Law Practice Management

Articles

  • Planning to Succeed
    By Helen W. Gunnarsson, Illinois Bar Journal, November 2011
    How many lawyers really know where they want to take their practices? How many have a strategic plan, complete with a mission, goals and an action plan flowing from that mission, and a system for measuring success? Here's why you should be one who does.
  • The Five Biggest Business Mistakes Lawyers Make
    By Helen W. Gunnarsson, Illinois Bar Journal, September 2011
    In an effort to make themselves attractive to clients, too many lawyers - especially new ones - undervalue their services. It's a short-sighted approach that can lead to big trouble, this lawyer argues.

  • Addition by deduction
    By Paul Shaheen, Law Office Management and Economics, September 2011
    If employee benefits are becoming unaffordable, how does a firm maintain them? Or at least remain in the position to offer them? 

  • Does your voicemail irritate clients?
    By Donald E. Weihl, Law Office Management and Economics, September 2011
    Some tips for creating the most effective voice mail messages.

  • Emerging issues for Illinois employers in wage and hour law
    By Richard L. Samson and Michael D. Ray; Law Office Management and Economics, September 2011
    A list of issues that Illinois employers commonly face regarding wage and hour laws, and practical advice for minimizing liability and exposure in light of the burgeoning wave of related lawsuits.

  • How to laugh in the face of a data disaster
    By Alan Pearlman, Law Office Management and Economics, September 2011
    A true story from the case chronicles of ETS Investigative Services of Wilmette, Illinois, a firm specializing in data security, recovery, forensics and investigation.

  • Professional services and law practice growth patterns
    By William A. Price, Law Office Management and Economics, June 2011
    The U.S. government collects a wide variety of statistics on employment, earnings, and employment dynamics in law practices and on other business advisory professions. These can give you a reasonably good idea of what the growth in numbers and in income has been in recent years.

  • Managing ourselves
    By Dan Breen, Law Office Management and Economics, June 2011
    Because more and more attorneys will begin their legal career without a traditional business structure, it is important that we, as a profession, pay more attention to the business side of law.

  • Law firm partner compensation
    By John W. Olmstead, Law Office Management and Economics, June 2011
    Can compensation make a difference in a partner's motivation, performance, and contribution to the firm?

  • Keeping current in your practice
    By David M. Clark, Legal Technology, April 2011
    Applying sage advice using modern technology.
  • Hiring How-Tos, Firing Fundamentals
    By Helen W. Gunnarsson, Illinois Bar Journal, March 2011
    Businesses are only as good as their people, but recruiting employees and letting them go are both fraught with legal pitfalls. Here's how you can help your clients and your own firm avoid HR missteps.
  • Protecting your office from employee theft
    By Dan Breen, Law Office Management and Economics, December 2010
    Possibly the best advice is to implement a written loss prevention policy for your office. Like any other plan or strategy you use when trying cases, developing your business, or monitoring your financial growth, this plan is most effective if you put it in writing.
  • How to grandfather, or not: A health care reform update
    By Paul Shaheen, Law Office Management and Economics, December 2010
    By carefully asking the right kinds of questions, and working with a qualified insurance professional in this regard, the analysis that you, and your firm, need to undertake in determining what type of plan is best for its needs will be made a great deal easier.
  • You're the Boss - Now What?
    By Helen W. Gunnarsson, Illinois Bar Journal, March 2010
    Supervising employees, meeting a payroll - more things they didn't teach you in law school. Find out some of what you need to know to be an effective, legally compliant, ethically aware employer or supervisor.
  • Just Can't Wait to Get on the Road Again
    By Helen W. Gunnarsson, Illinois Bar Journal, December 2009
    With the right technology, you can be as productive when you're traveling as you are in the office.
  • Needle In a Haystack
    By Toby Paulose, Law Office Management and Economics, February 2009
    An overview of the processes that recruiters use when looking for that special job candidate. Also included aresome tips on what to look for in a resume and and the types of questions you should ask to get the information that you are looking for during a face to face interview..
  • Should You Store Your Client's Will?
    By Helen W. Gunnarsson, Illinois Bar Journal, October 2006
    More and more lawyers say it's a bad idea. But what to do instead? And what about those fileboxes full of wills you inherited from your predecessor? Is a statutorily created central will repository the answer?

 

Have a suggestion for a practice resource? Please email Mark Mathewson.

These resources are presented as educational resources for for ISBA members. They should not be relied upon as a substitute for individual legal research, and the ISBA does not warrant the accuracy of the information that appears in them.