There are many reasons for doing pro bono work as a component of your practice. Besides the fact that it is strongly encouraged by the rules of professional conduct and is good for the community, doing pro bono work can pay big dividends for your career

Altruism is good, but pro bono practice can benefit newer, unemployed and underemployed lawyers in important ways.  Here are some (self-interested) reasons:

It is good professional and skills development. If you are unemployed or underemployed, pro bono cases may be your best bet to develop and continue to refine your legal skills. You can chose cases from a broad range of practice areas and time commitments. Whatever you do, whether it is a custody hearing or reviewing financial documents in a potential foreclosure matter, you are using some aspect of your legal training for productive use. In other words, practicing law.

It is an opportunity to make professional connections. Taking pro bono matters means you will need to interact potentially with opposing counsel, judges, court staff, other lawyers taking pro bono cases, volunteer lawyer program staff, other lawyers at training CLEs, etc. The benefits of these connections may not be obvious at the time, but they may pay dividends down the road in a number of different forms (referrals, references, good will).

You can earn CLE credit in a number of jurisdictions. In Minnesota, the Supreme Court recently approved one hour of CLE credit for every six hours of pro bono up to a total of six credit hours. Other jurisdictions have similar provisions. In addition, many volunteer lawyer programs offer free or low-cost training programs for CLE credit. And what practicing lawyer couldn’t use CLE credits?

Now is the time to put pro bono into your practice mix. The internet is filled with resources to get you started.

(photo: trishylicious)

Keeping Pro Bono in the Mix Can Pay Career Dividends is a post from: Lawyerist

Have you ever found yourself wondering who you have become?

This happened to one lawyer last year after he found himself pumping his fist with excitement after serving interrogatories to opposing counsel and realizing they would be due right after Christmas. In that moment, he caught himself and realized he had become someone who was excited to ruin another person’s Christmas. He had become someone he never wanted to be.

His days were filled with conflict, and he was paid to make life worse for people, not better. His personality was dominated by anger, his family was suffering, and his practice was suffering too. He began to sabotage his firm because he simply did not believe in what he was doing any longer.

Sadly, this state of affairs rings true for many lawyers. Admit it or not, everyone wants purpose and meaning behind their work. And we all want to feel really great about what we do and who we are.

So, I ask you, has being a lawyer turned you into someone you do not want to be? If so, it is not too late to turn it around.

The lawyer I mentioned earlier turned it around by leaving litigation and becoming an estate planning attorney. Today, just a year later, he has the joy of strengthening families instead of tearing them apart.

Law may be your profession, but this is your life. With a few simple shifts in your career or entrepreneurial path, you can start practicing in an area of law that provides meaning, purpose and fulfillment. Here are a few simple ways to get started:

1. Get clear on what you really, really want: Do you love hanging out on Twitter and Facebook talking to entrepreneurs struggling to grow their startup? Then shift your practice to serve micro-business owners, a huge community that needs you. Does it just kill you to watch families fall apart in the midst of divorce? Then consider a career in estate planning with a focus on bringing families together—not tearing them apart. Whatever you choose, do not make it about money. Follow your passion and the money will come.
2. Find a mentor who has already been successful in your new practice area: Before choosing a practice area, talk to lawyers in your potential new practice area and see what their practice is really like. Ask questions and find out what it is really like. Talk to several people, not just one, to get a full perspective.
3. Invest in CLEs and coaching programs: Both are important for different reasons. CLEs give you the “know-how” about your practice area while a coaching program led by a lawyer who has built a business from the ground up will give you the accountability and hand-holding you need so you do not have to reinvent the wheel.

If being a lawyer has turned you into someone you do not want to be, you owe it to yourself (and your family) to try something new in 2010. Find a mentor, get a coach and make the leap into a new practice area that brings purpose, value and meaning to your life.

(photo: eggman)

What Kind of Lawyer Do You Really Want to Be? is a post from: Lawyerist

Thomson Reuters has just unveiled a free app for the iPhone that lets lawyers complete CLE courses on their iPhone or iPod Touch.

Over 2,000 courses are available for download.

The app, quite cleverly, also has random interaction that requires the listener to tap the screen to ensure they are actually listening. Of course, any clever lawyer can just play the program in the background, and tap the screen when they hear the bell.

