Small Business and Solo Law Practice Blog

Macs in the Law Office - Still fighting the fight...

Chuck Newton, who runs the Third Wave Lawyer, recently had a post on his thoughts about the Macbook Air and further on about the value proposition of using Apple products or Macs in the Law Office.

Chuck makes the usual commonly misguided points about Macs, which makes even the reluctant-fanboy in me feel the need to respond. So, let's take these one at a time:

Chuck says:

I am all about cheap and I hate cell phone bills coming in in the hundreds of dollars a month. That is also the reason I have been unimpressed with the MacBook Air. I am not into novelty and design as an excuse to take money out of my pocket. That ended with me when I bought a Pet Rock in the 70s. Apple is all about being the end thing, and some lawyers like that. It is pretty. It is cool.

Well, I guess that one lawyer's experience is hardly dispositive of an issue, but let me tell you about the cost of my Apple products (I'm assuming you're points concern the non-cross-platform items, i.e. not iPods or iPhones). I run a small law firm in New Jersey that has 4 attorneys and 2 staff members. Put aside the issue of whether I need all of these people or the overhead for a second and let me tell you that the entire office uses Mac computers. Here are the ages of the computers we have: 1 laptop (Macbook) from 2006, 2 eMacs (all-in-ones) from 2000 and 3 PowerMac towers from 1998. That's right - I have 3 computers that have been functioning for 10 years. So, the average money I spent in hardware per year for the last 10 years for those users was $200 per attorney. For the "staff" computers the cost is much lower (maybe $50 per attorney per year). If one is all about cheap, you can't do better than that.

At the same time, in the last two years, I have spent $0 in IT costs and about 15 minutes in down-time when I thought one of the eMacs was broken and drove to my neighborhood repair dude (who fixed a loose internal connection, charged me nothing, and had me back in the office working in those 15 minutes). So, in running the firm, I have almost no down time and no upkeep costs simply because of the fact that I'm running Apple machines. When I worked for a firm that used Windows, they had a bevy of "loaner" laptops for the folks whose machines needed repair. I needed the loaners anywhere between 2-3 times per month. Imagine what that would have cost if I was running the large firm.

Finally, and I only disclose because I think it's relevant to the conversation, about $0.50 of every dollar goes to profit. There is no way I could maintain that kind of margin if I were running Windows machines. I don't have any IT firm on retainer to help me to stay running. The shelf life of my computer hardware is ridiculously off the scale. I finally upgraded some machines because if their inability to run the newest software (which is 4 generations beyond what it was when they were first purchased).

The point is - there is no way I could agree to the position that using Macs in my law office presents a higher cost proposition than Windows.

Chuck also says:

And, these lawyers are willing to burden their practices with the costs of apple products (both as to purchase price and in operating it in this Windows environment in which lawyers must too often compete).

First, as a true fanboy, I'd have to take you to task for not capitalizing the "A" in Apple (you are off Steve Jobs' Xmas list). But, my second point is that that statement is just wrong. I have a number of clients who have been with the firm longer than 10 years. We've never used anything but Mac products. We've never needed to have a Windows machine to operate in the Windows environment (which of course I will admit is the case). Between the Mac's native ability to create, read and comment on .PDFs and the number of free (FREE) office suites that create, read and edit Word and Excel documents - there's never a translation problem. In fact, clients were surprised to learn that we run a Mac environment precisely because there was never a problem.

Another point that should be made is that running Macs allows me to better compete with other lawyers because of the superior way in which they allow me to be creative. A few concrete examples - my proposals, presentations and work product is better on an order of magnitude as compared to my fellow Windows-using colleagues. Part of that can be done with software that comes right with the computer (and should be deducted from any comparison on price) and other costs as much as $29. Now, others can say that all of that flourish is unnecessary, but I would argue it's what contributes to the thought that all lawyers are boring (and I don't mean you, Chuck - anyone who posts as much good jazz as you do can't be boring - but you get my point). Without shipping it out to trial presentation firms, graphic designers or marketing gurus, I can create all kinds of great brochures, stunning "powerpoint" presentations and even my own letterhead at no or little costs. Plus, I have fun doing it. The hardware and software allow me to work (serve as tools) and I don't have to spend any time learning how to use the tools - there's inherent value in that. As an example, if the difference between a micro-notebook running Windows versus Mac OSX natively is truly $1,400 as suggested (and I would take issue with that), and you spend more than 10 hours tinkering with stuff that you don't want to be tinkering with - haven't you made that money already?

Actually, let me address the cost difference comparison being suggested. To say that a sub-notebook running Windows (and I'm familiar with most of them) is comparable to the MacBook Air is to purposely discount or ignore any of the advantages of the Air. For instance, most of the Windows machines compromised by reducing the size of the keyboard and screen size (and quality). For people who think that pecking things out with their thumbs is frustrating, try typing on a slightly-smaller-than-usual keyboard where nothing is where your muscle memory is telling you it is. The Air, on the other hand, has a full-sized keyboard, and as a writing machine - that's crucial for me. The other thing about screen size and quality I can see if people don't want to pay more for that. I would suggest that a screen that uses LED and saves battery life is preferable to one that doesn't (forget about the environmental advantages - just focus on spending more time working, less money on batteries) and that's worth something to me.

Finally, there's no way that I would recommend an Air to a new-convert as their sole working machine (and here I open myself up to a price counter), but the Air is really more of a second machine. What you want (and I know you want one, Chuck) is a Macbook. It's an excellent laptop, only about 5 lbs., and powerful enough to run your entire office. In fact, until last week, it served as my only computer for the last 2 years. It's never been down, it's never given me the blue screen of death and I don't have to spend my precious time tinkering with how to get it to work "right."

So, if you give me enough time and enough of your ear, I promise I can convince you to switch. In fact, it's almost sacrilege that a cost-sensitive, solo-practitioner who's at the bleeding edge of how to be a lawyer is using anything but a Mac. In fact, you should listen to our podcast (which I recorded, produced and published for free from my Macbook) to hear some other, more notable, folks tell you the same thing....you do have an iPod, right? Here's the link.

See - I even managed to avoid being a reactionist-jerk in my response. That's better than average for challenging a Mac-fanboy to a duel.

Posted by Victor J. Medina,
Medina, Martinez & Castroll, LLC

MILO Chat - Podcast Download

Well, I've heard you and it's quite clear that everyone wants to download the inaugural MILO Chat podcast.

Bear with me as I learn how to include all the shiny buttons that make downloading to iTunes a one-button procedure. I'm also figuring out how to create an RSS feed that will allow you to subscribe to this podcast and get regular updates as you would for any podcasts produced by the "professionals." It shouldn't be difficult, which just proves to you how wholly inadequate I am for the task.

