Mark Britton is the founder and CEO of Avvo, Inc. He was interviewed by Ed concerning the novel approach to rating lawyers. Mark talks about the objectives of Avvo: to help consumers enter the legal community with confidence, to help lawyers differentiate themselves and increase their revenues. They do this, in part, by rating lawyers by three separate modalities: Peer review; Client review; and Avvo review. Avvo is now moving beyond just rating lawyers into providing information to consumers. Listen to this interview and learn about the new rating methodology that will envelope most lawyers in the near future.
Anthony E. Davis is a partner of Hinshaw & Culbertson and co-author of Risk Management: Survival Tools for Law Firms, Second Edition. He focuses his practice on risk management and professional responsibility. Anthony talked recently with the American Bar Association’s Law Practice Management’s Finance Core Group. His comments highlight the importance of the intake process to create the right dialogue with clients and a collaborative relationship, the most effective modality to serve clients best. Ed moderated the presentation.
He talks with Ed about ScanSnap’s standard model, S510, and their new mobile model S300. As Ed noted, the ScanSnap is a “must have” for most legal practitioners.
Gretchen Neels and Ed talk about the new civility movement in the legal profession and how the 3, sometimes 4, generations of lawyers in the same workplace need to become more aware of their differences in order to remain profitable and provide expected client services.
Alexis Martin Neely is a graduate of a major university law school, first in her class, clerked for a judge in the 11th circuit and then joined a major, prestigious law firm. But, her real-life experiences in the law didn’t match her original expectations. Our interview addresses what those expectations and experiences were. What should a lawyer do who no longer likes to practice law? Alexis has advice for lawyers in this position. Law is a loving, caring, and helping profession. Why don’t some clients understand this? Listen to Alexis. As we start the new year, it is good to review these questions and answers.
Andy Birol is a business growth consultant and author of The Five Catalysts of Seven Figure Growth (CareerPress, 2006); he has advised over 350 business owners and is an expert contributor to The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and Business Week, among others. He discusses how attorneys can best impact the business clients they advise and how the attorney can best work together with the client’s team of consultants and other experts.
Peter Brusso, CEO of Infocard.cc, works with service businesses to create small CD-ROM business cards. He interviewed Ed at Ed’s State Bar of California annual conference booth in September, 2007. Peter is also CEO of podcastingforlawyers.com.
In this first interview Ed discusses the importance of a business plan. “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.”
Interview 1
13 minutes, 50 seconds
3.2MB
In this second interview Ed discusses the power of coaching and mentoring and the importance of learning how to run a business.
Jim Arden, a California litigating attorney who focuses on attorney malpractice and legal ethics, discusses the issues of computer security. Technology is a great tool that allows us to be more effective and more efficient. Along the way, however, we can have our tools corrupted. Jim Arden delineates some of the problems with wireless computers in our current environment. Jim asks questions such as: Will your refrigerator be the transmitter of a virus to your computer network? (Did you ever think this was possible?) What security protection will you need this year? Is virus protection, spyware and firewalls enough? Listen to Jim Arden for the answers… and more.
In this interview, Ed speaks with Debbie Epstein about diversity in the law firm with specific focus on gender issues. Debbie is the founder and principal of Flex-Time Lawyers LLC, who helps law firms address gender issues — specifically, how to retain women in their ranks. Women, in many of the top ranked law schools, comprise more than 50% of the graduating classes, and have for quite a few years. Yet, this percentage is not reflected as law firm partners, management or committee members. What is the reason for this and why is it important?
