From my experience, the main reason law firms don’t make the move to digital is that their computer files are often messier than their paper files. They just don’t have a standardized methodology to name, store, and retrieve documents when they need them.  And firms that have instituted a file naming and storing protocol within their firm can get sloppier over time, and then abandon it as staff turnover and lack of training can come into play.

Standardization is a pain in the neck to many lawyers, but as Jim’s column points out, times are changing and we need to move with the changes or become irrelevant to clients. Now is the time to commence or restart your document naming and storage protocol within your firm. If your protocol is working well, still take time to make sure each person in for office is fully trained and in compliance.

If you need help establishing a protocol, here is an excellent article by fellow ABA TECHSHOW Board member and Ontario lawyer, Donna Neff, that takes you through step by step. The ABA’s Site-tation blog also lists some excellent resources too.

So where can you go to attempt to establish if you are dealing with a real lawyer that is in good standing?

A newly updated LLRX article, A Compilation of State Lawyer Licensing Databases, has a great list of the lawyer licensing databases, as well as the phone number for each licensing authority for 43 states.

And, here is the same list for the Canadian provinces and territories :

• Alberta
• British Columbia
• Manitoba
• New Brunswick
• Newfoundland and Labrador
• Nova Scotia
• Northwest Territories
• Nunavut
• Ontario
• PEI
• Quebec
• Saskatchewan
• Yukon

Cross posted on Avoid a Claim and SLAW.ca

It seems that with almost any technology, the more popular it becomes, the more security concerns pop-up. With over 400 million users, if Facebook were a country, it would be the third largest in the world. And millions of those people are now closely interconnected. No wonder the world’s criminals are out in full force.

So as with any other technology, beware. Stay up-to-date. Learn and apply security settings. Take care who you friend. Apply the same common sense to requests via Facebook as you would by mail, telephone or e-mail: Make sure you really know who is contacting you.

It’s a shrinking world out there, but the neighborhood is still rough!

In many small law firms there is no formal personnel file or other records for employees besides payroll and tax records. Jim’s article suggests that, at a minimum, there should be a separate file for every employee. Each employee file should contain:

• contact information for the employee;
• emergency contact information;
• every Form W-4 the employee has furnished to the firm;
• copies of all W-2s and other payroll and tax information could be kept in the employment file (or in another location).

Beyond the basics, consider including these things:

• A job description;
• A written employment application;
• Copies of all documents submitted during the application process;
• A copy of the written offer of employment;
• Completed evaluations of the employee’s performance;
• Notes about the employee’s errors.

Read the complete article here.

Last month I gave everyone a sneak peak at my top ten apps for busy lawyers, but we can now share the rest of them, thanks to Jeff’s effort here and below. Enjoy!

60 Apps in 60 Minutes, 2010 Edition

Research and Accessing the Law

1. Fed. R. Civ. Pro. by Cliff Maier ($2.99)
2. Black’s Law Dictionary ($49.99)
3. Barron’s Law Dictionary ($14.99)
4. La. Civil Code ($6.99)
5. U.S. Code by Prof. Shawn Bayern (free)
6. Fastcase (free)
7. Lexis Get Cases & Shepardize (free)
8. Congress in Your Pocket ($0.99-$29.99)
9. Merck Manual ($9.99-$29.99)
10. Drug Trials (free)
11. Wikipanion (free-$4.99)
12. People (free)
13. Google Mobile (free)
14. Bing (free)

Viewing and Editing Documents

1. Documents to Go ($9.99-$14.99)
2. Quickoffice ($9.99-$14.99)
3. Office² ($2.99-$5.99)
4. Zosh ($2.99)
5. Bento ($4.99)
6. ScanR Business Center ($24.99)

