Key Insights from ABA TECHSHOW 2024: Embracing Tech Trends and Cybersecurity Imperatives

Key Insights from ABA TECHSHOW 2024: Embracing Tech Trends and Cybersecurity Imperatives

The ABA TECHSHOW, held in Chicago from February 14-17, 2024, was a melting pot of insights, innovations, and imperative discussions on the intersection of technology and law. As legal professionals met to explore the latest trends and tools, our PMAP team identified several overarching themes that emerged from the diverse array of presentations and discussions. Here are some key takeaways.

Plugging the “Knowledge Drain”: How to Retain Knowledge to Ensure your Firm’s Continued Success

Plugging the “Knowledge Drain”: How to Retain Knowledge to Ensure your Firm’s Continued Success

Law firms have always been plagued by the “knowledge drain” that happens when experienced employees retire or leave the company, taking their acquired information and established relationships when they leave. Firms must find a way to capture and retain institutional knowledge and make critical knowledge accessible to their teams if they want to ensure business continuity, provide quality legal services, and stay competitive.

Tommy and the Secure Tunnel: Virtual Private Networks

Tommy and the Secure Tunnel: Virtual Private Networks

An attorney, his spouse, and their child stayed a few nights at a hotel for spring break. The attorney ─ let’s call him Tommy ─ pulled out his work laptop on the second night and reminded his family that he had to attend an online orientation. Tommy’s spouse ─ let’s call her Tuppence ─ did not remember him mentioning this meeting and cautioned him that the hotel’s Wi-Fi network wasn't secure.

Ready, Aim, Fire...or Maybe Not: The Ordeal of Terminating a Client

Ready, Aim, Fire...or Maybe Not: The Ordeal of Terminating a Client

It’s fairly easy for clients to fire their attorney. Some clients might issue an overt announcement like “you’re fired!” Others might just make a polite statement that sounds more like a request such as, “Would you please give me my file so I can find another lawyer?” On the other hand, it’s not always easy for lawyers to fire their clients.

Death by Bad Management: Leadership as an Antidote to Terrible Bosses

Death by Bad Management: Leadership as an Antidote to Terrible Bosses

Law firms are known for their high turnover of associates, who leave to join a different firm, take a job as in-house counsel or government lawyer, or depart the legal profession altogether. Some of the reasons include demanding hours, unbearable pressure, a toxic culture, and a lack of work-life balance. But the reason we shall delve into here is the terrible boss.

Contract Lawyering: Common Issues and Considerations

Contract Lawyering: Common Issues and Considerations

The traditional legal employment model of hiring a full-time lawyer to work as an associate attorney or in-house counsel is not always suitable for certain law firms and organizations. Temporary projects or legal work that have limited duration don’t necessarily call for full-time employment of a lawyer. In those situations, working with a contract lawyer can provide the firm with needed resources and still be within its budget.

Hard Times Don’t Call for Desperate Measures

Hard Times Don’t Call for Desperate Measures

As business continues to dwindle for some law firms, they are laying off associates and staff, imposing pay cuts, and taking other measures to minimize the financial impact caused by the pandemic. The pressure to stay afloat may tempt lawyers to relax their billing practices, ramp up fee collection efforts, and even hoard billable hours. Working from home can also lead to careless billing practices as the line between work and family life begins to blur.

Supervising Associate Lawyers to Reduce Malpractice Exposure

Supervising Associate Lawyers to Reduce Malpractice Exposure

In my previous blog post, “Hoarding and Dabbling, Oh My,” I wrote about how the pandemic has resulted in a swift and dramatic transformation of the legal profession. This transformation has created new risk management challenges for many law firms, including hoarding legal work and dabbling in new practice areas. This blog post will focus on another area that may expose law firms to malpractice liability: not properly supervising associate lawyers.

Why Is More Than a Question: Understanding Your Firm’s Purpose

Why Is More Than a Question: Understanding Your Firm’s Purpose

At the start of this pandemic, many businesses had to close their doors. A few businesses were able to switch gears and continue employing their workers to do something else. For example, some distilleries and wineries started using their own alcohol to make hand sanitizer at a time when it was in short supply. A pizza shop in Chicago that could no longer serve pizza by the slice started using its ovens to make plastic face shields for frontline workers.

Hoarding and Dabbling, Oh My!

Hoarding and Dabbling, Oh My!

COVID-19 has pushed many lawyers to quickly transition to a remote work environment and digitize their law practice. The swift and drastic transformation of the legal profession has created new risk management challenges for lawyers as they navigate different ways to run their business and deliver legal services. This blog post will explore some of the risks lawyers face when trying to get new clients and retain existing ones during the COVID-19 era.

Manage Your Law Office with Documented Systems and Procedures

Manage Your Law Office with Documented Systems and Procedures

It doesn’t take much to open a law practice. Lawyers don’t need big expensive equipment and tools like in a dental or medical office. They can start practicing law with just a computer with access to the Internet and a few software programs. But a successful law practice does not end with having the right hardware and software. It’s the systems and procedures that will help lawyers move their cases along smoothly and provide the infrastructure for growth.

Working and Meeting in the Age of Social Distancing

Working and Meeting in the Age of Social Distancing

In light of the spread of COVID-19, many lawyers are looking for ways to continue meeting with their clients and other parties while keeping some distance from them. Fortunately, we are in an age where technology makes it easy to implement social distancing efforts that many individuals and businesses are now undertaking. This blog post will cover two tools that will allow lawyers to work and maintain social distance: (1) video conferencing and (2) remote access.

What the Doctors Order for 2020

What the Doctors Order for 2020

Let’s start 2020 off with some wishful thinking: if only there were a silver bullet to solve all issues that lead to legal malpractice claims. Wouldn’t that be great? If only lawyers were better at calendaring deadlines. If only lawyers thoroughly understood and correctly applied the law. If only they meticulously documented their files. If only….

