I could hear it in his voice — the frustration over trying to figure out how to deal with a never-ending flow of email was palpable. Unfortunately, before I could share a few thoughts, the elevator door opened and I had to walk away. If only I could have had a little more time. That’s [...]
Malpractice Insurance Claims made vs. Occurrence-based Coverage Before digging into the basics of legal malpractice insurance, I’m going to share a little insurance history in order to set the stage. Prior to the 1970’s, legal malpractice policies were occurrence-based, which meant that if a malpractice policy was in force during the time the alleged malpractice [...]
Guest Blogger Karen Thalacker digs deep into that short, little 4-letter word that we just don't seem to have enough of these days. What is the 4-letter word that annoys lawyers the most? That 4 letter word is “time.” Most of us feel like we don’t have enough time on a normal day so when [...]
Sometimes things change as matters progress, like the legal needs of the client, your ability to continue to provide competent representation, the effectiveness of the attorney-client relationship, or even the ability of your client to pay your fees. And such changes, for some, lead to a recognition that the time to withdraw has arrived. This [...]
A solo attorney recently reached out wanting to know how to select a backup attorney. Having now addressed his concerns, I thought it would be worthwhile to share my answer for the benefit of others who may have similar questions. Here’s what I had to say. I see the process of selecting a backup attorney [...]
I have been fortunate enough to have great mentors over the years across a variety of legal-related fields, including a legislator, a lobbyist, judges, and other attorneys. They have guided me through decisions and hard times; they have trained me to be the attorney I am today. So while I’m at a point in my [...]
An invitation to speak on the topic of lawyer civility came my way recently and two things about the request caught me a bit off guard. One was that the initial time slot was three hours and the other was a desire for the focus to be on sharing practical tips on how lawyers could [...]
The following is a guest post by Missoula, MT attorney Janel F. Chin. As an attorney in my late thirties, I can assuredly say that I have personally experienced all of the four main patterns in gender bias identified in the ABA Commission on Women in the Profession’s report: Bias Interrupters Project – You Can’t Change [...]
In my experience, almost all lawyers have redundant calendars in place. Often there’s a primary master calendar and some sort of backup, which could be anything from a digital backup to a secretary’s paper calendar. Some attorneys go even further. For example, in addition to a primary master calendar and some sort of backup, there [...]
Jeff Bunn, lawyer, wellness expert and owner of the Mindful Law Coaching and Consulting Group, presents the business case for investing in attorney wellness. As he sits down with ALPS Executive Vice President, Chris Newbold, Jeff lays out why making mindfulness a priority in the legal profession makes sense not just from the health standpoint, [...]