Until I've shaken out all the cobwebs, here is a link to a downloadable version of the MILO Chat podcast. Whether you're on a Mac or a PC, the link below should provide a right-click or control-click option to download the podcast as a saved file onto your desktop or directly into iTunes.

Keep on the lookout for major changes -- if this becomes popular enough, the four of us, including the monkey, may just have to find a new home for our little show.

Download the podcast here

And, let us know what you think....

MacSpeech Dictate Review

No pithy title. No lazy link love to another review. Just a straight up review of the software that most likely saved my career.

I have had a problem with my hands for quite some time. As a lawyer, I do a fair amount of typing, whether that's for e-mail responses or in drafting letters and agreements. At the same time, I spent a number of years playing the piano recreationally. All of this has resulted in me having a dull pain in my hands whenever I type too much after a long day.

Before I switched to Macs, I ran a speech recognition software called Dragon Naturally Speaking. It was pretty good, but the law firm that I worked for got me the "legal" edition of the software, which I think was a few versions behind the really good software. After I switched to Macs, the only piece of software that was out there for speech recognition was iListen by MacSpeech. To be frank, it wasn't very good. In fact, with all due respect to MacSpeech, it was terrible. So, for the last two years, I have been writing things out longhand, typing everything, and generally living with the dull pain that resulted.

As many people who are interested in speech recognition software know, MacSpeech announced that they were launching a new speech recognition software called Dictate. This was really important news because rather than relying on the old Phillips engine that powered iListen, MacSpeech had been able to license the engine that powered Dragon from Nuance, and that was what was going to be running the new Dictate software. They made this announcement at MacWorld, even winning a Best of Show award for Dictate. I was very excited and placed my order right away.

Then, I spent the next month and a half checking the status of my order two or three times a day. Finally, last night, I learned that my copy of Dictate was shipping out and would arrive today. I installed it right away and have been playing with it for the last three hours. As you might have guessed, I've been drafting this entire review using Dictate.

What can I say? It's fabulous. I mean, I only did the basic training, and I'd be surprised if the software got one word wrong for every thousand that I've spoken. I've used it so much that my keyboard, which is attached via Bluetooth, has power down and lost connection with my Macbook. If it does miss a word, it is most likely because I've gotten lazy with my dictation not because it has misinterpreted the context or word I've spoken.

It takes contractions with ease, and laughs at my challenge to interpret capitalized words like iListen, iPhone, iPod, Dictate, Mac ad nauseam. It even does an excellent job of controlling my computer, such as opening and quitting applications, inserting text before and after other text, and switching between applications.

If I'm being fair with this review, and I'd like to think that I am, I should point out that the software has a couple of bugs. These have less to do with the speech recognition part of the software, and more to do with some of the internal functionality of the commands that you can use to make your speech recognition smoother. Specifically, it has a quirky little bug that copies text after an insertion point somewhere higher in the document and places it at the end of wherever you resume dictating. Not being a programmer, I have no idea why this happens. Also, as many other people have pointed out in their preview of Dictate, the program does not allow you to correct a word by selecting it and choosing from a number of options. Though the company has been very clear that it intends on adding that particular feature in a subsequent version.

Why is this important for you? Well, I'm not sure that it is. But, this is ridiculously important for me because it means I can now rest my hands for the better part of the working day. And, I honestly believe that this software has extended my career by at least a few years. Unfortunately, it also means that I have no excuse for being more productive during the day.

Of course, if you use the program long enough, you will be speaking your punctuation in everyday life. And, that's going to get annoying for your family very very quickly.

Posted by Victor J. Medina,
Medina, Martinez & Castroll, LLC

Apple Keeps Doing It Right

I'm sure these stories are a dime a dozen. And, I won't go so far as to suggest that other stores don't do the same thing, but damn, does Apple do things right.

About 18 days ago, I bought an iPhone (capitalizing that correctly is a real pain). It was pretty nice and I've been happy with it. Fast-forward 17 days to when Apple announces the 16GB model for a mere $100 more. I'd have to pay the 10% open-box fee, but it was still a good deal at about 25% more money for 50% more space.

Now, the stated return policy for Apple products is 14 days. Thankfully, I'm one of those people that keep the box with all of the cellophane - so, I wrapped up my iPhone and prepared to argue with the manager to allow me to return my iPhone and purchase the bigger one, even though I was outside the 14-day time frame. I printed out my original receipt. I even printed out the receipt for the nearly $5k I spent in the last 30 days upgrading the firm's computers.

Now, I was up in Connecticut for family reasons and on my way home to New Jersey. There were no less than 3 Apple stores right off the highway on my ride home. I was determined to stop into every one of them until I had convinced a manager to return and buy. Imagine! I was prepared to argue for the mere privilege of dropping another c-note with them.

The first Apple store I walked into was in West Nyack, NY at the Palisades Mall. The manager's name was Travis. I spoke with Travis and started out by saying, "Listen, I bought this iPhone about 2 weeks ago and..."

Travis interrupted me, "And you want the 16 GB, right?"

I replied, "Travis, I need the 16 GB"

He said, "Okay - no problem."

"Wait!" I said. "I have a whole story to tell you and print outs about how much I spend with Apple."

Travis humored me and said, "Well, you can tell me your story if you want, but I'm still going to give you the 16-gig phone."

An hour later, I had my 16GB iPhone, had synced it with my computer and loaded all of my content on there and was back in the car for the rest of the ride. The phone worked (spoke with the wife), the podcasts were loaded, music was pumping - what can I say?

Apple rocks - and gives me every excuse to keep spending money with them, despite how I test them....

Posted by Victor J. Medina -
Medina, Martinez & Castroll, LLC

Fits Like a Productivity Glove

I"ve been trying out different software programs that implement the GTD (Getting Things Done) method of productivity. I started out using OmniOutliner with an overlay script called KinklessGTD. The problem was ubiquitous capture and processing. It was an admittedly flawed system, but the best one available. Like a fat man trying diets, I've tried every GTD solution out there. Some of them were so horrible that I deleted them after 10 minutes of playing around. Others showed promise, so I was forced to keep dual systems going (I never gave up on OmniOutliner). All the while, the folks at OmniGroup had said that they were working on a dedicated productivity and task management software. I got on their alpha/beta list and have been trying it for months. It's finally ready for release and so I encourage you to pick up OmniFocus. Right now this is a Mac-only software program, but if you're among the enlightened, you're already running on Apple. Here are the reasons I love OmniFocus. First is that it has been developed by a team of GTD devotees who "get" what implementing the system is about. Simply put, GTD (or any productivity method, for that matter) is essentially about three things: (1) Capture, (2) Processing, and (3) Action. If you accept, as I do, that humans are extremely good at stepping up to a widget machine and cranking out widgets, the most effective thing you can do to increase productivity is spend as much time as is practical at one machine cranking widgets before moving on to the next machine. Translating this to work stuff, place all your calls when you're best suited to do so and read/respond to emails when you're on the computer. Anyways, I digress. OmniFocus allows you to do ubiquitous capture anytime you're on the computer. You just hit a keystroke combination and BAM! you're inputting stuff into the program. You don't have to process it right away, just capture it when it comes and move on to your next task. OmniFocus also collect all the stuff you capture in a single inbox and is very user-friendly at Processing that into its contextually-sensitive parts. Finally, OmniFocus plays nice with iCal, Mail.app and other software to allow you to Act on the tasks when you're in the right setting to do so. I highly recommend OmniFocus and if you purchase it before January 8th, you'll get it at a serious discount. I've go no horse in the race, no connection to OmniGroup, but if you're someone looking for productivity software - OmniFocus is tops. VJM

