The Mac Lawyer | Author Archives | Page 2Ben Stevens, Author at The Mac Lawyer

CardNinja Is The Ultimate Minimalist iPhone Wallet

Posted on May 2, 2016 by Ben Stevens Posted in Product Reviews Leave a comment

For most busy professionals, there are two things that we must have with us the majority of the time: our smartphones and our wallets. What if those two items could be combined in an ultralight, secure, yet minimalist way? They can!

CardNinja from Cubi is an ultra-slim holder that quickly and easily attaches to the back of your iPhone (or anything else). This enables you to keep up to 8 cards (driver’s license, credit card, business card, key cards, cash, etc.) with you so they will be accessible when and where you need them.

You’ve probably received a rubber or silicone case like this before as swag at a conference, but what makes CardNinja the ultimate iPhone wallet is that it is made from a spandex blend, which makes it noticeably lighter and thinner than those, yet it still attaches to the back of your device with a secure 3M adhesive that can be removed without leaving any residue on your phone.

The CardNinja comes in 15 colors and designs, with pricing ranging from $9.95 to $11.95. It has been praised by the likes of David Pogue, Cult of Mac, The Wall Street Journal, and MacWorld (and now The Mac Lawyer). It’s now attached to my iPhone, and I absolutely love it. You can check it out, learn more, or order one for yourself here.

The Mac Lawyer Interviewed on The Law Entrepreneur

Posted on April 25, 2016 by Ben Stevens Posted in Did You Know?, Office Management, This Blog Leave a comment

My readers probably know a good bit about the “tech side” of my life, but they might not know much about my “real job”. I am the Senior Partner in a boutique law firm in Spartanburg, SC that exclusively handles family law cases. My practice areas include high asset divorces, contested child custody cases, and other complex family law issues. As I like to describe it, I solve puzzles for a living.

If you’re curious how I ended up doing this and what led me to this point in my career, you may want to listen to Neil Tyra’s interview with me. As you may recall, I blogged a few weeks ago about Neil’s podcast, The Law Entrepreneur with Neil Tyra, and he was kind enough to have me as the featured guest on this week’s episode, Ben Stevens – The Evolution Of A Southern Family Law Attorney (Episode # 13).

I enjoyed being a guest on his podcast, and Neil does a great job interviewing his guests while making them feel comfortable during the process. This podcast has become one of my favorites, and I hope that you’ll consider checking it out and subscribing to it. Many thanks to Neil for having me on, and I look forward to talking with him more in the future. To find out more about The Law Entrepreneur click here, or to subscribe via iTunes click here.

Free Security Webinar

Posted on April 19, 2016 by Ben Stevens Posted in Online Resources, Security, Technology Leave a comment

Are you a Mac-using attorney? Do you know about all the new threats to your data? Do firewalls and antivirus software merely give you a false sense of security? Are you or your firm a “sitting duck” at risk of losing everything in your bank account in an instant… not to mention the insult to injury of government fines and penalties for non-compliance to data breach laws.

Does that get your attention? Well, the good news is that there are some simple protections and precautions you can put in place to drastically reduce your chances of being a victim. Tech expert Tom Lambotte of GlobalMacIT will present a free security webinar, “7 Critical IT Security Protections EVERY Mac-Based Law Firm Must Have In Place NOW To Avoid Cyber-Attacks, Data Breach Lawsuits, Bank Fraud and Compliance Penalties” on Thursday, April 28, 2016, 3:00 PM – 4:00 PM EST.

You can get more details and register for this webinar here. I hope to see you there.

Podcast Recommendation: The Law Entrepreneur with Neil Tyra

Posted on April 4, 2016 by Ben Stevens Posted in Office Management, Online Resources, Podcasts Leave a comment

Time is the one thing that I (like most busy attorneys) simply don’t have enough of. I enjoy learning, and podcasts are a great way to do so. Even though I enjoy them, but I am very discerning in selecting the ones that make the cut and find their way onto my playlist (in Overcast, which, by the way, is awesome).

I wanted to write this post to highlight a new addition to the few selected podcasts I follow – The Law Entrepreneur with Neil Tyra. Neil is an attorney who owns his own firm and has been practicing in Maryland (just outside of DC) since 2004. The stated goal of his podcast is to address “what they didn’t teach us about running a business in law school” – because that’s one of the areas that most law schools fall woefully short.

Neil’s podcast covers topics that help his listeners understand the many complexities of owning your own law firm, especially solos and those in small firms. Let’s face it, being an entrepreneur is not easy; being a successful attorney is not easy; and combing the two is not for the faint of heart. One thing Neil does that I love is he offers transparency by discussing some of the mistakes he made in his own firm along the way – which I think is wonderful and wish more people were willing to do.

