sometimes be lucky enough to get an error message. On occasion, that error message will actually give you helpful information about why the computer crashed.
But all too often, the error message will be complete gibberish and offer absolutely nothing that will help you understand why the crash happened, much less what you need to do to fix it. Here is a sample:
Say what????
Next time this happens to you, don’t despair. You can safely assume loads of other people have had the same problem, and that at least some of them have gone to the Web for an answer.
Do a Google search using a portion of the text from the error message you got. Use enough text from the message to get search results for exactly the same error message. Remember to put the search text in double quotes to force your search results to include only items for the exact error message you got. Look through these sites and you will likely find a solution to your crashing problem.
Note that you may find sites that offer a solution, but ask you to register to get it. Some of these sites are reputable, some are not. Ignoring them is the safe thing to do. Odds are you will find the answer to your problem on a public site.
Top 10 Financial Errors: #9 Avoid Having a Written Office-Sharing or Partnership Agreement
Max Amsterdam once said: “Business is the art of extracting money from another man’s pocket without resorting to violence.”
The purpose of having a written agreement between all parties in the firm is that everyone then knows the terms of the arrangement between them: the expectations, the consequences and the means to implement those consequences. Failing to have such an agreement between lawyers is the equivalent of a shoemaker’s children running around barefoot.
Office-sharing agreements cover issues between solos sharing the same office suite. Common issues include management of the suite, lease payments, confidentiality, signage and sharing of the costs and services of common employees.
Every partnership agreement should cover management issues, capital contributions, income-sharing and compensation issues, disability, adding new partners, voluntary partner withdrawal, partner expulsion and dissolution.
Further, every partnership agreement should incorporate the requirement for adequate life and disability insurance to ensure that, should someone die or become disabled, there is proper compensation for the partnership share, and that the firm can pick up the pieces and carry on the business. Inadequate insurance can leave a deceased partner’s family and the remaining partners financially stuck or, worse, in litigation.
It can be very difficult to negotiate a partnership agreement. Be prepared for some tense moments. However, negotiating an agreement – partnership or office sharing – in advance is far less tense than litigating the issues later.
Open Access Journals
There is good leagal content that doesn’t necessarily come in the neat packages that we usually look in. Though our commercial legal database subscriptions have linked, vetted, edited, and easily available content, legal researchers would be remiss if they didn’t look for open access journal content as well.
Regular Slaw and Slaw Tips readers will be aware of legal content on the Social Science Research Network (SSRN). See Lyonette Louis-Jacques’ May 2011 Slaw post for indexes to this and other journal content.
The University of Windsor Law Library has a nice list of open access law journals. Worth a look if you are searching for commentary from law journals.
Use join.me to Get on the Same Page Across the Web
When you need to collaborate on a document displayed on your screen, it’s great to have a colleague from down the hall come into your office and look over your shoulder.
But what happens when that person is across the city or on the other side of the world?
You can use join.me – a ridiculously simple screen sharing tool for meetings on the fly with up to 250 people. Use it for collaborating on a document, a training session, computer trouble-shooting and anything else that requires you to share a computer screen. You can also share files and chat with people you are sharing your screen with. And there are even viewers for iPad, iPhone and Android devices. Amazing to get all this for FREE!
To start a join.me session, go to the join.me site and click on the Share link. It downloads a small browser add-on that allows you to control the sharing of your screen. You also get a unique 9 digit code (for that session). Tell the people that want to see your screen to go to join.me and enter this code in the Join box. In seconds they will see your desktop in a browser window on their desktop.
There is a pay version that adds additional features including presenter swap, a personal sharing link & custom background, a meeting scheduler, user management, international conference lines and other features. There is a 14 day free trial for pay version features.
Try join.me next time you want to collaborate across the Web.
Top 10 Financial Errors: #8 Always Assume More Risk Than Needed
“When a fellow says it hain’t the money but the principle o’ the thing, it’s th’ money.” We think that was well said by Frank McKinney “Kin” Hubbard in: Hoss Sense and Nonsense, 1926.
Many lawyers balk at the thought of turning down new clients. But ask yourself the following questions:
- Looking at my present workload, do I have adequate time to devote to this matter? Or am I taking this client solely because it has been a while since the last client called?
- Do I have the legal abilities and experience to handle this matter with the required level of competence?
- Do I have the financial resources to handle this matter?
If you answer no to any of these questions, consider associating with additional counsel, or refer the client to several other lawyers you believe can handle the matter.
You should also assess whether you can accept the financial risks associated with taking the matter, just as clients will assess whether they can (and will) pay your fee. Spend time at the beginning of the relationship to learn if the client is able and willing to pay a reasonable fee for the legal work the client wants done.
It’s up to you to take the initiative to discuss fees and costs openly, candidly and comprehensively, preferably at the first interview. Look for danger signs in the client’s story and demeanor to gauge whether the client will honor the impending commitment to pay your fees.