The Steps I Take To Justify My Gadgets

As some of you know, I've been lusting after the iPhone for some time. Part of the reason I haven't pulled the trigger on it has been the cost of canceling my Verizon contract early. My parole is not until 6/7/08 - it's been hard time. Another reason I've been hesitant has been because my whole family is on Verizon. Understand, I'm talking about over 40 of my closest friends and family members are all on Verizon. While I only use about 200 of my 450 allotted daytime minutes, I take advantage of the free In-Network calling to the tune of 700+ minutes. My wife is a worse culprit, using over 1400 minutes per month on In-Network calls. As further background, my cellphone is primarily used to speak with my wife (on the aforementioned In-Network). I sport a Treo 700p, and I use the "smartphone" parts of that device to surf in the Internet (let's call that research), check and send email, run my GPS software, and trigger calendar events/to-do lists. After some investigation, I discovered that I could convert the plans that my wife and I are on to a 700 minute family plan under Verizon for about $60/month less than I'm currently paying. Of course, this means that I'm dropping the data service for the Treo. For those of you familiar with the iPhone numbers, this means that I can use the $60/month savings on the AT&T plan for the iPhone and get an additional 450 minutes/month and unlimited data. My wife and I are not big text messagers (is that even a word - probably, these days), so I'm not concerned with the 200 text message limit. I chalk up the cost of the phone as the price of upgrading my hardware (the Treo is getting long in the antenna), plus I'll get the benefit of getting a video iPod and a certified conversation piece. So, you might be thinking, "Yay! iPhone!" - but I'm waiting until January to make the final decision. You see, Macworld is coming up and Steve Jobs is sure to take the stage to show me where my hard-earned money is going in the next year. This time last year, Steve introduced the iPhone with a June 2007 launch date. He needed that 6-month lead time, not so much because the device wasn't ready, but because of FCC regulations. I'm anticipating a new iPhone announcement in January. If this is going to include introducing a GPS module, 16GB capacity, new Word/Excel editing functions - I'll probably wait. If it's just a 3rd-party developer's kit announcement and 3G, I'll buy the 8GB model the next day and start enjoying it. Posted by Victor J. Medina - Medina, Martinez & Castroll, LLC

Learning Things Everyday

I've been sulking about not having an iPhone and using the excuse that it's not on a 3G network (which I thought meant it wouldn't be fast and I wouldn't be happy with the non-wifi Internet use). Then I came across this article. I want to believe it, but it'll take asking a few more questions. Here is a little excerpt for your full RSS-reading pleasure:

* People confuse network bandwidth with latency. Think of latency as how long it takes bits to go from the server to your phone, while bandwidth is how many lanes of highway those bits can use to get there. Because mobile phone networks use narrow-band radio signals, their latency is on average 2 to 10 times that of a wired network. And because of the way the Web HTTP protocol works, the quality of a Web user experience depends much more on low latency than high bandwidth, because Web pages typically contain lots of different elements such as pictures, ads, and widgets coming from many different sources. The result: loading Web pages on a 3G phone may actually take about the same amount of time as a phone loading those pages over an EDGE network because all the network time is spent setting up and tearing down connections, not actually sending big amounts of data. And so far, most carriers have preferred to optimize bandwidth at the expense of latency. Why? Because it's more marketable (see erroneous analyst quote above).
* High bandwidth radio networks are more error-prone. Because of the sophisticated signaling needed to do high-data rate transmission over narrow-band radios, higher bandwidth networks don't do as well in real-world radio environments as a lower speed network will. Multi-path interference, doppler frequency changes, and radio noise disrupt high-bandwidth signals more than low. And since phones using TCP connections -- the dominant connection type used in Web browsing -- have to retransmit data that is corrupted by errors, even an error rate only a few percent higher will dramatically slow down Internet experiences.

* Phone processors and software don't necessarily keep up with fast data transmission. I noted this phenomenon when I compared my Nokia E61i with the Apple iPhone. Despite the Nokia's 3G and WiFi network capability, the phone actually felt significantly slower than Apple's iPhone on the same networks. Why? Because the Nokia processor/OS/software combination was simply slower at moving bits than the iPhone is. The result: even with a 54 megabit WiFi network -- a network several times faster than the fastest 3G network -- the Internet experience on the Nokia was significantly slower and poorer than that of the iPhone. The phone just couldn't keep up.

* High bandwidth networks drain batteries. Power consumption of any chip increases according to the frequency. That means if you want your network to go 10 times faster, the chip inside your phone managing that network consumes 10 times the power that a slower chip would (It's not quite that simple because of different signaling techniques, and in fact there are additional power losses due to frequency that aren't in the standard dynamic power equation, but the overall principle still holds). This is why Steve Jobs has decried the power consumption of 3G networks -- that speedy signaling actually matters in a battery-powered device. So why don't European users see this power-draining effect today with their phones? Well, check out the Nokia message boards and you'll find that they do experience some of the effect, but that effect is diminished by the fact that Europe has a much higher density of cell towers than the US does. And since cell phones decrease their radio power output when signal strength is high, the frequency effect of 3G transmission is partially offset by the fact they can use lower power amplifier settings for their radios.