Even though I graduated with honors with an undergraduate degree in financial management with a minor in accounting, I freely acknowledge that there were so many things that I didn’t know about running a firm when I left my old firm to open my own one in 1996. As with most things in life, I learned many things “the hard way”, but those missteps were very educational to me. In fact, that is one of the reasons that I teach so many CLE classes, because I enjoy sharing what I’ve learned with others.

The Law Entrepreneur podcast features interviews with successful attorneys (both solos and those from small firms), along with other bright and successful entrepreneurs who aren’t necessarily in the practice of law, to educate his listeners about creating, running, and managing a successful business in the internet era. Each episode is around 30 minutes, which is ideal for most people because they can listen to it while commuting to/from work (which I do during my 10-15 minute drive).

One of Neil’s best episodes to date is the one with my buddy, Victor Medina from New Jersey, who discusses how he successfully transitioned his law practice from educational law into estate planning & elder law, while managing to grow his practice and branch out into financial services along the way. Big changes executed masterfully over a short period of time with great results – what more could you want?

Neil and Victor’s discussion was fascinating, and you can access it here if you want a preview (which you can access ). To find out more about The Law Entrepreneur click here, or to subscribe via iTunes click here. I am confident that you will be glad you did – and Neil, keep up the great work!

Technology and the Herxheimer Reaction

Posted on March 31, 2016 by Ben Stevens Posted in Technology Leave a comment

The following Guest Post is from technology guru, Tom Lambotte from GlobalMac IT:

For many years I have used fasting on a regular basis to play a role in staying healthy. I’ve fallen off that boat for the past few years however, as it’s much tougher to do when you have kids (and I’ve got a 4 1/2, 2 1/2 and a 1 1/2 year old). In a recent Christmas family photo, I had one of those ‘enough’ moments when I saw how far I had let myself go. One of those moments where you go, “Oh my goodness, I look like that!?” I’m a good 25 pounds overweight and have been putting it off for a number of years. This has reinvigorated my desire for change in this area and this week I have switched to eating only fruits/veggies and protein, zero sugar and zero carbs. I’ve lost 5 pounds already (yay!) but I had some nasty headache a few days ago.

Hang with me, I promise I’ll tie this in to technology at the appropriate time. The headaches are one symptom a Herxheimer Reaction, also often referred to as a healing crisis, a detox reaction, or die-off syndrome. A quick Google search brings up “an immune system reaction to the toxins (endotoxins) that are released when large amounts of pathogens are being killed off, and the body does not eliminate the toxins quickly enough.” The most common Herxheimer reactions are: headache, flu-like symptoms, itch and rashes, flushes (there’s a lot more but I’ll skip them for this article). Usually, the reaction lasts a few days. In more severe cases, reactions can last a week or more.

I believe the experience of the Herxheimer Reaction is something that we all experience in different areas of our personal and professional lives, albeit with different symptoms. The longer you have neglected to address a certain area, the more severe the symptoms will be when you choose to address it. Think about the books for your firm. Have you ever delayed staying on top of them and then, much overdue, finally hire a bookkeeper to help you get caught up? Never a fun process. Car maintenance is an easy parallel as well, when haven’t done the regular maintenance, going in for that service call can be quite scary and is often painful for the pocketbook. However, the process of getting your car back up to spec will almost always have much higher repair cost than if maintenance had been done regularly to being with.

Let’s get back to that flab I’m trying to shed. I’ve been aware of it for several years but continued to neglect it. Luckily, I’m only 25 pounds overweight, we all know the national average is much higher. Think about that person you knew who passed away from a preventable disease at far too young an age. Far too many people in our nation continue to neglect their health until it is far too late. Hopefully, you are not there but the longer you delay, the worst the reactions will be when you change your ways.

So what is the state of health of the technology within your law practice? If you had to rate yourself on a scale of 1-10, where would you fall? Is addressing your firm’s technology needs something you’ve been avoiding? Have you simply been addressing symptoms with some duct-tape as needed? If so, it’s time to give your decision-making muscles a workout and make some changes. If you’re taking care of your IT on your own, I can assure you it is only a matter of time before problems creep up and a tremendous amount of time, effort, and money is lost as a result. Every single time we take over IT for a firm, we find a LOT of problems that have been patched for far too long. We find security holes that jeopardize the attorney-client relationship, we find examples that would make an Ethics board quite unhappy, should they ever come to light. We also find many different areas where productivity is being severely hindered. So, let’s say you decide to finally take some action and find a new IT vendor to support your firm, what’s the process going to be like?

