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Webinar: Ethical Implications of Law Office Technology for the Small & Solo Practitioner

The Future Ain’t What It Used to Be

Well, are you tired of hearing what is the new normal going to be when the courts open?  

As the weeks progress, I really have learned the meaning of the FDR quote “The only thing to fear is fear itself”. We all have our own feelings about the pandemic.  The feelings range from impending doom from the liberal left, to this is a scammed hoax from the far right.  The truth is somewhat in the middle.  Where in the middle?  I have no idea.  I see post that the death rate is about .002 percent of most countries populations.  Then you hear of death rates as high as 25% which would include a survival rate of 75% of those that survive ICU.  I do know that vast number of deaths from Corvid 19 are cases where the victim was over 65 and had another critical medical issue. This would indicate that most people survive Covid 19. Only 12 million of the 318 million people in the U.S. have been tested.  So, it is difficult to determine the real rate of contaminated people.  

My personal experience with two families that contracted Covid 19 is that this virus is very contagious and aggressive.  Both families experienced a week to 10-day fever, with a nasty 2 to 3-week cough to follow.  I do not recommend being reckless with your hygiene because this is a nasty virus with no existing vaccine.  But even if there were a vaccine, 25% of the American public would not even take the vaccine.    

Regardless of the reality of this Virus and the true death rate, it has influenced our psychology. They say a habit form after 60 days.  Guess what?  It is formed.  The Virus will affect business and law practices pretty much the way it has affected Human beings.   If a business were in trouble before the pandemic it could be shutting down permanently.  The same goes for any law practice that was in trouble before the pandemic.  But we are finding from the ashes, come real opportunity.  It is just a matter of watching for it to happen.  The best book to read on the subject is “Who Moved my cheese” by Spencer Johnson.  This book does not tell you have to react to change.  It is more an outline of what happens to people when there has been a change in their work environment.

For the law practice, that change will be a closed courthouse and reduction in court cases.  A reduction in in person legal representation.  Many of the courts are experimenting with Zoom calls.  Texas has just experienced its first Zoom jury trial in Collin County Texas.   The case was more like a non-binding arbitration.  But it did expose some personal weaknesses in our Jury system.  Such as Jurors going off screen and emailing during proceedings. However, there was something positive that came out of this experiment.  Most courts are going to allow proceedings to begin without the requirement of a client’s presence.   This archaic rule of requiring a client’s presence has been outdated years ago.  But many courts require it more as a ceremonial testament to the legal system.

Zoom meetings may not be the final format that courts use in legal proceedings like mediations, depositions, pretrial hearings and other non-trial matters.   Just like the first cellular phones that carried huge batteries and had very short-range communication, Video conferencing will improve.  The next few years I am sure we will see amazing improvements in video conferencing that will be easier to access, more secure, and track our current legal proceeding system.  

I personally see great opportunity in the field of law.  The ABA has indicated that new legal matters have dropped considerable.  But that’s more because Human behavior has been reduced to isolation at home.  We are talking about a world economy that is coming out of Covid 19 hibernation.    Some businesses and industries will be lost.  Millions of jobs will be lost until new ones are re-engineered to accommodate the new world order.  But life will go on.  Until a Meteor hits the earth like the one that collided in the Yucatan and destroyed the Dinosaurs, we are still alive.  

Lawyers are not going to be obsolete; they are just going to be different.  The practice of law will be so different soon.   Few realize when Abe Lincoln was a lawyer in Illinois in the 1850’s.  Judges and lawyers all traveled the circuit courts together.  The all sleep in the same boarding houses and were often hired the day of court.  Those days seem ancient and hard to conceive in our minds today.  The same will be true for our lawyers of the future.  Lawyers may be stunned to learn that we had so many in-people legal proceedings.  They may even be shocked that we met in person.  This may be an art form in our pre Covid 19 practice that will be obsolete.   Our system of law will seem ancient and archaic.  The future looks great.  Just hang in there.  Remember the only thing to fear is fear itself.

Live Interview with Diego Alcala: Puerto Rican Legal Tech Is On the Rise

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GLSA Annual Meeting is Cancelled until Further Notice

Dear Valued GLSA Member:

First and foremost, we hope that this email finds you and your families well.

Everyone is certainly aware of the challenges that have been created by Coronavirus (Covid 19) and all the related downstream peripheral business and personal issues.  

The leadership teams of Group Legal Services Association and the ABA have assessed the potential effects to our meeting participants and taken the guidance from the CDC to cancel large meetings for the next 8 weeks, as well as being aware of other health and travel concerns and restrictions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.  As a result, we have made the difficult decision to cancel the 2020 Joint Spring Meeting scheduled for April 29 to May 2 in San Juan, Puerto Rico. 

We apologize for the inconveniences this causes and recommend the following next steps:

Cancellation of your hotel rooms  

Please note that hotel reservations must be cancelled by the individual who booked the reservation as soon as possible to avoid any penalties or fees. The conference was scheduled at La Concha Renaissance San Juan Resort and may be contacted at 787-977-3399. 

Cancellation of your travel arrangements

Please note that flight reservations must be cancelled by the individual who booked the reservation. It is up to the individual airlines if they will waive change fees or issue credits for the entirety of tickets. 

