Skills Students Need to Learn

Joseph H. Brown, the author of Student2Solo, has a new blog post about 2 things students should do while they're in school in order to prepare for solo practice. The post is great, and offers two great suggestions, especially that students get familiar with trial practice (a course I wish I would have taken). I'd like to add my two-cents to the conversation, and follow up on one of my earlier posts.

I'm an especially big proponent of the "3rd Year Intern" program. I don't know of any school that's implementing it, but I believe a 3rd year spent working at a law firm, instead of in a classroom, would better-prepare students for law practice in general. The concept is easy: students work as unpaid interns at law firms (preferably solo or small firms), and in turn receive course credit for their employment. It's a win-win for both sides (which I doubt that schools would go for because of their overwhelming disdain for solo practice.) Working for an attorney/law firm is significantly more important than learning about working.

I try to hire interns to come perform tasks and learn about law firm practice. One of the common questions I get from my interns, and from others, is "how will I ever learn all this?" My simple answer is that you take the time. This is especially important when you're discussing things like trust accounts, business operations, and daily operations. Unfortunately, because you never learned how to properly manage a trust account (although you're drilled about the consequences of mismanagement) in law school, you must hire someone, or consult your bar association's management assistance program to get the proper information.

Like Joseph, I suggest students also focus on practical courses, like trial practice, bankruptcy, and legal writing, as opposed to the recommended cadre of "bar prep courses." Although these aren't completely functional courses, they will give you a glimpse of some real world events, especially if they're taught by adjuncts who are practicing attorneys.

Finally, students should learn and practice communication skills. Since verbal and written communication are everyday necessities in a law firm, you must improve and perfect your communication. Volunteer to write briefs, memos, or other documents for an attorney, and learn from his/her criticism. Take opportunities to present speeches and other verbal presentations to improve your delivery skills. You may even consider joining local speech groups or organizations for assistance.

Whether you're looking to mint yourself as a solo attorney, or as a BigLaw brat, possessing the basic skills and knowledge to function as an attorney will help you achieve your success. You can do it, but it takes patience, practice, and work.

How Much Do Lawyers Make?

The ABA Journal teamed up with  William D. Henderson of the Center on the Global Legal Profession at Indiana University's Maurer School of Law, to study and report on the wages for lawyers throughout the United States. I think this is an admirable response to a lot of uproar regarding "the lying law schools," but I believe, as some of the comments suggest that this still isn't reporting the true nature of the legal profession. The biggest flaw of the study: "Equity partners and solo practitioners are not included in the survey." Oops.

I think this flaw over-exaggerates the numbers. Sure, I guess if my goal is BigLaw, government, or in-house, these figures should bring some comfort. However, if you're a solo practitioner or equity partner (why isn't BigLaw complaining?) you're screwed. The fact is, there's still a larger portion of the legal profession that is unrepresented in the study. As one commenter states, "The ABA bothers to show this because they want the media to pick it up - they want a counter to all the bad press law schools have been getting, and this gets the fuzzy idea, 'Oh hey, lawyers DO make a lot of money' out there in the world again. It’s an attempt to keep the bubble growing and obfuscate the truth - that law school is a bad investment for almost all students who take out taxpayer backed loans to attend."

Some of the surprising information for me gleaned from the study:  Reno, NV and El Paso, TX, have "unusually" high salaries for relatively small metro markets. Perhaps, if you desire to become an attorney, you should relocate to Huntsville, AL, where lawyers earn $125,000, and the market is small 440 (is that a typo?). Also, isn't the "hot spot" graphic nice? I guess there won't be a rush of lawyer to Montana, North Dakota, or Northern Maine.

Why Don't Law Schools Care About Solos?

The Legal Skills Prof Blog has two (here and here) great stories updating the world on programs that two law schools are implementing/have implemented to help students and new grads wishing to enter solo practice. These are great projects, and should receive tremendous support from alumni and the schools.

My first question then after reading about these programs, is why don't more schools have these types of programs for their students. After all, by some estimates, 26 percent of lawyers are either employed in solo or small firm practice. That's a pretty significant number of the graduating class that's working alone or in another small firm (i.e. 1 in 4 gradutates).

So, why don't schools do more?

First, I know believe schools cater to BigLaw. All Most of the professors and law school deans "practiced" in BigLaw firms. There's the "cultivate" BigLaw lawyers mentality that is permeating through the law schools. Law schools like their alumnae pedigree to read like a "who's who" of law firms, rather than a smattering of "Law offices of John Doe, esq."

