Today’s feature at Attorney@Work is Five Things to Look for in Shared Office Space. The piece was written by a real state professional and I enjoyed reading it. But I would hate for a lawyer to use this article as their sole guide in their search for shared office space as it omits any reference to the significant ethical issues involved in office sharing. In Chicago there are many types of professional suites available for rent. But in many other areas, office sharing between lawyers often means renting from a law firm that has more space than required or a law firm that has divided itself into small firms or solo practices while retaining the same office space.

Office Sharing The Promise and the Pitfalls is a short feature that Oklahoma City attorney James Slayton and I wrote some time ago for the Oklahoma Bar Journal . It covers many subjects including the important of having a written fee agreement and all participants having professional liability insurance. I believe the better practice in these situations is for lawyers to avoid taking cases in opposition to each other due to the many problems with confidentiality and client perception. You may have your entire practice on a laptop that no one else can access and have your phone answered by an outside service. But there is still a risk that opposing parties will find themselves sitting in the same reception area, stewing about whether their rights are really being protected. (Let’s assume it is a hotly contested divorce case and both lawyers are unavoidably late to make the office appointment.) Since the lawyers build systems to avoid any leakage of information, it is hard to prevent that from happening.

We will likely see more office sharing arrangements with lawyers in the future. A lawyer using cloud-based practice management tools primarily needs an office location to have someone to sign for certified mail and deliveries and to have face-to-face meetings with clients and others. Some will pay for just those services and conferences rooms work well for many meetings.

Before you make a final decision read our piece Office Sharing The Promise and the Pitfalls and also check out the excellent Office Sharing Checklist from the Alabama State Bar.

Blogging about someone else's blog post seems a bit redundant. So I rarely do it. But my friend Bob Ambrogi's post Is LinkedIn Losing Its Luster for Lawyers? struck such a cord with me that I had to note it here.

So many good social sharing ideas get a great start online and then get hijacked by salespeople. I get it. If I was a commissioned salesperson with time on my hands or trying to promote a startup with inadequate marketing budget, I'd be on LinkedIn and every other free social media service sending out invitations to connect. The same idea drove spam email; that you can send out tens of thousands of messages with little effort and expense that the recipients all have to deal with in their inboxes. If only one of every thousand responds as a potential customer, the return on investment can be seen as great, even if the other 999 recipients view you as a morally bankrupt nuisance. 

I hope this trend doesn't destroy LinkedIn, but I already feel slightly negative today every time I think of LinkedinLinkedIn. I also get too many notifications from LinkedIn. I'm fairly certain many people have no idea they are doing this. Among the most annoying are the ones asking me to congratulate a colleague on a new job when they do not have a new job. They were just tweaking their profile. Don't spam your connections. Go to your LinkedIn privacy setting and turn off activity broadcasts. You will still be able to share anything you intentionally share, but this will limit the unintended sharing.

I'm not dumping LinkedIn yet, although, like others I am much more selective about accepting connection requests from strangers. I automatically send my blog posts to LinkedIn and some people see them there who might have missed them otherwise. I really love the readability and formatting of LinkedIn Pulse.

But LinkedIn was supposed to be a directory– in my world. It was supposed to facilitate contacts. The idea of seeing someone you might hire who was connected to someone you could trust to give an accurate reference was powerful. Maybe it is too hard to monetize that as rapidly as is wanted today. But I get a lot of digital inflow now and it is hard keeping up. I fear Bob Ambrogi is onto something.

I thought this was a very nice podcast on a timely topic. I'm  just going to repeat much of Legal Talk Network's description of How to Attract Clients in the Digital Era.

LTN Digital edgeOn this episode of The Digital Edge, Sharon Nelson and Jim Calloway interview Sona Pancholy, a business development director, about the ways in which the digital age impacts law firm marketing, what mistakes lawyers should avoid making, where busy professionals should start, and some do's and don't's of social media.

Topics include:

 

  • Technology leveling the playing field for law firms
  • Reduced barrier of entry into new markets
  • Increased efficiency in engaging potential clients, preparing pitch materials, etc.
  • Website content to help business development
  • Updating blogs and videos
  • Optimized website for mobile
  • Removing the legalese (yes, we know it’s hard)
  • Data mining and analytics to target your market
  • Bios, LinkedIn, and being familiar with social platforms
  • Technology as a tool, not a solution

Opening a law office is a very different operation today than a few decades ago. In my feature Opening a Modern Law Office: Coping with Today’s Rapidly Changing Law Firm Business Model, I contrast several of the differences between those days and today. A new lawyer having an experienced lawyer to guide them is a valuable and irreplaceable resource. But the experienced lawyers do not know it all and a novice can provide assistance to them in return in certain areas. Here’s my example:

“For the beginning lawyer, it is important to rely on local experienced lawyers and mentors for advice about:
    •    how the courthouse and judges operate, Opening Law Office 2015 OBJ
    •    questions about substantive law,
    •    developing sound legal strategies,
    •    how to handle a matter where you have limited experience,
    •    your first jury trial and
    •    opposing counsel’s inexplicable behavior.