What are the Herxheimer Reaction symptoms you will be experiencing? Choosing any new vendor to work with, always has some temporary pain while moving to the new solution. Again, think of the bookkeeper and getting caught up. Chances are, if you’ve been taking care of your own IT, no offense meant here, but there’s going to be cleanup work. A detox phase, where the Rube Goldberg of a technology system you’ve built over the years is ripped apart and put back together the right way. The purpose of this article is to attempt to motivate you to get the IT needs of your firm into the hands of someone who specializes in doing this. This is not you. You’re an attorney and you can’t bill out the hours you spend dealing with IT. Nor can you recoup those evening or weekend hours you’ve been spending fighting IT issues. Think of all the lost family time that went to those problems. Those hours are sadly gone.

I want to stress that it is not a question of whether or not you will experience pain in the transition of getting the IT needs off your desk and into the hands of experts, but how much pain and how bad it will be. Unfortunately, many who call themselves experts out there will just jump right in and start working on things. This almost assures that the “Hexleimer reaction” will be far greater than necessary.

Now the good news is that when doing a cleanse, you can reduce the symptoms by taking certain precautionary measures to reduce the discomfort. The same can be done with your technology. When we take over IT for a firm, we first perform a month-long diagnostic process that allows us to uncover everything going on within the firm in relation to their technology. I believe strongly that prescription with out diagnosis is malpractice. By taking the proper diagnostic steps before diving in, they can lay out a roadmap to implement, phase by phase. This enables you to minimize the pain felt during the process. The first step is always triage, where we address the biggest points of pain or discomfort. Then we get into the maintenance phase.

Now, again, if you do choose to get IT into the hands of a new vendor this year and stop being a hobbyist IT guy, this article serves as letting you know there may be moments of discomfort and some pain the process. The better the IT company and their processes, the better they will able to minimize this pain. And the worst shape your technology is in, the more painful it’s going to be.

I’ve started exercising this week and I’m (really) sore. The Herxheimer Reaction symptoms are not fun BUT I have 100% confidence that the symptoms are temporary and will pass. I’m going to have more energy than I have had in years, I will sleep better, think more clearly, have the energy to be present with wife and children after a long day of work and a whole lot more. In terms of your technology, once you’re past it, the issues you’ve Band’aid-ed for years will be permanently resolved, the frustration levels with technology for you and your staff will drop and you will move from a stage of triage into a stage of maintenance. Once you’re on the other side, you’ll never question the symptoms you may have experienced during the switchover and I promise you, you’ll never want to go back.

Provided as an educational service by Tom Lambotte, President of GlobalMac IT

GlobalMac IT was founded by Tom Lambotte – renowned nationwide as an author, speaker, trusted IT advisor, and cutting edge, successful provider of the #1 complete end-to-end IT solution for Mac-Based Law Firms in the world. Private firms from throughout North America – and as far reaching as American Samoa – running with a staff of 5-50 – have relied on his expertise to help them put their IT headaches behind once and for all.

Using his real world experience, where results rule and dollars can’t be wasted on negligent computer consultants, he wanted to help managing partners and office managers of Mac-based law firms to put an end to wasting their time and money on IT support that does not work and rescue them from the frustration.

Our unique “TotalCare” approach integrates classic IT support with proven proactive support that truly converts IT from something to be dealt with, into a tool that truly increases law firm profits, increases staff productivity, and provides piece of mind that firm and client data is secure and that their security is never at risk. You can reach GlobalMac IT at (440) 941-1622 to request more information.

Making Contact Safely: An Online Marketer’s Cybersecurity Checklist

Posted on February 29, 2016 by Ben Stevens Posted in Guest Posts, Security Leave a comment

The following Guest Post is from Cassie Phillips:

Online marketing is a wild rat race of information gathering and analytics. We compile data, we send emails, we look at SEO figures — all in our feeble attempts to slowly climb in page rank and reach as many readers as possible. It’s always an uphill battle, and the challenges aren’t just linked with getting the edge over your competition.

Reaching out and networking with other sites to build your link profile is a long, tedious process, and one that is fraught with its own complications. There’s a lot to be said for having an efficient process for your outreach, but there are also some things to consider on the cybersecurity side of things.

Before you dive too deep into the far corners of the internet in search of leads and your next leg up on the competition, run through this checklist, and make sure you’re not setting yourself up to be the next hack-attack victim.

1. Don’t Throw Your Email Address Around

It should go without saying, but your email address as an online marketer is akin to your personal phone number. It’s not information that needs to be shared freely and publicly, particularly if you’re using it for business purposes. If you do need to have an email address on your site, make sure you use a separate, secure account for that purpose alone.

