The Greatest American Lawyer

Success Round Table For Lawyers

Law school teaches you to think like an attorney.  They don't tell you that this is only half of the pie.  Lawyers don't learn about effective communication skills, business skills, how to establish rapport with clients and staff, or how to gain respect and agreement from juries.  The attorneys who are successful are those who either already were blessed with these skills or the ones who learned them through great time and expense.  Attorney and Life Coach Sonya Gallagher discusses The Success Round Table for Lawyers program she is offering through her company Time For Life on today's program.

Play: Success Round Table For Lawyers
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With: Sonia Gallagher

Sponsored by: Greatest American Lawyer

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ANNOUNCER:  Welcome to GAL Radio brought to you by the Greatest American Lawyer Blog changing the way law is practiced through technology, innovation and creativity. Turning the business of law on its head and shaking things up to the betterment of clients, lawyers, law firms, and society. Now here is your host, Damien Allen. 

 

DAMIEN: Good afternoon and welcome to GAL Radio. My name is Damien Allen, and joining me today on the phone is Sonia Gallagher, J.D. She is a life coach and she is the owner/proprietor of Time For Life LLC, Good afternoon, Sonia and welcome to the program. 

SONIA: Hi, Damien. I’m happy to be here. 

 

DAMIEN: It’s a pleasure to have you with us today. Today we are discussing the Success Round Table for Lawyers.  Sonia how did you get started in Time for Life, L.L.C? 

 

SONIA: Well it’s been quite a ride. I can tell you I practiced law for the past 6 years, and I actually owned my own law firm for the past two and during that time I always felt like I was missing something and that I should be working and helping people in a different manner. And during that time I was owning my own firm, I networked about 3 times a week, and it was basically through word of mouth and specific alliances that I got my clients, and just being out there and networking with so many attorneys on a constant basis I noted that there are specific issues we have to deal with on a regular basis and don’t really have the skills to help us. And those issues are client’s business development and client attraction and retention. 

 

The Impact of iPads - Lawyers, Law Firms, And The Legal Profession

     The launch of the new iPad has been surrounded with a lot of hype and a lot of hope for a "Go To" tool that will revolutionize the way we look at tablet style computers, information delivery,  and peripheral devices. Now the the iPad has had a few months on the market, Attorney Joshua Barrett of Black Helterline LLP discusses how the iPad works for him in the real world and where he thinks the future lies for for the iPad and its use in the legal field.

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With: Joshua M. Barrett

Sponsored by: Greatest American Lawyer

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ANNOUNCER:  Welcome to GAL Radio brought to you by the Greatest American Lawyer Blog changing the way law is practiced through technology, innovation and creativity. Turning the business of law on its head and shaking things up to the betterment of clients, lawyers, law firms, and society. Now here is your host, Damien Allen. 

 

DAMIEN: Good afternoon and welcome to GAL Radio. My name is Damien Allen, and joining me today on the phone is Josh Barrett of Black Helterline LLP, in Portland, Oregon. Welcome to the program.

 

JOSH:   Thanks. Hi, Damien.

 

DAMIEN: Today we are talking about the impact of IPads, lawyers, law firms and the legal profession. You recently wrote on Tabletlegal.com that the IPads seemed to work well for you for a lunch meeting. How are you using the IPad, Josh? And what do you see is the great boon for this particular advice?

 

JOSH:   I think the great boon for me, anyway, and I think for a lot of lawyers is that it gives lawyers additional choices about how to deliver legal services. I mean it doesn’t need to be behind a desk and behind a computer all day. I know my clients need me in different places and at different times, and the IPad gives me choices about how and when I can deliver my services and in a way that works well for my clients.

 

DAMIEN: What type of things are you doing with the IPad in your profession?

 

JOSH:   The choices, you know, it’s interesting. It’s not a desk top or a laptop replacement and that’s not a failing. I use it a lot for managing all those little slices of time and all those little projects that come up in a business attorney’s practice.  While I like those days where you can sit down and crank out 8, 10, 12 hours on a big project, a lot of the practice is little, tiny, small answering questions, cranking out a quick agreement, responding to a letter, or a voicemail, and the IPad allows me to do that very easily and take advantage of those little slices of time throughout my day whether I’m off picking up the kids or between client meetings to get those little things done to move my clients’ businesses and their projects forward.

 

Loyola Law School Will Artificially Adjust Every Students Grade Positively by 0.333 pts in the Next Month

In a New York Times article posted yesterday by Catherine Rampell entitled Law Schools, Grades Go Up, Just Like That, Rampell noted that in the last two years, at least 10 law schools have adjusted their grading systems to make them more lenient.

