I was privileged to join my How to Do More in Less Time: The Complete Guide to Increasing Your Productivity and Improving Your Bottom Line co-author Daniel J. Siegel on the On Balance Podcast for the State Bar of Michigan.
You can listen to the complete episode here. Make sure you listen soon, because there's a limited-time 20% discount available just for listeners!
We talked about:
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My latest column in Law Practice Magazine (July/August Big Ideas Issue) is all about preparing for partnership. If you aspire to law firm equity partnership, the article includes some things to think about in several different areas.
Here are some highlights:
As an associate, your focus is on yourself - your work and your own clients. But as an equity partner, you become responsible for the whole firm and everyone in it. You are no longer responsible just to your clients, but to all of the firm's clients.
You have to take a broader view of the business and your day-to-day work than you would as an associate.
As an equity partner, your role within the firm is very different than your role as an associate, or even as a non-equity partner.
When you are an equity partner, as an owner of the firm, your main responsibility is to ensure that the firm continues to generate enough revenue to continue operating. As a result, one of the expectations of law firm partners is that they drive business to the firmâand youâll have to generate enough business not only to keep you busy but to provide work for others.
Part of your responsibility as an equity partner is the management of the firm. That means your workload is likely to grow to include things like administrative and nonbillable tasks, such as supervising associates, conducting performance reviews, hiring and firing, reviewing client bills and strategic planning. You will have to learn to be an excellent delegator.
As a leader of the firm, it is your job to help uplift, inspire and foster the growth of the firmâs employees.
Perhaps the biggest change when moving from associate or non-equity partner to equity partnership is in the area of finances. As an equity partner, you will be directly responsible for the firmâs financial health. You will need to understand how the firm works and understand its financial picture so that you can make informed business and financial decisions.
In addition, your compensation structure will change dramatically. Instead of reaceiving a guaranteed salary, your compensation will be tied to the success of the firm. In some years, that may even mean that you make less money than you were making as a senior associate or a nonequity partner.
In addition to a less predictable income, as an equity partner, but you may have to wait longer to get paid. You may not receive distributions frequently, which may mean waiting for a large portion of your compensation until the end of the quarter or even the end of the year.
Are you ready for the changes equity partnership may bring?
ABA members (and those who haven't reached their article limit) can read the column here.
It's been quite some time since I posted here since most of my content is being posed on the Lawyer Meltdown website, but I wanted to share this Inspiring Business podcast episode where I was interviewed by Mark Bullock, one of the founders of Videosocials.
We had a great conversation talking about productivity, marketing, technology, whether we consider ourselves "starters" or "finishers" and more.
We also chatted about Mark's business, Videosocials. I've been a Videosocials member for several years now, and I think it's one of the best things I've done for my business. I encourage everyone to check it out - and let them know I sent you! You can learn about Videosocials here.
We also talked about the brand-new second edition of How to Do More in Less Time, The Complete Guide to Improving Your Productivity and Increasing Your Bottom Line, co-authored with Daniel J. Siegel.
Subscribe to the Inspiring Business Podcast:
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If youâre one of those people with a never-ending to-do list, this tip is for you.
No matter how hard you try to list what you need to accomplish, instead of getting shorter, your list gets longer â new things crop up, unanticipated client problems arise, or a last minute emergency that âmustâ be handled today gets in the way. Itâs frustrating, exhausting and ultimately, completely unproductive.
The answer may be a âdonât doâ list.
Whatâs a âdonât doâ list? Itâs a list of the things you shouldn't be doing, tasks that could be delegated to someone else or outsourced, and all of the items that can be eliminated entirely (or eliminated for a specified time period).
Law school education trains lawyers to spot issues, but this issue spotting behavior isnât the most efficient way to run a law practice. Issue spotting can lead to âanalysis paralysisâ by creating the feeling that every issue must be at least considered, if not addressed. This creates additional distractions.
The âdonât doâ list counteracts this by narrowing your options so that youâre not overwhelmed by so many choices every time something new arises.
Having a âdonât doâ list lets you identify tasks you donât want to do or that you shouldnât be doing because they distract you and prevent you from accomplishing more important tasks; if itâs already on the âdonât doâ list, itâs easy to immediately recognize it and move on to more productive endeavors.
How do you decide what goes on the âdonât doâ list? Anything that distracts you from the main goals that you want to accomplish belongs on the list. The âdonât doâ list can include day to day activities, specific types of clients or matters or behaviors that donât serve you.