Not only does having your email address publicly available set you up for the predictable storm of spam, but it also invites a lot of speculation about your accounts and how that information can be used by people other than yourself. Be particularly cautious about daisy-chaining accounts together. Make sure that a hacker can’t get access to one by infiltrating another.

2. Be Wary of Phishing Attempts

Working in this industry, your inbox no doubt fills daily with correspondences from other sites, people offering services, software companies. There’s a lot to sift through, and sometimes it’s hard to make yourself take the necessary precautions to ensure it’s all legitimate.

However, email phishing is extremely common and getting more sophisticated all the time. Make sure you’re using anti-virus software that scans webmail, and never follow links in an email. Oftentimes, they lead to fake forms designed to trick you into giving up login information. Always type the URL into your browser yourself.

3. Let Your Anti-virus Software Do Its Job

Speaking of email scams, it’s also important to remember that some hackers don’t want to steal your information at all. They just want to trick you into downloading malware. It should be second nature to take these kinds of precautions, but in case it’s not, make sure your anti-virus software is looking out for you by scanning any attachments that come through your email.

Some webmail services can identify suspected malware in an email, but it’s best to only download attachments from trusted contacts. Also be aware that many times these downloads are actually hiding in what appear to be hyperlinks. When you go to click a link, it could inadvertently start an automatic download. Always hover over a link before clicking to make sure the destination is the same as the link text.

4. Practice Commonsense Network Security

Despite the numerous warnings of the dangers of public and unsecured WiFi networks, a surprising number of people still use these networks without any kind of protection to conduct important business. Your website is your reputation, and you are ultimately responsible for securing that data and protecting your customers’ personal information.

It’s fine to use a public network, but take some basic precautions first. Disable settings on your device such as “Network Discovery” and “Public File Sharing”, which allow other network users to spot your device and check out your public folders, respectively.

These are only measures to protect your device from basic privacy breaches though. To ensure your data isn’t intercepted, you need to take things a step further and encrypt your connection. The easiest way to do this is to install a Virtual Private Network (VPN) on your device. When you connect through a VPN, your data is fully encrypted and secure from hackers.

5. Secure All of Your Accounts with Solid Passwords

Those of us in the business of promoting content often use an arsenal of tools to get the job done, and many of those require logins and provide us with intimate looks at our site’s performance. Think of all the sites and services you log into in a day—maybe it’s your email, AdWords, WordPress, Ahrefs, Paypal. How many accounts do you work with on a daily basis? How secure are they?

One of the biggest problems with account security for people managing online businesses is that they have so many passwords and logins to remember, they often recycle that same information over and over again. This means that if a hacker gets ahold of one password, they effectively have every password, and everything you have has become compromised in one fell swoop.

Always use a unique password, and never count on just security questions alone to protect your account. Many hackers use social engineering to get this information and use the “forgotten password” loophole to infiltrate accounts. If possible, use another means of password recovery, and never give this basic personal information out to anyone you don’t know.

If you have a hard time remembering passwords and are a little frustrated by having to keep track of so many, there are secure, reliable password management systems out there designed for people just like you. Using one secure master password, your login information is automatically stored and entered, so you can make passwords as random and secure as you want.

You Are Liable for the Security of Your Site

The bottom line is, even if you have the mentality of ‘it’ll never happen to me’, hacks happen to the majority of users, and at some point or another, it’s incredibly likely you’ll be hacked. If your site is responsible for processing payments or stores any information of any kind for customers or readers, you have a legal responsibility to make sure you’re taking adequate security measures.

As cybercrime continues to push the envelope and evolve, business owners are being held to higher standards by courts, and those with lax security practices can actually be found partially responsible for data breaches in which their users’ data is stolen. This was a hot topic during the Ashley Madison hacks of last year, in which the hackers reported that it was as if the site “wasn’t even trying” to keep their customers’ information private.

Don’t set yourself up for a reputation-destroying legal mess. Take basic security measures now to avoid headaches down the line, and get serious about incorporating common sense security practices into your marketing routine.

About the Author: Cassie Phillips is a writer and researcher for cybersecurity site Secure Thoughts, where she puts important information on online privacy and security in terms the everyday user can understand. She frequently posts about privacy software and ways internet users can protect themselves.

