From The Nutmeg Lawyer: "Lost in Translation. The Advantages of a Bilingual Law Practice"

"Lost in Translation. The Advantages of a Bilingual Law Practice" from The Nutmeg Lawyer. I've spent close to half of my life living or working outside the US, so this post resonates particularly well with me. But that's not why I like it so much. I like it because the underlying message isn't that lawyers should speak another language because it makes them smarter or richer, but because it will allow them to help people who might not be able to get good legal advice because they aren't fluent in English.

The bonus? Adrian Baron tells a great story. Read this and I'm sure you'll agree.

From Accredited Online Colleges: 100 Great Blog Posts for Lost Law School Grads

"100 Great Blog Posts for Lost Law School Grads" from Accredited Online Colleges. Not a lot to say about this post that the title doesn't already cover. 100 posts on passing the bar, finding your passion, unemployment, life after law school and a whole lot more. Some are better than others, but with a cool hundred to chose from, there's something for everyone.

From Law21.ca: "Measuring lawyer productivity"

"Measuring lawyer productivity" from Law21.ca. This post is more than a year old, but the issue is no less important today. If lawyers are no longer billing by the hour, do they need time sheets? More to the point, do time sheets provide any meaningful data on lawyer productivity and profitability? Read this post and see how Jordan Furlong (and others) responds to this question.

From Law.com's Small Firm Business: "How Can Law Firms Help Their Lawyers With Marketing?"

"How Can Law Firms Help Their Lawyers With Marketing?" from Law.com's Small Firm Business. We all know it: change is hard. For small firms struggling to maximize the value of their marketing and business development money, time and effort, change can be even harder. This post is written for that crowd, the ones who want to change the way they market the firm and its lawyers, to do those activities that will lead to meaningful results, to move their marketing efforts to the next level. But don't let that stop you from reading it: the lessons it provides are useful for everyone.

From Lawyerist.com: "Legal Blogging: The G.Y.I. System"

"Legal Blogging: The G.Y.I. System" from Lawyerist.com. If you've read my blog before, you probably already know my views on blogs as marketing channels for lawyers and law firms: they work. But only when they're done right. This post provides practical advice for lawyers on how to effectively use a blog to communicate their message, transmit their knowledge, establish their expertise, and most importantly demonstrate their value.

From Marketing Asia: "Marketing vs Sales in Professional Services: Here we go again!"

"Marketing vs Sales in Professional Services: Here we go again!" from Robert Sawhney's Marketing Asia. If you're not reading Bob Sawhney's blog, you should be. This post shows why. Legal marketing is more than just brochures and websites and PR. A lot more. And firms that relegate marketing to the "nice to have" category will never develop the high-performance, the information-sharing, the marketing culture they must have if they hope to realize the full value of their relationships, of their brand, of their institution. This post articulates the why (and even the how). Read it, and add Marketing Asia to your RSS feed.

From Law Marketing Blog: "Creative Destruction: How to Get that Great Next Job"

"Creative Destruction: How to Get that Great Next Job" from Law Marketing Blog. Every once in a while you come across a post that reaches out of your computer and smacks you right in the face. This is that post. Rethinking the value proposition, how you provide greater value to your clients and then articulate that value in terms that demonstrate precisely how you can help your client be more successful, sleep better at night, achieve her business objectives? Read this post, and follow Gordon Miller's advice. It's hard to imagine that it won't help you become more successful yourself (and get that great next job, if that's what you're after).

From Leading Blog: "12 Leadership Guidelines for Leading through Learning in Turbulent Times"

"12 Leadership Guidelines for Leading through Learning in Turbulent Times" from Leading Blog. You probably won't ever need to rebuild a 53,000-employee, embroiled-in-chaos-after-its-founder-and-chair-resigns-amidst-massive-accounting-fraud company. But Priscilla Nelson and Ed Cohen did. This post captures 12 guidelines they followed as they turned Satyam Computer Services around. Powerful advice for any leader. Want more? Check out their book Riding the Tiger: Leading through Learning in Turbulent Times.

From The Lawyers Weekly: “Get on headhunters’ radar”

“Get on headhunters’ radar” from The Lawyers Weekly. In spite of its title, this post is useful for all lawyers, not just those seeking employment. In answering the “how-can-lawyers-get-noticed-by-headhunters?” question, it provides good, solid advice for lawyers seeking clients, too. You’ll have to read it yourself to find out what the 4 P’s are (hint: there’s no magic, just planning and hard work), but you’ll be glad you did. H/T to Eric Magraken (@erikmagraken) for the link.

From Legal Business Development: "Another mistake: Overestimating the value of personal relationships"

"Another mistake: Overestimating the value of personal relationships" from Jim Hassett's Legal Business Development. Think your clients are still your clients, day after day, year after year, because you play golf and tell jokes and have great fun together? Think again. Personal relationships no longer drive business. But don't take my word for it. Read this post, and the multiple examples Hassett cites, and you'll agree that value is the new golf.

From Simple Justice: "Simple Justice: Through The Eyes of Scott Greenfield"

"Simple Justice: Through The Eyes of Scott Greenfield" from Simple Justice. If you're not reading Scott Greenfield's blog, you should be. You might not agree with everything he writes. You might think that he's too curmudgeonly, that he's too negative, that he should just lighten up a little bit, for cryin' out loud. But you'll always find passion, conviction and honesty. And you'll be glad he writes more posts before breakfast than most people blog in a week. Like this one.

