Prepaid legal fees and refundability of those fees was the subject of American Bar Association Formal Opinion 505. The recently released opinion states that under the Model Rules of Professional Conduct, a fee paid to a lawyer in advance for services to be rendered in the future must be placed in a client trust account and may be withdrawn
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Tech for the Ideal Home Office — LTRC Roundtable
This month”s LTRC Roundtable focuses on Tech for the Ideal Home Office. I joined five others to discuss what are the best and sometimes the worst about our home office tools. There are several great home office topics covered in this brief piece. It is striking how Work From Home has so well established itself. Heard a NYC office
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Law Firm Staff Hiring Procedures. Something Else More Complicated Than It Used To Be.
Suppose next week begins with one of your top paralegals or legal secretaries giving you two weeks’ notice. Maybe they are moving to another location or another local law firm. But now you have an opening to fill.
The first response is not about filling the position. First, you must determine if there are any matters the employee is working
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What do you print on the back of your business card?
I’m certain the majority of lawyers would say they don’t print anything on the back of their business cards. That is fine.
A lawyer from southeastern Oklahoma showed me what she prints on the back of her business cards. This is another instance of where people law practice has different approaches than corporate law. People law involves court hearings where
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How to Record a Phone Call on Android
Approximately one year ago, it became more challenging to record phone calls on Android phones. In April 2022, Google announced Android apps in the Play Store could no longer use Android’s accessibility APIs for non-accessibility purposes. Since that was how most third-party call recording apps operated, they were effectively killed when the policy went into effect in May 2022.
How
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Gmail Tricks You Can Use
I would imagine most lawyers by now have a Gmail account, although many do not use it for their professional email account. Catherine Reach, Director, North Carolina Bar Association Center for 
Practice Management recently published Gmail Tricks You Can Use. There are some handy tips included in this post.
My Gmail tip is one you may have heard from
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Alas, poor Fujitsu ScanSnap, I knew it well
For much of my time in legal tech, I’ve had one primary recommendation on desktop scanners: “Buy whatever the latest Fujitsu ScanSnap scanner model is.” There are simply great scanners. They are great for small firm lawyers because they are simple to use, durable and come with great software. At ABA TECHSHOW it was always surprising what a high percentage
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Takeaways from ABA TECHSHOW 2023
Every year we attend ABA TECHSHOW and share our thoughts about the conference. But since we wait for the Oklahoma Bar Journal print deadline, our review is published later than all the other bloggers. So while there have now been many reviews of ABA TECHSHOW 2003 written by now, including by well-known attendees like Bob Ambrogi and Stephen Embry,
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Should Isaac Asimov’s Three Laws of Robotics apply to AI Tools like ChatGPT?
As we have seen the explosion of ChatGPT and other LLM AI tools, I’m sure I am not the only one who has wondered if designing all of these new tools with scant regulation and maximizing profit as a primary goal is perhaps a bit short-sighted.
So I decided to ask ChatGPT4 what it thought about applying Isaac Asimov’s Three
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Marketing Tips For Young ̶ And Not So Young ̶ Lawyers
Marketing was the theme of the March/April 2023 American Bar Association Law Practice Magazine. While there are many articles of interest in that issue, let me direct you to Marketing Tips For Young And Not So Young Lawyers by Stephen Embry, Chair of the ABA’s Law Practice Division. This is a short piece with ten important tips about marketing
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Fun and Tips Abound at the 2023 Oklahoma Bar Association Solo & Small Firm Conference
Even as we endure the chilly winds of March, it is time to look forward to this summer’s Solo & Small Firm Conference, held June 22-24 at the Osage Casino Hotel in Tulsa. The conference website is www.okbar.org/solo
I know some of my fellow bar executives from other states follow my blog. I’d encourage you to check out the schedule
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Legal Service Productization for Lawyers
Law practice is a service, not a product, right? Decades ago that would have been universally considered to be correct by practicing lawyers.
Today, however, many believe that some legal services may be better delivered as legal products. The latest episode of the Digital Edge Podcast Legal Service Productization for Lawyers features Dorna Moini,
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How to Repair a Broken Word Document
Barron Henley, of Affinity Consulting, spoke at ABA TECHSHOW on mastering Microsoft Word (my title, not his). Barron has done similar programs for the OBA before. His program is part great tips and improved efficiency and part voicing all the frustrations we have experienced with Word. You know these, e.g. “How can deleting one word change the font in
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Oklahoma Limited Scope Legal Services Resources
I’m back from ABA TECHSHOW 2023 with lots of ideas and inspiration.
Providing Limited Scope Legal Services is one way lawyers can provide legal services more inexpensively. Of course, to be profitable, it is important to make great use of automation to produce the work and online marketing to acquire the clients.
Our OBA MAP Oklahoma Limited Scope Legal Services
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The Trouble with Timesheets
When lawyers leave private practice to take an in-house counsel or government position, they are often asked about the differences in their new roles. Many of them say they are pleased not to have to complete timesheets anymore – it is a relief not to have to look at the day in six-minute increments. As most of you know, I’ve long
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Add Format Painter to Your Office 365 Toolbox
Format Painter is a useful tool. This YouTube video is just over two minutes in length. If you don’t know how to use Format Painter, it is worth your time to watch it.
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