People in Kansas are Spending My Money

This isn't good at all. I've been lusting for an iPhone since they were launched. MacBreak Weekly and similar podcasts have been on a constant rotation on my iPod. Oh, and to top things off, last week I met a potential client who owns 6 AT&T stores (so, you know, I'd have a reason to be an AT&T customer...) Nonetheless, I've been able to resist plunking down (now) $400 at the Apple store. I keep telling myself that I'm waiting for a 3G version to come out - that and for my Verizon contract to come up in June. But if my friend, Grant Griffiths, keeps putting up posts like this- he's going to cost me money and at least one major eye-rolling by my wife when I show her my new "business tool." As an added value, here's the latest MacBreak Weekly. If you're at all an Apple fan or devotee, it's a great podcast - totally accessible by the non-geek:

New Series - Efficiency Upgrade 101

I was looking through the categories I set up last year when I first launched this blog and I noticed the "Increasing Efficiency" category. And then I noticed that I hadn't spent a lot of time posting on that subject. So, with that in mind, I want to take the next few posts and share some of my lifehacks that have helped me stay efficient, productive and the ninja you need to be to be successful at this. With that in mind, my first recommendation is to view a great Google Talk by Merlin Mann of 43Folders called "Inbox Zero." Inbox Zero is a set of special posts looking at the skills, tools and attitude needed to empty your email inbox - and then keep it that way. Those are Merlin's words, not mine. It builds on the concepts of Getting Things Done (which is a subject fit for its own series of posts), most importantly the concept of "processing" - this is whole-heartedly recommended. If you've got the time, here's the video

If You Build It, They Will Come

There has been a lot of talk on the blogosphere about hiring assistants, spending money on office space, etc.  It can be found mostly here, here, andhere, and in the comments to those posts.  I may have to turn in my card to the Cool-Kid's Club, but I disagree with most of the sentiments there about hiring staff.  Well, I should really start from a place of agreement, which is that needless frills are a waste of money, except if that's what your clients care about.  While it is perfectly possible to practice law without thick, creamy letterhead, or without persian rugs, or without wearing Charles Tyrwhitt shirts and cufflinks, some clients expect it, and if you're going after those clients, realize you won't land them without it.  Doesn't mean that you might not land one or two, but if you're not meeting your client's demands, you're going to have to spend effort convincing them that they want something else (you). One of the statements that started this discussion was that an attorney wanted to make enough money to hire a staff member.  I agree that the concept is wrong, but I believe that it's wrong because he or she has the order mixed up.  He should be saying that he wants to hire a staff member to make more money. Not to patronize, but it is an economic business waste to have the $250/hr person perfoming the $50/hour task.  Here's the trickier part - most people will say that it isn't wise to bring in a person to do the $50/hour task unless you can occupy that person with sufficient full-time work to justify the cost.  That's patently wrong.  Unless you are satisfied capping your earnings (at either a reasonable number for working less hours or at a higher number for working crazy hours), you will never increase your success doing it all yourself, or waiting for there to be enough work to justify hiring a person full time.  On the other hand, if you have an eye for keeping the total hours you work reasonable, and at the same time, increasing your earnings, you must, MUST, bring on additional people for one reason, and only one reason - to free you to bring in more business.  And you must bring on these people before you have enough full-time work for them to stay occupied.  If it turns out that you don't have enough work for them, go get it.  Take the time that they're working on stuff that the firm has to do and spend the time developing business.  I think that a 33%/33%/33% approach to your work time is a good guide.  The manager of a law firm should spend about a 1/3 of his or her time practicing law and performing client work, 1/3 of the time attending to the administration of the law firm, and 1/3 of the time actively developing business.  I'm not saying be foolish about it - let's not go and hire 3 attorneys and 4 paralegals when you're not busy enough to fill your own day.  But if you can't meet the 33% rule I set out above (particularly the part about spending 1/3 of your time on business development) because you are swamped with work either on the administrative or the practicing law side - fix that situation with the approprite personnel. Because I don't care if you fight traffic tickets or set up IPOs, you need to spend time actively developing business and/or attending to your existing institutional clients.  I don't have an ending for this post; I could probably go on for a few more paragraphs.  I'll leave it alone for now. 

I'm back, baby!

Logging into this account after a few months of inactivity, I was surprised to learn that I actually remember my username and password. Incredible.

Let's catch up on what's been going on with me. Most importantly, I recently hired another attorney to help with our work. This was needed for two reasons - first, the workload for my firm has stayed the same, but the hours of two of our attorneys has reduced for various reasons. Second, I've been overburden with many routine matters in the office, which means that I haven't been able to attend to as many of the necessary business development tasks as I should.

Now that we've had this extra help for a couple of weeks, my schedule has calmed enough to get back to blogging (both practice development and substantive law blogs). Good to see you again, friends.

Shameless (and Baseless) Self-Promotion....but not mine

I held off from commenting negatively on other bloggers for about a year.  I think that's a good streak.  And now it has to come to a grinding, screeching halt.

Every morning, I check my RSS aggregator (is that the right term) to look at the postings of the day/night.  I've got them divided into different categories and one of the oldest is my Law Practice Management grouping.  Lo and behold, this morning I come across this post from Larry Bodine's blog.

Now maybe I've just been predisposed to disliking Larry ever since that asinine, ridiculous Mac-bashing article he wrote or maybe his smug response about driving traffic to his site by that article cemented what a fool I thought he was.  Actually, I'm pretty sure that was it.  So, now we come to a post where he brags about how he helped a law firm put up a website in 60 days.  Now, I don't know anything about this law firm and I have nothing against it or its attorneys.  I'm not even bothering to link to them because of the negative tone of my post here.  In all honesty, good luck to them. 

That said, I'm really amused he's bragging about this.  His first point is that this firm overcame the committee-structure that bogs down most law firms not using Bodine's services.  Well, that firm has 3 attorneys.  3 (it wasn't a typo).  What a firm of 3 people would be doing with a website committee is beyond me.  Let's not go crazy over the efficiency of deciding on design and content for the website. 

Second, 60 days???  For an 8-page static website?  Oh jeez, that seems kinda slow to me.  My firm put up something similar in about two weeks.  Now, we're not winning any awards for our website - it's just a billboard for anyone searching for us on the Internet or checking us out based on our business cards, but I'll put my website up against this one any day, and mine didn't take 60 days to get up and running. 

Bodine is off my roll and reading list.  I'd rather not get worked up about a blow-hard anymore.   

Okay, enough of the negativity, let me end this with a few helpful suggestions to right my karma.  Law Firm, if you're listening, let me give you a couple of free pieces of advice that seemed to be missing from your paid consultant's repertoire. 

First, you should put an electronic contact form on your website under your Contact Us page.  It's frustrating for consumers to navigate to the Contact page only to find phone numbers and a snail mail address. I would recommend that you NOT include your email address on that Contact Page (unless you want tons of spam), and any decent web hosting company should be able to provide you with a form submission code that allows people to enter their inquiries and provide you with their contact information.  In the alternative, you could create a "throw-away" mailbox for submissions (form0001mail at medinamartinez com is mine) and as it gets overrun with spam, erase it and make form0002mail, etc.

