How to Build the Practice of Your Dreams – Listen to George Harrison, Not Rachel Rodgers

Since I’m usually mean to Rachel Rodgers, I will start by saying something nice about her (even though she blocked me and Leo on Twitter. And Leo’s not even a jerk like I am.) Rachel’s branding is very polished and her website looks great. Last week she wrote an article about technology that gave me some ideas to implement in my own physical, as in, not virtual, practice. I wasn’t even dumber after I read it.

A Day in the Life of a Young Lawyer

6:00am: Alarm goes off. “Hey hon. Did you bleach my white shirts? I can’t wear them if they have crud on the collar and the sleeves.” My wife hasn’t seen me in days.
6:15am: Review what I need to do for my hearing today. Look over all the documents, where we’re at with the case, and what I’m going to ask the judge for. I was up late last night doing the same thing, but I need to make sure I’m prepared. God it was a late night. But preparation is key to any court hearing. I need coffee.
7:00am: Shower.  Brush teeth. Hope I have clean shirts and a pressed suit in the wardrobe. Gotta be in court by 8:45am. No time for breakfast or a cup of joe. Don’t want to be late for the judge.
7:45am: Hop on the subway. Try not to touch gross stuff. Continue to prepare for the hearing by reviewing our documents. I think I have a good argument.
8:00am: Get coffee from the coffee shop. Continue reviewing what I need to do for the hearing. Can I take coffee into Judge Smith’s courtroom? Should I be spending my money on coffee? With only $7.22 in my personal account, probably not. I can’t afford to buy breakfast. Wish I would have had breakfast and coffee at home. I’m starving.

Your Lawyer on Hockey

This is your lawyer:

This is your lawyer on HOCKEY.

 

ANY QUESTIONS?

Perspective: My First Law Job

Thank God! I had just finished my first year of law school at Widener in 2006. The experience could only be described as strange…

Admittedly, I had no idea what lawyers did on a regular basis. I had only met small town lawyers in my neighborhood. Most of them seemed pretty interesting. My view of lawyers was shaped by John Grisham novels, Law and Order, To Kill a Mocking Bird, and A Civil Action. Law seemed like a pretty interesting profession. My goal was to get into prosecution, and then maybe become a criminal defense lawyer. That sounded cool.

Babette Josephs OUT! Brian Sims IN! HOLLA!

No more Babette? A great guy representing the 182nd District?

WOO HOO!

Apparently Christmas is now in April!

Philly.com is reporting that Downingtown native Brian Sims was elected Democratic Nominee for State Representative in the 182nd District. Pennsylvania will now have its first openly gay member of the Pennsylvania General Assembly.

Congrats, Brian!

Unemployment

It was 2011. I was a third year associate at Wolf Rebman, a small suburban law firm. My practice had started to grow, and the phone was ringing more constantly.

One afternoon I got a phone call from a girl I had worked with at AnapolSchwartz, Melissa. Melissa had impressed me quite a bit at Anapol. She was a hard worker, smart, and easy to get along with. Melissa always laughed at my jokes, too, which made her a great person in my book. I took her call.

A Declaration of War: Junk Cars, 215-740-6116

Yesterday my wife and I took a drive to Target on Aramingo Avenue. To my shock and dismay, every single telephone pole (on both sides of the street) had been plastered with bandit signs, directing people to call  215-740-6116 to sell their junk cars. Yes, just one week after the Spring Clean Up, someone thought it would be appropriate to plaster all of Fishtown, ORCA, and Port Richmond in horrible bandit signs.

Branding: Should Lawyers Always Wear A Suit to the Office?

"Marty, I always wear a suit to the office."

The year was 2008. I had just taken a job working for a guy James in suburban Pennsylvania. It was my first lawyer job. Before that, I had clerked for AnapolSchwartz, a firm regarded by many (including me) to be one of the best personal injury law firms in the country.

Now here I was working for a small neighborhood firm in suburban Philadelphia.

At first, every day I showed up dressed to the nines – a fresh suit, a tie, and a pressed white dress shirt. I was a big time Philly city lawyer who was going to show them how it was done. I was surprised to find that James wasn’t impressed. James never wore a suit to the office. For him, it was always khakis, a polo, or a button up shirt. No tie.

James once quipped after a video deposition: “One of these days I’m going to make a sleeve that looks like a suit and wear it to a video deposition. This way it looks like I’m wearing a suit on the video when I hand the witness documents.”

One day I dropped by his office and asked him about why he never wore a suit:

The Fishtown Lawyers Have a New Logo: Some Love for Beth Blinebury Design (Just Don’t Tell Scott Greenfield)

Is Scott Greenfield around? No? Are you sure?

Alright, just so we’re clear, you’re ABSOLUTELY POSITIVE that Greenfield’s not around, right…?

[looks around] Okay, no Greenfield… so I guess I’m cool to tell you this…

The Fishtown Lawyers have a new, updated logo. I’m unveiling such an important event here on Philly Law Blog:

It's got a trolley and some stars... holla!

The Top 10 Low Tech, Old School Tools For a Physical Law Office

I'm just a caveman. New technology frightens and confuses me.

There has been a lot of talk about high tech tools to run your law office. Technology stuff is pretty cool, and I like to think our office has some pretty neat gadgets that make our lives easier. Maybe one day I’ll do a piece about it, but bloggers like Carolyn Elefant and Stephanie Kimbro already have, and they’ve done a good job.

Just this week, Carolyn Elefant wrote a nice piece about how technology is letting lawyers provide better, more cost effective service to clients. And believe it or not, Rachel Rodgers actually wrote something that wasn’t a piece of garbage describing technology she uses for her virtual office. (Yes, I said something nice about Rachel Rodgers. But don’t worry, more on her later).

Personally, I couldn’t live without my ScanSnap 1500, my Dymo TwinTurbo label writer, Google Apps, or Endicia.

While I’m not opposed to virtual offices, they’re just not my style. I like waking up every morning, putting on a suit, and meeting with clients privately in my office. Seeing clients regularly in my living room (which is two blocks from my office) or at the local coffee shop (also two blocks from my office) just isn’t for me.

But in addition to the high tech stuff that makes our office physically run, there is also a bunch of low tech stuff. So let’s talk tech, but not high tech. No, let’s talk low tech… old school.