The 2017 Solo and Small Firm Legal Technology Guide by
This annual guide is the only one of its kind written to help solo and small firm lawyers find the best technology for their dollar. You'll find the most current information and recommendations on computers, servers, networking equipment, legal software, printers, security products, smartphones, tablets, and anything else a law office might need. It's written in clear, easily understandable language to make implementation easier if you choose to do it yourself, or use it in conjunction with your IT consultant. Either way, you'll learn how to make technology work for you. Topics include: -Updated recommendations on hardware and software for PCs and Macs -Securing your data (even from our own government) -The latest in social media--from an acknowledged social media expert -The evolving smartphone market, and which ones work best for lawyers -The security issues and benefits of cloud computing -Favorite utilities and apps for lawyers -The direction of legal technology in 2017
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Technology Tips for Lawyers and Business Professionals by This link opens in a new window
Flying Solo by
Newly revised and updated to meet the needs of today s legal professionals, Flying Solo is a comprehensive guide to establishing and maintaining a successful solo law practice. The Fifth Edition of this ABA classic includes practical information gathered from a wide range of contributors, including successful solo practitioners, law firm consultants, state and local bar practice management advisors, and law school professors. Whether you're thinking of going solo, new to the solo life, or a seasoned practitioner, Flying Solo provides time-tested answers to real-life questions. This book will help you: Make the decision to open your own law firm Choose the right practice area(s) Create a business plan and determine your fees Leave your current firm without burning bridges Set up an office space Work with traditional and alternative billing arrangements Use technology to manage your finances Develop and execute a marketing plan Gain clients through social media Plan strategically for the future And much more "
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Solo by Choice 2011-2012 Edition by This link opens in a new window
How Good Lawyers Survive Bad Times by
The weak economy and large number of firm layoffs have resulted in a flood of potential new solo and small firm lawyers starting their own practices in the wake of the exodus from BigLaw. Small practice lawyers, well seasoned or just starting out, can gain immeasurably by just applying even a few of the myriad tips within this book.
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How to Build and Manage a Family Law Practice by
Tips, strategies, tactics, forms, and real-word advice for starting - or building - a family law practice. Written by a successful and happy family lawyer, this book explains the skills and knowledge necessary to thrive in a challenging area of the law. It takes a no-nonsense approach in explaining the most critical issues for developing a successful career. Examples and practice tips show how to gain experience, understand the business aspects of a practice, develop and maintain the ideal client mix, and manage staff and finances. CD-ROM with forms and related materials.
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Lawyer 2. 0 by
This book is a comprehensive summary and description of essential technology solo practitioners should utilize to build six-figure law practices in 12 months or less.
Making Work Work for You by
Deals with lawyers and judges from different areas of practice who have managed to retain their enjoyment of the legal profession, discussing their approaches to enhancing their work.
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How to Build and Manage a Personal Injury Practice by
The book covers planning for a personal injury practice; deciding whether to go solo or form a partnership; marketing and financing the practice; interviewing clients; keeping clients happy; managing the workload; choosing office space and equipment; and much more. Written by an experienced and successful personal injury lawyer, this newly revised edition is perfect for lawyers starting a personal injury law practice and for current practitioners interested in improving their practice. Sample forms, reports, and letters are included on an accompanying CD-ROM.
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The Successful Lawyer by
This comprehensive and inspirational book explains how a lawyer can transform his or her life into a more exciting, fulfilling, and profitable one by taking control of his or her destiny. Global management consultant and trusted advisor to many of the world's largest law firms, Gerald Riskin goes beyond simple concept or theory, and delivers a book packed with concrete advice that you can put to work right away. By using the principles found in this book, you can live out your dreams, embrace success, and awaken your firm to its full potential.
