Podcasts about lawyer's guide

This episode is dedicated to empowering lawyers to overcome perfectionism and achieve professional success with confidence and balance. We dive deep into the tools and strategies that can help you break free from the grip of perfectionism and embrace a more fulfilling legal career. Last week in episode 127, we shed light on the perfectionism trap that many lawyers find themselves entangled in. We discussed how striving for flawlessness can lead to anxiety, burnout, and hinder personal growth. We can reframe failure as an opportunity for growth and learning. Today we explore practical tools to overcome perfectionism. We hope the tools and insights shared today will empower you to embrace imperfection and flourish as a lawyer. Remember, perfection is not the goal; growth, progress, and fulfillment are. Do you ever struggle with perfectionism? If so, I can help. Reach out to me here: https://calendly.com/garymiles-successcoach/one-one-discovery-call

In this episode of the podcast, Jennifer talks to attorney Lauren Bercuson about the ways to protect oneself with or without representation in this industry. They unpack the importance of hiring a lawyer to navigate contracts or other alternatives if hiring one is not possible. Lauren provides negotiating tips on ways to be assertive while maintaining respect, the value of trademarks and copyrights in safeguarding one's work, protecting one's intellectual property rights, and key clauses in contracts to look out for, such as payment terms, favored nations clauses, exclusivity agreements, and merchandising rights. They discuss the challenges of social media and content creation in todays climate. They encourage artists to be proactive in protecting themselves and their livelihood.  About Lauren: Lauren Bercuson is the founder of LB Legal Creative, a dynamic and forward-thinking service catering to the needs of creative professionals and small businesses. With a powerful fusion of legal expertise, writing prowess, and an unwavering passion for all things creative, Lauren offers a comprehensive range of solutions to amplify and safeguard your brand. From crafting compelling communications to skillfully negotiating contracts and protecting valuable intellectual property assets such as copyrights and trademarks, LB Legal Creative stands as the ultimate ally for overcoming your creative challenges. Let Lauren's innovative approach and deep understanding of the creative landscape empower you to reach new heights of success. Lauren's IGs: @lblegalcreative and @happily.ever.elephants Lauren'a Website: www.lblegalcreative.com Want to coach with Jennifer? Schedule a session here! https://appt.link/jenniferapple Monologue Sourcing Promo Link! https://empoweredartistcollective.com/podcastpromo Learn more: https://www.empoweredartistcollective.com/podcast EAC IG: @EmpoweredArtistCollective  EAC TikTok: @EmpowerArtistCollective EAC Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/empoweredartistcollective/ Sign up for our newsletter! https://mailchi.mp/8e72e8dcb662/stay-in-touch Check Out Our Merch! https://www.empoweredartistcollective.threadless.com/ Any thoughts you'd like to share? Email us at EmpoweredArtistCollective@gmail.com

Cryptocurrency and blockchain are terms that have repeatedly found their way into legal headlines recently. But many practitioners and judges aren't yet familiar with what they are or the legal implications they present. In this episode, Jody Sanders and Todd Smith join Nelson Ebaugh, a litigator and appellate attorney in Houston, to discuss this technology and the legal issues it raises. Nelson has found himself on the forefront of cryptocurrency litigation and provides a history and understanding that's accessible to laypeople. He also offers insights into areas of the law that have started affecting cryptocurrency (like securities, criminal law, and privacy), where legal issues will continue to develop, and how attorneys can position themselves to have an impact.Love the show? Subscribe, rate, review, and share!A special thanks to our sponsor:Court Surety Bond AgencyProudly presented by Butler Snow LLPJoin the Texas Appellate Law Podcast Community today:texapplawpod.comTwitterYouTube

Welcome to AI Lawyer Talking Tech, your daily review of the latest legal technology news. Today, we'll be discussing the articles "New Legal Technology Brings Promise Pitfalls," "Development of Generative AI Tool like ChatGPT Could Mean Legal World," and "McDermott Adds Two Tech-focused Dealmakers in California." We'll be exploring the ways in which technology is transforming the legal profession, both offering exciting opportunities and presenting new challenges. Join us as we navigate the ever-changing landscape of legal technology. New Legal Technology Brings Both Promise and Pitfalls Date: 22 Mar 2023Source: New York State Bar Association The Era of ChatGPT: What Generative AI Could Mean for the Legal World Date: 22 Mar 2023Source: LexBlog Pioneers and Pathfinders: Richard Susskind Date: 22 Mar 2023Source: Seyfarth Shaw Founders Legal® Celebrates Women's History Month with Donations as Part of FoundHERs™ Initiative Date: 22 Mar 2023Source: YourCentralValley.com Justia Free Resources: The Justia U.S. Supreme Court Center Date: 22 Mar 2023Source: Legal Marketing & Technology Blog How innovative is ‘legal innovation'? Understanding change between transformation and disruption w/ Aleksandra Wawrzyszczuk Date: 21 Mar 2023Source: The Law of Tech ContractPodAi Introduced New AI Assistant ‘Leah' Date: 22 Mar 2023Source: Legal Tech Blog AI and knowledge management: picking apart the nuances Date: 22 Mar 2023Source: Legaltech on Medium Q&A with Chris Fortier author of The Lawyer's Guide to Office Automation: Tools & Strategies to Improve Your Firm and Your Life Date: 22 Mar 2023Source: Law Technology Today Using Litigation Analytics Is Now ‘Table Stakes,' Lex Machina Survey Finds Date: 22 Mar 2023Source: LawSites Webcast: Getting Ready for the New SEC Cyber Rules for RIAs and BDs Date: 22 Mar 2023Source: Debevoise Data BlogDebevoise Data Blog reports on  Legalweek news in brief: New product launches, partnerships and surveys Date: 22 Mar 2023Source: Legal IT Insider The Ethics and Legality of Emerging Medical Technologies: Navigating the Future of Healthcare Date: 22 Mar 2023Source: Legaltech on Medium Law.com Radar Expands with Coverage of State Court Lawsuits and More Granular New-Suit Alerts Date: 22 Mar 2023Source: LawSites Brookings: AI Will Revolutionize the Practice of LawDate: 22 Mar 2023Source: Sensei Enterprises, Inc. Brightflag survey: compensation for legal operations leaders increased by as much as 26% Date: 22 Mar 2023Source: Legal Technology News - Legal IT Professionals | Everything legal technology Law, Ethics and Tech: Are we close to achieving Utopia or are we dreaming of Zion? Date: 22 Mar 2023Source: Legaltech on Medium

In today's episode, Paul chats with James Sexton, New York Divorce Lawyer and Author about what not to do in a successful relationship. This is off the back of James' 21 years as a Divorce Lawyer in NYC and his experience with thousands of cases during the break up of marriage-- everything from the messy to bitter to the crazy and uninspected. James delivers this message with a mix of humour, charm and wisdom. He is the author of one of Paul's favourite books 'If You're In My Office It's Already Too Late ' Enjoy this conversation. James' book:  If You're In My Office It's Already Too Late Website: https://www.nycdivorces.com/ Instagram: @nycdivorcelawyer You may be interested in checking out Paul's blog post on his website www.pauldermody.com/blog With over 6000 hours of 1 to 1 Personal Training behind him, Paul transitioned into the online space over 6 years ago. He specializes in helping you find calmness and joy in food, understand your core food values and how to apply it all to your life successfully. For coaching inquiries email paul@pauldermody.com

