Maine Law Practice Management

Have ever had trouble finding information in your law firm?  Probably, right.  Because looking for something is like the lawyer default mode .  The vast majority of law firms I consult with have their client information all over the place.  Every time I ask an attorney where she stores her practice documents, I get nine answers, not one.  In the first instance, of course, it pays to h ave one place to store all of your stuff, because it’s easier to find all of your stuff that way.   But, I do have good news for you: the modern lawyer can have it both ways.  And, that’s because you can store everything you want anywhere you want, so that your database of files and documents is accessible as a whole , across a variety of softwares.  And, you’re probably already doing this to some extent, perhaps without even knowing t .  Do you sync your music files from your home computer to your smartphone?  Do you use a law practice management software that’s synced with your productivity soft

Almost every state has adopted some variation of a new comment (inspired by the American Bar Association Model rule) to Rule 1.1 respecting lawyer competence.   In essence, the comment indicates that a lawyer’s competency is, in part, based on her familiarity and understanding of technology.  This comment has recently been adopted, but it was probably long overdue.     But, with real life stakes (potential discipline) on the table, the comment to the rule begs the question: How tech competent are you and your law firm?  Do you reach the reasonable level of competency that the comment requires?  If not, it’s time to get up to speed.     If you’ve never paid much attention to your law office technology infrastructure, now is probably the time to start doing so.  If you need to build or rebuild your law firm technology suite, this would be a good time to look into doing so.  As a lawyer, your job, outside of the substantive work you do, is to oversee the work of others, or the operatio

Quick: What are the two things that lawyers do the most ?     If you answered: respond to email and create documents, you’d be right.  Yet, even as lawyers spend more time answering emails than maybe anyone else, they’re still using antiquated methods for managing conversations with clients and colleagues.   So, if you’re looking to get a better handle on your inbox, here are a few tools you can apply:     Apply an email management tools that can automate some of your workflow.  If you’re a Gmail user,you already see notifications and tools flowing through that system design to save you time and effort, with respect to automated or suggested replies , nudges and priority inbox options.  But, even if you’re not using built-ins, you could buy into a standalone program, like SaneBox , that will help you to better organize and manage your email.     Push conversations elsewhere.   You can use other communication platforms to supplement email, and to make sure that your inbox only inclu

Quick: What are the two things that lawyers do the most ?     If you answered: respond to email and create documents, you’d be right.  Yet, even as lawyers spend more time creating documents (pushing electronic paper) than anyone else, they’re still using antiquated methods for building documents from templates.   Attorneys are very good at creating specific documents for clients from existing templates.  But, when they run through that process, they’re often using antiquated tools, like ‘find and replace’ , or making edits by hand.  That’s one of the reasons that legal services are so expensive, is that lawyers’ old school methods make it that way.     The average solo lawyer would pay less than $100 per month for document automation software; and still, most law firms don’t implement it .  Think, however, about the advantages of doing so.  What if you could finalize an estate planning package in 1/4 of the time.  Imagine the possibilities!  You could do 4 estate plans in the time it