The Practice

Solosez

I have written in the past about Solosez and how it can be a great resource. I took some time away from Solosez, but am back on it now. What benefits do you get from solosez? Here are my top 5:

1. Friends. I have met a lot of good friends on solosez. Its always a good thing!
2. Learning new practice areas. There are a lot of posts, but you can always pick up something in a new practice area. Or, if you have started a new practice area, there is someone who will have tips to help you.
3. A virtual water cooler. Okay, so this may not always be a positive, but you do get a chance to talk about current events, jokes, etc... just like if you had colleagues in an office. Of course, if you read too many of these, you may not get your work done.
4. Service provider locator. You can find an expert or a process server anywhere in the country (and probably the world) with a short post to solosez.
5. Technology abounds. The folks on Solosez have more ideas about technology and how to use it than any other group I have been around. You may need to even get out a book on technology to understand some of what they talk about!

Solosez is not perfect. But, if you are a sole practitioner, it is a good way for you to get up to speed, make some contacts and provide a service to your clients by expanding your capabilities.

Dumb Cases

There is a such a thing as a bad case. What is it? Well, its one of those things that you will know when you see it. But, how do you tell? What do you do once you see it?

You can tell a bad case fairly easily, if you have experience. Once you have been talking to people for a while, you can tell who has a bad case and who does not. But, when you are starting out, how do you know? My contracts professor in law school taught me something easy: who is suing who for what? Ask yourself that when you get a call from a potential client. If you cannot answer it easily, it is probably a bad case. If you can answer it, but it sounds strange, then it is a bad answer. In other words, if you say that "Bill is suing God..." well, you can stop right there. If you say "Bill is suing Suzie for laughing at him?" then you have a bad case.

What do you do with the bad potential case? First, send a rejection letter. Send it quickly. Don't wait. Second, do not refer it out to someone else. If it is a bad case, just tell the client you cannot help him or her and send out your letter.

Write A Book - The Right Way!

As you know, I wrote a book about Litigating MIST Cases - a type of personal injury case. Well, I did it the hard way. Okay, not the very hard way. But, a hard way. I just found out there is a better way. You can publish a book without tearing out your hair. (Okay, I admit it. I have no hair to tear out!!)

Anne Loehr is an executive coach, speaker and author. She published her book, "A Manager's Guide to Coaching" (by American Management Association) in the arguably record time of 6 months. She learned a lot along the way, and now she's teaching a one-on-one course for others who want to take a shorter route along the rocky road of publication.

Anne is teaching the 10-week course to help you capture an agent's attention, get the right endorsements, and grab attention for your new book. Price is $1,500. Mention you saw it here and get 15 percent off (take the course for $1,200). Read about the entire training package that Anne offers.

A discount. Imagine that. Hey wait, I keep giving you guys information on discounts. By the way, publishing a book fits in well with Ben Glass' Great Legal Marketing!

Jump Start 2008

Ben Glass of Great Legal Marketing fame is having a conference in January in Fairfax, VA. Jump Start 2008 is going to help you learn to take control of your law practice and make it so your law practice will serve you instead of you serving your law practice.

Ben, as you know, is the creator of GLM, the system I use to market my practice. His methods work. He will teach you how to make your practice a tool to help you instead of you being a slave to the practice. I wish I could make it, but alas, it is three days before a scheduled trial and someone has to keep the bad guys at bay, right?

If you go, and you should, let me know what you think.

Secretaries, Oh My

Why am I not a big fan of legal secretaries? Because they get in the way. Oh, don't get me wrong. A good secretary is worth her weight in gold. The key word here, however, is good. And those are hard to find.

Not only are good legal secretaries hard to find, but a legal secretary can get in the way of communication. You see, if I want to invite someone to lunch, I pick up the phone and call. It is pretty easy. However, there are many attorneys, and I mean many, who tell their secretary to call.

Great, so you say you want to take me to lunch, but you can't spend the 5 minutes setting up the appointment yourself? You send someone else to do it. What does that say to me? It says - in loud words - "I want to talk to you, but not that badly."

If you must have a secretary, find a good one. And let her do him/her do his/her job. But do not let him/her get in the way of you doing your job and communicating with people. After all, attorneys are communicators!

Great New Book: The Party of the First Part

I just finished reading this new book from Adam Freedman. He is the "Legal Lingo" columnist for the New York Law Journal Magazine and author of the website by the same name as the book.

This is a great, quick read. The book provides a history of legal terms that you use everyday in your law practice. He then provides a plain English meaning of these words. What a relief! I wish I had this when I was in law school.

Interestingly, I think the book will also help you be a better writer. I know I try to avoid legalese at all costs in my writing. But, I know some gets left in. After reading this book, I am going to redouble my efforts to get all of that nonsense out of there whenever possible.

Go out there and give the book a read. And post a review here.

Nominate bad legal writing!

We have all seen it - bad legal writing. Some of it is worse than others. "By all men these presents known" is how an old insurance release started. What? Huh?

Well, now you can nominate it for the Party of the First Part hall of shame. Now, I don't know if I would nominate opposing counsel for writing a letter where, say, he claims how smart he is, how busy he is and how great he is. (Yes, it comes from a real letter.) I would, however, send it in while taking off one's name from it. (No, I haven't done that yet. It reads better as an exhibit to a motion.)

By the way, from the fine folks who bring you the website:

The debate over Plain vs. Precision English rages on in courtrooms, boardrooms, and, yes, even bedrooms. In The Party of the First Part, Adam Freedman explores the origins of legalese, interprets archaic phrasing (witnesseth!), explains obscure and oddly named laws, and disputes the notion that lawyers are any smarter than the rest of us when judged solely on their briefs. (A brief, by the way, is never so.)

Enjoy!

Use a name

No, not your own name. Use the other person's name. If you are calling me, say "Hi Jonathan." When we are done, if I have helped you, say "Thanks, Jonathan."

Two caveats:

1. Do not shorten someone's name unless they do it. Jonathan does not become Jon. Judith does not become Judy. Michael does not become Mike. I usually go by Jonathan. It is annoying when people call me Jon.

2. Do not screw up the name. If you are unsure about how to pronounce it, just ask.

Why do you do this? Because you show the person you are talking to that you are paying attention. It helps to make the other person feel a bit more important.

Interesting new blog

I admit it is not law related, but this is a cool blog that I came across.  The blog is written by an Econ professor at Sac State. (I have an Econ degree from Sac State, but none of my professors were cool enough to have a blog. Of course, back then, we didn't have blogs!)

I think it is interesting because a professor has her blogged linked off of her school website page. This makes it accessible to her students. And, guess what? She comes across like a real person! Her students get to know her. And, I am guessing they really like her.

This is just another example of one of my mantras: be yourself. Now, as an attorney, you may not want your practice blog to be this familiar, but you should be yourself in your blog and let your personality come through.

Practical Advice

No, not practical advice from me. I give you enough of that. But, practical advice TO people.

See, the law is a framework with which to resolve problems. But, too many lawyers get caught up in the law. What happened to practical advice?

For example, if someone comes to you over a $1,200 dispute, you may know that legally they are right. But, if they will spend $5,000 to collect $1,200, does the law really matter? Are you going to tell the client that they are right and you should sue to collect $1,200? Or, are you going to be practical and say "Look, you can collect your $1,200 but it will cost you $5,000. That just doesn't make sense to me."

Part of being an attorney is giving advice to your client. Make sure you give practical advice, even if it means not getting a client. In the long run, it will pay off.