Second, and related to the first point, delete the email address contacts from the attorney page.  You're inviting bots to grab that email address and start sending you spam.  What most people don't understand is that email addresses that are taken from websites are presumed to be active and are almost never deleted from a spammer's database.  This is unlike a spam effort that takes a generic domain name (like hotmail.com) and starts assigning it random usernames in an effort to get a bite (vmedina1, vmedina2, etc.)

Finally, a well-known trick of keeping your website high on a search engine's results page is to update the site often.  One method for doing this is to link your page to your blog, or to blog directly to your website.  Either way, I suggest you find a way to change the content on the site every so often and do so in a way that is linked to your practice area.  A blog is best, and I've coded my website to automatically update the site when I put up a new blog post in any of my weblogs, but even just directly changing the content is helpful.

Okay, I'm feeling better.  I'm reading over this post and it's more helpful suggestions than vitriol.  All is back right with the world.  Maybe I should start a side business consulting for law firms on websites.  The market seems to  be there.

This is the Part Where My Eyes Roll Into My Head

Heh - I honestly started laughing as I read Gary Krakow's second attempt to install Vista, recounted here at msnbc.com

Here's an actual quote,

When I got my hands on a copy of Vista Ultimate, I wiped the X60's hard drive clean and did a complete install. The new Ultimate edition comes on a DVD and allowed me to do a total wipe of the hard drive again before doing a clean, full install of Vista. The entire episode took nearly two hours.

Once the install sequence completed, my ThinkPad rebooted normally. Windows Vista started up without even a hint of an error message. Unlike my experience with Vista Beta 2, the final release of Vista Ultimate actually seemed to work — until I tried playing a music file.

It was then that I realized there were a number of features not working on the X60. There was no audio output, limited video resolution choices and the Wi-Fi connection was not running as quickly as I would have liked. I wondered whether it was a problem with the computer's drivers again.

Are you serious?  So, you folks who are the income producers for your firm - the ones where productivity suffers when you can't work - tell me again how you can afford to spend two hours with this headache when you could be working...?

And for those of you windows users that still believe the argument that Macs are more expensive, we just leveled the playing field on that.  2 hours X $250.00/hour, means that the Macs better be more than $500 expensive over the PC machines - and then you better never had any more down time because the pendulum swings even further in our favor.

I honestly didn't finish reading the Krakow article - it became too much for me.  He could have loved Vista by the end, but I won't know because faced with the prospect of futzing around for two hours to even turn my machine on and getting sound, I'd rather just use my Mac and keep billing. 

A Bit of Reflection

This morning I taught a class to aspiring entrepreneurs on legal basics.  I was supposed to give a canned Powerpoint presentation prepared by the local small business development center, but after I arrived I discovered that they sent me the wrong canned presentation (Legal I instead of Legal II), so I decided to treat the students to one of my presentations that I use on legal basics that I created on my own.  Pardon the wisp of ego here, but the presentation is truly quite good.

In any event, during the class I was struck by how passionate I was getting in talking about the law.  About the theory behind different constructs, the practical applications of various concepts, a few bits of free advice - I mean I was really working myself into a lather about it all and I realized how much I enjoy being a lawyer these days. 

I've avoided many of the "soul-searching" posts here, unless it's to rail against the shortcomings of big firm practice habits, because I don't believe in blogs as surrogate therapy, but I think it's high time for one. 

I had about 45 minutes on my drive home to think hard about why the change, as the title says, "a bit of reflection."  Here's what I've concluded:

While I was working for the big firm, I had a hard time conceiving myself as a lawyer, a hard time thinking about what I was doing as the "practice" of law.  I didn't care much for the people for whom I was working (through no fault of who they were as people, but more as a function of the fact that I didn't want to be them), which didn't make me feel proud of myself.  Self esteem was low at that point, in part because the future was grim, but also because my confidence in myself had been eroded over time.  Years spent having my work torn apart (sometimes for legitimate reasons, more often because of stylistic difference - what I had written was perfectly serviceable...and substantively correct) had left me with the sense that I'd only be capable of practicing law with years more of this kind of "training." 

Fast forward to some experience being out there on my own and I had tested my chops against other lawyers...and found myself pretty good at what I do.  More importantly, I enjoy my work immensely.  There are very few drudgeries in my practice, or perhaps I've done well to mask them with a love for working with my clients.  Regardless, I can't imagine doing anything else, being satisfied with my work and career in any other way.

I've found that that sentiment is quite rare among lawyers.  Whether they be from large firms or be sole practitioners, there are a lot of burnt-out, disgruntled and cynical lawyers practicing right now. 

On the one hand, I'm not in a great hurry to change that fact - I think it gives me an advantage as potential clients consider their options (wouldn't you choose a lawyer passionate and happy about his work over one that is not?).  On the other hand, I hate to see it all so prevalent among my friends.  There are many lawyers on the blogosphere, many of whom I respect, who seem to be quite happy with their practice - but they seem to be people bucking the trend - whether they be GAL, Grant Griffiths or Jonathan Stein - all people working outside of convention.

I don't have a cute ending for this, so I'll stop here.  I'd love to hear what you have to say out there on this subject.  How are you feeling these days?

Trim a Little Off the Top, Please....

As I described earlier, I joined with a seasoned attorney and agreed to manage his practice in exchange for some love and opportunity.  Part of my responsibilities as managing partner include periodically reviewing the firm's expenses and needs and increasing fiscal efficiency whenever possible. 

Here's a little story about my latest endeavor.  Back in the days when broadband connections were rare as unicorns and as stable as a newborn giraffe, my partner entered into a co-location agreement with an IT company upstairs that gave the firm access to their T1 line, essentially putting them on the backbone of the Internets.  He paid a premium for that, but it was worth it to get stability and room to expand (he had wanted to start selling things through a website, etc.) 

That arrangement carried on a few years and the price remained the same for the service (which included additional features such as email and web hosting, etc.).  Although that's usually a good arrangement for the consumer (value of the dollar today versus 4 or 5 years ago), in this case it started to make less sense because the quality of broadband connections were increasing as was the accessibility of such connections. 

I tried renegotiating the contract with the people upstairs because I wanted to give them the opportunity to come to terms with the reality of broadband connections and keep the business, but they held firm to their price and forced me to look elsewhere.  With my assistant's help, I researched Verizon DSL and Comcast cable broadband and found them to provide the same connection at 1/6 the price.  No brainer, right?

I'm taking some of the extra money and leasing a sweet color copier that should serve the firm well for the future. 

Part of my thinking was this: In the world of giving my firm an edge, where is my money better spent?  I think that spending money on a quality color copier is more likely to set me apart from other small firms than a T1 line, especially as it matters to clients. 

But, maybe I'm wrong - what do you think?

Launching Two New Blogs

Inspired as I always seem to be by Grant Griffiths, I am announcing the launch of two new practice-area blogs.  I believe Grant, GAL (E.S.), and Jonathan Stein when they say that they've gotten new clients from their practice area blogs and I don't like falling behind the pack.

