Legal Talk Network - Law News and Legal Topics

Big firms are experimenting with hybrid and flexible office models in the hopefully waning days of COVID. And there's a lot of momentum behind transitioning this into a permanent 3- or 4-day work week long term. Except there are some of you out there screwing this up for the rest of us and intentionally not getting the vaccine in an effort to stay home thereby confirming why some firms think everyone needs to be forced back to the office. We also discuss the sentencing -- if you can even call it that -- of the South Dakota AG who killed a man several months ago. And Joe talks about legal technology and Las Vegas for a bit.Special thanks to our sponsors, Lexicon and Nota. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Shortcuts never work out. Make a list of 20 ways you can lose your case. And It's okay to trust opposing counsel until you catch them lying, then never trust them again. These are just a few of Alvin Wolff’s tried and true rules from real life courtroom experiences. Tune in for Rules 21 through 40 and we guarantee you’ll find at least one idea that will significantly improve your practice. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Enlisting men as allies is a great way to expand awareness of women’s issues and level the playing field for inclusion and understanding. Tune in to this eye-opening discussion and learn how, and why, you should actively engage in treating men as allies instead of adversaries. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Initial prospect consultations are lost hours if the prospect doesn’t become a client. Guest Theophan McKenzie is a professional sales consultant who helps attorneys and law firms across the country learn a better way to stop wasting time and stop letting prospects walk out the door. McKenzie’s innovative, nontraditional sales techniques teach attorneys to turn off their “lawyer brain” and build immediate, lasting connections with prospects. Learn how to stop selling yourself and start listening to the prospective client.Special thanks to our sponsors Law Clerk, Alert Communications, LawYaw, and Scorpion. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the potentially dangerous spectacle of big time WWE pro wrestling, performers work without Workers’ Comp or other recourse. Guest Mary Catena, a scholar and attorney, studies the issue. While the WWE has successfully argued wrestlers are contract workers, Catena sees cracks in the wall. What might a favorable ruling mean for other contract workers – and employers?Special thanks to our sponsor PInow.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The legal profession was already going online and high-tech. But COVID disruptions, working from home, and remote legal processes have supercharged those changes.Are you up to speed? Host Jill Francisco – a veteran paralegal and classroom instructor – interviews attorney and longtime professor Todd Richardson about today’s classroom experience. It’s more than lectures and books. Today’s learning includes new technology, working collaboratively online and in person, and leveraging digital tools to expedite cases, gather information, and navigate the modern legal jungle.Richardson explores how legal education is changing and how vital learning today’s tech keeps a paralegal valued and vital in the workplace.He also touches on areas where soft skills still play an important role. Knowing how to integrate tech with interpersonal skills can build and maintain relationships so important in the legal community.Special thanks to our sponsors CourtFiling.net, NALA, and ServeNow. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Many Harvard Law School students knew of classmate Rehan Staton through a July 2020 video that went viral, which featured him opening a Harvard Law School acceptance email. There’s a lot more to him than the video, and Staton wanted to connect with classmates more significantly while they attended remote classes over the past year.Special thanks to our sponsor, LawPay. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A new rule is being proposed by the Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council in response to Executive Order 14005 from January. If enacted, this rule would update the Buy American Act with new requirements that must be met by federal contractors and their downstream sub-contractors. Amy Hoang from the law firm of K&L Gates tells us what all of this means to our critical products and supply chains.Special thanks to our sponsor Nota. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As we come to the 18-month mark of this pandemic, Dennis and Tom feel it’s time to take a look at how legal tech has progressed throughout this crazy time. They welcome returning guest Debbie Foster to get her real-world perspective on how law firms have—or haven’t—adapted their practices to embrace technology. Later, on “Hot or Not?”, Dennis, Tom, and Debbie offer competing views on whether Salesforce is a good platform for law firms. As always, stay tuned for the parting shots, that one tip, website, or observation you can use the second the podcast ends.Have a technology question for Dennis and Tom? Call their Tech Question Hotline at 720-441-6820 for answers to your most burning tech questions.Special thanks to our sponsors, Colonial Surety Company, ServeNow, and Nota.Mentioned In This Episode:A Segment: On the Ground Status Update from Debbie FosterB Segment: Hot or Not Salesforce.com - https://www.salesforce.com Litify - https://www.litify.com  Parting Shots: Things I want - https://techiwant.com/ Motion - https://www.usemotion.com/ Anker PowerCore Essential 20000 PD - https://www.amazon.com/Anker-PowerCore-Essential-Portable-High-Capacity/dp/B07SQ5MQ6K Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Guest: Kimberley Felton is an immigration attorney, consultant, and supermom and the founder of virtual immigration law firm Onward Immigration and consulting firm Innovation Litigation.Shortly after law school, Kimberley Felton found herself struggling with all the things they don’t teach: How to manage time, clients, and family. She knew there had to be a better way.Unfulfilled in disorganized settings and fighting to find meaning in her new profession, she taught herself to incorporate available technologies that let her serve the clients she is passionate about while spending quality time with her husband and two children.Felton discovered she wasn’t alone and now helps other attorneys break free from “the way we’ve always done it” by embracing tech and project management platforms to build a better work/life balance and a more efficient, rewarding practice.Topics: What you need to know … that they don’t teach in law school Leveraging technology to manage clients and cases Treating each case like a project and incorporating project management techniques Resources: Above The Law, “A Better Way: How Motherhood Changed My Perspective of the Legal Field & What I’m Doing to Change It,” Kimberley Felton, May 13, 2021   Afterpattern CampLegal   Lawclerk New Insights (brought to you by Nota): Veteran practitioner Starlett Massey answers litigation associate Melanie Kalmanson’s question. Question 4 of 4: “Do you think remote proceedings will continue post-pandemic?”  Special thanks to our sponsors, Lawclerk, Alert Communications, Abby Connect, and Clio. Have insights, tips, inspiration to share? Want to be a guest on the New Solo podcast? Contact us at newsolo@legaltalknetwork.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices