In a recent blog post, I suggested that it was o.k. for lawyers to seek profit. One justification that I didn’t suggest, however, becomes very clear when you look at state bars disciplinary reports: Clients’ trust accounts are invaded by economically marginal lawyers (exclude out and out theft from this discussion, a rare event). Thus, when we encourage lawyers to be business-wise, we are actually seeking to protect the public.
Being effective with clients, efficient in the delivery of services to clients and therefore more profitable, we are actually protecting the public by providing sufficient resources to the lawyer to feed his/her family and therefore have no need to invade the trust account funds.
To say that law is a business, a service business, is not to deny that it is also a profession rooted in the highest ideals from the very beginning of our country. (more…)
Today Ed Interviews Scott Simmonds, an insurance consultant for buyers and lawyers. Scott talks about common mistakes that lawyers make when buying both general business and professional liability insurance. He also provides some key clues on how to improve not only your purchasing power but also your coverage.
Scott was a general agent for 20 years and has consulted with buyers for the last 7. While he works out of Maine, his consulting is national in scope.
Listen now for ideas on how to reduce your overhead and increase your protection.
Tom Kane asks us to do something which most of us can’t: " … Think about the unique legal features your practice offers clients … "
Lawyers have a very difficult time truly understanding what we (lawyers) provide to clients. Clearly, this is not easy for most of us. Saying "we provide solutions" is not sufficient.
Because of this, it is difficult to differentiate ourselves from the other 1 million lawyers in this country! As the legal profession matures and lawyers come to fully understand the business-like qualities of professional service providers, being able to state the differentiation in ways clients understand may be one key to economic survival.
USA TODAY Snapshots tells us, in today’s edition, that certain cities blog more than others. I’m not sure how they get this information, but the number of posts per 100,000 residents in March and April are the following:
Boston 89
Philadelphia 88
Pittsburgh 53
Washington 51
Portland, OR 49
I’m surprised that Western cities (further south of OR) aren’t on the list and, with all the politicians in the area, why Washington didn’t rate higher …
But, it takes a blog to talk about the blogging list, right? 🙂
Edward Poll, principal of LawBiz® Management Co., announces that LawBiz® Blog has gone live! As of today, the complete redesign of the Blog site is active. (more…)
Blogs by and for lawyers have arrived, or said slightly differently, have reached the "tipping point." After all, if the establishment, American Bar Association, can create a directory of blog/blawgs, right on the home page of its Journal, then we’ve arrived. And, I’m pleased to say that LawBiz Blog has received mention in this listing.
It seems that the argument about the distinction between law as a business and law as a profession hasn’t yet died. David Bilinsky shares a comment about a new book by David Slayton, entitled Lawyers Gone Bad: Money, Sex and Madness in Canada’s Legal Profession. (more…)
Amber Dance, an LA Times staff writer tells us that the “… laser printer sitting on your desk could be emitting high levels of potentially hazardous particles …” according to a study published today. “Some printers released almost as many ultra-fine particles as a smoldering cigarette, the study authors said.”
“‘Particles have been shown beyond any doubt to be a health hazard,’ said study author Lidia Morawska, a physicist at Queensland University of Technology in Australia.”
HP LaserJet and Ricoh fared well in the study. But HP, for example, had non-emitters in eight HP LaserJet 4050 series printers, while having high emitters in their LaserJet 1320 and 4250, “which, when printing, increased the particle number in the air more than tenfold.”
