Lawyers Must Know Technology

As we head into 2017 you must acknowledge technology is not an option in your law practice. It is also not optional that you know technology as a practicing lawyer. Think about it for a minute... How can you create an effective discovery plan in your divorces cases if you don't know about online banking and online finance programs like Quickbooks? How can you effectively adjudicate all the issues n your case if you don't know how to find all the facts? How can you cost effectively deliver legal services if you are not computer savvy? How are you going to communicate with your clients if you don't use email?

If you think you don't need to know technology, then you don't know about practicing law. nowadays. Technology wisdom is no longer on the horizon. It is under our feet, on our desks, in our heads. It has been here since yesterday, and you need to embrace it and know it now!

If you don't believe me, then pay attention to the state bars. They are compelling you to know technology. The State Bar of Florida has amended its CLE rules so that they now require three hours per cycle of technology training. Given how pervasive tech it is in our world, it is only a matter of time before all state bars with have similar rules.

Also pay attention to your malpractice carriers. Those risk management brochures they send you are now filled with warnings compelling us to learn about and implement technology. Malpractice applications now include technology questions.

In your divorce practice do you request data from the opposing parties computer? Are you researching social media use by the opposing party? Do your requests for job search logs include data from job websites? No. Why not? Here is my suggestion for your list of 2017 resolutions:  Start thinking about, using, and investigating technology in your practice. It is not just about word processing anymore...

Please visit hardinglaw.com for more information about Harding & Associates Family Law 

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Free Legal Project Management Webinar

Attorneyatwork.com and MyCase are sponsoring a free webinar on legal project management.
Mark Lassiter, attorney and legal technologist, will be presenting "Introduction to Legal Project Management – Why It Matters for Solos and Small Firms" on Wednesday, May 27, 2015 at 11am PT / 12pm MT / 1pm CT / 2pm ET.

Learn about:

• What is Legal Project Management

• How LPM increases efficiency

• How to integrate LPM into your firm

• What clients think

• Risks and benefits

You can register here.
Please visit hardinglaw.com for more information about Harding & Associates Family Law
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Client Loyalty Teleseminar

Lawmarketing.com is presenting a FREE teleseminar:  10 Secrets to Developing Client Loyalty.  The teleseminar will be held on Thursday, October 3, 2013 at 1 p.m. Eastern (10 Pacific).  Get tips to improve your client's

1. Overall satisfaction of doing business with your law firm
2. Willingness to build a relationship with you and your company
3. Willingness to be a repeat client
4. Willingness to recommend you to others
5. Reluctance to switch to another law firm

Click here to learn more and to register.

Please visit hardinglaw.com for more information about Harding & Associates Family Law

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Strunk and White Still Rules

As a group we lawyers are not identified as great writers.  Even though writing is the bulk of what we do, our letters, pleadings, briefs, and articles are not always artful.  The plain English movement begs us to write better -- but artful legal writing still remains elusive.

Unfortunately this vacuum of style isn't going away.  If anything, younger lawyers are as awful at writing as their predecessors.  It seems that writing is being neglected in our schools and colleges.

For this post I am going very low tech.  As a liberal arts major in college, reading and writing is what I did.  Tests were essay based.  Homework and class projects were essay based.  We wrote papers.  Written words were the wings that carried me through college.  Beyond religious texts, the bible in my education was The Elements of Style by Strunk and White.  I did two things every day during my student life.  I put on fresh underwear, and I made sure I had my copy of Strunk and White.

In 2011 Time Magazine named The Elements of Style one of the 100 most important books of all time!  As explained in Time:

Reading the “Little Book” is almost like sitting in an elementary English class, which seems to be how the authors intended it. Strunk and White waded through the totality of our vast and complicated language and boiled it down to a terse 105 pages, including a glossary and index.

So powerful, so important, so essential is The Elements of Style, that it has its own Wikipedia article.

Of course there are critics everywhere, and Strunk and White do have their detractors.  I am not one of them.  The Elements of Style is only 105 pages.  Think about that. . . The power to master the written word in such a tiny package!  That is magnificent!  If you don't own The Elements of Style you need to buy it today.  Get the paperback copy.  Read it.  Press it open on your desk while you write.  Refer to it constantly.  Your writing will improve, and so will your lawyering.  You can buy it for ten bucks.  Go to Amazon, or your neighborhood bookstore, and get a copy.

Want a second option, consider  Making Your Case: The Art of Persuading Judges by Scalia (Yes, that Scalia) and Garner.

Please visit hardinglaw.com for more information about Harding & Associates Family Law

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Tom Cruise's Divorce Lawyer Gives Sound Advice On Settlement Strategies

Tom Cruise's New York divorce from Katie Holmes was resolved in remarkably swift fashion.  That is no doubt the product of having two motivated parties.  Just as important though, the attorneys in the case utilized exemplary strategies and practices to get the case done.

Marilyn Chinitz, Tom Curise's New York lawyer shares her thoughts about the Cruise/Holmes case and about effective handling of family law cases in a great interview on Bloomberg Law.



Please visit hardinglaw.com for more information about Harding & Associates Family Law

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Lawyers Need To Be Tech Savvy

The ABA House of Delegates approved changes to the ABA's model ethics rules "to acknowledge that information is stored digitally as well as in paper files, clients communicate electronically as well as by phone calls, and email isn’t the only method of electronic communications."

According to the post on abajournal.com,:

[T[he technology-related amendments go further, requiring lawyers to keep current on more than just changes in the law. Lawyers also have a duty to keep abreast of the benefits and risks associated with technology, according to new commentary language added to Rule 1.1 on the duty to provide competent representation. Click here (PDF) to see all of the amendments added to all of the model rules at this year's annual meeting.

These changes reflect the increasing prevalence of technology in law practice, and the emerging techologies that we all must keep pace with.  Please click here for the original article from abajournal.com.

Please visit hardinglaw.com for more information about Harding & Associates Family Law.

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AAML Negotiation Seminar in July

The 2012 AAML Negotiation Seminar is scheduled for July 13th and 14th, 2012 in Chicago.

Harvard Law School Negotiation Program, the preeminent executive negotiation training institution in the world, has agreed again to co-sponsor the AAML Negotiation Seminar. Harvard will send two of their nationally recognized experts in the field of Alternative Dispute Resolution to teach this seminar:

More info available on the AAML website. http://www.aaml.org/event/2012/july/13/2012-aaml-negotiation-seminar

Please visit hardinglaw.com for more information about Harding & Associates Family Law #Harding&AssociatesFamilyLaw #californiafamilylaw #divorce #family law #superlawyers #americanacademyofmatrimoniallawyers #Pleasantondivorce #AlamedaCountyDivorce #ContraCostaCountyDivorce #lawyers