Add your photo to your v-card and set up Outlook to automatically attach this to all outgoing emails. Let people see a picture of you and start building a human connection!

Usually, when a firm’s billing realization rate starts to slip, this is an indication that the firm is using ineffective procedures to do the work, or the responsible time biller isn’t as familiar with the area of law as he or she should be, or both. Either way, it means it’s time to take a look at who’s doing the work and how he or she is doing it, to determine whether training or the implementation of new work processes is needed.

While you still should ask for ernest money up front from a client (and keep the trust account balance in the black by repeatedly asking for replenishment of the trust retainer), the next best thing may be to bring in a retired partner and give him or her the task of putting the accounts receivable into order.

GnuCash is a free open-source accounting system that will handle general and trust transactions for lawyers.

If you consistently and accurately log your time, your work in progress report is like an oracle, allowing you to take information in your financial system and turn it into a reasonably accurate prediction of what your cash flow situation will be like in the weeks to come.

Having a proper management structure for a law firm combined with good professional management in place will be better for the firm in the long run than having a beneficial despot running the firm.

People don't leave a job - they leave a bad captain, partner, supervisor, an unhappy work situation or a bad co-worker. They also may not feel valued by the firm and accordingly, they start looking for another ship on which to sail. The cost of a turnover alone is estimated at about 1.5 times annual salary for non-lawyers and 2 times annual salary, or more, for attorneys. Factor in the additional lost revenue from a star leaving your firm and you can see that time invested in promoting or rewarding a positive, satisfied and productive crew is time well spent!