TechnoLawyer: Technology Industry/Legal Profession

How to Receive Fat Friday
Our most serendipitous offering, Fat Friday consists of unsolicited contributions by TechnoLawyer members. You'll no doubt enjoy it because of its mix of interesting topics and genuinely useful knowledge, including brutally honest product reviews and informative how-tos. The Fat Friday newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

Originally published on August 17, 2009 in our free BigLaw newsletter.

For every large firm attorney recently laid off, another exists who probably relishes a pink slip. A layoff would provide the kick in the pants needed to leave the large firm world forever and pursue a more personally satisfying career. But with the economy (supposedly) turning around, that hoped-for layoff may never happen. But that doesn't mean you've lost your only valid excuse to leave.

With prospective employers more sympathetic to career changes and more open to applicants with divergent skill sets than in recent memory, now may be the perfect time for you to depart — voluntarily. If you're considering breaking away, note the following do's and don't's courtesy of someone who herself voluntarily made this transition — yours truly.

Don't Listen to Legal Recruiters

If your experience was anything like mine, you've probably heard from legal recruiters that you have two career options: lateral from your current firm to another similar firm where you would practice the exact same type law you've been practicing for the past few years, or go in-house.

None of the recruiters with whom I spoke placed lawyers in non-legal jobs or even knew of agencies that did so. I was told repeatedly that given the economy, my resume, and skill set, it would be extremely difficult to transition out of law. One recruiter even recommended that I call up my old firm and ask nicely to be reinstated in the job I had just quit.

Legal recruiters, of course, have a great financial interest in keeping you in the large firm world, and, therefore, little interest in recommending resources that might help you find your way out. Don't rely on them for guidance.

Do Take Classes

If prospective employers (and legal recruiters) tell you that you don't have the skill set they seek, don't lose hope. You can build a new skill set almost immediately by enrolling in business-specific continuing education classes or non-matriculating certificate programs.

Another easy way to boost your marketability is to take one or two day courses in Web design and graphic design from computer training companies. Listing "proficiency in Microsoft Office suite, HTML and inDesign" on your resume is more eye-catching than plain old "mastery of Microsoft Word." Employers often pay a premium for candidates with computer skills, even if such skills are only tangentially related to the job you seek.

Do Set Realistic Expectations

Unless you want to pursue a career in finance (specifically, investment banking or hedge fund management), you'll likely have to take a salary cut, at least initially. You may also have to enter a new career on the ground floor to get the experience needed to eventually command a higher salary. Don't waste time searching for an entry-level job that pays a large firm salary sans the hours and drudgery — it doesn't exist. Before you leave your cushy (financially speaking) law firm gig, understand that you may have to adjust your standard of living. What you lose in salary you'll (hopefully) make up for with better hours and/or more fulfilling work.

Do Keep Your License Current

In addition to having computer skills, another way to obtain a higher starting salary in your new career is to keep your legal license current. Even if a new position doesn't require you to practice law, most prospective employers (especially small businesses) prefer an attorney who can assist in a legal pinch, all else being equal. A current license also enables you to perform contract attorney work if you're between jobs or otherwise want to earn cash on the side.

Most Importantly, Don't Live With Regret

It took me a year and a month to find a full-time employment in a new career following my departure from a large firm. At times I thought no employer would ever give me the chance to prove that I had skills beyond analyzing ERISA clauses, but even as months of unemployment dragged on, I never regretted my decision to pursue more fulfilling opportunities. Leaving the large firm world is a major decision that involves being proactive and readjusting you financial expectations, but if you're unhappy in your career, you may find it worth the effort and sacrifice.

How to Receive BigLaw
Many large firms have good reputations for their work and bad reputations as places to work. Why? Published first via email newsletter and later here on our blog, BigLaw goes deep undercover inside some of the country's biggest law firms. But we don't just dish up the dirt. We also mine it for best and worst practices and other nuggets of knowledge. The BigLaw newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

Coming today to BlawgWorld: Our editorial team has selected and linked to 70 articles from the past week worthy of your attention, including our Post of the Week. Here's a sample:

Tips on Using Outlook Tasks to Clear Your Inbox

What You Can Learn From JetBlue's Approach to Value Pricing

Law Firm Landing Pages

This issue also contains links to every article in the August 2009 issue of Law Practice Today. Don't miss this issue or future issues.