What you'll learn in this episode: Why a growth mindset is the key to making effective change Andrew's tips for beating resistance and making changes stick Why lawyers need to adapt their professional approach to become effective coaches and mentors  How to choose the right executive coach What lawyers of all levels can expect to gain from coaching About Andrew Elowitt: Andrew Elowitt JD MBA PCC worked for over twenty years both in law firms and as the head of a corporate legal department before becoming a practice management consultant and professional certified coach. He is the Managing Director of New Actions LLC, a firm that specializes in talent, strategy and leadership development for law firms, businesses, and government agencies. His work focuses on the people side of legal practice: how lawyers manage, lead, thrive, change, and find satisfaction. He is regarded as an expert on the use of coaching and emotional, social and conversational intelligences in leading and managing legal organizations of all sizes. Andrew is a Fellow in the College of Law Practice Management, an International Coach Federation Professional Certified Coach, Vice Chair of the ABA Law Practice Division Publications Board, and founding member of its Lawyer Leadership and Management Board. He is the author of numerous articles and is regularly invited to conduct workshops and retreats for his clients and to present programs to bar associations. Additional Resources:  New Actions: www.newactions.com  Elowitt's LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/andrewelowitt  Transcript: Coaching is a powerful tool that can help lawyers in all stages of their careers become more effective leaders, mentors, and professionals. The legal industry has embraced coaching over the last 10 years, thanks in no small part to the work of Andrew Elowitt, founder of coaching firm New Actions and author of books “The Lawyer's Guide to Professional Coaching: Leadership, Mentoring, and Effectiveness” and “Lawyers as Managers: How to Be a Champion for Your Firm and Employees.” He joined the Law Firm Marketing Catalyst Podcast to talk about how lawyers can face and overcome their resistance to change; why a growth mindset is necessary for lasting transformation; and how lawyers should choose the right coach. Read the episode transcript here.  Sharon: Welcome to the Law Firm Marketing Catalyst Podcast. Today, my guest is Andrew Elowitt. Andrew is the managing director and founder of New Actions LLC. His firm provides high-level coaching, practice management consulting and retreat facilitation services to law firms and other professional service firms. He is a former lawyer and corporate executive. He's also an in-demand speaker. He is a very accomplished author who has been on the podcast before with one of this coauthors, Marcia Wasserman. We'll hear all about his journey today. Andrew, welcome to the program. Andrew: It's great to be back, Sharon. Sharon: It's great to have you. Thank you so much. Tell us about your journey. How did you get to where you are now? Andrew: I had been practicing law for 15 years, first in firms and then I went in-house. It wasn't something that hit me suddenly at 15 years. I realized I was a good lawyer and I was well-compensated, but my passion for the law, for legal practice, was ebbing. I wanted to do something more. I wasn't sure what it would be, but I definitely wanted to have a second act.  So, I got to that point 15 years in, like I said, and it was a matter of some awfully good luck. My best friend's weekend hiking buddy was a senior organizational development consultant who was putting on learning opportunities for an eclectic mix of people. I had known him socially, and I was introduced to him. I talked about what he was doing with the learning groups. He had a clinical psychologist, a college professor, an educational consultant, and a woman who did film editing and writing, so a lawyer in the mix made it all the more eclectic. Once I started that learning group, I was fascinated. It was like all the lights going on on the Christmas tree in Rockefeller Center. I went, “This is so interesting. I want to do this.” Then I started to train, and I probably read more in those first two or three years that I was training with my mentor than I had practicing law in the prior 10 years.  Then I made the transition into doing organizational development consulting. We were working with a lot of tech companies in Silicon Valley. Over time, slowly, I started to pick up more professional services firm clients, lawyers, accountants. A lot of my friends from the legal world were now in managerial positions. We'd get together and they'd say, “Andrew, we're having this problem,” and I'd give them advice. After about six months, they said, “You know what? We'll pay to have you go into the firms and help us with these things.” I went, “Oh my gosh, there's a niche here.” So, I started working with lawyers then.  At that time, which was the early 2000s, coaching in the legal world was not well understood. People thought I was a life coach. They had all kinds of misgivings, and I had to overcome that initially in making the transition. At this point, coaching is very well known and respected and utilized, not fully utilized, but utilized in the legal profession. Sharon: Do you think that's more in California? When I talk to people in other areas of the country, they don't really know what coaching is. They're going, “Coaching, what's that?”  Andrew: Yeah, occasionally I get that. I don't think there's a big geographic difference anymore. Maybe on the coasts there's more understanding of coaching. The legal community has followed the business community. The business community was a much earlier adapter and user of coaching. You certainly saw that in the tech companies. One of the reasons why was because you had a lot of younger, relatively inexperienced managers coming in, and they needed help. Brilliant people, great subject matter experts, but they didn't know how to manage, especially managing people. That's one of the reasons why there was a lot of traction for coaching in tech centers, both on the west coast and the east coast.  Law has followed that, and I think it's a matter of what the business models are for businesses versus professional services firms. As you know, partners or senior attorneys have their producer/manager dilemma. They're the ones that are on the factory floor grinding out the equipment or the product. At the same time, they need to manage, but do they have the time? There's a built-in tension there. Do I step away from billable hours to do the work? Do I step away from client development to do the managerial piece? It's a built-in dilemma. You don't see that on the business side. On the business side, with the executives I work with, which is anywhere from 40% to 60% of my practice, they are managers. Their job is to manage the people that report to them and to collaborate with the people in their organizations. It's different than in law firms. Sharon: Law firms are their own animal. One of the ways is exactly what you're talking about. You have tension. What do you tell people who come and say, “I love the business side and I like client development, but I don't like the law. I don't like to write briefs. I don't like to read them. What can I do?” Andrew: First of all, that resonates with me because that was my feeling about the law. I know I was a good technician, but I much rather would have been negotiating. I think that's one of the reasons why I was happy going in-house. I got to be the client, and I was more involved in the business affairs of my organization.  For those people, I think it's great that they have wider interests. The people who like client development, they're the future rainmakers in a firm. The people who like doing the managerial piece are really important. Now, there's a problem because they may be very good at it, but firms are still slow in rewarding and incentivizing people to take on those managerial roles.  One thing we've seen in big law, the largest law firms in North America and around the world, is the emergence of professional managers. People that may or may not be lawyers are now doing the administration and the leading of firms. There can be challenges to that. In a lot of jurisdictions, you can't have nonlawyers, people that are not certified as lawyers, being equity holders in a law firm. That makes the compensation and incentivizing issue a lot more complicated, but I think we'll see more of a continuation in that direction. It's great to have people in firms that are interested, passionate, experienced and competent in management. It makes a big difference in the bottom line. Sharon: I had forgotten how it's become so professionalized on the business side in many ways. I can't remember; it'll come to me later. I was trying to remember when I was at Arthur Andersen. There was such a big dichotomy between fee earners, non-revenue generators and revenue generators. I always felt like, “What are you talking about? We bring in this much.”  Anyway, you said you were doing training in organizational development or coaching. Andrew: It started out with organizational development. That was the focus of our learning group. It was great for me. I was with people more senior than I in terms of work experience, not necessarily in terms of age. We started with a couple of learning groups in Los Angeles. Then my mentor, Don Rossmoore, got invited to Xerox's Palo Alto Research Center, PARC, to lead learning groups there, so we had other professionals and executive coaches that were in-house for Xerox. We had people from Apple, Hewlett-Packard, Sun. It was the whole list of tech companies. This is back in the 1990s. It fast-tracked me to have all those people available to learn from.  Our last learning groups morphed into a consulting group that was a bit informal. Very different from law firms, where everything is very structured. This was, “Do you have the availability? O.K., we'll work together on this engagement.” I learned a tremendous amount there. We were usually dealing with larger issues throughout an organization.  What I found in doing that was I loved the strategic part, the systems part of that, but it really comes down to implementation. When it comes down to implementing the changes we're recommending, that goes back to the individual. Often the individual executives and managers were having difficulty implementing the changes they knew they needed to make, including changes in the organization, changes in the team they were leading, or changes in themselves. It's the individual. That's where I really began the transition into coaching. I didn't think I was very good at it initially. I still feel that way. I had to unlearn a lot of qualities and approaches that made me a good lawyer, but not necessarily a good coach. For example, as a lawyer, you need to be prescriptive and directed. You're there to provide a solution. A client comes to you with a problem, then, “O.K., well, this is what you should do.” That doesn't necessarily work well when you're coaching. It's better to work more collaboratively with your coach-ee to help them come to their ideas and figure out what they need to do. I had to stop myself. I had to restrain myself from jumping to solutions and saying “Here's the roadmap. Here are steps one through five. Do them.” That was me at the beginning. I had to sit on my hands and zip my mouth and go, “I have some ideas about this, but I'd like to hear from you first. What do you think would be a good approach?” It's bringing them more into the picture.  That was one of the biggest and hardest changes for me, but I found I really liked working with executives. There's something about working with people one-on-one I found very satisfying, far more satisfying than working with people one-on-one in the legal capacity. I went in that direction with executives and lawyers and a few other service professionals from time to time, but I wouldn't identify myself in those positions. That's pretty much the journey that I took. Sharon: Do you find that you have to put on a different hat when you're working with a lawyer, and then another hat when you're working with an executive? Andrew: That's a great question. It depends on the lawyer and the executive. Sometimes I have to put on a different hat with the same person from one session to the next depending on where they're at. With lawyers, Sharon, it's usually a matter of the issues we're dealing with. On the executive side, it's pretty much pure management and leadership skills. Lately with the pandemic, resilience and finding a healthy work/life integration are huge, huge issues. For the last two or three years, that has been a theme in almost all of the coaching I've done.  On the legal side, it's different. It's not pure management and leadership. At the younger levels of an attorney's career, we're more often focused on issues of productivity, time management, work-flow management. They are on the receiving end of delegation and feedback, so a lot of it is helping them learn how to receive delegation and feedback and how to help them make the people giving them the feedback and delegation even better.  It's a sweeping generalization, but I think it's true that lawyers don't have a lot of formal training in managerial skills. Some who came to the law after working in another area may have that. Some who took management classes in college or grad school, they may have some familiarity. But basically, when it comes to people management, lawyers don't know a lot. They are replicating the ways they were managed, which means they may be using managerial and leadership approaches that are two generations old, which are not great with millennials and Gen Z.  So, a lot of is helping people learn how to manage.  Now, I said I started with people at the lower level. As you get higher, then it is learning those managerial skills, delegating, giving feedback. How do you hold the people that work with you accountable? How do you collaborate with other people? As you go further up, it becomes more client-facing, so it's about developing those client relationships. Then we get into business development. I'm not a business development specialist, but I'm very good at helping attorneys that have support for client development within their firm and may even have dedicated client development people.  They know what they should be doing, but they're not doing it. It's the classical example of the knowing-doing gap. This is something that's not unique to lawyers. There's something we know we should do, but do we get around to doing it? No. That can be the case with a lot of lawyers when it comes to business development. I'm very good at helping them understand what's holding them back. Typically, it's nothing external; it's nothing in the firm or the environment. It's something in them. We acknowledge what the inner obstacle is and we work past it and through it. I have a good record of getting them into gear and getting them developing clients.  Finally, when we get to partner-level, practice area heads and executive committee members, then it's a lot about leadership and management. That's where there's the most similarity to the business side or the executive side of my practice. Sharon: Do you work with people at all different levels, depending on where they are when they contact you or the firm brings you in? How does it work? Andrew: For firms, it's virtually all levels. Large firms will bring me in. I'll work with their professional development or talent development people. Most often, they have a high-potential associate and there may be a couple of things that they're struggling with. As I think most of your listeners will know, it's expensive to find new people and onboard and train them. You don't want to lose that human capital. So, coaching can be very helpful and cost-effective in helping those people overcome the problems they may be having.  It may be something like time management. You have an associate who's starting to trend late on their deliverables. It's the work they need to get to partners. It's overly simple to say, “Oh, they need to work harder and faster,” or something like that. It may be an issue—it often is—where they're not doing a good job of pushing back against the people giving them work. There are lot of people all over the world and there are a lot of associates. They're hesitant to say no to a partner when a partner hands them a piece of work. What they end up doing is overloading themselves because they are overly optimistic about what they can achieve in a given amount of time. So, helping them learn how to push back is a way of dealing the time management issue. Sharon: I can see how it would be very hard to say, “I don't have time,” or “No,” to a partner. That must be very, very hard. Andrew: There's a skill and art to it, a lot of finesse. With some partners even more finesse. Sharon: Is there resistance? It seems like there would be. Maybe I have an old image of it, but it seems like there would be people who say, “I don't need coaching,” or “I've failed if I have coaching. Andrew: Happily, there's less and less of that. That sense of failure, I don't run into that much anymore. Usually with younger associates, they may feel like, “I should know this. This is a flaw in me. I'm not doing a good job of this.” Often, they're their most severe critics, so I make it very clear to people I coach that I'm not there to fix them. Seldom am I dealing with somebody who really has a risk of being fired from a firm. It's usually developmental. Usually, they're worth investing in, and the firm is spending money to help them become more productive and a tighter part of the firm.  The one thing you did mention is that some people think, “I don't need coaching.” I'll initially talk to a prospective coach-ee—and this works on the executive side or the legal side. I qualify them, which sounds like turning them into objects, but it's coach-speak for talking to them to see if they're coachable. Not all people are. Most are very earnestly interested. They want the help. They're stuck. They don't know what to do, but they know they need to do something. Occasionally, you'll find somebody who points the finger at everybody else. They say, “I'm not the problem. It's their problem, if you could just help them.” That's not going to be a good coach-ee.  The other thing you look for is a growth mindset versus a fixed mindset. People with a fixed mindset think, “This is all the intelligence I have, all the social skills I have. What you see is what you get. I'm not going to change. There's not a lot of room, if any room, for improvement.” Why spend time, energy, money on dealing with a person or trying to help a person who is saying, “This is where I am and I'm O.K. to be there”? There's no upside potential. You want people with a growth mindset who are curious, who are saying, “I want to learn how to do this.” It's a challenge. You want people who can say, “I've really messed up doing this. I can tell you about the last three failures I've had.” That level of self-awareness and candor makes for a great coach-ee. Sharon: I'm thinking there are some similarities. Sometimes a partner will say, “I know how to do it. I did it this way. They can learn how to do it this way.” Can that change? They may be resistant, or maybe they're not coachable. What do you think about that? Andrew: There's often a degree of resistance in making changes. There's a reason why we are the way are at a given moment. Often, it's because something has worked well for us in the past, and that's fine. It makes sense to me. It got you to where you are. Why change it? You don't want to take that risk. But that mindset ignores the fact that our world is changing really quickly.  Let's use the example of working virtually. There were people that said, “No, I only want to have face-to-face meetings.” This goes for coaches and their coaching sessions as well as clients and people in their firm. But the world changed, and all of a sudden, we got a lot better working virtually.  Sometimes you do run into people who are resistant. If you're coaching them, you can start to work with them on resistance. You can say, “I can see why this would work for you. I can see the track record. I'm curious. What do you imagine might happen if you tried doing this differently?” I will lay out a scenario of what different would look like. When you start to engage them in that conversation, that's where you listen and hear what their fears are, what their expectations are, why their fears may be justified. Often, they're not. They're thinking something horrible will happen, and you can say, “There is that risk, but here's the opportunity. What do you think?” So, you can subtly, gently shift them.  Sharon: It sounds like you have opened up people who were closed when you walked in. Andrew: Yes, all the time. Sharon: I know you went to the Institute of Management Coaching. Andrew: No, my training didn't include IMC. In terms of management training, I did get my MBA from Marshall School of Business at USC. The learning group supplemented a lot of that. A lot of it was self-study, but I also took workshops and got certified in Essential Facilitation. That was something I found extraordinarily helpful and is a big part of the work I do. There was also action science, which is, again, organizational development oriented. It helped me to understand the dynamics of organizations.  The other thing in terms of training was my coaching training. One thing about coaching that is very different from lawyering is how you become a lawyer. Typically, you're doing your undergraduate work; you're going to law school; you have to take the bar exam. There are a lot of steps, a lot of certifications, that help with quality control. On the complete other side of the picture, we have coaching. You want to be a coach? Go to your stationery store or big office supply place, get cards printed up that say “coach,” and you're a coach. There's very little in the way of, at least, governmental oversight. The last I checked, which was a few years ago, I think the only state that said anything about coaching in their laws was Colorado. It said that coaching is not considered a mental health profession, so it was excluding coaching. Nothing about what you have to do to be a coach.  So, it's incumbent upon coaches to get training. There are a few organizations that sanction training and offer certification. I'm an International Coach Federation Professional Certified Coach. Boy, is that a mouthful! ICF is probably the leading and most well-known organization for certifying coaches. It's not the only one anymore, but it is an effort to raise the standards of the profession and to make sure that people who are using coaches get somebody who knows what they're doing. Sharon: Did you have to take some training and go through at least one class? Or could you just send in your money? Andrew: That's a great question. There are some organizations where basically you're paying to be on an online list of certified coaches in the area. That exists. I shake my head in dismay about that. As far as I see it, you have to go through an approved training program. Mine was Newfield Network. It was a nine-month program. I think we met three times for three or four days in person. There was a lot of virtual work, albeit this was so long ago that it was by telephone in between. It was rigorous.  There are several good coaching programs. ICF approves them. They have lists of them. What we're seeing more of, both on the executive side and in law firms, is that they want people that are certified coaches. Certification of a coach doesn't necessarily mean they're the right coach for you or they're a great coach, but it does mean they've taken it seriously enough that they put time and effort into it. They know what they should be doing. Hopefully, they're also doing it.  Sharon: You've been a lawyer and an executive, but being a lawyer, I can see how that gives you so much of an advantage. I'm thinking about how many times we've had to write a press release and weren't exactly sure—we did know, but we're not lawyers. It gives you an advantage. Andrew: Yeah, it does help. Especially in the past, it helped a great deal. If you look at studies of lawyer personalities versus the general population, lawyers typically are slower to trust other people. It makes sense. It's not a bad quality to have considering how we need to protect our clients' interests. But I found that lawyers and administrators in law firms are very happy that I have a legal background.  There was this one moment relatively early in my career where I was sitting across a managing partner's desk. He was starting to explain to me realization rates, and I held up my hand and said, “It's O.K.” He stopped and went, “Oh, that's right. You've practiced.” His shoulders sank down a couple of inches, and he sat back in his chair and said, “That's so nice that I don't have to go through all that explanation.” Understanding the context of what goes on in a law firm helps a tremendous amount. So, that is good. With that said, not everybody has to have a legal background. But I think some of the most effective coaches I know do have that background. Sharon: I can see how that would make you very effective, especially being on the other side of the desk in any capacity. If you were a lawyer at one point, you know about doing the work and getting the work. There's a difference there. I love the name of your firm, New Actions. That's what all of this is about, right? Andrew: You nailed it, Sharon. Especially when I started the firm, there was, like I said, a limited understanding of what coaching was about. Coaching can be these wonderful dialogues and interesting conversations you have with a coach-ee. What you want to do is get results—at least, that's my philosophy—and the results are helping people make changes. Where they are doing is not satisfactory for some reason. They may be unclear about a direction. They may need new skills. They may have difficultly working with people in the system of their organization or getting past that knowing-doing gap we talked about. It could be all those things, but people have to start taking new actions to get new results, better results. That's where the name came from.  Sharon: Do you think results last? Maybe they try the new actions once or twice and say, “Oh, that's different,” but then they forget. Maybe I'm personalizing it. I'm thinking you forget.  Andrew: Yeah, as I said earlier, there's a reason why people do the things the way they do. It's easy for people to revert back. That's one of the problems we find with training in a business or a professional firm environment. I'm sure you experienced that in doing trainings with lawyers and seeing they've learned all this new stuff. They'll do it for a couple of months, but without reinforcement, people do start to revert back to old behaviors. The six-month mark is my ballpark estimate. I liken it to having taken a foreign language in high school. You don't take it in college. You don't go to that foreign country. You don't use the language. You lose it. It certainly happened with me. That is a problem.  The difference with coaching is there is a reinforcement. Sometimes we do spot coaching or laser coaching. It may be three sessions. When it's really short, we're probably dealing with a specific issue or problem, but most executive coaching goes for six months. That's our target area. Often, it may extend a little bit longer than that. In the first part of the coaching, you're understanding the person, why they're doing what they're doing. Then you move into what they could be doing differently. In the middle third—and this is very rough as to the time—they're practicing the new skills, the new behaviors. They're understanding what works for them and what doesn't. The last third is really more practice. It's integrating those skills so they become second nature, almost automatic. That's where what you learn in coaching can become sticky, if I can use that term. After you finish coaching, it's going to stick with you.  I was just thinking of this while on LinkedIn. A former coach-ee of mine posted that he got a promotion, and I sent him a congratulations. I got back a comment saying, “Thank you so much for your coaching. I'm still quoting you.” I coached him about four years ago. That was the kind of gratification I was talking about earlier, the difference between being a lawyer and being a coach. I don't remember what I said or what he's quoting, but it stuck with him. He's using it, and he's in a global world now. That made me very happy. I had a big smile for the rest of that day. Sharon: As a lawyer, when should I consider getting a coach? What would I be dealing with? What should I look for? Andrew: O.K., two different questions. Often, the lawyers I'm working with, their firms have contacted me or they've been instrumental. With that said, one positive trend I've seen is that younger lawyers are saying, “I would like a coach. I need a coach.” Lately a lot of them are saying, “I'm overwhelmed. I'm stressed. I have too much work for my ability to handle it. I need to get better organized.” They're initiating that. The first step for a lawyer at any stage of their career is that you're dissatisfied with the way things are. You may have a good idea of where that's coming from. You may sense, “I want to stop doing whatever I'm doing now,” but knowing what you want to stop doing is different from knowing what you need to be doing differently. The analogy or metaphor I use is think back to being on the playground. We had monkey bars, I think they were called. Those were the horizontal bars that went across. You grab one and then you swing to the next one. What you learned early on as a kid was that if you don't have some forward momentum, you get stuck. Then you would end up letting go and dropping to the ground. In making changes, you have to be able to release the hand that's on the back bar. Sometimes in coaching, it's unlearning what you were doing. If an attorney finds themselves in that position, that's where coaching might help. It's not a panacea. It's not perfect for everybody.  I'm a good coach, but I'm not the right coach for absolutely everybody. Rapport is very important. Fit is a very important thing. Typically, when I work with somebody, I qualify them and they're qualifying me. Do they want to work with me? It's important that you feel a degree of comfort with your coach. As I've gone on, I think you can be too comfortable with a coach. You want a coach who can challenge you and be honest with you and be able to say, “No, I'm not saying this,” or “No, I don't think is working for you,” or “Hey, it sounds like there's an internal contradiction in what you're saying to me.” A lot of coaching is helping people get past their blind spots. We all have blind spots. That's not a failure. I think it's wired into us. Having another person there, especially an experienced person who can help us see what those blind spots are once you recognize you have them, that opens up a lot of possibilities for taking new actions. Sharon: You mentioned in some writings that you've helped people with difficult conversations. There are a lot of difficult conversations. Can you give us some examples in law? Andrew: There are two conversations that come to mind. One I alluded to earlier, which is pushing back on partners. Just recently I co-presented at a professional development consortium summer conference. It was a program on helping passive and timid associates learn to push back and manage up. For all the talk about law firms being flat organizations—and it's true; they do have fewer layers than a lot of business organizations—they're still pretty hierarchical. Younger attorneys can be overly deferential and very uncomfortable in saying no or pushing back. It can be a lot of different things. I don't have the bandwidth to handle work, like I mentioned earlier. How do you say that?  This can especially be a problem if you have one associate who's getting work from multiple partners. Then it's like, “Well, I'd like to do your work, but I'm slammed.” That can be a difficult conversation for an associate. In helping them, one learns that they need to do that and it's O.K. for them to do that. Actually, if they're just a passive person who's not providing that information to the people who are giving them work, they're harming the firm, harming clients potentially, and definitely harming themselves. That is something that's come up a lot lately, at least enough that the presentation we did this summer was very well received and attended. It's something that professional development managers and directors in big law are hearing from their associates. That's one area.  The second difficult conversation is around feedback. This is difficult in a way because it's not done enough. Often, in the rush of doing tasks and taking care of client matters, lawyers don't hit the pause button and spend time with the people who report to them and give them feedback on how they did. I remember this when I was a lawyer. You would finish a transaction. Rarely did we have the time to do a debrief. What worked well? What didn't? “This was great what you did. It really moved us forward. This is what you could have done differently that would have helped. Next time, maybe you can do it.” Feedback conversations are often missing.  The other thing in feedback conversations is that they can be very top-down and done with a lack of curiosity about what was going on with the associate. Those conversations can take a more collaborative tone, become more of a dialogue, be less about the problem. “Here's the problem that came up on this case. We were slow in responding to every filing the opposition brought to us. Let's get curious about why that happened. What can we, not just associates, but all of us as a team do differently?” Those sorts of conversations.  The hardest ones, Sharon, are obviously the conversations between partners in terms of strategy, direction, and compensation. Those are given to be difficult, and I do get pulled in to help. I'm a facilitator in those. I don't have a dog in the fight. I'm just trying to help people understand one another's perspective. What facts they're looking at, what their rationale is based on, trying to change it from a legal argument with pros, cons and who's going to win to more, “Let's look at the whole business of the law firm. Let's see what's good short-term and long-term for all of us, not just part of us.” Sharon: Each of these are very interesting scenarios. I give you credit for even being able to endure them, especially the first one. Covid probably changed this, but I do remember a partner saying, “What do they think evenings and weekends are for?” I always think of how partners would say, “This guy didn't make it in terms of client development. It was clear they weren't going to become a partner. I coached them out.” I always think about, “What did you say? How did you do that? Andrew: I'm not sure what coaching somebody out necessarily means. Let's stop here and think about lawyers as coaches. This is one of the things in my first book that I went into in some detail in one of the chapters. The skills for being a good lawyer, when you line them up against being a good coach, there's not a lot of overlap. Lawyers, to be good managers and leaders, they need to take off their lawyer hat at times. If they're coaching, which is a very potent, effective way of managing your people, you have to not approach it as lawyers.  For an example, as lawyers, we often ask closed-ended questions. We're getting to the facts. In coaching, open-ended questions are much better. You want to see where the conversation is going to go. You want to learn more about what's going on with the other person. In coaching, you also have to be listening very attentively, not thinking about, “What am I going to say in response to this?” Again, I'm going back to one of the shifts I had to make when I made the transition. As a lawyer, I'm thinking, “This is what I'm hearing from opposition. Now, how am I going to counter that argument? What am I going to say next? How do I want to navigate this conversation?” It's more oppositional in that way. You really do have to take off the lawyer hat at times to be effective. Sharon: Your first book, “Lawyers as Managers,” talks about that. Am I remembering that correctly? Andrew: That's the second book with Marcia Wasserman. The first one was “The Lawyer's Guide to Professional Coaching: Leadership, Mentoring, and Effectiveness.” That was, I think, back in 2012. It's available now. I think you can find used copies on Amazon. The ABA still has it as an e-book. Coaching in the last 10 years has certainly changed within law firms. At the time it was written, it was to help lawyers and firm administrators understand the potential of coaching. I'm happy to say I think that potential is increasingly realized. I wouldn't say my book is responsible for that solely. Absolutely not, but it was one piece that helped. In “Lawyers as Managers,” Marcia and I look at the role that lawyers need to take as people managers. Lawyers are generally good managers when it comes to technical aspects. You give a lawyer a spreadsheet, they're probably pretty good at dealing with it. Things like budgets. When you come to the more interpersonal stuff, like client development, lawyers aren't as good. When it comes to people management, there really was a lack of understanding.  Marcia originated the idea. We were at a meeting, and she said, “I'm looking for some materials on leadership and management for lawyers. Do you have any?” I said, “I have a few articles I've written for bar associations, but most of the stuff out there is general management and leadership. It's tailored for the executive committee, the business community.” A couple of months later, we had the same conversation. I said, “Marcia, we're going to have to write the book,” and she agreed. Little did she know what she was getting herself into. That, I will say, is the definitive book on people management for lawyers. Sharon: To end, can you tell us about one of the difficult conversations you've had? I don't know how many times I've stopped myself and just said, “I can't do it,” or “I'll go around it.” Andrew: I'll speak in general terms. Again, I'm going back to when I was first making the transition to coaching. I found a great deal of difficulty in having uncomfortable conversations where I had to deliver bad news. I had to tell somebody what they were doing was not working at all. It wasn't even neutral. It was really harming them and other people. In short, they were really messing up.  I was very gentle. I was bypassing. I was softening, diluting, sugar-coating messages that needed to be heard. I realized that I was playing nice. I didn't want to upset the other person. I didn't want to feel my own upset in doing this, so I wasn't providing value and the proof that they were making the changes they needed to make. This was maybe in my first two or three years of coaching, and I started to realize this isn't good. I was stuck and working with my coach at that time. I realized I had to let go of my personal discomfort if I was going to be more helpful to my clients, and I started to make the change. Now, I am honest. Sometimes people will say, “Can you predict or guarantee any results?” and I go, “No, absolutely not. Coaching at heart is a partnership. We're working together. I can't fix you. I can't wave a magic wand. It's on both of us. I'm here to help you, but just like I can't wear your clothes, I can't do everything for you. We're going to work together.” I do make three promises. One, I listen. I listen very attentively to what my coach-ees say and what they're not saying. The second thing is I am honest. I am very honest. I will not hold back in terms of what I'm hearing or the impact it's having on me. If a coach-ee is saying something and I'm not believing them, I'll say that. I need to. If I think something is B.S., it's the same thing. If I think they're fooling themselves, same thing. There are times where I have to deliver tough feedback.  The third promise is I'm compassionate. I don't beat people up in the process. I won't sugar-coat, dilute, or bypass. I deliver the message, but I understand they have feelings. In giving them this feedback, it may affect their emotions and their own identity as a person and a professional. I'm aware of it and sensitive to that, but I still get the message across. I figure that in the first two or three years of my coaching, I was sugar-coating. For the last 22 years, I think I have a good record of being straight with people and getting results. Sharon: Andrew, I'm sure you do get results. Thank you so much for being with us today. Andrew: It's been a pleasure. I've enjoyed it immensely. Thank you, Sharon.

