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Cybersecurity Law & Strategy
AI and Law Practice: A Roadmap for Success In Modern Legal Firms
Melissa “Rogo” Rogozinski and Steve Salkin
This article lays out a general roadmap for success in modern legal firms through the strategic incorporation of AI technologies.
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
Is Non-Lawyer Ownership of Law Firms Coming Soon?
Quentin Brogdon
Powerful forces are now pushing regulators in the direction of non-lawyer ownership of law firms in the United States. Some of the forces are completely well-intentioned, but some of the forces are not so well-intentioned.
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
Should Law Firms Make Pass-Through Entity Tax Elections?
Jonathan Weinberg
As a result of the TCJA, the owners of pass-through entities are limited in the amount of state and local taxes they can deduct on their Federal income tax return. In response, over 25 states have enacted pass-through entity tax regimes, which allow the owners of law firms to preserve their state and local tax deduction on their income from the law firm.
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
Big Law Leaders Grappling With Attorney Disengagement
Andrew Maloney
Unlike burnout or “quiet quitting,” which arguably stemmed from mostly short-term dynamics, observers point to a collision of current and long-term trends, such as post-pandemic work and generational shifts, that have led lawyers today to be less committed to or fulfilled in the profession as they were a decade ago.
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Cybersecurity Law & Strategy
Jurisdictional License Requirements and Disparate Laws Are Hindering Law Firms’ Fight Against Cybercrime
Isha Marathe
Some cybersecurity experts think the structure of law in the U.S. itself means that truly fighting against growing threat actors is a losing game. Take, for example, the fact that attorneys are largely limited by jurisdictional licensure requirements. While on the other hand, bad actors are often organized, unsaddled by jurisdictional challenges, and able to function as a large decentralized group.
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
Tips to Minimize Malpractice Claims
Michael R. McAndrew
So long as humans are practicing law, mistakes will happen; but well prepared attorneys are proactive and take the affirmative steps to put themselves in a position to minimize the danger to the client and the case.
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Cybersecurity Law & Strategy
Cyber-Insecurity: Will the Looming Regulatory Crackdown on Cybersecurity Practices Help Protect Financial Institutions from Attack?
Lori Van Auken and Adam Jamieson
A slew of new regulations targeting the cybersecurity practices of financial institutions will come into effect during 2022. But will they have any real bearing on protecting financial firms from attack?
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Cybersecurity Law & Strategy
Driving Innovation in a Dynamically Changing Legal Market
Ari Kaplan
A series of interviews with large law firm partners around the world to better understand how they are leveraging technology to drive innovation and transformation in their practices.
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Marketing The Law Firm
Sales Speak: Selling Doesn’t Cause Buying
Eric Dewey
Selling doesn’t cause buying. Buying is an internal business process and that process is fast becoming out of sync with the sales training we often push on our lawyers. Our buyers know more than we do about what is really important inside companies when they are looking to hire outside counsel. We must get better at that lest many of our practices become even more commoditized.
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
Highlight Client Service Skills In the New Year
Sharon Meit Abrahams
Attorneys need their clients to see them as a trusted advisor and partner in their legal solutions. If the lawyer takes time at the beginning of the relationship to establish expectations, then future conflicts can be avoided or resolved more quickly.
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Cybersecurity Law & Strategy
Cybersecurity Practices Grow As Firms Compete for Talent
Brenda Sapino Jeffreys
Law firms in every segment of the market are hiring cybersecurity and privacy laterals and launching new practices, as more of their clients become aware of their vulnerabilities while working remotely.
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Cybersecurity Law & Strategy
Legal Analytics and the Evolving Practice of Law
Josh Becker
While we may use analytics differently in our respective companies, one thing is certain: Legal analytics is the future and it’s time to jump on board.
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
Strategies to Avoid or Reduce Billing Rate Discounts
Eric Dewey
For a large portion of engagements, discounts are not necessary to win the work. In fact, discounts come at a price. Both parties assume a degree of risk when margins are thinned. This article presents several techniques that you can use to re-direct discussions away from discounts and help to minimize their financial impact.