What Can Yard Work Teach Lawyers about Project Management?

What Can Yard Work Teach Lawyers about Project Management?

Anne, the owner of a two-attorney law firm and a single mother of two children, pulls into her driveway after a busy and stressful day at the office. She looks at her front yard full of patches of dead grass, weeds, and random yard debris. Her eyes glance over at her retired neighbor’s perfectly manicured lawn and she lets out a long sigh....

The Fraud of a “Perfect” Job Candidate

The Fraud of a “Perfect” Job Candidate

A law firm in Oregon, whom I will call Alpha Beta Charlie (“ABC”), recently posted an ad for an estate planning legal assistant. ABC received an impressive resume from a candidate. The resume hit all the right points and addressed specific requirements in the job posting. It had flawless grammar and a beautiful layout. The candidate seemed like a perfect match.

Remote Access for Lawyers: Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) and Virtual Private Network (VPN)

Remote Access for Lawyers: Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) and Virtual Private Network (VPN)

As lawyers embrace the trend to work offsite, remote access becomes an important tool. Remote access refers to the ability of one computer to remotely access information on another computer or network. This functionality lets lawyers access their applications, folders, and files on their work computer while working from home or somewhere offsite.

Options for Getting Paid

Options for Getting Paid

Since 2016, Clio has been doing annual surveys that found that lawyers, on average, bill only 30% of their time and collect on about 85% of those billed hours. The reason for this isn’t because solo attorneys and lawyers in smaller firms are slacking off. It’s because they spend part of their workday on nonbillable work that cannot be delegated due to a lack of staff. It’s also because lawyers are not always diligent in entering their time, invoicing, and collecting on their bills.

Scrambling for CLE Credits?

Scrambling for CLE Credits?

December can be a busy month for many lawyers. One of the many tasks lawyers have to perform as they transition from 2018 to 2019 is submitting their MCLE compliance report to the Oregon State Bar. Sometimes lawyers are shocked to find out they are short 10 or more credits and then scramble for CLEs to make up for the shortfall.

Vision and Mission Statements for Your Law Practice

Vision and Mission Statements for Your Law Practice

One thing that some lawyers don’t typically do when opening their law practice is creating a vision and mission for their firm. They may have a website that includes an “About me” or “About us” page that consists of a biography of the lawyers. But biographies do not capture the firm’s identity: what it does, what it wants to be, and what it believes in. That is where the vision and mission statements come in.

Using Outlook to Save Google Emails

Using Outlook to Save Google Emails

If you are a lawyer using Gmail in your law practice and want or need to save your client emails, here is a tip to help you do this. It requires you to have Microsoft Outlook with Adobe Acrobat PDFMaker add-on. With these two programs, you can convert an Outlook email folder including all attachments into a single PDF document.

Options for Sending Large Files

Options for Sending Large Files

Many lawyers who don’t consider themselves “paperless” still prefer to electronically send documents to their clients or other parties. Most lawyers accomplish this task by using their email program. Email works great when the file is small. But it’s not as easy when the file is large. Most email programs allow users to send an attachment up to 10 MB, and a few others may stretch the limit to 25 MB. Here are some options for sending large files.

To “Of Counsel” or Not

To “Of Counsel” or Not

It’s very temping for lawyers to slap an “of counsel” label on an arrangement they have with another law firm. The of counsel designation may sound attractive, but it has some pitfalls lawyers should be aware of.

Data Hoarding: A Potential Risk for Law Firms - Part I

Data Hoarding: A Potential Risk for Law Firms - Part I

It may come as no surprise that law firms routinely store huge amounts of client and administrative data in both electronic and paper format. Although lawyers are legally and ethically required to retain certain kinds of data, some data is retained unnecessarily. When you store data you aren’t required to keep or don’t need, it’s called data hoarding.

Managing Our Time, Managing Ourselves

Managing Our Time, Managing Ourselves

At the beginning of 2017, I wrote a blog post on using the 80/20 Pareto Principle to manage your time. I start this year with a similar post on time management. For this post, I turn to Habit 3 of Stephen Covey’s book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, to help lawyers see time management from another perspective.

Anatomy of a Ransomware Attack: One Firm’s Story

Anatomy of a Ransomware Attack: One Firm’s Story

Imagine you post an ad on craigslist to hire a legal assistant. Someone immediately responds by email and attaches a zip file. Believing the file contains the applicant’s resume and cover letter, you click on the attachment and download it to your server. Soon afterward, you can’t access any files on your computer. You have just been infected by ransomware.

Protect Your Practice against Disaster

Protect Your Practice against Disaster

Oregon has had a devastating fire season this year, and it’s not over yet. Hundreds of firefighters are currently working hard to contain the Amber Creek Fire in the Columbia River Gorge while also fighting the Chetco Bar Fire, the WhiteWater Fire, and the High Cascade Complex. Let's not forget other natural disasters afflecting different parts of our country. This is a good reminder for lawyers to take steps to protect your practice and livelihood against disasters.

A Better Way to Store Your Closed Files

A Better Way to Store Your Closed Files

The PLF gets frequent calls from lawyers asking about best practices for dealing with closed files. Traditionally, lawyers put their closed paper files in filing cabinets and store them in their office. When the cabinets are full, they move the files to a storage facility or the basement of the office building. The files stay there until destruction time, which is usually 10 years.

Easy DIY Encryption for Emailing Documents

Easy DIY Encryption for Emailing Documents

There are many ways to encrypt email messages sent to clients or other parties. You can use email encryption software like Trustifi, Virtu, or TitanFile. You can also use secure client portals within practice management software to securely exchange documents with clients. Even Outlook Email allows you to send encrypted email messages using a digital ID.