Today's issue of TL Answers contains these articles:
Frank Macharoni, Review: PerfectLaw
Rick Borstein, Clearing Up the Confusion About ClearScan
Melody Howard, Review: Constant Contact v. Vertical Response for Email Newsletters
Tom Trottier, Tips for the Perfect Multiple Monitor Setup
Barron Henley, Document Consistency Revisited
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Today's issue of TL Answers contains these articles:
Frank Macharoni, Review: PerfectLaw
Fred Kruck, Review: PCLaw
Rick Borstein, Clearing Up the Confusion About ClearScan
Tom Trottier, Tips for the Perfect Multiple Monitor Setup
Don't miss this issue — or any future issues.
How to Receive TL Answers
Do you believe in the wisdom of crowds? In TL Answers, TechnoLawyer members answer legal technology and practice management questions submitted by their peers. This newsletter's popularity stems from the relevance of the questions and answers to virtually everyone in the legal profession. The TL Answers newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.
Coming today to SmallLaw: It's human nature that people tend to ask the same questions. How did I get here? How do I work this? Where is that large automobile? Well, maybe only David Byrne asked those but you get the idea. For this issue of SmallLaw, we asked legal technology consultant Paul Purdue to list the 10 legal technology questions most frequently asked of him by solos and small law firms — and to provide the answers. This article represents a once in a lifetime opportunity for all small firms to never have to ask these questions again so please forward this newsletter. Also, don't miss the SmallLaw Pick of the Week for a review of the new DropCam Pro WiFi security camera.
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Small firm, big dreams. Written by practicing lawyers who manage successful small firms and legal technology and practice management experts who have achieved rock star status, SmallLaw provides practical advice on management, marketing, and technology issues in small law firms, as well as comprehensive legal product reviews with accompanying TechnoScore ratings. SmallLaw also ensures that you won't miss anything published elsewhere by linking to helpful articles (and podcasts and videos) about solo practices and small law firms. The SmallLaw newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.
Coming today to SmallLaw: Considering her divorce, it's unclear if Christina Aguilera knows what a girl wants (in fairness she has plenty of company among both genders). But New Jersey lawyer Ed Zohn knows what he wants from legal technology. In this issue of SmallLaw, he breaks it down. Sure, cost is a factor but not the only one nor the most important. While it's doubtful Ed's manifesto will result in angry mob of lawyers clutching iPads with photos of pitchforks on the screen, we hope it sparks a constructive debate. Also, don't miss the SmallLaw Pick of the Week for the six essential ingredients of your web site bio.
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Small firm, big dreams. Written by practicing lawyers who manage successful small firms and legal technology and practice management experts who have achieved rock star status, SmallLaw provides practical advice on management, marketing, and technology issues in small law firms, as well as comprehensive legal product reviews with accompanying TechnoScore ratings. SmallLaw also ensures that you won't miss anything published elsewhere by linking to helpful articles (and podcasts and videos) about solo practices and small law firms. The SmallLaw newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.
Today's issue of Fat Friday contains these articles:
Neil Squillante, It's Here: Microsoft Office for iPhone
Stephen Rudman, Review: Nook Simple Touch (Model BVN300) for PDF Documents
Barron Henley, Actually, Microsoft Gets It; You Just Need Some Training
Gary Redenbacher, Review: Timeslips 2012 Plus Software Stability
John Dean, Review: Adobe Acrobat for Archiving Client Email
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Today's issue of Fat Friday contains these articles:
Neil Squillante, Post-Purchase Extended Warranties (Rich Mini, Poor Mini)
Erin Byington, Review: iPhone 4S
Sanjay Singh, How Outlook's AutoFill Really Works Plus Alternatives
Andrew Weltchek, Review of Ruby Receptionists
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Originally published on September 6, 2011 in our free SmallLaw newsletter. Instead of reading SmallLaw here after the fact, sign up now to receive future issues in realtime.
I have a confession to make. Since covering the 2011 ABA
TechShow for TechnoFeature,
I've been wrestling with a vexing question …
Who the hell is Jay Shepherd and how will he earn a
living?
Let me explain. On the eve of TechShow, a veritable Who's
Who of legal pundits took the stage at Ignite Law 2011: Tom
Mighell, Dennis Kennedy, Kevin O'Keefe, Carolyn Elefant,
Marc Lauritsen, Jim Calloway, and of course Jay
Shepherd. Wait a minute! Jay who?
Well whoever he was, he considered it appropriate to
announce during his six minutes on stage that he would close
his employment law practice to start Prefix, a consulting firm to
help law firms abandon the billable hour.
My first thought was: Who cares? My next were: Too much
imbibing at the cash bar? An attempt at free advertising? A
cry for help? Still, I let go of the issue and chalked it up
to a lawyer's ego (plenty of that to go around). So imagine
my surprise when none other than the
ABA Journal covered Jay's announcement.
Whoa. This guy's career move was national news? The whole
episode got me wondering — why would anyone abandon a
successful law practice to become a consultant? Not that
it's unheard of. After all, a few years ago I did just that,
only to be drawn back to the law once and for all.
While this SmallLaw
column might arrive too late for Jay, let me explain to
those of you still managing small law firms what will likely
happen to Jay since I have traveled this path.
Commanding Attention Versus Begging for It
…
Not long after I slipped the surly bonds of law practice in
2006 to live the jet-setting life of a legal practice
consultant, I found out that lawyers don't think they need
advice, and certainly won't pay for it.