Remote Access

1. LogMeIn Ignition ($29.99)
2. Dropbox (free)

Personal Productivity

1. Groups ($4.99)
2. Time tracking apps (various)
3. Things ($9.99)
4. Personal Assistant (free-$6.99)
5. Evernote (free)
6. Dragon Dictation (free)
7. SpeakWrite (free)
8. Awesome Note (free-$3.99)
9. West CLE Mobile (free)

Travel

1. GateGuru (free)
2. MotionX GPS Drive ($0.99)
3. Skype (free)
4. Yahoo! Sketch-a-Search (free)
5. The Weather Channel (free-$3.99)
6. WeatherBug (free-$0.99)
7. AutoPark ($4.99)

Utilities

1. Eye Glasses ($2.99)
2. DaysFrom Date Calculator ($0.99)
3. AppBox Pro ($0.99)
4. Keynote Remote ($0.99)
5. AT&T’s Mark the Spot (free)
6. Pastebot ($2.99)
7. Gorillacam (free)
8. Print n Share ($6.99)
9. ZeroTap (free)

Marketing and Social Networking

1. Facebook (free)
2. Twitterific (free-$4.99)
3. TweetDeck (free)
4. Bump (free)
5. UStream Live Broadcaster (free)
6. No Traffic Tickets (free)
7. MoFo2Go (free)

Assisting With Your Personal Life

1. NotifyMe (free-$3.99)
2. Grocery IQ ($0.99)
3. Siri (free)
4. Anti-Mosquito Pro ($0.99)
5. Bills ~ On Your Table ($1.99)
6. Yelp (free)
7. RadLaser ($1.99)
8. Relax ($2.99)
9. Amazon Kindle (free)
10. Mint (free)

Entertainment

1. DirecTV (free)
2. Cocktails+ ($2.99)
3. Lightsaber Duel (available soon)
4. Pandora Radio (free)
5. SoundHound ($4.99)
6. RunPee Mobile ($1.99)
7. More Cowbell ($0.99)

I met Ed through the ABA Law Practice Management Section and worked with him a lot over the last few years as we were both on Law Practice Magazine Editorial Board. With his amazing knowledge of law firm finance and management issues, Ed made significant contributions to Law Practice. These included his Taking the Lead: Advice for Managing Partners column, and the feature articles he wrote for us from time to time. At our editorial meetings and brainstorming sessions, Ed also offered great input and wisdom when it came to the suggestions he made on the issues and topics we should cover and the knowledgeable people that could write for us on them.

I also had the pleasure to work with Ed in helping to plan the Futures Conferences that the College of Law Practice Management put on last fall in Denver, and the one planned for this fall in DC.

Few, if any, people I have ever met knew as much as Ed about managing and running a law firm. He had amazing stories to tell about interesting law firm management and operational issues - and the appropriate solutions to them. He seemed to always have short pithy one-liners that offered great insights and advice to managing partners. Two I remember are: “Your people are your firm – never forget to stay in touch with them;” and “Never fire a problem staff person until you know who is going to fill the vacant chair.” I wish I had written down more of Ed’s comments.

I enjoyed Ed’s company and conversation at many great breakfasts, lunches and dinners at LPM section events. And, while I never golfed with him (a true passion of his), we enjoyed the most hilarious jeep ride ever together with some other LPM friends at our meeting in Tucson. I was very lucky to have enjoyed a long chat with Ed in the Chair’s hospitality suite at ABA TECHSHOW last week.

Ed, the LPM family will miss you. I will miss you. Thanks for all you shared with me. Thanks for all you did for us.

Cross-posted on the College of Law Practice Management blog.

UPDATE: Yeah, but now that Canada has the gold medal Dan gets to be listed first on the cover! RT

Of course, many people have a website and a blog, and loads of us have connections with multiple websites and/or blogs.

With this simple trick you can list multiple sites on your Facebook profile page: Simply list the URLs for multiple sites in the Website textbox and separate them with a comma. They will display properly as separate links on your Profile page. Not sure if there is an upper limit, but I currently list 5 websites and blogs on my Facebook profile.