That said, *cue trumpets* - please point your browser to, and add to your rss reader, two new, exciting, and informative blogs:

Jersey Estate Planning

and

Jersey Education Law

I'll let you know the moment either of them brings in new clients.

Best - VJM

Uh oh....you've riled up the Mac people

UPDATE: As I predicted, Larry did not post my comment. Posted a lot of flame bait likely to get him viewership, but nothing about questioning his journalistic integrity. As an aside, I don't get that marketing ploy. Why would you attract people to your site who, when reading what you have to say, would conclude you don't have the diligence or flexibility skills to get things done?

Anyways, here is my comment to a post and article by Larry Bodine railing against using a Mac from a position of ignorance and inflexibility. It seems like he's just doing this to get people riled up.

The market share argument, as a basis for proving whether Macs are any good, is about the most irresponsible of all the arguments. Most computers bought are bought for business purposes by business. They buy in bulk because they get the best deals and because the purchasing agents have bosses that will have their heads on platters, and they saying goes, "No one ever got fired for buying Microsoft." If you pull the numbers for the market share for people making a personal choice, the numbers are much higher. Not to mention that the market share for high-end cars is as small as Apple's is for computers. I don't know the actual numbers, but GM or Ford probably has a ridiculously higher market share than Bentley or Porsche. You pick the better car.

I take issue with two things about your article. First, I found your journalistic integrity lacking in that you put up a posed shot of you throwing away your Mac, when in the article you talk about selling it. It violated basic journalistic ethics to depict a non-event.

Second, your problem with Macs stems more from ingrained behaviors from using Windows-based computer and less about the quality of the machine. Of course you should have invested time in learning how to run it, especially before junking a $4k investment.

I just realized you'll probably never let this comment reach your site - so I'll continue this on my blog.

VJM again: And so I have. The factual problems with his article are just staggering. In the end, I figure that Mac users are better off not having him in our ranks. The best compliment I've heard paid to Macs is that they allow computers to be no different than phones or lamps. They are simple tools that work and allow you to do your job. Great - now let's get back to good lawyering...

What?!? No iPod???

As some of you might know, before I began running my own firm, I spend a fair amount of time working for BIGLAW and REALLY BIGLAW (can we call it HUGELAW?). In some very concrete ways, each of these large entities had a narrow-minded view for managing their people.

Look, let's start with a few truths. One of the biggest assets that a law firm has is its people. Attorneys and paralegals are the primary means of generating revenue for the firm. And, in many cases, specific attorneys have created and cultivated relationships with key clients, creating a real incentive to keep those attorneys happy and with one's firm.

With all of that said, a friend of mine at one of these firms just banged out a 280-billable-hour month for June. As you might guess, there'll probably be a pat on the back for the hard work, but not much else in the way of additional compensation or reward for his efforts (and as an aside, I also happen to know that he's not pulling in NY-like salary as a base). He's not a partner/shareholder - so his work didn't in any way contribute to his bottom line. And while his time counts to a bonus paid sometime next March or April, there's no incentive for him to continue at this break neck pace in the short term.

Listen, we all understand how the economics of a law firm work. Associates are paid a flat rate for their time and expected to work a certain number of hours. Those hours are set in a manner so as to cover such associate's salary, overhead and profit to the partners. As the hours an associate bills increase past the expected number, all of that additional revenue comes in as profit for the firm/partners. In my friend's case, if the expected number of hours per month is 167 (based on a 2000 hr/yr.) and his billable rate is around $285/hr - he just made an additional $32k for the firm.

Assuming a constant level of business for the year (but nothing like 280 months for the whole year), he's on pace to make the firm some serious money. On the other hand, if he has a dead year after this, he'll have killed himself for the month of June with nothing to show for it as a yearly bonus.

And here's another thought, what if his year to date was so dead that the 280 hour month did nothing to change the fact that he wasn't going to make the yearly bonus? How willing would he be to kill himself and not see his kids for a month?

Now, to be fair, in return, he hasn't had to worry about finding clients, administering the day-to-day operations of the firm, having his butt on the line for the firm, etc - so there have been some trade-offs, but my point is that the organization doesn't have in place any method of rewarding his efforts in the short term.

Take, for example, this idea - how about cutting up the bonus into quarterly segments? I've worked a few sales jobs in my life and not one of them rewarded my hitting quota on a yearly measure. That's simply an ineffective way of keeping people motivated. More often, I was rewarded on a monthly basis.

I think that law firms get away with this terrible management style on account of the risk-averse nature of most people choosing associate jobs with large law firms. As a personality trait, they're happy to have a job, to work hard and get consistent, reliable salary increases in lock-step, regardless of the effort they put in or their unique value to the firm.

How about throwing these overworked associates a bone everyone in a while? A weekend at a spa for two - what's that, a couple hundred bucks? How about treating them to a golf outing and a dinner? How about escalating bonuses over the course of the year, paid out on a monthly basis (5% of excess billings the 1st month, 7% the second month of an effort)?

Point is - there must be a thousand better ways of rewarding associates for their hard work than waiting a whole year for a bonus.

Everyone's A Critic

So, I went on vacation this past week. It's the first full week of vacation I've had (taken) since the leave I took for the birth of my son almost 2 1/2 years ago. I think that's a pretty good stretch.

I enjoyed my time away from the office and took the opportunity to recharge my batteries. Once I had "reset," I tried to think about what I could do to improve certain things in my life, including this blog.

To be frank, my drive to maintain this has been flaggin as of late, and I have a hard time figuring out why. It's not the act of writing the posts - I enjoy writing immensely (and the feedback I've received is that you enjoy reading it, so at least we're enjoying ourselves).

No, I think I'm having trouble getting this to find some aim or focus. For while, I spent time trying to talk about tech, Apples and those things that pertained to running my practice, but as I figured out what solutions to implement, I lost the need to write about it. I'm finding that I don't enjoy this outlet as a form of diary for my practice and it's practices. And, more importantly, the reason I think I don't enjoy this blog as a diary is because it means that it's about me - something that I truly dislike about blogs about people and their lives. (Stay with me as I put this down in writing and think through more clearly in print than I did in my ride back from upstate NY.)

I want this outlet to be about helping, informing, amusing other people. Generally, I gain more satisfaction when I attend to things that are other-centered. And, I've deliberately stopped from commenting critically on things because I wanted to keep the spirit of this blog positive. Well, unfortunately, that set-up means one post every week or so, which doesn't help either of us.

So, an experiment.

Let me know what you think - as always, comments are welcome and encouraged.

