Backyard Office – Home Office for the 21st Century
Just take a look at these near-home offices and tell me you don’t want one. I dare you.
(via Design-Milk)
And for those of us with less money to splurge and who happen to have an empty shed in the backyard, check out the backyard shed turned home office.
Double Monitors for a Greener Office
How many times have you had to print something out just so you could copy it back into Word or another program on your computer? I used to do that all the time until I installed dual monitors on my office computer. It saves time by not having to switch between screens and it also saves paper. Paper is a big expense if you start to count how many pages you print daily.
In order to install dual monitors, you will need to make some changes to your current computer. Go to newegg.com and buy a new dual output video card if your computer doesn’t already have one. If you don’t know how to swap out hardware, you should hire a computer tech (please no GeekSquad). While you’re on newegg, pick up some monitors. Flat panels are no longer expensive. There’s no reason to waste precious desk space on an old CRT monitor.
Now that you’ve set up your dual monitors, the next step is to set up dual monitors for everyone else in your office. That’s right, everyone from your law clerk to secretary to associate should have dual monitors. The same logic applies to you as it does to them. Their efficiency will increase and they’ll use less paper.
When that’s done, you might want to try a cool dual monitor wallpaper tool call Display Fusion.
How to improve your Avvo rating
Love it or hate it, Avvo is not only here to stay but all lawyers in Massachusetts, whether they choose to or not will be on it. Personally I love it not because I think it’s a flawless system that can be totally relied upon to give a perfectly accurate rating of an attorney, but because I understand that there’s no use in fighting the system. If you have a low score, then instead of fighting the site, learn how to work with it and turn it into a positive (and profitable) marketing site for your firm.
First, claim your profile on Avvo. Since the site is searched by potential clients all the time, you want to be able to control any and all the information that’s floating out there in cyberspace about you and your firm.
Next enter in all basic information such as office location, website, practice areas, schools, etc. You’ll find that the simple fact of providing Avvo with information will raise your score. This is because the more that Avvo knows about you and your qualifications, the more they have to score you on.
As with most online profile sites, include a picture. If you don’t have a professional picture, go and take one. You need to have a professional headshot on hand just for situations like this and also for PR purposes in the future. In addition, people tend to trust people they can see. Clients will look for a picture.
Now, the trick to really improving your Avvo score is knowing which sections affect your score and which do not. Naturally the longer you have practiced, the higher your score goes up. But if you have nothing else on Avvo but years of experience, you’re not going to get a very good score. Lawyer endorsements is the easy way to raise your score but there’s a limit when your score will no longer go up due to another lawyer’s endorsement. Until then, email all your contacts and ask for endorsements. Offer to endorse them in return. If you have more than one attorney in your firm, their endorsement of you will not affect your score.
Client endorsements are nice for potential clients to see but it doesn’t affect your score at all.
If you’ve gotten awards for legal work, then list it because it will raise your score.
Listing particular types of associations will raise your score. If it’s legal based and if you hold a position in the association then it will help. For example, listing that you’re a member of the Massachusetts Bar Association doesn’t raise your score, but if you list that you’re the President of the Massachusetts Bar Association, that will raise your score. Being on Boards also helps.
Legal guides and Avvo answers, though they’re helpful and resourceful, don’t actually help with your score. They will however, provide your potential clients with insight into your legal knowledge and how you counsel your clients.
Lastly, publications and speaking engagements will raise your score. So every article that is written about or by you, you should list on your profile. Every speaking engagement should be listed as well.
This is a short list of some of the things that will help raise your Avvo score. It is by no means an exhaustive list.
**Update 1/26/2011
Avvo revises their algorithm once a year, usually in January. So if you see a change in your rating at the beginning of the year, this might explain why. Also, your rating might change over time because Avvo’s algorithm ranks newer information more relevant and therefore gives more points than older information. So essentially, a new published article is worth more to Avvo than an article published years ago. If you don’t have any new information for Avvo in a while, your score will go down because the value placed on older information is worth less.
