♫ What are you doing the rest of your life?
North and south
and east and west of your life? ♫

Lyrics and music by: Alan Bergman, Michel Legrand, Marilyn Bergman, recorded by Barbara Streisand.

Robert (Bob) Denney of Robert Denney Associates, Inc. has just released the February 2010 Communique on What Firm Leaders Should Focus on Now.

With Bob’s permission, here is his communique, which I think is excellent in terms of strategic planning and vision for the year to come:

The economy is recovering although not as rapidly or steadily as we would all like. It is already apparent that this recession will have a far greater impact on the legal profession than any previous recession. Now it is time for firm leaders to shift from survival management to recovery and strategic management. Firms face challenges they have never faced before and for which there are few, if any, precedents. These are some of the areas where these challenges will occur and where firm leaders should now focus their attention.

Leadership and Management: Managers have a short-range perspective. Leaders, on the other hand, need to have a long-range perspective and a vision. They also need to build consensus throughout the firm for achieving that vision. Leadership is different from management. Right now both are critical.

Firm and Practice Management structure: The Managing Partner/President/CEO should focus on strategic issues and external factors – especially clients. But, in BigLaw firms and in many MidLaw firms, this top level manager should focus solely on running the firm and should not have any personal client responsibilities. There should be a senior management team including an Executive Committee, a Chief Operating Officer (or co-Managing Partner) and Practice Group Leaders. All positions should have job descriptions and the partners in these positions need to be given sufficient non-billable time to fulfill their management responsibilities. (more…)

♫ Baby, baby, I’m out on a limb
I’m giving in to you again…♫

Lyrics, music and recorded by Teena Marie.

I wanted to say a most gracious thanks to Steve Matthews and his crew at Stem Legal (Jordan Furlong, Emma Durand-Wood, and Laurel Fulford) for my 2009 Clawbie in the area of Practice Management (tied with Avoid A Claim Blog – Dan Pinnington the Director of PracticePro’s new risk management blog). I also wanted to say a hearty “Congratulations” to all those who won and who were nominated (a complete list of winners can be found here). Well Done!

I didn’t want this to be a typical acceptance speech (which can be rather boring) so I am giving into the urge to go out on a limb (which usually means someone comes after me with a chainsaw….but I digress…) and make some predictions for what will be seen in the 2010 ClawBies and legal blogs in general.

First of all, I think 2010 will be the year of the collective blog. www.slaw.ca is one shining example of what can be achieved by a powerful group of bloggers who have multiple eyes and ears and who are watching the world. Slaw has been recognized internationally for the quality of its work. Frankly I don’t know how a Canadian lawyer can practice today without following it – it is a great way to stay on top of current developments not only across Canada but in the international legal world as well. Hats off to Simon Fodden for herding this particular group of legal cats!

Another great group blog is Lawrence Gridin and Omar Ha-Redeye’s Law is Cool.

Second, individual bloggers will make more extensive use of guest bloggers on their sites. This adds variety and new voices to the mix (and also helps create cross-links). It also builds on the social aspect of blogging.

Third, 2010 will also be the year that legal organizations recognize the value of a blog. The Stream, a collective blog hosted by the BC Courthouse Library Society, illustrates what happens when an organization recognizes the informational value in hosting a blog and looks at how it can provide information differently. Johanne Blenkin and Mandy Ostick are leading the way here. Lang Michener LLP, Davis LLP, Clark Wilson LLP and other law firms fall into this emerging category.

Fourth, I would like to mention a few people to watch in the Canadian legal blogging community:

Doug Jasinki’s new blog: http://legalmarketing.ca/ is one to keep an eye on (disclaimer: Doug and his team designed my blog for which I am eternally grateful). Doug is a very bright light when it comes to online legal marketing and he and his company Skunkworks Creative Group Inc. are doing some truly innovative things in the legal marketplace (see his list of clients here).

Individual bloggers that I find particularly inspiring: Erik Mcgraken, Donna Seale and Jordan Furlong are three to watch, in my humble opinion.

Lastly, there is Steve Matthews. He is a true Canadian visionary when it comes to understanding the entire online social matrix in which lawyers and law firms are working. His work is international in scope and light-years ahead of the competition. He senses oncoming transformation from the briefest puff in the winds of change.

So there they are…baby, baby I am out on a limb again…

♫ In elementary I used crayons, even chalk
I learned to count money before I could read and talk
And my mama told me son, you need to shine
I couldn’t stand at the back, I had to lead the line..♫

Lyrics and Music by Wesley Weston Jr. and Tommy Granville, Jr, recorded by Li’ Flip.