“But, with all due respect to the experienced lawyers around the state, I also suggest to beginning lawyers that they should pay more attention to the modern experts on topics like:

    •    the need for a digital practice management system,
    •    legal project management,
    •    paperless office procedures,
    •    automated document assembly,
    •    online marketing of your practice and future trends.”
There is a lot of great content in this issue, including past OBA President Stephen Beam’s 11 Things to Know When Starting a Small Town Practice which should be required reading for most lawyers, even if they do practice in the big city.
My friend Michelle C. Harrington is always teasing me about how non-teckie she is and so I was not surprised she chose the topic The Non-Tech Side of Starting Your Own Practice.
Legal ethics is always an important topic. OBA Ethics Counsel Joseph P. Balkenbush reminds us of Ethical Considerations When Opening a Law Practice while Stillwater, Oklahoma lawyer D. Scott Pappas reminds us of the most important concept of trust accounts with Because It Is Not Your Money! Tulsa lawyer Tracey Garrison notes The Importance of Your Fellow Lawyers. Whatever your practice setting, you are joining a legal community, like it or not.
There is much more in this theme issue from Search Engine Optimization (SEO) to purchasing insurance. You can view all of the feature articles in Opening  a Law Office Oklahoma Bar Journal theme issue by downloading the entire issue in PDF format. There is something in this edition for every lawyer, no matter how long ti has been since you opened your law practice.

Our Digital Edge podcast this month is titled "How Lawyers Can Do More in Less Time" and features Allison Shields. Allison is co-author, with Daniel J Siegel, of the book from the ABA How to Do More in Less Time: The Complete Guide to Increasing Your Productivity and Improving Your Bottom Line. Allison and Dan would no doubt love for you to buy a copy of the book. But Sharon Nelson and I were interested Do more in less time book coverin seeing how many time saving tips we could get Allison to volunteer for our listeners on our podcast.

It is not just lawyers who struggle with time management. I talk to lots of people who feel like there is not enough time to get everything done. But the stress of lost time seems more acute when you are billing for professional services. Allison has some nice tips that we all can use.

Technology advances have given us many ways to do things more easily and quickly. But the Internet has also provided us with ample distractions to take up any spare time. Focus and planning are keys to better productivity. So why not spend a few minutes focusing on our podcast with Allison's tips?

One of my son's friends has an Amazon Echo and he has it doing cool tricks, so my son mentioned that he would love to have one. We responded in typical parent fashion, noting that he could see about getting more hours on his summer job and Christmas or birthday aren't really that far away.

But I did decide to spend some time looking for information about this gadget. It is a Bluetooth speaker Amazon Echoand voice-activated digital assistant. Here is a recent C|Net review. You can ask it lots of different questions and it will answer. It will do digital tasks for you. Alexa is the device's Siri/Cortana/etc command recognition interface.

I wasn't as interested when I first heard of it in beta because I'd recently bought my first Sonos home speaker and because it listened to you all the time–like every moment. And what if you had a friend named Alexa?

Well, now it is out of beta and anyone can buy it for $179.99, making the $99 beta purchasers feel like they got a bargain.

Privacy advocates are asking the FTC to take a closer look at these "always listening" devices.

One reviewer says "Forget Amazon Echo, ‘the creepy factor’ has put me off voice control completely,"

This review is the reason I am bringing the Echo to lawyer's attention. The reviewer points out that Google ("OK Google") and Amazon save your voice prompts in history. So those could be personal private information even without the nightmare scenario of a hacker breaking into the device to eavesdrop on a user all day. Here's another new source of personal digital data that a lawyer may try access through discovery some day and which would be quite an intrusive personal data grab. On the other hand,  a record of numerous verbal commands given to a device that was connected to the client's home WiFi over an evening might be very persuasive to a jury or prosecutor if the client was charged with some heinous crime in a nearby city.

A recognizable voice recording is much better than mere evidence showing someone was using the computer at the home while the crime was omitted elsewhere.

The Annual Big Ideas issue of Law Practice Magazine is out. Topics include the inevitability of cloud computing, the Uberization of law, whether our ethical rules stifle innovation, crafting a proper partnership agreement and much more. You can read the articles from the July/August 2015 Law Practice Magazine for free online, but as I have noted in this space before, you probably increase your chances of actually being able to read all of the articles by downloading the Law Practice Mag app so you can read on your favorite mobile device. The app is free to download and the magazine costs $4.99 per issue or $19.99 for an annual subscription.

My "Big Idea" contribution is Your Document Czar I know there is someone in your law firm who is dying to be given the title of czar, but that person is probably not right for this position. Microsoft Word is a powerful tool that is often very frustrating to operate. Law firms deal with complex documents and should be experts in the creation of documents. Unfortunately, for most law firms, the staff is left mostly on their own to cope with both Word and the firm's document creation policies. Why shouldn't one person be designated as the document creation and automation expert? Some great improvements, like templates, can be created by the expert and then shared with others who can make use of the improvement without having to know the nuts and bolts behind its design.

