With so much competition for clients, law firms are seeking any edge they can find.  Even so, many attorneys remain camera shy.  Despite the fact that video is a unique way to market a modern small business, small law firm websites that feature video remain few and far between. 

There’s nothing like daylight savings time to get you to observe how dramatic a small shift in time becomes. 

Nobody has ever liked waiting. But there has never been a point in recorded history where people have liked waiting less.

You know what’s really scary?  Losing your law firm's data.  Even so, many law firms don’t utilize effective data backups. 

Most lawyers have a general understanding of what encryption does. Nevertheless, most attorneys don’t feel like they have a comprehensive plan for managing encryption in their law firms, when it comes to sending secure files to clients and colleagues.  

If you ever want to stop practicing law, and become a business management consultant, here’s how you do it: When lawyers ask you about going paperless, recommend the Fujitsu ScanSnap ix500.  It is, hands-down, the best scanner for law firms on the market; and, in over a decade of consulting work, I’ve never had a single complaint about it. 

Law firms have never been particularly great at onboarding of staff, including associate attorneys.  I suspect that most lawyers agree that effective staffing is essential; but, most attorneys are so deep into the substantive work they do that they don’t prioritize training.  At the same time, attorneys usually just let their technology wash over them, using what they’ve always used, while again focusing on their substantive work, and fearing the productivity dip inherent in adding new software.  In law firm management, however, having the right technology and placing the right staff are inherently tied together. 

Law firms operate between ad hoc decision making and fire-putting-out.  It’s the natural state of the law firm manager.  That being said, humans have been improving on the state of nature since there have been humans.  So, it’s maybe not the worst thing in the world if this is the year you decide to put together revenue projections for your law firm. 

Despite changes to advertising rules, lawyers have marketed themselves in much the same way for generations.  You find an office space, you go out and network, you do good work, and more work comes in.  But, as consumers have become more discerning, and as law firm choices continue to proliferate, lawyers continue to stick with the same marketing strategy they always have.  There is, however, a cost. 

Modern law firm consumers are an entirely new breed.  They have more law firm options than ever before, and aren’t afraid to use them.  They are committed to mobile search.  They are more cost-sensitive than any consumer base in modern history.  Absent a near-instantaneous response from a potential lawyer hire, they will immediately move on to the next attorney on their list.