Un-Billable Hour: Business Management Strategies for the Busy Lawyer Around the Community Table

One of the biggest challenges facing attorneys is how to acquire and maintain clients. A fundamental method of developing a client base is to create a referral network. On The Un-Billable Hour, host Attorney Rodney Dowell, Executive Director at Lawyers Concerned for Lawyers and Director of LCL’s Massachusetts Law Office Management Assistance Program welcomes Linda O’Koniewski, the broker/owner of ReMax Heritage , who tells us what it takes to get referrals from another professional. Linda gives tips on how to strengthen your network and how to develop and sustain those relationships.

Law firm administrators are the backbone of every law practice and they are often times met with challenges on a daily basis. On The Un-Billable Hour, host Attorney Rodney Dowell, Executive Director at Lawyers Concerned for Lawyers and Director of LCL’s Massachusetts Law Office Management Assistance Program welcomes Joanne Schnare, Executive Director for a Boston law firm and President-Elect of the Boston Chapter of the Association of Legal Administrators, to take a look at the top issues that law firm administrators need to be aware of in today’s legal environment and how these unsung heroes can help manage the law practice and be a part of a successful law firm.

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.

Podcasts have become increasingly available and cover topics of all flavors. 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, welcomes St. Louis based legal technology writer and information technology lawyer and co-host of the Kennedy-Mighell Report, Dennis Kennedy, to talk about how attorneys can benefit from listening to podcasts, how to find the best podcast that suits you and how attorneys can improve their podcast listening experience. And don’t forget, you can listen to many Legal Talk Network podcasts here and get CLE credit!

Why are the world’s best communicators often unable to have difficult conversations with clients, employees, partners, or even family members? Find out on The Un-Billable Hour, with host Attorney Rodney Dowell, Director of the Massachusetts Law Office Management Assistance Program and interim executive director at Lawyers Concerned for Lawyers, along with Szifra Birke, counselor, consultant and co-host of Shrink Rap, a syndicated cable TV show. They discuss the impact on success and how legal professionals can start handling difficult conversations in a healthy manner.

Today’s attorney can practice from anywhere at any time with the dramatic improvement in technology, most importantly, the rapid growth of smart phones. Smartphones made by Blackberry have been the big law phone, the iPhone, the hot tech geek phone, but for an affordable alternative we see the Android phones rapidly taking a substantial percentage of the the smartphone market. On The Un-Billable Hour, host Attorney Rodney Dowell, Director of the Massachusetts Law Office Management Assistance Program, welcomes Courtney Kennaday, Director of the Practice Management Assistance Program at the South Carolina Bar, to help explain what an Android smartphone is and how it can make practicing attorneys more productive.

How can legal professionals get better at getting things done in their practice? On The Un-Billable Hour, host Attorney Rodney Dowell, Director of the Massachusetts Law Office Management Assistance Program, welcomes Dr. David D. Nowell, a Clinical Neuropsychologist, to discuss his work with legal professionals and how he helps them reach their practice management goals. Rodney and Dr. Nowell touch upon working with professionals with ADHD, the perks to hiring help and how attorneys can persist and complete tasks in a busy practice.

Can you make your law office more efficient and profitable by using a DMS? On The Un-Billable Hour, host Attorney Rodney Dowell, Director of the Massachusetts Law Office Management Assistance Program, welcomes Danny Johnson, from NetDocuments, to discuss the use of Document Management Systems (DMS) by attorneys. Rodney and Danny talk about how DMS systems create efficiency and improve knowledge management and can improve case management by integrating with firm practice management systems. They also spotlight some of the players in the industry and provide examples of solo or small firms that have improved efficiency/profitability with DMS.

A sneak peek at ABA TECHSHOW 2011 with The Un-Billable Hour, host Attorney Rodney Dowell, Director of the Massachusetts Law Office Management Assistance Program, and former chairs of the ABA TECHSHOW, Laura Calloway and Jim Calloway. They share what the highlights may be this year, plus hear some of their top law practice management tips from past ABA TECHSHOWS and how attorneys can implement what they learn at the show into their day-to-day practice.

Hear about important law office management issues on The Un-Billable Hour as host Attorney Rodney Dowell, Director of the Massachusetts Law Office Management Assistance Program, welcomes Attorney Alan J. Klevan, founder of Law Practice Strategies. Alan talks about how to analyze and update existing hardware and software and shares useful websites and tips on how to successfully select and maintain law office technology.

On this edition of The Un-Billable Hour, host Attorney Rodney Dowell, Director of the Massachusetts Law Office Management Assistance Program, welcomes Attorney Ernie Svenson from the Svenson Law Firm in New Orleans, to discuss the best practices for moving toward a safe, paperless office. Rodney and Ernie take look at the operating system, certain principles for developing a paperless office and the steps a firm needs to take to move toward a paperless solution.

More attorneys are turning to a MAC instead of a PC for their office needs and want to know more about the critical tools for their practice. On this edition of The Un-Billable Hour, host Attorney Rodney Dowell, Director of the Massachusetts Law Office Management Assistance Program, chats with Ben Stevens, from The Stevens Firm, P.A. and a blogger at the MacLawyer, to talk about using a Macintosh computer in your law office. Rodney and Ben look at the rise in popularity of the Mac in the legal community, how to set up a Mac office and the key software and hardware to make it run efficiently.