Second, many, if not all, older lawyers believe that you cannot or should not, start your own law firm straight out of law school. "With so many 'pitfalls' to cause you problems" they'll tell you, "you must gain experience at a firm." The simple truth is, lawyering isn't rocket science with traumatic consequences for minor miscalculations. The problem is, many young lawyers, especially those entering solo/small firm practice, have to juggle business management and legal management requirements without substantial training in either field. 

Note too, the first and second reasons also contain the often thought, but rarely quoted reason of, "why would anybody really want to open their own law firm?"

Third, there's rarely faculty in the law school who have access/knowledge to supervise/mentor graduates in these particular programs. That means that you must dedicate funds to the solo/small firm incubator projects, and not to faculty salaries or the new law school wing. Unfortunately, too many graduates leave their schools lacking fundamental skills that will make them effective attorneys (e.g. what a Complaint looks like, and how to file it in District Court). When schools attempt to "teach" legal practice skills, they often screw it up.

For instance, in my third year of Tier 3 law school, I took a course designed to introduce students to "legal practice" in a small firm, taught by two professors, one of which is a partner of one of the biggest firms in OKC, and the other is a federal court law clerk. My first thought was "what will these two teach me about solo/small firm practice?" From day 1, I set my expectations low.

The problem with my law school's philosophy was that these individuals would have a pulse on the small firm/solo concerns. Clearly, neither professor did, and that drastically affected the outcome and negated any benefits of the class. Other classmates expressed a similar disappointment.

One counterpoint many schools offer is that they provide legal clinics to help "cultivate" and "enrich" their students' learning. These clinics give students hands-on experience with representing and assisting under-served portions of the community. In truth however, these courses are limited to a minor amount of students.

Fourth, money is the root of all "evil." Unfortunately for many solo/small firms, the amounts their owners and members contribute back to their schools pales in comparison to their BigLaw counterparts (I guess we're too busy providing reasonably priced legal services than exorbitant hourly rates). It's easy to feed the BigLaw beast where the little mouse barely squeaks. Perhaps is solo and small firm attorneys put more pressure on their law schools to provide "incubator" programs, the schools would more reasonably respond.

Fifth, state bar associations often fail to address these similar needs. With so many additional needs of the state bar, addressing particular concerns like these on a single, case-by-case basis is too much. While many bar associations, including Oklahoma, have commendable practice assistance programs, there's still too great of a disconnect between the legal education and actual legal practice.

Solo and small firm practices provide a great resource to communities to help provide individual and low-cost legal representation. It's important to provide these lawyers and firms with the skills and resources necessary to tackle their problems.

Paperless Office

There's a couple of really great articles out there about improving your law office with a move to digital files.

Jim Calloway, Director of the Oklahoma Bar Association Management Assistance Program, has a great article this month discussing the importance of using digital files.

My firm went digital from day one, and with the advice of several people at Solosez, I ditched the actual paper copies to the files as well.

The greatest benefits have been increased productivity and efficiency. As Jim suggests, I no longer rummage through the paper file looking for that letter or medical report. Everything is on my digital system, and available to all of my staff.

I use a simple naming and sorting system that I think is easy to remember and use. My biggest rule is if it isn't scanned, it doesn't exist or it never happened.

I purchased a fairly inexpensive Dell multifunction printer/scanner, which runs multiple functions, saving space and money. There's a lot of hype about the ScanSnap scanners, but I haven't tried them.

One of the hardest things for me to appreciate was that no matter what you tell yourself, you don't need the file. My biggest hangup was that I would "need" the file for court. That simply isn't true, or is limited to a few instances. However, in the 6 months since my move, I have never needed the entire file. For hearings, I print out the document(s) I need to refer to, and head out. Sure, arguably I'm "wasting" more paper, but I think I have comfort knowing that the ultimate waste is for my own benefit.

I would encourage you to get past the "need" for the physical copy, and move to the digital age.

From Law Student to Lawyer to Partner

I'm all in favor of starting your own law firm right out of school. I did, and I think I've been fairly successful. I think with enough diligence, you can too.

Now, Law.com, has this post about starting your own firm right out of school. I think this is one of the more well-written articles, and gives some genuinely brilliant advice.

