Sorry Google+: a lawyer's best friends are her clients, not her tech tools.

Scott Preston's "Technology is not your friend – your client is" on 3 Geeks and a Law Blog. To honor this week's release of Google+, today's post is about using technology, the cutting edge kind, to interact with clients. But it's not a post about shiny, happy people using shiny, happy tools to foster shinier, happier relationships. It's more like a giant level-set for everyone who thinks that Twitter and Facebook and Google+ and all of the private and semi-private law practice networks they have joined will automatically give them something they never had before. They don't. Technology is a tool. And while tools may facilitate communication, they don't build relationships. People do. Start using technology the right way. It's a lot more work than sending a few tweets, but in the end, it might actually pay off. Preston's post will point you in the right direction.

Sorry Ford: digital security is the new Job One.

Stephanie Kimbro's "Top Ten Basic Security Practices for a Virtual Law Office" on her blog Virtual Law Practice. Although Kimbro's intended audience for this post is the virtual law office crowd, her security tips make sense for everyone. Keeping your data secure--whether you're working from home or in a brick and mortar office or even (gasp...) sitting at your favorite coffee shop--is vital to your practice, to your clients, to your reputation. And it's getting harder to do: according to a recent Ponemon Institute study, the chance of being hacked has become a "statistical certainty" for businesses of every type and size. Read the post. You need to know this stuff.

It's all about the client. And you.

Brian Tannebaum's "What Will Always Matter In The Legal Profession" from his blog My Law License. Although I don't agree with Tannebaum's position that "the internet is where people go to find the best deal on whatever they are going to buy," including lawyers, the rest of this post is spot on. Being a good lawyer -- and a successful one -- is not about having the newest toys, the coolest apps, the best spot on Google. It's about much more. Like people and clients and skill and compassion. Read this post and you'll agree.

Today's Law Marketing Resource

Dennis Kennedy's "Happy New Tech Year: 4 First Steps for the Next 365 Days" at the ABA Journal. Looking for some simple resolutions, the kind that actually help you change, that you won't break mid-January? You can stop looking. You don't need to lose 20 pounds or start going to the gym every day to improve your relationship with technology, just read this post and follow this advice.

Law Firm Evolution: Brave New World or Business as Usual?

I attended the Georgetown University Law Center Conference on “Law Firm Evolution: Brave New World or Business as Usual?” this week. It was tremendous. The presentations, the discussions, the ideas and the overall energy made this one of the best conferences I have ever attended in my career, and a powerful reminder of why I do what I do. Sound over the top? Read these articles, blog posts, papers, and other commentaries on the conference, and then tell me what you think.

Conference Papers and Related Documents

• “Abandoning Homogeneity in Legal Education,” Thomas D. Morgan
• “Business Models in Legal Practice: Toward Definition and Assessment,” Stephen Mayson
• “Chinese Law Firms After the Financial Crisis: The Case of Shanghai,” Sida Liu and Xueyao Li
• “Coase, Schumpeter, and the Future of the (Law) Firm,” David McGowan and Bernard A. Burk
• “The Consolidation of the Global Advertising Industry: Lessons for Law Firms?,” Andrew von Nordenflycht
• “The Death of BigLaw,” Larry Ribstein
• “Evolution and Revolution in the Governance of Law Firms,” Laura Empson
• “Hiring Teams from Rivals: Theory and Evidence on the Evolving Relationships in the Corporate Legal Market,” Michele DeStefano Beardslee, David Wilkins, John Coates and Ashish Nanda)
• “Law firm of the 21st century: The clients’ revolution,” Eversheds
• “Layoffs, Lawyers, and Learning,” Paul Oyer and Scott Schaefer)
• “Make or Buy Decisions: Theory and Evidence in Legal Services,” Mari Sako
• “The New Normal,” Paul Lippe
• “The Return of the Apprentice: New Lawyer Training Models for the 21st Century,” Jordan Furlong
• “Supply Chains and Porous Boundaries: The Disaggregation of Legal Services,” Milton C. Regan, Jr., in 78 Fordham L. Rev. 101 (2010) (forthcoming).
• “Third-Party Litigation Funding,” Anthony Sebok
• “Will There Be a Changing of the Guard? Law Firm Lessons from the Great Depression,” Peter Sherer

Session Recaps from Ron Friedmann at Prism Legal

• “Emerging Relationships Between Law Firms and Clients (Tweeted Conference Report)”
• “Creative Destruction and Innovation (session report, Georgetown Law)”
• “Business Models: Strategy and Governance (Session Report, Georgetown Law Conf)”
• “David Wilkins on Mega Trends for Legal Profession (Session Report, Georgetown Law Conf)”
• "KM in Action (After Action Review at a Conference)"

