Legal Talk Network - Law News and Legal Topics

A new survey finds that clients care deeply about their attorney’s tech tools and tech skills. The numbers don’t lie: Legal tech matters. An efficient, integrated system is no longer “nice to have.” It’s table stakes, from case management to client communications to online filing and billing. As a lawyer, guest Dan Lear found himself gravitating to the field of legal tech, including stints at Microsoft and Avvo and now as vice president of partnerships at InfoTrack, helping software developers provide the tech today’s lawyers, and their clients, want. If you’re running your own firm, hear what clients say about their attorney’s tech skills and their expectations and how you can explore and implement the latest tools. And if you’re a law school graduate who has found you aren’t truly attracted to traditional legal work, hear about the fascinating opportunities for lawyers in the field of legal tech development and consulting.Questions or ideas about solo and small practices? Drop us a line at NewSolo@legaltalknetwork.com  Topics: A new survey finds clients care (deeply) about their attorney’s tech and tech skills. And they expect those attorneys to use that tech to efficiently manage their cases Legal tech tools are advancing rapidly. Today’s tools can integrate every facet of a law practice, from case management and scheduling to digitally filing briefs, seamlessly. There are opportunities for law school graduates who don’t want to practice traditional law, instead helping tech firms develop new tools and helping law firms understand and implement those tools.  Mentioned in This Episode:InfoTrack Attorney Competence and the Client ExperiencePrevious episodes featuring guest Dan Lear, On the Road, “Legalweek 2024: The Future State of the Industry” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

An appeal to common sense is denied.-----You might have thought flying a flag upside after January 6 would be the only "Sam Alito w/10 flag" story of the week, but you'd be wrong. The justice followed it up with another flag tied to the riots and got appropriately roasted over it all by Elena Kagan. Biglaw always paid well, but with partners crossing the $20 million compensation barrier, the structure of Biglaw inevitably shifts to accommodate the new normal. And a law school deals with the most avoidable cheating scandal ever. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Networking is something that comes naturally to some people. But if the idea of talking to strangers makes you break out into a cold sweat, there’s help and hope, says Deb Feder, author of the book After Hello: How to Build a Book of Business, One Conversation at a Time.“You have picked a profession that is never finished meeting people,” Feder writes of lawyers. A practicing lawyer for many years, Feder now works as a business development coach.In this episode of The Modern Law Library, Feder explains to the ABA Journal’s Lee Rawles that her goal is to help attorneys have “curious, confident conversations.” They discuss conversation stoppers v. conversation starters; how not to panic when targeting the “cool client”; and how young attorneys can get past “the kids table.”Lining up a roster of ideal clients doesn’t start at cocktail party mingling, Feder warns. A key to building relationships with the clients you actually want to work with lies in identifying what legal work you’re looking to do, and that requires some inner work. It also involves owning your value, Feder says, and she shares a story about how a partner in her firm impressed that lesson on her when she was a young attorney.In After Hello, she says she meets people who feel too overwhelmed by keeping up with their legal work and personal lives to contemplate business development. “How do you balance the chaos of the day and allow technology to be the support and solution, rather than part of the challenge; how do you let it serve, not destroy you?” Feder asks. She lays out strategies to organize and cope, including how to stop letting your email inbox overwhelm you.Feder and Rawles also discuss After Hello’s “30 Conversations in 30 Days Challenge” and the most common mistakes Feder sees lawyers making on LinkedIn." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When you are in trial, your support staff can and should be doing more than just ordering lunch. Hear how the Simon Law Firm staff handles logistics and builds valuable rapport with courtroom staff. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Guests from a successful St. Louis collaboration discuss Legal Services of Eastern Missouri’s (LSEM) Neighborhood Advocacy Program on Talk Justice. There are 24,000 vacancies and abandoned properties in St. Louis. LSEM was inspired by Legal Aid of Western Missouri’s Adopt-a-Neighborhood program in Kansas City to start their own revitalization project. In 2018, they launched the Neighborhood Advocacy Program to start tackling the legal problems that create lingering neighborhood blight.