The major upside is being able to stop and start programs, rather than committing an hour or two at a time. This method, however, may inhibit learning the actual material presented. The other downside is that you cannot network with anyone when sitting in a coffee shop on your iPhone.

If you need some quick credits, however, the app is a nice way to get them.

Satisfy Your CLE Requirement On the Go is a post from: Lawyerist

Panels often suck. The moderator may be weak, the panelists may be long-winded or dull, and the whole thing often ends up being a snoozefest.

Despite this, those who organize conferences and seminars love panels, so you are likely to end up on one at some point. If you are, follow the advice of Scott Berkun and Guy Kawasaki, both frequent panelists. Their advice can be boiled down into a couple of important points:

Be interesting and concise

Long-winded panelists are probably my least-favorite. Lawyers, of course, are often the worst offenders. If you say a lot with few words, you will leave your audience wanting more. If you drone on and on, you look like a ball hog and risk putting your audience to sleep.

Instead, consider your comments while the other panelists are off on another tangent. When it is your turn, say what you have to say in a few pithy sentences. If you did not say enough, even a bad moderator will prompt you for more, and the audience will pick up on his or her curiosity.

Never repeat

Time and again, one panelist after another will say “I agree with my colleague,” and then spend five minutes repeating everything that person just said. Do not do this. If you have nothing to add, come at the question or problem from a new angle, instead. Or just demur, and wait for another, hopefully better, question.

Prepare, prepare, prepare

Preparation is key. Show up with at least three points you want to make for each of the issues that will be put to the panel. Know the background information, and do some research even if you are already an expert in this area.

You can never over-prepare for any presentation. Practice (and research) makes perfect.

Why panel sessions suck (and how to fix them) | Speaker Confessions
How to Kick Butt On a Panel | How to Change the World (via Small Firm Success)

(photo: mathplourde)

How to Own a Panel is a post from: Lawyerist

Send questions to @lawyerist from 9-11 CST, or by commenting on this post.

Eric Cooperstein and I are teaching a two-hour webcast CLE tomorrow on starting a law firm. We will cover business forms, technology, ethics, marketing, practice management, and much more.

Anyone can attend; the webcast will be streamed live, and you can ask questions during the presentation by sending an e-mail.

Visit the seminar page to sign up. Here is the lowdown from MCLE:

Thursday, July 23, 2009
9:00 – 11:00 a.m. (CDT)

New Lawyer Experience: Starting a Law Firm

This Minnesota CLE webcast is part of the Summer New Lawyer Experience. Many new lawyers are considering opening their own firms. In this webcast, the panelists will discuss the legal, business, ethical, and practical considerations in starting a firm. Any lawyer thinking about starting their own practice will benefit from this webcast.

– Paul Floyd; Wallen-Friedman & Floyd, PA
– Sam Glover; Samuel J. Glover & Associates, LLC
– Eric Cooperstein; Law Office of Eric T. Cooperstein, PLLC (moderator)

MCLE webcast: Starting a Law Firm is a post from: Lawyerist

Recently, I noted on a listserv that one of the cheapest ways to get CLE credits and market oneself at the same time is to teach CLEs. In Minnesota, presenters can receive credit for the time spent preparing the seminar, plus the organizers usually let the presenters attend the rest of the program for free.

But in response to my listserv post, someone asked me a simple question: how exactly does one become a CLE presenter?

Although it may help to have stunning good looks, that could not be the explanation in my case. But I did begin presenting CLEs just a few years after I graduated from law school, long before I really knew anything.  I spend a lot of time talking with CLE providers and coming up with CLE ideas. So here are some tips for getting up to the podium:

Start small

Look around for county or state bar section meetings. Many of these sections try to serve their members by offering free or low cost CLEs. The section chairs are often volunteers themselves and they are always looking for volunteer presenters and interesting topics. Call or e-mail them to say you have noticed that the section hosts CLEs and that you would like to get on their schedule for a future meeting.

Bank on basics

You don’t have to be the leading expert in the state to deliver an effective CLE, especially if you are talking to folks outside your practice area. “7 Things Every Family Law Attorney Should Know About Real Estate” and “9 ½ Things Every Real Estate Attorney Should Know About Family Law” are very popular CLE topics (for the family law attorneys and real estate attorneys, respectively). The more lawyers specialize, the more cross-fertilization will make for good CLEs.

