Overcoming Fears of Virtual Legal Assistants
Is running your law practice growing to more than you can handle, but maybe not enough for full-time help? As a prudent business person, perhaps you aren’t ready to make the commitment to hire more staff or to lease additional space to accommodate them. If you find yourself working too many long hours just to keep up, and doing work that you should be delegating, maybe it’s time to experiment with a virtual paralegal or virtual administrative assistant. Virtual workers can permit you to flexibly expand and contract your office staff as your needs fluctuate on a project by project basis. […]
Overcome Bad Habit Loops
This year is almost over. As you think about next year, do you have things you want to do differently? Have you started contemplating your New Year’s Resolutions yet? Do you notice some of the same items on your list that you had last year? Perhaps you are a victim of “the power of habit.”
New York Times business reporter, Charles Duhigg, published an excellent book called The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business in 2012. He summarized research by neuroscientists on habits and provided illuminating case studies of how people and companies broke bad habits and transformed their futures. Using the research and principles Duhigg described, I’ll provide some guidance on how you can look at the patterns in your life to design structures for better habits in the future. […]
“We Have Met the Enemy, and He is Us”
When you’re searching for solutions to personnel problems in the office, take steps to make sure you have accurately identified the source of the problem.You need to uncover obstacles to good performance by your office staff by being sure they have the necessary training, optimal equipment and clear instructions.
What if you’ve done all of these things, but you’re still getting poor performance? Is it time to terminate him? Perhaps. Perhaps not.
Have you had difficulty finding anyone who could perform these job responsibilities well? Have you had trouble keeping the talent who did perform well? You might first verify that you are paying a competitive salary. If you are underpaying the market, talented personnel may not be attracted to the position, or they may parlay the experience and training they get in your office to a higher paying job. […]
Who Will Pinch-Hit for an Injured Solo?
A lawyer client recently posed a question to me about obtaining professional liability insurance. She practiced in a larger firm, and now she wants to start her own solo practice. Solos face some unique issues in obtaining insurance and making disaster contingency plans. Some legal malpractice carriers require a solo to designate a back-up attorney who will step in for her if she is incapacitated due to illness, injury, or even death. How does a solo find a lawyer willing to do that? Here are some of my suggestions:
Perhaps you have a colleague with a similar practice in a solo or small firm. They need lawyers available to cover for them, too. By making a reciprocal arrangement, you may be able to persuade a lawyer to take on that daunting responsibility.
If you don’t know someone who would be a good fit, however, it’s time to develop some additional relationships. How could you go about that? […]
Humorous Client Misconceptions
Clients get confused sometimes and we are all aware of how that can lead to misunderstandings. However, many of their misconceptions are quite humorous and I have compiled several of these for today’s post. Hopefully this will offer you a little break from your daily grind while you read some of their “ideas” about their cases. If you are a new lawyer, perhaps this information can help you head off some misunderstandings in the future.
First, some misconceptions about domestic relations matters:
1. I don’t need to negotiate with my spouse. The Domestic Relations Court will resolve my case and my problems.
2. Joint custody or shared parenting automatically means we will split time with the children on a 50/50 basis.
3. Since the divorce wasn’t my idea, I shouldn’t have to endure changes to my lifestyle, like selling the house, getting a job or experiencing a lower standard of living. […]
“Circle of 8”
Mastermind groups are a small group of colleagues who meet regularly and can provide support, accountability, solution brainstorming and a sense of community in your law practice. Mastermind partners usually share experience and resources. They can also offer crucial reality checks that keep you from launching bad ideas.
You can create your own support and referral group that can be particularly helpful for your law business. It is called the “Circle of 8,” so named because it shouldn’t have more than eight members. It is a hybrid of a mastermind group and a business networking group. It consists of a limited number of select entrepreneurs in related, but non-competitive businesses. Besides the masterminding aspect, the Circle of 8 differs from traditional networking or leads generation groups because (i) the number is limited, (ii) all the participants serve a similar target audience, and (iii) the members are handpicked.
Circle of 8 Benefits
A Circle of 8 delivers value in many ways. As a result of the shared target audience, the members jointly have a 360 degree view of their market, with which they can educate and support each other. Your circle members may come into contact with someone needing your services before you do, so they can be good referral sources. You’ll be able to provide better service to your clients by confidently introducing them to reliable resources for their non-legal needs. Circle members may hear opinions expressed by your potential clients about what they really appreciate in legal services, or dislike about other lawyers, giving you an edge on your competition. They may be able to give you valuable feedback about your own services that your clients don’t tell you. Participants may collaborate to […]