The National Creditors Bar Association Law Practice Management Blog

Review some law firm logos, and you’ll probably find similar characteristics: prominent use of gavels and/or columns; the logo design will likely be based on the first letters of the last names of the name partners; and, the color scheme will probably be blue/white or gray.  What I’m trying to say is that pretty much every law firm logo is the same.   In a massively competitive market, like legal, that’s a bad thing, because when you’re scraping  for business against every other estate planning law firm in your neighborhood, every little differentiation point helps.   So, let’s talk about the potential benefits of a new logo for your law firm: It can set the color scheme for your branding, including for website creation o r  redesign.  (What if -- gasp! -- your law firm  logo  color scheme was not blue and white.)   It can  encapsulate important elements of your business in a more visceral way.  (Amazon’s lo...

If you’re a lawyer, law firm software is everywhere.  Make one online search for the term, and  you’re  caught up in the vortex of SEO  -- you’ll be served law firm software advertisements wherever you go online, from now until the end of time .   I get how that can be annoying -- but, the point remains that law firms using the right software are more efficient, and make more money.  So, it’s all kind of like that little voice in your head that tells you not to have the cheesecake -- obnoxious, yet bitingly correct.   So, even as you know you should probably be upgrading your software stack, it’s tough to swim through all of the sales pitches, and to wade through the multitudes of options available to you.   Fortunately, I’m here, to deliver you the answer you crave, to the question that keeps coming  up : What software do I need to run my law firm?   A modern law firm should base its software  pr ogram o...

Law firms tend to not track things well.  That includes time and billing, where they regularly tend to leave hours on the table.  But, it also extends to other parts of the practice.  So, when was the last time you examined your budget?   Lawyers who know their overhead are empowered because they have a baseline idea of what they need to make to keep the lights on, and what they need to make over and above that to earn a comfortable living.  Knowing those things means that the law firm can better forecast revenue and also set revenue goals, both of which are important to effective law firm management.   This all makes sense; but, the challenge lies in creating a current snapshot of the law firm budget.  Many managing attorneys don’t track their expenses effectively, which means they never get an accurate sense of their overhead, which by extension means that their revenue projections are less likely to be accurate and the revenue goals are less likely to be...

Lawyers are funny in that they sometimes treat cloud technology vendors  like visitors from another planet ,  featuring a mixture of awe and fear.  ( ‘To Serve Man’ - it’s a cookbook! )   This stems from an unfamiliarity with cloud tools; but, lawyers aren’t dumb -- they’re just occupied business managers whose primary focus is the substantive tasks they need to do.  Next comes marketing.  Then comes technology.   If you want the  TL;DR  version of the cloud, here it is: When you use cloud technology, you’re renting space on someone else’s servers (your vendor’s) instead of buying your own.  It’s as simple as that.  And, the reason people love cloud technology is because you access it via the internet.  That means such systems are device agnostic; and, that means you can work from anywhere ( Maui? ) you can  find  a secure internet connection.   Now then, you may be saying to yourself: ‘That’s...

Law firms cite to a lot of things, like cases.  But, when it comes to modernizing business management tactics, law firms cite traditional barriers, like cost and effort.  Law firm culture is a static one, embracing of the status quo, at all costs.  If you’re a lawyer, you’re probably willing to remain on the Titanic, as it recedes below the water line, because jumping into a life boat seems like a significant and uncomfortable change.  You’re convinced that the ship can be righted, right up until the bitter end; and so, you ride your server down to the ocean floor.   Part of the problem is that lawyers tend to ignore business management issues until they can’t anymore.  And, even when obvious and solvable problems arise, lawyers still stick their heads in the sand.  It’s easy to convince yourself that it’s easier to do nothing, while your business falls apart.   In law school, lawyers are taught to be reactive problem solvers; and, they never forget that.  ...

I mean, don’t get me wrong, lawyers  can  code, if they  want  to; but, they don’t  have  to.   There’s a prevailing argument in legal tech circles over whether lawyers should be coders.  This argument is often misconstrued to mean that lawyers should be developing their own software.  And, that’s an entirely different thing.  It’s sort of like making the assumption that the guy who tinkers with an old Corvette on the weekend should launch an automotive corporation.  And, the same argument applies for lawyers that applies to that weekend warrior: he shouldn’t do that because he can make more money in his day job, which also carries with it far less risk.  The point is: if you want to be a lawyer, be a lawyer; if you want to start a software company, start a software company.  But, don’t do both.   The math works, too.   Solo, small and large law firms waste money and resources when the...