management

Lawyerist Contributor: Gyi Tsakalakis

January 19, 2010

I am flattered by the invitation to join the Lawyerist community as a contributor. I am excited to share what I know about technology and the internet as they relate to practicing law, as well as marketing and managing a law firm.
I am a University of Michigan (go blue!) and Wayne State University Law School graduate. [...]

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Tap the Hidden Talent in Your Law Firm

October 12, 2009

A variety of recent studies show that employees’ skills are regularly underutilized. By tapping some of these currently-unknown skills, law firms can find new opportunities for business development, cost savings, and added profitability.
For instance, you might—unknowingly—have an associate who could help with online marketing during slow times, or a secretary with a great idea for [...]

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Rethink Motivation in Your Law Firm

October 2, 2009

Dan Pink, a non-practicing attorney and former speechwriter for Vice President Al Gore, just spent the past couple of years studying the science of employee motivation. He is about to publish a new book on the topic, which you can pre-order on Amazon: Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us.
Pink demonstrates that traditional thinking [...]

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Stop tracking your time

August 29, 2008

Blasphemy! I know it sounds crazy, but law firms and lawyers should realize that hourly billing is not always beneficial to the firm or to the client. And in order to shift away from thinking in terms of hours to thinking in terms of value, law firms must stop tracking time whenever possible.
Instead, you must [...]

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MCLE webcast: The Paperless Office

June 5, 2008

Description from MCLE:

The Paperless Office
Presented by Sam Glover; moderated by Peter Berge
Friday, June 6, 2008, 12:00 – 1:00 p.m. CDT
1.0 law office management credit
Tuition: $75
The “paperless office” concept has created a trendy buzz in law office management circles. With new, reasonably priced hardware and software, it can also be a reality for any size office. [...]

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Book review: The E-Myth Revisited, by Michael E. Gerber

March 26, 2008

My good friend and financial advisor, David Benning, recently loaned me The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to do About It, by Michael E. Gerber. David is a small business owner, like me, and he said The E-Myth Revisited had changed the way he approached developing his business.

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Top 5 free, open source applications for lawyers

August 21, 2007

Free is better, and open source is superior. There are fantastic free and open source alternatives to the software lawyers use every day. Here are my top 5 most valuable free applications for lawyers:
1. OpenOffice.org
Office 2007 is pretty, but from a user perspective, it is an upgrade hardly worth the pricetag. Plus, Microsoft’s rejection of [...]

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