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
Producing Breakthroughs in Client Development
Arnold Keiser
It is easy to understand why many lawyers feel that only certain special individuals are blessed with the qualities necessary to be rainmakers. But almost anyone willing to develop the qualities necessary can become a rainmaker.
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
Law Firm Leadership Isn’t a Role, It’s a Mindset
Michael A. Gerstenzang and Hy Pomerance
When a law firm does not subscribe to a traditional corporate structure
At most companies, the leadership structure is typically clear and hierarchical. But what does leadership look like at a law firm when a traditional corporate structure doesn’t apply?
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Marketing The Law Firm
Professional Development: Why an Online “To-Do” List and Notes Are So Important
Brett Spodak
If You Want To Do More, Go Paper-Less
he secret to increased productivity and a powerful agenda process is to finally ditch the paper and move to a more flexible system for both your daily to-do list and notes. This article makes the case for why moving to a digital platform for a to-do list and notes will increase your productivity.
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
Outsourcing the Back Office?
J. Mark Santiago
Outsourcing is supposed to be the new wave of the future that will fundamentally change the way that law firms provide services to their clients and partners. But is this so?
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
Law Firm Leaderships’ Biggest Challenge: Equality of Outcome
David J. Parnell
Aggressive Poaching In the Market Is Forcing Leadership to Contend With the Delicate Balance of Equality, Culture and Compensation In their Firms
Many leaders are no longer focused just on business development but are also trying to figure out how to continue making money and structure their firms in a way that allows them to spend the requisite money to pay top talent.
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Marketing The Law Firm
Media & Communications: How to Make PR Simple, Convenient and Unintimidating for Lawyers
Bethany (Early) Chieffallo
Top Tips for Public Relations Success in Law Firms
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Marketing The Law Firm
'Law Firm Leadership:' Creating a Collaborative Work Environment
Silvia Coulter
Collaborative cultures soar in profitability, talent acquisition and retention, client retention and client service.
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Cybersecurity Law & Strategy
Online Extra: The Evolving Nature of Cyber Law
Gabrielle Orum Hernández
A Q&A with Penn Law Prof. Anne Toomey McKenna
The newly appointed Penn State professor sees a lot of room for questions in the evolving cyber law landscape, but so far there are few answers.
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Cybersecurity Law & Strategy
The Power of Certifications In the Legal Industry
Jared Coseglia
Part One of a Two-Part Article
The key paths and the corresponding certifications available for lawyers — and nonlawyers — to pursue to help successfully administer a career in the legal industry in the coming decade.
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Marketing The Law Firm
'Competitive Intelligence:' CI Is Another Tool in Marketing’s Arsenal for Practice Group Planning
Patricia Ellard
It’s the budgeting and planning time of year. And, if the legal industry literature is anything to go by, strategies are in for law firms. A well-defined and well-communicated strategy provides a tangible way for law firms to identify their strengths and differentiators.
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Marketing The Law Firm
Showcasing Attorney Expertise: Guidance for Law Firms
Cindy Sharp
Many attorneys already share intellectual capital by writing articles or delivering presentations with the hope of attracting additional business. However, most individuals, and even firms, have not developed a cohesive plan to ensure maximum exposure.
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
Teaching an Old Dog New Tricks: Business Process Management and Law Firms
Zachary Beauchemin and Alisha DiGiandomenico
Though traditionally considered laggards when adopting new technology, law firms have recently started to explore new tricks to fortify performance across their organizations. While this evolution is critical to a firm's survival, it's important that firm administrators understand that substantive improvements are only possible through multi-directional change.
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
The New DOL Fiduciary Rule
Charles B. Blanton, Jr.
While there are many items and complexities to the new rule, this article focuses on the basic premise of why the rule was developed and adopted and the effect on the retirement landscape and the players involved.
