LPM Tip
Fantastic Four: Tips from FirmFuture
On Wednesday, Dec. 1, the MBA
and the Warren Group presented the first FirmFuture Conference at the Marriott Copley
hotel in Boston. The conference was attended by 600+ lawyers
and law-related professionals, and was fertile ground for tips,
tricks and techniques.
Here are several, gleaned from sessions and observations:
- There are useful, built-in security and encryption features
within Microsoft Word. Here's a primer on just how
easy it is to encrypt using Word 2007, with links to more detailed
information.
- Effective collaboration requires the application of effective
access controls. If you are sharing documents or information over a
secured web portal with clients or colleagues, don't overshare:
give collaborators access only to the information you want them to
have, and don't expose work product or confidential client
information. Effective collaboration requires a baseline
understanding of the applications you use, so that you can set
effective administrative controls for external access.
- When marketing your practice, think beyond the traditional
holiday card. Everyone sends Christmas cards. One way to
differentiate yourself from the pack is to send season's greetings
on off holidays. A Christmas card gets lost in the shuffle; but, a
Halloween card, a Flag Day card -- now that's memorable.
- Attendance at conferences like these really brings home the
point that networking is essential to successful law practices.
Even if a conference does not draw as many people as the FirmFuture
Conference did, smaller sessions can be just as effective. It only
takes meeting one colleague to get a referral, or to establish a
referral pipeline.
If you missed the FirmFuture Conference, don't fret none. Watch
for the release of MBA program sessions through MBA On Demand in the
coming weeks.
Tip courtesy of Jared Correia, Law Practice Management
Advisor, Law
Office Management Assistance Program.
Published December 2, 2010
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
For more helpful tips, join the MBA's Law Practice Management
Section. Call MBA Member Services at (617) 338-0530 to join.
To learn more about the Law Practice Management Section,
contact Co-Chairs Andrea
Goldman or
Phil
Taylor.