Articles and Commentary

• “The Change Agenda: Are We There Yet?” from Aric Press at AmLaw Daily
• “The Change Agenda: Is Mega Law a Dead Man Walking?” from Aric Press at AmLaw Daily
• “Calls for New Model of Law Firm-Client Relations at Georgetown Conference” from Law.com's Small Firm Business
• "Extreme Makeover: Law Firm Edition" from Vault's Law Blog
• “From Georgetown Law: ‘Law Firm Evolution-Brave New World or Business as Usual?’” from The Posse List
• “From Georgetown Law: ‘Law Firm Evolution’ – a video interview with Richard Susskind, author of ‘The End of Lawyers?’” from The Posse List (see also video interviews below)
• "From Georgetown Law: 'Law Firm Evolution-Brave New World or Business as Usual?' -- our review of the conference" from The Posse List
• "Georgetown Law School evokes Punk rock" from Joshua Kubicki on Legal on Ramp (registration required)
• “Is the Law-Firm Model Dying? Not Yet, But It Might Be On The Clock” from WSJ Law Blog
• "Law firm evolution at Georgetown" from Larry Ribstein's Ideoblog
• “Law Firm Evolution Conference at Georgetown in the US: my take” from Robert Sawhney’s Marketing Asia blog
• "Law Firm (R)Evolution & Gaps" from Joshua Kubicki's Legal Transformation: The Changing Legal Profession
• “Law Firm Time Bomb: You Have 18 Months To Try And Keep Your Clients”, from Business Insider Law Review
• “Lawyer Layoff Patterns: Young Go 1st, and Top 10 JD Is No Shield” from the ABA Journal
• "Layoff Patterns: was there a method to the madness?" from Above the Law
• "Murmurs of Change, but Where's the Proof?" from ABA Journal
• "New Model Evolving: Law Firms Have 18 Months Maximum to Adapt" from Law and More.
• “Panelists Explore New Business Models for Big Law” from The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times
• “Panelists Predict Changes to, Not Death of, Big Law” from The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times
• “Patterns Emerge from Lawyer Layoffs” from The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times
• “Paul Lippe, Lewis and Clark, and Google Maps” from In Search of Perfect Client Service
• "Report Finds Power Shift and Declining Support for Law Firm 'Up or Out' Model" from the ABA Journal
• "Secondments will rise if more firms decide they are a prerequisite to become a partner" from Rees Morrison's Law Department Management
• “So Long, Blank Checks: Clients Saying Get with the Program, or Get Out of the Way” from Shatterbox
• "Total median compensation of a group of general counsel was five times salary" from Rees Morrison's Law Department Management
• “Warnings Toll for BigLaw Firms Resistant to Change” from the ABA Journal

What the Hashtag?! Twitterstream

Video Interviews from Gregory Bufithis of The Posse List and Lisa DiMonte of MyLegal.com

Leah Cooper

Anthony Davis



Jose M. de Areilza

Michele DeStefano Beardslee

Deborah Epstein Harry

Ron Friedmann



Cynthia Fuchs Epstein



Jordan Furlong



David Galbenski



Susan Hackett

Joshua Kubicki

Bruce MacEwen

Stephen Mayson



David McGowan



Marisa Mendez



Thomas Morgan

Mitt Regan



Larry Ribstein



Timothy Scrantom

Reena SenGupta

Paul Smith

Richard Susskind

Laurel S. Terry

Have you read these?

A smattering of interesting and insightful posts from the blawgosphere and beyond

• “Why Thinking Like a Lawyer Is Bad for Your Career” from the ABA Journal online. Lawyers, although they may not have changed your behavior, chances are you’ve already thought about the points raised in this article. But it’s worthwhile to think about them again, and then reflect on how “thinking like a lawyer” can impact other aspects of your career, like knowledge management (see Mary Abraham’s post) and marketing.
  
  
• “Extraordinary Impact” from Conversation Agent. Yes, Web 2.0 has changed the way professionals communicate. Yes, it has changed the way they market their services. Yes, it has changed the way they establish the relationships that drive success. But don’t be fooled: the same principles apply today as they did in the last century. This post explains how and why.
  
  
• “Being popular or populist? Innovation in law firms” from Decent Shred. Innovation is hard in any profession. It takes good ideas, relentless commitment, powerful marketing, effective selling, and significant goodwill. But it’s essential, even in the context of law firms, and this post provides practical advice for anyone trying to bring about change in their firm.
  
  
• “Nine Legal Technology Trends for 2009 - The Year of Hunkering Down” from Dennis Kennedy’s blog. If you’re not familiar with Kennedy’s comprehensive and insightful work, I won’t be able to do it justice in a single paragraph. So let me put it this way: read this if you are (i) part of the legal profession, (ii) use any form of technology to do your job, and (iii) want to remain competitive as the delivery of legal services evolves. Did I miss anyone?
  
  
• “A Shot Across the Marketing and Sales Bow” from Demand Trigger. I recently discovered Mike O’Horo’s blog, and promptly added it to my RSS feed. Read this post and you’ll know why I did. You’ll also get a better understanding of why legal marketers need to drive the repositioning of marketing as one of the legal profession’s core business functions.
  

Have you read these?

A smattering of valuable and interesting posts from the blawgosphere and beyond

• “7 Job Seeker Questions You Didn’t See Coming,” Part I (from The Hiring Site) and Part II (from HRM Today). These questions are written to help hiring managers better respond to what might be new questions coming from applicants. Applicants, if you’re not asking these questions, you should be. Especially the last one.
  
  
• “How Giving Away Legal Advice and Information For Free Is the Best Business Model for Your Law Firm” from The Greatest American Lawyer. I’m a big proponent of the 'business model = free' strategy. This post articulates that position much better than I could ever have hoped to do. Read it and you’ll understand how you can give a lot away and still be successful.
  
  
• “Ads on Law Blogs? Are We Really That Desperate?” from Law Firm Blogger. This post, and the ongoing conversations in the comments, is a must-read for blogging lawyers and legal professionals as well as everyone else trying to understand how they can apply Web 2.0 technology to the legal profession. Did I say you need to read this post? I meant it.
  
  
• “Free Web Tools for the Way You Work” from Law.com Legal Technology. Not much explanation needed for this post, which lists 24 free web applications. You’re bound to discover one (or more) that will become indispensible.
  
  
• “Marketing Without Faking It - A Case Study” from Social Media Explorer. I like this story because it really drives home the power of Twitter. Not as a tool for hawking your product, but as a vehicle for connecting with your clients and potential clients as if they were your friends. Lawyers, do you think you can apply these lessons to your own Twitter strategy?