Think about your strengths and weaknesses when making your âdonât doâ list. Are you a great speaker but a poor writer? Maybe writing articles, motions, briefs, etc. should go on your âdonât doâ list. You can use a ghostwriter, hire a contract lawyer to do the writing for you, or give the task to someone else in the firm with excellent writing skills. Then you can focus your energies on trying cases, giving seminars or presentations, or other activities where you can showcase your speaking skills.
Which marketing activities belong on your âdonât doâ list? Marketing and practice building are very high value activities, but theyâre only valuable if they are strategic - if theyâre putting you in front of potential clients or leads, or if the groups or events are ones which youâre passionate about.
Prioritize: evaluate which groups or activities will be the most beneficial to you (or to the people or causes youâre supporting). Limit your participation to the most valuable events or organizations. You can get more value for less time, energy and stress. If the things already on the âto doâ list are more important or more valuable, these âinvitationsâ belong on the âdonât doâ list.
Although you need to be responsive and accessible to your clients and colleagues, a good âdonât doâ list might include particular days or times when youâre âoff limits.â Allowing constant interruptions of family or leisure time not only robs you of much-needed recharging and rest, but is a disservice to clients who are only getting part of your attention. The same goes for interruptions of important business or client-related activities. Itâs rare that clients have a real emergency that canât wait an hour or two for you to finish preparing your motion in limine or complete a meal with your family (and donât try to do both at once â remember Tip #3: Give Up Multi-Tasking).
Practice areas can also be items to add to your âdonât doâ list; sometimes turning down work is the best decision you can make. If you arenât well-versed in the particular area of the law, donât have the time or resources to learn or donât have someone to help you, you may be asking for more trouble than the case is worth.
Identifying the âdonât dosâ can be an effective tool for managing your time and reducing your stress. Knowing in advance what things you wonât do lets you move on quickly, without wasting additional time analyzing everything that comes to your attention.
The âdonât doâ list also reminds you to ask for help in the areas that arenât your strengths, so you can focus our efforts on what you do best and what brings the most value to your clients and to your life. It allows you to let go of the idea that you can do everything and be everything to everyone. Itâs a shorthand way of cutting through all of the clutter of what needs to be done so you can get back to providing great service to your clients.
Check out my other time management tips:
Time Management Tip #1: Don't Try to Manage Time; Manage Your Activities
Time Management Tip #2: Get Everything Out of Your Head
Time Management Tip #3: Give Up Multi-Tasking
Time Management Tip #4: Prioritize
Time Management Tip #6: Use the Power of Three
Time Management Tip #7: Next Actions
Time Management Tip #8: Cure "I Need to See It" Syndrome
Time Management Tip #9: Do the Worst First
Time Management Tip #11: Create External Deadlines
Time Management Tip #12: The Two-Minute Rule
Time Management Tip #13: Schedule Time to Complete Work
Time Management Tip #14: Create a Daily Plan and Weekly Review
Time Management Tip #15: Eliminate Bad Clients
(This post was originally published on August 23, 2012 and was updated in January 2022. Versions of this post previously appeared on this blog, in Sue magazine, and in Law Practice Today).
Every year, the ABA and the Legal Technology Resource Center conduct a legal technology survey seeking information from law firms of all sizes about how they use technology for everything from cybersecurity to cloud computing services to marketing and more.
Members of the Legal Technology Resource Center Board and other ABA members then analyze some of the information gleaned from the survey and the resulting ABA Legal Technology Survey Report and write articles covering their findings. These articles are known as TechReports.
The 2021 Technology Survey Report Covered the following areas:
All of the 2021 TechReports have now been released and are available to the public. They can be found as listed below:
As noted above, I took on the task of reviewing the survey report related to websites and marketing once again this year, but my focus this year was on client communication - using technology to communicate with potential clients (marketing) and to keep current clients informed.
With respect to current clients, only 31% of survey respondents say they communicate with clients through their website or another online service (other than email). As I discuss in the article, I think this is a missed opportunity, especially since client portals make communicating with clients efficient and keeps client communications in one place (not to mention, often more secure than the way lawyers and clients are currently using email).
Similarly, lawyers miss an opportunity to streamline their billing and collections process by not taking advantage of current technology: "Most clients are used to paying for everything from groceries to medical services online, yet only 31% of respondentsâ firms offer the ability for clients to pay online or through their website for their legal services."
In terms of marketing, lawyers seem to have recognized that having a website for their law firm is important - 94% of respondents in 2021 said their firm has a website. But, as my article indicates, "law firm websites still largely appear to be used as tools for one-way communication, rather than offering the firmâs audience easy ways to communicate with the firm through the site."
Video is another under-utilized communication tool among lawyers. " Only 28% of respondentsâ firms use video for marketing overall, including only 19% of lawyers from firms of 2-9 lawyers, 18% of lawyers from firms of 10-49 lawyers, and only 10% of solos."
