Running Your Law Firm In The Y Generation

Your law firm is a business. Make it more successful by not doing business the same old way. We have to market our practices. We cannot expect clients to fawn over us. There is competition out there, and there is a new business paradigm on the horizon. In my opinion one of the leaders on the new frontier is Shama Kabani. She is the CEO of The Marketing Zen Group, a full service web marketing firm in Dallas. She is also the author of the best-selling, The Zen of Social Media Marketing, which I have read and believe in. She hosts her own web TV show at Shama.Tv.

Thanks to Forbes.com, Shama posts 26 lessons she has learned. They include: A written vision of what you want your company to look like in 3 years is important, Learn to listen to your clients, Half the job is keeping up, Always think in terms of value — not price, Only hire people who have fire, If you must fire, be graceful and professional about it, Learn to forgive, Cash flow is crucial, Balance is overrated. Aim for joy, Don’t underestimate the power of PR, Treat your team well, Focus is the most underrated skill that you must master, Multitasking doesn’t mean greater productivity, Age isn’t just a number, Appearances matter, Learn to view situations objectively, Life is short, and very easy to take for granted, Pets make the workplace better, A support network is crucial, Give luck its due, Hard work is a given, It IS lonely at the top, Ignore the trolls, Be picky when choosing your friends, Karma exists in business and in life, Being a CEO means being a Chief Value Officer.

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Phone Systems In The Cloud

Our phone system works fine. It better! It cost a ton of money ten years ago. Ten years ago? That seems like a long time in technology years. Eventually our system is going to get tired on us. What to do then?

I have heard buzz about internet phone systems, and cloud based systems. What does it all mean? Jon Yelton comes to the rescue with a great little article discussing cloud based phone systems. According to Jon: "law firms are looking at hosted, cloud-based solutions for just about everything. What you may not know, however, is that phone systems are moving to the cloud, too. There are several cloud-based PBX system options that provide some amazing features you won’t find in a traditional system—and, yes, they do so at a lower cost."

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An Alternative To Adobe Acrobat

I love Adobe Acrobat. It is a mainstay in our firm's software lineup. It is also very expensive (roughly $400 for the professional version). Ernie Svenson is a Louisiana lawyer who also publishes the PDF For Lawyers blog. He recently posted about an Acrobat alternative called PDFPenPro. According to Ernie the program is similar to Acrobat in form and function, but at a $99 price point. Please click here to read Ernie's review.

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My Open Door Policy

My law firm is housed in a single story, wood frame building built in the 1970's. Nice, but nothing fancy when compared to the opulent digs of some of my colleagues that are housed in our city's impressive steel and glass, Class A office buildings.

There is one feature of my office though that those fancier firms don't have: A wood and glass door that opens up to a ground level patio complete with wood deck and shrubbery. Especially on warm spring and summer days it is a real treat to open the door and let the fresh air in. I get to watch squirrels scurry about, and listen to the birds chirp from the nearby trees. It is a real refresher and distraction from the business of law. I even leave the door open during some meetings with clients, and they are always as enthusiastic about it as me. The fresh air and ambient noise help them to relax as well.

Sometimes we get so stuck on being high brow, stuffed shirt lawyers that we forget the little things like fresh air, and the sound of birds chirping. It is okay to be real. He's to gearing down a bit and seeing the trees as we stare at the forest!

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Google Plus

Google is getting in on the social networking craze with its new Google Plus product. Now in beta testing, Google+ clearly has facebook in its sights. The review I have read are mostly positive, although no one is is singly loudly that the product is revolutionary. Click here for a preview.

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