Refunds:  

Within the next 14 days, all registration fees will be refunded.  For any questions, please contact Annette Waggoner at 847-907-4670 or awaggoner@glsaonline.org

To the registered attendees: thank you for registering for the 2020 Joint Spring Meeting and the support shown to GLSA!

To our speakers: thank you for your superior work in preparing stellar education for our members.

To our planning committee: thank you for all of your diligent effort!  Let’s get ready for a great 2021 conference!

To all of our dedicated members: We look forward to welcoming you at an amazing conference in 2021 in an exciting location!

Regarding elections: Elections will occur electronically and details will be forthcoming.  

Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Best regards,

Matthew Hahne
GLSA President

Annette M. Waggoner
GLSA Executive Director
awaggoner@glsaonline.org
847-907-4670 direct

2020 GLSA Puerto Rico Conference Preview with Matt Hahne and Annette Waggoner

 

Please join Group Legal Services Association as it joins ABA GP Solo for the Annual meeting of GLSA, April 29-May 2, 2020.

 

Register:

Annual Meeting of GLSA

Live Interview with Tessa Manuello: Why Legal Design Matters and What You Should Do About It

Effective Law Firm Management Doesn’t Have to Be Difficult

When you’re running your own law firm, you’re under a lot of pressure. Not only must you ensure that you meet the needs of your clients, you must also appropriately market your practice to attract new business and manage the day-to-day business aspects. It’s certainly a lot to consider given we only have so many hours in a day. The good news is that while it is a lot of work, effective law firm management doesn’t have to be difficult.

Here’s how you can simplify the process.

Proper Planning Prevents Problems

Effective law firm management is automatically easier when you go through the process of creating a full management plan. As the saying goes, proper planning prevents problems. A law firm management plan includes several components:

• Short term goals
• Long term goals
• How you plan to meet the needs of your clients
• How and when office supplies should be handled
• The responsibilities of key law firm members
• Your hiring and firing policy
• An employee handbook
• Technology guidelines (including whether employees may bring and use their own devices)
• Marketing
• Timekeeping and billing procedures

Of course, that’s just a small sampling of what should be included in an effective law firm management plan. You may already be feeling the pressure of creating and implementing the plan. Don’t worry, though. Now it’s time for us to explain how you can make the entire process easier.

Get Feedback from Your Clients

One of the easiest and best ways to determine whether your law firm is meeting the needs of clients is to ask. If you took law firm management or even read a book related to the subject, you’ll most likely remember a law firm management theory known as total quality management (TQM). Under this theory, it is believed that clients will pay more for quality service. And clients define what quality means.

So, ask your clients. Where did your law firm meet their expectations? Where did it fall short? Is there anything that they feel could be improved? You can design your own questions. They can be provided in a manner that allows clients to respond without providing their identity. You could also call and ask these questions as a follow-up after services are rendered.

You can take the feedback from clients and integrate it into your law firm management plan to improve your services and operations.

Effective Law Firm Management Is Easier with the Right Tools

Long gone are the days of clunky intranet computers and checking a paper tickler file (and hoping that things were appropriately filed and labeled). We no longer have to dig through boxes and boxes of files in a giant storage closet or hope that paper messages aren’t lost. Technology has simplified effective law firm management.

Legal tech is nothing to be afraid of, either. There are a lot of free or low-cost options you can use as well. You can start simple by:

• Making use of your digital calendar. This simple tip can help you better track your deadlines, plan meetings, and keep track of your scheduled appointments. If you plan to use or already use legal practice management (LPM) software, look to see if the docketing and calendaring feature integrate with your digital calendar of choice. Then, you can update the LPM or your digital calendar and it should populate the other. Side note: it is important for you to check to ensure that everything is indeed feeding over.
• Go paperless or paperlite. Start using digital document storage management (DMS) that allows you to properly organize your documents (both by matter and your templates). Choose a DMS with a good search function and that integrates with your email so that you can easily store emails and their attachments. A DMS can make it easier and more secure for you to share documents with your clients.
• Consider using an online appointment calendar. Programs like Acuity Scheduling make it easier for potential clients to schedule appointments with you. Many appointment calendars may be integrated into your website, but it may take a professional to help you make sure it works.
• Automate what you can. Automation, much like AI as a whole, has a bad reputation. This isn’t about taking away anyone’s job. You still need to ensure that the documents created or tasks performed are appropriate. Chatbots and even some LPMs can be used to automate the creation of certain commonly used documents.

Hire the Right People and Delegate

As a lawyer, your time is best used on the tasks that only licensed attorneys are allowed to perform. For effective law firm management, hire the right people. These are people who are technologically adept. You want to hire people who have the desire and drive to meet goals and make your clients happy. And after you hire your team? Delegate appropriately. Keep in mind that this does not mean that you can just turn your back on everything happening. You must fulfill your ethical obligation of providing appropriate supervision. Be available when there are questions or someone needs clarity. Be open when your team has comments or suggestions related to workflow and the office environment. Remember that they’re in the trenches every day. It’s normal (and good) that they have insight you can use.

Don’t micromanage your people. You have plenty to do. You must trust that you’ve put in the work and provided the right incentives to attract and keep the best people for your law firm’s future growth.

Simple Is Good!

In a time where we have more and more technology at our fingertips, it’s important to keep law firm management simple. Find the right tools and the right people who can help take your law firm to the next level!