The National Creditors Bar Association Law Practice Management Blog

If you’ve got workflow software you’re trying to launch or implement, and if it’s become a frustrating process – it may not be you, it might be them .  Some process management software is too simple, for modern business use cases; and, if you get even a little bit sophisticated, you may run out of road, quick.     That’s because some process management softwares only allow you to create manual task lists .  A step up from there, would be to start employing subtasks – only , that feature is not accessible, in some programs .  From there, you may want to automate certain tasks, so that humans won’t have to perform them – instead, the software can effectively follow up on requests .  This will be even more outrageous, moving forward, when ‘autonomous agents’ (powered by AI), will manage entire workflows, all on their own .     But, you don’t need to get all the way in to AI-generated workflows, like, tomorrow .  That can be a stret...

One thing I have found to be true about pretty much every lawyer I’ve ever encountered , is that they all just want to help people, when it comes down to it .  At heart, they are generous of spirit; and, they truly do want to improve the lives of their clients.   Now, I’ve also seen that approach extend to other business decisions .  And, while that is generally a good thing, sometimes it causes attorneys to overreach .  Lots of times , lawyers take on partners when they shouldn’t .  That’s oft en because they like the potential partner, o n a personal level, or because they’re thinking of the benefits to that person, rather than considering what’s best for the business, or themselves.     But, selecting a partner, and making the choice to give away equity in your law firm, should really be a cold and calculated decision, based on the matching of skills, and the capabilities of your potential partner .  If there isn’t a business reason...

Pre-pandemic, attorneys in a not insignificant number of states were disallowed from using ‘trade’ or ‘brand’ names for their law firms .  You know, like ‘Taco Bell’ – though, you probably wouldn’t actually name your law firm Taco Bell.     That meant that lawyers were basically left with naming their businesses after themselves – usually some combination of hard-to-pronounce last names .  But, during and after the pandemic, those rules fell off; and, every jurisdiction in the United States now allows for law firms to select brand names. And, yet: few have .  That may because attorneys are unaware of opportunity; but, it’s more likely that lawyers are just not keyed into the value of brand names, or don’t want the hassle of changing an existing name – though, it is worth it .  Why ?  Well, there are a few primary reasons: First, it’s easier to transition work to non-name partners in the firm, with a trade name .  Second, it can provi...