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.
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.
Nicole L. Black’s third article in a series discusses the value of an expansive new report from the ABA, Practicing Law in the Pandemic and Moving Forward: Results and Best Practices from a Nationwide Survey of the Legal Profession. The results cover a broad overview of topics ranging from the impact of the pandemic on the legal profession to post-pandemic expectations and recommendations for both legal employers and individual lawyers.
Full-time remote work may continue to be with us for some time. Nicole L. Black discusses approaches that forward thinking law firm leaders can use to take advantage of this opportunity and fine tune their management skills for both in-office or remote teams.
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.
Jerry Lawson is a lawyer, speaker, author, advisor and leader in the field of legal technology. If you are looking to get better results from your organization, whether a law firm or other legal organization, Lawson believes you can’t do better than letting Dennis Kennedy’s recent book be your guide.
Clubhouse is an audio chat platform that is available as an iOS app and is invite only for now. It consists of user-created drop-in audio chat rooms. You can form your own chat room or join rooms created by others. These chat rooms can be created spontaneously or scheduled ahead of time. Nicole Black identifies how the app provides lawyers with opportunities to showcase your expertise, connect with professional colleagues who might be potential referral sources, and generate exposure for your law firm.
On an individual level, lawyers and legal professionals are experiencing a mix of productivity challenges in a new and potentially permanently changed legal landscape. Martin Cogburn discusses the top productivity challenges individuals are facing, the tools they’re adopting, and their thoughts on the long term effects of COVID-19 on the legal industry.
Karina Bihar is student of Professor Dennis Kennedy at Michigan State College of Law. I am pleased to publish her timely and significant article. Bihar states: “…a higher number of mothers are entering the workforce than ever before…according the U.S. Department of Labor, 71.5% of mothers in the United States are working. However, there has been very little advancement made in society to help mothers maintain their working status. As a result, many mothers are forced into choosing lower paying jobs, part-time work, or leaving the workforce to care for young children, causing loss of earnings, gender pay gaps, and loss of valuable workers in the market.” Her struggles as an expectant mother in law school gave her greater awareness of the problems that career mothers need addressed and her article provides an actionable, innovative and well documented solution that merits the attention and tangible support of the legal education and professional communities.
After months of business closures, many states are beginning to slowly allow more essential businesses to open their doors. In most states, law firms will be among the first wave of businesses that are permitted to resume providing services to the public. This is a welcome development for lawyers, but one that comes hand in hand with uncertainty. After all, resuming business in the midst of a pandemic is uncharted territory, and opening your firm doesn’t mean you’ll be returning to business as usual. Attorney Nicole L. Black identifies the host of issues that must be considered when re-opening, not the least of which is to ensure that the health of both law firm employees and clients is protected.