For more information and insights into how lawyers are using technology as a communication tool both on and off of their websites, with both potentail and existing clients, read the full TechReport here.
Click on the links for any of the reports listed above to see the full report and analysis of the data and compare the results and the recommendations in each of these articles against what your firm is currently doing. Here are a few interesting notes from this year's other TechReports:
In 2013, I wrote a post on Slaw.ca on Infographics for Lawyers. In that post, I said,
Infographics are visually appealing, highly shareable and, when done right, can convey a lot of information quickly and easily, or make a mountain of data easy to understand. By combining text and visuals into one, infographics make the most of both to reinforce a message.
I also noted in that post that lawyers can use infographics in a number of ways, including:
Infographics can be used for other purposes, too, including to help explain complicated processes or court procedures to clients, or to illustrate information for a jury during a trial. You can probably think of even more ways to use infographics in your practice.
If you want to try your hand at creating some infographics for your law firm, there are some excellent (and inexpensive) tools that you can use to make them quickly and easily. Here are a few to try:
Venngage Chart Maker This is a free platform that offers several different templates that you can use to create charts and infographics easily. You choose your template, import your data and add icons or illustrations from their library, and brand it with your logo and colors using their Brand Kit tool. Venngage also has paid subscription plans that provide more options, such as additional designs, more uploads, and other premium services.
Canva is another popular tool for creating infographics. Like Venngage, Canva has templates for you to work from, with images, icons, and illustrations to add visual interest. You can also purchase premium images for a few dollars each, and you can brand your designs. Canva also has Pro and Enterprise plans that offer the ability to brand your images includes premium photos, videos, and illustrations, create your own templates, and more.
You can see an example of an infographic I made using Canva below (click on the image for the full-sized version):
If you don't want to learn how to use a new tool and you're already familiar with PowerPoint, you can try creating an infographic in PowerPoint. Here are two resources for doing so:
How to Make Infographics with PowerPoint: A Beginner's Guide, from Graphic Mama
How to Make Infographics with PowerPoint, from Copypress
We're only a few hours from 2021. Most of us are more than happy to say goodbye to 2020, even knowing that restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic are likely to continue for a while. But there is some good news on the horizon with the rollout of two (so far) vaccines.
After the year we had in 2020, many of us are re-thinking everything from our regular activities, to our homes, our lifestyles, and our practices.
Here's a fun infographic from Juris Office that might provide some insight on what changes you can make in 2021 to increase your satisfaction as a lawyer:
What makes YOU happy as a lawyer? Tell me in the comments!
I am excited to announce that after many years of teaching and training and writing about LinkedIn, Dennis Kennedy (my co-author on Make LinkedIn Work for You, A Practical Handbook for Lawyers and other Legal Professionals) and I have officially launched our online course - LinkedIn Essentials.
This course will take you step-by-step through the three main building blocks of LinkedIn - Profiles, Connections, and Participation - and show you easy ways for you to improve your LinkedIn presence and maximize your use of the platform.
But perhaps the most useful part of the course is that we teach you how to think strategically about how you use LinkedIn to get the most value out of the platform and out of your LinkedIn network as possible.
The course includes not only hours of video, broken down into 9 important lessons, but also provides you with "homework" in the form of worksheets to complete at the end of each lesson to reinforce what you've learned and to help you customize your LinkedIn strategy for you. The course also includes a complete LinkedIn action plan for you to use to plan the next three months of LinkedIn activity.
Complete the course at your own pace, and hop over to LinkedIn after each lesson to implement what you've learned right away.
Is 2021 the year you want to finally make good use of LinkedIn - now that you know virtual networking isn't going anywhere anytime soon? If so, this course will be well worth the investment.
Check out LinkedIn Essentials here.
In this week that NY law grads were originally scheduled to be taking the bar exam, the New York State Court of Appeals (the highest court in the state) has announced a revision of its rules to temporarily authorize qualifying graduates of ABA-accredited law schools to practice law in New York under supervision pending their admission to the bar. Supervising attorneys must be admitted to practice in New York for at least three years and must be in good standing.
To be eligible, an applicant must be qualified to take the New York bar exam, employed to practice law in New York, and not have failed a bar exam in the United States previously, in addition to having graduated from an ABA-accredited law school.
Those wishing to be granted this authorization must submit an application to the Appellate Division in the Department in which they anticipate being admitted to the bar. The application must include an affirmation in support from a representative of the employer who is admitted to practice law in New York, as well as the application form signed by the applicant seeking temporary authorization. All signatures are required to be by hand (as opposed to electronic signatures).
