SBM Blog

SBM Digital Library Offers Over 500 Free Resources

For many years, the Bar's Practice Management Resource Center has offered a lending library that ships printed copies of books upon request. As an enhancement to that service, a free online library is now available that allows members to download e-books and audio books to office computers, laptops, smartphones, and tablets. Unlike the lending library, which requires return shipping, the downloadable library items are free to members and will automatically delete after the designated lending period expires. Topics include business and client relations, career transitioning, financial management, technology how-to publications, self-help books, and The Nutshell series.

To browse titles in the digital library, visit the SBM Practice Management Resource Center Lending Libraries. Stay caught up with what the PMRC is doing by following them on Twitter @MIStateBarPMRC.

Check out the SBM Practice Management Resource Center's New Learning Page

The State Bar of Michigan Practice Management Resource Center has launched a new learning page: Learning EZ.

Learning EZ features educational videos, webinars and other resources created by the State Bar's practice management advisors and experts who work for SBM partner companies. 

The PMRC will also be launching a new Learning EZ free webinar series in which legal industry expert guests present webinars on technology, social media, practice management tools, cyber security, opening a practice and more.

To receive notifications on upcoming Learning EZ webinars and other practice management news, sign up here.

Could conflict among employees be the greatest strength of your firm or organization?

Margaret Heffernan discusses the importance of conflict in creating thinking organizations. Do you promote constructive conflict among the employees at your firm, department or organization? If not, take a listen.

 

 

Posted by Samantha Meinke

Learn to use technology in your law practice at a Lunch and Learn seminar

The State Bar of Michigan Practice Management Resource Center is currently offering Lunch and Learn, a series of educational seminars held during the noon lunch hour. Participants learn to utilize current technology within their law practices while enjoying soup from Zoup! The next Lunch and Learn seminar, at noon on Wednesday, June 18, will cover "Facebook 101":

You think you're a Facebook Jedi master—you can post photos of your cat from your smart phone like nobody's business. You shared "What does the Fox Say" from YouTube before your friends had even heard of it. You always have the best snarky comeback to your sarcastic teenage nephew's posts. You don't need an introduction to Facebook, right? Wrong. This session is an introduction to using Facebook professionally, teaching you to set up a page for your firm or professional organization to help you reach the site's one billion users.

More upcoming Lunch and Learn seminars will cover "Unleash the Acrobat in Adobe" on June 26, or "Create a Presentation in Prezi" on July 8.

Lunch and Learn seminars cost $25 per person. Register for a seminar today.

Posted by Samantha Meinke

Cooley students can still sign up for an SBM PMRC marketing seminar tomorrow in Auburn Hills

Attention law students: It's not too late to sign up for a marketing seminar put together by the State Bar of Michigan Practice Management Resource Center that will take place from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at Cooley's Auburn Hills campus. Law students can attend the seminar for free.

The seminar will feature speaker John F. Reed, an attorney and marketing expert, as well as SBM Practice Management Advisor JoAnn Hathaway.

Seminar Agenda:

Program Introduction
–Business Development and Marketing (BDM)
–What should your BDM plan include?
–Tools & information you will take away from this program

Building Your BDM Plan
Personal Branding
–Defined
–Applications
–Alignment with your firm's brand

Personal Marketing
–Personal marketing vs. firm marketing
–Goals & objectives
–Tactics & leverage

Networks & Networking
–Target audience vs. network
–Assessing the value of a contact
–Managing your network
–Cross-promoting your network
–The role of social media

Business Development
–Building relationships
–Business development conversations
–Converting conversations into clients
–Cross-selling
–Tools & techniques
–Creating a touchpoint system

Putting Your Plan in Action
–Custom-fitting your BDM plan to you
–Managing, monitoring, & measuring
–Reasonable expectations & investment

Posted by Samantha Meinke

 

Feeling Bullish About The Future Of The Practice of Law

Read Keep Calm and Carry On, 27 Geo. J. Legal Ethics 55 (2014), by Rene ́Reich-Graefe of Western New England University School of Law, who takes on those who forecast a relentlessly negative future for the legal profession:

Somehow, in the current climate, it seems easier for lawyers and legal educators—to the point of complete hysteria and delusion—to embrace the purported ‘all-goes-to-hell’ status quo of legal education and the legal profession. Pessimists may love this stuff. As a collective response of our profession, however, it seems time—indeed way past time—to stop such nonsense.