Cassie wrote, “I’d just like to thank Mac Lawyer for publishing this post on their site. This blog brings a brilliant perspective on the changing climate of cyber security and online privacy to legal professionals, and provides some great food for thought.“

A Tribute to My Friend, Finis Price

Posted on February 16, 2016 by Ben Stevens Posted in Miscellaneous 2 Comments

Today’s the day. Four years. 1,460 days. 35,040 hours. Each painful and filled with an overwhelming sense of loss. I have written an memorial and tribute to my fallen friend each yar since his passing, and today will be no different, though it may be a little more personal (and a little longer). I hope that you’ll continue reading, but if you don’t it’s ok. This is being written for him, not for any of us anyway.

They say that time heals all wounds, but I beg to differ. I remember like it was yesterday, sitting in mediation and receiving the news that the worst had happened and Finis was gone. I am thankful that I had not one but two seasoned co-counsel to take handle the case, because I certainly couldn’t at that point. The next twenty-four hours were a blur – trying to process the shock, the long drive to Louisville, and trying to find words to say after I arrived.

How could this even be possible? I had just spoken to him a few short hours before, and his last words “Thanks buddy, you’re the best” were still echoing in my ears. I would never hear “Benny boy!!!” – though I never quite figured out why he called me that, as no one else has before or since. Never again would I hear it. Never again could I call my “lifeline of tech knowledge” to give me the answer in about 2 seconds that I have been struggling hours to figure out. If I had any idea that was going to be it, I would have moved heaven and earth for it not to be.

We all have them. Those friends who we know are always there, even if we don’t talk for periods of time. Finis was like that. A few weeks might pass, but when we spoke it was if no time had passed at all. Those are your true friends, the special ones, and they are rare. Most of us have very few to begin with, which makes having one snatched unexpectedly even more cruel and harder to deal with.

Some people say “just get over it” – and I can’t repeat here what I want to say back to them because it’s not something that’s said in polite custody. Until you’ve walked in those shoes (which is something I truly wouldn’t wish upon my worst enemy or even Satan himself), you don’t even have an inkling of how it feels or how to begin to process the multitude of emotions that are can be completely overwhelming at times.

Every year that passes, I hope and pray that Finis’ passing will somehow be easier to deal with… that the pain will hurt just a little bit less… that some random thought won’t trigger misty eyes and the blues… that maybe something will provide some peace and understanding. However, that’s not yet been the case, and February 16^th is a day that I dread and, if I’m being truly honest, hate. Billy Joel was right when he said “only the good die young” because there’s not shortage of people who are much worse and who should have gone long before Finis, myself included.

There used to be this mythical, unicorn-like podcast called “MILOchat Weekly” that was hosted (at various times) by Victor Medina, Grant Griffiths, Finis Price, Randy Juip, and me. Our sponsor was our buddy, Larry Port of Rocket Matter. Though we never ever put out anything “weekly”, we had a blast doing it, and those were great times. It’s probably alive somewhere on the Internet if you’re interested, though I can’t bring myself to listen. I emailed some of them yesterday to ask them to share their recollections of Finis, and they were gracious enough to respond as follows:

Victor Medina:

Anyone who met Finis understood three things about him within minutes of meeting him. First, he loves to help people. Second, he loves to laugh. And third, he loves tech (specifically Apple). There was no way to avoid learning this about Finis.

The first time I met Finis in person was in Grapevine Texas at an Apple conference for lawyers. (Check). The room has having trouble logging into the Wi-Fi (back in the day where Wi-Fi or even cellular data wasn’t ubiquitous). Finis took it upon himself to literally hack the router so that everyone in the room got Wi-Fi immediately. (Check). And, nothing was more fun than having breakfast with him the next morning (and Ben) doing nothing but laughing — I barely to finish my food.

I miss Finis a ton. The world is so much lonelier with him gone.

Grant Griffiths:

I had the privilege of getting to know Finis not just as another Mac user. But as a friend. There was never a time Finis didn’t have the time to help or answer questions.

Usually we would end up just visiting about “whatever”. I do miss those calls.

Randy Juip:

Finis was amazing, in every meaning and sense of the word. I recall one time – shortly after I had met him – I posted to MILO about a problem that I was having converting a video file. This was at 4:30am the morning before I was set to give opening statements. Finis not only replied – in minutes – but called me and personally walked me through what I needed to do to fix my issue. At that time, I was dumbfounded by his knowledge and generosity. To this day, I am continually dumbfounded by the fact that everyone seems to have a similar Finis story – a memory of Finis going the extra mile to help others.

Larry Port:

In the early Rocket Matter days, I informed my wife that I was driving down to Fort Lauderdale to meet a man I met on the Internet. It sounds much worse than it was. Finis Price and I connected over Twitter and the MILO group, and we became really good friends.

