All Our Tips
Mashable’s Facebook Guidebook Will Make You a Facebook Power-User
Facebook is very complicated and can be confusing to use and configure. Many people are not using Facebook to its full potential.
Do you want to do more with Facebook? Look to Mashable’s Facebook Guide Book, a complete collection of resources that will help you do more with Facebook. It has “Facebook 101” content for people that are new to Facebook, directions on doing more with Facebook apps, practical advice on using Facebook for promoting a business, and more advanced information for those that want to take Facebook to a higher level. You can find Mashable’s Facebook Guide Book here.
Do a Technology Audit
Many firms are coming up to a decision point. Windows XP will no longer be supported after . Accordingly firms are looking at replacing their desktop or laptop XP machines with Windows 7 (or perhaps Windows 8) PCs. Or are they? There has been a considerable growth in BYOD (Bring Your Own Devices) to work. iPads and other tablets have made considerable inroads. Many lawyers now operate using an iPhone, Android or Blackberry or indeed a lightweight Mac Air – and don’t relish the idea of lugging a PC laptop around. So what is a firm to do?
Before they embark on a considerable technology spend, it behooves firms to stop for a moment and take a strategic view towards their next technological platform and objectives. Robert Half Legal latest report:
Future Law Office: Technology’s Transformation of the Legal Field provides considerable insights into how technology is shaping the practice of law.
Here are our (condensed) summaries of some of their key findings:
- With smartphones, tablet computers, wireless networks and cloud computing, telecommuting is on the rise.
- The physical footprint of today’s law firm is shrinking. Some offices are even going completely virtual.
- Clients are demanding secure portals and collaborative spaces – revealing a critical need for secure technology sharing environments.
- Social media use is on the rise but many lawyers and firms still have concerns about privacy and the inadvertent disclosure of client information when using social media.
- Technology has leveled the playing field enabling solo practitioners and small law firms to establish a large- firm-like presence online.
- e-Discovery remains both a growth area and a challenge.
In order to spend those technology dollars wisely, a firm should undertake a strategic technology audit. This is not a technology exercise – rather it is a hard-nosed management overview and analysis of where the strengths and weaknesses of the firm is in relation to how the underlying technology of the firm supports the strategic goals of the firm.
April 8, 2014 will be arriving sooner than expected. It would be comforting to know that your firm has done the critical analysis and planning well in advance. There are three key questions to ask:
- What do we have?
- What do we need?
- Why?
Underlying this analysis is the litmus test put forth by no less than Bill Gates:
The first rule of any technology used in a business is that automation applied to an efficient operation will magnify the efficiency. The second is that automation applied to an inefficient operation will magnify the inefficiency.
This indicates that the analysis is much deeper than perhaps first anticipated. You are looking at the workflows in your firm and whether those underlying work flows are efficient before you apply technology. Moreover what are the anticipated new work that the firm will be taking on in the future – is your underlying technology capable of supporting those new ventures efficiently and effectively?
In our view, firms should be starting this planning and analysis now – in order to have everything in place when the time comes when XP slides into the sunset.
Words and Phrases Judicially Considered
A frequent question in legal research is “what do judges say about [insert phrase here]”
Fortunately there are many excellent sources for answering this question, both with print tools and their electronic equivalents.
Some examples noted by Slaw include these posts:
- Words and Phrases Compared by Gary Rodrigues, November 3, 2008
- Are Words and Prhases Judicial Definition Sources Still Required by Shaunna Mireau, September 17, 2009
And for a great example of judicial definition in a case quote see:
- Barratry, Champetry, Maintenance, Oh My! by Simon Fodden, September 20, 2011
Today’s tip: If you are searching (electronically) for the distinction between two phrases and they contain the same word, search only for the common word.
Like all searching, the less you put “in” for search criteria, the more results you will get “out”.
Conveniently, this process could also result in lower client disbursement fees in most environments. The most common metered legal research tools calculate suggested disbursement prices based on activity (each search generates a fee) and narrowing your search by filtering the initial results is often at no additional suggested charge. Costs are theoretical ‘suggested retail prices’ of course since access is based on a contract.
Are You Cloning Yourself?
We all like to be on the same wavelength with people we work closely with, but this tendency to select others like us can be a problem when seeking out a new support staff hire for your law practice. For example, if you’re a sole practitioner with a keyboard speed of 90 words per minute or skilled in the operation of voice recognition software, a speed typist may not be the best use of use of your hiring dollar.
Before you hire, think about the tasks that require a law license. Unless you’re considering hiring an associate, you are going to have to continue to be responsible for all those tasks. Your objective is to hire someone to do everything else that’s left. Concentrate on the tasks that don’t require a particular skill that you have, or that do require skills you don’t have and which take up your time and effort without producing revenue for the firm.
Perhaps you need a new employee who can successfully handle routine correspondence and phone calls about ongoing cases, or maybe what you really need is someone who is a whiz with computers and can master the case management system you’ve bought but never fully implemented. Or someone who is skilled at handling litigation support programs and can prepare knockout trial graphics in house. The right employee is one who can complement your skills by bringing missing abilities to the office mix.
A Quick Look Up of Citizen’s Arrest Law
As I was driving behind someone chucking garbage out their car window this morning I considered how little I know about the concept of citizen’s arrest. Here in Alberta, drivers who suspect that another vehicle is being operated by someone who is impaired may call 9-1-1, but I was pretty sure that the RCMP – I was driving on a highway at the time – would frown on 9-1-1 calls for littering.
