LJN Newsletters

Firms that want to be successful in bringing in new business must do more than simply tell prospective clients that they are better than their competition. Law firms must be able to show why they are different, and more importantly, how they will help the general counsel improve his or her bottom line. For a small to midsize firm, keeping up with the large firms who have unlimited marketing budgets can be tough. But technology is allowing small firms like ours to narrow that gap.

When Haight Brown & Bonesteel, a 90-attorney law firm in California, decided to relocate in 2001, we were faced with a serious records management issue: our new records center would only be one-third the size of our current space. Knowing that significant changes were in order, we called in an outside vendor to conduct a needs assessment and offer recommendations. Outsourcing the day-to-day center operations to a vendor was not the original goal, but here's what happened.

As attorneys we all know that information is power, however for us to ever use this power in a sensible manner, we must first be able to quickly, reliably, and easily obtain the necessary bits and bytes of information that we need. For most of us our computer's data, as hard as we try to organize it, never seems to be in the places that we put it, or we forgot to put it anywhere recognizable at all. Then each time we look for a document, a file, a whatever, we spend much too much of our, or our secretaries, valuable time in just the file location process.
Well now a new company ' Wizsoft ' introduces us to a new and better way to search, called WizDoc for Office.

At some point nearly all law firms consider using trial consulting services, some to test out in-court techniques before a mock jury, others to meet the challenges of representing high-profile litigants in well-publicized cases, and still others to meet the burdensome technology demands that today's litigation can present.
There are several types of cases that lend themselves to use of trial consulting services, especially litigation involving class action, construction defect, patent and breach of contract. It is important to note that each trial is different, with its own dynamic and subject to changes based on rulings as the case proceeds.

The number of new law firms formed by partners that have split off from existing firms is on the rise. As such, these partners, who may never have been involved in technology decisions at their previous firms, have to start from scratch in order to implement the computer systems, e-mail systems, financial and practice management software needed to conduct business.

New York State Senator Thomas K. Duane, who represents the 29th District (which includes portions of Manhattan), and is the state's only openly gay Senator, spoke to the State's Matrimonial Commission Oct. 14 on the issues of gay marriage and the custody issues same-sex partners face under present law. Senator Duane has been active in pushing for reforms to aid same-sex partners in gaining full legal status for their relationships. He authored the first bill in the New York State Legislature that would legalize same-sex civil unions and held a public forum on the issue in the Legislature on March 3 of this year.

In June, Chief Judge Judith S. Kaye appointed a Matrimonial Commission charged with reviewing the state of divorce law in New York and recommending reforms. The group, chaired by Appellate Division Associate Justice Sondra Miller of the Second Department, is made up of 32 members appointed in April. The Committee is holding several public forums at which groups and individuals involved in matrimonial matters can air their views on how best to improve New York's system in order to reduce the emotional and financial hardships of divorce. In this special issue, we give you an overview of some of the issues that have been raised before the Commission in the two listening sessions held thus far in New York City and Albany.

The current climate of earnest review of practices in the matrimonial field makes a revamping of the state's law guardian practice exquisitely timely. Some swear by the use of law guardians, while others may swear at it. The disparity in views can be attributed to the disparity in practices, from department to department, county to county, court to court, and case to case. There is disparity in the training of law guardians, and most unjustly, a disparity based on the parties' finances and ability to pay. To put it simply, any inconsistency in how 9-year-old Michael Byrne's lawyer in Buffalo works from how Mikhl Bernstein's lawyer in Brooklyn operates is an inconsistency waiting to be rectified, and some proposals therefore are offered herein.