Can a Lawyer Write a Book About a Client?

Sometimes a client's story will be so interesting you'll think to yourself that it would make a great book or movie. However, before you go penning your client's story, you might want to consult a lawyer. Good thing you...

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Initial Demands: Do You Set a Realistic Dollar Amount?

Setting an amount for an initial demand can often be a rather nerve-wracking exercise in futility. You know the other side isn't going to just say yes, but on the off chance they do, are you going to regret...

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Constructing a Flexible Fixed-Fee Project

Law firms are looking everywhere for alternative fee agreements that work. Flat fee, hybrid fee, premium fee, break-up fee, budgeted fee; the list goes on. Some firms won't even work for money where bitcoin will do. Here's something a...

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Halloween Costumes in Court: Bad Idea or Malpractice?

While you may think that some lawyers dress oddly enough to look like they're actually in costume, when push comes to shove, it's probably not a good idea to show up to court in your Halloween costume. If you do,...

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Essential Project Management Skills for Small Firms

In professional football, 53 players can make the team. Because only 11 can play on the field at a time, they typically divide up into offense, defense, and special teams. Each of these teams has a specific purpose under...

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5 Reasons You Should Be Doing Pro Bono Work

For the ABA's Pro Bono Week, you might be trying to avoid the lawyers in your office that seem all too excited to put your name on a list of volunteers. But, if the callous half of your brain...

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Should Your Firm Get a Spanish-Speaking Receptionist?

Por supuesto! Of course, your firm should have a Spanish-speaker. More than 50 million Americans and potential clients speak Spanish. And it's no wonder, given that most of the Southwest used to belong to Mexico. It is a wonder,...

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How to Pro Bono Without Losing Money

This week is the ABA's Pro Bono Week. Basically, the week is touted as a time to celebrate those who do pro bono work, and encourage those who don't, to start. Doing pro bono work is one of those...

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The Future of Unbundled Legal Services

Attorney Forrest Mosten, also known as the Father of Unbundling, has a dream. One day, clients will come to lawyers for legal help. But first lawyers must offer limited scope services as an option. So it's not a paradisiacal...

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Good Luck Advising Clients About Gun Laws

The initial shock of the Las Vegas shootings may wear off, but the public is still dazed about what to do in the aftermath. According to polls, Americans have not changed their opinion about gun laws since the mass...

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Why You Want a Holiday Trial Date

Having a trial date around the holidays is often thought of as a blessing to civil plaintiffs and criminal defendants. That's because basic human nature and holiday cheer can work in concert causing juries to render massive verdicts and...

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Study Shows Why You Work Better in a Coffee Shop

For some folks, a quiet environment is absolutely necessary in order to get anything done. But for most people, a new study confirms what we already know: a little bit of background noise helps with creativity. While this finding...

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Who Wins in Politics v. Prosecutor?

Keri Borzilleri, a Baltimore prosecutor, was a loyal public servant. She had worked for the city for nine years and had been a champion for the people and her employer. When her boss ran for another term, Borzilleri had...

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Improve Your Legal Career With a Sponsor

In the final scene of the last Star Wars movie, a promising Rey holds out a light saber to Luke Skywalker like a protege reaching for her master. Moviegoers won't know how that relationship turns out until "The Last...

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5 Tips for Earning Extra Money as a Solo Lawyer

While everyone wants to make more money for the work that they do, there are times when you might need to make extra money, which is a little bit different. Unlike small firm attorneys who can only really make...

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Top 5 Client Billing Tips for Solo Lawyers

Anything goes when it comes to collecting fees because collecting fees isn't easy, right? Well ... while collecting fees isn't easy, you surely know that anything does not go. In fact, often there are rather strict rules. Complicating matters...

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Why One-on-One Motivation Is Important for Your Firm

When a colleague goes down, it can be painful for everybody close enough to experience it. Gordon Haywood, the professional basketball star, is a good example. He suffered a horrific injury on the opening night of the season, and...

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Are You Getting State Bar Referrals?

In many states, the bar association will provide the public with referrals to qualified attorneys within a specialty. Often, these lawyer referral services are outsourced to local, regional bar associations, and/or certified groups. This allows clients to connect with attorneys...

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What to Save When Your Office Is on Fire

As the California fires raged, confusion reigned. An army of fire fighters attacked the flames from all directions. More than 100,000 people fled. Innumerable buildings and victims disappeared in the ash. Lawyers, too, lost their homes and offices in...

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Can You Bill Your Client While Working Through Writer's Block?

There are only a few things worse than sitting down to type out a motion, letter, or any other piece of writing and being struck with a case of writer's block. However, for attorneys, the writer's block problem is...

