The National Creditors Bar Association Law Practice Management Blog

Every interaction a law firm has with a client is a marketing opportunity, a chance to cement your value as a service provider  And, there’s actually no better place to solidify that relationship than through your invoicing.  It’s a continuous, repetitive option for remind ing your client of what you’ve done for them.  It places your value proposition in stark relief.   And, yet – many law firms squander this opportunity by using unrecognizable codes and short-form narratives in their billing.  Instead of trying to rush your bills out the door, craft them instead.  Utilize billing codes that even clients can understand; and, avoid lame abbreviations (looking at you, ‘TC’).  Build effective descriptions for each billed item – using macros or software that can help you to draft those quicker.  Indicate where you haven’t billed, by placing a nice, fat ‘NO CHARGE’ indicator on that entry.     This is the short list; but, if you start to loo...

Smart law firms everywhere are adopting workflows, for a whole host of reasons: to promote efficiency, to reduce malpractice risk and to more effectively manage remote employees .  It’s probably long overdue, honestly.  But, as attorneys have embraced workflow management, some have discovered that their existing tools are lacking for the purpose.   So, if your case management software or your productivity software isn’t packing the punch you hoped, in terms of task management, there are a lot of standalone tools that might be a better fit for you, including: Notion, Trello and Asana.  Neither is that an exhaustive list.     These tools can also potentially be integrated with your existing law practice management software – if not directly, then via a bridging tool like Zapier.     So, if you want your workflows to actually, you know, work – you’ve got some options.     . . .     If task management in your law firm is a proble...

There are lots of directory profiles for businesses online, including many built specifically for lawyers.  But, none is more important than Google’s, because it perpetually owns real estate on the first page of the most popular search engine on the planet.  You know Google: they own the first most popular search engine (Google), as well as the second most popular search engine: YouTube.  They’re kind of a big deal .     Google’s directory profile for businesses, which you can see in the box to the right of search results for business names, was most recently called ‘Google My Business’; but, the new, more direct brand name is ‘Google Business Profile’.  You can create (if you don’t already have one) or manage (an existing) Google Business Profile, via this website .   There isn’t necessarily a raft of new features in ‘Business Profile’ versus ‘My Business’ – here’s a guide – but, even so, Google’s update gives you a reason to review and update your...

Law firms tend to let their hardware run . . . and run . . . and run – until it can’t run no more.   Most often law firm hardware breaks down, wheezing.  Now, I don’t want to say that attorneys are cheap; so, let’s call them ‘ thrifty ’ , instead.  But, the fact of the matter is that, the longer you run old hardware, the more susceptible you are to data security issues, spiraling repair costs and efficiency downgrades.  It actually makes more sense (and, it’s cheaper – for a whole host of reasons) to replace your hardware more often, on a regular schedule – and, this is a lot easier (and less expensive) to do in an environment where law firms are using less and less hardware, given the adoption of cloud software.   Take the example of an old laptop; and, I’ve seen law firms running computers that are over a decade old.  One of the problems with that strategy, which is ostensibly cost-saving , is that the computer is slower than a newer device, with updated...