This post is another great Leadership Moment by Beth Flynn of the Ohio State University Leadership Center on how to market yourself graciously to your superiors:

1. Instead of talking about what you did, talk about the difference it made.
2. Instead of talking about what you can’t do, talk about what you can do and what you are learning to do.
3. Talk about your goals and how they will measure your success.
4. Debrief results with your boss candidly and without apologies.
5. Quantify your results whenever you can – I saved the organization $10,000.
6. When you fall short of your goals, ask for feedback, and talk about what you learned about the experience and how you will apply those insights in the future.
7. Talk about your weaknesses differently. Say I want to strengthen my analytical skills rather than I need to be more analytical.
8. Even your challenges are opportunities to demonstrate creativity and problem-solving skills (Scumaci, 2008, p. 33)

Reference: Scumaci, D. (2008). Designed for success. Lake Mary, FL: Excel Books.

Designed for Success is available on loan from the Ohio State University Leadership Center. To borrow this resource or any other resource, please go to the resource search page.

Learn how the Ohio State University Leadership Center is strengthening tomorrow’s leaders today at http://leadershipcenter.osu.edu. To subscribe/unsubscribe from the Leadership Moments list, send e-mail to: flynn.61@osu.edu.

To be an effective leader, we all need to shine in our own gracious but effective way.

♬ We’ll find another way to dance, we’ll find another way to dance
If you get the chance you must dance, dance, dance….♬

Lyrics, music and recorded by Dan Keyes.

Oct. 2, 2009 marked the latest edition of The Pacific Legal Technology Conference in Vancouver, BC, Canada. With speakers such as Dr. Michael Geist, who spoke on how blogs, Twitter, web sites and other internet-driven collaboration tools have changed how governments shape legislation, it was not surprising that this year’s program saw record attendance numbers!

Other popular session topics were: Going Paperless, virtual lawyering, privacy and security and ethics concerns and of course, iPhones, Blackberries and other smartphones. The conference also dealt with time, task and email management using technology and how to focus your financial system to direct your future and achieve your goals…financial and otherwise. The conference closed to a ‘60 Tips in 60 Mins” presentation that saw at least 100 tips being mentioned, displayed and discussed. Copies of most of the power points can be found at: www.pacificlegaltech.com/sessions.html. Written materials (in CD-ROM format) are also available from the conference for $149 + taxes from: info@pacificlegaltech.com.

What was most interesting from my perspective were the comments and discussions that resulted from the sessions. In particular was an email exchange that I had with Grant Sutherland, a lawyer in Vancouver (I have his permission to post his comments here).

He stated that:

“You mentioned that you are a Mac user. After struggling with Vista, I purchased a Mac a year ago and will never go back to a PC. The Mac is terrific!

I am practicing part time. I have office space available at a law firm in downtown Vancouver but spend most of my time working out of my condo. I am 63 years old and have been in practice for 37 years.

There are probably a lot of lawyers like me who are getting a little long in the tooth but don’t want to retire and have a lot of experience and some useful advice to impart to clients and younger lawyers.

Technology allows people like me to work out of my home and assist clients with their legal issues. I have fully embraced technology and am always looking for new tech tips to help in my practice. (Who says you cant teach an old dog new tricks?) Your conference was very timely for me.

You may wish to consider targeting older lawyers who want to transition from an office to a home office. In my view, they are ideal candidates for the tech information you have to offer.”

So I asked Grant what are the technologies that he uses to be a mobile and virtual lawyer. Here is his reply:

“I use a MacBook Air. Weighs 3 pounds. Excellent for travel and taking to meetings locally, Starbucks, etc. I have the Super Drive to plug in to USB if I need to load software or view a DVD. I don’t take the drive with me when I travel. Don’t need it and it is excess weight.

For backup I just bought a 1 terabyte Time Capsule. I also have a couple of USB Flash Drives that I bring with me when I travel.

I have an HP Officejet Pro 7780 All-In-One copier, fax, printer, scanner. For big print or copy jobs, I email The Printing House with a file attached.

I have a Blackberry 9630–the new World Phone. Works on both GSM and CDMA so works most places in the world. I use Blackberry email and instant messaging a lot. Very efficient!

Finally, I have an iPod touch. This is useful when traveling as it has my music, photos etc so it helps to pass the time on aircraft. It is synced with my Macbook Air email through MobileMe so it serves as a backup for my email in case I encounter a problem with my computer.

