Category «Communications»

Listening to the Client

In over 30 years of working with law firms on improving productivity and profitability Heather Gray-Grant has seen countless marketplace surveys on the incredible value of client feedback mechanisms. In many instances it’s been labelled as one of the fastest and most effective ways to boost firm revenue. So, you’d think that law firms would be all over this business practice as a standard operating procedure. But…not so much. Gray-Grant discusses how to effectively execute client surveys and audits that will benefit firms as well as customers.

Subjects: Communications, Data Mining, KM, Legal Marketing, Legal Profession, Management

Is Remote Work a Thing Now?

Heather Gray-Grant is a business strategist, marketing expert and executive coach who works primarily with small to medium sized law firms. In her article she shares lessons learned on how to effectively manage remote working by law firm attorneys and staff along with the significant implications respective to marketing, HR, technology, firm strategy and administration.

Subjects: Communication Skills, Communications, KM, Law Firm Marketing, Legal Profession, Recruiting, Telecommuting

Handling Questions: A Presenter’s Guide

OK, you have gotten through the body of your presentation satisfactorily. Time to relax, right? Nope. There is one hurdle left: The question and answer period. This is when some presenters wilt and others shine. With a few tips, some experience and a modicum of intestinal fortitude, you can shine every time. Jerry Lawson’s extensive experience as a speaker is put to good use in this article as he provides best practice advice for each stage of your presentation.

Subjects: Communication Skills, Communications, Presentation Skills, Training

It’s not just bad behavior – why social media design makes it hard to have constructive disagreements online

Good-faith disagreements are a normal part of society and building strong relationships. Yet it’s difficult to engage in good-faith disagreements on the internet, and people reach less common ground online compared with face-to-face disagreements. There’s no shortage of research about the psychology of arguing online, from text versus voice to how anyone can become a troll and advice about how to argue well. But there’s another factor that’s often overlooked: the design of social media itself. Amanda Baughan and her colleagues investigated how the design of social media affects online disagreements and how to design for constructive arguments.

Subjects: Communication Skills, Communications, Social Media

Client Portals: A Must-Have Service for Today’s Law Firms

Jim Calloway is Director of the Oklahoma Bar Association Management Assistance Program and co-author of the ABA books “How Good Lawyers Survive Bad Times” and “Winning Alternatives to the Billable Hour: Strategies That Work.” In this article he explains how beyond secure document sharing, client portals for law firms can serve as a “virtual lobby” for clients and potential clients.

Subjects: Communications, Cybersecurity, KM, Law Firm Marketing, Legal Marketing, Legal Profession, Legal Technology

Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, June 6, 2021

Privacy and security issues impact every aspect of our lives – home, work, travel, education, health and medical records – to name but a few. On a weekly basis Pete Weiss highlights articles and information that focus on the increasingly complex and wide ranging ways technology is used to compromise and diminish our privacy and security, often without our situational awareness. Four highlights from this week: Two New Laws Restrict Police Use of DNA Search Method; On the Taxonomy and Evolution of Ransomware; Amazon’s Ring Finally Discloses Police Requests; and The Limits of Law and AI.

Subjects: AI, Civil Liberties, Communications, Criminal Law, Cybersecurity, Email, Gadgets/Gizmos, Legal Research, Privacy

Employees are feeling burned over broken work-from-home promises and corporate culture ‘BS’ as employers try to bring them back to the office

As vaccinations and relaxed health guidelines make returning to the office a reality for more companies, there seems to be a disconnect between managers and their workers over remote work. A good example of this is a recent op-ed written by the CEO of a Washington, D.C., magazine that suggested workers could lose benefits like health care if they insist on continuing to work remotely as the COVID-19 pandemic recedes. The staff reacted by refusing to publish for a day. While the CEO later apologized, she isn’t alone in appearing to bungle the transition back to the office after over a year in which tens of millions of employees were forced to work from home. A recent survey of full-time corporate or government employees found that two-thirds say their employers either have not communicated a post-pandemic office strategy or have only vaguely done so. As workforce scholars, Kimberly Merriman, David Greenway and Tamara Montag-Smith are interested in teasing out how workers are dealing with this situation. Their recent research found that this failure to communicate clearly is hurting morale, culture and retention.

Subjects: Communications, Healthcare, KM, Leadership, Management, Telecommuting

Review: Own the Map, by Conrad Samm

Jerry Lawson highly recommends Conrad Saam’s intriguing new book, Own the Map, which encourages lawyers to think about marketing in new and better ways. The author’s primary thesis is that most lawyers should concentrate appealing to potential clients near the lawyer’s location. Saam develops this thesis convincingly, but many will find his sometimes stunningly useful ideas about other aspects of lawyer marketing, like evaluating marketing efforts, even more valuable.

Subjects: Communications, Competitive Intelligence, KM, Law Firm Marketing, Legal Marketing, Search Engines, Social Media

Why Informal Information Sharing is Holding Your Organization Back

This article by Mary Ellen Bates is an excerpt from her recent presentation “The Strategic Value of Copyright Licensing Solutions,” to which she also provides a video link. Bates discusses ways published information is being used throughout organizations that you may not have considered, and the impact on copyright compliance.

Subjects: Communications, Competitive Intelligence, Copyright, Information Management, KM, Libraries & Librarians, Technology Trends, Training

Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, April 10, 2021

Privacy and security issues impact every aspect of our lives – home, work, travel, education, health and medical records – to name but a few. On a weekly basis Pete Weiss highlights articles and information that focus on the increasingly complex and wide ranging ways technology is used to compromise and diminish our privacy and security, often without our situational awareness. Five highlights from this week: LexisNexis to Provide Giant Database of Personal Data to ICE; Intelligence officers predict a future shaped by faceless enemies like disease, climate change; Police Ask for Your Video Doorbell Recordings FAQ; Feds seize fake COVID-19 Pfizer, vaccine websites; Utah pilots mobile driver’s license; and Dallas Cops Used Face Recognition Installed on Personal Phones.

Subjects: Communications, Cybercrime, Cyberlaw, Cybersecurity, Data Mining, Healthcare, Medical Research, Privacy, Technology Trends