Practice Management

The Derived Brand

Posted on February 12, 2009
Image wise the term branding conjures up mixed emotions for me. A brand today is meant to be a sign of prestige or some such thing. In Texas in represents a mark seared into your backside by a glowing red hot piece of iron. Not pleasant but memorable, and I guess the memorable part is the point...

Bill Collectors Are Terrible People In Terrible Jobs

Posted on February 11, 2009
I have thought about it off and on, and I always wonder why were should just not outlaw bill collectors. I am not talking about companies that feel they need to collect their own debt, but independent debt collection companies. After all, what really useful function do they serve? There entire existence, say what you will, is based solely on harassing, lying, bullying and deceiving people...

Google's Powermeter

Posted on February 11, 2009
You just have to love Google. More than any tech company they are revolutionizing the way lawyers, and especially Third Wave lawyers, operate, and they are doing it mainly for FREE.The newest entry is from Google.Org, which is the philanthropic wing of the company...

They Have No Idea

Posted on February 09, 2009

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Ad Hoc Law Firms

Posted on February 09, 2009
GAL raised an interesting question about the future and use of "of counsel" by law firms. I think the argument could go further and say, what about a law firm of only of counsel relationships, where one attorney acts as the contact or the hub through which the legal traffic follows...

Recession May Redesign The American Home (And Home Office)

Posted on February 08, 2009
I have always thought that the quickest and most surefire way to green up your home (if not your life) was simply to move your law office home. This works for two reasons. First, it seems to me, it substantially cuts your carbon footprint that is established through commuting to an outside office and all of the waste of having an outside office...

Tales Of The Rising Sun

Posted on February 08, 2009
How do I say this delicately?There is a Japanese proverb that reads (or so I am told because I do not read or speak Japanese) - Nokorimono ni wa fuku ga aru.The literal meaning, I see, is luck exists in the leftovers.My daughter, Mary Newton, is about to publish her first book entitled Tales Of The Rising Sun...

We All Have Too Much Space

Posted on February 04, 2009
Sometimes I think there is just something wrong with us. We drive huge vehicles, often times with just one or two people in them. We thrive on huge meals, with portion sizes way out of control. You use way to much energy for the benefit we receive. It is not only not green and not necessary, it is extraordinarily expensive...

Published On Build A Solo Practice - Living Proof Home Office Lawyering Works

Posted on February 04, 2009
Susan Cartier Liebel was kind enough to allow me to guest post on her blog -- Build A Solo Practice. You can and you should read the post or article, if you have not, and this is especially true if you have been thinking about making the move home with your law practice...

A Legal Problem Waiting To Happen

Posted on February 03, 2009
You have got to love signs. Last Fall I litigated a case in which the creditor put up a large sign trying to collect his debt on a major intersection in a small town. The point was to embarrass, and it worked. We are still waiting on the Court's opinion, so the issue must be more difficult than I suspect...

Not Buying, Need To Rent, Now Is The Time To Negotiate

Posted on February 03, 2009
If you are not in a position to buy a property now, and you need to rent longer, then you need to understand the realities of the market and negotiate the best deal you can get. See this MSNBC video on the subject. Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Michael Buble - "It Had Better Be Tonight"

Posted on January 31, 2009
Listening to Michael Buble at the worldwide home office today. Enjoy.

Ice Cream Trucks Are Still Magical

Posted on January 31, 2009
There is something about ice cream trucks. One ran buy my home while I was working in the home office and I had to restrain myself from running outside with my wallet. I guess when I had little kids at home I could mask my desires by rushing my kids to the curb...

Tuition Is Way Out Of Hand

Posted on January 29, 2009
I have two children in college and one in the JD/MBA program at the University of Houston. I still have one child at home anxious to start college. I feel my wife and I sacrifice hard to to get our children through without the need to bankrupt them. UH, like many other Texas university has increased both tuition and fees about 52% since my children started school...

Marketing Plans

Posted on January 29, 2009
Ok. Ok. Ok. I know that I am not much on formal marketing plans. Maybe it is because my group of lawyers is small, with no staff, and we can communicate between ourselves what the objective should be. But, I understand that some people get a since of motivation writing things down in an organized fasion...

