“You must be freaking nuts!” This is exactly what I was told by a well-respected lawyer in Atlanta when I told him I was starting my own solo practice after leaving a great paying associate position at a big law firm.
Will Geer
Will finds one of the most difficult things requested of him is to describe himself in the third person, but he's going to give it a shot anyways. Will is an Atlanta bankruptcy attorney who helps people and small businesses overcome unmanageable debt. The rest of his time is spent training with his wife, playing with his two daughters, and trying to get more than 4 hours of sleep per night.
Many summer associates worry that their skills will not hold up to BigLaw standards. Don’t worry too much. If you got the job, your writing ability is probably not in question, but in this economy, every possible advantage is worth taking.
Fortunately, Ross Guberman, of Legal Writing Pro, goes over what it takes to make your writing projects stand out in the dwindling crowd of summer associates.
For the mobile attorney, a reliable 3G connection will trump a speedy 3G connection every time. Besides, the real-world difference between 3G networks is negligible. Unfortunately, independent research on reliability is scant, so PC World recently took a single-day, real-world snapshot of the performance of the three biggest 3G networks in the U.S.: Verizon Wireless, AT&T, and Sprint.
For the test, PC World used industry-accepted testing technology and techniques. So whose 3G network reigned supreme?
It has been said that this is the worst time to obtain employment as an attorney in recorded history. The natural question that arises from such a predicament reminds me of this timeless exchange:
Champ: “What are we gonna do?”
Ron: “There’s only one thing a man can do when he’s suffering from a spiritual and existential funk.”
Champ: “Go to the zoo, flip off the monkeys?”
Ron: “No, buy new suits.”
All: “Yea!”
Hey, you gotta look good while going to those interviews, don’t you? Projecting a serious image on a tight budget can be difficult, and doing so is of the utmost importance if you want to land a job ahead of the next guy. So here are just a few tips to help you dress for success and on the cheap:
PDF is the document format of choice for a number of reasons, but not everyone with whom you decide to share a PDF will be able to modify it (which is kind of the point). For those who need to, CometDocs is a free, online file converter with the ability to convert between over 50 different file types, including PDF, ODF, DOCX, HTML, RTF, XPS, and a variety of image formats.
File conversion with CometDocs is pretty simple, and if you want high-quality image-to-text OCR support, there is a paid, premium version (although the free version does support some primitive OCR). One nifty feature is the ability to discern the file type of a file with a misplaced extension.
Most meta data is straight-up boring: author’s name, number of revisions, date created, etc. However, this information also includes tracked changes in your document, your revision history, and deleted comments. All word processors attach meta data by default, including Microsoft Word, OpenOffice.org, and Corel WordPerfect.
The discovery of a document’s meta data could be detrimental to your case or contract negotiation. Several states have deemed the searching of meta data to be unethical. Others have placed the burden of removing such data on the document creator. Regardless of your jurisdiction’s practice, it is always better to be safe than sorry.
Fortunately, removing meta data from your documents is a piece of cake.
Whether you are a year into setting up your own shop or a grizzled partner at a multinational law firm, building solid relationships is a vital component in furthering your career. Many lawyers view networking as putting on a fake smile, making the rounds at a local bar function, and engaging in forgettable conversations that will lead to nowhere.
Such bravado and posturing, as Sam puts it, are transparent to the people you meet, and will do nothing to further your reputation or career.
Box.net is an on-line, cloud-based, “one-stop” professional collaboration service. Similar to Lawyerist-favorite Dropbox, Box.net enables users to collaborate on projects from across the globe and access files from anywhere in the world.
While Dropbox is an excellent online backup and sharing medium, Box.net offers a service that specifically caters to professionals who collaborate online.
Dropbox is a cross-platform sync, backup, and file sharing tool that I find absolutely essential to my life as a law student. Sam Glover recently wrote a short post on how he uses Dropbox as a practicing attorney. I’m here to tell you how to get the most out of Dropbox as a law student.
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