Tom Collins wonders out loud about how law firms can experience embezzlement. This is not the first time he has wondered about it. In fact, I commented about his earlier comment in my blog and my web-zine. He raises good questions … and we both wonder why lawyers don’t pay more attention to the processes needed to avoid such catastrophes.
Yesterday, Josh Wolf, a blogger, was released from prison in Northern California. He spent 226 days (7 1/2 months) in prison for refusing to testify or turn over videotape he had taken of a San Francisco street demonstration where a police officer was injured.
Years ago, as a youngster, I saw a clip on television that I remember to this day. It was a short that demonstrated how spaghetti was harvested! Yes, harvested! Full grown spaghetti being taken off the vine. This made no sense to me, but there it was, on television; it must be true.
The Ambrose law firm in Oregon is using the flat fee billing modality to significantly improve profits. Quoting Ed Poll, the writer in this article said: "According to Poll, ‘determining what a fee should be is an art, not a science.’ It requires the firm to consider the costs of running the firm, to have a tap on the marketplace and to understand the value to the client, he said…"
Profits can be stated in a mathematical formula: P = R – E. But, the "E" has a limitation. You can reduce expenses only so much before you start cutting out the "meat" of the law firm. "R," on the other hand, has no limit. You can increase revenue without limitation. Focused practice development efforts will attract new work; and once you get the work, you can develop the appropriate infrastructure to handle the increases.
Congratulations to Dave Ambrose and his crew of outstanding folks.
See Monica Bay’s blog article about saving energy when using new technology.
Many folks are beginning to use video on YouTube. Political satire, personal journal-ing, acting and singing are examples of personal use of the "new" technology.
Law firms, especially sole practitioners, can’t be too far behind in this world where change is happening at an ever-increasing pace. For example, I was advised not to buy a new PDA because Apple will be releasing its new i-Phone in the next few months. My audio studio is more sophisticated, I’m told by an engineer, than most radio stations. Yet, it is now obsolete because of Panasonic’s new phone system which I just installed that allows me to do the same recording, and more, than I was able to do with the old system.
One can spend both a fortune in money and in time just keeping up. The goal: Stay at the leading edge of technology where it enables you to perform more or more efficiently the work that your clients value from you. Know what the bleeding edge of technology will bring, but otherwise ignore it.
Ed Poll interviewes Zafar Khan, chief executive officer of RPost, a new electronic registered mail system that allows you to both certify receipt of mail by the recipient as well as the contents of the attachments. Not even the U.S. Postal service can do the latter. It’s the next best thing to having someone watch the recipient read your post. And, the best part, you don’t even have to sign up for the service, just pay for the post as you use it. Listen for more details as Ed interviews Zafar.
21 minutes, 24 seconds
5.0MB
Realization rate now has one more element to its definition. Tom Collins analyzes this management tool-metric for evaluating performance.
Honeypots are a new phenomenon that can ensnare the unwary.
From Associated Press, (March 20, 2007)
JUNEAU, Alaska – Perhaps you know that sinking feeling when a single keystroke accidentally destroys hours of work. Now imagine wiping out a disk drive containing information for an account worth $38 billion.
That’s what happened to a computer technician reformatting a disk drive at the Alaska Department of Revenue. While doing routine maintenance work, the technician accidentally deleted applicant information for an oil-funded account – one of Alaska residents’ biggest perks – and mistakenly reformatted the backup drive, as well.
There was still hope, until the department discovered its third line of defense, backup tapes, were unreadable….
See full article by Anne Sutton (Associated Press Writer)