Paralegals: Listen up. Protect your career now, while you still can.
The Next Normal – Will the Traditional Law Firm Model Survive?
Guest BloggerSusan Saltonstall Duncan This article is the first in a series to look at the "Next Normal" for law firms. Part 1 focuses on the traditional law firm model and why it is unlikely to remain as it is, Part 2 focuses on lawyer skills and talent...
Paralegal fees are once again up for discussion in the U.S. Supreme Court with the Court's Nov. 12 decision to hear the Richlin v. Chertoff case. This is an important case for law firms and paralegals in promoting the further utilization of paralegals. The issue before the Supreme Court in the Richlin case is pretty straightforward: Under the Equal Access to Justice Act, can a...
Author Debra Bruno (Special Reports Editor at Legal Times), ponders some interesting questions in this Law.com article:"I grew up the child of teachers. Besides learning the obvious lack-of-privacy lessons ('Does your father know you left the house in that outfit?' my high school history teacher once muttered to me), I also internalized the idea that in the working world, people get home...
Interesting profile of Mark Chandler, senior VP, general counsel, & secretary for Cisco Systems Inc. This technology company (based in San Jose, CA), produces Internet protocol-based networking services:"Chandler is keenly focused on applying technology, some developed by Cisco and some that it has purchased, to lower in-house legal costs on repetitive but crucial work. 'If you are...
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...
I love how "trigger" reminders work: "Does your current time and billing software help you manage your law firm's workflow? Does it identify key 'events' that trigger paperwork? If not, it may be time to upgrade. "By simply defining certain conditions, or rules that must be met -- such as the payment of an invoice, the generation of a specific type of document or even...
Yes, the challenge of smart "time management"! How do you control work time? "Do you feel the need to be more organized and/or more productive? Do you spend your day in a frenzy of activity and then wonder why you haven't accomplished much? "Time management skills are especially important for small business people , who often find themselves performing many different jobs...
What do law firms bill their clients? You might be surprised; then again, maybe not: "Miami attorney Eugene Stearns may prove true the old cliche about getting what you pay for. "The plaintiffs attorney is credited with taking a teetering case against ExxonMobil and turning it around to win his clients a $1.1 billion judgment. "After the verdict, Stearns and other firms who worked...
Must read this article! "The $16 billion merger of SBC Communications Inc. and AT&T Corp. represented a high-water mark in the legal cattle call known as document production. Some 600 contract attorneys converged in Washington, D.C., to work on the SBC side of the deal, where the telecom giant's antitrust counsel, Crowell & Moring and Arnold & Porter, ran a massive antitrust...
Must-read post on the Wall Street Journal's Law Blog: "William Ross, a professor at Samford University’s Cumberland School of Law in Birmingham, Ala., calls it 'the perfect crime.' NYU legal ethics guru Stephen Gillers says there’s a 'general consensus' that the practice is on the upswing. The practice? Law-firm billing fraud, and the WSJ’s Nathan Koppel takes a look at the issue...