On this edition of The Un-Billable Hour, host Attorney Rodney Dowell, Director of the Massachusetts Law Office Management Assistance Program, chats with Carole Levitt, President and Founder of Internet for Lawyers and Mark Rosch, Vice President of Internet for Lawyers, to talk about their new book, Google For Lawyers: Essential Search Tips and Productivity Tools. They discuss their inspiration for the book, overall thoughts on Google as a search engine for attorneys, free office applications and how Google, in the long run, can save attorneys time and money.

With the inception of YouTube, the video has skyrocketed in popularity from how-to videos to promotional videos, to marketing for businesses and law firms. On this edition of The Un-Billable Hour, host Attorney Rodney Dowell, Director of the Massachusetts Law Office Management Assistance Program, welcomes Lu Ann Reeb, Co-founder and President of Legal Talk Network, LLC, to talk about the value of video and how firms and attorneys can gain exposure with a high quality video.

On this edition of The Un-Billable Hour, host Attorney Rodney Dowell, Director of the Massachusetts Law Office Management Assistance Program, welcomes JoAnna Forshee, CEO of InsideLegal and Jobst Elster, Head of Content for InsideLegal.com, to take an inside look at the 2010 International Legal Technology Association (ILTA) Conference and findings from the 2010 InsideLegal/ILTA Member Technology Purchasing Survey. JoAnna and Jobst discuss the collaboration between ILTA and InsideLegal, the strategy and marketing sessions offered at the ILTA conference and what these survey results mean to vendors.

On this edition of The Un-Billable Hour, host Attorney Rodney Dowell, Director of the Massachusetts Law Office Management Assistance Program, welcomes Teddy Snyder, Esq, author and a Certified Structured Settlement Consultant at Ringler Associates, to discuss her fourth book, Women Rainmakers Best Marketing Tips-3d Edition. Teddy talks about her new book, the history behind the ABA Women Rainmakers, the importance of branding and networking and shares some marketing tips for running a law practice.

On this edition of The Un-Billable Hour, host Attorney Rodney Dowell, Director of the Massachusetts Law Office Management Assistance Program, welcomes Attorney Channing Migner, to talk about outsourcing work to India. Channing discusses how he got involved in outsourcing, how to find a trustworthy outsourcing company and how outsourcing can benefit your law firm.

On this edition of The Un-Billable Hour, host Attorney Rodney Dowell, Director of the Massachusetts Law Office Management Assistance Program, welcomes Adriana Linares, President of LawTech Partners to discuss Adriana’s blog series on the “10 Critical Computer Skills Every Attorney Should Know”. Rodney and Adriana check out the basic skills that are vital to attorneys, metadata and how it affects the practice of law, the training process and keeping attorneys on top in the world of technology.

A new attorney right out of law school or a lawyer going solo is often met with the challenge of finding new clients. In this edition of The Un-Billable Hour, host Attorney Rodney Dowell, Director of the Massachusetts Law Office Management Assistance Program, welcomes Erik Mazzone, Director of the Center for Practice Management at North Carolina Bar Association, to offer tips on how to find clients for your new practice. Rodney and Erik will discuss the referral network, the power of social networking and ultimately the importance of relationships.

Time management is a key element in running your law practice. In this edition of The Un-Billable Hour, host Attorney Rodney Dowell, Director of the Massachusetts Law Office Management Assistance Program, welcomes attorney, consultant and coach, Allison C. Shields, Esq. President of Legal Ease Consulting, Inc. to share tips on how to find the time to be a lawyer, the importance of prioritizing, systematizing your law firm and how to market and manage your practice.

In this edition of The Un-Billable Hour, host Attorney Rodney Dowell, Director of the Massachusetts Law Office Management Assistance Program, welcomes Reid Trautz, Director of the American Immigration Lawyers Association’s Practice and Professionalism Center and Dan Pinnington, Director of practicePro at the Lawyers’ Professional Indemnity Company, to provide essential tips for lawyers to run a successful practice. Later in the program, special guest, founder of AbacusLaw and author, Attorney Judd Kessler will discuss the advantages of using a case management software program in your law office.

In this edition of The Un-Billable Hour, host Attorney Rodney Dowell, Director of the Massachusetts Law Office Management Assistance Program, talks about value billing and using transparent pricing to become more competitive. Rodney welcomes Attorney Jay Shepherd from the Shepherd Law Group, P.C , to discuss his thoughts on value billing and his passion for providing “open/transparent pricing” to deliver value to his clients.

In this edition of The Un-Billable Hour, host Attorney Rodney Dowell, Director of the Massachusetts Law Office Management Assistance Program, will talk about the keys to operating a successful solo practice. Rodney welcomes Attorney Carolyn Elefant, a solo and small firm attorney, blogger and author of the book, "Solo by Choice, " to discuss the criteria attorneys should use when selecting clients, the keys to planning a successful start-up and how to develop a successful firm.

In this debut podcast of The Un-Billable Hour, host Attorney Rodney Dowell, Director of the Massachusetts Law Office Management Assistance Program, will look at how attorneys can successfully market themselves and their practice to maximize their success. Rodney welcomes Attorney Lee S. Rosen, from the North Carolina family law firm, Rosen Law Firm, to discuss the keys to developing a successful marketing program for individual lawyers and law firms.