The 80/20 Principle

Meet the best legal technology consultant for solo and small firms. I call her the Tech Whisperer because of her rare wisdom & deft advice. Adriana Linares founded LawTech Partners twenty years ago. Her unwavering mission has been to help lawyers get more done, more easily. Her focus is on helping lawyers use tech to better manage their practices and work smarter, not harder. She offers refreshing...

Tom Lambotte spent years helping small law firms improve the way they use Mac-related technology but has broadened his consulting to help more types of lawyers. Tom runs a firm called GlobalMac IT that provides remote support tech management for small law firms that use Macs. His clients love working with him, which doesn't surprise me. Tom is one of the few legal tech consultants that I completel...

Technology can help you improve your practice if you use it well. For most lawyers, it's more like picking up a cat by the tail. Listen, and I'll explain. The best way to learn is to study other people's mistakes and successes. This is not common practice, but it's a good idea. With technology, though, it's tricky (as I explained in this blog post . In this episode, I'll explain in more detail how...

Automating the commonly used text phrases and paragraphs is a powerful way to streamline your law practice. But what's the best way to do this? Let's find out. Brett Burney is a consultant who can help in several ways, including E-discovery and Mac-based workflows. But he's most passionate about teaching lawyers how to use an amazing text automation tool called TextExpander. In this session, Brett...

Chelsey Lambert knows what software works best for solo & small firm lawyers, and she shares insights that will help you find more success and less heartache. Chelsey Lambert is an author, speaker and tech consultant whose mission is to help lawyers better understand their best tech options. Her career has given her a truly unique perspective on how solo and small firm attorneys can best leverage...

  How can you leverage the power of virtual assistance? The best advice comes from someone who runs a successful VA company, namely my good friend Trivinia Barber. Trivinia Barber runs a virtual staffing company called Priority VA, which helps entrepreneurs and small business owners find quality assistants to help handle the workload. We talk about what makes a virtual assistant relationship succe...

Why do some lawyers get business coaches? And how can having a coach help you improve your law firm? That's what this episode is about. Show Notes Patrick Slaughter is a practicing lawyer in Knoxville, Tennessee. He has improved his law practice so much that other lawyers are now asking him to coach them, so we'll talk about why coaching helps solo and small firm lawyers. Acuity Calendering softwa...

Practice management advisor Jared Correia is back again to discuss how solo & small firm lawyers can meet the common challenges of growing their practices. Show Notes Prior episode with Jared Correia (#47) Red Cave Consulting (Jared's website) The Trillion Dollar Coach , by Eric Schmidt Ernie's blog posts on Systems General Resources Learn to use technology to reduce friction & gain freedom with t...

In this episode Ernie talks with Diana Stepleton about chat services. Ruby Receptionists now offers web chat services that are similar to their phone receptionists. If you want higher conversion rates from your website visitors then you should consider using chat services. General Resources Learn to use technology to reduce friction & gain freedom with this resource : https://www.the8020lawyer.com...

If you have a website then you should understand some basics about what Google and other search engine companies need your website to convey. If you get the basics right then Google will treat you well. And if you are really savvy Google might even love your site in a way that gets you more business. General Resources Learn to use technology to reduce friction & gain freedom with this resource : h...

For your practice to run smoothly you need systems. But why is creating & documenting systems so difficult for lawyers? Listen and discover the "magic" process. Below are links to resources or services that were discussed in this episode: The Power of a System , by John Fisher (downloadable PDF) Systems Brainstorming Worksheet (Based on Patrick Slaughter's process) Dropbox Paper (collaborative doc...

Managing documents is vital for lawyers, but today the documents are mostly digital. So you need a good system for doing this well. Craig Bayer has helped hundreds of solo and small firm attorneys boost their efficiency by better managing their documents. In the past he also helped lawyers with practice management software. So he's in a unique position to offer insight into how you should use prac...

