Lawyers and law firms that were unable to process electronic payments were often challenged during the last two months. We heard tales of woe of lawyers in other states barred from going to their offices to pick up the mail or good clients of law firms who promised that they had mailed a check for payment, but it got caught in a clearing house.

But there is a lot more to know about digital payments than just accepting credit cards. This short video explores several epayment options, including online payment pages for clients. Some other tips are in the post that follows.

Today’s Times Demonstrate That Lawyers Must Accept Electronic Payments (May 12, 2020)

 

Many lawyers forced to work from home had done so many times and had the tools in place to do so. Of course, the crisis and other closures gave working from home a different feel.

But other lawyers didn’t have the infrastructure or experience and had to learn some things on the fly. They had to adapt. Those who had children remote schooling at home with them experienced greater challenges.

For a variety of reasons, working from home will continue and likely increase. One reason is that more lawyers can more easily do this.

Securing the home network is now an important business concern. Some have even gone so far as to suggest the working-from-home should have a separate WiFi connection. I do not go that far, but I do believe using a “community” family computer for your legal work is a poor plan.

For most lawyers, rather than deciding to build (and maintain) two separate Wi-Fi networks, one secure and one not secure, it just makes sense to secure the home network. This is particularly true if others in the home are entering credit card numbers and other critical information into websites So when did you purchase your WiFi router? If it has been several years, then buying a new one and setting it up with a strong custom password may be your most simple security upgrade. You also may find your WiFi speed improves. As you can see from this PC Magazine review, you can spend as little or much money as you want. (Do buy a dual band router.) If you have a larger home with some weak WiFi spots, you may decide to make the investment in a home mesh system.

For some security tips, listen to our Digital Edge podcast, Cybersecurity Basics for the Solo and Small Firm Lawyer.

Tips for Working from Home Securely (May 8, 2020)

You might think that opening a new law practice during a pandemic is a bad idea. But for many lawyers, it is the best idea. For lawyers who have just passed the bar and always dreamed of opening their practices, it is time. For lawyers who have left employment or were laid off because the firm wasn’t prepared for the new reality.

Today is the OBA’s Opening a Law Practice program. This year it is taking place via videoconferencing. But OBA Practice Management Advisor Julie Bays and I have a lot of useful information to share with this group of mainly brand-new lawyers.

Our Opening Your Law Practice resource page has downloadable papers, checklists and a sample business plan, available to anyone with an interest.

But I also want to direct those with an interest to the My Shingle blog. Its proprietor, Carolyn Elefant, opened her law practice in 1993. But she wasn’t content with just building a law practice as a solo. She has donated countless hours to being a coach, a mentor and a cheerleader for solo and small firm lawyers and those seeking to build their own law practices. Her blog’s Start Your Law Firm page has numerous free tools from audio recordings to worksheets to sample procedures. Carolyn and I have known each other for years. She has received much well-deserved attention. But hopefully today, a few new Oklahoma lawyers learn about Carolyn Elefant’s free advice and guidance.

(Editor’s note: Yes, I forgot to post this here yesterday. But I did teach a class all day.)

A headline on a newspaper article or a blog post is supposed to draw readers into the story.

Email & contact us icon on computer keyboard

So too, should the subject line on an email encourage the recipient to open the email and read it.

But it also should help the recipient understand what the email is about— and you should never assume the recipient will know just because you just emailed them about this last week or you only have one case pending with them. We do understand that many times it is best not to put a client name in an email subject line. But we also understand that overflowing inboxes means many lawyers are often looking for old emails still in their inboxes, so make sure yours is easy to locate by subject line.

Let’s be informative and avoid these seven subject line sins that keep our emails from being read.

  1. No Subject Line The one thing worse than a bad subject line is no subject line at all. You come across as careless or maybe even concealing your true message. But an important thing for you to understand is that having a blank subject line greatly increases the possibility your email gets grabbed by a spam filter.
  2. The Ordering or Demanding Subject Line “Please call me ASAP” is a bit scary, especially if sent to a subordinate. But it is not as bad as “We need to talk” which really sounds like you should be checking to see if there are empty boxes should you find yourself packing up the personal items from your former desk soon. And if you are sending demanding emails with subject lines like “!!!!!!!” or “??????,” you had better be someone’s supervisor because none of the rest of us are going to open those for a while. Exclamation points rarely have a place in business emails, but the double exclamation point should never be used—unless you are trying to start something!
  3. URGENT Sometimes we feel like we must put Urgent in a subject line but, if you do, lose the All Caps. Far better is a specific time reference. “The Brief Due 5/1” or “The May 19th”
  4. DON’T SCREAM AT ME WITH ALL CAPS Just don’t.
  5. Re: Re: Re: Fwd: Re: Fwd: Fwd OK, once the subject line has so many Re:’s and Fwd:’s that you cannot even read the original subject line, it is time to either prune your subject line or maybe just start with a new email.
  6. Quick Question We lawyers all know this one. When someone says this, the question may be short, but the answer may not be. Too many lawyers read this one as “Please answer this interrogatory from me” and don’t be surprised if the response is to keep on scrolling.
  7. This is so-and-so Ahem, your email “From” line already told them that. So any additional information is better

Originally posted at https://www.okbar.org/lpt_articles/a-good-email-subject-line-gets-your-emails-read-more-quickly/