Patrick Lamb, partner in the Valorem Law Group of Chicago, IL, is a leader in the national discussion concerning value billing. In today’s conversation, Patrick talks about short-term and long-term pressures on legal fees resulting from the financial crisis facing our country. Patrick and Ed also discuss the impact that those pressures will have on lawyers’ compensation.
Rick Borstein is the Business Development Manager of the Legal Market for Adobe Systems, Inc. He talks with Ed about all the differnt versions Adobe Acrobat 9 and their associated features. He also discusses Acrobat.com for file sharing and collaboration.
For those who want to learn more about Adobe’s products after listening to this interview, you go to Rick’s blog, at www.adobe.com/go/acrolaw.
Karl Robe, APR, possesses 15 years experience, during which he has counseled c-level executives from Fortune 100 companies to start-ups in business-to-business, public affairs and leadership communications. As an author, presenter and coach on a multitude of communications topics, his insights have appeared in The Strategist, Cris Manager, Wisconsin Law Journal and numerous other venues. Karl has achieved an Accreditation in Public Relations (APR), certifying a candidate’s knowledge of public relations practice, communications, theory, management science and ethics.
Tom O’Leary is the owner of The Attorneys ATM, a marketing and advertising firm based in Cincinnati, OH and the author of How to Dominate Google, Yahoo and MSN. In the past decade, he has assisted more than 400 small and medium sized businesses with their marketing strategies, with a focus on leveraging the Internet to increase revenue.
Stewart Levine, author of Getting to Resolution and his latest work, Collaboration 2.0, talks about the benefits of collaboration, the higher heights that can be reached through collaboration, and the use of technology to aid this process. Among other comments, Stewart talks about 7 requirements for effective collaboration, it is important for lawyers to learn collaboration and to use this skill appropriately.
Bruce Callow a CPA and partner in the Seattle, WA accounting firm of Clothier & Head talks about the “dashboard.” His comments were made to the Financial Core Group of the Law Practice Management Section of the American Bar Association. His comments identify the new “dashboard” concept of having important financial metrics for a law firm displayed in an easy to understand format. Bruce discussed the most meaningful law firm financial measurements and how to show them to law firm management.
Mike Downey is an attorney with Hinshaw and Culbertson LLP in St. Louis, MO. He recently spoke to several members of the Finance Core Group, Law Practice Management Section, American Bar Association, about the reasons for and some ethical considerations of alternative legal fees. His comments were well-spoken and directly on target for lawyers who have client responsibilities in negotiating fees before the inception of legal work.
Corel WordPerfect Office Suite X4 is here. Jay Larock, Director of Product Management for Corel WordPerfect Office, is interviewed by Ed, talking about the latest version of WordPerfect’s Office Suite. Several important features have been added. Ed specifically addresses the WordPerfect improvements, their outstanding word processing application.
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.