News
Friday Reading: Time for a New Computer?
- Filed Under: Practice Management
Lately I’ve had several people tell me that they are in the market for new computers and ask me to recommend something. I’m not an IT expert and computer specifications change so…
Read MoreR.I.P. Skip “The Critterman”
- Filed Under: Uncategorized
The nicest thing about having a blog is that it’s your own, personal legal pad. You can scribble anything you like on it, and no one can tell you that you can’t.
Read MoreNew Practice Niche? Finance and Immigration Meet in EB-5 Visa Practice
- Filed Under: Practice Management
From time to time I get calls from lawyers who are seeking to build more business. They invariably want to know whether I can suggest any underserved practice areas. My first response…
Read MoreRed Flag Rule Clarification Act Passes!! What??
- Filed Under: Practice Management
Most practicing lawyers probably haven’t followed this fight closely, but anxious bar officials breathed a sign of relief yesterday. The U.S. House of Representatives followed the Senate in passing the Red Flag…
Read MoreDrip, Drip, Drip…
- Filed Under: Practice Management
Many solo and small firm lawyers don’t spend much time reviewing financial data from their practices. They are busy and just feel lucky to get through the day without too many important…
Read MoreABA TECHSHOW In Your Christmas Stocking?
- Filed Under: Practice Management
Now that we’ve sailed past the crazed shopping of Black Friday and are well into Cyber Monday, maybe you should be sending a letter to Santa on your own behalf. A trip…
Read MoreLose Your Glasses! Get Readability.
- Filed Under: Practice Management
The rush to get CLE credit before year-end is on, and Kristi and I had the opportunity to travel down to Mobile last Friday, along with Robby Lusk from the Office of…
Read MoreIt Can’t Happen to Me!
- Filed Under: Practice Management
Three Alabama lawyers lost their office to a fire a couple of weeks ago. According to a subsequent article indicating that the fire was of suspicious origin, the security company monitoring the…
Read MoreWant to Earn More? Change Your Perspective
- Filed Under: Practice Management
When I was a kid one of the games we would play was to stare at a geometric figure, such as the one above, until it would “flip” and we could see…
Read MoreThe End of Clients?
- Filed Under: Practice Management
Richard Susskind’s book, The End of Lawyers?: Rethinking the Nature of Legal Services, has recently come out in paperback. The book discusses how changes in technology are eroding, and will continue to change, the work available for lawyers. Today, though, I’m more concerned with the possibility of the end of clients – those of solo practitioners and small firms.
Despite the fact that the recession has been declared officially over, I continue to receive calls from lawyers, especially solo and small firm lawyers, who are having trouble maintaining their practices. Almost uniformly, they report that their business has just fallen off and doesn’t seem to be showing any signs of returning. I’ve been puzzling over these mysterious, disappearing clients. Were they going to other lawyers? Were they solving their problems without resort to the established legal system? Is it simply that so many people have lost their jobs? Last week the happenstance of finding two diametrically opposed news items at the same time gave me a clue to what I’m afraid is happening.