How would you go about staying out of a divorce attorney's office? Find a great divorce attorney to listen to? Jim Sexton is an accomplished New York divorce attorney who has seen it all throughout his 20 plus year career focused on divorce law.  What makes Jim unique is that he took his life experience and work as a divorce attorney and created a book, How to Stay in Love: A Divorce Lawyer's Guide to Staying Together. Jim's experience has led him to believe that marriages and other committed relationships fail for two fundamental reasons.  One, you don't know what you want, and two, you can't express what you want.  This lack of communication with yourself and your partner is often the relationship killer. Throughout our discussion, Jim highlights actionable steps that you can take to help solidify your relationship, such as leaving your spouse/partner a little note of gratitude, a weekly win/fail walk, and a "hit send now" email.  The basis for these actions is all focused on the need to keep checking in with yourself and your spouse/partner. I agree with Jim that it's better to stay in love, stoke existing love, than to slowly fall out of love and try to find it again.  This is a process that you control and that the person you love controls.  How great is that? Please enjoy my conversation with Jim Sexton. For show notes and resources discussed in this episode, visit https://tammacapital.com/ep-61-jim-sexton-how-to-stay-in-love/. For more episodes, go to tammacapital.com/podcast. Follow Paul on Facebook and LinkedIn. And feel free to email Paul at pfenner@tammacapital.com with any feedback, questions, or ideas for future guests and topics.

