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Want to know how you can build your client portfolio? New Solo host, Attorney Kyle Guelcher, a solo practitioner and Chair of the Young Lawyers Division of the Massachusetts Bar Association, joins marketing expert, Richard DeLuca, Principal of MarketerAtLaw.com, to offer tips on how to build a solid client base. Rich talks about the approach new lawyers should take if attending a conference, the importance of blogging and search engine optimization (SEO) and how a new lawyer can stay motivated when the phone is not ringing.

Why are more lawyers than ever using two (or more) monitors at their desks? Others use surprisingly simple tricks to make their days more productive and their lives a little easier. Once youve learned some of these techniques, you often think that they are obvious and something you should have implemented a long time ago. In this episode, Dennis Kennedy and Tom Mighell discuss a few simple productivity techniques like using multiple monitors that have made a big difference for them, how those tips might benefit you, and steps you can take to make yourself much more productive than you were before you listened to this podcast. After you listen, be sure to check out Tom & Dennis co-blog and book by the same name, The Lawyers Guide to Collaboration Tools and Technologies.

When Webster’s Third New International Dictionary was published fifty years ago, it caused a ruckus. In his piece, “When a Dictionary Could Outrage,” published in The New York Times Book Review on September 25, Geoffrey Nunberg describes the reaction to “what critics viewed as a lax admissions policy.” Some of the criticism focused on the addition of neologisms such as “litterbug” and “wise up.” Some of it focused on the editors’ refusal to condemn “ain’t.” And some of it focused on the decision to draw illustrations from “down-market sources like Ethel Merman and Betty Grable.” To the modern ear, this sounds like elitism, but at the time the critics of Webster’s Third included not only writers such as Dwight Macdonald and Wilson Follett, but also the popular novelist Rex Stout (of Nero Wolfe fame), who had the detective “feed his Third to the fire a page at a time while declaring it ’subversive and intolerably offensive.’”

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The Chronicle of Higher Education has a wonderful short article by Becky Supiano on the Top Ten Myths about Scholarships. The article reports on Mark Kantrowitz, who publishes financial aid/scholarship location websites FinAid and FastWeb, and has published a book, Secrets to Winning a Scholarship. He was speaking at the National Association for College Admission Counselling (NACAC) meeting in New Orleans this September, and the article reports on his talk. I think academics won’t be terribly surprised at most of the myths debunked, but it’s a nice list, and worth visiting, especially if you or a family member is searching for ways to pay for college. It’s certainly worth passing along to the world. Read the rest of this entry »

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A vast majority of attorneys in the United States and Canada must keep and maintain IOLTA trust accounts pursuant to very specific guidelines established by the governing body in each state. Despite the clearly defined rules, which in most jurisdictions, have been in place for years, some attorneys continue to put their license at risk. On The Un-Billable Hour, host Attorney Rodney Dowell, Director of the Massachusetts Law Office Management Assistance Program and interim executive director at Lawyers Concerned for Lawyers, talks with David Bilinsky, a Practice Management Consultant/Advisor for the Law Society of British Columbia, about why so many attorneys fail to properly do their IOLTA trust accounting, where they should go to learn how to properly do their accounting and shares his recommendations for trust accounting programs for attorneys.

Six years ago, a little legal podcast, Lawyer2Lawyer, entered the world of podcasting and grew in popularity, thanks to our loyal listeners, great guests and two star attorneys! Today, Lawyer2Lawyer is the longest running legal podcast with 304 podcasts published at Legal Talk Network. Since 2005, attorneys and co-hosts Bob Ambrogi and J. Craig Williams have discussed everything from technology in the legal profession, controversial Supreme Court decisions to debates over legal topics in just about every legal practice area you can imagine. On this very special edition of Lawyer2Lawyer, Bob and Craig reflect on the past 6 years and share some of their favorite highlights, guests and shows and some words of wisdom! And for some fun - hear some outtakes of Bob and Craig too!

The FLARE Index to Treaties (FIT), launched in March 2009 on the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies web server has been extended to cover about a third more treaties and conventions. In the past two years the Index has established itself as a valuable finding tool for the international lawyer. It is a fully searchable database now indexing and listing over 2,000 of the most significant multilateral treaties concluded from 1353 onwards and a number of significant bilateral treaties signed between 1353 and 1815. This article, by Steven Whittle and Peter Clinch describes the background to the extension and technical aspects of the updated implementation employed to deliver new content and finding features.

Financial risk is on everyone’s mind these days, so what’s the economic landscape in the insurance industry? Ringler Radio host, Larry Cohen, along with co-host Joan Pagnano, joins Michael F. Ceppi, President of Alan Gray Insurance Company, to talk about the importance of consumer confidence and how a structured settlement is a secure financial solution in hard economic times.

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