From Law21.ca: "How to compete on price"

"How to compete on price" from Law21.ca. Jordan Furlong's analyses of current trends in the legal profession, what those trends mean for lawyers and firms, and how they will affect clients and services are always insightful, informative, and instructive. Just like this post. Don't want to compete on price? There might be a better way. Read this post and see if you agree.

From Adam Smith, Esq: "Report from London"

"Report from London" from Adam Smith, Esq. I've recommended Bruce MacEwen's posts before. His observations on what firms are doing, delivered in a no-nonsense, "identify-the-problem-and-solve-it" style, provide valuable insight into the economics of the legal profession. This post is no exception. Yes, it's written for the AmLaw 100 crowd, but that doesn't mean that other lawyers won't find it useful. This is what is happening right now. How are you going to respond to it?

From The Scoop: "LinkedIn Homepage as Intelligence Agent - 3 Tips"

"LinkedIn Homepage as Intelligence Agent - 3 Tips" from The Scoop: On Legal Marketing. I'm all about knowing your target clients: their businesses, their news, their legal needs, their people. This post talks about ways you can gather some of that valuable intelligence, the kind that helps you improve your client relationships and get more work, using LinkedIn's tools and data. Makes great sense, don't you agree?

From My Law License: "The Cause Of The Defenseless Or Oppressed - 15 Years Later"

"The Cause Of The Defenseless Or Oppressed - 15 Years Later" from My Law License. Brian Tannebaum's 15th-anniversary-as-a-lawyer post is full of his passion and satisfaction and pride as a lawyer. It's also full of valuable, first-hand advice that comes in the form of 60 lessons that Brian has learned in 15 years of criminal law, like:

[17] Some people don't matter. Never treat them like they don't matter.

[20] People hate lawyers, think they are greedy, and don't respect them. That will never change. Don't waste your time trying to convince society otherwise. Spend your time convincing your client through your work that they shouldn't hate lawyers, lawyers aren't greedy, and lawyers deserve respect.

[26] Take every opportunity you can to teach a young lawyer something, regardless of their response.

[35] The people you walk by and ignore, notice.

[50] Speaking and writing is a better advertisement than your angry photo next to the words "aggressive," and "Available 24/7."

But that's not the half of it. Read it and see for yourself.

From Women Legal: "Loud and Clear"

"Loud and Clear" from Women Legal. I'm struggling to articulate why you should read this blog. Not because I can't think of a good reason: it's one of the most comprehensive and practical career guidance posts I've read all year. Not because I can't say who should read it: with a tag line of "Advancing women in the legal profession" the audience is clearly defined (though I strongly recommend men read it because they too need to know this stuff, as much as and perhaps even more than women do). I guess it's because I can't decide if it is a manifesto, or a self-help piece, or lesson plan for an "owning your career" class. But ultimately, that's not important because it's one of those posts that grabs you by the shoulders, looks you straight in the eye and says

"Stepping up, making a difference and taking charge of your career are all things you have control over. Don’t wait for the dark clouds to pass or to be invited. Do it now."

Read it. You'll be glad you did.

From Law 360: "GCs Detail Do's and Don'ts Of Keeping Business"

"GCs Detail Do's and Don'ts of Keeping Business" from Law 360. We all know the Golden Rule: "do unto others as you would have them do unto you." Turns out that general counsel feel the same way about their law firms. Law 360 talked to some, who shared their perspective on what NOT to do to maintain a relationship. Think you already know this stuff? So did the firms that committed these mistakes. You know, the ones that used to work for the GCs interviewed for the article. Read it. You'll learn something.

From Convince and Convert: "Is social media too big for its britches?"

“Is social media too big for its britches?” from Jay Baer's Convince and Convert. Social media and social networking for lawyers is something I read about, write about and actively enable. But truth be told, sometimes the discussions bore me. You know the ones. The blog posts and twitter feeds and videos extolling the virtues of participation, decrying the social media faux pas committed by luddites, praising the power and the glory and the revolution of social media. We need to move to the next step, to stop talking about social media like it is new and amazing and the new black, and to start talking about how it fits into your broad communications strategy, about the specific benefits social media can bring, about the concrete actions you should be taking to drive the results you seek. This post from Jay Baer does just that. It’s a big step in the right direction.

From The Conglomerate: "The death of big law and the future of legal education"

“The death of big law and the future of legal education” from The Conglomerate. This piece from Professor Larry Ribstein reflects on the impact to legal education of the death of big law. And Ribstein should know. He is, after all, the author of “The Death of Big Law.” Read it and you'll see why you need to read everything Ribstein writes. The bonus? Ribstein’s post is just the first in an ongoing dialogue amongst the Conglomerate blawgers around the theme of "Minding our own business: How changes in the business of law might affect law schools and what law professors should be doing about it."

From The AmLaw Daily: "Welcome to the Future: Are Law Schools 'Beached'?"

"Welcome to the Future: Are Law Schools 'Beached'?" from Paul Lippe writing for The AmLaw Daily. If you're in the legal profession, you need to read this article. Not just because it further drives home the message that the current model is not working for clients, precisely those the system should be designed to benefit (United Technologies refuses to pay for first- and second-year associate time). Not just because it links the shortcomings of the current legal education system with other significant changes going on in the profession (free legal research, anyone?). Not just because it provides a useful perspective on the problems, but because it begins to look at solutions, at next steps, at effecting change, instead of merely lamenting the broken system.