Most Popular Articles of the Past Year
 The Curmudgeon on Couth
The
Curmudgeon knows a thing or two about business etiquette.
Communications among busy people should take into account
the value of brevity, the benefit of prompt disclosure of
the real purpose of the communication, and the need for later
filing and retrieval of the communication. Read
on.
Excerpted from The
Curmudgeon’s Guide to Practicing Law
Essential Personal Characteristics for
Making Partner
Law firms rarely publish their criteria for partnership, although
some have. If you ask some of the partners, you will probably get
the same answer, more or less, but with varying emphasis. The emphasis
will change from partner to partner and from time to time, but
large firm or small, the criteria are much the same. What are the
essential personal characteristics every partnership candidate
should possess? Read
on to find out.
Excerpted from Making
Partner: A Guide for Law Firm Associates,
Third Edition
 Looking for Revenue in All the Right
Places
The
vast majority of law firms leave money on the table…that
is, there are places where revenue can be improved easily. In
order to find those places, the firm needs time and billing software
and financial software that has been configured to produce reports
that track financial indicators, such as profit/expense ratio,
revenue per lawyer, collection realization rate, billable hours,
etc. To learn more ways to increase revenues, read
on.
Excerpted from The
Lawyer’s Guide to Increasing Revenue: Unlocking the Profit
Potential in Your Firm
Utilize
Tigar's Elements of Style in the Courtroom
Courtroom legend Michael Tigar believes that some phrases heard
every day in courtrooms across America ought to be banished from
the lexicon. Read
on for Tigar's short list of courtroom “don’ts.”
Excerpted from Examining Witnesses, Second Edition
 Follow
the Twelve Steps toward Fulfillment in the Practice of Law
Whether you are a law student making initial career decisions,
an associate or partner in mid-career, or a senior practitioner,
these 12 steps will help you avoid—and, if need be, reverse—the
troubling trends facing lawyers. Law professors, judges, and others
in close working or personal relationships with lawyers may also
find these recommendations useful. Read
on to find out the twelve steps.
Excerpted from LawyerLife: Finding a Life and a Higher Calling
in the Practice of Law
Of Counsel—A
New Status
At one time, the Of Counsel designation was used to show that a
law firm had powerful friends in high places. The listing of
a senator, congressional representative, or former judge available
to talk to the partners of the firm if needed was perhaps the
most important use of the phrase. This use of the designation
is now all but obsolete. So what does the term mean today? Read
on.
Excerpted from The
Of Counsel Agreement: A Guide for Law Firm and Practitioner,
Third Edition
 Are
You Giving Legal Advice or Legal Conclusions?
With American business spending between 60 and 100 billion
dollars each year, workforce or employer-sponsored training
has become an industry unto itself. And while training subjects
are vast and varied, training a workforce on employment laws
is becoming a key staple in any organization's training program.
Never give legal conclusions is a firm rule for training, whether
or not you are a lawyer. Why? Read
on.
Excerpted from Case
Dismissed! Taking Your Harassment Prevention Training to Trial, Second
Edition
Letter-Writing
Strategy
In litigation, there is no such thing as a “casual
letter.” Every letter that goes out becomes a part of
the litigation and should be done with care and with strategic considerations
in mind. The volume of communications taking place over the phone
and via e-mail leaves little time to draft succinctly worded letters.
Often we regard letter writing as an impossible luxury. Read
on.
Excerpted from Letters
for Litigators: Essential Communications for Opposing Counsel, Witnesses, Clients,
and Others
 McElhaney
and the Art of Telling a Story
The story is at the heart of the entire legal process.
Opening statements, direct examination, cross-examination, and final
arguments are all stories. So are motions, applications, and appeals.
We use stories to pass on information. We use stories to explain
important principles and deal with conflicts. In other words, we
use stories to understand. Every argument is a story, and every lawyer
is a storyteller. If you are going to be an effective lawyer, you
need to know the basic elements of a story and some ideas for how
to tell one Read
on..
Excerpted from McElhaney’s
Trial Notebook,
Fourth Edition
Yellow
Pages Ads Are Not Image Makers
Yellow Pages advertising has one function, and one function
only: to bring you new business. It is not the place to establish
image. It is not the place to communicate anything to your competitors.
All too frequently, lawyers create ads that make them look good.
They believe that if they look good, people will want to do business
with them. Not so. Clients truly do not care how good their lawyers
look—they care about how well lawyers will deliver services
to them. They care about how well they will get
their needs met. Read
on for more on what potential clients are looking
for in Yellow Pages ads.
Excerpted from The
Lawyer's Guide to Effective Yellow Pages Advertising,
Second Edition |
Bioethical and Evolutionary Approaches to Medicine and the
Law
