“Too Busy to Notice You’re Too Busy”

Does this New York Times article sound like anyone you know? Yourself perhaps? "RECENTLY I’ve found myself annoyed by how busy my friends seem. Putting aside the possibility that they are avoiding me, some are so on the go that they barely have time to tell me they do not have time to talk. Every phone call, no matter how short, seems to be interrupted by several others. That is, of...

“Women’s Work: Never Too Nice”

So, are you too nice at work? Or not nice enough? This article explains the drawbacks of both: "Working women were once kept beneath the glass ceiling because they were considered 'too nice.' Now they're being held back because they aren't nice enough. "In an effort to erase gender discrimination, many companies have been abandoning their emphasis on stereotypical male qualities like...

“Firms Predict More Work, Less Equity”

What does this news mean for paralegals? I'm guessing higher required billable hours & maybe higher salaries too: "Although law firm leaders at a recent conference publicly pooh-poohed predictions that industry profitability would stumble, in a new survey they say increasing expenses will cut into their bottom line this year. "Lawyers can expect to be pushed for more billable hours...

“24 Time Management Tips”

These helpful, common-sense tips come from Beth Dargis, a certified life coach & simplicity consultant: "Planning is the best time saver there is. At the beginning of the week jot down your goals that you want to accomplish, fun things you want to do, work that needs to be done, and appointments to keep. Then write out a loose schedule for the week ahead, balancing it out between work,...

“Does a Provocative Pose Help or Hurt a Job Search?”

Well, this is an interesting question. Legal blogger Carolyn Elefant pointed it out on Legal Blog Watch. : "Over at Counsel to Counsel, Stephen Sackler wonders whether a law firm will hire the photogenic female law student who posed for this photo that's now permanently cached on the Internet. "...Personally, I've always thought that a job applicant's good looks and sex appeal,...

“E-Lawyering Requires Rethinking Technology and Law”

Great article about the new federal discovery rules, describing these changes in an understandable, even humorous way: "This changes everything." "Those three words, wafting on the familiar, buoyant tones of the actor saying them, have staying power. No survivor of the dot-com boom of the 1990s could forget William Shatner's ubiquitous ads on behalf of a certain online travel...

Five Strategies Key to Reducing Litigation Costs

Yay! Having several methods for cutting the costs of litigation is good news indeed: "Smoking-gun documents and emails have been at the heart of the world's best known corporate legal battles, but the risks of information in litigation have suddenly grown with new U.S. Federal guidelines for e-discovery. How can companies get a handle on the exploding volume of online content to better...

“Keeping Track of ‘Track Changes'”

Very helpful post by by Robert J. Ambrogi to Legal Blog Watch: "Every lawyer who uses Microsoft Word should take a few moments to read 'Staying on Track with Track Changes,' by legal bloggers and technology pros Tom Mighell and Dennis Kennedy, appearing in the current issue of Law Practice Today. As they point out, the 'track changes' feature in Word is an enormously useful tool when...

“Too Many Laws, Not Enough Lawyers”

I'm thinking this article means it might be a good time for SOX paralegals to seek raises: "With business booming at the nation's law firms, the fees they charge will climb steadily. Expect the cost of corporate legal services to continue to increase an average of one and a half times the rate of inflation in coming years. The trend will vary widely by region, with the largest jumps...

“Survey: Admin. assistants important”

Okay, that's the good news. The bad? In this article, paralegals are equated with administrative assistants: "Eighty-five percent of U.S. executives believe their administrative assistants are important to their success, a nationwide staffing-service survey says. "Of 150 senior executives at the nation's 1,000 largest companies surveyed, 48 percent said their administrative assistant's...