Roughly six months into the COVID-19 pandemic, a partner at a BigLaw firm in Chicago shared an exciting revelation with me. “While I’ve become more physically distanced from my coworkers, I’ve actually become more personally connected to them,” he said….
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“The good news is you’re all so smart and so capable. The bad news is you’re all so smart and so capable.” Professor Rachael Andersen-Watts of Vanderbilt Law School shares this with her first-year legal writing law students each year….
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The last time you stepped into a retail store (remember those days?!) you may have been met with a friendly greeting and an offer to help. Now, as successful attorneys turn to new methods to engage potential clients, it’s not…
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For most Illinois attorneys, day-to-day work patterns have been upended since the coronavirus pandemic hit. In fact, our entire workforce has been challenged to find new avenues for delivering their goods and services. As the “how” is redefined along the…
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My late father practiced law in Illinois for 53 years as a self-described “small town [Champaign] lawyer.” While Champaign-Urbana may be a micro-urban area and he litigated many complex cases for high-profile clients, he prided himself most for his work…
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As the situation surrounding COVID-19 evolves, and thereafter as we start to settle on the new normal of the legal profession, hosting a full or partial practice out of a virtual law office is an apparent reality. In the past,…
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Last year, I wrote about the disappearing rural lawyer. In Illinois, more lawyers are hanging their law firm shingle in urban areas. This isn’t just an Illinois trend, it’s happening across the U.S. For instance, in Illinois, roughly 7,000 lawyers…
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I’ve had a few weeks to reflect on ILTACON 2019 in Orlando. It was my first ILTACON so I knew little of what to expect outside of the scheduled content and vendor list. However, I knew for sure that it…
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Illinois’ rural lawyers are disappearing. The uneven distribution of practicing attorneys in the state is startling. Cook County represents 40% of the state’s population and over 70% of its lawyers. Cook County and its six collar counties account for 65%…
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Today’s attorneys have discovered the importance of online lawyer reviews. While one bad review has the potential to cripple a firm, a few good reviews can provide a ton of marketing power. Timely, effective management of your online reviews can…
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“Only one thing is impossible for God: to find any sense in any copyright law on the planet.” – Mark Twain, The Complete Works of Mark Twain: Mark Twain’s Notebook 381 (Albert Bigelow Paine ed., 1935). Samuel Clemens’s documented frustration…
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What channels of trust have you built lately? Put another way, what social capital tracks have you put down to promote and maintain the delivery of your firm’s services? Whether you’re the managing partner at a large firm or a…
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