Choosing the Right Equipment

I'm really amazed at how many law students leave law school without the slightest inception of how to use necessary software.

For instance, one of my "tests" in evaluating student interns is whether they can create a PDF document from their word processor. Since PDF is the standard in all federal courts, this should be a fairly mundane task. However, 99% of those interns "fail" this test.

This just goes to show you how much law schools are really failing their students in the every day practice of law. What's remarkable is that law schools provide several opportunities for the students to learn this simple skill, yet they don't take advantage of it.

Alas, this isn't a rant about the failures of law school, this is a call to action: Buy The Right Equipment.

This blog is replete with chants for the value of one product or service, in an attempt to give you a variety of options. Today though, I'd like to tell you about my essential pieces of equipment/software; the stuff that gets the every day done.

Most important to me is my practice management software. I use PracticeMaster (because of it's cost), but there are other good programs out there. I've discussed practice management software before, so I won't rehash that information. Needless to say, PM provides a valuable resource to track time, manage my cases, keep a steady workflow, develop clients, develop marketing, and manage the overall scheme.

The second piece of software is Adobe Acrobat Pro; I have version 8, but version 9 is supposed to be even better. You need to get the pro version, not Acrobat Reader or Acrobat 9 regular. Like I said earlier, you need to know how to use this. My version (and 9 does too) allows me to scrub metadata, redact information, rotate, crop, insert/edit, and comment on PDF documents. Everyone talks about being "paperless" and having the paperless office. Well, without Acrobat, you're hosed. There are other programs, notably, PrimoPDF, which can create a PDF document, but they're not Acrobat (there might be some pay versions that have similar abilities, I don't know. If you do, please comment on their effectiveness).

Thirdly, you must remember that there's a business to the law practice. In order to run a business, you have to be able to track monies coming in and out. I like Intuit QuickBooks for this task. QB helps me manage my cash flow, and evaluate costs. It's a lifesaver when it comes to managing large monies in my trust account too. I'm sure you can do all these tasks in Excel or on paper, but why? I don't know how to effectively use Excel, and I tend to lose important information contained in files or obscure folders. My QB stuff gets backed up, and there's a gazillion (okay, that's an exaggeration - maybe a million) different reports you can run to help track your finances, and keep your business on track. Again, there are probably other programs that can manage your money in the same way - they're not QuickBooks. Note though, I chose QB because my accountant recommended it, and the office manager at my last employment could help me. I use QB Premier.

Finally, we'll talk about computers/equipment. I have a "hand-me-down" PC that I inherited when I went out on my own. Buy a fast one (2.4 Ghz or more), with a lot of RAM (1 GB or more), and a large hard drive (150 GB or more). You can usually find good deals anywhere. If you're a PC person, I'd recommend looking at Dell Outlet. We've seen success when we've purchased some computers there.

Also, you need to purchase a "laser" (quotes for Dr. Evil) printer. Don't be tempted to purchase an inkjet because you can get it for $50. Laser printing is the standard, and it looks 1,000 times better than an inkjet. I have a small desktop laser I got from Dell outlet, and we have a multifunction (scanner, printer, copier, fax), we also found through Dell.

If you're having to print pictures or photographs (but why would you when you're using Acrobat to convert to a PDF file, and emailing the pictures to adjusters, opposing counsel, or elsewhere), then you can pick up a cheap inkjet elsewhere. I haven't printed too many pictures, since I do everything with PDF and email.

On a side note though, I did find a great program called Zan Image Printer ($59.95), which is a virtual printer driver that allows you to print a picture file. I use this when I'm in Google Earth and want to print a screen shot of the satellite photo. I can then go to Paint.Net (a free program similar to Adobe Photoshop), to crop and edit the picture as I need.

It's important for you to have the necessary tools to effectively manage your business. Keep ahead of the potential problems by controlling those issues.

I'd love to hear your comments about these programs, or others that you'd recommend.

Google Alerts

I'm a Google "Homer." Although I haven't moved my word processing and all of my email to the Google "cloud," almost everything else is handled by my friends 2,500 miles away.

I think the company is innovative, and provides great services for managing information. I've been using one of their newer products, Google Alerts, for awhile now. This is a great tool for gathering information about particular topics.

With GA, I can set a search term for the Google bots to look for, and they'll provide me an RSS update of all the information they find, as it happens. This is particularly great for gathering news or ideas for blog posts and stories related to my legal practice. 

One of my favorite searches is the "site: nameofsite.com" search. With this search, you can clip anything that gets unknowingly posted to your site, or in my case, those spam attacks that try to inundate your site with ads for male enhancement pills.

If you're running out of innovative ideas, or you want to keep tabs on competition, give Google Alerts a try.

Define Yourself, Define Your Practice

Merrilyn Astin Tarlton has a great piece in this month's Law Practice magazine. The article is titled, The Future of Law Practice: Figuring out your place in the race.

When I first started practicing, the number one advice key I continually heard was, "specialize." Every mentoring attorney told me that the key to keeping and attracting clients was to break from the mould and provide a unique service/specialty.

As Ms. Tarlton's article stresses, difference is the key to success. I think the money quote is this:

Face it, there are way too many lawyers for the shrinking universe of clients who are willing to pay what those lawyers want to earn . . . Competition can be a wonderful, exhilarating thing to those who understand how to compete in this world. For those who don't, or just choose not to, things could get very dicey in the coming years. And that's why - instead of twiddling their thumbs and trying to figure out how to tweak the pyramid - some enterprising lawyers are busy reinventing themselves and the way they practice. Shouldn't that be you, too?

 The article goes on to provide some very useful outlines to consider when remoulding or forming a practice. I'd suggest that you review some of the models and decide how you can implement one, some, or all of the techniques and outlines in your practice.

Getting Your Name Out

One of the things I haven't been particularly diligent at is face-to-face networking. The truth is, I'm not really good at meeting people and carrying on with small talk. My problem is that I have a difficult time striking up a conversation with people. My initial concern is, "what do I talk about?"

I have a colleague who is excellent at making "small talk." We went to lunch at the mall because he needed some some sunglasses. We went into one of the high-end sunglasses shops, and my colleague immediately struck up a conversation with the sales clerk about a medical procedure she had performed. This was a random and innocuous discussion, but not likely to happen without my friend's initiation.

The discussion gave him an opportunity to pass his business card with a reference for a medical specialist she might consider consulting.

The point he emphasized to me that moment was that the content of your discussions aren't as important as the benefits or memories they produce. My colleague will hopefully have a client for life, or at least one positive contact, which otherwise wouldn't have existed.

A lot of "marketing experts" will try and push blogging or your website as the keys to growing and developing your business. While these are effective tools in developing your expert persona, they're only part of the solution.

People seek assistance from you because they know you're an expert (blogging and other marketing), and because they like and trust you to take care of their problems. Human interaction is the only way to develop lasting trust, and a long-term relationship, with clients and potential clients.

My challenge for you is to find one opportunity each day this week where you can give (physically hand) someone your business card. I'm going to work on with you on this "guerrilla marketing" task.