Reid My Blog!

Recession-Related Ethics: Navigating Tough Times

I am pleased to be a faculty member for this ABA-CLE ethics teleconference on Tuesday, July 28, 2009.  In these still-difficult times, it is more important than ever to be confident of the ethical boundaries when it comes to client conflicts, fee arrangements, and new marketing ventures.

In this teleconference you will learn:

• About billing issues to get your fees paid and what to do when the client does not pay and when you can, and when you must, withdraw;
• About marketing in new ways including e-newsletters, blogging, and social networking and the ethical issues each new marketing venue creates;
• About steering clear of conflicts, including not taking clients where there is a conflict of interest and avoiding those clients you know would not be a good fit with the firm;
• About career changes and the issues that leaving a firm, joining a new firm, or going solo create.

Join Peter Geraghty, Director of the ABA's ETHICSearch, Chicago, IL; Mary Robinson, Ethics and Professional Responsibility Consulting, Downers Grove, IL; Lynda Shely, of The Shely Firm, PC, Scottsdale, AZ; and me for a practical and informative discussion of the ethical issues affecting many lawyers today.

Solos, Please Beware of Scams That Can Cost You!

Several bar associations are warning their members to be aware of financially-devastating scams being carried out against lawyers, especially solo practitioners.  According to the ABA Journal, at least one small firm found out the hard way to the tune of $400,000. The scam is familiar to those of us who have received e-mail requests from overseas companies seeking help collecting a debt in the U.S. Personally, I have not responded to these e-mails, and I hope the word is now spreading to all lawyers--don't be suckered in even if the response you may receive seems to be genuine. Take time to really check them out: Ask for more details. Confirm identities. Ask for documents. Still, be very leary.

PracticePRO, the claims prevention arm of LawPRO in Ontario, Canada, has issued several fraud alerts including one just yesterday in advance of the Canada Day holiday. With our own July 4th Independence Day three-day weekend, we can learn much from our Canadian colleagues. The business loan scam seems to be the most popular one against solos these days, so beware.

The Fears of Alternative Billing

The American Lawyer has a short but valuable article today about the role of fear in negotiating alternative fee arrangements: Clients fear they will get shoddy service for their money, and law firms fear they will lose money on many deals.  The article deftly states that an open dialogue, sharing of financial information, and a foundation of trust can overcome these fears so that both the client and law firm can benefit financially. 

With business a bit slow for many firms, now is the time to explore alternative fees with one or more clients.  For more information on this topic, read Winning Alternatives to the Billable Hour by Mark Robertson and Jim Calloway.

Shake Big Savings from Small Practice Management Ideas

That's the title of my latest article published this month in GPSolo magazine, published by the GP Solo Division of the ABA.  The theme of the issue is "Small" and covers relevant topics from an interesting perspective. Check it out for some small ideas with a big impact!

Richard Susskind's ABA TECHSHOW Keynote Should Be Mandatory Listening

Richard Susskind continues to challenge our profession to look at ourselves in our changing world and redefine who we are and what we do in order to meet the future needs of consumers of legal services.  In his latest book, The End of Lawyers?, he lays out the forces behind the change and while he does not predict the future, he does thoughtfully lay out several scenarios that may scare those of us who are not looking to the future.

While I have recommended his book, I'll let him convince you that his ideas are worth considering. His recent keynote address to the 2009 ABA TECHSHOW is now available on-line thanks to the ABA Law Practice Management Section.  So grab a coffee or a sandwich and listen to it. You may not go out and change the way you do business tomorrow, but it should influence your thinking over your next five year planning cycle.

Oh, and be sure to read his book. Mine is now marked up like a law school textbook.

ReidMyBlog Meets ReidMyBook

I am pleased to announce publication of my new book, The Busy Lawyer’s Guide to Success: Essential Tips to Power Your Practice, co-authored with Dan Pinnington and published by the ABA.

The book has a different look and feel from many other books on practice management—it is organized and streamlined into collections of short but informative practical tips.

The tips are focused on eight key areas of practice including client service, marketing and client development, technology, ethics, firm operations and management, e-mail management, strategy and planning, and, not surprisingly, improving your bottom line.

Our book is written for busy lawyers who need a quick and handy resource to improve their practice, but do not have time to wade through mountains of articles, dozens of books, or hundreds of websites. It is full of practical, proven, and effective tips, techniques and ideas to help lawyers not only survive, but thrive in the practice of law.

In addition to the book, Dan and I have launched a new blog to collaborate with readers and share success stories. Join the conversation at LawyerSuccessTips.com.