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How to Start and Build a Law Practice by
A classic ABA bestseller, How to Start and Build a Law Practice has been used by tens of thousands of lawyers as the comprehensive guide to planning, launching, and growing a successful practice. Author Jay G Foonberg, now in his fifth decade of practicing law, has always been dedicated to giving other lawyers the benefit of his wealth of experience. This Platinum Fifth Edition is packed with over 600 pages of guidance on identifying the right location, finding clients, setting fees, managing your office, maintaining an ethical and responsible practice, maximizing available resources, upholding your standards, and much more. If you re committed to starting and growing your own practice, this one book will give you the expert advice you need to make it succeed. More than 100,000 lawyers have turned to Jay Foonberg for the secrets to running a successful law firm; now you can, too, with the new Platinum Fifth Edition. Jay Foonberg has organized the book into short, easy-to-read chapters that deal with all the specific challenges you will encounter when you open your office. The answers you'll get are realistic, practical, and based on real-life experience. You ll find a wealth of tips that can improve your practice once it is up and running, as well as dozens of time-saving templates and checklists. In addition, there is all-new material for this edition, covering topics including: New opportunities for serving senior clients and the growth of elder law E-mail and the Internet Law firm mergers and dissolutions The increasing size of student loans Opportunities created by an aging population Nonlawyer consultants The globalization of legal practice When and how to safely close and destroy files The aggressive marketing being done now by firms of all sizes And much more Even if you already have an established practice, you are sure to find information that will help you compete and succeed. This is the one book you ll need to build and grow your practice."
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How to Build and Manage an Estates Practice by
A guide to building and managing an estates practice. Chapters are organized logically to take the reader through the stages of developing your practice and there is advice on everything from organizing estate planning and trust administration files to conducting interviews and managing staff.
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Getting Started: Basics for a Successful Law Firm by This link opens in a new window
Strengthening Your Firm by
An owner's manual for the successful management of the law firm. It offers insights and practical advice on topics such as: adapting to change; meeting partnership challenges; dealing with financial problems; compensating law firm owners; improving leadership and communication; and more.
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Solo Contendere: How to Go Directly from Law School into the Practice of Law Without Getting a Job by 
Road to Independence: 101 Women's Journeys to Starting Their Own Law Firms by
This is a collection of 101 letters from women who have taken the courageous and difficult step of creating a law firm of their own, either as a solo or with others. Focusing on the experiences, challenges, and opportunities of women-owned law firms, these women reiterate key themes: Of becoming businesswomen. Of choosing a practice area true to their passion. Of controlling not only their days but their destinies. Of ambition in action.
Soft Skills for the Effective Lawyer by
In this groundbreaking book, Randall Kiser presents a multi-disciplinary, practice-based introduction to the major soft skills for lawyers: self-awareness, self-development, social proficiency, wisdom, leadership, and professionalism. The work serves as both a map and a vehicle for developing the skills essential to self-knowledge and fulfillment, organizational respect and accomplishment, client satisfaction and appreciation, and professional improvement and distinction. It identifies the most important soft skills for attorneys, describes and applies hundreds of studies regarding psychology, law, and soft skills, and provides concrete steps and methods to improve soft skills. The book should be read by law students, attorneys, and anyone else interested in how lawyers should practice law.
Turning Points at Trial by
Award-winning author Shane Read interviews thirteen of the greatest lawyers in the country who share the secrets from their most interesting cases. Everything is covered from depositions to trials to appeals. Learn new strategies that you can apply immediately in your practice. Unlike other textbooks, you will learn trial skills from actual litigation battles, not from unrealistic hypotheticals. Additional video and audio materials discussed in the book can be found at www.TurningPointsatTrial.com.
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Digital Justice by
Also available in e-book format
Improving access to justice has been an ongoing process, and on-demand justice should be a natural part of our increasingly on-demand society. What can we do for example when Facebook blocks our account, we're harassed on Twitter, discover that our credit report contains errors, or receive anegative review on Airbnb? How do we effectively resolve these and other such issues?Digital Justice introduces the reader to new technological tools to resolve and prevent disputes bringing dispute resolution to cyberspace, where those who would never look to a court for assistance can find help for instance via a smartphone. The authors focus particular attention on four areasthat have seen great innovation as well as large volumes of disputes: ecommerce, healthcare, social media, and labor. As conflicts escalate with the increase in innovation, the authors emphasize the need for new dispute resolution processes and new ways to avoid disputes, something that has beenignored by those seeking to improve access to justice in the past.
