Attorney Time Management Archives | Page 3 of 4

29 11, 2011

Introducing Guest Blogger Cathy Ribble – “Virtual Paralegal Partnerships: What Solo Attorneys Need to Know”

2019-04-01T21:26:16+00:00By Cathy L Ribble ACP|Comments Off on Introducing Guest Blogger Cathy Ribble – “Virtual Paralegal Partnerships: What Solo Attorneys Need to Know”

Cathy L. Ribble is a senior level litigation paralegal who decided in 2009 to offer virtual services to U.S.-licensed attorneys when she founded Digital Paralegal Services. She is certified by the National Association of Legal Assistants as an Advanced Certified Paralegal in the area of Trial Practice. She matches attorneys looking for virtual paralegal support with NALA-certified paralegals by practice area and geographic location.

Cathy contributed to NALA’s 2010 Career Chronicle with her article Could You Be One? Virtual Paralegals. She has been featured in Texas Far Journal’s Testing the Waters: Is It Time to Try a Virtual Legal Assistant? Paralegal Today’s Freelance Freedom, Carolina Paralegal News Virtual Paralegals Becoming More Common as Profession Grows, Practical Paralegalism’s Top 50 Twitter Feeds for Paralegals, ParalegalGateway’s Toolbar for Paralegals under Paralegal Tweeps and Paralegal Blogs, and The Paralegal Mentor’s Virtual Paralegal Interview Series.

Solo attorneys throughout the United States are hearing the terms virtual paralegal and virtual legal assistant for the first time. Today’s economy and the desire to keep a home-office practice are leading many solo attorneys to seek more information about virtual support. […]

3 06, 2011

Leveraging Dictation Technology to Save Time and Overhead

2019-03-21T19:30:36+00:00By Debra L. Bruce, JD, PCC.|2 Comments

Lawyers used to dictate drafts of correspondence and documents for their assistant to transcribe, in order to improve their efficiency over handwritten drafting. As word processing software became more user-friendly, however, lawyers began doing more and more of their own typing. Most found it easier to draft when they could immediately see and edit their work product. Today both solos and big firms save on overhead by using fewer, and sometimes less skilled, administrative assistants, which increases the need for lawyers to type more.

Some of those cost savings may be illusory, however. […]

6 04, 2011

Choosing Law Practice Management Software

2019-03-21T19:59:33+00:00By Debra L. Bruce, JD, PCC.|7 Comments

In a previous post (Should A Solo Buy Law Practice Management Software?) I discussed some benefits and drawbacks of investing in law practice management software. I shared my opinion that all lawyers, including solos, can benefit from practice management software because, properly used, it will significantly improve your efficiency and organization. I also warned, however, that the learning curve will first slow you down. You will probably incur additional costs for training and for consulting to get the program configured to fit your needs and to coordinate with your other software and hardware.

Now that you are considering whether to take the leap, this post will address some of the questions you may have, and point out others that you should investigate in your decision process. […]

15 03, 2011

Should A Solo Buy Law Practice Management Software?

2019-03-21T20:06:29+00:00By Debra L. Bruce, JD, PCC.|3 Comments

When a client calls unexpectedly about his matter, do you fumble to find the information you need, while the client wonders why you can’t answer the question? Do you have trouble sorting through all the appointments and deadlines on your calendar to identify the ones that relate to a particular case? Do you rely on your increasingly overloaded memory bank for conflict checks? Do you waste time locating old emails or pink message slips? Do you lose money because you can’t remember how much time you spent on a dozen different phone calls during the day? Do you ever wish you had access to something on your desk while out of the office? Have you lost hope of ever getting organized? […]

15 12, 2010

Before You Make New Year’s Resolutions…

2010-12-15T18:11:03+00:00By Debra L. Bruce, JD, PCC.|1 Comment

There’s an old story about a guy who walked down the street and fell into a giant hole. He yelled for help for a long time, but no one came. Finally he managed to scratch out some notches in the wall, and with some difficulty, he clambered out.

The next day he walked down the same street and fell into the same hole. He didn’t yell very long before he remembered the notches he had scratched before. He dug them out a little more, and then climbed out much more quickly.

When he walked down that street the third day, he caught himself as he teetered on the brink of falling into the hole again. He walked gingerly around the hole and went on his way.