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Unsent Text Message Is Valid Will, Court Rules

Perhaps the cycle of life is the same as the cycle of law when it comes to wills. In Queensland, Australia, a court has accepted an unsent text message as a valid will. The text was found in the...

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Not Your Father's E-Discovery: Emoji Evidence

E-discovery has come a long way since it first debuted. Papering your opponent has never been easier and no longer requires spending hundreds or thousands of dollars on copying and a crosstown courier. Now, it is routine for document...

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Legal Hurdles to Las Vegas Mass Shooting Lawsuits

With 58 dead and nearly 500 wounded, it's possible that just as many lawsuits could be filed in the Las Vegas massacre of Oct. 1. But so far only two lawsuits have been filed, and legal experts say their...

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Open Your Law Practice in a Tiny Office From Amazon

They say tiny houses are the next big thing, but what about tiny law offices? "How is that going to work?" you may ask. And who are "they" anyway? "They" are tiny house builders from a popular television show....

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Boilerplate Defenses: Friend or Foe?

Filing an answer to a complaint is easy, right? Just deny everything, cut and paste in every affirmative defense available, do a find and replace for your clients' names, and viola! you're done. But what happens if one of...

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How Do I Get a Case Picked Up by SCOTUS?

So you've decided to take your appellate practice to the next level. Assuming you got the practice off the ground in the first place, and you've mastered the skills it takes to win a federal appeal, you might be...

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Guardianship Cases Tackle Lawyer-Hospital Relationships, Conflicts of Interest

It's not hard to win a case when the opposing party doesn't show up for court. That's how April Parks was doing it in Clark County, Nevada. She was awarded guardianships once a week, and had up to one...

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How to Politely Trash Opposing Counsel in a Pleading

Yes, you have a duty to be civil with the court, your clients, opposing counsels, and even opposing parties. That means refraining from ad hominem attacks against judges, individuals, and even your opposing counsel, no matter how badly they're...

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Las Vegas Shooting Victims Offered Free Legal Aid

In the aftermath of the Las Vegas shooting, no lawyers emerged as heroes. It rarely happens when disasters strike anyway because most often attorneys arrive later to make a case. But there is no bleeding in the courtroom. Sometimes,...

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Why You Never Threaten Opposing Counsel

If you learn anything from street law, you learn never to threaten opposing counsel -- especially in writing. It's not just bad practice, it's a potential bar complaint. It could even land you in jail. Paul Muckle apparently never...

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How to Get Past Writer's Block When Drafting a Motion

Writer's block can hit anyone at anytime, and it can have consequences that range from annoying to downright devastating. For us lawyers, when we're drafting a motion, we're not trying to write the next great American novel, but strict...

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How to Gain Credibility as an Inexperienced Lawyer

As a young lawyer, I found myself answering questions from a group of 100 or so judges and attorneys. The big question -- other than the one I asked myself about how I got there -- came from a...

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Solos: Don't Go Partnering With Non-Lawyers Quite Yet

When it comes to the question of non-lawyer ownership of law firms, there are often a few voices in the crowd that seem to insist it would be good for one reason or another. But, even being as fair...

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What's a Primary Care Lawyer?

A primary care lawyer has nothing to do with health care, unless you consider 'peace of mind' a healthy thing. The primary care lawyer is like a primary care physician in that he is the go-to guy for all...

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Top 3 Tips for Pursuing a Novel Litigation Strategy

Being a litigator or trial attorney sometimes means going out on a limb with an untested or novel legal theory. Testing the waters of a new theory, or even a new law, can be scary. Judges will often scrutinize...

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How About a Pop-Up Law Firm?

If you can't get a traditional practice off the ground, maybe it's time to hang your shingle on a kiosk. So what if people think you're an ambulance chaser. Why not just buy an ambulance and cut to the...

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Should I Use Emojis in Court?

An emoji is worth a thousand words, and that's a legal problem. According to a Santa Clara University Law School professor, emojis and emoticons have popped up recently in at least 80 U.S. court opinions. The problem is they...

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Why Are Patent Lawyers Always in Demand?

Patent attorneys are often cast out from the traditional legal community of sharks, rainmakers, and ambulance chasers. But, unlike every other type of lawyer, of which there seems to be too many, there is a constant demand for patent...

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What's in Your Disengagement Letter?

A lawyerly disengagement letter is a bit like a 'Dear John' letter. Attorneys write them at the end of legal engagements, ideally with kindly advice and well wishes. When the relationship ends badly, however, the disengagement letter becomes more...

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How to Capitalize on Media Mentions

So you got your Andy Warhol minutes of fame from a news story, but now what? Start a reality TV show? Hire a crowd? Hang on, we're not going there. That's for politicians. We're lawyers, and we use social...

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