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How to Start a Law Practice by
How to Start a Law Practice focuses on virtually every area of starting a practice that new attorneys should think about. One of the areas of focus in the book is why young attorneys should think about starting their own practice, and why they should do it sooner than later. The book also addresses the myth that a job with a firm guarantees security. Other areas covered include finding an office, different types of offices, getting clients, managing clients, managing money, and dealing with stress. One unique chapter not found in any similar books deals with things law students are not taught in law school and will need to navigate the professional world. The book is both practical and useful for new attorneys thinking about starting their own practice and young attorneys wanting to learn about professionalism in the legal field.
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Introduction to the Study and Practice of Law in a Nutshell by
Also available in e-book format
"There are two things wrong with almost all legal writing. One is style. The other is content." Professor Fred Rodell, Yale, 1936. We can't do much about content. You'll have to know how the common law system works, how to read and brief cases, how to study and take exams, how to write and argue law and how lawsuits are tried. We can do something about style. There's advice and illustrations. You'll throw pots, working your first case, making your first argument, briefing cases, taking exams, and writing memos. This is not for the faint hearted nor is law school. Think like a lawyer. I won't be a bore. I'll tell jokes, some of which are actually funny. I'll challenge you intellectually. Where does law come from? Should judges follow precedent? What if your client wants to pave Paradise and put in a parking lot? If you love ideas you'll love this book and you'll love law school. (If you love people you'll love practice.)
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Rebooting Justice : more technology, fewer lawyers, and the future of law by
Also in e-book format
America is a nation founded on justice and the rule of law. But our laws are too complex, and legal advice too expensive, for poor and even middle-class Americans to get help and vindicate their rights. Criminal defendants facing jail time may receive an appointed lawyer who is juggling hundreds of cases and immediately urges them to plead guilty. Civil litigants are even worse off; usually, they get no help at all navigating the maze of technical procedures and rules. The same is true of those seeking legal advice, like planning a will or negotiating an employment contract. Rebooting Justice presents a novel response to longstanding problems. The answer is to use technology and procedural innovation to simplify and change the process itself. In the civil and criminal courts where ordinary Americans appear the most, we should streamline complex procedures and assume that parties will not have a lawyer, rather than the other way around. We need a cheaper, simpler, faster justice system to control costs. We cannot untie the Gordian knot by adding more strands of rope; we need to cut it, to simplify it.
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Encryption Made Simple for Lawyers by
Encryption is now a generally accepted security measure for protecting confidential data both when stored and transmitted. Data breaches have become a common occurrence, and hackers cannot only get confidential details about a case or deal, but steal your client s information as well. Fortunately, easy-to-use options are available today for encryption. It has now reached the point where all attorneys should generally understand encryption, have it available for use when appropriate, and make informed decisions about when encryption should be used and when it is acceptable to avoid it. Accomplished authors Sharon D. Nelson, David G. Ries and John W. Simek will cover everything you need to know about encryption, breaking down the myths of security and putting the power to protect sensitive data in your hands. Topics include: The basics and history of encryption The ethics of encrypting confidential information A layman s view of encrypting technology Easy to use options for encrypting data on devices like laptops, tablets, and smartphones Encrypting data on the go (including wireless and cloud technologies) Predictions for the future evolution of encryption"
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Accelerating Lawyer Success: How to Make Partner, Stay Healthy, and Flourish in the Law Firm by
Making partner and achieving a sense of success and fulfillment in a law firm is challenging for most young lawyers. Based on original research, Accelerating Lawyer Success examines the factors, competencies, and attitudes that allow some lawyers to flourish and make partner while others struggle. Moreover, the authors show readers how to develop the same mindset and skills that they identified as the key factors behind the success of the lawyers they studied. Given today s difficult job environment for lawyers, this book is particularly valuable for law students, new lawyers, or an associate on the cusp of partnership."
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Checklists for Lawyers by
Everyone uses checklists and frequently relies on them. In some cases, it s difficult to survive and be successful without them.This new guide, Checklists for Lawyers, takes the process of using checklists a step further by showing you how to create systems for your everyday law practice to ensure that tasks get done correctly every time. "Why do I need a checklist?" The answer is simple: a checklist will help you improve your workflow, document your procedures, avoid malpractice and allow you to provide the best representation to your clients, so they remain your clients. In a complex profession with analytical and procedural challenges, a checklist will help you deal with an overwhelming amount of information that must be applied at just the right moment to reach a favorable outcome for your client.This convenient guide includes sample checklists from current law practices, court websites, practice management websites, and other sources to serve as a beginning point for additional inquiry."
