August 08, 2019

Do These Three Things to Ensure an Effective Client/Referral Source Entertainment Program

Solo and small law firm attorneys know that building personal relationships with their clients and referral sources goes a long way in ensuring long and profitable business relationships. A surefire way to build personal relationships with these key audiences is to spend time “off the clock” with them. Engaging with clients and referral sources on a regular basis outside of the office in a more relaxed social...

August 06, 2019

Salary Data Offers Insights for Smaller Firms

When it comes to attracting talent from law schools, small firms can feel like underdogs. They may lack the glamour of larger firms, and their offices probably don’t have cafeterias, gyms and dazzling artwork. And, let’s face it, most firms— but not all — with 100 or fewer lawyers can’t pay big firm salaries. With starting pay for freshly minted lawyers now pegged at $190,000 at some national...

July 29, 2019

How Small Firms Can Combat the Impact of Rising Bar Exam Fail Rates

It’s no secret that in recent years bar exam pass rates have dropped dramatically . And the problem is nationwide . According to the National Conference of Bar Examiners, scores on the multiple choice portion of the test sank to a 34-year low in July 2018. In February 2019, California experienced its second-worst pass rate in more than 30 years (31.4%) , eclipsed only by its February 2018 pass rate (27.3%). There...

July 24, 2019

How to Get Your Firm’s Attorneys to Actually Want to Engage with CLE Content

CLEs are typically regarded with some level of disdain by most lawyers. Who has the time or the mental space to sit through dry, law school-style lectures or online slideshows when there is real legal work to be done? Most lawyers begrudgingly (and half-heartedly) complete these credits—after all, they have no choice in the matter and must log the credits in order to keep practicing. With the availability of online...

July 19, 2019

How to Value a Law Firm You are Contemplating Acquiring

For attorneys and their law firms, growth comes in just two flavors: organic or acquired. Theoretically, organic growth, once a law firm figures it out, could lead to meteoric growth. The problem is that organic growth has its limits. Listen to this article: Click here to play this audio clip When law firms decide that there are areas of law or geographies they do not practice in but should—possibly because...

July 10, 2019

Ethanol-Blended Fuel, Farmers, Tariffs & the Oil Industry

A recent decision from the Trump administration lifted restrictions on the sale of E15 ethanol-blended fuel during summer months. As this article from The New York Times™ points out , the move is partly viewed as a relief effort for farmers caught in the crossfire of the growing U.S.-China trade war—but it has simultaneously stoked the ire of representatives in the oil and gas business. So, how does a measure...

July 10, 2019

Four Ways Technology Can Help Your Firm Win Clients During Intake

For attorneys in law firms, the client intake process is as important to their success as the actual legal work they do. After all, they can’t do that legal work if they don’t have any clients. The intake process begins when a prospective client contacts a law firm. At that point, the firm has an opportunity to make a positive first impression that shows the prospect that he or she should choose that firm...

July 03, 2019

College Admission Scandal Sparks Civil Litigation

If you so much as walked past a television this spring, you saw something about the college admissions cheating scandal. Much of the attention focused on the celebrities embroiled in the case, particularly Full House’s Lori Loughlin and Desperate Housewives’ Felicity Huffman. Ultimately, 50 individuals were charged with a variety of crimes related to helping applicants secure admission to top universities...

July 03, 2019

Supreme Court’s Stealth Revolution in Civil Procedure by Jim Wagstaffe

The U.S. Supreme Court steadily and without fanfare has been revolutionizing multiple areas of civil procedure to provide litigants with a battleplan to win their cases. The stealth procedural weapons include personal jurisdiction, venue forum selection clauses, gatekeeping rules for pleadings, arbitration protections for businesses and placement of limits on class actions. Assessing the fairness of this revolution...

July 02, 2019

Mobile Phones: Balancing Privacy and the Law

Very few innovations have had such an immediate and indelible impact on human behavior as the mobile phone. But what’s even more fascinating is its blistering-fast evolution from brick-shaped audio handset to pocket-sized, do-it-all communications computer. Like many technological breakthroughs however, the mobile phone has led to several legal entanglements. Specifically, for litigation attorneys, the valuable...

June 28, 2019

Should Attorneys Be Rethinking Free Consultation?

Few things are as deeply rooted in the traditional operations and marketing of law firms as free initial consultations. Conventional wisdom in the legal industry says they are the best way to attract prospective clients and convert them into actual clients. But is conventional wisdom wrong? CLIENTS AND ATTORNEYS BENEFIT FROM FREE CONSULTATIONS There is little doubt that free initial consultations can be beneficial...

June 21, 2019

Attorney Specialization: Have We Gone Too Far?

Legal specialization has become increasingly popular. Even small and midsize firms with limited budgets feel the pressure to focus—to stand out from the competition by becoming the go-to experts in select niche practices or industries. As a result, firms are divided into silos, and the experts in these silos train new attorneys to become the next wave of specialists. If you can get the right talent and clients in...

June 20, 2019

’Til Dog Do Us Part: Who Gets the Pets in a Divorce?