The Tip part of this post is: sometimes Google is the fast path to a legal research question.
Back at my desk (not in the car where I am not allowed to use my mobile device with my hands while driving), I plugged citizen’s arrest into Google. The second hit led to a resource that has been discussed before in these legal research tips: a Library of Parliament Legislative Summary of Bill C-26: The Citizen’s Arrest and Self-defence Act. LegisINFO tells us that this bill is awaiting proclamation, but the background information in the summary tells me what the current law is regarding Citizen’s arrest.
And just for fun, here are some facts about littering in my jurisdiction.
Littering on highways in Alberta, is dealt with under the Environmental Protection and Enhancement Act, Section 179(1):
179(1) No person shall dispose of waste on a highway except in a container placed for the purpose of collecting it.
Municipalities can adopt bylaws to address litter in Alberta.
Farmers, like my Dad, sometimes make their kids pick litter out of hay fields so the cows don’t eat garbage and get sick. This colours their adulthood and makes them think about citizen’s arrest when they spot littering drivers.
Network Up (And Down) the Ladder of Life
Unless you went to school in a one room prairie school house (or were home schooled), you were probably put into a class with other people your exact age, and have been hanging out with people who are approximately the same age that you are ever since. To effectively market your law practice, break out of this mold and consciously make an effort to network with attorneys and other potential sources of referrals who are much older and younger.
Everyone wants to be with the “movers and shakers,” who are usually a little more advanced in their careers and, hence, a little older than those just starting in a career, but many younger lawyers tend to avoid the oldest “deans” in their firm or legal community because they think that these esteemed lawyers don’t have time for them. Often, nothing could be further from the truth. Many older lawyers would love the opportunity to pass on the benefit of their experience to younger lawyers. Forming a relationship with such a lawyer can be a great source of mentoring and potential referrals as the older lawyer begins to curtail his or her practice.
If you are a relatively young lawyer, don’t disdain lawyers in your firm or community who are even more junior, or lower-level employees in your firm, either. These juniors will remember and reward your kindness. And just as you are progressing through your own career, many of these junior people are also rising in theirs and may one day soon be senior-level lawyers or managers who will then have the ability to throw business your way, and a career-long relationship with you to remind them why they should.
Rounded and Grounded
Ah science. It is pretty difficult in today’s world to have even a basic knowledge of what is happening outside your discipline given all the current awareness reading required just to stay on top of what is going on within your legal specialty.
Still, it is pretty important to try and keep up. World and current events are usually available with mainstream media. Legal information via Slaw.ca and current awareness services via your favourite law librarian. For scientific information, I recommend the Technology Review published by MIT. There are RSS feeds, mobile apps, and my preferred method of review – twitter feeds of article headlines.
Cash Flow Reports – Part 10: Client Trust Balances
At long last we come to the end of our top 10 Cash Flow Reports Tips with our final entry, Client Trust Balances.
Institute a procedure to ensure regular review of the trust account balance for each clients. You want to determine whether there are funds in trust that can be applied against unbilled time or disbursements and whether there are clients or matters that are approaching the exhaustion of their retainers or cost deposits. Keeping on top of this information will go a long way toward making sure that you are not placed in a position of having to work for free because a client cannot pay you but you’ve waited too long to ethically withdraw from the case. If you find that there are such cases, contact these clients immediately to let them know that they need to bring in additional funds, and tickle yourself to make sure that they follow through.
A well run firm will have a solid system in place to maintain control over all client trust account activity. This is an area that should receive special attention and focus. Not only must the firm and its lawyers abide by stringent fiduciary and ethical obligations to be able to fully account for all client funds held in trust at all times. In addition, careful management of retainers and cost deposits can provide substantial working capital savings to the firm.
Look to the Library of Parliament
A post by Library Boy reminded me to look to the Library of Parliament for their excellent publications.
The Library of Parliament offers a wide range of research publications that provide analysis to parliamentarians, parliamentary committees and parliamentary associations on current and emerging key issues, legislation and major public policy topics. The publications provide non-partisan, reliable and timely information on subjects that are relevant to parliamentary and constituency work.
Hat Tip to Library Boy.
Cash Flow Reports – Part 9 – Daily Time Summaries Are a Must
Daily time summaries by lawyer are also an important part of cash flow reporting. To make this analysis accurate, all lawyers in the firm should be accounting for all of their time every day – billable, firm administration or management, marketing, mentoring, continuing education, pro bono, vacation, etc. Doing so will allow firm management to look for aberrations or time summaries that don’t make sense or indicate poor time management or failure to meet minimum billable time requirements.
But once you start accounting for all your time, how do you know how you stack up? Here’s a quick way to determine how many hours you should be billing. Take your desired annual personal gross (pre-tax) income (say $150,000). Collected billings will need to be approximately twice that – $300,000 – assuming expenses are about 50% of gross. Factor in bad debt at 10%. This indicates that you will need to bill approximately $330,000 per year in order to end up with a gross income of $150,000. There are approximately 231 working days per year (365 minus 21 days vacation, 104 weekend days, and 9 statutory holidays). Therefore, you must bill approximately $1,400/day ($330,000 ÷ 231). If you bill at $250 per hour, you must log 5.6 billable hours per day – every day – to reach your income goal. Daily time summaries will do a lot to help you stay on track.