In fact, within the next month Rampell reports that Loyola Law School Los Angeles will adjust every law student’s grade recorded within the last few years by adding on an extra 0.333 to every grade. This change is not because all of the Loyola Law School students were working harder, rather the law school is retroactively inflating its grades to make its students look more attractive in a competitive job market.

You Know You’re Paperless When…

I was in my partner Brian’s office the other day conducting a GoToMeeting and mind map session with an important client.  I was chewing some “fresh breath” gum and was ready to spit it out.  Looking around the office, I realized there wasn’t even a waste paper basket, let alone a recycling bin for paper.

You know you’re paperless when you don’t even need a trash can!

Socialized Medicine…What If There Was Socialized Legal Services?

I was sitting at my kitchen table and all of a sudden it hit me.  I am generally in favor of treating health care as a right, rather than a privilege for the wealthy.  I do believe that it’s a basic human right in a country like ours. 

 But then I had an interesting thought.  What if legal services were socialized and every American had a right to a competent lawyer at no or little cost.  We provide a constitutional right to choice of counsel and a right to a jury trial.  But the practical reality is that most people can’t afford to get anywhere near the courthouse, let alone assert their rights in any meaningful way. 

Just a thought…

iPad for Lawyers: The Easiest Access to Information

I recently posted about integrating an iPad into your law firm's business process.  Each day, I am trying to keep track of the different ways that I find myself using the iPad as an adjunct to my Lenovo X61 laptop computer and iPhone.  I have to agree with Dennis Kennedy who noted on a recent GAL Radio interview titled "Will The iPad Replace The Legal Pad" who observed:

Dennis Kennedy: You know I see the iPad and think it is potentially a transition device, that is going to say ‘we are moving to this mobile platform, that’s always on, access from anywhere, internet will always be available, and we are also starting to look and say how do we use computers, what are we doing and I think that’s , the iPad comes in and says this is a way to get to that mobile platform..So it is a little bit bigger than a phone, not as big as a laptop and that could be the right size and that is the big question for Apple and for everybody else about how this is going to work. Is there room for that device, that size, that additional device, that does what it does, does that fit into the technology we want to have with us all the time."

Integrating the iPad into Your Business Process

Six months ago, I traded in my Blackberry and Verizon account for an iPhone and AT&T.  Within 24 hours, it was clear to me that “apps” were going to be one of the most significant technological developments for law firms that have ever come down the pipe.  Instead of having to lug my laptop around with me everywhere (and understanding that I might only fire it up 20% of the time when I could be using it), I had my iPhone as a portable computer available to access our extranet system, a variety of web applications which integral to our business process, a variety of federal rules and statutes in addition to all the fun stuff. 

When the iPad came to market, I waited because I am not a fan of wireless for either the iPad or iPhone.  I find the wireless connections to be woefully inadequate.  As soon as the 3G model came to market, I immediately grabbed one. 

Over the next few weeks, I will be describing how it is I have integrated the iPad into my business process for the betterment of me and my clients.  Stay tuned…

Summer Associate Classes Dwindle, Clients Grow Reluctant to Pay for Associate Training

According to the New York Law Journal article Clients Grow Cool to the Support of Dwindling Summer Classes, this year’s summer associates will receive more substantive work and individualized attention as a result of the decline. Here are some excerpts:

Technology Addiction: Are You a Technology Addict?

Here's an interesting article from The New York Times about America's technology addiction:  YOUR BRAIN ON COMPUTERS: Hooked on Gadgets, and Paying a Mental Price by Technology Reporter Matt Richtel

Scientists say our ability to focus is being undermined by bursts of information from e-mail and other interruptions.

Get The New York Times on your iPhone for free.

Will The iPad Replace the Legal Pad

With the launch of Apple's iPad, many people wonder what the device will be best suited for and how one can apply it in their practice.  Attorney and Tech Writer Dennis Kennedy discusses the practicality and pitfalls of the iPad and the legal profession.

Play: Will The iPad Replace the Legal Pad
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With: Dennis Kennedy

Sponsored by: Greatest American Lawyer

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Announcer: Welcome to GAL radio, brought to you by the Greatest American Lawyer blog, changing the way law is practiced through technology, innovation, and creativity.  Turning the business of law on its head and shaking things up for the betterment of clients, lawyers, law firms and society. Now here’s your host, Damien Allen.

 
Damien Allen: Good afternoon and welcome to GAL radio my name is Damien Allen and joining you today on the phone is Dennis Kennedy. Dennis is a St. Louis based computer lawyer and legal technology writer. His website is denniskennedy.com is the home of his blog. He is also a monthly writer for the ABA journal. Good afternoon Dennis, , welcome to the program.