Dennis and Tom's new book, “The Lawyer's Guide to Collaboration Tools & Technologies: Work From Home Edition,” is available now! Debbie Foster hosts this episode to chat with Dennis and Tom about their writing process for this new edition and specific tools lawyers need to make the most of modern legal practice.  As always, stay tuned for the parting shots, that one tip, website, or observation that you can use the second the podcast ends. Have a technology question for Dennis and Tom? Call their Tech Question Hotline at 720-441-6820 for the answers to your most burning tech questions. Show Notes - Kennedy-Mighell Report #323 A Segment: Debbie Foster Interviews Dennis and Tom The Lawyer's Guide to Collaboration Tools & Technologies: Work From Home Edition https://www.americanbar.org/products/inv/book/424883450/ B Segment: Interview, Part II  Parting Shots: Calendly - https://calendly.com/  Law Department Innovation Library - https://www.ldilibrary.com 

Dennis and Tom's new book, “The Lawyer's Guide to Collaboration Tools & Technologies: Work From Home Edition,” is available now! Debbie Foster hosts this episode to chat with Dennis and Tom about their writing process for this new edition and specific tools lawyers need to make the most of modern legal practice.  As always, stay tuned for the parting shots, that one tip, website, or observation that you can use the second the podcast ends. Have a technology question for Dennis and Tom? Call their Tech Question Hotline at 720-441-6820 for the answers to your most burning tech questions. Show Notes - Kennedy-Mighell Report #323 A Segment: Debbie Foster Interviews Dennis and Tom The Lawyer's Guide to Collaboration Tools & Technologies: Work From Home Edition https://www.americanbar.org/products/inv/book/424883450/ B Segment: Interview, Part II  Parting Shots: Calendly - https://calendly.com/  Law Department Innovation Library - https://www.ldilibrary.com 

