Five Best Fit Tips to Take into the New Year
Now is the time that we reflect on our successes and failures of the past year — both professionally and personally — and plan for the upcoming year, setting goals for ourselves, our firms and our practices. As I think about 2017, I see many successes, some failures and, above all, lessons I learned from both. Looking back at the “Friday Fit Five” posts of 2017 for top takeaways, there are five things I want to take into the new year with me, to continue or to improve upon. H
Five Things That Slow Growth in a Law Firm
Many lawyers who own their own firms are frustrated by a lack of growth compared to other firms. I often hear “It’s too hard,” “That firm has a secret sauce,” “They get better cases” or “Law firms that grow quickly must be doing something underhanded.” None of that is true — except maybe the secret sauce. And the sauce is not that secret. When it comes to scaling their businesses, I often see the same five things that slow law firms’ growth. When you know what these things ar
Does Your Online Reputation Need Tending?
Sometimes lawyers and law firms need to clean up online reputations sullied by lawsuits, bad press, negative reviews or poor social media choices. While there’s no magic bullet, reputation management is possible. There are two approaches you can take: Either hire a company to help you, or do it yourself. Here are the pros, cons and considerations. Hired Hands Reputation.com, which has been around since 2006, is the oldest of a growing number of services that advertise help wi
Tips for Capturing Social Media Evidence
It turns out that sometimes you can believe what you see on the internet. Criminal defendants and civil litigants overshare on social media just like the rest of us. But heading into court, that tendency is less an annoying habit and more a potential self-incrimination. In their search for credible evidence against opponents, lawyers are increasingly turning to social media for digital smoking guns. When Facebook first urged its users to “Go Live!” on its new video posting sy
You Lost Me Right From the Start: Avoiding Communication Turn-offs
You’re articulate, right? You appreciate and emulate good legal writing. So why do you turn off so many listeners and readers so soon? In the film “Jerry Maguire,” Renee Zellweger as Dorothy Boyd tells Tom Cruise’s Jerry Maguire, “You had me at hello.” I say, “You lost me right from the start.” Ineffective Openings Too many speakers start off undermining their credibility. “Umm,” whether at the beginning or sprinkled among the words, creates boredom and disinterest. Cable new
You Lost Me Right From the Start: Avoiding Communication Turn-offs
You’re articulate, right? You appreciate and emulate good legal writing. So why do you turn off so many listeners and readers so soon? In the film “Jerry Maguire,” Renee Zellweger as Dorothy Boyd tells Tom Cruise’s Jerry Maguire, “You had me at hello.” I say, “You lost me right from the start.” Ineffective Openings Too many speakers start off undermining their credibility. “Umm,” whether at the beginning or sprinkled among the words, creates boredom and disinterest. Cable new
Three Quick Ways to Make Networking Part of Your Routine
You’ve heard it hundreds of times: You need to network! If you want to build your client base, get referrals, establish your brand and be a better lawyer, networking is required. But when you’re already busting your tail to bill 1,800 (or more) hours per year, and striving to be involved in your community, stay somewhat healthy, and maintain your personal relationships, networking often falls to the bottom of the list. Here are three easy ways to make networking part of your
How to make 2018 more Productive
A few months back, Harvard Business Review published a terrific article titled “In a Distracted World, Solitude Is a Competitive Advantage.” The authors reference numerous sources, from Yoda (Star Wars) to Eric Schmidt (Google) to David Rock (Your Brain at Work), to propose that working in a quiet mental and physical space maximizes the quality and the quantity of the work accomplished. Getting the work done is, after all, the ultimate objective among the many we wrangle each
Learn to Love Your Social Media Channels
So you’ve spent a year creating content. You’ve written articles, created a client newsletter, are active on a blog and comment thread on your bar association website. You publish and provide comments in the local business press. And you should be proud. But creating content without a robust distribution strategy is like an elaborately wrapped box with nothing in it. It just sits there. You can pay organizations like JD Supra to disseminate your content. There are many advant
Best Ways to Upgrade Your Technology in 2018
What’s on your tech to-do list for next year? Maybe you’ve resolved to get more organized, go paperless once and for all, or move all of your practice systems to the cloud. Could be you’re dreaming of a new website — or a better laptop and new headphones would make you happy. What’s worthy of your technology investment next year? We asked the practice management technology pros to recommend one good way for lawyers to upgrade their tech in 2018. Here’s wise advice from Heidi