On the fourth day… […]

6 07, 2010

Making Your Criminal Practice More Rewarding

2010-07-06T14:11:09+00:00By Debra L. Bruce, JD, PCC.|Comments Off on Making Your Criminal Practice More Rewarding

“The variety in a criminal law practice keeps it enjoyable. Familiarity at the courthouse makes it fun,” says Austin solo Erik Goodman, who has been board certified in criminal law since 1985. Houston criminal attorney John Parras agrees. “People charged with crimes are wealthy, poor, smart, dumb, funny, eccentric, boring, interesting and mundane. The scenarios that bring them to court are sad, funny, interesting, complicated, simple, stupid, and entertaining,” according to Parras, who has been designated as a Super Lawyer – Rising Star and began his legal career as a law clerk to Michael Tigar and Ron Woods in the Oklahoma City Bombing trial.

Yet many criminal attorneys suffer from stress and burnout. Others struggle to make ends meet. How can you keep your practice manageable, enjoyable and financially successful, too? […]

10 02, 2010

ABA Journal quotes Debra

2010-02-10T14:43:36+00:00By Debra L. Bruce, JD, PCC.|Comments Off on ABA Journal quotes Debra

Debra Bruce, President of Lawyer-Coach, was quoted in the February 2010 issue of the ABA Journal. The article is titled “Virtual Escape: Lawyers Wrestle with 24/7 Technology.” Authors Becky Beaupre Gillespie and Hollee Schwartz Temple explore the impact on attorney productivity and stress levels resulting from being constantly tethered to smart phones.

The last time Debra was quoted in the ABA Journal, the article was “Midcareer Malaise:
How to find a new path for your 40s.”

4 01, 2010

Keeping Those New Year’s Resolutions

2010-01-04T14:57:48+00:00By Debra L. Bruce, JD, PCC.|Comments Off on Keeping Those New Year’s Resolutions

How long do your New Year’s Resolutions usually last? If they rarely make it through January, you may be getting tripped up by some common snags that lawyers encounter. Do you set the bar unrealistically high or lack a way to measure interim progress? If so, you set yourself up for discouragement. On the other hand, perhaps the time frame, or the goal itself, is too fuzzy.

The benefits of achieving your goal may not be tangible enough to keep you motivated. You may need an accountability partner or someone to buoy you up when it gets tough. Perhaps you need to think about what has helped you succeed in the past, or how to make the process more fun. Maybe this resolution is just a “should,” rather than what you really care about. Maybe you need more meaningful consequences for the outcome, whether failure or success.

To improve the likelihood of keeping your resolutions, make sure you know: (1) why you really want to do this, (2) how to measure interim progress, (3) the specifics, including the deadline, for what constitutes success, (4) the resources available to help you, and (5) the reward for your triumph.

For more in-depth tips on how to keep those resolutions, read Secrets to Actually Accomplishing Your Goals in this blog.

11 12, 2009

Tips for Relieving Holiday Stress

2009-12-11T19:33:24+00:00By Debra L. Bruce, JD, PCC.|Comments Off on Tips for Relieving Holiday Stress

December often brings added stress to many lawyers. Some associates worry whether they have billed enough hours, and whether they can possibly make up the shortfall in the remaining weeks in the year. Other attorneys work long hours, struggling to meet hard and fast deadlines, as multiple clients try to close transactions or settle cases before year end.

Holiday shopping, traffic jams, and commitments to friends and family create additional demands on our time, and fray our nerves in a season that should be filled with laughter and good will. This year’s financial woes in the legal industry just seem like piling on.

If you feel stress during the holidays or any other time, here are some reminders about how to keep it down to manageable levels.

1. Engage in self-care.

We all know that we get cranky when we are hungry or tired, and that exercise helps relieve stress. Nevertheless, self-care is often the first thing we sacrifice when time is in short supply. Shorting self-care may actually cost us more time, however. We need fuel and rest to think clearly and process efficiently, so without them, our work takes longer to complete, or we make mistakes that cost time to correct.

[…]

1 09, 2009

Is “Good Enough” Becoming the Enemy of the Perfect?

2009-09-01T21:41:43+00:00By Debra L. Bruce, JD, PCC.|Comments Off on Is “Good Enough” Becoming the Enemy of the Perfect?

About a year ago Jordan Furlong warned in his excellent article, The Rise of Good Enough, that “clients are coming to see the costs of exactitude in the law as simply too high.” He described how some general counsel look for outside lawyers who weigh the expected risks and benefits of a legal course, rather than always pursuing the exact right answer.

Recently Robert Capps pointed out in Wired magazine that inexpensive but “good enough” technology is revolutionizing industries ranging from the military to legal services. Technology now permits lawyers to provide online “customized mass production” of common documents at rock bottom prices.

[…]

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