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Law Firm Partnership & Benefits Report
Why Associates Leave and How You Can Get Them to Stay
Tina Cohen and Jennifer Henderson
When a seemingly happy and successful associate announces the decision to move on, his or her firm can be left feeling shocked and confused. This article provides insight behind these moves, and what law firms can do to make their top associates want to stay.
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Cybersecurity Law & Strategy
How Analytics Is Shaping the Current and Future Practice of Law
Jeff Pfeifer
Anyone following the news headlines of late is aware that artificial intelligence (AI) is being heralded as the technology that will transform industries far and wide — including the legal profession. The evolution of technology in the practice of law today has already led to significant advances in data analytics and data visualization, each of which are having a significant impact on legal work.
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
How Analytics Is Shaping the Current and Future Practice of Law
Jeff Pfeifer
Anyone following the news headlines of late is aware that artificial intelligence (AI) is being heralded as the technology that will transform industries far and wide — including the legal profession. The evolution of technology in the practice of law today has already led to significant advances in data analytics and data visualization, each of which are having a significant impact on legal work.
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Law Firm Partnership & Benefits Report
The Evolution of the 'Virtual Law Firm'
Gabrielle Orum Hernández
Though ‘Virtual Firms’ Are on the Decline, Cloud Technology May Be Shifting the Model to Refocus on Lawyer Mobility
The rise of cloud computing in particular has made it possible for attorneys to keep all the technology tools they need to practice on hand at all times, and eschew direct client contact and office space if so desired.
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Law Firm Partnership & Benefits Report
Step into Power: Lead with Aplomb
Anne Collier
For a firm to be successful, its leaders must create the circumstances for "1,000 flowers to bloom." As corny as this may sound, that is what great law-firm leaders do.
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Law Firm Partnership & Benefits Report
Is Your Data Breach Response Plan Good Enough? Stress Test It!
Rich Blumberg and Eric Hodge
As the chances of a data breach incident increase, savvy firms and businesses have invested time and thought in a response plan. But plans never survive first contact with the enemy. Stress test your incident response plan to find and resolve its weaknesses while time is on your side.
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Law Firm Partnership & Benefits Report
At the Intersection
Lawyers Are Ignoring A Vital Business Development Tool
Pamela Woldow
When we teach and discuss Legal Project Management (LPM), we stress that the last of LPM's five basic steps, Post Project Review, not only is every bit as essential as the first four steps, it can be an extraordinarily powerful business development lever, as well.
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
The Evolution of the 'Virtual Law Firm'
Gabrielle Orum Hernández
Though “Virtual Firms” Are on the Decline, Cloud Technology May Be Shifting the Model to Refocus on Lawyer Mobility
While the "virtual lawyer" may be on the decline, the technology making law practices more portable and potentially more efficient has seen a surge. The rise of cloud computing in particular has made it possible for attorneys to keep all the technology tools they need to practice on hand at all times and eschew direct client contact and office space if so desired.
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
Law Departments and Clients Face Budgetary Concerns in 2017
Steve Kovalan
Law departments are not being asked to do more with less? Instead, they are being asked to do more with more (though sometimes their budget increases are not keeping up with their new responsibilities).
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Accounting And Financial Planning For Law Firms
True Partnerships Reward Partner-Like Behavior
Steven J. Harper
A true partnership requires a compensation structure that rewards partner-like behavior — collegiality, mentoring, expansion and transition of client relationships to fellow partners, and a consensus to pursue long-term strategies promoting institutional stability rather than maximizing short-term profit metrics.
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Law Firm Partnership & Benefits Report
Mastering the Art of Self-Promotion
Carol Morganstern
Self-promotion makes many people uncomfortable and unsure. However, to really maximize your hard work as a lawyer, you need to let the world know about your successes — and nobody can do it all for you.
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The Matrimonial Strategist
'Potential Client' Conflict Issues
Matthew A. Feigin
Continuing the discussion of matrimonial client "conflict checks" — the exercise attorneys must go through with each new potential client, to make sure that the representation will not conflict with work the attorney is doing or has done for a current or former client.
