This upcoming monday I will be presenting at a CLE-BC seminar on the new Limitation Act here in British Columbia.

In advance of that presentation, I am taking a snippet from my paper on how to use Microsoft Outlook to manage limitation dates.

Of all the tasks that must be done in a law office, few of them have such long reaching professional implications as missing a limitation date. Missing a limitation date involves significant personal and professional embarrassment, loss of trust with the client, possible negligence liability, having to report to your Insurance Fund and not the least of …

It may be a sign of our times, but one of the more complex work-life balance questions I face every year –  a couple of times at least, thankfully – is the appropriate level of work-life balance to maintain while I’m on vacation.

There is no actual paradox in this seeming contradiction in terms. The reality is I have no inclination to wholly disconnect, and I’m pretty sure I am not alone on that.

True confession time – I still work a bit while I’m away.    I’d rather set aside an hour or so a day while I’m on vacation …

Having had the benefit of a few days of reflection after attending ABA TECHSHOW 2013 in Chicago last week, I thought I would highlight certain aspects and themes arising from the conference and in particular, why lawyers should be attending this or similar conferences (and indeed why it may be obligatory to do so).

The Borg

Prepare to be assimilated.  Only in this case The Borg = The Cloud.   This was particularly brought home in the session with Wells Anderson and Catherine Sanders Reach.  Microsoft is moving to a monthly subscription model.  The benefits to users to going to Office …

For the next 2 1/2 days, ABA TECHSHOW will be taking place in Chicago, Illinois. This year there are sessions over 8 tracks ranging from Advanced IT to Cloud & Collaboration, e-discovery, iOS, Large Firm, Litigation, Mac, Social Media, Solo and Small Firm (I and II), Tech Grab Bag, Tablets & Smartphones and others all on the theme: “Bringing Lawyers and Technology Together”.

If you can be there, you can experience the incredible range of sessions, speakers and topics that are the hallmark of ABA TECSHOW.  Sessions such as 60 Sites in 60 Minutes and 60 Tips in 60 Minutes …

Garry Wise: Last week, my co-scribe, Mr. David Bilinsky, posed a particularly simple, yet oh-so-important question:

What do you think that lawyers can do to make theirs – their client’s and their regulator’s – life a bit easier?

It all starts with communications.

And, when it comes to communications, I think I can actually answer David’s question – or begin to – in a short, but worthy SlawTip:

Once a practice has matured, no lawyer can do it alone. The solution to the communications conundrum is probably as simple as this – develop good communications systems for …

Garry Wise:  On the weekend, I had the notion that it might be interesting if David and I devoted a post or two to answering some recurring  law practice management questions we typically encounter.

My co-author, Dave Bilinsky, of course, is SlawTips’ resident guru on law practice resources. As a practice advisor and lawyer for the Law Society of British Columbia, he brings (among other elements in his broad perspective) a regulator’s vantage point to all things practice management.  I come at these questions from a different place, as a practitioner and veteran of the legal trenches, having focused …

Sounds basic but many solo and small firms do not have one.  You need one to act as a reference for both management and employees alike.  It can be your shield against discrimination, harassment and other claims.  It can save time by having answers to common questions on routine employment matters and issues and employee concerns in such areas as vacation and sick-leave policies, unpaid leave, holidays, work hours and other such details.  It can also contain forms (evaluation forms), descriptions (jobs, tasks and expectations) and procedures (fire, disaster, privacy etc).

Most office manuals today also address emerging issues …

Moving beyond Cooperation

Collaboration has many benefits. There are a few pitfalls and difficulties to avoid.  But with solid leadership, a law firm can overcome the potential difficulties and achieve real results by adopting a collaborative model.

According to Morten T. Hansen, author of “Collaboration – How Leaders Avoid the Traps, Create Unity and Reap Big Results“, the goal of collaboration is not collaboration but greater results.  Greater results is the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow if you are able to successfully adapt your firm to the new model.

(GJW:  With better result…

Collaboration: Breaking Each Task Down into its Many Parts

Picking up on last week’s post,  let us start with a basic assumption – there’s nothing ad hoc about how successful law practice groups collaborate.

It takes real planning and repetition to create an optimal, collaborative work-flow routine.

Now, by practice group, we don’t necessarily mean anything highfaluting.

In a solo practice, it may simply be a lawyer and a single assistant.  Or a single lawyer and outsourced collaborators. A larger group model, operating as a stand-alone boutique or as one corner within a larger firm structure, might involve a senior …

Collaboration: An introduction.

It’s a pleasure to commence my SlawTips collaboration with David Bilinsky by focussing on…

What else?

Collaboration: Law firm, style.

And by that I simply mean assessing how your practice group works together, and seeing whether adding some planning, systems and efficiencies might increase the sum of your group’s parts.

We’ll be looking at this in a bit of depth over the next few weeks.  For now, an introduction.

Allow me to pose some serious questions at the outset.

How does your law firm optimize its intra-firm collaborations? Does your practice group really work together? Do …