It's Not Rocket Science, At Least I Hope Not

One of the things I love about the practice of law is it's simplicity. I love that rules govern everything about it: there are rules for procedure, there are rules regarding precedent, and there are even rules regarding behavior.

Well, that's why it confuses (or perhaps frustrates) me when new attorneys say they're not sure what they're doing. I just want to scream, "Of course you're not, you've never done anything like this before, but use some common sense! Go find the information."

Rules govern the law, therefore, by using common sense, it's easy to discover the rule and apply it. 

For instance (and yes, this is a true event), let's say that you have a personal injury case you're working on, and you're trying to locate the address of a potential defendant. Knowing that the internet has a lot of information about people, you decide to search a website listing people's addresses and telephone numbers. You know this defendant lives in, say, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. You also know that your accident occurred in, surprisingly, Oklahoma City. Finally, you know your defendant's name is rather unusual, like ABC XYZ. Being the highly intelligent individual, you plug your information into the search website, and one name appears. Please, do not ask your supervising attorney whether this is the individual. Have confidence, and common sense, that this is your (wo)man. Yes, sometimes it really is that simple.

The key is to believe in yourself enough, and trust your instincts, to recognize when you've hit "pay dirt." You've learned the valuable keys of research in law school. You've learned how to find the information, now apply that knowledge to your new experiences.

I've been mentoring a young law student who has a desire to open his/her practice when he/she graduates in the coming year(s). One of the things that this student does, which consistently frustrates me, is to express his/her uncertainty about what he/she does. This is a sign of a follower, not a leader. 

How do you suspect BigLaw Partner became "BigLaw Partner?" BigLaw Partner worked diligently, and exercised confidence along the way.

I love getting new and interesting cases, like where one holder of a joint banking account gets sues the other holder for conversion, because this gives new and exciting experiences to discover and expand my legal knowledge. 

Far too often, and I think litigators suffer from this the most, we're tied up by our concerns about doing it right from the start, over whether we can find the information and do it at all. This hesitation hampers our development as attorneys, and leaves us stuck in mind-numbing ruts of monotony.

I like to think that there are really no new legal issues, rather there's new circumstances to apply/not apply the old rules. Therefore, for any case you have, there's already a rule established that will tell you how to act (it's not rocket science). Whether it's procedural, statutory, or case law based, the rule is there to find.

Broaden your horizons, expand your knowledge base, and use confidence and common sense.

Location, Location, Location

I went to work with another young, solo attorney this week, and we had an interesting debate on the necessity of an office.

My thought has always been that a solo attorney doesn't need an actual office, if you're equipped to handle non-location-related things.

For instance, if your office is paper-dependent, and you need to have files upon files of paper stacked in binders, pouches, and nooks, then I guess an office is important. However, if you've moved your office work into the 21st century (meaning you're scanning & mobile), then actual office space isn't so important.

My colleague however, is quite adamant that you need an office for at least two things: appearance and somewhere to meet.

His point was that people want to see that you have a nice space to present, and you always need a conference room (and storage space). He objected to my suggestion that you could meet clients in their homes, at the library, courthouse, or other public/private venue. He said clients, especially those business clients want to be at your office, they want to come see you.

I politely doubted that was the case, as most individuals view going to the attorney's office about as much of a priority as waiting at a doctor's office for 2 hours. "The fact is," I told him, "the only person who views that as an important aspect of their work is the attorney." I think it stems from an ego thing.

Now, are there aspects of his argument that I agree with? Absolutely! I do not believe that it's in my best interest to not have a home-based office. I find it soothing to leave for work each day (not to mention I think my wife would kill me - "when you're home, be home," she says). Nor do I believe I could sit at the courthouse all day waiting for client meetings, but those are just my quirks, and don't truly affect the overall workability of the plan.

I manage a tight/lean office. I can receive calls to my Droid via Google Voice. My voice messages get transcribed and emailed to me via GV. My office calendar on Outlook/PracticeMaster syncs with my Google account, so I can receive and view appointments (who else is imputing appointments?). I can sync my office files with my laptop to go anywhere (I don't do that yet), or access my desktop through logmein.com or gotomypc.com (a BIG life saver). Note too, with my Droid, I can tether my laptop to my cell phone and work from anywhere there's coverage. I scan all my documents, and work exclusively (although I do keep the originals, for now) with my digital files. Basically, about the only thing I'm not doing is receiving mail via email, and there's even a service for that.

No, I truly believe that one could move to a location-free office structure, and manage just fine. But that's just my opinion, I'd like to hear yours!

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.

Management & Me

One of the biggest challenges in running your own firm is being able to manage one million tasks, and then adding one more.

Sure, you've learned some time management skills in law school, and there's wonderful programs to detail responsibilities, but when it all comes down to it, your duty as a solo is to get things done quickly and perfectly.

It's tough, especially as a "newbie", to determine how much time and energy one "simple" set of discovery requests is going to take. Or worse, when the other side sends you heaps of motions due within 20 days. I get even more frustrated when I lose time performing other out-of-the-office tasks, which dissolve the amount of time I can play with back in the office.

Recently I spent some time attending a hearing. I had expected the hearing (including travel time) to last about an hour. To my distress, 2.5 hours I walked away from the court. What was more, I spent most of the at the hearing waiting in the lobby of the building, not waiting for the judge or other attorneys. This was valuable time I could spend working on other projects or handling other business. This is time, which because of this client's particular agreement, I couldn't recover by a future billing.

Unfortunately, these are the games you play, and the risks. Your task is to make it work, keep your sanity, and accomplish your tasks. You're always going to have stress and unexpected, additional hitches. However, if you can work hard and smart, you're going to be just fine.

As always, if you'd like some advice or recommendations, visit my firm's contact page, and send me an email.

Case Loads

A law student, and prospective solo practitioner, recently asked me a great question about handling cases. The question was, "how many cases do you think you can handle at any one time as a solo with no staff before you can't handle it?"

I'd never really considered the question, because I've never had that problem. Like any good attorney, my answer was as vague as possible. I simply said that "it depends on various factor, but probably no more than 100."

We continued discussing the various factors, problems, and scenarios. I've though more about the question and some of the intricacies, and continue to believe that 100 is the magic number.

Here's my thoughts, and I'd like yours:

First, many cases are not so intense as to require a significant amount of time. Sure, you'll have heavy periods, but like anything, you're going to have a significant number of slow periods. If you're good at time management, and you improve your organizational skills, you'll likely be able to handle this many cases alone.

Second, if you're focusing on one or two practice areas, chances are, you'll see a lot of the same issues. Therefore, it's easy to convert/modify pleadings, letters, etc., from another case to your current one. This will save some time and other hassles.

There are some drawbacks too with handling everything yourself.

As chief and worker, you're responsible for everything that happens in the law office. You're responsible for the letters that go out, and answering the telephone, sometimes at the same time. Every task you have to perform takes time, and takes away from the tasks on other cases. You must be able to do everything quickly and efficiently.

Having a large number of cases also results in a large amount of excess work. In order to settle each claim, you have to work the file. This extra work can add extra stress and longer work days. I've spent several late nights/early mornings worrying about the cases and the tasks that need to get done.

It's really easy to think that you can handle everything alone without support and staff. The truth is, most of the things you can do alone. However, like any business, if you want to grow and serve your clients best, you need to add support staff.

You can add staff in a number of ways. For instance, you can hire an intern (check IRS restrictions/labor laws on this) to help draft documents and work with you. This is a great opportunity for the intern, and can add some extra value to your business.

You may also hire a "virtual assistant" who can draft routine correspondence and help reduce or eliminate some of the mundane tasks that take extra time. Remember, every minute you can save yourself from having to draft a letter to someone on the case, is a minute you can devote to other paying tasks.

There are a variety of things you can do without incurring a large amount of overhead or extra monthly costs. The important this is to be creative.

To Market, To Market to Buy a Fat . . . Law Practice

I work in an office with a number of different attorneys. I like my office-sharing arrangement for several reasons, but most especially because I get to bounce ideas off others and get suggestions for building my practice.

One of the regular discussions we have is about bringing in new clients. If you're already a "superman rainmaker," then "help" my bounce rate, and move onto this site. If you're like most of the lawyers in my office, then you're an average to less-than-average rainmaker, and you're questioning what needs to change.

For whatever the reason, most lawyers I talk with say that they don't have time to market their firm. This is shocking, because without marketing your firm dies. Remember, there's the practice of law, and more importantly, the business of law.

Honestly, I don't have a simple answer, and I can't claim any special SEO, rainmaking, or "superman marketing" skills in internet marketing. However, I will disclose that if I don't receive at least 1 new /potential client phone call per day, it's a bad day. So, in no particular order, here they are:

Get a web presence.