Got Those Juices Flowing

Crazy, but true, this blogging stuff works. I just did a search on Google for "Victor Medina" and it turns out that this blog is the #1 site. Now, if I can only get people to start looking for me!

Before I get on with some new content, let me explain what's been going on lately - in case you can't piece it together from my various posts on the subject. In my planning to go solo, I joined MacLaw, a listserv for attorneys using Apple/Macs in their practice. It's an excellent resource for answering software questions, and sharing information generally about technology and the practice of law.

Well, one day, and I'll say for dramatic effect that I was just about to delete that day's post, I noticed a posting for an associate's position around Princeton, NJ. I responded to the posting saying that I wasn't interested in an associate's position, but seeing as I was hanging a shingle, I was interested in possibly picking up some overflow work as a means to get some residual income in the door. We got to talking and found that we shared a similar mindset on the practice of law (as similar a mindset as a veteran of 35 years of practice and someone with a lot less than that much experience can share). We kept on talking and decided that it would be in both our best interests to start a firm together. I'm going to help him with his practice, and this arrangement will allow me to start and grow my small business law practice. After running a few firms and practices on his own, my partner is also happy to hand over many of the administrative responsibilities for managing the practice, which dovetails nicely into my passion for running the day-to-day on my own. In all, it's a win-win situation.

Shortly, I'm going to have our webpage up and working and you'll be able to learn all you want about our practice and who we are.

In return for your patience with my story (and my lack of posts lately), how about some advice and observations?

I've mentioned my friend Paul before. He's one of my best friends in life (how many people can you say you've been friends with for nearly 15 years...and relatives don't count...) and I've come to enjoy hearing his perspective on lots of issues, particularly because he's not a lawyer. Anyway, I've been sharing this journey with him to an extent and we got to talking about solutions for time/billing software (our firm's is outdated and, consequently, needs updating). I talked to him about my frustration with existing options for Mac-friendly software, as well as my underwhelm-ment (is that a word?) with capabilities of PC-based software.

All of this discussion led to an interesting place - Web-Based Solutions.

There's real value to having most of your business life linked to web-based solutions and hosted off-site. Here are a few advantages:

1. Security/Disaster Proofing. If most of your vital information is stored (and managed and used) virtually, that data is more secure. You don't have to worry about having your laptop stolen and losing client information (whether you've put things in place to prevent someone from reading what's on there is a different story). Also, because of the redundancies built into hosted solutions, your office won't be the central location of your files. You can be up and running immediately in the event of a disaster, like if your building burned down or collapsed into the Boston harbor (that second one actually happened to me once). And you won't have to waste any time recreating files, contacts, etc. Hosted solutions serve as both a backup to and security for your most important data.

2. Mobility. This one's self-explanatory, but here it is for the slow people. If you're not tethered to your desk to be able to work, you can work from home, on a trip, or in between meetings and client visits. This is key for solos and small-firm attorneys because so much of our practice requires our constant attention. Increase your flexibility beyond phone call-forwarding and pda email checking, be truly mobile and take your office with you wherever you go.

3. Overall Flexibility. With a hosted solution, you don't have to worry about what box you're operating on (Mac or PC). You don't have to worry about what version of software you or your employees are running. You also increase the flexibility of your workforce. All of a sudden, you can add independent contractors as your workload demands. You can also accommodate part-time employees who want to work almost exclusively from home (let's say for childcare reasons) again as your workload permits.

Okay, so that's three. You get my drift. And the list of things that can be web-based solutions is extensive. Document Management. Practice Management. Time/Billing Solutions. Email. Contacts. Calendaring.

And all that is needed is an Internet connection. Thoughts?

Moody's Mood For Love

Great, great, great tune by the way.  Catch any of the versions by the original James Moody, Sarah Vaughn, or even Queen Latifah.

So, now that I've officially moved on to my new firm and my new partnership, I started shopping for announcements and business cards to help spread that news, especially to my co-workers from BIGLAW.  As usual, I concentrated on shopping on the Internet and found a few great deals.  I'm sure it won't surprise you to learn that the biggies all have online printing, namely Staples (under their www.marktheworld.com website), OfficeMax, OfficeDepot and Kinkos/FedEx. 

I visited some online-only shops like VistaPrint, but found my best option at DesignYourOwnCard.  This site gave me the best options of layout and font type of any of the other companies, including the multi-national.  In fact, DesignYourOwnCard got me to pay almost 20% over the lowest price, simply because I wasn't restricted to using Ariel or Times New Roman.  Now, I know that many of you might say that a font choice is a silly thing to pay extra money for.  (And yes, I purposely ended that sentence with a preposition - deal with it.)  But, I disagree.  I'm not concerned, necessarily, with having a different font for font's sake, rather I'm trying to create a brand here.  Font type (my choice is Palatino) is part of the overall presentation of my written product, and I want to stand out from the crowd (without looking ridiculous).  One of the ways to do that is by using a different font, or going with ivory paper instead of white, etc.  I want my documents and my marketing efforts to be recognizable as having class and being uniquely mine. 

The lesson here is twofold:  (1) offering different fonts is cheap to employ - it's almost nothing to offer on the Internet and really inexpensive to work into your printing machine, especially if you're automating the process as your online ordering suggests, and (2) be different, stand out from the crowd - especially in law, where you can extend an aura of comfort, skill and trustworthiness, while still showing that you're not like the others. 

Haven't Seen You 'Round These Parts In A Long Time

Helloooooo?  Anyone out there still reading this???  Come back - tell your friends to come back.

My profound apologies for not posting anything in nearly two weeks.  The long and short of it is that I've been busy planning my next move, which almost certainly looks to be a partnership with a local attorney.  Ta-da!  Not solo practice, but certainly small-firm and so I think we'll still have lots to talk about. 

I say "almost certainly" because I'm waiting for one document from him that reduces our conversations down to writing.  I'm not expecting any surprises, but in this life, you never know - thus, we have "almost certainly."

Although this has meant lots of exciting times for me in the physical world, it's meant boredom for you here in the virtual world (well, boredom as it pertains to reading this blog).  I'm aiming to change all of that, so expect lots of quality posts.

Over the next couple of weeks, I'll fill you in on the particulars of this move - why I made it, etc.  But for now, let me just get you interested in reading this blog again.   

3% Market Share Can't Be Wrong!

I spent a good part of today catching up on my blogsphere reading and, boy, are people talking about computer security.  I thought about hyperlinking to the 10 or so posts I read about viruses, malware, network security, and the like, but that would cut across the point of today's post.  Solution after solution is proposed, but no one analyzes the relative benefits of switching to Mac OSX and Apple.