How to Receive BlawgWorld
Our newsletters provide the most comprehensive coverage of legal technology, practice management, and law firm marketing, but not the only coverage. To stay on top of all the noteworthy articles published in blogs and other online publications you could either hire a research assistant or simply subscribe to BlawgWorld. The BlawgWorld newsletter has received rave reviews and is free. Please subscribe now.

Coming today to Answers to Questions: Steven Schwaber reviews his Brother MFC printers, Paul Bannon reviews Copernic Desktop Search Corporate, Caren Schwartz shares her experience with multiple monitors and remote desktop, Steve Hall reviews Skype, and Frank Lanigan demonstrates the power of contributing to TechnoLawyer. Don't miss this issue.

How to Receive Answers to Questions
Do you believe in the wisdom of crowds? In Answers to Questions, 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 Answers to Questions newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

Coming today to Fat Friday: Gary Garland shares the details of his comprehensive backup system, Bryan Morin discusses local versus big box PC vendors, Craig Humphrey discusses Adobe's ConnectNow, Ronald Cappuccio explains why legal vendors should list their prices online, and Mark Sullivan responds to a recent Question of the Week about background checks. Don't miss this issue.

How to Receive Fat Friday
Our most serendipitous offering, Fat Friday consists of unsolicited contributions by TechnoLawyer members. You'll no doubt enjoy it because of its mix of interesting topics and genuinely useful knowledge, including brutally honest product reviews and informative how-tos. The Fat Friday newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

Originally published on July 20, 2009 in our free SmallLaw newsletter.

If you hung out a shingle at a leisurely pace with cash reserves, strong credit, a book of business, and no regrets, dust off a copy of How to Start and Build a Law Practice by Jay Foonberg. The rest of you might want to keep reading, however. This installment of SmallLaw addresses the swelling ranks of the newly unemployed (law firm layoffs) and involuntarily self-employed (178 law schools, 40,000 graduates) who thanks to this year of breathtaking economic free-fall have decided to go solo.

Top 10 Solo Traps to Avoid …

As you read through the list below, keep these common traps in mind, as they represent the most palpable and often the most fatal blows to would-be sole practitioners:

10. Isolation, insecurity, fear.
9. High-maintenance clients.
8. Unrelenting competition.
7. Technology whiplash.
6. Employee nightmares.
5. Nowhere to turn for advice.
4. Underestimating costs (software and services).
3. Ethical quagmires.
2. Notoriously uneven cash-flow.
1. Deadbeat clients.

The Envelope Please …

By and large I've organized these tools based on cost, coverage, and effectiveness. I encourage you to try as many as you can and share your experience with your fellow solos. So let's get started.

Web Sites

The .com revolution ended over 10 years ago, so why is Web site development and hosting still a mystery? Explore free and low cost Web site resources before you agree to pay (and pay, and pay, and pay) for a site.

My Recommendations: Avvo, Justia, Template Monster.

Social Networks

When it comes to reaching prospects and other lawyers on social networks, I've lectured, written, and given presentations until I was blue in the face and worked up a whopping case of carpel-tunnel. So I guess one more mentioning won't hurt.

My Recommendations: Avvo, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, JD Supra.

Blogs

Blogs developed from outlets for pure self-expression into "premium" services run by "legal blogging experts" (whatever that means). Frankly, I'm not convinced, so I split my vote between free and paid services. You be the judge.

My Recommendations: Blogger, TypePad, WordPress, LexBlog, Justia.

Software as a Service

Today you can manage complex recordkeeping, file management, billing, calendaring, task management, communications, and a dozen other vital functions on your iPhone. Ten years ago they said it would never happen, but we proved them wrong! Thanks, Google.

My Recommendations: Google Apps, Basecamp, Zoho, Clio, Rocket Matter, OpenOffice. (Bonus: Microsoft Office 2010 online next year).

Custom SaaS

In a perfect world you would only use tools suited to your practice. But the world isn't perfect. Luckily, customizable SaaS enables you to add, subtract, and modulate applications so that you don't have to pay for features you never use (Are you reading this Microsoft?).

My Recommendations: Google Apps, Basecamp, Advologix/Salesforce.com, Zimbra.

Research

Remember when the price of gas went down last summer? Remember when the cost of legal research subscriptions went down? Me neither. Even the Saudis get it so how come it costs more to review a Supreme Court decision today than it did 10 years ago?

My Recommendations: My Findlaw, Lexbe, LII (Cornell), Fastcase.

Communications

From email to instant messaging, conference calls to faxing, message management to call routing, the telecommunications market has proven to be almost as stubborn as the legal market when it comes to change. But change it has, and there are now more choices than ever.