As you build your real estate investment portfolio, it's essential to have the right type of attorneys to keep you out of trouble and help ensure success. Today we're going to talk with a real estate tax attorney who is also a successful real estate investor. Brian Boyd is the author of “Replace your Income: A Lawyer's Guide to Finding, Funding, and Managing Real Estate Investments” and today he's going to share his best advice on getting into real estate investing and why he believes now is a great time to be building your portfolio. Brian shares how he first invested in a laundromat and sold that after a year to acquire his first vacation rental property. Over the past few years, he's laddered his portfolio up to a six-figure income. You'll also get Brian's advice on setting up the correct entity structure and how to maintain that entity without piercing the corporate veil. You'll also learn the top mistakes Brian sees investors making, as well as his favorite tool for handling security deposits. You can find out more about Brian through his website: https://www.boydwills.com/team/ www.briantboyd.com Today's episode is brought to you by Green Property Management, managing everything from single family homes to apartment complexes in the West Michigan area. https://www.livegreenlocal.com And RCB & Associates, helping Michigan-based real estate investors and small business owners navigate the complex world of health insurance and Medicare benefits. https://www.rcbassociatesllc.com

Description: Tanner Jones, your host and Vice President of Business Development at Consultwebs, welcomes you to another episode of the LAWsome Podcast by Consultwebs.   In today's episode, Tanner is accompanied by Andrea Hall, attorney, speaker, author and coach. She's the owner of Hall Law, LLC. She's also a member of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and the Colorado Criminal Defense Bar Association.    In addition, Andrea is a transformational life coach and owner of Withers Whisper, LLC and works with lawyers and other professionals.   Key Takeaways: 0:19 Introduction 01:30 Handling the stress of being a lawyer part 1  03:24 Handling the stress of being a lawyer part 2 04:52 Promoting mental health as a lawyer  08:05 Early signs of poor mental health 14:15 Good habits that help stress-management  17:11 Advice for lawyers that are hesitant about wellness  20:12 Gestalt's technique for wellness  23:19 The equine gestalt coaching method and wellness  25:36 Final advice      Best way to contact Andrea Hall:  https://witherswhisper.com/    Discover More About the Podcast and Consultwebs: Subscribe to the LAWsome Podcast by Consultwebs on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, and Spotify   Visit the LAWsome website     Follow Consultwebs on social for legal marketing updates: Facebook Instagram Twitter Linkedin YouTube   Learn more about Consultwebs at the links below. Law Firm Marketing Agency Services  Law Firm SEO Law Firm Web Design  Law Firm PPC  Law Firm Social Media  Law Firm Email Marketing Law Firm Digital Marketing    Consultwebs 8601 Six Forks Rd #400, Raleigh, NC 27615 (800) 872-6590 https://www.consultwebs.com  https://www.google.com/maps?cid=13646648339910389351 Want more tips and tricks? Follow us on socials: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/consultwebs/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/consultwebs/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/Consultwebs Check the Podcasts at:

Jeff and Colgan discuss characteristics of game rules and how to resolve rule disputes. Contact Email: theothercoastpodcast@gmail.com Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/theothercoast Paypal: https://ppal.me/jeffsyin

  Tanner Jones, your host and Vice President of Business Development at Consultwebs, welcomes you to another episode of the LAWsome Podcast by Consultwebs.   In today's episode, Tanner is accompanied by Ken Hardison, founder & president of PILMMA, the Personal Injury Lawyers Marketing & Management Association. He has also built and sold two multi-million dollar practices in his career. He's fought for people's rights as both a personal injury lawyer and as a disability lawyer for over 35 years.    Ken is the author of several books, including, “The Mastermind Effect: The Law Firm Owner's SECRET to 10X Growth,” which we'll be covering in today's LAWsome episode.   Key Takeaways: 00:17 Introduction 01:29 What are mastermind groups? 06:31 The benefits behind mastermind groups 09:59 The perceived disadvantages behind mastermind groups  12:03 Continuation of the perceived disadvantages behind mastermind groups 16:16 Main problems and challenges lawyers are dealing with part 1 20:08 How would a mastermind group works discusses problem-solving tactics 24:49 Tips for lawyers looking to story-tell  30:58 Ending thoughts    Best way to contact Ken Hardison: info@pilmma.org     Discover More About the Podcast and Consultwebs: Subscribe to the LAWsome Podcast by Consultwebs on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, and Spotify   Visit the LAWsome website   Follow Consultwebs on social for legal marketing updates: Facebook Instagram Twitter Linkedin YouTube   Learn more about Consultwebs at the links below. Law Firm Marketing Agency Services  Law Firm SEO Law Firm Web Design  Law Firm PPC  Law Firm Social Media  Law Firm Email Marketing Law Firm Digital Marketing    Consultwebs 8601 Six Forks Rd #400, Raleigh, NC 27615 (800) 872-6590 https://www.consultwebs.com  https://www.google.com/maps?cid=13646648339910389351 Want more tips and tricks? Follow us on socials: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/consultwebs/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/consultwebs/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/Consultwebs

As a private family law attorney, you may not know the ins and outs of the Office of the Attorney General, but when dealing with a child support case, understanding the OAG can help you get a faster, or better, outcome for your clients.Today on the podcast, Daphne Trombley walks you through the OAG and child support cases.Daphne served a 7-year tenure as the Managing Assistant Attorney General for the Office of the Attorney General's Child Support Division.In this episode, she lends you her expertise so you can learn… How the OAG enforces child support Best practices for when your client has an open OAG case How to navigate an informal settlement process with the OAG Options for when the OAG doesn't give your client the desired outcome And more

Elon Musk might buy Twitter, and a lot of people aren't sure if that'd be good, bad, or bonkers. Dennis and Tom give their two cents on the possible takeover, hashing out the changes Musk might bring to the platform and whether users might just call it quits en masse.  Later, treachery! Some lawyer is claiming that collaboration tech is bad for him and his fellow attorneys. Gasp! Don't worry, your favorite authors of The Lawyer's Guide to Collaboration Tools and Technologies are here to hash out whether this guy has a point or is just plain uninformed.  As always, stay tuned for the parting shots, that one tip, website, or observation you can use the second the podcast ends. Have a technology question for Dennis and Tom? Call their Tech Question Hotline at 720-441-6820 for the answers to your most burning tech questions.   Special thanks to our sponsors, Posh Virtual Receptionists, Clio, and Embroker.  

This episode goes to the dogs! Whether a service, therapy or emotional support dog that is! Join Annette Hines, host of Parenting Impossible - The Special Needs Survival Podcast, as she talks with Rick Courtney about the world of support animals. Rick Courtney is a special needs and elder law attorney and parent of a special needs daughter and shares his experience and knowledge in owning and working with several types of support dogs. What is the difference between a service, therapy, or emotional support dog? Which type of trained dog has ADA protections in public spaces? Did you know having a service dog can foster independence, increase responsibility, improve speech and self-esteem as well as be an ice breaker in social situations! So, listen in and learn about the world of dogs and how they provide support and companionship to our disability community. We would love to hear what you think about this episode. Please leave a comment!   Rick Courtney is a special needs and elder law attorney in Mississippi. He has a special needs daughter who owns a service dog, and their family also has a therapy dog. Rick is a former Director of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys (NAELA) where he serves on the Trusts and Special Needs Law Sections Steering Committees and is a past President and member of the Special Needs Alliance, Inc., a national organization of special needs planning attorneys. He is a Fellow in the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel. Rick is named in Best Lawyers in America® in elder law and trusts and estates, and the firm is named in Best Law Firms in America® in elder law. In 2009, Rick was awarded the 15th Annual Theresa Award by the New York-based Theresa Foundation, for community service and professional advocacy on behalf of children and adults with special needs. He is the author of A Lawyer's Guide to Working with Special Needs Clients published in 2020 by the American Bar Association. 

Today we're talking with Lauren Duffer on the Texas Family Law Insiders podcast. Lauren has extensive training and expertise in collaborative divorce, modifications, assisted reproduction, child custody, complex marital property division, pre- and post-marital agreements, and adoption matters. She has recently joined the Sisemore Law Firm. Today, 80% of Lauren's practice involves Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) cases. We invited her on the show to offer us an insider look at the different aspects involved in these types of cases.Tune in to discover… Gestational Carrier vs. Traditional Surrogate: what's the difference? Lauren walks us through determining parental rights and the legal risk—plus which one is protected by Texas law What goes into a gestational surrogacy agreement, plus how the pandemic has changed the requirements The key elements of egg and sperm donations Embryos and family law divorce cases—what options are available and the role genetics play   And much more

How would you go about staying out of a divorce attorney's office? Find a great divorce attorney to listen to? Jim Sexton is an accomplished New York divorce attorney who has seen it all throughout his 20 plus year career focused on divorce law.  What makes Jim unique is that he took his life experience and work as a divorce attorney and created a book, How to Stay in Love: A Divorce Lawyer's Guide to Staying Together. Jim's experience has led him to believe that marriages and other committed relationships fail for two fundamental reasons.  One, you don't know what you want, and two, you can't express what you want.  This lack of communication with yourself and your partner is often the relationship killer. Throughout our discussion, Jim highlights actionable steps that you can take to help solidify your relationship, such as leaving your spouse/partner a little note of gratitude, a weekly win/fail walk, and a "hit send now" email.  The basis for these actions is all focused on the need to keep checking in with yourself and your spouse/partner. I agree with Jim that it's better to stay in love, stoke existing love, than to slowly fall out of love and try to find it again.  This is a process that you control and that the person you love controls.  How great is that? Please enjoy my conversation with Jim Sexton. For show notes and resources discussed in this episode, visit https://tammacapital.com/ep-61-jim-sexton-how-to-stay-in-love/. For more episodes, go to tammacapital.com/podcast. Follow Paul on Facebook and LinkedIn. And feel free to email Paul at pfenner@tammacapital.com with any feedback, questions, or ideas for future guests and topics.

Collaboration tools, technologies that people use in order to work with each other, are useful for law firms of all sizes, and they don't need to break the bank! Helping attorneys to communicate, meet, create and work on documents, share files, and other activities, these tools help lawyers collaborate with all the people they work with – co-workers, clients, opposing counsel, the courts – anyone with whom a lawyer interacts as part of a law practice. Collaboration tools can include Zoom and Microsoft Teams for meeting, Microsoft Word or Adobe Acrobat to work on documents together, or tools like Box, Dropbox, or OneDrive for file sharing. On Balance hosts Molly Ranns and JoAnn Hathaway welcome Dennis Kennedy and Tom Mighell to hear their many insights on collaborative technologies. They offer tips on assessing needs, selecting the right tools, and thoughtfully introducing new technology into your law firm's processes. Check out Dennis and Tom's book: The Lawyer's Guide to Collaboration Tools and Technologies: Smart Ways to Work Together and their podcast: The Kennedy-Mighell Report.   Dennis Kennedy is an information technology lawyer and legal technology pioneer based in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Tom Mighell is currently senior consultant for Contoural, Inc., working with corporations to improve their records management and e-discovery practice.