There are some limitations on what attorneys authorized to practice under the new rule will be able to do. For example, an attorney authorized under this rule cannot conduct a deposition (examination before trial) or appear in court without the presence of the supervising attorney who is available to supplement or correct any written or oral statement or action made by the authorized attorney. If the authorized attorney appears without a supervising attorney, the matter cannot proceed. There is an exception, however, for routine calendar calls - the authorized attorney may appear without a supervising attorney as long as a supervising attorney is immediately available to appear if necessary.
When an authorized attorney is appearing in any of the above instances, notice must be given to the judge before whom the appearance will be made. An authorized attorney must obtain prior Court approval to appear before the Court of Appeals or the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court.
In addition, any legal or litigation documents prepared or drafted by an authorized attorney must be approved by a supervising attorney, and the supervising attorney's name must appear on the document. If a signature is required under 22 NYCRR 130, the supervising attorney is required to sign.
Authorized attorneys under this part are not authorized to open, maintain, or be a signatory on any attorney escrow account, and may not make a final disposition of any matter without prior approval of a supervising attorney.
Authorized attorneys are subject to the same disciplinary authority as practicing attorneys who have been admitted to the bar. Termination of authority under this part can occur in a number of ways, including revocation of the part, or revocation of the attorney's authority for good cause, as well as if the authorized attorney fails a bar exam in the United States or fails to sit for the Uniform Bar Exam by August 2021.
You can find the requirements here. You can see a copy of the amended Rule 524 here.
Over the past few months, youâve probably attended or hosted more Zoom meetings than you every thought possible â from internal office meetings to client consultations to bar association meetings, family dinners and virtual happy hours, Zoom has become the go-to platform for many who had never attended a videoconference before March of 2020.
Having attended far too many Zoom meetings myself, Iâve found that many lawyers â as well as my non-lawyer friends and colleagues â are making simple Zoom meeting mistakes that can be distracting to other attendees or even hurting their professional reputations.
Iâm sure youâve heard about the many Zoom âfailsâ circulated on the internet, including the admonition by one Florida judge who complained about what lawyers were â or werenât â wearing to court video calls, or the reporter from Good Morning America who got caught with a shirt, jacket and tie but no pants on camera, and âJennifer,â who took her laptop to the bathroom with her during a Zoom meeting. There was even a flush heard during one of the first-ever livestreamed virtual Supreme Court argument. Although it was not a Zoom call (thankfully), it was clear that proper etiquette of muting when not speaking wasnât followed in this virtual argument.
There have already been several articles written about âbest practicesâ for Zoom meetings, including from Bob Ambrogi on Above the Law on 10 blunders to avoid on Zoom and, also on Above the Law from Niki Black of MyCase in Zoom Videoconferencing Tips and Tricks, and there are several articles out there about Zoom security (including this one written specifically for lawyers).
Here are a few of my favorite tips from those articles, along with some of my own comments.
1. Consider a virtual background â or not â Both Bob and Niki talk about adding a virtual background to enhance your Zoom meeting presence, but in my experience, they donât work all that well for most people. You need a device thatâs relatively new, and even then, they can be glitchy if you move around a lot when youâre speaking, and some of your body parts can disappear, or can reveal your green screen, which is more distracting than having a boring background, so use virtual backgrounds with caution.
And that brings us to:
2. Be aware of your surroundings â Bob mentions this in his article with reference to what can be seen on camera. If youâre attending a Zoom meeting from your bedroom, for example, you might want to sit in a place where the bed canât be seen. If thatâs not possible, at least make the bed. And keep in mind who else might be or enter into the room during your meeting â itâs probably not a good idea for the judge in your virtual court conference to see your scantily-dressed spouse walking through the bedroom.
3. Watch your camera angle â How many Zoom meetings have you attended where at least one participant can only be partially seen? If youâre one of them, please check out what your video looks like when you join a meeting. You can tilt your laptop, tablet or smartphone to an angle that allows participants to see your entire face, not just the top of your head. And you can prop up your device so that the camera is at eye level. If itâs too low, the camera angle will frequently show a lot of ceiling and a upward view of your face (which sometimes is unflattering, and often feels like attendees are looking up your nose).
4. Speaking of appearances, as Niki mentions in her post, Zoom has a âtouch up my appearanceâ setting which can help you put your best foot forward in any Zoom meeting you attend. You can find this setting by clicking the up-arrow next to the video camera icon in Zoom.