I think about him a lot. His presence is never far. His portrait gazes out over the Rocket Matter ping-pong table. Finis would have been super-jealous of the iPad Pro I just got, complete with Apple Pencil and Keyboard. He would be disgusted with me for also trying out the Microsoft Surface. Years working as a sys admin in college in the Windows 95 an XP days left him with a lingering dread of anything from Redmond.

Finis knew more things about more things than anyone I’ve encountered. He thought I was cool because I was a software architect. I thought he was cool because he was a lawyer AND a technologist and loved to read. I would call him and talk about books, although he was a much better reader than I was. We had similar tastes (we both couldn’t stand Atlas Shrugged). He was way more into sci-fi than I was, partial to Philip K. Dick. In fact, the last book he recommended to me, the day before he passed away, was A Scanner Darkly.

Finis was great. Loved that guy. And I miss him very much.

Those of you who had the privilege to meet Finis understand how true the above statements are. For those who did not, the world is a worse place without him. Finis was one of a kind, and I miss him daily. I grieve for him and I pray especially today for Ray, Heather, and the many, many others that love him. The law is a difficult profession, and many of us have wrestled with that bear. It won in that case, and I hate it for that. Too many of our colleagues have left us far too soon. Hug those you love and tell them how much they mean to you, because it just might be your last opportunity to do so – you never know. I know that my last call with him would have lasted longer than a few minutes if I had any idea. The photo below was taken in November 2013, which was the last time that we saw each other. Rest in peace, buddy. You were loved and you are missed.

Rocket Matter Introduces QuickBooks Online Integration and Slick New Payments

Posted on February 2, 2016 by Ben Stevens Posted in Office Management, Online Resources, Product Reviews, Technology 1 Comment

Today the fine folks at Rocket Matter rolled out an integration with QuickBooks Online, making the best online legal time and billing software even better (click here to watch a short video). In addition, they announced Rocket Matter Payments, which the painful task of invoicing and collecting easier than ever.

Rocket Matter QuickBooks Online Integration:

QuickBooks desktop is one of those things that forces a Mac law firm to keep a copy of Windows running. The Mac version of QuickBooks just isn’t that great, so most of our tribe is stuck running Parallels or VMWare or *gasp* has a server running Windows on it somewhere (which is probably the only machine in the firm that gets viruses).

The online version of QuickBooks seems to be where Intuit is placing more and more of its emphasis. They are starting to drop developer support for some of their desktop API access and are encouraging more adoption of the cloud-based product. It’s enough to make one wonder if Intuit will one day sunset the desktop product completely.

Rocket Matter’s QuickBooks Online integration, according to their announcement, “continues in the company’s tradition of easy-to-use, visually appealing software. Rocket Matter users will be able to tie together detailed information between the two systems, including invoices, expenses, trust account credits and debits, as well as sync all current clients with Rocket Matter.”

The other Rocket Matter announcement that will affect small law firm business is the introduction of Rocket Matter Payments. Basically, this feature allows you to email your client invoices with a secure payment link. You’re then able to tell if your clients opened the email or not. When a client pays, your Rocket Matter ledgers are updated automatically, which then can be seamlessly integrated with – you guess it – QuickBooks Online.

Watch an overview of Rocket Matter Payments:

Big Brother or Just Good Business?

Posted on January 25, 2016 by Ben Stevens Posted in Guest Posts, Office Management, Security, Technology Leave a comment

The following Guest Post is from Tom Lambotte from GlobalMac IT:

Imagine you decide to check one of your employees’ history on their browsers one day. The most recent 30 stops were at Facebook, Pinterest, Match.com and Amazon. Let’s assume there had been previous incidents of on-the-job theft, how would respond? Theft you say!? Yes, it’s theft and it’s rampant and epic. It’s time theft, which you need to look at exactly the same way as any other kind of stealing in your firm.

“But we are a small law firm and I trust everyone, this surely isn’t happening in my firm?” Everyone wants to think that, but the hard truth is that this goes on, way more than you would ever think. And I you don’t have a system in place to monitor it, you are an ostrich with it’s head stuck in the sand.

When you pay an employee a set wage in exchange for a set amount of work, lets say a 40 hour work week, did you ever agree that they only have to actually work 30 or 35 hours and can goof off the rest o the time? Should you be paying them for checking their Yahoo and Gmail email accounts, Facebook or browsing on Amazon while at work?

A very common thing I have seen, in small firms and mid-sized firms alike (and a mid-size firm in our books is a firm with 25 -50 users) is they ‘trust’ everyone on their staff. I don’t question trust, but I do question focus and output. As I’ve repeated time and time again, on average, 45.03% of your revenues go towards payroll. Legal services has the the 4th highest percentage of revenues going to payroll in the nation. You need to do everything you can to ensure that your staff is as productive as possible.