Okay, first a little background on me.  I spend my college years working on a Mac.  It was a little more expensive than a Windows PC, but not nearly as difficult to operate and the campus was supporting both platforms.  By the end of four years, the computer was well out of date and Apple didn't really have anything exciting in its product line for me to use.  I ended up buying an eMachine  (Windows) for my apartment and used that for a couple of years.  I then bought a "thin n light" Acer laptop (again, Windows) to use during law school.  Also during law school, I ended up building my own desktop computer (if that sounds at all impressive, trust me, it's not) running Windows.  That computer was good until last year, when it finally gave up the ghost.  Then, I switched to a Mac.

If you skipped most of that last paragraph, I don't blame you - that was a long way of explaining that I'm very familiar with Windows machines and I've used them more than Macs.  I'm not, as they say, a "Mac-head" or otherwise uncomfortable with the inner workings of computers and operating systems.  (I'm not geek enough to know about Linux, though I have friends who are.)

So, the point is that my Mac recommendation comes with a long history of using Windows machines.  These Macs are just better.  OSX is more intuitive.  They're rock solid.  The programs are built to work together.  The days of drivers and configuration are all but over with Macs.  I've never had to "fix" anything with my Mac.  (I have, however, made some modifications to preferences, etc. and those were super easy to do.)

Let's also, for a quick second, discuss what might have previously been the most legitimate reason for not switching to a Mac - Windows-only software.  Before the switch to Intel-based Macs, the only way to run Windows software on a Mac was through an emulation software called Virtual PC.  It was slow and clunky and wasn't any kind of elegant solution normally associated with Apple. 

However, now there's BootCamp and Parallels Workstation.  Two pieces of software that allow you to run Windows XP (or in some cases, older versions of Windows).  Now BootCamp has the limitation of only being able to run one OS at a time, whereas Parallels Workstation allows you to open a window in OSX (that's Mac to you) and run Windows XP that way.  In fact, David Pogue (NY Times Technology Editor) has a great column on the two programs. 

Now, the Windows portion of your computer will be as susceptible to all the usual Windows problems, but if you have a particular case management or practice management software that keeps you tied to a Windows machine, you're now out of excuses.

Let the enlightenment begin.

Gone Fishin'

First - apologies to my 40 or so regular readers who haven't seen a new post before yesterday's for nearly a week.  I've been preoccupied dealing with a few opportunities that would help me transition to solo practice.  Two of them are prospective clients with substantial fees associated with their respective transactions.  Another is an exciting potential relationship with a local attorney.  So, I've got three lines in the water, so to speak, and I'm almost overwhelmed at the prospect of one or more of them coming through for me.

I've been reflecting on the latest development, which is by far the most intriguing, and I noticed something really interesting.  While I'm cautious about getting too excited about it and I'm not generally a fan of "reading the tea leaves," this opportunity came about as a result of the convergence of many seeds I planted along the way (talk about your mixed metaphors).  I don't want to go into a lot of detail, but if it wasn't for me choosing to do about 5 different things (including starting this blog), this situation would never have materialized. 

Do what you like.  Be who you are.  You never know when the seeds you plant will grow into something that bears fruit.  (Phew, a much better metaphor.)

New Yankee Workshop

Although I don't look like a typical New Englander, I was raised a Yankee. 

(And by "Yankee," this card-carrying member of the RedSox fan club doesn't mean to suggest that he's a fan of the Evil Empire.)

My concept of a Yankee includes things like not wasting resources and dealing with the fact that I absolutely hate to pay someone to do something I can do myself.  Now, sometimes "me doing it" means that I get it done cheaper, but not always.  Regardless, it almost always means that it takes longer.  The point being that I have a hard time realizing when the money's better spent on a specialist both as a function of cost and time.

These concepts came up recently because of the project I bid on last week.  It's a large "deal" and there are several components where I'd be well out of my league doing by myself.  However, I recognized that fact from the beginning and I've addressed the issue with the prospective client in my pitch. 

Finding a solution to this "problem" led me to realize a few advantage of opening your own transactional practice (or perhaps litigation shop, if I knew what you people did...).  One common misperception by clients is that a large law firm is better equipped to deal with the various aspects of a transaction by virtue of their diversification of practice groups.  In one sense, I understand the argument - what could be better than having everything under one roof? 

However, I think the value proposition for a small shop is the better argument.  Instead of being restricted to one ERISA attorney, for instance, who may or may not have the skills to handle my client's needs because that person is the department for the large firm, I can choose from all of the ERISA attorneys in the world with whom to associate on this deal (conflict of interest considerations notwithstanding).  That means that clients that choose to retain me for buying or selling a business not only get my expertise in corporate law, but they also gain access to my network of experts in any given subject area and aren't restricted to choosing from a large firm's department. 

This argument holds up whether we're talking about paralegals, attorneys or other consultants and I think that it's much better for a client to be able to choose the best attorney for the job, and not have to worry about whether he or she gets the right concentration of experts.  In essence, they're engaging me as a trusted advisor for any particular transaction and part of my services include bringing the right people to the table for the job. 

That economy of resources is the New Yankee (Law) Workshop.  Thoughts?

Welcome to the Virtual World

In a VM'sSBSLPB world record, I'm updating something I posted previously this week. 

Earlier in the week, I gave you the skinny on a website called 30boxes.com.  To recap, it's a great, free place to store, manage and share your calendar online. 

I was going through some of David Pogue's previous columns (I'm going to assume that you know he's the NY Times Technology editor) and came across this one (free registration required - and worth it, if even for the technology columns).    He reviews a service called Glide Effortless.  I urge you to read his review to get a good sense of what the company/service is all about.  In fact, let me wait a second while you read the column....

Okay, welcome back.  In addition to the music and photo sharing service that Pogue discusses, TransMedia has added a few more features, including calendaring and mailshare.  Now, the service is not free.  They have a tiered pricing structure keyed on the amount of data you choose to upload.  But, it's compatible with both Macs/OSX and Windows machines.  And, it's also web-based, so you have access to the information whether you're on your home computer or away from the office. 

My only question is with respect to security.  Admittedly, I don't know enough about Internet security to know whether it would be advisable to upload sensitive materials to their website to share with clients, customers or colleagues.  That's not to say that you should or you shouldn't, I just don't know. 

As an attorney, confidential files I hold for my clients are of paramount importance and I can't chance anything but the most secure system for those files.  To that end, I'm still not comfortable creating an extranet for my client's files, which is supposed to be nearly rock-solid if designed properly. 

Nevertheless, if you run a virtual office, or a company with workers in various locations, this is yet another in your arsenal of "technology makes your small business life better" tools.

Competing For My Business (and For Yours)

I learned very good dictation skills from the judge for whom I clerked.  He took the time to teach me about the proper way to dictate something and what good uses for dictation were.  He was such a good, clear thinker that he often dictated pages of opinions that required little or no editing before being published.