Even free advice was of no interest to most lawyers. After
all, if they had to change anything to make the advice work
then it really wasn't "free" was it? Change is hard, new
hardware and software costs money, and clients hire people,
not technology. To the vast majority of lawyers, one good
afternoon on the links and a vintage IBM PC (circa 1999) was
more important than all the consulting in the world.
Of course, sometimes I would get a prospect to agree to a
meeting. Inevitably however, I found myself talking to
someone from IT with no grasp of the legal process, or
explaining things to a partner who had already decided to
cut out the middle man and have his teenage kids throw
together a Facebook page. Ultimately, the process was more
like selling encyclopedias than delivering professional
services. And at no time did I feel as if I were selling
"knowledge," a recurring theme in Jay Shepherd's promotional
materials. On the contrary, I frequently had to beg for
attention instead of command it, as I had when I was a
lawyer.
Even if Jay manages to avoid such obstacles and get hired,
how will his new business compare to his old business? We
lawyers adhere to a simple principal — clients pay to
cure pain, ward off fear, or have us deal with
unpleasantness. Of course, it doesn't hurt that the law is
utterly opaque, attorneys and courts have little patience
for lay people, and the legislature and courts throttle
competition from out-of-jurisdiction lawyers while keeping
the barriers to entry high for recent law school graduates.
All in all, you might say that clients have to hire us to
get anything done.
By comparison, being a consultant is like playing Vegas. The
field is clogged because any mope can call himself a
consultant. Even when consultants get hired payment is still
at the customer's mercy. Worst of all, consultants must span
the credibility gap with prospects by selling themselves
around the clock. That doesn't leave much time in which to
sell knowledge — or help lawyers sell knowledge
instead of hours.
Room for One More?
So, is there room for one more practice consultant in an
unregulated field crowded with tireless self-promoters?
After my experience a few years ago, I recommend that Jay
keep one toe in the legal practice tide pool for now. And
for all we know, that might be his game plan. When Jay
also used his Above the Law column to announce his plans, one
commenter sarcastically quipped that: "he said he was
closing his law business, not necessarily quitting law
practice. I expect that he will work out of his (mom's?)
basement … as a solo practitioner doing legal work for
several of his existing clients, but without having to carry
the risks and costs of employees."
But practice consultants who try to wear both hats are often
lousy lawyers. What's more, skills become dull surprisingly
quickly, learning new tricks is never easy, and having the
confidence of courts, colleagues, and clients is as
important as making a good argument. Being a lawyer is as
much about relationships as anything else, and those
relationships rely on seeing and being seen by the right
people every day.
What's a would-be consultant to do when he's too busy
selling himself to be at the closing table, in the office,
or in court? Does Jay understand what he's getting himself
into?
Here's a lawyer about my age and experience level, with an
established practice in a major metropolitan area, strong
academic and peer credentials, several blogs and a popular
column who experienced his share of wins and notoriety, and
who by all accounts could have continued to practice.
Why the sudden zeal to fix our industry's broken billing
model? Is it because he's a fellow at the Verasage Institute, an
organization so inscrutable its name isn't even a real word?
Or is it because the Institute taught him to "bury the
billable hour and timesheets" as it boasts on its web site?
Or is it because, as Jay writes in his biography on the
Verasage web site, he is on a "mission to save the world
from lawyers, and to save lawyers (and other professionals)
from themselves"?
Or Has Jay Simply Painted Himself Into a Corner?
I guess what I'm saying is that Jay Shepherd might want to take a lesson from my experience, and not throw the baby out with the bathwater. He might also want to refrain from predicting the future at national events just in case things don't work out. And in the unlikely event that he's forced to take up law practice again, he might want to keep certain skills honed so he doesn't have to re-learn how to maintain credibility with his peers, acquire clients, try cases, hire good employees, and most importantly, fire bad ones.
I mean, look at me. As critical
as I am of our profession and its broken systems, I
still practice law and keep track of hours, expenses, and
other business minutiae. Why? Because to paraphrase
Churchill (and channel Tocqueville), the legal business is
terrible … but consulting is far worse.
How to Receive SmallLaw
Small firm, big dreams. Published first via email newsletter and later here on our blog, SmallLaw provides you with a mix of practical advice that you can use today, and insight about what it will take for small law firms like yours to thrive in the future. The SmallLaw newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.
Philip Franckel, Review: Royal Shredders; High-Security Shredders
Edward Zohn, Review: Fellowes PS-79Ci Shredder
Michael Haller, Shredding Service Versus Buying A Shredder
Dario Zaffarano, Shredder Purchasing Advice
Question Of The Week: What Helped Or Hurt You In 2011?
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Today's issue of TL Answers contains these articles:
Mark Deal, Thoughts About Document Assembly Software and Consultants
Kevin Maloney, Review: Safesync for Cloud Document Storage and Syncing
Henry Murphy, Thoughts About Timeslips and New Versions
Manning Huske, Tip: Kodak SCANMATE I920
Sandy Bautch, Insider Tip: Ecopy Paperworks for Bates Stamps
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Do you believe in the wisdom of crowds? In TL Answers, TechnoLawyer members answer legal technology and practice management questions submitted by their peers. This newsletter's popularity stems from the relevance of the questions and answers to virtually everyone in the legal profession. The TL Answers newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.
Today's issue of Fat Friday contains these articles:
Andrew Weltchek, Why I Bought An IPad 2 Instead Of A Laptop Plus My Favorite Apps
Steven Schwaber, Windows 7 Rebuttal: The Redmond Emperor Has No Clothes
Joseph Marquette, Why Annual Maintenance Plans Are No Longer Optional
Leslie Shear, The Benefits Of Reading Literature In Law School
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