5. Pay attention to your lighting â If you have a lot of light (such as a bright window) behind you, it makes it extremely difficult to see your face. Ditto if it's too dark. Not all of us have professional lighting, and yours doesnât have to be, but participants in your Zoom meeting would like to see your face. Often, if you are in a room with a window, it is best to have the window and natural light to the side, or even in front of you, rather than behind you. Overhead lighting can be harsh, too â if you can place a light in front of you, that is often better. Sometimes it helps just to make your computer screen brighter so that it shines on your face. If you wear glasses, you have double trouble, because lighting can wreak havoc â in the form of glare â on your glasses.
6. Use an appropriate screen name - Your screen name is yet another element of your appearance. Itâs probably not the best idea to log into a Zoom meeting with the court, a client, or other professionals with a screen name like âballbusteresq.â
Your name will be displayed in the bottom corner of your video block when hovering over you in Zoom, in the participants list, including Chat and Q&A lists of participants even if you donât type anything into the chat or Q&A boxes, and it will appear in bold white letters if you turn off your video and donât have a Zoom profile photo. You can add a profile photo or update your Zoom screen name from your Profile settings, or you can rename yourself while in a Zoom meeting by clicking on the participants icon, finding your name and clicking on ârename (unless the host has disabled this feature).
7. Mute yourself when youâre not speaking â Bob mentions this in his article. Zoom is no different than any other conference calling platform. Itâs common courtesy to mute yourself if you arenât speaking so that attendees can focus on the speaker. Even if you think youâre in a quiet place, moving around, shuffling papers, or typing on your keyboard during a meeting can all potentially be heard and distract others â not to mention your cell or office phone ringing, dogs barking, etc.
8. Review your Zoom settings â As with any other program, the default settings in Zoom are not necessarily the ideal settings for you. One example is your microphone settings. In most cases, Iâve found that turning off the âautomatically adjustâ setting and manually setting your microphone level is best, because the automatically adjust setting can sometime kills your sound entirely. Also, if youâre using an external mike, rather than the one built into your device, you may need to make adjustments there separately. You can find these and other audio settings by hitting the up-arrow next to the microphone in Zoom.
Another setting you may not be aware of is your view options â when in a zoom meeting, you have a number of options to change the view. Most people know about gallery view (the âBrady Bunchâ view as some like to call it), where you can see many participants at once, instead of just the speaker, but you can also hit the view options button during a meeting to change the view from â100%â to âfit to window,â which is especially helpful during screen-sharing, when some of the slide or screen being shown is cut off or blocked by the video view.
As a meeting host, Zoom provides you with some additional settings to help make your meeting more effective and productive. As Bob Ambrogi mentions in his post, meeting hosts can turn on attention tracking so the meeting host see when a participant does not have Zoom in focus for more than 30 seconds while a screen is being shared (presumably, when screen sharing is off, itâs easy to tell whoâs paying attention just by looking at them).
The meeting host also has the option to put security measures in place when they schedule a meeting. Nikiâs post highlights some of those features, like setting a password and restricting access to the meeting, as well as muting participants automatically upon entry to the meeting. A newer feature of Zoom is the ability to enable the waiting room, so the meeting host has to manually admit each participant into the meeting, reducing the likelihood of unauthorized entry. I personally also like to lock my meetings once all participants have arrived to prevent unauthorized people from entering.
Hosts can also manage meeting participants during the meeting (such as muting someone who is disrupting the meeting) or preventing participants from unmuting themselves or sharing their screens.
This helpful article from cnet has some other Zoom settings you should check out.
9. Get more out of the Chat feature â If you donât have Chat open in Zoom, youâll get a popup when someone has added something to the chat, but Iâve personally found that itâs easier to keep it open at all times during a Zoom meeting.
This feature allows you to send private (just to one individual) or public (to everyone) messages during the meeting. As Niki notes in her post you can also save the chat (if the host hasnât disabled this feature), which is helpful if people post links or other info in the chat. Iâve saved chats during webinars to have a record of questions people have asked to improve webinars in the future (or to create other content responsive to them). If you save your chat, it will save both your public and private chat messages.
10. Record the meeting â Zoom has recording capability, which can come in handy for a number of reasons. There is a simple record button that will allow you to record a Zoom meeting and save it to your local computer, as long as the host has not disabled it. There are also options to store a Zoom meeting recording in the cloud.
Bonus: Explore break-out rooms for large meetings â Large Zoom meetings can get unwieldy and become unproductive. Iâve attended a few large meetings lately that incorporated Zoomâs break-out rooms feature, which allowed participants to break into smaller groups for targeted discussions or problem-solving, and then rejoin the larger group to report back their findings.
An interesting set of tutorials on Zoom for lawyers can be found here: https://www.knoxbar.org/index.cfm?pg=ZoomTutorialsforLawyers
Happy Zoom-ing!