What To Look For In A Professional, Trade, or Service Organization

From the ABA's Law Practice Management Section, Bob Weiss gives his thoughts on joining profession, trade, or service groups as a method of practice development.

After attending a meeting, if you can’t answer “yes” to at least eight of these questions, the group is not a good investment of your time.

1. Frequency – Does the group meet at least monthly?
2. Philosophy – Is your networking philosophy compatible with both the members and the organization’s?
3. Size – Is the group large enough, or sufficiently segmented, to offer a diverse base of contacts?
4. Prominence – Are the members prominent, can they influence others and become key contacts for you?
5. Redundancy – Is the group diverse enough so that the members lead you to different resources and other groups of contacts?
6. Dimension – Are the interests of the membership diversified? Can they offer information or access to resources you cannot otherwise obtain?
7. Accessibility – Are the members accessible outside of regular meetings once a relationship is built?
8. Reciprocity – Does the group understand the concept of interpersonal debt?
9. Compatibility – Do you and the members have a high degree of similarity, especially age, occupational prestige, socio-economic status?
10. Continuity – You will be investing your time over time to build key relationships. Is membership turnover low?
11. Structure – What types of leadership opportunities are available for you to build prominence within the group, such as serving on the board, on a working committee?

Please click here to view the entire article.

Please be sure to visit www.hardinglaw.com, the website for the law firm of Harding & Associates, for more information on California family law.

More Amicus Attorney Upgrade Info

Here's the latest info on my search for rational thought at Gavel & Gown Software, Inc., the publishers of Amicus Attorney software, and the company's policies and practices regarding maintenance and upgrades. As you will recall, on Monday of last week I was charged more than $500 to renew my annual maintenance contract. Then on Wednesday I learned that there is a 2009 update to the software. I contacted Gavel & Gown software, and was told it would cost me $901.20 to upgrade my 4 seat licenses. And by the way, that upgrade does not come with support! From past experience I can assure everyone out there that when you buy an upgrade from Gavel & Gown it just does not install problem free, and there are always several calls to technical support.

So, the bottom line is that what amounts to nothing more than an annual upgrade would cost me more than $1400. Basically ransom money -- buying the 2009 version to fix the bugs in the 2008 version and get some modest new features as a throw in. I'm not gonna do it. I'll live with the old bugs I have in the old version of Amicus Attorney, rather than pay thousands of dollars for the new problems.

Incidentally, regarding that $500 maintenance contract. It sucks! The last three times I have called technical support I have had to leave a message. Only one of the calls was returned. Somewhere around the beginning of last year G&G had launched a PR campaign proclaiming that they had resolved the long hold times, dropped calls, and failure to return call problems that were plaguing the technical support department. I believe the company even hired a new technical support manager. For a couple of months there was actual improvement. Now, unfortunately, I must report that the bad old days have returned, and G&G's technical support once again gets critical marks.

Adobe Presenting Online Seminars To Lawyers

Adobe Corporation is continuing its drive to bring Acrobat into the law office with a series of online seminars for lawyers. Here's the details.


Acrobat 9 for Legal Professionals: Save Time, Meet Deadlines

January 15, 2009 -- Online - 1PM-2PM ET

Dive into Adobe® Acrobat® 9 Pro Extended software and learn how to share and manage your legal documents more securely. See how to create forms and PDF Portfolios and use legal specific features such as Bates Numbering and Redaction.



Legal Redaction and Metadata Removal using Adobe Acrobat 9

February 12, 2009 -- Online - 1PM-2PM ET

Ethics rules require law firms to zealously protect the confidentiality of client documents. Firms must guard against the accidental release of sensitive information in document metadata. In discovery, sensitive information must be securely and permanently removed via Redaction. Discover how to use Adobe Acrobat 9 Pro to ensure that your documents are safe to send or share.



Creating and Working with PDF Forms for the Legal Market

February 19, 2009 -- Online - 1PM-2PM ET

This educational eSeminar will illustrate best practices for creating and using PDF Forms in the legal market. Learn how to enhance legal workflows using Adobe® Acrobat® 9 Pro by creating forms that can be filled in using the free Adobe Reader.



Creating Electronic Closing Binders using Adobe Acrobat 9

February 26, 2009 -- Online - 1PM-2PM ET

Learn how to enhance legal workflows by using Adobe® Acrobat® 9 Pro software to efficiently distribute PDF closing binders to clients. This eSeminar will show you how easy it is to create and send a single PDF Portfolio containing many types of documents, add sortable information so clients can work with multiple documents as a set, and present a branded experience by including your firm’s logo and colors.


For more information, or to sign up, click here.