Part Two of a Three-Part Article
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Law Firm Partnership & Benefits Report
The Human Factor In Information Security
Michael Kemps and Kimberly Pease
No one can deny that cyberattacks are the new norm. Such risks will increasingly challenge our ability to operate our businesses. In the world of cybercrime, everyone — from individuals to nation-states — is a target. However, some targets are more alluring than others.
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Marketing The Law Firm
CMO Best Practices: Some Tips to Make a Really Tough Job a Little Easier
Bruce Alltop
The issues that I confronted a dozen years ago when I became a CMO for the first time are very much the same issues that my CMO brothers and sisters face today. Irrespective of whether you've had decades of experience or not, the job is tough. Well, the job is relatively easy, but ensuring that your team members get all the credit and your firm hits its success metrics, while maintaining your visibility and growing your perceived value, remains very much a challenge to even the most seasoned professionals.
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Law Firm Partnership & Benefits Report
Retiring Boomers Pose Big Challenges For Firms
Julie Triedman
The boomer generation — 75 million Americans born between 1946 and 1964 — and a tiny cadre of over-70s Silent Generation lawyers currently make up just under half of partners at Am Law 200 firms. As partners with the greatest seniority, they constitute a majority in the equity and management ranks, and control an outsize share of client relationships. The impacts of retirement are amplified because a long surge in hiring and promotion that began when boomers entered law firms has halted since the financial crisis.
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Law Firm Partnership & Benefits Report
AI and the Law
Pamela Woldow
The Paradigm Shift Hits the Fan
AI — artificial intelligence — and its relatives: digital research engines, “bots” and other automatons, have made their beachhead in the legal profession, and it really looks like this is gonna change everything.
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Law Firm Partnership & Benefits Report
Partner and Millennial Associates’ Performance Expectations
Linda L. Hardenstein, MPA, PCC
“They don’t want to work!” It’s an all-too-familiar refrain uttered about associates of the millennial generation. As more and more millennials enter the workforce these generational clashes will continue. What can be done to bridge the gap and why should you care?
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Law Firm Partnership & Benefits Report
How to Be a Great Mentor to Associate Attorneys
Rebecca Glatzer
Mentorship is a key element of associate engagement and retention. While most law firms have formal and informal mentoring programs, not all firms give explicit instructions on how to be a good mentor to junior attorneys. Here are some tips that can prepare you to be a great mentor to the associates at your firm.
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Marketing The Law Firm
Essential Qualities of Successful Rainmakers
Cynthia Sharp
Although a handful of law firms has hired non-lawyer sales teams, most still rely upon individual attorneys or practice groups to generate new client matters (i.e., to sell) even though the majority of them have never received business development skills training. This article describes some of the important characteristics and habits shared by attorneys who have built successful practices.
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Marketing The Law Firm
Moving from Good Law to Great Law™
James A. Durham
Law firm leadership is at a proverbial fork in the road. The people running law firms can continue to do business as usual, or they can lead their firms toward a model of business that reflects the new and still evolving client expectations and market demands.
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Marketing The Law Firm
Culture of Collaboration
Peter Ozolin
Optimal Insights Through Inter-Departmental Initiatives
As dizzying amounts of resources and the need for the timeliest insights grow, the conduit and collaboration between business development and an organization’s information management department, especially, becomes more critical than ever.
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Marketing The Law Firm
Highlights of 2016 and Predictions for 2017 Attract Year-End Media Interest
Janet Falk
By guiding your colleagues and lawyers to focus on the business consequences of timely legal issues, you introduce them to reporters as sources whose opinions and predictions will be quoted in these look-back and look-ahead review stories that executives and prospective clients will be reading to gear up for the new year.
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Marketing The Law Firm
Are You a Five-Tool Player?
Beth Cuzzone and David Freeman
A law firm executive’s ability to lead lawyers’ potential for greatness can be evaluated using a model that is similar to baseball. The term “five-tool player” is used to describe a player who has an array of skills across a broad spectrum.
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