North Carolina Lawyers Weekly

BOSTON, Mass. – It’s time. You’re going to take the plunge. You’ve decided to raise your fees. Obviously, higher fees and happy clients can be mutually exclusive. But there are tactics that can result in not only increased income, but ...

Tagged with: Fees

What are the most important words in a dictionary? For lawyers, the most important words deal with accounting. Like any other profession, the world of accounting has its own language, and a knowledge of key financial terms will be valuable ...

As a society, we’re not getting any smarter in terms of cell phone use and driving. In my book More Secrets of the Business of Law, published in 2006, I discussed the first lawsuit that I’d heard about involving employer ...

Tagged with: Cellphones Driving

A frequent refrain from harried lawyers is, “I’m so overwhelmed that I just don’t have time to take care of myself.” Do you feel the same way? If so, do you think you are providing your clients with the best ...

The major distinction between lawyers and other professionals is that lawyers are covered by a rule of confidentiality. Only the clergy and doctors have anything approaching this rule. However, that confidentiality may be at risk in our new surveillance-dominated society. ...

Tagged with: Surveillance

Wisconsin law school graduates are undoubtedly happier than other law school graduates — America’s Dairyland is the only state that does not require a bar exam. Students who graduate from a state law school can practice in Wisconsin without taking ...

Tagged with: Bar Exam

Lawyers owe many duties to any number of people. The first of any consequence is the duty owed to clients. That includes the duty of confidentiality, the duty of candid and fair dealing, and the duty of assessing reasonable charges ...

It has become conventional wisdom in this country that small businesses are the real engine of economic growth and job creation. Typical examples: the tech startup that becomes a global giant, or the small-service provider that ultimately franchises too many locations.

The past five years have been financially painful for many small firm lawyers – the two-thirds of the nation’s 1.2 million attorneys who practice in firms with five or fewer members. They often make $60,000 to $100,000 a year and generally represent individual clients and small businesses in issues (such as personal injury, family disputes, criminal defense and personal debtor claims, among others) that tend to pay less to begin with. Couple this with the reduction in number of clients and number of matters and the slower payments that firms of all sizes are experiencing, and the result is an office phone that rings less.

Tagged with: marketing

The law ultimately is a people business. Lawyers every day deal with human lives in the practice of law and should strive to communicate honestly and directly about the difficulties involved while maintaining respect for those with whom we deal. That is easier said than done, when clients who are involved in stressful and emotional problems (from divorce or personal injury to closing a big deal) expect their lawyer to provide all the answers and make things right. The fact is that we cannot always do this, and conveying it to clients is often difficult.