Alabama State Bar

From time to time I get calls from lawyers who are looking for information on shuttering their practices.  Sometimes it’s for happy reasons, like appointment or election to a judgeship or a long-awaited retirement.  Other times it involves a family relocation and, sometimes, small firms just don’t gain the traction they need to keep on keeping on, so  the principals decide it’s time to move on to something else.  Here are some thing to think about should you decide to close your practice. (more…)

It's time to start thinking about making plans to attend ABA TECHSHOW 2010.  For those who are not familiar with it, TECHSHOW is the ABA Law Practice Management Section's annual…

I received two email messages recently. Each was from someone I did not know. Both posed a single, easy-to-answer question, but it's amazing how different my reaction was to each.…

Windows 7, Microsoft's latest operating system, went on sale today. While people are not lining up around the block to purchase a copy, many lawyers may be wondering whether it…

I am frequently asked by new lawyers for a list of books that I think they should acquire as they set up their practices. A new book, the Alabama Appellate…

G.M. Filisko has written a well organized compilation of 70 Sizzling & Lawyer Friendly Apps for the October issue of the ABA Journal Magazine. This article has the applications organized…

Many lawyers, particularly recent law school graduates, are finding themselves preparing to hang a shingle as the economic downturn has resulted in law firm layoffs and deferrals of new hires.…

I'm posting this from Delta Flight 62 on my way home from Denver and induction into the College of Law Practice Management. It was a great weekend, with fantastic CLE…

One of the quetions I get frequently is which laptop is best.  Well, of course, it depends on your needs.  With that in mind, I'd like to pass along this…

There have been several recent news reports of municipal and county court clerks here in Alabama embezzeling fees and fines that they handled in the course of their work.  Theft in the workplace goes on all the time, but it’s likely gotten worse as a result of the recession.  And it’s not just confined to public offices – it’s just more likely to be discovered because of mandatory audit processes and publicized due to open records laws.  So how safe are the funds that pass through your firm and, hopefully, fall to your bottom line and get swept into your pocket?  There are several things you can do to discourage the five finger discount among your employees and improve the likelyhood that you’ll get to keep all of the money you are working so hard to earn.

Here are a few suggestions for procedures you can put in place to prevent problems like this: (more…)