Collaboration tools, technologies that people use in order to work with each other, are useful for law firms of all sizes, and they don't need to break the bank! Helping attorneys to communicate, meet, create and work on documents, share files, and other activities, these tools help lawyers collaborate with all the people they work with – co-workers, clients, opposing counsel, the courts – anyone with whom a lawyer interacts as part of a law practice. Collaboration tools can include Zoom and Microsoft Teams for meeting, Microsoft Word or Adobe Acrobat to work on documents together, or tools like Box, Dropbox, or OneDrive for file sharing. On Balance hosts Molly Ranns and JoAnn Hathaway welcome Dennis Kennedy and Tom Mighell to hear their many insights on collaborative technologies. They offer tips on assessing needs, selecting the right tools, and thoughtfully introducing new technology into your law firm's processes. Check out Dennis and Tom's book: The Lawyer's Guide to Collaboration Tools and Technologies: Smart Ways to Work Together and their podcast: The Kennedy-Mighell Report.   Dennis Kennedy is an information technology lawyer and legal technology pioneer based in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Tom Mighell is currently senior consultant for Contoural, Inc., working with corporations to improve their records management and e-discovery practice.

Eden Gillott, aka the Dumpster Fire Fixer, is a crisis communications expert and the President of Gillott Communications. She has more than a decade of expertise in crisis and reputation management. She resolves issues both inside and outside the media's glare — from celebrity scandals and corporate fraud to criminal and civil litigation. Educated at Harvard, NYU, Sejong University, and other institutions, she's worked in Manhattan, Seoul, and Los Angeles. Eden is a Forbes contributor and has appeared in many publications including The New York Times, LA Times, Wall Street Journal, and The Associated Press, among others. She is Co-author of three best-selling books: A Business Owner's Guide to Crisis PR, A Lawyer's Guide to Crisis PR (Second Edition), and A Board Member's Guide to Crisis PR. In this episode of the Smart Business Revolution Podcast, John Corcoran interviews Eden Gillott, a crisis management expert, about how she helps celebrities and business owners handle scandals and crises. Eden also explains how she picks reporters to work with, shares her strategies for handling information already known by the public, and explains how to prevent future crises. Stay tuned.

John Browning is a lawyer in Texas who's a widely respected expect on social media and the internet. He's author of, The Lawyer's Guide to Social Networking: Understanding Social Media's Impact on the Law

Nobs, slobs, woke mobs, manimony, prenups and a flamethrower.

Heart? Swipe? Like? When it's time to get back into the sea after your divorce, how do you know where to find the right fish? This week on the show, divorce lawyer Seth Nelson shares his experience and insight into getting yourself back out there. First, the tech. There are many, many apps to help you get connected and learning to use them isn't just a nice skill, it's a requirement. How do you handle that first date with someone new? How about intimacy? Introducing kids? Travel? If you're facing down some monster social and relationship anxiety, you're not alone! Listen in this week and let's get you back out there!Links & NotesBest Dating Apps for 2021 • PC Mag

How the left will start a civil war, with Kamala protein shake fu, Breakin 2: Electric Boogaloo fu, media fu, creepy child sniffing fu, court fu, millions of imaginary voters fu and the award for stupid to the leftists who just bought guns.Texas Tax rate at 80% of 8.25%

Dating is hell. Featuring: Match and Tinder and Bumble and Plenty of Fish oh my! Why setting your friends up is like vouching for someone with the mob. Have you aged out of the gold digger system and what is the Gold Digger Trifecta? 30, 40 and 50 year old "virgins". Mixed litters, meth-heads and 50k a year millionaires. Using Google Earth to get a profile pic, stone washed jeans, Tiger Kings, and the divorcinator.  

Put down the PS4 controller and climb out of your mom's basement, you too can get a job that pays 15 bucks an hour plus keep what you loot. It's not even BYOB, bricks are provided. Learn why a cop car is a riot piñata. Learn the correct order, don't be a doofus and try to steal after you burn, and more.

China fooled you all, the WHO was in on it, and they might have gotten away with it if not for that meddling Dr. Li Wenliang. Tedross is a war criminal. Tyson, Smithfield and artificial food shortages. Michistan governor, Gretchen Whitmer is trying to provoke revolt. Trump and Pompeo are right, this virus was engineered. New information from MI6 and Australia's ASIS. Stop buying Chinese products. A novel idea of how we can legally make China repay our economic losses. The new normal is a great depression.

You might think getting marriage advice from a divorce lawyer sounds odd. In fact, it makes all the sense in the world. After all, divorce lawyers are not that different from marriage counselors with respect to what they see in their offices. It's true that divorce lawyers help couples get divorced rather than stay together, but they nevertheless have a unique window into the lives of countless marriages. Douglas C. Gardner is the author of Amazing Intentions: Can a Divorce Attorney Save Your Marriage? Gardner has worked with clients in thousands of divorce cases and has seen first hand the patterns and problems that lead to the demise of relationships. What has Gardner learned through his involvement in thousands of family law cases and millions of dollars in legal fees is that the reason marriages fail is from lack of communication regarding expectations, as well as the inability to see issues through one's spouse's view of the world. Sign up for marriage coaching with Suzanne: https://www.suzannevenker.com/relationship-coaching/ Support Suzanne on Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/thesuzannevenkershow Subscribe to The Suzanne Venker Show: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-suzanne-venker-show/id1471433977 Follow Suzanne on Social Media: https://twitter.com/SuzanneVenker https://www.facebook.com/SuzanneVenkerAuthor/ https://www.instagram.com/suzannevenkerauthor/ Join the private Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/suzannesgroup/ Buy Women Who Win at Love or The Alpha Female's Guide to Men & Marriage NOW: https://www.amazon.com/Suzanne-Venker/e/B001K7VY7K%3Fref=dbs_a_mng_rwt_scns_share --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

At long last, Kirk and Ben release their Star Wars Episode 9: Rise of Skywalker review, and preview what's coming in Season 3 of A Lawyer's Guide to the Galaxy. The Podcast will be rotating around various recording studios in St. Louis during Season 3. Today's episode was recorded at the St. Louis Central Library, mixed by Ben using Audacity.

Deborah McMurray is founder, CEO and Strategy Architect of Content Pilot LLC, a strategy, design, content and technology company. A former law firm CMO, Deborah and her team represent the largest global law firms, regional powerhouses and high performing local boutiques in the design and launch of websites and proposal centers, experience databases and other marketing technology tools. Content Pilot is also hired to overhaul content strategies and work with firms and practice/industry teams on strategic positioning/branding initiatives. In 2008, she was inducted into the Legal Marketing Association's Hall of Fame, and in 2007, was elected as a Fellow in the College of Law Practice Management. In 2013, she was on the inaugural list of National Law Journal's “2013 Top 50 Legal Business Trailblazers & Pioneers.” Deborah is the co-author of four ABA books, with her latest released in 2017: “The Lawyer's Guide to Marketing on the Internet, 4th edition.” Read her Law Firm 4.0 Blog and follow her on Twitter at @ContentPilot. https://www.contentpilot.com/ https://www.contentpilot.com/subscribe/ https://lawfirm4-0.typepad.com/law_firm_40_blog/

Most legal professionals either don't know or don't care about how to optimize their LinkedIn account. And why should they? Does LinkedIn bring value to users in the legal space? A new book by Allison Shields and Dennis Kennedy, “Make LinkedIn Work for You: A Practical Handbook for Lawyers and Other Legal Professionals,” shows the benefits of implementing a strategic LinkedIn plan. Host Tom Mighell talks to Allison and Dennis about their tips for increasing referral networks, deepening professional relationships, and showcasing valuable content. Segment A - Make LinkedIn Work for You “Make LinkedIn Work for You: A Practical Handbook for Lawyers and Other Legal Professionals,” by Allison Shields and Dennis Kennedy. Parting Shots missinglettr https://missinglettr.com/ (Note: missinglettr is a subscription-based service with Blogger, Business, and Agency options) Google Assistant can now connect to notes/list-making apps https://www.androidcentral.com/google-assistant-gains-support-google-keep-and-other-list-keeping-services Paper.Li https://paper.li/ Don't forget to check out Dennis & Tom's, “The Lawyer's Guide to Collaboration Tools and Technologies: Smart Ways to Work Together, Second Edition” on Amazon. As always, stay tuned for the parting shots, that one tip, website, or observation you can use the second the podcast ends. Have a technology question for Dennis and Tom? Call their Tech Question Hotline at 720-441-6820 for answers to your most burning tech questions. Special thanks to our sponsors, ServeNow.

Their weekly discussions of Star Wars is what started it all, and this week Ben and Kirk go back to the beginning for a special Holiday Edition of Lawyer's Guide to the Galaxy with an all Star Wars episode. Spoiler alert--don't listen if you haven't watched The Mandalorian yet! Listen in as they talk about their favorite and least favorite moments so far in the show, Episode IX, and how they speculate the saga will end.

Just in time for the holidays, Dennis Kennedy and Tom Mighell bring you their latest list of must-have cool tools! They offer a variety of recommendations for inexpensive (or even free!) products that will make life just a little bit easier. In their second segment, they return to one of their favorite discussion topics–cybersecurity issues in collaboration tools. The people you collaborate with may have differing standards for security, but Dennis & Tom have tips for assessing risks and maintaining your cybersecurity safety while working with others. Don't forget to check out Dennis & Tom's, “The Lawyer's Guide to Collaboration Tools and Technologies: Smart Ways to Work Together, Second Edition” on Amazon. As always, stay tuned for the parting shots, that one tip, website, or observation you can use the second the podcast ends. Have a technology question for Dennis and Tom? Call their Tech Question Hotline at 720-441-6820 for answers to your most burning tech questions. Special thanks to our sponsors, ServeNow.