Offer to organize

In Minnesota, many CLEs have volunteer planning committees that develop particular programs.  When you attend a program in your practice area, find the organizer, volunteer to work on next year’s program, and put an item on your calendar to follow up in a few months (it would help, of course, to come up with some clever ideas for new seminars). Working on the planning committee often leads to serving on a panel or presenting a topic on the day of the program.

Volunteer vigorously

When a group of lawyers spends enough time together, eventually they decide to run a CLE, either in connection with a fundraiser (which is becoming more common) or to raise awareness for a pro bono cause  or for their own marketing purposes. Volunteer for bar committees or pro bono legal clinics or the like, and CLE opportunities may come along.

Get glib

Are you passionate about your area of practice? Are you willing to answer people’s questions? Do you have time to help out your fellow lawyers?  People who seem to know what they are talking about -through magazine articles, website and blog posts, listserv responses, etc.- get noticed, which can lead to CLE invitations. Speak up (but be humble).

How do you get to Carnegie Hall?

Practice, practice, practice. Once you get a CLE gig, do not forget to prepare a useful set of materials for the audience and put together a compelling talk. Remember some essential speaking elements: do not read your materials to the audience, tell war stories only to make a specific point, use humor carefully, and stay focussed on your outline. If speaking does not come naturally to you, practice beforehand.

If none of that works, find someone you know who presents CLEs frequently and ask them to show you the secret handshake.

A CLE presenter is born is a post from: Lawyerist

If you are eating at your desk today, join me for a CLE webcast on social networking for lawyers. The webcast is hosted by MCLE, and I will be talking with Peter Berge and Roy Ginsburg about online social networking as a marketing tool.

Here is MCLE’s blurb:

Solo/Small Firm Series: Social Networking for Lawyers

Part of the Minnesota CLE Solo/Small Firm webcast series. The Internet has become social with FriendFeed, Twitter, MySpace, Facebook and other social networking sites. But social networking is not just for teenagers any more. Sites like LinkedIn and Plaxo attempt to harness the networking power of the Internet for business and lawyers are using Facebook and Twitter in greater numbers. If you want to be see the future of where client communications, networking, and marketing are going, you need to see this webcast.

• Sam Glover; Attorney at Law
• Peter Berge; Minnesota CLE
• Roy Ginsburg; Roy S. Ginsburg, J.D. (moderator)

Lunchtime webcast: social networking for lawyers is a post from: Lawyerist

At Minnesota CLE’s Family Law Institute (PDF link), I will presenting “10 Ways to Geek Out Your Practice,” a fast-paced presentation with 10 ways to profit by adding a bit of geek to your practice.

Here are the topics I am considering at the moment:

1. Paperless law office
2. Start a blog
3. Get a website (or improve one) on the cheap
4. Stop paying for software
5. Encrypt your laptop
6. Delete your email confidentiality notice
7. Ditch your clunky, buggy, expensive time and billing software for better practice management software>
8. Sync everything
9. Build a document template and learn to use styles
10. Never forget anything ever again

MCLE: 10 Ways to Geek Out Your Practice (Family Law Institute) is a post from: Lawyerist

The video recording I made did not turn out all that well, so instead I am posting the audio. Since my slides are demonstrative rather than substantive, you should be able to follow along just fine without the visuals. It is about 30 minutes long, so grab a cup of coffee or tea and enjoy learning how to create a paperless law office!

(SoloSmallTech will merge with Lawyerist within the next few weeks. Stay tuned as we expand to address lawyering in general, not just gadgets and software.)

The Paperless Office: audio from Duluth SoloSmall conference is a post from: Lawyerist

I am up in Duluth this weekend for MCLE’s Strategic Solutions for Solo & Small Firms. I am doing two “Iron Tech” sessions tomorrow where I will be showing off Ubuntu Linux and putting it up head-to-head against Windows and OSX.

On Tuesday, I will be talking about the paperless law office and leading a tech lab on free and open source software. That one should be good fun, since all attendees will be able to follow along on their own computers, and will take home an Ubuntu LiveCD along with a CD stuffed full of free software.

Hope to see you there!

Hello from Strategic Solutions for Solo & Small Firms is a post from: Lawyerist