My Recommendations: eFax, Google Voice, Free Conference Call, GoToMeeting.

Prospecting

Lawyer marketing often offends older lawyers used to a more genteel approach. Of course they didn't have to compete with 30,000 other unemployed graduates. Since you do, check out these sites designed to help you get a jump on the competition.

My Recommendations: LawFiles, Avvo, LegalMatch, Twitter (yes, Twitter).

Billing

Sure it takes money to make money. But why so much? Since the days of Red Gorilla (bonus if you remember that .com darling), Web-based billing has been the fevered dream of a madman. Or at least it was until a surge of do-it-yourself timers and time-keeping services hit the market.

My Recommendations: Tempo, Clio, Rocket Matter, Bill4Time, TimeSolv, Chrometa, MonetaSuite, Proximiti. (The last three are experimental but worth trying.)

Document Backup and Sharing

Making files ubiquitous has proven to be harder than it sounds. Limitations on bandwidth, file-size, extensions, and a variety of other factors have conspired to keep file sharing clumsy and uninspired. Luckily, you have options.

My Recommendations: Dropbox, Google Docs, Docstoc, JD Supra, Microsoft Live Office. (Bonus: Office 2010 will have a free online component.)

Collaboration

"Collaboration" sites let you display information like a Web host, share and exchange documents like Google Docs, and interact with one another like a social network. So why give them a separate category? Because most of the time these sites represent a useful compilation of features perfect for everything from ad hoc bar association groups to teams of lawyers working on a case with national scope.

My Recommendations: Basecamp, Clio Client-Connect, Groupsite, Google Sites.

Online Chat

With the aid of the ubiquitous instant messaging client, you'll never need to yell out the office door at your associates again. But you will anyway. Just saying.

My Recommendations: Google Talk, MSN, AIM.

Onward and Upward …

If I've left anything out I apologize, but I feel confident that this list should stand you in good stead, at least for now. If you have suggestions of your own please let me (and everyone else) know.

Written by Mazyar M. Hedayat of M. Hedayat & Associates, P.C.

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.

Coming today to Fat Friday: Nicholas Bettinger shares his tips for managing email overload, Theodore Borrego weighs in on Ross Kodner's BigSolo column, Bob Walsh reviews SherWeb for Hosted Exchange and Drobo, Samuel Matunog discusses social networking for lawyers, and Ann Vetter-Hansen reviews Rocket Matter. Don't miss this issue.

How to Receive Fat Friday
Our most serendipitous offering, Fat Friday consists of unsolicited contributions by TechnoLawyer members. You'll no doubt enjoy it because of its mix of interesting topics and genuinely useful knowledge, including brutally honest product reviews and informative how-tos. The Fat Friday newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

Coming today to Answers to Questions: Steven Schwaber shares his advice for a successful law school experience, Jonathan Warshay provides some tips to make your PC more efficient (before you jump ship and get a Mac), Bill Baldwin reviews Acrobat Pro as a litigation support tool, Doug Jacobs reviews FolderGuard, and Michael Vranicar shares some of his firm's file naming tips. Don't miss this issue.

How to Receive Answers to Questions
Do you believe in the wisdom of crowds? In Answers to Questions, 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 Answers to Questions newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

Coming today to Answers to Questions: Mark Fidel discusses the key factor when deciding between Mac or PC, Mark Deutsch provides some tips regarding a Timeslips error, Douglas Folk reviews ESET NOD32 antivirus software, Steven McNichols discusses the state of today's tech support, and Guy Mailly reviews Adobe Connect. Don't miss this issue.

How to Receive Answers to Questions
Do you believe in the wisdom of crowds? In Answers to Questions, 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 Answers to Questions newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

Coming today to Fat Friday: Rob Foos reviews the new Palm Pre, Lane Trippe responds to a recent BigLaw issue on the "assignment memo," Morris Tabush reviews the BlackBerry Bold and his favorite apps, paralegal Leigh Crawford points to an article about how her small firm survives in a big city, and David Gulbransen compares Dimdim to WebEx for online collaboration. Don't miss this issue.

How to Receive Fat Friday
Our most serendipitous offering, Fat Friday consists of unsolicited contributions by TechnoLawyer members. You'll no doubt enjoy it because of its mix of interesting topics and genuinely useful knowledge, including brutally honest product reviews and informative how-tos. The Fat Friday newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.