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Virtual Law Practice: How to Deliver Legal Services Online by
The Internet has made it easier for potential clients to find legal services. Virtual law firms have revolutionized the delivery of legal services, lowering costs as well as evening the playing field. Whether you are a large law firm or a solo practitioner, there are business models of delivering legal services online that can bring your law practice up to speed with the 21st century legal marketplace. What are you doing to stay competitive? Do you have the know-how to responsibly incorporate technology and online delivery into your existing law firm? The revised and updated Virtual Law Practice is the one resource you need to take advantage of this fast-growing market. This book will help you: .Identify and develop a law firm business model for the online delivery of legal services .Successfully set up and manage a virtual law firm .Increase law firm revenue by responsibly implementing the delivery of online legal services .Make use of the latest technology .Create a successful marketing strategy for the delivery of legal services online .Understand state ethics and advisory opinions .Find more flexibility and work/life balance in the legal profession Stephanie Kimbro's practical guide also provides case studies of law firms that successfully integrate virtual law practice into their traditional business models along with client scenarios to show how web-based technology may be used by legal professionals to work with online clients and avoid malpractice risks."
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Developing Your Professional Identity: Creating Your Inner Lawyer by
Who will I be as a lawyer? This is the most important question any law student can ask. Yet, in traditional legal education, this question rarely comes up. The purpose of this book is to change this. Professional identity is a lawyer's personal legal morality, values, decision-making process, and self-consciousness in relation to the practices of the legal profession (legal culture). It provides the framework that a lawyer uses to make all a lawyer's decisions. This book takes a variety of approaches to help you develop your professional identity. Chapter One asks you to take a close look at yourself by asking questions about your childhood, your college years, and who you are today. It is important to know who you are before you can fit into a profession. Chapters Two (Becoming a Self-Regulated Learner), Six (Overcoming Cognitive Biases), and Seven (Attorney Well-Being) give you the tools you will need to develop your professional identity. Chapter Two introduces you to "practical wisdom," an important approach to understanding and solving ethical problems. Chapters 3, 4, and 5 deal with professional identity within certain topics-the attorney-client relationship, the lawyer and society, and attorney advertising and solicitation of clients. Chapter Eight presents the legal profession's and society's views on lawyers and the legal profession. Chapter Nine focuses on your role as a lawyer. It asks you what area of law you want to practice, how you will deal with clients, your place in the legal profession, standards of civility in the legal profession, and working with subordinates. Finally, Chapter Ten contains a variety of extended problems to help you further develop your professional identity.
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Tomorrow's Lawyers: An Introduction to Your Future by
Tomorrow's Lawyers predicts fundamental and irreversible changes in the world of law. For Richard Susskind, best-selling author of The End of Lawyers?, the future of legal service will be neither Grisham nor Rumpole. Instead, it will be a world of virtual courts, Internet-based global legalbusinesses, online document production, commoditized service, legal process outsourcing, and web-based simulated practice. Legal markets will be liberalized, with new jobs for lawyers and new employers too. This book is a definitive guide to this future - for young and aspiring lawyers, and for allwho want to modernize our legal and justice systems. It introduces the new legal landscape and offers practical guidance for those who intend to build careers and businesses in law.Tomorrow's Lawyers is divided into three parts. The first is an updated restatement of Richard Susskind's views on the future of legal services, as laid out in his previous bestselling works, The Future of Law, Transforming the Law, and The End of Lawyers?. He identifies the key drivers of change,such as the economic downturn, and considers how these will impact on the legal marketplace. In the second part, Susskind sketches out the new legal landscape as he predicts it, including the changing role of law firms, and in-house lawyers, and the coming of virtual hearings and online disputeresolution. The third part focuses on the prospects for aspiring lawyers, predicting what new jobs and new employers there will be, and equipping prospective lawyers with penetrating questions to put to their current and future employers.This is the essential introduction to the future of law for those who want to succeed in the rapidly changing legal landscape.
