2007 January

Blogging Advice for the Blog-Challenged

January 30, 2007 By Grant Griffiths

Susan Cartier LIebel has an excellent post on her blog, Build a Solo Practice, LLC called Blogging Advice For The Blog-Challenged.

She provides some good basic information for those who are thinking about or just getting started blogging.

Blogging is all the rage these days, and for good reason. It’s a very inexpensive, if not an out-and-out free, means of communicating to countless potential clients or referrers of clients. However, most lawyers, especially solos with limited time, may browse blogs and glean information, but few really feel comfortable blogging themselves.

Take a look at Susan’s post. And if you have questions, post them to her post as a comment or here. Lets keep the conversation going.

Filed Under: Blogging For Lawyers, Legal Marketing

Ross Kodner, And That's The Factum!

January 29, 2007 By Jay Fleischman

Ross Kodner, together with partners Bob Timm and Grant Frautschi, has just launched Factum, Inc. Factum offers professionally-produced broadcast-quality online legal technology and law practice management CLE. You’ll definitely recognize all our faculty members – it’s a “dream team” of top legal tech and practice management educators – the people whose live programs you’ve seen all around the continent and whose articles you regularly read.

If you’re at the ACLEA Mid-Year conference in Nashville, they’re rolling it our as I write this. The team is working now on CLE accreditations and has just received word that California has approved an initial batch. Regardless, the initial catalog of twelve programs comprises material everyone should be able to put to use everyday.

There’s also a free sample program (look for the link in the lower right corner of the main page) – it’s a look at Ross’s very popular “How NOT to Commit Malpractice With Your Computer” session. There is no other specialized source for this kind of program content with this collection of speakers. If you like the idea of having a concentrated source of quality-produced tech/practice management CLE, stop by and check them out.

Filed Under: Legal Marketing

Run An Entire Law Firm On Web 2.0

January 29, 2007 By Jay Fleischman

Lee Rosen, an attorney, recently put up his article Tools of the Trade: Web 2.0 Top Ten List to share a run-down of Internet tools that can “make the practice of law easier, faster and more convenient for attorneys and our clients.”

Rosen lists word processing and spreadsheet tools, creation of full-color charts for courtroom use, form-building and more.

As Rosen says:

In the Web 2.0 world, you can run an entire law practice without any software residing on your computer. Nearly every kind of application is now available online. It’s an exciting time on the web, and the opportunities for improving collaboration, productivity and freedom in serving your clients and managing your practice are greater than ever.

Thanks to MyShingle for pointing out this resource.

Filed Under: Office Technology

Google and Research Libraries Launch Project to Scan Large Collection of Books

January 28, 2007 By Grant Griffiths

There has been talk about this now for a couple of years.

Google has launched a program with a number of research libraries in the U.S. and the U.K. aimed at ultimately scanning all the books in their collections. The result of the multiple-year project would be an online digital library of what could number as many as 30 million volumes. The program will encompass books in and out of print, in copyright, and in the public domain—all available for full-text searching and, for the public domain items, full-image viewing. Participants in the program are the libraries of Harvard, Stanford, the University of Michigan, and Oxford University, as well as the New York Public Library (NYPL).

Information Today goes on to state Google’s primary goal aims at out-of-print material, whether public domain or in copyright. Google maintains that it is meeting library copyright standards. Participants will receive no financial compensation from Google, but the massive digitization project will also cost them nothing, according to involved librarians with whom I have spoken. Each library in the program will receive digital copies of the books it has contributed, which it can then use to enhance service to its own patrons.

The Library Boy reminds us there are two questions we may want to ask:

● for more and more people, if it’s not on Google, it does not exist and the fear is that Google will decide to digitize works that will allow it to sell ads. What isn’t digitized will disappear, at least from people’s awareness

● if Google should ever go bankrupt, to whom will humanity’s digitized heritage belong?

Filed Under: Virtual Law Office

Homework and RSS

January 28, 2007 By Grant Griffiths

Don’t laugh. Why not? Can you imagine our schools actually advancing to the point that RSS might be used as a tool to educate our children.

Filed Under: Virtual Law Office

More Uses for RSS

January 27, 2007 By Grant Griffiths

Like many, I use RSS feeds to get information to blog about. In addition to that, there are other uses that lawyers can use RSS feed for. Google Docs & Spreadsheets features RSS so you can be notified if someone updates a document you are working on with others.

I also use Basecamp in my own practice. Basecamp provides RSS feeds. However to protect your security, your RSS reader must support authentication or be password protected. Newsgator products provide both.

The future of RSS looks wonderful. But, how long will we have to wait before higher courts will provide case updates via RSS? How long before state legislatures will use RSS to update the public on updates in Bills that are in those houses? I hope it is soon.

Filed Under: Virtual Law Office

Home Office Lawyering – A Wonderful Option

January 27, 2007 By Susan Cartier Liebel

Grant has invited me to be a guest author and I am honored to make this contribution about the pros and cons of functioning as a Home Office Lawyer.

The decision to have a home office is clearly dependent upon your personality, the circumstances in your life, your client base and the environment you require in order to produce the quality work your client’s are entitled to.

For me, once I got married and decided to have a child (who just turned three), it was simply the best option. It also was the best option when I first started out for similar reasons.

When I meet clients it is either in their office or home, courthouse conference room,
restaurant, law library or a colleague’s conference room. The key is presenting it as a "convenience" for the client. The truth is most clients don’t really want to go to your office. Law offices can be intimidating. There is a certain amount of comfort for a client to be on neutral territory or their own turf.

Then ask yourself. Once the client has been to your office once, how often do they really come back and is it worth the expense to you to maintain that office for what is, in essence, initial consultations and some follow-up. (Depositions can be done in a myriad of places including opposing counsel’s office…let them have the overhead!)

On the otherhand, if you need to get up each morning, get dressed, get in the car and go to your office because it feels right to you, separates you from distractions, feels more professional to you when talking with clients, then you will weigh the dollars and cents for the maintenance of that office. And that decision, if your personality requires it, makes perfect sense.

I happen to be an insane multi-tasker, which according to new studies will land me in a dementia ward sometime before I’m 70, but that being said, I enjoy the privileges of working out of my
home. Just now,finished dancing to the theme song of "Monster Trucks" with my son, helped him to earn "Sheriff" from "Cars" as he learns to use the "potty", then told him "Mommy has to go to work now on the computer," finished typing this blog post, and off to a new consult in the next hour meeting them at their office. It works for me.

Susan Cartier Liebel

Build A Solo Practice, LLC www.susancartierliebel.typepad.com

Filed Under: Untethered Lawyer

Blawg of the Day

January 25, 2007 By Grant Griffiths

My friend and fellow blogger, Jonathan Stein made today’s Blawg of the Day. The post announcing it is below. Good job Jonathan.

Blawg of the Day: “Jonathan Stein’s a busy blogger — in addition to his The Practice blog, which I previewed last year, he’s also discussing his own area of practice interest at the California Personal Injury and Insurance Blog. He’s providing ‘information and insights for consumers regarding personal injury law, insurance and the tort system.’ Give it a look.