I closed my downtown office at the end of February and have some legacy PC hardware and software with my accounting information. I am a stickler for precise accounting and I have a bookkeeper that comes in once a week to look after my accounting.”

Grant has found a new way of continuing to practice, in a way that supports his lifestyle and his needs, using technology to reach out to the world (or have the world find him). I would like to thank Grant for taking the time to share his perspective here for others to read and hopefully, emulate.

After all, if we still hear the music once we no longer wish to practice 50+ hours a week in a glass tower, we need to start finding a new way to dance….

♬ This magic moment
So different and so new
Was like any other
…It took me by suprise
I knew that you felt it too
I could see it by the look in your eyes …♬

Lyrics and music by: Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman.

This is a post of the latest Leadership Moment by Beth Flynn at the Ohio State University Leadership Center.   I thought it was excellent and I hope you do to.

Civility (or lack of civility) has been featured in the news this week as we have experienced rude behavior in the government, in sports and at the music awards.  Lack of civility is on the increase – and it does need to be addressed before it gets out of control.  In today’s Columbus Dispatch, Amy Saunders wrote an excellent article on civility titled Rude awakening: Outbursts are in vogue.  Click here to read Amy’s article

If we do not know how the events of the day will unfold, if we cannot see into the future, when does leadership happen?

Answer:  It happens at The Magic Moment.

A Magic Moment is any time we receive information and face a choice – a choice in determining what actions we will take and what we will say.

In working with business people around the world, we have conducted research which shows that just over half of us will say or do something destructive when faced with a stressful situation.  At that critical point, in that “Magic Moment” when people discover that things have not gone the way we wanted them to, their words and body language lash out with harmful messages.

Another large group of people do nothing.  They simply ignore the situation.

These two types of leaders miss the most important decisions that take place during a day.  When missed these Magic Moments, which number in the thousands, breed and feed office elephants.

But other people seize such Magic Moments and use them in their favor.  Life happens (Read: Competition happens, market conditions happen, personnel and supplier issues happen, and so forth).  These leaders recognize an opportunity and leverage the moment to deliver results now – and guarantee greater results in the future (p. 114-115, Vannoy and Ross, 2008).

The Elephant in the Office is available on loan from the Ohio State University Leadership Center.  To borrow this resource or any other resource, please go to the resource search page

Learn how the Ohio State University Leadership Center is strengthening tomorrow’s leaders today at http://leadershipcenter.osu.edu.

To subscribe/unsubscribe from the Leadership Moments list — send an e-mail to: flynn.61@osu.edu.

–

Thank you Beth for all your great work at the U. of Ohio and for reminding us about those magic moments!

Simon Chester, a partner at Heenan Blaikie since 2004, is a member of their Toronto Litigation and Business Law groups. His practice focuses on knowledge management, research and legal opinions specifically. He has been a pioneer over the past 25 five years in the application of technology to the practice of law.

Simon studied Jurisprudence at University College, Oxford, and on winning the Canadian Rhodes Trust Scholarship did post-graduate work at Osgoode Hall Law School. After a decade in the Ontario government, he joined another major Toronto law firm as research partner. His earlier career included work as a faculty member at Osgoode Hall, on the research staff of the Ontario Law Reform Commission, and as Executive Counsel to the Attorney General of Ontario.

He has extensive experience in privacy and e-commerce.

Simon has held leadership positions in professional organizations and was the first non-American to chair the American Bar Association’s Tech Show. He chairs the ABA Law Practice Management Section’s Editorial Advisory Board. He served as President of the College of Law Practice Management and as President of the Oxford University Society in Toronto; he is a director of the Canadian Rhodes Scholars’ Foundation.

Simon has often testified before House of Commons and Senate Committees and is a frequent speaker at American, Canadian, Asian and European conferences on technology, international law and law practice management issues. He has contributed articles to the American Lawyer, International Business Lawyer, International Financial Law Review, Law Practice Management, CAMagazine, CBA National, Business Law International and the ABA Journal. He has written chapters for Winning with Technology, The Quality Pursuit, Environmental Rights in Canada and Canadian Legal Practice.