The Kennedy-Mighell Report is always looking for exciting interview guests for the show, so this time, they, er, well, Tom, welcomes . . . Dennis! Dennis has been busily writing away on several books, and his latest, “Successful Innovation Outcomes in Law: A Practical Guide for Law Firms, Law Departments, and Other Legal Organizations,” is now available on Amazon. Tom questions Dennis about what motivated him to add his thoughts on innovation to the legal space and how his unique “portfolio approach” offers a different take on innovation strategy. In their second segment, they revisit the question of what lawyers need to know about coding in light of recent thoughts on technology competency standards. As always, stay tuned for the parting shots, that one tip, website, or observation you can use the second the podcast ends. Have a technology question for Dennis and Tom? Call their Tech Question Hotline at 720-441-6820 for answers to your most burning tech questions. Don't forget to check out Dennis & Tom's, “The Lawyer's Guide to Collaboration Tools and Technologies: Smart Ways to Work Together, Second Edition” on Amazon. Special thanks to our sponsors ServeNow.

Once a vibrant part of legal academia, blogging seems to be trending downward as writers move toward creating content for other social media platforms. But is blogging really dying out? Dennis Kennedy and Tom Mighell think not. They discuss the factors affecting blog trends and why they believe blogs continue to be a relevant content medium for lawyers. In their second segment, Dennis & Tom offer tips and tricks for finding reliable tech reviews. As always, stay tuned for the parting shots, that one tip, website, or observation you can use the second the podcast ends. Have a technology question for Dennis and Tom? Call their Tech Question Hotline at 720-441-6820 for answers to your most burning tech questions. Don't forget to check out the second edition of Dennis and Tom's book, “The Lawyer's Guide to Collaboration Tools and Technologies: Smart Ways to Work Together.” Find Dennis' free pdf here: 57 Tips for Successful Innovation Outcomes in Law.And keep an eye out for Dennis' newest book, co-authored with Allison Shields: “Make LinkedIn Work for You: A Practical Handbook for Lawyers and Other Legal Professionals. Special thanks to our sponsors ServeNow.

Certified geeks and IP lawyers Ben Siders and Kirk Damman are back for Season 2 of "A Lawyer's Guide to the Galaxy." In a world where original screenplays are a lost art, the hosts discuss the ins and outs of reboots and sequels and the legal issues that lie within. "Reboot Universe" by rofreg is licensed with CC BY 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

Collaboration is becoming increasingly important within the legal field especially with emerging technology that makes it easier than ever. In this episode of The Digital Edge, hosts Sharon Nelson and Jim Calloway talk to Dennis Kennedy and Tom Mighell, authors of The Lawyer's Guide to Collaboration Tools and Technologies: Smart Ways to Work Together, about collaboration, why it's necessary for lawyers, and the tools attorneys need to make their teamwork efficient. They also discuss what has been driving lawyers more and more towards collaboration techniques and how collaboration can assist with case management. Tom Mighell is a published author, noted legal technologist, and runs his own blog, Inter Alia. He is currently senior consultant for Contoural, Inc. Dennis Kennedy is an award-winning leader in applying the internet and technology to law practice. Special thanks to our sponsors, ServeNow, Scorpion, Answer1, and Clio.

I spoke with Ida Abbott, the president of Ida Abbott Consulting, which promotes and supports career development and advancement from the beginning of a lawyer's career through retirement. Abbott is an elected fellow of both the American Bar Foundation and the College of Law Practice Management, as well as the author of Sponsoring Women, What Men Need to Know and The Lawyer's Guide to Mentoring, the second edition of which was just released. We discussed her background, how mentoring has changed since the publication of the first edition of The Lawyer's Guide to Mentoring, the challenges to providing high quality mentoring, the difference between sponsorship and mentorship, and how the profession can leverage mentoring in its continued evolution.

In this episode of ALPS In Brief podcast, Mark connected with Ida Abbott, Former Practicing Attorney and Consultant on Optimizing Legal Talent,  to discuss why it is so important for lawyers to find and to be champions. Their discussion ranges from the need for more sponsorship of women in law firms to examining how solo attorneys can benefit from mentorship. Listen to the podcast and comment here on the blog, on our Facebook page or either of our Twitter feeds (@ALPSCorp or @NewLawyerPost) to be entered to win a signed copy of one of Ida's books, Sponsoring Women: What Men Need to Know  or The Lawyer's Guide to Mentoring, 2nd Edition which was recently published by The National Association for Law Placement, Inc. (NALP). Don't want to wait to see if you win? Order Sponsoring Women: What Men Need to Know with this 20% off code from Attorney at Work: SAVE20 ALPS In Brief, The ALPS Risk Management Podcast, is hosted by ALPS Risk Manager, Mark Bassingthwaighte. Transcript MARK: Hello, I'm Mark Bassingthwaighte. I'm the Risk Manager with ALPS and welcome to another episode of ALPS In Brief. I am sitting in the corporate office here in the beautiful Florence Building in downtown Missoula, Montana. And I am so pleased to have as my guest this morning Ida Abbott. Ida is from the Oakland area in California and has done some interesting work in mentoring and sponsoring, and has done some writing on the topic. But before we talk about some of the issues that have been so important and that you've been working on, Ida, can you take just a brief moment and tell our listeners a little bit about yourself, your background? IDA: Sure, and thank you. It's really nice to be talking with you, Mark. I am a lawyer. I practiced ... I was a litigator at a large firm for about 20 years. And left there and started a consulting business that's been about the same amount of time. I've been doing work in the area of legal talent management, lawyer's professional development and career development. I specialize in mentoring and sponsorship and also now I'm doing a lot of work helping lawyers transition into retirement and helping firms develop ways to ease that transition. MARK: Interesting. And very, very important stuff. One of the things I've been fascinated by, and I'll be honest and say in my 20 years in terms of working in risk management with lawyers here, I've really not come across this whole notion of sponsorship. Can you tell our listeners a little bit about what this is all about the work you're doing here? IDA: Sure. And the reason you haven't heard about it is because it's a relatively new concept. In fact, let's start with what mentorship is and then we can distinguish them. A mentor is ... First of all mentoring today is much more collaborative where both parties are involved and learn from each other and help each other. But traditionally a mentor was somebody who was older and wiser and more experienced, took you under his wing, helped teach you the ropes, understand what the profession was about, how to be a lawyer, what it meant, what it meant to be a professional, made introductions and basically helped you in any number of ways in the course of your career. That was sort of the old fashioned concept of mentor. What happened, really in the '50s and '60s, last century, was people started to study organizations and realized that there was a role for this within an organization. So they started promoting mentoring and started mentoring programs. And in the law mentoring programs became popular in the '90s and as we moved into the 2000s. And because a program necessarily is bringing people together in a way that's not the same. If you and I were working together informally, as a supervisor you might give me the kind of work and the kind of feedback and support that would help me learn and develop. But when we're matched in a program then necessarily there are some expectations within the program. The relationship ... We may know each other to begin with or we may never have met before. And so you've got a much narrower range of activities that are expected and it kind of diluted the concept of mentoring into something that was more programmatic. And what actually happened was because people were being matched and anybody could be matched as a mentor. As long as I had a little more knowledge and experience than you, I could be your mentor. But what it meant was that the kind of mentoring that actually helps you move ahead, that gets you a promotion or a raise, or an appointment to an important committee, or an introduction to somebody, to a critical client, that kind of mentoring was usually not within the scope of a program. So people had to rely on it to happen informally. And as organizations got bigger and mentoring was seen in a narrower way, people started to wonder what was happening. And when they studied this, and it was only about five or six years ago that the first research was done on this, they found that what was happening was that men were being sponsored. They gave it a new term, this idea of helping somebody advance in their career as opposed to develop professional skills and understanding. That kind of mentoring was not happening for women. And so they called that aspect of it, the advancement piece, or the advocacy piece, they called that sponsorship. And that's why when talking about it as something different I see it as the high end of the continuum. But a lot of people might talk about it as something separate. MARK: It's interesting. What I hear and what I like about this is, again, the old school model if you will on mentoring is helping even ... I think of the rural attorney just trying to hang up a shingle out of law school. And you find somebody else to help educate, get you started, teach you the basics. But what you're really talking about here is, in terms of a different way to phrase this, having someone groom you for professional success. IDA: That's right. MARK: Is that really where you're going with this? Is that ... Am I getting the idea of sponsorship? IDA: Yes and no, because even when we've developing, even if you're a brand new lawyer, I want to groom you for success. But the kind of needs that you have have to do more with basically learning what it means to be great lawyer, and how do you run an office, or how do you run a practice. But what I'm talking about happens later in your career. It can happen early. Let me just say we can all use a champion. We can all use an advocate at any point in our career. And a sponsor is that. But when we talk about it the way we do in terms of professional development, it becomes more important once you've already established the basics. You have the platform. You have the skills. Now what you need is to move up. To move forward whether it's within an organization you want to be the president. Within a firm you want to be the biggest rainmaker or the person who runs the place. Or you just want to get more money and more clients and be better. But where there are fewer slots or fewer resources available and more competition for them as you move ahead and you become more senior, that's when you really start ... This becomes more important. But there's no question we could use it from the time you're a kid you know. MARK: Absolutely. I understand. I see the value of this in terms of to the attorney that's being sponsored. I get that. What would the value be for a firm to look at this more formal, pivoting into this type of a model. IDA: Well, the issue is really one about fairness and diversity. The reason this has become so central is because when you look at the profession at the entry level you have equal numbers of men and women, or close to it. You have fairly good numbers at the entry level of diverse lawyers, people of color and people with other characteristics that place them in an underrepresented group. But as you move toward leadership, partnership, seniority you have fewer and fewer people who are diverse. And what you have are a lot of straight white men running the world. For firms that are concerned about why they're losing women and minorities, then you have to take a look at whether sponsorship is happening in a fair way. What the research shows is that women, for example, get plenty of mentors. And most women today, most lawyers coming into the profession are fairly savvy. They've been told since they were kids the importance of mentoring. So they know to look for mentors and I think people are more conscientious about being mentors. What they're not getting though, what they find is that women can get mentors, but they don't get sponsored because most of the people ... One of the critical characteristics of a sponsor is it's got to be somebody with some power. It's got to be somebody with power, influence, some sort of clout that can help you actually make a move forward or up. Most of those people are men, and most men sponsor other men. And they don't sponsor women for a whole host of reasons. Sometimes it's just they overlook women. Sometimes it's deliberate. They want to avoid women. Today we're having a lot of issues about men being afraid to be too close to a woman. MARK: Absolutely. I get that. It seems to me too there's an element here that ... You started talking, some of the work you're doing is [inaudible 00:11:12] planning and these kinds of things. It seems to be long term viability of a firm ... A firm would also benefit to have diversity of thought, and diversity of client base that women and diverse races and what not. In terms of these kinds of programs I just think it's going to add to the bottom line and the success of a firm overall. Do you think there's anything to that? IDA: Absolutely. And there's loads of research on this. That's one of reasons why people are concerned about diversity. I think a lot of firms have a superficial interest in it. They need to meet numbers. They need to satisfy ... But I think the major reason for that is you need diversity in a whole host of ways to keep the thinking vibrant in an organization. If your firm is only composed of people who were successful 20 years ago and that's where they learned how to be great lawyers ... When you take a look at the profession today, somebody who doesn't have current skills or look at the world in a different way and bring new thinking to the table, a firm is going to stagnate. MARK: When you look at national data in terms of the number of lawyers and the size of the firms they practice in and these kinds of things, a significant percentage of lawyers practice in the solo and small firm arena. In my years, and I've been at this for 20 years and doing a lot of consulting myself all over the country ... It's been fun and interesting to come across a number of all female firms as an example, and smaller firms. It is a different just feel. And I love to go into these kinds of settings at times. But thinking about that we have a significant number of women in the solo, small firm space. Do you see ... Can these women avail themselves of the kinds of opportunities? How does sponsorship play into this space? Can it? Does it? IDA: Well, it does. In a slightly different way though. When we talk about this it tends to be within the context of an organization where people are trying to move up within an organization. In a small firm obviously you don't have a lot of the same dynamics. The larger the firm the more isolated individuals are and the more they need this sort of thing. But still you can't really be successful on your own in any organization. Even when it's a solo, you still depend on other people. You depend on people sending you business. You depend on getting your name out there. That goes back to building a strong network, and within that network you need people who will be your champions. Who will send you referrals. Who will nominate you for positions in the bar association or some professional organization or business organization that you want to be prominent in. I know how many lawyers still just graduate law school and hang out a shingle and don't realize how important it is to be connected professionally to other people. I think the general mentor model is more important because you need somebody who's also going to help you understand what it means to be a professional, and a valued and trusted advisor. The sorts of things that you may not learn in law school. So the traditional model of mentoring I think is more important, but once you're out there and you really, you want to go for it. You want to be the most successful lawyer in town in your field. You need to have people working with you to help you. One of the things that we encourage everyone to do is to have a constellation of mentors. People call it things like a personal board of advisors because one mentor isn't enough anyway. Some mentors are really great at some things but not at others. And so as you go through your career there may be many different ways that someone can be helpful to you. Keep in mind this is a very, very much a reciprocal practice. And when I talk about mentoring I emphasize the collaborative and reciprocal nature. This is not a gimme, gimme, gimme. This is a practice and the people who have really good mentors tend to also be generous with their time. And they mentor and support other people. That's a big part of this. But the advocacy role that a sponsor plays, it is important but it happens, again, later in your career. And when you're starting to think about positions within the community or within an organization of some sort. I think that's when it's more important. MARK: Yes, excellent, excellent point. I really like this one in terms of multiple mentors. I think so many people sort of go out and try to find one and we call it good. And that's not, no. Ida, this has just been wonderful. I love the work that you're doing and I love hearing your thoughts. If any of our listeners were interested in finding out a little bit more, how can they find out more? Do you have email? Do you want to share book materials out? I'm happy to give you a moment. How can they contact you? IDA: Well, I have a website, idaabbot.com. My email address is idaabbott@AOL.com. So all that's pretty easy. There's a lot of material on my website that they can download and my newsletters and articles. I've written several books. The two that might interest your listeners in terms of our topic, one is called Sponsoring Women, What Men Need to Know. And the other one is coming out next week, actually. It's a totally updated version of my first book. It's The Lawyer's Guide to Mentoring, and this is the second edition. Both of them ... Well, the publisher of the mentoring book is NALP. And that, as I say, will be available in another week or two. But that will be on the NALP website and in their bookstore, and also on my website at some point right after that. And the sponsorship book is published by attorneyatwork.com. There's a link to that on my website as well. MARK: I think I'm going to need to take a look more in depth at these. I'm looking forward to reading this. I really want to take a look at this one just coming out. Sounds exciting. To my listeners, I hope you found something of value today. It is certainly a pleasure. And, Ida, thank you. Thank you so much. If any of you listening have topics of interest that you'd like to hear us talk about in future, please don't hesitate to reach out at me here at ALPS. My email address is mbass@alpsnet.com. That's it. Thanks for listening. IDA: And thanks for having me. MARK: You're welcome. Thank you, Ida.  