Browsing that is NOT related to work is theft. I know how extreme that sounds and I used to be on your side as well. I’m a laid-back, highly trusting, organic-eating eating, hippie from the 90s (funny I know). I trust and love people. But I have seen an overwhelming amount of data that shows, consistently, that this is going, unchecked on in every firm. The truth is, online communities like Facebook and commerce giants from Amazon to eBay would lose a tremendous amount of business if it were not for all the daytime use by employees at work, effectively stealing from their employers while playing on the internet. If their attention is going towards non work-related things, they are NOT working. Make no mistake: While the cat’s not watching, the mice are at play at these websites, playing computer games, doing their personal banking online, sending email greeting cards, text-messaging friends, watching movies, while your law practices phones go unanswered, your clients get treated as annoying interruptions and paperwork gets hidden and buried. I know how extreme this viewpoint is, but please hang with me.

On average, research shows that it takes 23 minutes to get back to the previous task at hand every time you are interrupted. Have you even peeked at Facebook for only a minute because there was a notification and before you know it, 11 minutes later you break the death-grip of Facebook, pop back out into the world, left to wonder what the heck just happened? If you know what I’m talking about here, imagine your staff doing this every day on your dime.

We recently added Content Monitoring and Filtering, Umbrella by OpenDNS, as a new service included in our offering and have been setting up all our existing clients on this. After monitoring only for a month, the data is far worse than I expected. Internally, I can confidently say that every one of our employees does the work of 3 regular employees. They are true A players, I trust them 100%. Even then, I saw a good chunk of Facebook usage, Amazon, Zulily, Etsy, Tumbler blog sites and yes, even a little bit of ‘inappropriate content.’

The results have been extremely similar at every law firm we have deployed this at so far. So back to the example of my staff, after monitoring traffic for a month, we implemented content filtering, blocking certain categories and types of content from being visited while at work. I setup a bypass code for WORK and for BREAKS, so that if a site is blocked but should not be, they can easily bypass it. If they are on a break they can go to Facebook, or Zulily or Amazon. All these exceptions are tracked, by user, so I can easily go back and review the exceptions if needed.

I suggest you work on creating a “productivity-only” workplace,” with distractions removed. The less distractions your team has, the more productive they will be. In terms of the Big Brother mindset and fear, the truth is, in the workplace, people need to grasp that they are there to work; they have no right to expect privacy. Whatever they’re doing is your business as long as they are doing it at your business on your business’s clock.

Idle browsing is like a dripping faucet that’s always on, however, labor is quite a bit more expensive than water. That water drip, according to a report by Salary.com, adds up to over $750 billion (that’s billion with a b) that American companies spend paying people for work they’re not doing. In the workplace, Big Brother has to watch. The cat must never be away.

Our service for Mac-based law firms includes content monitoring and filtering. We implement Acceptable Use Policies for our clients and their staff and then install, configure and maintain their content filtering to reduce the amount of time spent at work NOT working.

I highly recommend that if you don’t currently have this in place in your firm, you reach out to your IT guy and demand they implement this. If they can’t do it, find a competent IT firm that can. And if you’re a Mac-based law firm, call us, you won’t find anyone better at supporting Mac-based law firms, since that’s the ONLY thing we do! Happy browsing.

Provided as an educational service by Tom Lambotte, President of GlobalMac IT

4 Creative Ways to Market Your Law Practice on a Budget

Posted on January 12, 2016 by Ben Stevens Posted in Office Management, Offline Resources 1 Comment

The following guest post is from one of my readers, Texas attorney Billy Skinner:

With the overwhelming number of law school graduates flooding the market each year, getting your law practice noticed above the crowd can seem like a daunting task. Attorneys often think the only way to promote their practice is through expensive TV advertisement or roadside billboards.

However, small law firms and solo law practices can produce successful marketing campaigns by creatively using alternative marketing methods. There are several inexpensive ways you can promote your practice and build your client base. Here are some suggestions:

Using Facebook Ads

Most of your potential clients probably use Facebook on a daily basis. Advertising through the social media network can help you target those potential clients while not breaking your advertising budget. Facebook advertisements can be priced either on a per view or per action basis, so your budget can range from a few dollars to tens of thousands of dollars a month depending on your audience targets.

Facebook ads can be created through your company’s business Facebook page in a few simple steps. During this process, you can choose the audiences who will see it based on location, age, interests and more. This demographic targeting is the key to making Facebook ads cost effective. By knowing the interests, demographics, or geo-locations of your future clients, you can exclusively target these individuals, meaning you aren’t paying for people who aren’t likely to become customers to view your ads.