The Most Secure USB Drive (and the MA Data Protection Law)
On March 1, 2010, the Massachusetts Data Protection Law will finally be in effect. All businesses (including law firms) who holds personal and private information of clients needs to implement security to safeguard client data.
I’ve taken part in several conferences lately where attendees were concerned how far an attorney has to go to safeguard their client’s data. One specific question that comes up is what about USB drives (otherwise known as thumb drives) and whether after the new law comes into effect, we’re still allowed to carry thumb drives with our client’s information on them.
I present to you the most secure USB drive on the planet – The IronKey.
This thumb drive provides software safeguards as well as hardware safeguards. It has built-in encryption and password protection. If after a limited number of incorrectly input passwords, the data contained in the IronKey will self-destruct. If you try to physically pry the IronKey open, the memory chip will become damaged making all information on the chip inaccessible. The US military uses the IronKey and if it’s good enough for the Army, it’s good enough for attorneys.
If you, like me, keep all your client files with you on a USB drive at all times, this is the only USB you will (and should) ever buy.
How to comply with Massachusett’s data security law (Chapter 93H)
*Guest post by Tom Traina, Board Member of SOS. For more information on his practice, visit: http://www.geeklawyer.net
** Right click to download Attorney Traina’s powerpoint presentation
I’ve agreed to share the slides that I created for the Starting Out Solo presentation I did on data security and tools that will help lawyers comply with the new regulations promulgated under Chapter 93H.
There was some good discussion during the presentation that I feel would be helpful to people reading the slides that I will summarize now. The first matter is that, with e-mail, data security is much more difficult because a potential client who just wants to ask a question may not see a benefit in setting up a program like GPG just to ask what they think is innocent preliminary questions.
However, if two attorneys are collaborating and sharing sensitive information with each other via e-mail on a regular basis, using tools like GPG become much more important, as it is far more likely that information that needs to be protected will be shared with co-counsel. In that scenario, I cannot recommend using GPG and add-ons like FireGPG highly enough.
There was also some discussion of what the “reasonable person” standard would have to say about encrypting e-mails given lay people are unlikely to want to do so. I think it’s important to remember that when an email contains sensitive data that the client has sent you, you are still technically storing it in your e-mail account, and have all the responsibilities that that entails. The safest course of action is to ensure the email is sent and stored in an encrypted state, or remove it from the mail server as quickly as possible and store it on an encrypted file system like a TrueCrypt container.
In any case, I hope the slides provide some useful pointers for you all. If you come to SOS monthly meetings, I’ll answer any questions I can about the technical side of Chapter 93H compliance.
-Tom Traina
GeekLawyer.Net
How to hire a receptionist for $50/month
*This article appeared in the MBA Lawyer e-Journal: Tip of the week on 11/12/2009
You read that correctly. You can hire a receptionist for $50 a month ― sort of.
I recently moved to a new office and added three additional telephone lines to my practice. My intention was that each line be dedicated to a specific language. The next step was to hire a receptionist who could speak at least three languages. Turns out, trilingual receptionists, who know how to use Quickbooks and can fill out divorce filings, are rare.
So the next best thing is a PBX system. No doubt you’ve encountered one when calling for technical support or a customer service line. It usually goes something like “Thank you for calling [name of company]. Press “1” to speak to sales. Press “2” to continue holding indefinitely.” Unfortunately PBX systems are thousands of dollars and require a hardware hookup to your existing telephone system. Lucky for us, there are virtual PBX systems online.
Companies such as Onebox.com or VirtualPBX.com provide the same exact service as a PBX system with none of the physical hardware or upfront costs. You can forward or port a line directly to the service provider ― and for $50 a month ― an auto-attendant (or machine receptionist) will answer and direct your calls to whatever line you instruct it. It can go to any office phone or your cell phone or to voicemail.
That’s how you hire a receptionist for $50 a month ― sort of.
This tip is courtesy of Gabriel Cheong, attorney at law, owner of Infinity Law Group.