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Coaching for Attorneys: Improving Productivity and Achieving Balance by
Coaching for Attorneys is more than just a book. It is a mentor - addressing common problems and concerns that lawyers experience throughout their careers - and provides specific tools along with specific step-by-step instructions on how to use these tools to help you make life as a lawyer easier. Coaching for Attorneys teaches one how to feel good about what you are doing thus resulting in better work, better health, and better family life. Simply put: a fulfilled attorney is a better attorney.Throughout this new-age book, real life examples are included that demonstrate how effective coaching can have positive changes. The authors help you realize practicing law in a new and innovative way that will respect who you are as a person; that will bring excellence to your practice, balance to your life; and that will ultimately have you feeling better and working more productively
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The e-Myth Attorney: Why Most Legal Practices Don't Work and What to Do About It by
The complete guide to the business of running a successful legal practice Many attorneys in small and mid-size practices are experts on the law, but may not have considered their practice as much from a business perspective. Michael Gerber's The E-Myth Attorney fills this void, giving you powerful advice on everything you need to run your practice as a successful business, allowing you to achieve your goals and grow your practice. Featuring Gerber's signature easy-to-understand, easy-to-implement style, The E-Myth Attorney features: A complete start-up guide you can use to get your practice off the ground quickly, as well as comprehensive action steps for maximizing the performance of an existing practice Industry specific advice from two recognized legal experts that have developed a highly successful legal practice using Gerber's principles Gerber's universal appeal as a recognized expert on small businesses who has coached, taught, and trained over 60,000 small businesses The E-Myth Attorney is the last guide you'll ever need to make the difference in building or developing your successful legal practice.
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The Lawyer's Guide to Buying, Selling, Merging, and Closing a Law Practice by
This book is a valuable resource for information on things to consider before and during the process of buying, selling, closing, and merging a law practice. The guide provides advice and tips on: the advantages of buying and selling a law practice; the ethical aspects of acquiring a law practice; valuation of a law firm; tax consequences of retiring a partner's interest in a law firm taxed as a partnership; merging law firms; selling a niche practice; business responsibilities in closing a law practice; the ethical aspects of winding down a law practice; file preservation; and ending client and employee relationships. The guide includes handy checklists, forms, and sample letters as well as several Rules from the ABA's Model Rules of Professional Conduct.
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Think Again!: Innovative Approches to the Business of Law by
The author takes a fresh look at specific ways to create a client-centric law firm and deliver exceptional client service by differentiating a law firm from other firms, and the specific skills and strategies needed to build effective and productive relationships that result in successful business development. The book provides practical ideas and tactics for addressing the key areas of a law firm-- managing, leading, team building and compensation, client service, and new business development. Writing in an engaging and witty but no-nonsense style, the author speaks directly to the reader, cutting through the stereotypes and misconceived notions that haunt the legal profession and coaching the lawyer to reach beyond the norm.
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The Survival Guide to Implementing Effective Law Firm Management Strategies by
Successful management and culture need to go hand in hand.. A firm s culture is the result of attitudes, personalities, policies, and decisions that ultimately creates the building block for the success of the firm. The Survival Guide to Implementing Effective Law Firm Management Strategies provides you with the groundwork and policies to create a positive law firm environment and business success. Divided into five parts on culture, planning, partnerships, management, and finances, this guide will help you: .Understand why the culture in the firm is important to its success .Develop a plan and vision for the future of the firm .Construct marketing plans to recruit and retain new clients .Devise a plan to build healthy partnerships in the firm and with your clients .Outline delegation strategies and techniques for partners and associates .Build a strong recruitment and retention plan for associates .Formulate a system for compensation of partners, associates, and paralegals .Determine how to improve revenue"
Fundamentals of Law Office Management by
FUNDAMENTALS OF LAW OFFICE MANAGEMENT, Fifth Edition delivers the skills and knowledge you need to keep a law office running smoothly. In addition to an overview of the legal industry and the many roles paralegals play, the book takes an in-depth look at how legal environments differ from other businesses, including the ethical issues you may face. Discussions on law-specific office functions, such as managing the client funds account, timekeeping, docketing, and maintaining a law library help you understand the scope of a legal practice, while chapters on technology, client relations, and billing reveal the business side. Practical and skills-focused, FUNDAMENTALS OF LAW OFFICE MANAGEMENT, Fifth Editiont provides ample, in-text learning features, such as key words, ethics alerts, side bars, tech tips, and the latest Web references, along with supplemental, online tools for hands-on practice.
 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. |