Ten years ago, Dennis and Tom released their co-authored book, The Lawyer's Guide to Collaboration Tools and Technologies: Smart Ways to Work Together, about the techniques and technologies lawyers can use to collaborate with both clients and colleagues. A lot has changed in ten years and, in response, Dennis and Tom are releasing a second edition of their book. In this episode of the Kennedy-Mighell Report, hosts Dennis Kennedy and Tom Mighell discuss how technology has changed since the first edition of their book was published and what collaboration tools are most commonly used today. They also talk about what has not changed including the strategies lawyers should use in order to collaborate successfully. As always, stay tuned for the parting shots, that one tip, website, or observation that you can use the second the podcast ends. Have a technology question for Dennis and Tom? Call their Tech Question Hotline at 720-441-6820 for the answers to your most burning tech questions. Special thanks to our sponsors, ServeNow and TextExpander.

Since the Trump administration took office, immigration has been one of the most highly debated topics, but it’s often more complicated than people realize. In this report from On The Road, host Reid Trautz talks to Greg Siskind and Mary Meg McCarthy about the different aspects of immigration and what they mean for the US society and economy. They also discuss opportunities for lawyers who wish to help underrepresented immigrants. Reid Trautz is a management advisor to attorneys and law firms in the areas of business processes, technology, marketing, and legal ethics. Greg Siskind is an immigration lawyer who launched one of the very first law-firm websites and the first law blog, and the author of the ‘Lawyer's Guide to Marketing on the Internet.’ Mary Meg McCarthy is the executive director of Heartland Alliance’s National Immigrant Justice Center (NIJC), one of the nation’s leading immigrant and human rights advocacy organizations.

Lawyers, even solos, are constantly working with experts, opposing counsel, court officials, and colleagues. Dennis and Tom like to keep an eye on new developments and the current state of collaboration tools and technologies, which they consider one of the most important, yet under-appreciated, areas of legal technology. In 2008, they wrote a book together called The Lawyer's Guide to Collaboration Tools and Technologies, which gives suggestions about the bigger collaboration platforms and smaller discrete tools that lawyers can use to work together. In the last seven years, many collaboration tools have changed but a lot of systems have stayed the same. What's happening in 2015 and what developments do you need to know about and incorporate into your work? In this episode of The Kennedy-Mighell Report, Dennis Kennedy and Tom Mighell survey the current landscape for collaboration tools, trends and best practices, and what lawyers should be doing to make better use of these tools. They begin by examining their book and the collaboration tools that have disappeared or morphed into different programs. Kennedy mentions that Sharepoint, Wikis, Instant Messaging, Adobe Acrobat, and Microsoft Office Suite can all be used by attorneys and staff to work together, although Mighell is skeptical that many law firms actually use any of these. Both hosts maintain that lawyers almost exclusively use email for collaboration, although they believe future generations of lawyers will introduce a new perspective on technology use. They finish the first section by mentioning social media and listing other underutilized tools for lawyers who work with others on many cases. In the second portion of the show, Kennedy and Mighell discuss the 2015 Consumer Electronics Show (CES). The CES revealed the latest consumer technologies to expect throughout the year. They discuss the best and worst of drones, wearables, or new selfie technologies. As always, stay tuned for Parting Shots, that one tip, website, or observation that you can use the second the podcast ends. Special thanks to our sponsor, ServeNow

Lawyers now have the option to purchase Microsoft Office 365 for their small, medium, or big law firms. Microsoft Office 365 is a collection of products and services that can be purchased individually or in bundles known as stockkeeping units (SKUs). The products available include Microsoft Exchange, Microsoft SharePoint, Microsoft Lync, Yammer, Office Suite 2013, and Matter Center. These provide everything from document management, email and contacts, voice and text communication, to a corporate social network. How might these services benefit a law firm and what questions should lawyers be asking? In this episode of The Digital Edge, Sharon Nelson and John Simek interview Microsoft expert and technologist Ben Schorr about the Office 365 services and products as they pertain to use in a law firm. Schorr answers some of the often asked questions concerning the difference between Office 365 and Office Suite 2013, cloud based information storage, collaboration and sharing, and the way that Microsoft's pricing differs from other software providers. He wraps up the interview by explaining the differences between SharePoint and Matter Center for document management and advises lawyers and legal professionals to do online research and work with a Microsoft partner before deciding on products for a firm. There are many options to pick and choose from for a firm of any size, from solo to big law. Ben M. Schorr is a technologist and Chief Executive Officer for Roland Schorr and Tower, a professional consulting firm headquartered in Flagstaff, Arizona with offices in Hawaii and Oregon. He has been involved with management and technology for more than 20 years and a Microsoft MVP for more than 15. He is the author of several books and articles on technology including "The Lawyer's Guide to Microsoft Outlook," "The Lawyer's Guide to Microsoft Word," and "OneNote in One Hour." Special thanks to our sponsor, ServeNow.

This month Jim Calloway and Sharon Nelson interview Ben Schorr of Roland Schorr and Tower, who is the author of The Lawyer's Guide to Microsoft Word 2010. Ben shares several tips and great information about all of Microsoft Office 2010.

Jim Calloway and John Simek speak with Andy Adkins to discuss discuss his recently-published book, The Lawyer's Guide to Practice Management Systems Software, Second Edition.

Sharon Nelson and Jim Calloway talk with Ben Schorr, author of the newly released book,"The Lawyer's Guide to Microsoft Outlook 2007.

I spoke this morning with Andy Adkins, Director of the Legal Technology Institute at the University of Florida Levin College of Law and author of The Lawyer's Guide to Practice Management Systems Software, Second Edition (ABA, 2009). We discussed the release of his new book, practice management trends and future developments in legal technology.