We welcome this opportunity for Simon, a perennial speaker at The Pacific Legal Technology Conference (including the upcoming 2009 version on Oct 2 in Vancouver) to answer 30 Questions for Busy Lawyers who use Technology:

1. Could you briefly describe your firm (number of lawyers, staff, areas of practice etc):

Heenan Blaikie is one of the ten largest law firms in Canada, although it is likely the youngest, since the firm was only formed in 1973. Practicing in four provinces, we currently have 495 lawyers, 6 Patent Agents, 67 Paralegals and 519 Support Staff : (which includes legal assistants and administrative staff (Accounting, Human Resources, IT, etc.). The firm’s historic strengths have been in labour relations, film, media and communications, public law litigation, pharmaceutical litigation and business law, but we have lawyers specializing in a vast number of areas from aboriginal land claims, mining project development, to atomic energy to minority language rights litigation. With the exception of the occasional white collar/regulatory defence, we eschew criminal work, and will refer out all family law work. The firm also has an active pro bono practice, and has been involved in a number of high profile recent constitutional challenges. In addition, the firm has an extensive international consulting practice, although this is generally conducted using advanced telecommunications and fly-ins. (more…)

Nils B. Jensen B.A.Sc., LL.B., LL.M. answers 30 questions for busy lawyers who use technology:

Nils Jensen is a senior litigator at the Victoria Crown Counsel Office. His innovative use of technology in the courtroom has gained him a reputation as a leader in the field.   He has used technology before judges and juries in cases ranging from murder to impaired driving.

While seconded to the Court Services Branch of the Ministry of Attorney General he led the award winning expansion of the video conference network now used widely in British Columbia courts and correctional centres. He was also the driving force behind the ground-breaking adjudication system used to resolve municipal bylaw disputes. The project received a Premier’s Award.

He is an Adjunct Professor at the University of Victoria Faculty of Law where he has developed inventive new ways for teaching advocacy skills.

He holds law degrees from Osgoode Hall Law School and London School of Economics and an Engineering degree from the University of Ottawa.

Nils looks at using technology from the perspective of a Crown Counsel:

1. Could you briefly describe your firm (number of lawyers, staff, areas of practice etc)

I work at the Crown Counsel Victoria Office which is composed of 25 lawyers. Our practice is restricted to criminal prosecutions and appeal.

2. When was your firm established?

Early 1970s.

3. Where do you practice (one office, multiple offices, virtual offices, regional, national, international)?

The Crown has offices throughout BC – there are approximately 400 lawyers.

4. What are the demographic backgrounds of the lawyers and staff in your firm?

We span the whole spectrum of ages and backgrounds: from right out of law school to 30+ years experience.

5. What prior degrees and/or experience do the lawyers and staff bring to your firm?

Some have LLMs – some come from the private sector to join us.

6. How would you describe the culture of the Crown?

We pride ourselves on striving for excellence and conducting our prosecutions impartially, effectively and respectfully, on behalf of the whole community. (more…)

♬ Don’t want to add more
complications to your life
but I’m sending this e-mail ♬

Lyrics and music by Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe, recorded by Pet Shop Boys.

I have had several conversations lately on how to deal with email and in particular, in archiving it once a file is closed.  As a result I thought I would post the summary of my discussions in this area.

Here is a summary of my thoughts on how to handle emails:

I see two general ways of proceeding.

One is to bring in a dedicated document management product such as Worldox (www.worldox.com).  It is an award-winning application, used in thousands of offices including law offices and is very well received by lawyers. It is a total electronic document management system and will handle all documents in your office including emails.

If you don’t want to move to Worldox (and I would strongly advise any firm to seriously consider bringing in a dedicated document mangement application since the ‘file’ these days exists in electronic form), here is another solution involving Microsoft Outlook, SimplyFile (www.techhit.com), EzDetach (www.techhit.com) and Adobe Acrobat Standard or Professional (not the Adobe reader: www.adobe.com).

Continue to use Outlook for your email management – and create folders in Outlook for each of your client files.  Furthermore, create a folder and sub-folder structure on your network for each of your client files that mirrors your paper file: for example, you would create sub-folders for correspondence, pleadings, expert reports etc….

Your emails would come into the Outlook in-box as usual. Use SimplyFile to ensure that all emails (incoming and outgoing) are then filed into the right folder in Outlook as they are received and generated. Use EZDetach to separate the attachments and to place them on the proper client’s network folder or sub-folder. EZDetach allows you to file away the attachments without losing the attachment indicator (the ‘paper clip’ in the email).  You can delete the attachment from the email if you wish, so long as you file it away on the appropriate sub-folder.

Now ..when it comes time to close the file and archive the data….

In Outlook…I would open each of the folders that contain that client/matter emails and ’select all’ to grab all the emails in each of these folders.

Then I would “print” all the emails from within Outlook as one big Adobe file using Adobe Acrobat (standard or professional).

