Monthly Archive: January 2018
By Renée Galente
Twitter is an online social networking service that enables users to send and read short 140-character messages called “tweets.” Over 100 million users log in to Twitter on a daily basis, with 500 million tweets sent each day.1 Read More
By Maria Disla
Is pressing the snooze button on that early morning alarm part of your daily routine? Perhaps you just don’t consider yourself a morning person or you make up excuses that you don’t have enough time to sweat before heading into the office. Read More
By Renée Galente
Lawyers express themselves on behalf of others for a living, whether the work is done in a courtroom or from behind a desk. As a result, some practitioners would likely be amused or offended at the notion that they might not be effectively communicating with their own clients. Yet, the No. 1 reason for client complaints to the State Bar of California revolves around lack of communication with their lawyer. The truth of the matter is that lawyers get busy. And when lawyers get busy, there is often a rush to get things done, move on to the next project, check boxes, get things filed and go, go, go! Communication — real communication — suffers as a result. Read More
Recreational marijuana is now legal in California. Here are some basics you and your clients should know: Read More
By Jennifer Gilman
My phone rang one fateful day last week, and I answered to the voice of my ecstatic friend: Read More
By Danielle Fontanesi
As a business lawyer, it’s not uncommon to find yourself in the position where a client asks you for – or where you want to give – business advice. As a lawyer, our job is to give legal advice, but in the world of business law, the lines are often blurred between “legal advisor” and “business advisor.” In this article, I discuss the differences between legal and business advice, your duty in providing advice to your client, and potential risks (and benefits) in providing business advice to your client. Read More
By Will Marshall
Skilled word processing staff, particularly for smaller practices and transactional attorneys, are all but gone. Attorneys must increasingly handle their own documents, generally using the not-always-friendly Microsoft WordTM. Battling with automatic numbering is not the highest and best use of your time nor your client’s wallet. With that in mind, I offer a collection of some of my most often used techniques in Microsoft Word. Read More
By Bill Kammer
Encryption Redux
I wrote recently and suggested that 2017 was the year for encryption. Hacking is very much on the minds of Americans, and lawyers and clients are frequently discussing the need for and manner of encryption to protect client confidences from interception by the man in the middle. Clients previously were concerned with encryption in place on lawyers’ servers and systems but are now focusing on ways to ensure that emails being exchanged over the internet are protected from interception and compromise. Read More
By Marc Adelman
Meeting a client’s expectations on any given matter is the biggest challenge lawyers often face. Failure to meet those expectations will often leave the client wondering if you did your job, kept your promises, or if your actions met the standard of care. Setting the tone for those expectations starts at your very first interaction with the client. You should not underestimate the import of that initial interaction. Becoming familiar with the client, the facts, and articulating the potential direction and potential outcomes of the case is of primary importance. Take the time to accomplish these critical tasks. Be careful not to assure a result and be mindful of the language you include in your fee agreement. For example: Read More