The book debuts today at the ABA TECHSHOW, and is exclusively available on-line via the ABA webstore. It will be available soon via Amazon and other on-line retailers.

Our Favorite iPhone Apps for Lawyers--ABA TECHSHOW 2009 Edition

What happens when four lawyers from diverse practices and backgrounds get together to discuss how each uses their iPhone to improve their productivity and reduce a few of life's frustrations?  You get a great list of iPhone apps that are sure to help you too! Apple reports over 25,000 apps are now available via the iTunes store, making it a daunting task to sift through to find the best. So here are some of the favorite picks from David Sparks of the MacSparky website, Ben Stevens of The Mac Lawyer website and Reid Trautz of Reid My Blog! (who are presenting on this topic at this year's TECHSHOW, which is taking place right now in Chicago) and Jeff Richardson who runs iPhone J.D., a site dedicated to attorneys using iPhones.

Productivity

People (free): This app is essentially an iPhone gateway into an online White Pages that is very powerful and very comprehensive. Reid notes that he has located contact information for individuals by using this app that he didn't think could be easily found.

Note2Self ($2.99):  This is David's favorite voice recorder on the iPhone. It automatically starts recording when you hold it up to your ear and as soon as you are done, it gives you an easy menu that allows you to email the voice file to yourself (or your secretary). This is perfect for capturing ideas and tasks for later action.

reQall (Free): This voice-to-email reminder system is the poor man's replacement for Jott, and works quite well. Just download the app, open a free account with reQall, and go!  Just dial reQall and speak for up to 30 seconds; within minutes reQall transcribes the message and e-mails it to your pre-designated account. Messages can be sent to others email addresses too.

Evernote (Free):  Evernote is a cloud based information manager. You can drop notes, pictures, snippets, and other bits of information in it. Evernote then synchronizes the data between multiple devices including PC and Mac computers. While the information is up in the cloud, the Evernote servers do their best to apply optical character recognition to all of your files (including pictures) making it even easier to search your data. The iPhone application does a great job of capturing new bits of information and giving you access to all of your other Evernote data.

OmniFocus ($19.99):  A Seattle based Mac-only developer, OmniGroup, last year quietly released what David considers the best task list management application he's ever used. Based loosely on David Allen’s “Getting Things Done” system, this application allows you to sort tasks and projects on a variety of criteria including project, priority, context, and time. Their OmniFocus iPhone application puts all of the power of this application in your pocket. You can use this application for everything in your practice from managing the most complex litigation to remembering when to order new stationary. It also is location aware. That means that if you are in the supermarket, the application reminds you to buy spicy carrots for taco night.

Things ($9.99): Currently the best-selling task management app at the iTunes store, Things is also based on the "GTD" system. Many users, including Reid, like the simpler, cleaner interface and easier learning curve than OmniFocus. Tasks are easily added and monitored, and related items like web pages and documents are easily associated with each one. Things also has a Mac application--named Best of Macworld 2009--that syncs with the iPhone via any wireless network.

Calc-12E ($15.99):  David loves the HP 12-C financial calculator. This application faithfully recreates the device on your iPhone. It has the same buttons, functions, and the same RPN calculations. It also has some added bonuses. For instance, with the touch of a button you can email yourself TVM reports.

Email

EasyWriter ($2.99):  Why hasn't the iPhone's built-in Mail app supported landscape mode from the beginning?  Apple's upcoming 3.0 revision of the iPhone OS software (due this summer) will finally add this feature, but in the meantime David has been using this app which allows you to compose email in landscape. With built in text snippets for frequently typed words and phrases and spell check, David considers this is a no-brainer for anyone who writes a lot of email.

Sideways ($1.99): The app Reid uses to type emails in the landscape mode, similar to Easy Writer above.

iSignature ($0.99):  The iPhone lets you use a single signature for all of your e-mails.  This app allows you to select from up to six signatures to use in your e-mail.  Jeff's review on iPhone J.D. is here.

gMail (free):  Ben has his firm's email hosted in Gmail (using Google Apps), and this free web app gives him instant access to his email account, including the ability to archive.  Jeff uses Gmail as his back-up e-mail account, and he also loves this web app.  Note that there is nothing to download from iTunes; just go to mail.google.com using Safari on your iPhone and you will see an iPhone-formatted webpage.  Jeff suggests using the + button in Safari to add a link to Gmail on your home screen, which you can tap to launch just like you would any other app.