Please be sure to visit www.hardinglaw.com, the website for the law firm of Harding & Associates, for more information on California family law.

Concerns About Amicus Attorney Failing To Serve Its Customers

I run Amicus Attorney as my case management software. The product is put out by a Canadian company by the name of Gavel & Gown Software. We have had it in place for approximately ten years, and switching to another product isn't a practical option. Basically, our firm is a slave to the product. I like the software, but hate the company. Let me give you an example.

We run the Premium Edition (PE), which is there top of the line product. PE auto installs updates. Over the New Year break the program did an auto update. When our office re-opened on January 5th, Amicus Attorney would not run -- because of a flaw with the auto update. That meant we had to call technical support. We made the call, only to learn that our technical support contract expired on January 3. Interesting coincidence? I doubt it. So, we pay the $500+ to extend our service contract, and resolve the bug in the software. Frustrating.

Another example. The PE has a nice feature called the "mobile edition." This is an add-on. Basically it installs the program on my Window Mobile cell phone. Then I have light copy of the entire software on my phone. I can bill, attach calls to files, etc., all from my phone. Admittedly great stuff. I paid roughly $200 a month ago for the upgrade.

Today I get a sales e-mail from Gavel & Gown. They have released a 2009 version of PE. Don't know what it costs. But the sales materials would suggest that the mobile edition is now a free component. If it is I am pissed because the sales department should have told me to wait a month for the 2009 version. I am also frustrated by the possibility that the upgrade to the 2009 version may include technical support, which I just shelled $500 for earlier in the week. I have left a message for the sales department. Will let everyone know what I hear back.

Amicus Attorney is notorious for releasing product to market before it is ready. Several of us tech crazy family law lawyers have resorted to calling it Mini Microsoft. You can't live with it, but you can't live without it. This corporate model forces you to maintain expensive support, and leaves you wanting for the next version so you can get past the problems of your current software (think Vista!).

On the whole I like the product. Then again I don't have any other option. If you are considering practice/case management software into your practice, consider Amicus. But make sure you compare it to other products, and appreciate that it is buggy, and it is expensive to maintain. There is definitely a very high price($$$) beyond the money you are going to pay to buy the product.

More Praise for Twitter

Larry Bodine predicts that Twitter will be the business development story of 2009. According to Bodine:

Attorneys are part of a massive increase in professionals using the website Twitter.com as a marketing tool, according to Lawyers USA. Twitter had 282,000 users at the end of 2007, but will boast over three million by the end of 2008, according to the third party site TwitDir.

He continues:

Twitter is valuable to legal professionals as it shows reaction with current trends, many of these posts are made from mobile handheld devices, so not having access to your desktop is no longer an excuse to blog. There has been a lot of reaction from lawyers on the global recession and how it has affected the legal world. It’s not all legal talk on twitter. It is not uncommon to see legal professionals tweet about their hobbies or funny family stories from the holidays.

Click here to read the entire article.

Please be sure to visit www.hardinglaw.com, the website for the law firm of Harding & Associates, for more information on California family law.

Twitter As A Brand Builder

From the Grow My Law Firm blog Christine Pilch writes:

At the risk of sounding like a broken record... your brand isn't your logo and stationery, although they are elements of it. Your brand is the feeling that people have when they see your logo, hear your name, or are reminded of your product or service in any way. Your brand is completely about the emotion evoked.

Twitter is one of the most powerful branding tools available these days. Are you building your brand on Twitter? Is it possible to build a brand in 140 character bursts?

Case in point: Zappos CEO, Tony Hsieh is on Twitter. Now let's face facts, the man sells shoes. What's so exciting about that? He tweets about his day. He tweets about meetings he has. He tweets when he is interviewed by the press. He tweets about making green tea, and what he had for dinner. He tweets when he sees a movie. What's so exciting about that? Individually, maybe nothing, but all together, they gave his followers...all 27,615 (as of now) of them, insight into Tony, the person.

I'm one of those followers, and when I read regular stuff about a regular guy who is excited about Christmas and spending time with friends, I think, "He's okay." Then I read the impressive stuff that he's doing with is company, and I am inclined to check out his website and maybe do a little shopping.

Click here to read the entire article.

Please be sure to visit www.hardinglaw.com, the website for the law firm of Harding & Associates, for more information on California family law.

How About Hiring A Marketing Expert?

Carolyn Elefant provides some great insight regarding marketing consultant in a recent post on the Nolo's Legal Marketing Blog. Do you know what a consultant costs? How do you pick the right consultant? What will a consultant do? Carolyn answers these questions and many more. Please click here to read the entire post.

Please be sure to visit www.hardinglaw.com, the website for the law firm of Harding & Associates, for more information on California family law.