Command And Control

Posted on January 29, 2009
Do you think of yourself as a worrier for justice, or some such thing?Many times when we think about terms like command and control we think about it in a military context. But, such terms have really been co-opted by the military. Have you ever thought why some law firms seem to perform so well and some law firms seem to languish or seem to be putting out one fire after another? It is probably (or at least partly) for the reason that some lawyers are good at command and control, and many lawyers are not...

Let The Free Market Determine The Best Way To Destroy Money

Posted on January 29, 2009
I just love The Onion. They really take these arguments of our public and politician and put them in the stupid light they deserve. I love this one about the money hole.

"The First Thing We Do, Let's Kill All The Lawyers"

Posted on January 27, 2009
We are all too familiar with this line form Shakespeare's King Henry VI, are we not? But, what is interesting is that Shakespeare did not mean this line as a cut or dig against lawyers, but a dig against commercial life and government. The point in the play is that the surest way to chaos and tyranny is to remove the guardians of independent thinking -- the lawyers...

Ain't It The Truth Most Days

Posted on January 26, 2009

Maybe You Should Stop Fighting Instant Messaging In Your Law Practice

Posted on January 24, 2009
Many lawyers like to IM on a personal basis or with some friends and colleagues, but they fight it when it comes to using it professionally in their law practices, and especially with clients. Everyone fears even great disruption.Maybe they should not...

Have You Ever Thought Of A PEO For Yourself?

Posted on January 22, 2009
This is a professional employer organization (PEO). You might have also heard it called co-employment, employee leasing or staff leasing. To me, in the past, it represented more than outsourcing of HR services, although it does that. But, to us Third Wavers it can possibly make the thought of private practice bearable...

I Know What They Means ... I Have To Take Three Cups To Work Now Myself

Posted on January 22, 2009

Is It Possible To Browbeat Down Your Broadband?

Posted on January 22, 2009
Broadband is everything to a Third Wave attorney. We literally live off the pipe. Telephone. TV. Internet access. It is not just part of the bundle of things we use, it is the bundle of things we need to thrive. By yesterday's standards it is cheap. By today's standards it is getting more expensive every single day...

What Is The Right Legal Structure For Your Law Firm

Posted on January 21, 2009
My initial reaction to this question is usually -- NONE.I get these questions from time to time, and usually more around the first of a year when lawyers are changing law firms and going out on their own.Certainly there are times to partner up or incorporate out, but I much prefer the KISS principal -- KEEP IT SIMPLE STUPID...

The Gun Trust Niche

Posted on January 20, 2009
I want to continue to bring to you different or unusual legal niches so you can clearly see that law is much more than a few broad categories. In this regard, lawyers continue to amaze me with their ingenuity in discovering, isolating, marketing and making profitable legal niches for themselves...

Beware Of The U.S. News Law School Rankings

Posted on January 19, 2009
We all want to feel good about ourselves. We want to think we are the best, or at least trying to be the best we can. The same is true for institutions like law schools. So, U.S. News & World Reports comes along and starts ranking law schools. Law schools in return start spending tons of money and molding their practices to game the U...

This Could Be A Good Or Bad Sign

Posted on January 18, 2009

The QDRO Niche

Posted on January 18, 2009
Third Wave style lawyers are nothing but innovative when it comes segregating out and developing what we like to call the Jiffy Lube model for the practice of law. What sliver of legal business can be carved out, that you can do yourself, and which is being neglected to some extent by the majority of practitioners? And man, if it is an area in which the client already has an established attorney, you do not have to necessarily meet face to face with the client, and there is not much in court work, that is all the better...

Niche Drift

Posted on January 18, 2009
Yes. Yes. I guess you can say that my blog has taken a niche drift of late. I just blogged about a QDRO Niche and a Nanny Niche. But to tell the truth, I practice in a very dedicated niche. I prosecute automatic stay and discharge injunction violations...

Lawyers And Bumper Cars

Posted on January 17, 2009
I have some experience with bumper cars, if in name only. It deals with Issac Newton's third law of interaction, which comes into play with bumper cars. This law says that if one body exerts a force on the second body, the second body exerts a force equal in magnitude and opposite in the direction on the first body...

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