Patrick Slaughter runs a small firm in Knoxville, Tennessee that does mostly family law work and some immigration law. He built his practice quickly relying on marketing skills he gained working as a magician (before law school). He also makes sensible use of technology. We talked about how he grew his practice, and how he manages it today. We talked about the challenges he's faced and how he addr...

Theoretically using practice management software will make your practice easier to manage. In practice, it's not as effective for some lawyers as they thought when they initially decided to use it. In this episode we find out why, as Ernie interviews someone in a unique position to help solo and small firm lawyers figure out the best option for their practice type and overall situation: i.e. Jared...

I studied high performing business leaders who are amazingly proficient at managing email. Then I identified common tactics and strategies they used and then adopted those tactics as my own email processing system. My new system is radically more efficient, simpler and less stressful. Best of all: I can run it easily from my smartphone. Show notes for Email Effectiveness podcast (#46) Resources Me...

Figuring out how to harness [80/20 efficiencies]( https://ernietheattorney.net/strategic-prioritization/ ) takes thought and experimentation. But the payoff of exponential efficiency is always worth the effort.    Sometimes you just need someone to point out a new more effective way of doing things. I feel like that's my role here in this podcast, and in my online programs. General Resources Learn...

The kid played by Ralph Macchio didn't understand that in life you can have what you want if you're willing to work for it. And if you aren't fixated on how you'll get it. Oh, and it helps to have a good guide to help you stay on track. This was good advice for the kid in the movie, but it also relates to building the law practice of your dreams. General Resources Learn to use technology to reduce...

There are several ways to gather client feedback and testimonials. In this episode, we'll discuss the pros and cons of each way. We'll talk about the best tools to use, and the optimal form questions for getting great feedback answers AND testimonials in a single survey. Links to resources mentioned Book: The Ultimate Question 2.0 , by Fred Reichheld: Outline of Discussion ( PDF ) Survey Monkey fo...

To grow your practice you need more than just information. You need timely insight from folks who've been where you are now. Folks who've attained success and have helped others succeed too. The best resource is something called a mastermind group. To learn more about how they can help you listen to this episode. And check out a book called  Mastermind Group Blueprint , by Tobe Brockner. General R...

Your ideal clients are looking for you, their ideal lawyer. But they don't know how to find you, so you have to find them. And strategic marketing is the way you can do that. Unfortunately, too many lawyers have no idea how to market strategically. And copying other folks who aren't properly informed about marketing isn't a good strategy. General Resources Learn to use technology to reduce frictio...

Most lawyers don't understand the proper way to market their practices. There are only two kinds of marketing lawyers should do, and you should not spend a dime until you understand how to properly market. In this episode, I provide a comprehensive overview of effective marketing for lawyers. Here is an outline of the points covered in this session.  General Resources Learn to use technology to re...

If you're looking to work less but earn more, then you must learn as much as you can about the 80/20 principle . And you must strive to leverage it in every aspect of your life—especially in managing your law practice. The best book to learn more is The 80/20 Principle by Richard Koch. Also, read this blog post (which includes a short video tutorial). Here's the key thing to understand. If you're...

The human brain is hard-wired to process information in story form. Knowing this helps us see the massive opportunity for better communicating ideas, and better motivating or persuading people to act on those ideas. Obviously, our marketing is one place to use story-based communication. Which is why a clever fellow named Don Miller created his StoryBrand framework. In this episode, I talk to my go...

Today's episode is about a very important topic: namely, how you persuade jurors, judges, and others more quickly and more effectively. Scientific studies establish that visual information is easier for the human brain to process and is remembered for longer periods of time. So we'll be talking about how to create "brain-friendly" presentations. And at the end of the episode, I'll show you a magic...

Today is Mardi Gras ("Fat Tuesday") in New Orleans so I thought I'd share my thoughts on what living in this great city is really like. If you want to learn more about New Orleans (or plan a trip here), I highly recommend Mark Bologna's excellent podcast: Beyond Bourbon Street . New Orleans is so much more than the superficial notions that many people have, mostly based on facile assumptions popul...