I use a combination of things (some discussed below), but most importantly are my blog and my website. I'd like to think that having a "sub-domain" makes my site stand out in Google, but the truth is, I screwed up when I designed it, and now I'm stuck because I like it. Note too, that for the month of October, the blog received 969 page visits (there's a screw-up there too, if you're interested, check the comments), and my website averaged 4 visitors per day (165 total). That's successful.

For both the blog and website, I use Wordpress as a base with a customized Headway Theme. I wrote this post about my experiences and satisfaction with Headway. Headway did in 2 months, what I couldn't do in 12.

Claim Your Google Business Listing

My listing is number 3 (sometimes 2) on each of my target search phrases. In the last 30 days, my Google listing had 50 "actions", with 12 of those resulting in direct clicks to my website, and 3 new clients (a 6% return on a $0 investment).

The Google business listing works for you, with about 5 minutes of actual labor time. Makes sense, doesn't it?

Social Media

Get involved in "social media." At a minimum, you should have a firm fan page (become our fan) on Facebook, a Twitter account (my account's here), and a LinkedIn page (here's my page).

While I don't believe these have a strong effect on your overall marketing success, they certainly don't hurt. I like the interactions I can get with people, and the ability to reconnect with friends.

If you're not sure about Twitter, just Google "using Twitter for marketing" and you'll get a number of hits. Again, if you're hoping to get clients from Twitter, you're on the wrong path. Use Twitter to connect with others and share experiences, build relationships, ask questions, and gather news.

Blog

The only proven way I've seen to get noticed by Google is to update your content regularly. This means having fresh information, targeted to those you're seeking to attract.

Therefore, in my opinion, the only true way to do that is through your blog. The blog will add fresh content to your website that Google's little web minions can hunt for, devour, and vomit to the Google search servers for the world to find.

Pick a topic that relevant to your practice area, and explore relevant issues and problems. Perhaps a new case or statute came out that's going effect your clients. Write about that. The world is open for you.

"Kiss the Babies"

There's something to be said about the importance of "kissing babies." You cannot be successful if you're not out there meeting people in person. You can't build relationships and form networking bases if other attorneys and professionals don't know who you are. You build trust by mingling with others.

Don't become a "hermit attorney" who locks himself into the office and forgets to chat with others.

Extracurricular Education

I'm going to make this post into a who's-who of my favorite legal resources, with links to these individuals' sites. These are unpaid recommendations, based on the value these individuals provide me in my practice.

In no particular order:

1. Carolyn Elefant - her book and website give you a practical approach to starting and managing your law practice.
2. Susan Cartier-Liebel - through her program, Solo Practice University, Susan is providing young & old attorneys with the practical skills and advice we thought we were getting in law school, for a much cheaper rate ($595 per year). There's practical and theory-based courses to help you start, manage, and grow your legal practice. I'm a member, and I love it! (FWIW: Beginning today, if you sign up for a quarterly or annual membership, and you mention my name (Jeffrey Taylor or jbtokc) I'll receive a discount on my renewal - hopefully you believe in "paying it forward", if not, sign up for yourself and take advantage of the program)
3. Jay Fleischman - Jay manages Legal Practice Pro, another blog devoted helping you manage and grow your law firm. Although the blog is geared to helping bankruptcy attorneys, his tips & techniques will benefit your practice too.
4. Jim Calloway - Jim is the Director of the Oklahoma Bar Association's Management Assistance Program, and author of Jim Calloway's Law Practice Tips Blog. Jim's office provides a great resource for new attorneys, and their lending library is fantastic!
5. Tom Kane - I recently found Tom's blog, Legal Marketing, and there's a massive amount of resources and ideas for all.
6. Ross Kodner - Ross is the "Paper-LESS" office and law firm technology guru. Enough said, you must read his blog.
7. Solosez - I couldn't get through many cases without the ability to bounce ideas and problems off other attorneys. The Solosez listserv, sponsored by the ABA, provides one of those resources. Hint: set up an additional free account (I use Gmail) to manage the mass of email threads, because if you use a "regular" account, it will get clogged.
   

Take advantage of all the wonderful resources on the web. If you're following someone who gives you valuable tips and advice, and you think they deserve a mention, let us all know by commenting below.