All law firms should be examining how automated document assembly can improve their workflow and save the clients money. Your Document Czar can take charge of that project as well. I interviewed Barron K. Henley, with the Affinity Consulting Group for this column. “You can use Word for 25 years and your skill level will be the same as it was approximately two weeks into using it,” said Henley. “Many of the features are hidden, so you won’t stumble onto them.”

Maybe the appointment of a Document Czar makes sense for your law firm. If you don't believe me, just ask your staff how much they still struggle with Word formatting issues today and how many different templates they use.

It was a pleasure and an honor to interview Judy Perry Martinez, chair of the ABA Presidential Commission on the Future of Legal Services for the Digital Edge podcast. She discussed the work of the commission and specific actions the Judy-Perry-Martinez-Headshot LTN logocommission is taking to find solutions, including grassroots meetings across the country, a national summit, public hearings, and lawyer education. She explains how discussions with lawyers, judges, technology innovators, law students, academics, and law librarians bring awareness to issues in the changing legal landscape and encourages solution and new ideas. I was pleased to ask her about the future of solo and small firm lawyers as I fear many contemplated changes do not take into account their valuable role in society. She certainly appreciates the role of that group.

But the times are a-changing. There is no doubt about that. It is good for lawyers that many leaders of their profession as trying to help chart that future in a way that is positive.

Care and Feeding of the Law Firm Client is my Oklahoma Bar Journal column that covers the basics of forming and maintaining good client relationships. The topics range from the initial interview and retainer agreement to managing expectations and good communications throughout the representation. There there is nothing earth-shattering here. But in a busy professional life, it is sometimes easy to forget about the basics and there is always room for improvement.

The handshakeI also include The Ten Commandments of Good Client Relationships in the column so a lawyer can print them, frame and place on the break room wall if your law firm deems it appropriate.

This helps remind all of us of important thoughts like Commandment 2. Clients are not dependent on us. We are dependent on them.”

Making certain our clients feel appreciated and well-served is a timeless value for the legal profession. But in this time of great changes relating to law practice, it is more important than ever now.

(Jim's Note: I don't host guest posts here. So please, PR firms, don't flood my inbox with guest post requests. I delete them all unread anyway. But when Elaine Dowling shared this Kindle tip with me, I decided to make an exception to my rule and share the following. Thank for you for the contribution, Elaine.)

As much as the practice of law relies on PDF documents, there aren’t a lot of good ways to read them comfortably and efficiently.  Frequently, I need to read long, complicated PDF files: a Supreme Court opinion, articles, research, reports, even an appellate brief.  Earlier this week it was a seventy-page stock prospectus.  I needed to be able to mark passages that I would later quote in a brief, and make notes as I went along of important passages, research questions, etc.  Kindle logo

I had two options.  I could send seventy pages to the printer, clear off a spot on my desk and spend two hours hunched over a pile of paper – highlighter and sticky flags in hand; or, I could email the file to my Kindle’s email address via Amazon, have Amazon convert the file from PDF to Kindle’s native format for me (FREE) and read the file while reclining in the comfort of my favorite chair with all of Kindle’s built in reading and notation tools available.  I chose the latter.

Two hours later, I had read the file.  I had highlighted passages and made my notes – all using Kindle’s built in tools.  I plugged my Kindle into my laptop and copied the “My Clippings.txt” file over to the directory where I store that client’s word processing files.  Now, when I write my brief, I don’t have to re-type long passages from the PDF file and hope I catch all my typos.  I can just cut and paste, and I can search the notes file for particular passages or questions I had jotted down while reading. 

Here is how to make this work. 

Every e-ink Kindle has an email address.  To find it, go to “Your Account” at Amazon, then, under Digital Content/Digital Management select “Manage Your Content and Devices”.  Choose the “Your Devices” tab.  Click on the Kindle you wish to use, and the email address for that device should be visible. 

Once you know your Kindle’s email address, you send an email to your Kindle with the PDF file attached and the word CONVERT as the subject line.  Amazon will convert the PDF to kindle format (the conversion isn’t perfect, but it is pretty darn good) and deliver it to your Kindle free over a wifi connection in just a minute or two. If you want it delivered over a 3G connection that Amazon pays for, Amazon will charge you for that.  My seventy-page PDF file the other night cost me 15 cents on my 3G equipped Kindle Touch. 

I have also been able to email a file to the Kindle app on my phone.  I have not been able to do this with either the Kindle cloud reader or Kindle for PC.  I don’t have a Kindle Fire, but it is my understanding that the Fire runs the same app as my Android phone, so I would expect that this will work with a Kindle Fire. 

A lot of the tech tricks I read strike me as just another way to justify our toys.  This is a trick that I use fairly regularly, because I think it is a better, more comfortable, easier and more productive way of reading large PDF files than any other I have tried. 

Elaine M. Dowling

www.dowlinglawoffice.com