Lawyer’s Life Blog

Habits can improve your productivity. I am a big believer in systems. The more systems in your law practice, the easier it is to handle the flow of legal work as well as the myriad of administrative tasks required to run your law practice. Habits are a subset of systems but are more focused on your personal actions.

Are “Sunk-Costs” preventing you from making a wise decision that will further your legal career or law practice? A well known economic term, sunk-costs refer to sticking by a decision, even when you shouldn't, because of the investment you have already made. As an attorney you have made many de...

Law firm marketing for the holiday season should be a high priority. Of course, continue to follow your legal marketing plan (you have one don't you?) but the Christmas season offers opportunities that are not available during the rest of the year. I want to touch on one of those opportunities: C...

What change is it time to make in your law practice, in your legal career? It is election day in the United States. No matter the outcome, come January 20 there will be changes aplenty for the nation. Despite the unpleasantness of the current Presidential election, one constant factor has been o...

How about taking the Lawyers Life assessment? To build a successful law practice you need to do two things: Play to your strengths. Know and utilize those personal and professional characteristics and abilities that give you an advantage over other attorneys. Correct your weaknesses. Under...

Do you really enjoy litigation? Most litigators, truth be told, do not. Based on my experience as a professional lawyer coach, there is a small percentage of lawyers who truly enjoy trial work. They love the strategy, challenge and competition it provides. But these attorneys are in the minority...

An extremely interesting article is in the latest issue of the ABA's Law Practice Today. It describes a study on the question of whether rainmakers are born or bred and what are the characteristics of a legal rainmaker. Are some lawyers just naturals? What is it that sets the highest practice d...

Making partner in your law firm is probably the most critical hurdle in a young lawyer's career. Yet so many attorneys don't have a strategy for how to make that happen. I have touched on this subject before on my website and in the Lawyers Life blog. I was interviewed by Law 360 last week and m...

It is vital to the sustainability of your law practice that you are paid, and paid timely, for your legal services. Yet invoicing clients and collecting legal fees are constant challenges to many lawyers. Handling cases without being paid is simply bad business: you incur unnecessary malpractice ...

The American Bar Association held its annual meeting in San Francisco a couple of weeks ago. I was asked to serve on a panel of coaches, recruiters and career consultants in a program called “Career Advice Live.” It was directed to attorneys with one to six years of experience. My topic was Legal...

I have been a fan of Flipboard for quite a while. For those of you who don't know, Flipboard aggregates internet content and displays it in a magazine style on tablets and smart phones. You can customize the content you receive by category as well as by participating print magazine.  It is simila...

It seems obvious, doesn't it? The decisions attorneys make will have a huge impact on their success as lawyers. Decisions such as choosing between government and private practice, in-house vs. law firm, the legal practice area(s) to pursue, the law firm to work for and the structure of their law ...

Happy New Year! A couple of years ago I posted a series of three blog posts designed to help fellow attorneys 1.) examine their existing law practice 2.) evaluate what changes in practice areas they want to make and 3.) make those changes. I hope they were helpful, I received a lot of positive f...

You have worked hard getting through law school, finding a job and now putting in the hours at your law firm. But what about partnership? How do you get there? Here are five tips that will help: 1. Know the criteria. If you don't know what is expected how can you possibly achieve the goal of pa...

We are in the final quarter of 2012. How has your business been so far? Are you on track to achieve your legal marketing goals? It's time to refocus on how you will achieve your law practice income and client development goals for the year. Take an honest look at where you are now. Are you on...

Most lawyers hate marketing. The usual line goes something like: “I didn't go to law school so I could ask people for business. I'm a lawyer, not a salesman.” Yes, but to get the legal business you want, most attorneys need to market.  The fact is that people, and attorneys are no exception, typi...

How is your law practice going? Are you where you wanted to be in your legal career?The chances are that there is room for improvement but how do you determine where to start? You probably have at least a general idea. However, before you take steps to improve your law practice or make a signific...

The holiday season, the period between Thanksgiving and New Years, is the best time of the year for marketing your law practice. During this time business is more likely to  be slow at the law firm.  For most attorneys there are fewer cases to sign up as many prospective clients wait until the ho...

Thankfulness can be a useful tool in building your law practice. In our efforts to make improvements in ourselves as lawyers, in our law practices and in our personal lives we necessarily focus on what changes need to be made. My coaching work with attorney clients is about helping them make thos...

As discussed in Part 1, “People do business with people they know and they like.” Therefore, “Prospects hire lawyers they know and they like.” In addition to getting to know you, a prospective legal client needs to like you. How does this happen? Ask yourself why you like someone. Isn't it beca...

Lawyers hear so much hype about marketing. What's the latest and greatest way to attract clients? Is it the new flavor of the day: social networking? Or should you start a  law blog,  join another organization or maybe even advertise? A lot is  involved in marketing to attract legal clients and t...

We lawyers often quote a fixed fee for handling a legal case. It is easier for the client to commit to an amount certain than to agree to an hourly rate and the uncertainty of how much the total attorney's fee will be. It helps in getting the legal work but, if care is not exercised, the attorney...

“A lawyer's time is his stock in trade” But… The passing of Steve Jobs has given us all an opportunity to consider what is really important in life. He had money, success and the satisfaction of giving great technological gifts to the world. What he didn't have was enough time. None of us know h...

I recently read a commencement speech Steve Jobs gave at Stanford in 2005. It was a good speech among other good speeches he has made. One portion in particular struck a cord with me, here it is: “When I was 17 I read a quote that went something like “If you live each day as if it was your last,...

I want to tell you about a great little productivity tool for lawyers (and the rest of the world). A problem most of us have is organization around our to-dos, our tasks. Attorneys especially have so many tasks to juggle, differing priorities, due dates, importance, etc.  that it is difficult to ...