Recently a couple of legal ethics blogs have been launched. Both already reflect great commitment and scholarship.

The Legal Ethics Forum has been launched by three academics. Professor John Dzienkowski, Professor W. Bradley Wendel and John J. Steele. Since its launch, Professor David Hricik has also joined forces with them. With this many professors involved, you know there will lots of posts each week (or each day.) The result so far is an outstanding and active blog with thought-provoking posts and news items that need not be directly related to the Rules of Professional Conduct or Code of Professional Responsibility. (Thanks to Bob Ambrogi’s LawSites for the bio links.)

Ben Cowgill’s Legal Ethics Blog was just launched March 16th and is a beautifully designed website. He is a former Chief Bar Counsel for the Kentucky Bar Association. It’s obvious he’s done some website work before. From his talking avatar to guide you through the site to the massive collection of links to ethics resources, including Kentucky ethics opinions, it is an impression publication.

Bookmark both of these sites.

Since I’m busily promoting ABA TECHSHOW 2005 (March 31-April 2, 2005 in Chicago) right now, people might not be surprised that I’d pick TECHSHOW.com as my Website of the Week. But it is only lately that this site has grown into more than just a technology conference promotion (and registration) site. You can receive technology tips from TECHSHOW.blog. You can review the sites from 60 Sites in 60 Minutes 2004. (OK, there are more than 60 listed.) You can see a bit of the evolution of legal resources on web with the 60 Sites in 60 Minutes Hall of Fame. This honors sites we’ve had to retire from the show. And you can still find out everything you want about ABA TECHSHOW. Check out all of the speakers and all the presentations that will be given in Chicago next week. Online pre-enrollment closes March 25. Hope to see you there.

When should I begin serious planning about starting my own law practice?

Well, even if you are still in law school, the answer is sooner rather than later. While you can certainly “hang out a shingle” without much planning, your chances for success will be greatly improved if you have a business plan, a marketing plan and a budget before you even consider signing the lease on office space. It will certainly be difficult to prepare a budget when you have little idea about revenues and expenses, but it’s better to have some outline than nothing – especially when you open the doors and the salesmen descend on you with “must have” services and products.

You should already be working on this if you are taking the bar exam this summer. First of all you need to buy, not borrow, Jay Foonberg’s How to Start and Build a Law Practice, 5th Edition. This will be a book you will refer to again and again. You will note on the link that members of the ABA Law Student Division can purchase it really cheaply. Start reading it for the first time now!

For marketing ideas for the solo and small firm lawyer, I’d direct your attention to my Marketing Magic pieces here and here. I’ve received more reprint requests for these articles than anything else I’ve ever written. Jay Foonberg also has a book on this topic titled “How to Get and Keep Good Clients.” You must prepare a marketing plan in writing with deadlines even if it is rather modest at first. Do not fail to send an announcement of your new law practice to everyone you know (and everyone your parents know, if you are starting in your home community) with a business card enclosed. There’s a budget item for printing and postage.

On financial issues, start by reading the online article “A Rose by Any Other Name: Characteristics of an Efficient Practice” by Pat Yevics of the Maryland State Bar. Visit the resources linked at the bottom of the article. There are many articles about law firm finances at Law Practice Today and the ABA Law Practice Management Section’s Website. Your state bar may have other resources.

I’ve referenced hours of reading and planning fun here. That’s why you need to start many months before you open your door. The law student, whose head has been crammed full of torts and defenses, and codes and cases, will need to do some mental adjustment. Opening your own law practice has little to do with all of that. You will be immersed in issues common to opening any small business: marketing, cash flow and overhead, location, staff, tax deposits, bank accounts, budgeting, finance, invoicing and billing, office policies and procedures, office supplies and dozens of other things you haven’t been thinking about much in law school. Get going!

What makes a great reference Website? Initially, I’d say it would have lots of links, well organized and well maintained. In fact, too many links can be a problem if they are not well organized. If I am looking for certain information I’d rather have six links that someone has reviewed and chosen for their content than 185 links in alphabetical order. The Librarians’ Index to the Internet provides just that. Over 16,000 "high quality" Websites are linked. Every week they drop about 100 dead sites and add some new ones. 16,000 is really a pretty small number when you consider they are doing an index for the entire Internet. They also offer a free newsletter, via e-mail or RSS, of "high-quality Websites related to current events, holidays, and popular and important issues."

The Oklahoma City-based IP blog Phosita has just placed something cool on the Web. Using the software Camtasia Studio, OKC attorney Douglas J. Sorocco, has created a screencast as a demonstration of his firm’s blog and the power of Camtasia. Check it out and learn more about how Doug used Camtasia. I do have to say that getting Camtasia has been on my "if I had more time and more money" list for over a year. But I think I’ve been inspired to move it up to "next month" on my priorities.

"Imagine if, at the click of a mouse, young lawyers could receive mentoring from some of the legal profession’s most highly regarded practitioners."  That’s how Bob Ambrogi opened his post about The Ten Minute Mentor yesterday. Yes, this idea is not only a reality, but an extraordinarily well-executed reality recently launched by the Texas Young Lawyers Association and Texas Bar CLE. So far there are over 100 streaming videos from experienced lawyers placed on the web for free. I can’t speak highly enough of this idea. It is inspired.  It is so difficult for young lawyers to establish a relationship with a mentor these days. Everyone is so busy. Getting ten good minutes of advice from a great lawyer is extremely valuable and having access to it 7/24 is, as the saying goes, priceless.

Since this is an Oklahoma-based weblog, you can imagine how tough it is for me to brag on Texas. Thanks for making this tremendous resource available to young lawyers everywhere, not just in your state. Not only am I having a second "site of the week" this week for this great accomplishment, but I’ll be showing The Ten Minute Mentor off at ABA TECHSHOW 2005 during "60 Sites in 60 Minutes."

The ABA has placed quite a bit of free technology information online at its Legal Technology Resource Center. A good example is the collection of PowerPoint Presentations available there. Some of these are a few years old. Some are fairly recent. They do cover a wide range of issues from technology and ethics to websites for lawyers to special technology ideas for bar associations. Just select one and click on the slide to advance. I think you do not get nearly as much out of seeing a speaker’s PowerPoint without hearing the speaker. But you can whiz through the bullet points of a PP to get a quick overview. The primary LTRC page, www.lawtechnology.org, has many, many more resources.

Hat’s off to the ABA General Practice, Solo & Small Firm Section for their recent GPSolo Magazine focusing on military law. It is all online. Some of the many articles include Preparing Clients for Deployment, Lawyers and the Call-Up, Military Family Law: Thirteen Common Questions, Collecting From Personnel Called to Active Duty, An Attorney’s Guide to Veterans’ Rights and Benefits, an article on the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act and many more.

Lawyers give out lots of business cards. How long has it been since you last thought about redesigning or changing your business card? My essay The Lawyer’s Business Card was written some time ago, but is still relevant today. Are traditional or innovative business cards best? Depends on the type of clients you seek, I’d say. And how can you use clear labels to "power up" your cards for special situations?

OK, if you aren’t doing your data backups properly, if your staff backs up most of the data but not all, or if you don’t back up the laptop because "a lot" of the data is on the network, you are hearby sentenced to go to Engadget’s Worst Data Disaster contest and read horror stories until you repent– for real. Sorry, but the contest is over. But your data is still viable, at least right now.

Engadget is an interesting gadget site with many gadgets reviewed or noted daily.