On Dignity

I wrote a little post over at the firm's blog about the importance of dignity.Surprisingly, I guess because of our human nature, some of us find being charitable and dignified difficult.

One of the important things I've learned during the course of my education and career, is that treating people with dignity and respect will get you further than anything else. 

I believe that the reason lawyers have such a bad reputation is because we're known to lack a general decorum of dignity and respect. Heck, who could blame us anyway? The adversarial system begs for the degrading remarks and behavior.

Quite simply though, it's important to remember that everyone deserves dignity and respect. It's too easy I think because of media exploitations, to discard people because of their troubles, behavior, or problems.

Everyday attorneys meet and deal with troubled and/or problematic people. Sometimes, despite their most ambitious attempts, these people cannot get out of their dreadful situations. It's not for us to judge their behaviors, rather, as counselors, we should strive to find ways to help.

By treating clients and colleagues with respect and dignity, attorneys could improve people's general perceptions, and do good. Attorneys have numerous opportunities to give charity. It's easy to forget that people are people, and not some inanimate object or other creature. They too had dreams, aspirations, and goals, which too quickly and too easily got consumed with life.

The Power of Your Practice

Basically, two companies compete for your business in the note-taking/storage field: Microsoft and Evernote.

Microsoft offers an excellent utility, which I used all through law school, called OneNote. The main idea of the program is that you can clip and paste different stories, articles, pieces of research, etc., into the program, then use those "notebooks" to organize the information you need. My biggest problem with the program is that it ran slow (not dreadful), and that it relied on me to make sure accurate backups were in place to protect my information (never a problem for me, but I know several people who lost their entire semester's worth of notes because of a computer glitch.)

Enter Evernote, an online application that functions much like it's more costly counterpart. I LOVE EVERNOTE! I use it daily in my practice to organize materials, trial notebooks, etc. The greatest feature about Evernote is the price: FREE (although paid upgrades with more features are available). Even the paid or "premium" Evernote service is arguably more affordable and cost-effective than MS OneNote. At $45 per year (versus $99 for OneNote full version), Evernote is bound to save you costs & the time consuming hassles of having to manage your own information.

Evernote features an iPhone and BlackBerry app, a FireFox plugin, and a desktop program. Together, these provide more versatility to the program than it's competitor, OneNote. Where OneNote is designed to function more in the TablePC environment, Evernote's design encourages the familiar desktop/word processing atmosphere.

Using the program to improve your practice is like using any software. The important part is to find the niche for you. I like using the program when I'm researching case law, organizing trial notebooks, and managing the everyday functions of my law practice.

Evernote allows you to create "notebooks" that handle the subjects you'd like to manage. For each case  usually trial or litigation) I'm working on, I create a client notebook. From there, any notes regarding strategy, research, or special information gets placed into the client notebook. I do not use Evernote to manage the daily features of the practice or client matter, rather, Evernote is a tool to organize the big picture. The program is particularly useful in mapping issues and organizing thoughts. I've used it multiple times to organize and prepare for a deposition and trial. The utilities are endless!

Finally, some are critical about the confidentiality or risk of "cloud computing." For me, this isn't a big deal.  I don't store confidential information online, and I like to believe that most judges will recognize the benefits of these systems, and rule that any information released would still be protected by the attorney-client privilege. Maybe that's my naivete, but arguably, a cyber-attack or hacking doesn't result in losing the privilege.

That being said, I don't believe that Evernote's Terms of Service would cause a heightened concern. Unlike other providers who may claim an interest in your materials, Evernote doesn't, at least to a relevant extent of sharing the information. Evernote's TOS provides, "you retain all of the rights you had in your Content before you submitted it. In fact, unless you elect to enable others to view or have access to the Content you submit to the Service, no one else should see it without your consent." Concern averted. If you can see anything I'm missing, please let me know.

P.S.: I wrote here about using Evernote to build a Practice Manual, in case you're interested.

Quick Tip

When you're a new lawyer, you're bound to screw up. It doesn't matter whether you work for the world's biggest law firm, or whether you're working on your own. There is just too much to know, and simple things get overlooked. Law school teaches you to think like a lawyer (but there's even an argument against that), while the actual daily grind is much different.

I received two pieces of advice when I first began practicing that have been more valuable than anything else I learned in law school. First, don't worry about making mistakes. There's very rarely an occasion where a mistake is going to be detrimental (statutes of limitations, deadlines, etc., being most important). Although most of the "stuffy" and older attorneys don't like to admit it, they probably did the exact same thing 30 or 15, or 3 years ago. While they're outwardly mocking you, they do have some sense of compassion. It's like that bully on the playground scenario: the kid mocking is probably the one most familiar with the problem.