If the folder is large, the PDF may take a little time to generate, but all the formatting, colors, graphics etc are preserved and it will be fully searchable.

From there, you could take each of the separate client folders and sub-folders on the network…say: Correspondence, pleadings etc…and combine them into one big PDF package containing all the separate files (including the Outlook emails and network folders including the attachment folders) that together compromise the client’s file.  From here you can burn the PDF package to a CD or DVD or move it into an ‘archive’ section of the network.

I think the Worldox method is cleaner, less-complicated and brings overall document management benefits to the firm, but I recognize that there will be others looking for a different solution.  But all of us need to find ways to rescue our lives from the complications caused by email.

♬ It won’t be long yeh, yeh,
It won’t be long yeh, yeh…♬

Music and lyrics by Lennon & McCartney.

This interview is with Paul Hergott of Hergott Law, a solo practitioner in West Kelowna, BC. This interview forms part of the “30 Questions for Busy Lawyers who use Technology” thread on this blog in advance of The Pacific Legal Technology Conference, to be held in Vancouver on Friday, Oct. 2, 2009 at the Vancouver Trade & Convention Center:

1.    Could you briefly describe your firm (number of lawyers, staff, areas of practice etc):

We have one lawyer – doing real estate and personal injury. In the personal injury area, we have 4 staff. Conveyancing has 1 staff member.

2.    When was your firm established?

In Sept 2007.

3.    Where do you practice (one office, multiple offices, virtual offices, regional, national, international)?

Regarding the conveyancing side of the practice, the admin is done in an electronically linked home office. Everything else is done in the main office.

4.    What are the demographic backgrounds of the lawyers and staff in your firm?

Most senior staff been at it for 30 years…probably early 40 legal assistant and mid 30’s secretary and receptionist is early 50’s.  Wife mid 40’s.  I am a very old dog!

5.    What prior degrees and/or experience do the lawyers and staff bring to your firm?

Staff has long standing legal experience.  I have a business admin degree  where I took high level programming (C++ and Pascal), quantitative analysis, and 400 level business admin courses. My wife entered the legal world with a computer programming course and started in the area of real estate conveyancing. She was a programmer of Blue Screen, a word perfect based conveyancing package.  3-4 months ago she took training in HotDocs and uses MS Word and HotDocs. (more…)

♬ I think to myself living is a winning school
Winning on your feet, winning on the street
Winning as a golden rule
It’s seems there’s always a test
And I’m doing my best
But there still seems a long way to go
I try myself
Trying everything I know
Pushing me so
…
One step ahead
One more step ahead just to get me through♬

Lyrics, music and recorded by Nik Kershaw.

This is the latest in a series of interviews of busy lawyers who use technology in advance of The Pacific Legal Technology Conference, to be held in Vancouver on Friday, October 2, 2009 at the Vancouver Trade and Convention Center. In this interview, we pose our 30 questions for Mark Tamminga of Gowlings:

1.                  Could you briefly describe your firm (number of lawyers, staff, areas of practice etc)

Gowling Lafleur  Henderson LLP is one of Canada’s largest national firms with an emphasis in business law, intellectual property and advocacy.

2.                  When was your firm established?

The firm traces its roots back to the 19th century…

3.                  Where do you practice (one office, multiple offices, virtual offices, regional, national, international)?

Gowlings is an International firm with 8 offices across Canada as well as offices in London and Moscow.

4.                  What are the demographic backgrounds of the lawyers and staff in your firm?

Varied – we have just under 700 lawyers and a proportionate number of staff. With that size comes a tremendous range in people. We have been listed as one of the 50 Best Employers in Canada by the Globe and Mail (2009).

5.                  What prior degrees and/or experience do the lawyers and staff bring to your firm?

Again this is very differentiated.  For example, we have the Honourable Martin Cauchon who was the Minister of National Revenue

6.                  How would you describe the culture of your firm?

Result of the coming together of a whole bunch of smaller firms.  Each firm brought their own flavour.   I would say it is scrappy – willing to try new things.   Open to innovation.

7.                  Can you describe the firm’s management style?

Consensual.  We have a three person executive, a Board of Trustees and an Internal and External Management Committee.  The different office managing partners are on the internal committee.  The external one is made up of key hitters in the firm.

8.                  Does technology assist you in the management of your firm? If so, how?

My interest is practice modeling software, which is aimed at production of legal work.  In terms of management, we have most of the back office accounting stuff…giving us the firm’s financial performance.  GowLINKS is the internal web site for sharing information – the office’s intranet. (more…)