Lawyer retirement, population growth, and wealth transfer, he says, are the ticket to future lawyer prosperity. Money quote: 

[R]ecent law school graduates and current and future law students are standing at the threshold of the most robust legal market that ever existed in this country—a legal market which will grow, exist for, and coincide with, their entire professional career.

Not so fast, says Bill Henderson at Legal Whiteboard. Because technology.

[Updated] Practice Tip: Don't Use The Word "Churn" In Intra-Office Emails About Billing

There's more than one reason why suing a client for unpaid legal fees is usually considered inadvisable, even if you're the world's largest law firm.  Here's one -- your ex-client may countersue, accuse you of a “sweeping practice of overbilling,” and offer your own emails as evidence.  And then, insult to injury, a global newspaper like the New York Times may put the story  on its front page, including emails like:

“Now Vince has random people working full time on random research projects in standard ‘churn that bill, baby!’ mode. That bill shall know no limits.”

Update: Reuters reports that DLA Piper now has said in an internal memo that the series of emails written by former (emphasis added) DLA Piper lawyers about the law firm's billing practices had been "an unfortunate attempt at humor by three former (emphasis added) lawyers of the firm."

Ha ha.

Practice Management Tip of the Week - ieSpell

Are you a dedicated Internet Explorer user with a spelling problem? Here is a solution: ieSpell is a free Internet Explorer browser extension that provides spelling assistance in web page text input boxes. Install this free add-in and you will have a spell-checker similar to the one found in Microsoft Office applications that can be used in interactive message boards, web-based email, posting to your blog or working on your website. After installation, the app can be accessed through IE’s Tools menu. Once launched, it spell checks the entire page. Read more

Every week, the Practice Management Resource Center posts a new Tip of the Week. (Here are the archived tips.) To reach a practice management advisor, call the PMRC Helpline at (800) 341-9715 or e-mail questions to [email protected].

Practice Management Tip of the Week - Touchfire Keyboard for iPads

This super thin overlay keyboard is an amazing advance, bringing true touch typing to the iPad while adding almost nothing to its profile or weight. The transparent keyboard attaches magnetically to the bottom half of the iPad in a profile so thin you can “swipe” right through it to see the keys underneath, and so flexible it can be folded out of the way. Some early reviews of the Touchfire include:

New York Times - "The keyboard is incredibly simple to use. Typing on it is like typing on a physical keyboard"

Wired - "Two Seattle-based inventors have come up with an iPad keyboard that could dramatically alter the tablet keyboard landscape"

FastCompany – "Turns the iPad into a true laptop killer"

CNET – "The super-thin-and-lightweight TouchFire adds virtually no physical bulk"

Technolawyer’s review of the Touchfire is titled “This Accessory Is The Best Thing To Ever Happen To Your iPad's Keyboard”. Read the review or go right to the Touchfire website and watch the video. Either way, if you own an iPad, are thinking about buying one, or simply like technology, check out the new Touchfire keyboard.

Every week, the Practice Management Resource Center posts a new Tip of the Week. (Here are the archived tips.) To reach a practice management advisor, call the PMRC Helpline at (800) 341-9715 or e-mail questions to [email protected].

Practice Management Tip of the Week - Document Assembly - Free Podcast

 

 

Legal Talk Network's "The Un-Billable Hour" host Rodney Dowell and State Bar of Michigan Practice Management Advisor Diane Ebersole explain how document assembly applications have advanced in the last few years and how these applications can increase the bottom line for your law firm. Listen to the free podcast (34 min) and download the accompanying list of resources to explore the many ways a lawyer can increase productivity, particularly for document intensive practices.

Every week, the Practice Management Resource Center posts a new Tip of the Week. (Here are the archived tips.) To reach a practice management advisor, call the PMRC Helpline at (800) 341-9715 or e-mail questions to [email protected].