Second, if you do screw up, don't do it again. People tolerate one innocent act, any more than that is just ignorance and stupidity. Do it too many times and you'll be labeled and your reputation will suffer. Again, there's a reason why some of the kids on the playground took more abuse than other, or why you keep getting mad at your kid for tracking mud into the house. Quite simply, we'll let one mistake slide, but we have troubles allowing more.

The best way to combat this is to create a "how-to" manual. Every time you complete a case or learn something new about the practice of law, you should write the method or rule down. For instance, I once handled a garnishment challenge where I claimed an exemption for my client. Not know true protocol (it was my 1st), I neglected to provide an income calculation and an expense list highlighting my client's burdens. The judge was kind enough not to ream me out there at the bench, although we wasted an additional 15 minutes discussing the client's income. Straight after the hearing I went to my office, pulled out my manual, and wrote: "Judge X requires income calculations for each claim for exemption." and  "DO NOT PRESENT A CLAIM FOR EXEMPTION WITHOUT DOING SOME BASIC MONTHLY CALCULATIONS. Here are the things you must calculate: (list of items)."

Since you'll only handle some cases very infrequently, or appear before some particular judge in some small county, it's nice to have this file to refer to. Be aware that since it's your "practice manual", you can add whatever information you'd like. However, I maintain one rule: never speak poorly about someone, no matter what (I leave that for my other "black book").

Remember too, having this book makes running your office (or practicing with a firm), much easier. Be sure to share the book with associates and staff. This will help create continuity within your firm, and allow you to build your procedures manual.

Finally, one consideration you may make is to utilize online services to manage your practice manual. I started building a MS Word document, but I disliked the lack of portability. Since I purchased an iPod Touch, I've started using Evernote. The program allows you to manage a tremendous amount of information and sync it among multiple computers. I like the handy iPhone app that can be used offline, and synced with the Evernote server when you're back online. 

Evernote is great for other things too. Check it out if you're not already using it.

Pro Bono Attorneys

The ABA's Model Rule 6.1 of the Rules of Professional Responsibility urges attorneys to strive to donate a minimum of 50 hours of pro bono service to community members. States have adopted similar measures.

There has been substantial argument over the necessity of this rule, and it's effect on small firm and solo practitioners. Some bloggers have commented that pro bono service could inevitably lead to your demise as a solo or small firm practitioner (see here and here). More especially, mandatory pro bono service arguably has a greater impact on the solo or small practitioner because those individuals have more flexibility to make decisions to render pro bono service. I think this is certainly true.

An "aspirational" rule can harm the solo or small firm attorney because the attorney already discounts fees or in some cases, provides services at no charge. In my practice, I find that there is a high percentage of tasks wherein the client receives discounted or pro bono service. Moreover, I'm actively involved in the Oklahoma Lawyers for Children program, which assigns lawyers to represent deprived children in state court. In fact, I currently offered legal representation to an individual if they'd agree to cover court costs and other fees.

Thankfully, Oklahoma has a rather robust rule regarding pro bono service. The rule does not mandate any hourly requirements. Rather, the rule encourages the attorney to offer reduced fee or free legal services, improve the community through unpaid service, and financially support legal aid-type organizations.

I like Oklahoma's rule because I think it puts reasonable demands on attorneys for providing service according to their means and abilities.

I'd like to hear your views on the issue, so please comment below.

Valuable Resources

There are some resources that are simply too valuable for you not to take advantage of in your law practice. The ABA's publications for the Law Practice Management section are just those. This month's issue of the LPM e-zine, Law Practice Today, contains some helpful information for all individuals.

I found two of the articles, Using Windows on Your Mac, and How Much Money Do You Need to Start a Law Firm, very pertinent to my own practice. I also enjoyed, A Formula for Shy Attorneys, which gives some helpful tips to encourage everyone to be more outgoing in your practice marketing/networking.

Advice for Building a Profession Services Firm

There's this great post that discusses some of the beneficial habits for building your firm. Anything that reminds you of customer service is something to grab hold of.

I especially like habit # 9: Don’t keep people waiting in your reception area. Imagine every minute they wait reduces their trust by 5%.