♫ I let it go and now I know
A brand new life is down this road…♫

Lyrics and Music by: Avril Lavigne, Chad Kroeger and David Hodges and recorded by Avril and Chad.

To paraphrase an old saying, everyone talks about how their inboxes are overflowing but no one actually does anything about them.  Well, almost anyone that is.  I had a conversation with my colleague and friend Debbie Foster at the Pacific Legal Technology Conference  earlier this month and she told me she has a policy of never leaving her desk at the end of the day …

Lawyers’ online biographies – they really do make a difference.

The 2013 In-House Counsel New Media Engagement Survey includes a wealth of valuable information on the current state of the legal profession’s online activities and attitudes. Among its key findings is the vital importance of lawyers’ online biographies  in the hiring decisions of corporate in-house counsel. While personal referrals were still viewed as the most important component in corporate counsel’s hiring research, lawyers’ website biographies were the next-most important criteria, with 91% of survey respondents viewing online biographies as either very important or somewhat important in their outside hiring decisions.…

♫ Password, please use the password
It opens the door to my heart…♫

Password, recorded by Kitty Wells.

The writer spoke yesterday at the Privacy and Access 20/20:  A New Vision for Information Rights‘ workshop on Legal Ethics dealing with issues of privacy, security and technology for lawyers and their clients.  The writer spoke along with Dr. Benjamin Goold, Associate Professor of Law and Associate Dean Academic Affairs, University of British Columbia and Tamara Hunter, Associate Counsel and Head of the Davis LLP Privacy Law Compliance Group.

This workshop was part of the pre-conference sessions …

On Friday Oct 4, 2013 a unique event will occur in Canada’s legal community. For the first time there will be a Canadian Legal Technology conference that will be accessible right across the country, courtesy of the ability to webcast all tracks and sessions concurrently (except for the noon keynote that will be recorded and put up for viewing later due to technical restraints).

The Pacific Legal Technology Conference is accessible from 8:45 Pacific to 5:30 Pacific – in person or on the web.  This conference has grown and grown due to one important factor: its foundation is the result …

“I meant what I said, and I said what I meant.
An elephant’s faithful one hundred percent.
That’s my code, my motto…”

Horton Hears a Who!  by Dr. Seuss.

All of us have forgotten something at one time or another.  It seems the *ahem* older we get the more ah, shall we say, frequent, these episodes become.  It is important then to have a tool that helps us remember things.

Fortunately there is Evernote.  This handy (and completely free) app for  mobile devices (iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch, Android, Windows Phone, Blackberry, hpWeb OS) and desktops (Mac OS X, Windows …

Toronto Call to the Bar Ceremony, September 18, 2013
Photo Credit: Lorne Sossin via @DeanSossin

So, you’re a lawyer now.

After a memorable day of Call to the Bar ceremonies and celebrations, you’ve finally crossed the finish line.  Goal achieved, marathon endured. Mission accomplished

The future is as bright as it is now undefined.  Perhaps you have a position secured. Perhaps you are still looking, or are considering hanging your own shingle.  Or maybe you will opt for a travel break, a bit of R and R, or a non-traditional career, outside the mainstream of legal practice.  These are all …

♫ It was the night things changed, can you see it now?
These walls that they put up to hold us back fell down
It’s a revolution, throw your hands up, ’cause we never gave in..♫

Lyrics, music and recorded by Taylor Swift.

“Change the firm but don’t change anything about how I work”

Those were the instructions that I received from one managing partner after being called into a firm to help them with coming up to speed on a number of fronts.  They knew they needed to change…in many fronts..such as in technology and other areas.  The …

Summer wanes, the harvest abounds, and we ready ourselves for a return to our higher-octane existences.  New beginnings, new chapters, and for those of us observing Rosh Hashanah, a new year begins with contemplation and taking stock of the year gone by.

It is also a time to reflect on and appreciate the people in our lives, personal and professional, whose contributions and presence have made a difference.

In that spirit, I will firstly say thank you to my Tips partner, David Bilinsky, for inviting me to join him here in collaboration, discussions and debates on “all things law practice.”   …

♫ Will remind, will remind, will remind me…♫

Lyrics, music and recorded by Röyksopp.

I admit that I have more than a typical fascination with technology.  But this tip is about as low-tech as you can get. I have used this system for all the time that I have been in practice, when practising in  firms as well as at the Law Society and I have found that it works exceedingly well.

In the image you can see a dry-eraseable 4 month calendar.  By placing this calendar in a prominent location in your office and assigning someone with …

♫ Hey Jude, don’t make it bad
Take a sad song and make it better
Remember to let her under your skin
Then you’ll begin to make it better…♫

Lyrics and music by Lennon & McCartney.

This column was written shortly after attending a wine tasting session.  One of the themes of that session was how adding different types of grapes to a wine increases the complexities and the structure of a wine and, done right, this blending makes the wine more enjoyable and interesting. During that session (I have to admit that part of my mind was still thinking …