Articles

I got a text the other day from a lawyer I know. He’s a tech-forward guy, always looking for a new and better way to do things. For the past few years, he’s been vexed by a piece of law practice that has resisted innovation: note taking.    Read More +

There’s an episode of the show Friends that I always think of whenever the topic of quitting arises. Rachel Green and Joey Tribiani are in a sailboat in one of the rivers off of Manhattan and Rachel, who learned to sail as a kid at the hands of her overbearing father, is trying to teach Joey to sail. After a little while in the boat, Rachel starts channeling her father’s crushing authoritarianism. Joey, who is not having nearly the amount of fun he expected to have learning to sail, announces, “I quit.”  Read More +

I have a friend who is deeply involved in the world of what is commonly known as “awards travel”. This is the term that is given to a set of behaviors that involves strategically opening, using, and closing multiple credit cards (“churning”) that give users award or travel points in exchange for using the card. Devotees of awards travel tweak the way they use their cards to maximize the value received from their “spend” in the form of travel points.   Read More +

Hire slow, fire fast. If you read any of the voluminous advice published on hiring, this old bromide is very likely to be the first thing you come across. It’s pretty good advice, if a bit limited. Hiring a person for a law firm is like buying a house: it’s expensive and long-reaching decision that deeply affects your (work) life, and one that is too often made with a process that is ill-defined, rushed and lacking clear markers for success. Read More +

One of the early jobs I had in my career, I worked for a lawyer who was a terribly smart business owner and as good as anybody I’ve ever known at seeing trends and skating to where the puck is headed. I learned a lot from him, some of it not entirely pleasant to learn, that I’ve carried forward in the years since. One of the relatively few things I saw him get wrong on the business end of his practice was his insistence on never having the firm own real estate. I imagine he looked at the big law firms in the downtown high rises and noted that they rented real their estate and applied the same logic for his firm. For whatever reason, he was dead set against owning real estate.   Read More +

Most of the successful private law practices in North Carolina and around the US – and I am speaking here about individual lawyers’ practices as opposed to law firms – have been built on the backs of referrals. Referrals from other lawyers, referrals from other professionals serving the same client base, referrals from former clients, or – the gold standard, as many lawyers like to tout – referrals from opposing parties. From whatever source a referral comes, they all share the common trait that someone, somewhere said to a friend, colleague or loved one: “you know who you should call for help with that?” A referral is an implicit endorsement and accelerates trust right at the beginning of a potential client relationship. Compared to a cold call from, say, a Google search, it’s like you start the sales process on third base. So, how does a lawyer set about to generate potential client referrals?    Read More +

Law firm website are, for many firms, the albatross around the neck of their business development efforts. They are expensive and time consuming to create and for a lot of lawyers they are not an especially productive part of their business development systems. You have to have one, because when a potential client is referred to your firm or a potential employee is interviewing for a position with your firm, they will very likely first go to your website to see what it is your firm says to the world about itself.   Read More +

I was mad at Microsoft for a pretty long time. I am finally over it (mostly).  To understand why, you must first know that I spent an absurd amount of time and energy looking for the perfect task management program. I tried, almost literally, everything I could find. No kidding, I probably cycled through … Read More +

I grew up with my German grandma living with my family. She was like a third parent to my brother and me. She wasn’t an educated person; her formal schooling ended in 8th grade and she immigrated to the US in the early 1920’s after she turned 18. She was smart and wise and had lived through the best and worst the 20th century had to offer.   Read More +

Small confession: there was a time, about 20 years ago, I was on a night flight back from Houston. I had spent all week at a stressful NITA advocacy program. I was exhausted and couldn't wait to get home to my own bed. And for some reason, out of nowhere on this very routine flight, I developed an immediate and intense fear of flying that lasted for two or three years. For years after that night, every time I flew anywhere, I was freaked out and terrified about crashing. Not a super fun travel experience for Mrs. Mazzone.   Read More +

The NC Secretary of State’s Office is currently seeking comments on the Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPR) #1 untilNovember 30, 2022. To review and submit comments, please visit www.sosnc.gov/rulemaking.   Read More +

If you are one of the many, many lawyers who has an iPhone tucked away in a pocket or bag, you have probably noticed by now that Apple released a new operating system for the iPhone, iOS 16. The updates with the new number (as opposed to the decimal additions like 16.0.1.1) are the big ones. The ones where Apple packs in a lot of new features and injects your aging phone with a shot of new life.   Read More +

There’s a certain kind of advice you get once in a while that is a little infuriating. I’ve certainly gotten it a bunch, I bet you have, too. It never fails to irritate me. And here I am now about to do the same thing to you. It happened to me most recently with a lawyer friend who is really into photography. He takes amazing pictures and has one of those fancy cameras with the big lenses that you carry around separately in its own backpack. He brings back incredible photos from national parks and foreign destinations.   Read More +

There are many times you need to ask that your clients send you files. Most everyone knows how to attach files and send via email, but is there a better way? Are there a lot of files? Large files? Do the files hold sensitive information like bank records, taxes, or insurance claims? There are many ways to securely request files that will make it easier and more secure for you and your clients. And you probably have the tools to do so already!   Read More +

There are 1.3 million lawyers in the United States, and 30,000 of them live in North Carolina. Nationwide, there are approximately four lawyers for every 1,000 residents, but most lawyers work in urban areas. Many rural areas of the country have few or no lawyers. Legal experts call these legal deserts.   Read More +

3 tips to reduce or overcome conflict at work. Read More +

Six ways to avoid being a foolish lawyer. Read More +