One more year, and another Strategic Solutions for Solo and Small Firms (affectionately SoloSmall) under our belts. Bob and I were in attendance this year and enjoyed catching up everyone there and taking in the weather and sights of Duluth. The big themes of the conference this year were automation (e.g. document assembly) and and productivity and efficiency, more so than in recent years where the main focus was on marketing (although that’s a constant theme, as it should be for solo/smalls).

Every year we like to make a list of our top tips and takeaways from the conference. Here’s our list for 2012.

Automation of Legal Services

• Do what a machine can never do. In other words, don’t build your practice on something a machine can do, like filling out form, and know that your value is in your counsel, prevention, or strategy.
• Don’t fight automation, embrace it. “Fight with the machine.” If non-lawyers can do it, we can do it better. So far we aren’t taking advantage of this and are leaving the market open for non-lawyers to do it for us.

Productivity & Technology

• Use a voicemail transcription service. Speakers at various sessions suggested Google Voice and Ring Central.
• Does technology make out-of-office messages antiquated? Hotly debated at one session was the suggestion that email auto-replies are like saying “I’m sorry, I don’t have a smart phone.”
• Give new clients a “Client Expectations” sheet. This should have expectations for BOTH you and the client. (e.g., “Our firm treat emails like voicemails and return them within 24 hours.”)
• Cloud computing, simplified. Your stuff is not on your own computer. Just make sure you own your stuff (check the terms of service).
• Inbox Zero. Even if you don’t think you’ll do it, at least watch the video:

Marketing & the Legal Market

• Blogs, simplified: It’s a newsletter that’s always on the same web page, and the newest newsletter is always at the top of the page.
• Do people buy legal services the same way they buy wine? (Price + brand recognition) If so, Blogs and/or other content marketing help the solo amplify when they don’t otherwise have the brand recognition. Also, don’t compete on price unless you can sell it as “smart priced” I.e. relentlessly showing that you are cheaper because you are efficient and use technology to save people money. Otherwise cheap says you’re not as good.
• A good formula for Twitter and Facebook content is 70-75% articles or other material of interest to your followers, and 20-25% about you. Don’t make it all a commercial for you or people will stop wanting to hear what you have to say.

The Profession

• Build a community instead of a network. Community is a two-way street where we care about each other, not just our own interests. Lawyers are good at putting up walls, but you might be surprised at how things change when you get to know people, and to the benefit of our profession.

Want more? See our takeaways from 2011 and 2010.

What are your takeaways from the conference?

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Post tags: Marketing, Minnesota CLE, SoloSmall, Technology

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I’m up at the SoloSmall conference today, but I wanted to put out a quick post about a story that’s hit the Internet over the past day or so.  Mat Honan, a writer for Wired has posted an article about how he lost his entire digital life through a clever hack. A hacker decided that he wanted to get ahold of Honan’s 3-letter Twitter handle (@mat), so the hacker worked his way through Honan’s Amazon account, Apple iCloud account, and Gmail account in order to reset the Twitter password.  Along the way, the hacker wreaked havoc on Honan’s digital life, causing Honan to be locked out of his email and losing all of the info in his iPhone, iPad and Mac. It’s an interesting read and I found it amazing at how resourceful the hacker was in using social engineering to circumvent what most people think of as secure systems.

Honan lost a lot of information – including his only copies of photos of his young daughter.  Lawyers may also have valuable (and potentially irreplaceable) data that could be at risk if proper precautions aren’t taken. Of course you’ve heard a lot of the advice that’s always given in these situations – backup early and often.  Keep multiple copies of valuable information in different places.

But here’s some new advice – particularly if you use Google applications such as Gmail in your practice.  Try to find additional security for your accounts.  Google has a great system that would have prevented Honan’s attacker from gaining access to his Google accounts called 2-factor identification.  This system provides an additional layer of protection for your Google account, requiring both something you know (a password) and something you have (typically your cell phone) in order to access your account from a new computer.

