Dress Codes: The Poll Results

Battling Burnout: Long hours, heavy workload put some in ‘paralegal hell’

By Dolan Media Newswires
Published: June 10, 2011
Tags: Law Office Management

How do you know you’ve got a flaming case of burnout? You start a blog called Paralegal Hell. (paralegalhell.com) At least that’s what one senior paralegal – we’ll call her PH – decided to do in order to cope with the stress of her long hours at a mid-sized law firm in Texas. The job [...]

How solo practitioners can delegate with confidence

By Dolan Media Newswires
Published: June 7, 2011
Tags: Law Office Management

True “solo” lawyers who operate without staff support seem to be increasing in number. But for the majority of solo lawyers, there is someone in the office to help them and, of course, most law firms have support staff. Delegation sounds easy. You get someone else to do something so you don’t have to do [...]

12 tips to help you manage your time

By Dolan Media Newswires
Published: March 9, 2011
Tags: Law Office Management

How often have you wished for the day to be a bit longer? You can’t add hours to the day, but some simple time-management techniques can help you use those hours efficiently. Editors at our sister paper in the Show-Me State, Missouri Lawyers Weekly, got lawyers to share their thoughts on time-management in the Midwest, where [...]

LLP liability in Virginia: Making sure you’re protected

By Virginia Lawyers Weekly
Published: March 9, 2011
Tags: Law Office Management

Virginia law is not kind to general partnerships. Indeed, general partners can be personally liable for any partnership obligation, and worse yet, for any obligation of an individual partner for actions while acting as a general partner. On the other hand, Virginia law offers broad protection to partnerships that have followed the statutory requirements for [...]

Outsourcing not out of bounds, LEO says

By Alan Cooper
Published: October 8, 2010
Tags: Ethics, Law Office Management, Legal Ethics Opinion, Virginia State Bar

Whether a law firm is outsourcing work across the street or around the globe, the ethics issues are the same, according to Virginia State Bar Ethics Counsel James McCauley. Firms may not want it known that they have shipped legal work beyond U.S. borders. But overseas outsourcing is driving the discussion that prompted VSB staff [...]

Lawyers communicating across generations

By Correy E. Stephenson
Published: October 5, 2010
Tags: Law Office Management

Good communication skills are essential for lawyers. But in a multi-generational, increasingly technological world, how should lawyers stay in touch with their clients, colleagues and opposing counsel? A recent study showed a generational gap in how different age groups prefer to communicate. Deloitte LLP issued a report demonstrating that with each age group – baby [...]

What employers see on job interviews

By Dolan Media Newswires
Published: September 13, 2010
Tags: Law Office Management

In law practice, as in other fields, employment remains a buyer’s market. The supply of available workers outweighs the demand for them, and with hundreds of candidates vying for each open job, employers have their pick. “Employers are plowing through more applications than ever before,” according to Paul Munoz, a human resources consultant with the [...]

Billing problems due to communication issues

By Dolan Media Newswires
Published: August 2, 2010
Tags: Law Office Management

If your firm billed a client several months ago and has not yet been paid, assume that there is a problem. That problem may be external, because the economy is still soft and credit conditions are still tight. The client’s cash flow may be temporarily disrupted, making payment difficult; or trouble with the client’s business [...]

Ten issues to consider when renewing your office lease

By Dolan Media Newswires
Published: July 7, 2010
Tags: Landlord/Tenant, Law Office Management

Your landlord just left you a message — your lease is up soon. It’s the last thing on your mind. You don’t know what your business is going to look like over the next couple of years and the last thing you want to deal with is an office or facility move. The good news [...]