One of the biggest danger signs of all, as any seasoned lawyer will tell you, is where a potential client comes in and says it isn’t about the money but rather the principle of the thing. Best then to take the advice proffered by another friend of ours who is fond of saying: “In God I trust – all others pay Cash.”
Seeing New Federal Legislation
Today’s Tip is a simple reminder to view by “latest activity date”.
The Parliament is back in session and those Slaw Tips readers for whom monitoring legislation is a regular task will appreciate one of the features of LegisINFO. This feature is to view the new information added to the service using the Latest Activity Date filter. Latest activity date is a Sort by feature. The default sort is by Bill number, which is useful if you know what you are looking for, or if you want a snapshot of status for multiple bills.
Check out Sort by Latest Activity Date to see how useful this is.
Happy monitoring.
Top 10 Financial Errors: #7 Put Off Dealing With Underperforming Lawyers
Groucho Marx said once: “[Money] frees you from doing things you dislike. Since I dislike doing nearly everything, money is handy.”
Most of us were not born independently wealthy. Unfortunately, the consequence of that is that we have to earn our living.
Generally, lawyers practice together because they perceive a positive economic relationship and, usually, genuinely like the other people in the firm. But in a smaller firm, failing to face up to the fact that “ol’ Joe” isn’t having a very good year (or years) can have dire consequences.
Schedule monthly meetings for the purpose of examining everyone’s performance against stated financial goals: billable hour targets (WIP), WIP billed (bills rendered), bills collected, accounts receivable balances (net increase or decrease), accounts written off or deemed uncollectible, disbursements incurred, disbursements billed, disbursements written off and status of outstanding files.
If done regularly and honestly, this won’t be a confrontational meeting. When everyone in the firm is required to report monthly to all other partners, you instill a culture in the firm that is self-correcting. If someone fails to regularly meet their financial goals, you have a decision to make and a forum within which it can be made.
Dig Deep
Today’s Tip: Dig Deep
By deep, I mean the deep or invisible web. According to Marcus Zillman, there are somewhere in the vicinity of 1 trillion plus pages of information out there on the world wide web that search engines might not see.
Marcus was kind enough to update his annual article at LLRX.com, Deep Web Research 2012.
This report and guide is designed to give you the resources you need to better understand the history of the deep web research, as well as various classified resources that allow you to search through the currently available web to find those key sources of information nuggets only found by understanding how to search the “deep web”.
Though there are some familiar sites in this excellent resources list, Google Scholar for example, there are many sites, vendors and sources of information that may be new to you.
One new to me was the Open Knowledge Foundation. Visit their projects page to have a look.
Top 10 Financial Errors: #6 Think You Don’t Need a Fee Agreement With Each Client.
Louis Agassiz stated: “I cannot afford to waste my time making money.”
The way some lawyers carry on, you think they had taken Louis’ quote to heart. But when it comes to taking time to get a signed fee agreement, we think that this is time well spent. It is a huge financial mistake to not record in writing the very nature of the contractual relationship with each and every one of your clients.
Of course it’s important to communicate in writing with every client during, or immediately after, the initial consultation to define your professional relationship. Clearly defining whether or not you are acting on behalf of the client will help avoid any misunderstandings about the timing, scope and cost of your legal representation. Misunderstandings about the lawyer-client relationship often lead to the souring of the relationship—and to costly collection and malpractice suits.
A well-written fee agreement encompasses more than your hourly, flat or contingent fee. It should define the parameters of the work to be completed and address your obligations to the client and the client’s obligations to you. It should also address your rights (for example, to seek withdrawal) and your client’s rights (for example, to terminate representation).
Be clear in the language you choose. Avoid legalese. Remember, because you are the person drafting this document, it is possible that any error or ambiguity may be resolved against you if a fee dispute arises later. Also, be sure to consult your jurisdiction’s ethics rules regarding fee agreements to ensure that you are totally on-side. They may even have precedent agreements for you to use in your practice.
Orphan Results
Susan Van Dyke wrote at Slaw on How to Avoid Resource-Draining One-Off Marketing Activities. She inspired this post with one of her ideas:
- Review your current orphans and if you’re not getting any results after a good effort of at least a couple of years, see about dropping some of these, especially if you can’t make a reasonable business case to support it.
Susan was speaking about marketing events, but this advice could apply to many things – library services, database content, use of website features, technology solutions, margarine vs. butter.
For legal research, I believe it is important to pay extra attention to orphan results. Think of a set of case law research results. If everything seems to be pointing in one direction but there is jurisprudence that goes the another way, a legal researcher must investigate that ‘orphan result’ further. Note it up – has the odd case been followed, commented on, blogged about, referenced by anyone in the media; is it the newest decision by date heard or by judgment date; is it the only result from a particular jurisdiction; is the decider commonly a dissenter; was there legislative change that affected the situation.
Today’s Tip: follow up on orphan results
Do you have any orphan result stories? Share in the comments or suggest a related research tip