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Guest Charlène Gisèle is a former big-firm litigator turned professional high-performance coach. This show is about you. It’s about you being your best, taking better care of you, and avoiding burnout and other health issues. It’s no secret, the legal profession is a field filled with stress. Deadlines, precision, scheduling, marketing, and running a business. It’s a lot for anyone to handle. Gisèle helps her clients improve their well-being, increase productivity, and maintain a sustainable practice.It’s great to set goals, even ambitious goals, at the start of every new year. But don’t forget to take a moment to make a plan for yourself and how you’ll keep going, day after day, with so much weight on your shoulders. Hear how Gisèle used her own experience and a lot of professional research and training to develop a coaching method that helps stressed professionals enjoy their life and stay healthy. “You can have all the success in the world,” she says, “but if you’re not going to be around to see it, how much success is that truly going to be?” Do you feel stressed? Exhausted? Isolated? Do you know the symptoms of burnout? This is a podcast for you. You are not alone. Mentioned in This Episode:Charlène Gisèle's PodcastE-book, “Breathwork For Cognitive Performance,” by Charlène Gisèle “Burn-Out An ‘Occupational Phenomenon:’ International Classification Of Diseases,” World Health OrganizationJoin The Un-Billable Hour Community Table Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Under the 14th Amendment, "No state shall...deprive any person of...property, without due process of law." This principle was at the heart of the matter of the 2023 Supreme Court case of Culley v. Marshall, in which two women had respectively loaned their cars to others only to have the cars seized under an Alabama civil forfeiture law following each lendee's arrest for drug offenses. The petitioners claimed that, absent a preliminary hearing, their 14th Amendment rights had been violated. Justice Kavanagh wrote for the majority stating that “In civil forfeiture cases, the Due Process Clause requires a timely forfeiture hearing, but does not require a separate preliminary hearing.”In this episode, Craig is joined by Attorney Kirby Thomas West from the Institute for Justice to discuss the recent SCOTUS decision in Culley v. Marshall. Craig & Kirby spotlight civil forfeiture and the potential impact of this ruling.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When forensic evidence gets it wrong, how do we free the innocent?-----In our history of criminal prosecutions, some types of evidence ended up being unreliable. Forensic sciences like bite-mark identification, arson investigations, and shaken baby syndrome sent many innocent people to prison. So where does that leave us? How do we make it right?Lindsay Herf, executive director for the Arizona Justice Project joins host Michael Semanchik to discuss junk science and ways to protect innocent people.Special thanks to our sponsor Clio. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As a new lawyer, have you ever considered a career in government oversight? It’s a broad, important field that ensures a wide range of agencies work as designed while protecting public funds and interests.Guest Lucy Lang is a former prosecutor now serving as the New York Inspector General. She is charged with overseeing investigations into corruption, fraud, and abuse in the New York State government (more than 100 agencies) and has been a steady advocate of criminal justice reform. Lang shares her path and passion in this inspiring episode of Young Lawyer Rising.The complex nature of Lang’s work depends heavily on her ability to lead, a skill she had to learn on her own and is now pressing the legal education field to include in law school curriculum. Seeking out mentors, learning on the job, and taking on new challenges were all part of her career growth. “If not you, then who,” she asks. “Be brave; take the bull by the horns.”Get an inside look at the workings of government oversight, the value of public service, untangling difficult ethical decisions, and making a positive difference through leadership. It could be just what you need to help you take your next, bold step.Resources:New York Offices of the Inspector GeneralNew York State Offices of the Inspector General, Job PostingsLucy Lang, Wikipedia “Lucy Lang ’06: An Advocate for Criminal Justice Reform and Government Integrity,” Columbia University NewsLucy Lang, Selected Publications“New York State Inspector General Report Finds Persistent Racial Disparities in Discipline Within New York State Prisons”“NYS Parks Employee Pleads Guilty to Official Misconduct”New York State government oversight hotline: 1-800-DO RIGHTNew York Offices of the Inspector General on Twitter/XABA Section of State and Local Government LawAmerican Bar AssociationAmerican Bar Association Young Lawyers Division Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, author and speaker Emily Nagoski, Ph.D., discusses how to handle stress and break the burnout cycle in your personal and professional life.  Links from the episode:  Check out Rocket Matter: modern legal software for busy lawyers Burnout by Emily Nagoski  If today’s podcast resonates with you and you haven’t read The Small Firm Roadmap Revisited yet, get the first chapter right now for free!  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices