My Shingle

Client Relations

Client Portals – Love ‘em or Leave ‘em

December 16, 2011 by Carolyn Elefant

There’s an article by Donna Seyle in Law Practice Today that provides a comprehensive round-up of various platforms for client portals and practice management. As the long list of products suggests, they’re all the rage – though as Marc Lauritsen notes in the concluding paragraph, large firms have long offered extranets to clients. What’s new [...]

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Where I’ve Been Hanging Out Online

May 3, 2011 by Carolyn Elefant

So I know that there wasn’t much happening  at MyShingle last week. Between my talk on starting a practice at Georgetown Law and three days catching up with clients and colleagues at my trade association’s Global Marine Renewable Energy Conference, I didn’t have much energy left for posting. In addition, I’ve been spending a bit [...]

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Bespoke or Be-Gone: Lessons from the E-discovery trenches

March 7, 2011 by Carolyn Elefant

Make way for John Henry, Round 2 . Just as the steam-engine rolled over John Henry, recent advancements in e-discovery technology similarly enable machines to accomplish the work formerly performed by a team of 500 lawyers, reports the New York Times. Moreover, not only do computers perform e-discovery less expensively, but also with a precision [...]

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Where the Money Is In Law

January 21, 2011 by Carolyn Elefant

Even though biglaw is on the decline, there’s still big money to be made in the law. Only not necessarily by lawyers. Last month, news of the Reuters/Westlaw acquisition of Pangea dominated the headlines, with bloggers like Jordan Furlong imagining the possibilities that this new behemoth could bring to the table. And today, two other [...]

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The Retainer Letter As a Walk Down Memory Lane

October 22, 2010 by Carolyn Elefant

I may not be a contract aficionado like Ken Adams, but I love a good retainer agreement.  Though  clean, crisp language and brevity makes me swoon as much as any other lawyer, my affinity for retainer agreements reaches far deeper than the surface:  quite simply, I’m a sucker for the stories behind the the whereas [...]

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Why Should Your Clients Care That Their Lawyers Don’t Work Weekends?

October 9, 2010 by Carolyn Elefant

There’s a small law firm in South Carolina with a Client Expectations policy that’s made a big splash online.  The policy, which bluntly states, “We do not work weekends and do not provide emergency numbers for weekends….We make mistakes…” attracted notice from the ABA Journal and generated discussion at several blogs, including Jim Calloway’s Practice [...]

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The Shout-Out Lawyer

July 13, 2010 by Carolyn Elefant

This tape is remarkable not so much for the content (the abuses of freemium – which is somewhat interesting) but rather, for displaying something that we rarely see:  a client giving a lawyer a shout-out. If you don’t believe me, skip ahead to 1:38 of the tape, where Ben Chestnut, MailChimp’s co-founder, describes how moving [...]

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Lindsay Lohan: Dream or Nightmare Client for Newbie Solo?

July 9, 2010 by Carolyn Elefant

So here’s a practice management issue that law school doesn’t teach: You’re a newbie solo who passed the bar nine months ago and opened a law firm right afterwards.  Suddenly, the phone rings:  it’s a Hollywood superstar on the line, she’s  looking for a criminal defense lawyer to represent her and she’s picked you!  Trouble [...]

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Free Wireless At Starbucks and What It Means for Solos

June 16, 2010 by Carolyn Elefant

Yesterday, Starbucks Coffee announced that free, unlimited wireless internet access will be available in all company-owned stores in the United States effective July 1.  The Starbucks announcement launched 189,00 news stories – not because free wireless marks the start of a trend but rather because Starbucks came late to the party.  As  Starbucks belatedly realized, [...]

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Thank You, Justice Scalia for Remembering Who Pays (the Client!) for the Vanity Footnote

March 14, 2010 by Carolyn Elefant

If you’re a solo or small firm lawyer who litigates against biglaw, you’re probably familiar with the vanity footnote — that smug, yet entirely superfluous annotation to legislative history, obscure law review article, treatise or string citation included in many large firm briefs.  Though intended to corroborate a case cited in the text or flaunt [...]

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