While pretty clear guidelines have been set for property allotment and child custody, the protocols for awarding pet custodianship and petimony after a divorce can be a little murky. The question is popping up more often however, as pets are becoming increasingly like family members. And the courts are taking the issue seriously too—you can look to 1944’s Akers v. Sellers to see that, even 50+ years ago...

June 19, 2019

What's the Difference Between a Trademark and a Copyright?

There’s no doubt that you’ve come across the words trademark and copyright countless times in your life. But, have you ever really stopped and thought about what a trademark is? Or how to get copyright protection? Maybe you’ve wanted to trademark your name or copyright your website content to help establish your brand on social media. Your first step is to understand that, while both pertain to intellectual...

June 18, 2019

Private Judges, an Open Alternative for Family Law Disputes

The U.S. court system can often get backlogged. In busier districts, it can get to the point where judges are handling as many as 100 cases at a time. This can lead to judges spending less time on each matter and taking longer to reach a decision. Those seeking resolution in family courts can be hit hard by this, as it’s not uncommon for states to see more than 100,000 filings annually . To assuage this issue, there...

June 14, 2019

The Power of the Boutique: Mukasey Frenchman & Sklaroff LLP

This spring, Marc Mukasey, former co-chair of Greenberg Traurig’s white-collar defense and investigations practice, along with two other former firm shareholders, announced the official launch of their new boutique law firm, Mukasey Frenchman & Sklaroff. As one would expect, given the background of the founders, the four-lawyer firm focuses on government investigations, white-collar matters, complex litigation...

June 12, 2019

The Reality Check That Your Attorney Bio Needs

The following is a two-step exercise that can help any attorney improve his or her professional bio. It’s as effective as it is simple. First, the attorney should find a quiet place and draft a bio designed to impress themselves, making sure to include all the details of their education and practice of which they are most proud. Then comes the most important step: throwing that bio in the trash. Admittedly, that...

May 16, 2019

How a Virtual Receptionist Can Be Your Secret Weapon

Many solo and small law firms view virtual receptionist services as administrative tools to help their attorneys and staff be more productive (and billable) by not having to answer their phones each time they ring. But virtual receptionists can be much more than just outsourced phone answerers. They can also be a law firm’s valuable secret weapon for providing exceptional client service. A VIRTUAL RECEPTIONIST...

May 09, 2019

"Hold on. Let Me Text My Lawyer Real Quick."

Are Pocket-Sized Legal Services a Sustainable Way to Meet Legal Needs? In access-to-justice circles, it is well known that 80 percent of legal needs go unmet, meaning that every lawyer in the U.S. only services one out of five legal issues they are presented; the rest go unresolved and can end poorly for those who go unrepresented. Many people with moderate-to-low incomes assume that lawyers are out of reach due the...

May 07, 2019

Pereira v. Sessions and Its Immigration Impact

In June of 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of Wescley Fonseca Pereira, an immigrant living in the United States on an expired visitor’s visa. Pereira’s legal team had raised significant questions regarding the validity of a Notice to Appear (NTA) that he had received from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Though there wasn’t much hoopla surrounding it at the time, in the weeks...

April 30, 2019

2019 H-1B Visa Program News and Trends

In the United States, April signifies a number of different things to different people. The start of spring, the beginning of baseball season, and of course, the income tax filing deadline. For immigration attorneys, April is a noteworthy month because April 1 is the day the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) begins accepting H-1B petitions for the upcoming fiscal year. With the H-1B season newly upon...

April 23, 2019

Surviving the Big Law Invasion

Over the last decade, small and midsize law firms have grappled with industry consolidation—primarily Big Law firms moving into their neighborhoods. According to data from Altman Weil, there were 106 law firms acquired in 2018, and overall the year saw a record pace for Big Law mergers. A whopping 80 percent of firms acquired were those with less than 20 lawyers—small law firm acquisition has long been a common...

April 23, 2019

How to Maximize the Quality (Not Quantity) of Client Communications

Conventional wisdom holds that the more communications that flow between a lawyer and her client, the better. And for the most part, that wisdom is sound. The more clients communicate about the facts behind a given deal or a piece of litigation, for instance, the more informed their lawyers’ strategies will be. Even outside of active engagements, communications between lawyer and client are generally beneficial...

April 19, 2019

Small Firms, Big Cases: Miami Shop Takes on Planet Fitness

PLANET FITNESS IS HEADED TO THE JUDGMENT ZONE. The fast-growing gym franchise tried to send a proposed class action over its robo-texting practices to arbitration, but a federal judge has determined that the arbitration clause in its membership agreement does not apply. Now, a small Miami firm will get its day in court. The facts: Planet Fitness has made a name for itself as the gym that doesn’t put a lot of...

April 10, 2019

The Pros and Cons of Practicing Law at a Coworking Space

As coworking spaces have increased in popularity and number over the past few years, more and more attorneys have decided to house their offices in communal office spaces. Coworking spaces provide several unique benefits to attorneys, but also present a few challenges for practicing law that attorneys should consider. Is a coworking space a good option for your legal practice? Let’s examine some of the pros and...