Google’s system is pretty easy to use.  (I can speak from experience since I set it up earlier this summer.)  Whenever you use a new computer to access your account, Google will ask you for a special 6 digit code.  You obtain the code in one of several ways – by receiving a text at your cell phone, through a voice telephone call, via a special app installed on a smartphone, or from a pre-printed list that you obtain ahead of time.  If you don’t have the special code, you can’t access your account.  If you access your account from a trusted computer, you can check a box that will let Google know that the computer is safe for the next 30 days.  If you use a third-party application to access your account, you can get a special one-time password to use for that application. This system adds an additional hoop that you have to jump through every so often, but the minimal additional hassle is (in my opinion) worth the peace of mind it gives you.

We’ve written in the past about how information in the cloud can streamline your practice.  But we’ve all got to be careful in how we protect the information for our own sake and the sake of our clients.  We continue to recommend these tools (and I will continue to use Google applications in my own practice), but Honan’s tale reinforces how important it is to make sure we use all of the security tools available to us.

© Bob for Practice Blawg, 2012. | Permalink | No comments yet | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: 2-factor authentication, Email, Google, hacking, Security

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• Articles of Organization for LLC  (BUS-301)
• Articles of Organization for Professional LLC        (BUS-302)
• Resolution of Organizer of LLC in Lieu of Meeting              (BUS-305)
• Organizational Resolutions of the Board of Governors of LLC Adopted In Lieu of Meeting              (BUS-306)
• Articles of Amendment of Articles of LLC              (BUS-310)
• Contribution Agreement              (BUS-312)
• Member Control Agreement – Single Member LLC           (BUS-320)
• Bylaws (Operating Agreement) of LLC    (BUS-330)

These forms join the Annual Corporate Minute Checklist (JS-150) which was posted previously.

In the coming months we plan to augment the business law library with documents for a corporation, a model promissory note, and a security agreement. The drafting of these documents is already underway.

Let us know if you have suggestions for additional documents.

© Nancy Hupp for Practice Blawg, 2012. | Permalink | No comments yet | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: LLC

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Perhaps most significantly, the final rules mandate electronic filing of all documents by attorneys representing parties in, and government agencies appearing in, all general civil and family law cases in the Second and Fourth Judicial Districts (i.e., Ramsey and Hennepin Counties) other than Conciliation Court and Probate/Mental Health cases.  Attorneys and government agencies must also electronically serve all documents required or permitted to be served on other registered attorneys and government agencies in such cases.

While we suggest that you download the new rules by clicking on the link above, here are some additional points that may be of interest to you:

• Filing by fax will no longer be permitted in cases where e-filing is required.
• Documents that are to be filed electronically must be formatted as Microsoft Word documents, WordPerfect documents, PDF files, or .tif files. Without leave from the court, all images must be in black and white – no color images will be retained by the e-filing system.
• Each electronic document must be smaller than 5MB and each filing must be smaller than 25 MB.  Larger documents or filings may be filed in several parts.
• Attorneys representing parties and governmental agencies appearing in mandatory e-filing cases must register with the e-filing system upon filing of any document by any party.
• New Rule 14.06 establishes a procedure for designating confidential or sealed documents that will be filed electronically.
• In addition to the required e-filing described above, voluntary e-filing is permitted in conciliation and probate mental health courts in Hennepin and Ramsey Counties as designated by the respective courts. Voluntary e-filing in civil cases in other pilot locations  designated by the state court administrator will continue to be permitted.

© Bob for Practice Blawg, 2012. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
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We wanted to give you a quick update on our recent post about HF322, the bill that modified the presumptions regarding joint physical custody.  Yesterday, Governor Dayton vetoed the bill.  You can read his veto letter here.  In the letter, Governor Dayton proposes active collaboration with the Legislature in the next session, so it’s likely that this issue will return next year.

UPDATE:  A reader correctly notes that Governor Dayton did not actually veto HF322.  Instead, as he noted in his letter above, he chose to not sign the bill or deposit it with the Secretary of State, thereby resulting in a pocket veto.

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