Legal Research

Cliff Maier Attorney Reference Apps ($0.99 to $8.99):  Attorney and part time iPhone application developer Cliff Maier has released a variety of reference applications for the iPhone covering various federal and state rules and statutes. Being a California attorney, David particularly like having the California Evidence Code and Code of Civil Procedure on his iPhone. Jeff loves the Fed. R. Civ. Pro. and Fed. R. App. Pro. apps.  The applications range in price from $0.99 to $8.99 and cover a variety of federal and state jurisdictions.  Jeff posted an interview with Cliff Maier on iPhone J.D., along with several reviews of many of these apps.  They were great when they were first released, and with the recent addition of features such as bookmarks, a jump button, improved search, and multiple ways of viewing the rules (by sections are "flattened" all at once), Cliff Maier has set the standard for what a good iPhone legal reference app can be.

The Law Pod reference apps ($0.99):  Most attorneys will prefer Cliff Maier's apps because they have more features, but it is nice to have an alternative, especially one that is inexpensive.  The Law Pod has done a nice job creating apps with the federal rules.  Click here for the review on iPhone J.D.

Manual of the United States of America ($0.99):  With this app from Clint Bagwell Consulting, you get several reference materials including the Constitution, selected Supreme Court cases, the Federalist Papers. While not useful on a daily basis, it makes David smile knowing he's got Publius on his iPhone.  Jeff's review on iPhone J.D. is here.

Wikipanion (free):  There are lots of Wikipedia apps for the iPhone, but Jeff likes this one the best.  The price is right (free) and it is very powerful, allowing your iPhone to quickly link to a virtually unlimited source of knowledge.

Time & Billing

Time tracking apps (free to $59.99):  Jeff has described almost two dozen apps on iPhone J.D. that allow you to track your time using your iPhone, which can be especially useful when you are away from the office.

DateCalcPro ($2.99):  This application answers the often asked question, “What is 45 days from today?”. If you need to calculate dates (most attorneys do), this full-featured application does it quickly and easily.

DaysFrom ($0.99):  Another app that allows you to quickly calculate dates in the future or past.  This one lacks some advanced features, but is simple and fast, which makes it Jeff's favorite.

File Sharing

Air Sharing ($4.99):  One of the more popular apps for the iPhone allows you to access your computer files (documents, spreadsheets, slideshows, etc.) from your iPhone, provided you have set up access to those files via the Air Sharing service. Takes about 10 minutes to set up, then works like a charm. Was free in beta, now $4.99.

FileMagnet ($4.99):  This application allows you to store documents and PDF files on your iPhone for later reference. There are several applications in this category, but David has found that FileMagnet has got the job done for him on trips and in trial.

MobileFiles 2.0 ($3.99) and MobileFiles Pro ($9.99):  Jeff used to use DataCase, but has recently changed to MobileFiles Pro because the app makes it so easy to get documents to and from the iPhone.  The Pro version even allows you to use and edit Excel Spreadsheets, so (for example) you can keep a legal interest spreadsheet on the iPhone and actually use it, unlike other apps which just let you view a static image of a spreadsheet.  The app will soon add the ability to edit Word files.

Travel

Google Maps (included): The purpose of this article is to cover apps that you can add to your iPhone, but this built-in app is so good that we couldn't resist mentioning it.  The interactive features of Google Maps via the iPhone is worth the price of the phone service alone. David often use the Google Locator feature to find himself on the map, and then search for nearby restaurants; with a couple quick taps on the screen, you are talking to the restaurant to check table availability. Works for myriad businesses.

Google Mobile App (free):  Jeff loves that he can quickly start this app, hold up the iPhone to his face, and then say what he is looking for and have a Google search run based on what he says.  This is often a lot faster and more convenient than typing out search terms.

Say Where (free): A voice recognition add-on to Google Maps that allows you to speak your destination rather than enter the text into Maps. Amazingly accurate!

Where To? ($2.99):  This application does no more than streamline the Google maps search process but it does it with panaché. Several of us like that it also lets you save favorite searches. Using it on an iPhone 3g, it can locate all the courthouses relative to your current location in seconds.

Google Earth (Free):  David recalls when getting aerial photographs of a property was an expensive and time consuming process. Now you can do it right on your iPhone using Google Earth.

Various weather apps:  It is always nice to know the weather when you are traveling.  Jeff likes the free apps AccuWeather, WeatherBug and The Weather Channel apps, but perhaps Jeff's favorite is not an app at all -- Weather Underground has a fabulous iPhone-formatted version of its website at i.wund.com.

Social Networking

Twitterific (free): Reid likes this free for using Twitter from your iPhone, but is considering a switch based on Jeff's opinion below.