Once the ads are running, they appear in a person’s timeline seamlessly with their friends’ updates, on both mobile and desktop devices. This can help to catch their attention without feeling intrusive, like popup ads do. The ads can provide information about the business and have multiple actionable buttons, like a link to the website or a phone number.

The cost of the advertisements are significantly lower than other online options, like Google AdWords. Facebook ads can run for as little as $5 per month, and the budget can be changed at any time. You are always in control of the amount of money you spend, and the company will not charge more than the amount you designate.

Through a Monthly Email List to Market to Referring Attorneys

Attorneys actively involved in the legal community can be the biggest asset to small firms. According to research by LexisNexis, about 26 percent of an American law firm’s income typically comes from referred work. One way to increase lawyer-to-lawyer referrals is through a monthly email communication.

Creating a list of possible referring attorneys is a free way to promote your business. Once on your email list, you can foster your relationship with that referring attorney through a monthly email, which can include updates about your practice area, information they can use to assist their clients, and details about the types of cases your seek.

When compiling the list, you should search for firms that are not competition and other attorneys who practice in different areas of the law but who deal generally with the same type of client. For example, if you are a criminal defense attorney, you might seek out family law attorneys as they both deal with individuals. By contrast, an M&A attorney might look to build an email list of business attorneys.

Reminding these attorneys monthly of your availability and skills is a free and effective marketing tool. Referral relationships cannot simply be sustained through an annual mixer at a local bar event, rather they take time and effort, and frequent communication is critical to making that happen. So, by sending regular email newsletters you subtly remind them of who you are, and what you do. And in so doing, you stay top of mind for when the moment comes that they need to make a referral.

Writing and Updating a Blog

Having a legal blog could be a simple and inexpensive way to promote your law practice. This type of marketing, however, is different from advertisements that could produce a quicker return on investment. Creating an online journal is a long-term venture that could help differentiate your business from competitors with a mild amount of effort.

Creating the blog itself is a simple task, and it likely is something you could do on your own. Although a hired designer could create a more unique and intricate design, a simple WordPress format could be enough when starting the online journal. Once the blog is personalized to suit your firm, think of the image you would like to portray and who your audience likely will be. There are two main techniques, the first is to appeal to potential referral sources, and the second is to appeal to clients directly.

Whichever audience you decide to target, posting creative and unique content is the most important aspect of a blog. Blogs need to be updated with timely information and material relevant to your legal field. The content could include authentic text, videos, infographics and even images. Having varied material will make the blog more appealing to readers.

For example, if you are a criminal defense attorney who handles drunk driving cases, you could write about a specific aspect of the law, such as how to challenge the results of a field sobriety test. You also could create a video in which you or your staff demonstrate how common field sobriety tests are administered. These two alternative formats of essentially the same content allow you to reach a broader audience as some visitors will want to view the video and others read an article.

Moreover, when a new post is made, share it on your company’s social media. This helps to keep your social media active with current information, while helping your work to reach an even larger audience. If the information is unique and creative, it likely will be shared on different social media accounts, helping to get your company name out to potential clients.

Frequent blog posts also could assist your website in searches. Google uses the recency of content updates, paired with the magnitude of updates, as part of its algorithm to determine search rankings. Search engine rankings are important because 96 percent of people seeking legal advice use a search engine, according to Google.

Volunteer with Legal Groups

Spending some of your extra moments volunteering with local legal groups and associations is another inexpensive way to indirectly market your law practice. Like with any type of volunteering, this would allow you to meet an ample amount of people and provide you with an avenue to discuss what you do.

Volunteering helps connect you to those who may need your services in the future, whether they are future clients or experienced lawyers who may be able to refer clients to your practice. In addition to doing good, it provides you the exposure you need to meet as many people as possible in a short amount of time.

To the extent that your volunteering is done, at least in part, for marketing, it’s important to select activities that will put you into contact with potential clients or referring attorneys. So, for example, if you’re a tax attorney, volunteering at the local soup kitchen, while admirable, will likely be less professionally helpful than volunteering to be on your local communities business owner’s association.

Conclusion

Effective marketing and client development does not have require a substantial budget. In fact, many of the most effective forms of attorney advertising take little to no money. What they do require, however, is thinking ahead of time about what your clients are like, what their interests are, and what their needs are. Once identified, practices should then consider alternative ways to connect with them, whether it is through social media, a practice’s blog, meeting in person through volunteering or through referrals.

About the Author: Attorney Billy Skinner is an experienced criminal defense attorney who represents individuals accused of sex crimes in Texas. Visit his website or follow him on Google+.