Allison Shields

A Non-Engagement Letter Is As Important As An Engagement Letter

March 11, 2010

In this electronic age, lawyers can encounter potential clients in more places and in more ways than ever before. Many lawyers will speak with potential clients by telephone rather than requiring the prospective client to come in to the office for an initial consultation.
More and more often, the lawyer never meets the potential client. But even when [...]

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Prevent Confidentiality Leaks in Your Firm

March 5, 2010

I recently visited a lawyer client of mine at her office. This particular lawyer shares space and a receptionist with a law firm for whom she also performs some work. When I gave my name to the receptionist, she immediately asked, “Are you related to Harry (not his real name)? He’s a client at this firm.”
I [...]

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Rewards and Recognition in a Tough Economy

February 15, 2010

In difficult times, it is even more important than ever to keep your best employees motivated and working at their fullest capacity. The best employees want to do a good job. They want recognition for their hard work, challenging assignments and opportunities for advancement.

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Following Up, Step-by-Step

February 5, 2010

My last post talked about creating follow up systems to make the most out of your network. Some readers wanted some more ‘meat,’ so I prepared a more detailed, step by step guide. The permutations of a follow-up plan are almost endless; this example is just meant to give you some ideas to get you [...]

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Making Alternative Fee Arrangements Work—Incentives and Consequences

December 7, 2009

To be successful at making a change from the billable hour to alternative billing methods, you must be clear about the benefits to you and to your clients, and the consequences for failing to make the change. Otherwise, change is unlikely.
In a recent Corporate Counsel article on Law.com, Amy Miller reported that corporate counsel are [...]

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Scheduling Made Simple

November 30, 2009

Whether you are scheduling an appointment with a client, a networking group meeting, a trial strategy conference with an associate, or a weekly review with your assistant, the combination of schedule changes, telephone tag, and endless emails makes scheduling any meeting almost impossible. More time is wasted scheduling most meetings than is actually spent in [...]

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“Multitasking” is a Myth

November 9, 2009

A myth has arisen that multitasking is effective, and that those who are technologically savvy are particularly effective at it. But studies, including a 2009 Stanford University study—have shown that it is just that: a myth. In fact, frequent multitaskers were shown to have more difficulty filtering out useless information.

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7 Simple Online Mistakes Lawyers Make

October 28, 2009

Using an AOL, Hotmail or Yahoo! email address
It amazes me that lawyers still use these kinds of email addresses—and put them on their business cards! I’ve been tempted on more than one occasion to purchase domain names for lawyers when I see that they’re still using AOL for their email.
If you want to look like [...]

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