TwitterFon (free):  This is currently Jeff's favorite Twitter app.

Facebook for iPhone (free): Popular and useful for accessing Facebook when you are away from your computer. Works well, as it allows updates of your status, monitoring of others' status, and chatting with online friends.  Ben uses this far more often than he should, and Jeff is also quickly finding it addictive.

News

NYTimes (free):  Nice app for reading the latest New York Times articles.

USA Today (free):  While the articles are less in depth than the New York Times, this iPhone app is very nicely done.

ABA Journal (free):  The latest legal news.

Fun and Relaxation

Relax ($2.99): When you are upset, angry, or stressed out many experts say to relax and visualize something peaceful. Well, this app is that visualization: It contains looping videos of soothing scenes--such as a crackling fire, seashore, and mountain streams--that will tame the beast in all of us. Ahhhhhh.

Wurdle ($1.99):  This is Jeff's favorite timewaster on the iPhone.  Similar to the Boggle game you played as a kid.

2Accross ($5.99):  This is currently Jeff's favorite crossword app for the iPhone.  You can access tons of free crosswords, plus if you are a New York Times subscriber, you can download all of the current and archived Times crosswords.

Remote (free):  If you have an AppleTV, Apple's free Remote app is a must have.  The iPhone makes a great remote control for the AppleTV.

Shazam (Free): How often have you heard a song on the radio but can't remember or didn't catch the name of it? Enter Shazam. Merely hold your iPhone near the music source and press the "Tag Now" button, and in less than 20 seconds you have the name and artist of the song--accurate about 95% of the time in our experience. Of course, you can immediately buy it via iTunes. Cha-ching!

Movies (free):  This great app from Flixster allows you to find movie listings for local theaters along with descriptions and movie trailers.  You can even buy tickets online via this app.

i.TV (free):  Jeff loves this app which gives you not only your local TV listings, but also movie theater listings, access to your Netflix account, the ability to buy tickets, etc.

Of course, with more apps coming on the market everyday and the new iPhone 3.0 just around the corner, we'll probably be back soon with more ideas for you, your iPhone, and your law practice.

Client Security Fund Raided by Connecticut Legislature

Disturbing news is coming out of Connecticut via a Connecticut Supreme Court Justice and the President-elect of the Connecticut Bar: In an unusual power play, the Connecticut Legislature swooped in and grabbed $2 million of the state's Client Security Fund (which is funded solely by lawyers and overseen by the Court) to help close the state budget deficit, and potentially leaving victims in the lurch.

Client security funds are organized, funded, and managed by state bars and courts across the country to aid victims who are harmed by lawyers who misappropriate client funds.  While the vast majority of lawyers are scrupulously honest, there are a few in each state each year that violate their oaths and the trust of their clients. These security funds are funded by lawyers to make sure the victims of these lawyers are made whole. It is classic self-regulation at work. And it does work. Until now.

Now, not only are potential victims left wondering if their claims will be honored (totaling almost $3 million at the end of 2008), but Connecticut lawyers should feel outraged about this taking. It is their money, backed by their integrity that is at risk too.

Let's hope the lawyers in Connecticut will rally to the aid of the public (before the Connecticut Legislature adjourns) to reclaim what is rightfully theirs and the public they serve.

Forbidden Fruit: Bill Gates' Wife Can't Buy an iPhone

Melinda Gates has admitted she would love an iPhone, but that Apple products are not welcomed in the Gates household. Sorry, Melinda!

However, for anyone not married to Bill Gates, I invite you to attend the ABA TECHSHOW roundtable, Is That an iPhone in your Pocket? on Friday, April 3, 2009 at 12:30 to learn how the iPhone can be a productive and valuable technology tool for your law practice!

Oh, and feel free to stay for the rest of the conference too! :-)

New Protocol: More Blog References Now Linking to Social Network Profiles

While this isn't earth-shattering news, it is another example of the influence of social networking: With the growth of social networking comes a change in blogging protocol. In the past, when mentioning a person in a blog post, bloggers would have to decide where the hyperlink would direct the reader, usually to the person's website, or blog--if they had one.  Sometimes the link would be a direct link to person's bio page or "About Me" page on the blog or website. Often, there just wasn't a good link. However, the tipping point is coming as more and more hyperlinks are now directed to a person's on-line profile at one or more of the popular social networking sites. With this explosion of on-line profiles, it is possible to mention more people and add more links to blog posts. That, too, can benefit the search rankings for the blogger.

Just one more way social networks are changing the way people do business!