The Legal Toolkit

Many lawyers around the country rely on the resources, support, and networking opportunities that the American Bar Association provides to their members. In this rebroadcast episode of The Legal Toolkit, host Jared Correia talks with American Bar Association President Linda Klein about law practice management needs that solo and small firm attorneys struggle with and the new Blueprint initiative t...

A few years ago, having technology courses at law schools was unheard of. But recently schools have been offering more and more tech opportunities. In this episode of The Legal Toolkit, host Jared Correia talks to Gabe Teninbaum, professor of legal writing at Suffolk Law, about the work Suffolk is doing to encourage innovation, including programs, technology courses, and internship opportunities....

There’s more to practicing law than practicing law. Proper client relationships and interactions can be the difference between a good law firm and an exceptional one. In this episode of The Legal Toolkit, host Jared Correia talks to Michael Chasin, CEO of Lexicata, about effectively managing your practice’s client intake process. They lay out a couple common mistakes that legal professionals often...

Christmas brought digital assistants, like Amazon’s Alexa and Google’s Home, into homes everywhere. Maybe it’s only a matter of time before they show up in law firms too. In this episode of The Legal Toolkit, host Jared Correia talks to Louise Kennedy and Mitch Jackson about the role of digital assistants in the practice of law. While there are definite advantages, like easy communication and acce...

Many lawyers around the country rely on the resources, support, and networking opportunities that the American Bar Association provides to their members. In this episode of The Legal Toolkit, host Jared Correia talks with American Bar Association President Linda Klein about law practice management needs that solo and small firm attorneys struggle with and the new Blueprint initiative that the ABA...

From the earliest days of law school every attorney learns that the profession is steeped in copious amounts of document writing. In this episode of The Legal Toolkit, host Jared Correia talks with Creative Content Specialist and "Spaceballs: The Animated Series" writer Adam Kosloff about why prolific writing is very costly for lawyers and how his five core strategies can help attorneys improve th...

Many young lawyers entering the legal marketplace are surprised to find that they are lacking the fundamental skills necessary to successfully practice law and stay competitive while seeking employment. In this episode of The Legal Toolkit, host Jared Correia talks with American Bar Association Commission on Hispanic Rights & Responsibilities Commissioner Fred Rooney, Suffolk University Law School...

With the abundance of law practitioners in the legal marketplace it can be difficult for a law firm to really differentiate themselves from their competitors. Many lawyers are looking at social media as a new way to gain greater visibility for their firm but what marketing opportunities can online video content provide? In this episode of The Legal Toolkit, host Jared Correia talks with Crisp Vide...

In this episode of The Legal Toolkit, host Jared Correia talks with ClariLegal founder and CEO Cash Butler about litigation support options available to law firms and legal practitioners. Cash encourages all litigation law firms to have a selection of providers that they are comfortable with so that they can execute work in a timely fashion. He acknowledges that it can be more difficult for smalle...

In this episode of The Legal Toolkit, founder and president of Sword and the Script Media, LLC. Frank Strong talks with Heidi Alexander about content marketing and why it’s so important for lawyers. Frank starts by defining content marketing, a business process for creating and distributing relevant and valuable content, and briefly explains how this process can help lawyers build trust with their...

In this episode of The Legal Toolkit, FindLaw Senior Director of Strategic Development and Thought Leadership Mark Jacobsen talks with Jared Correia about the 2015 U.S. Consumer Legal Needs Survey. The study asks a consistent set of questions to a randomly selected group of consumers, ages 18 and over, who have had (or have family members who have had) legal concerns that they consider important o...

Many lawyers view legal technology in terms of how it can aid them in easing their daily work load. In what ways could emergent tech be harnessed in the legal marketplace to better aid clients? In this episode of The Legal Toolkit, Ledger Labs head of operations and legal Josh Stark talks with Heidi Alexander about self-executing contracts, Bitcoin, and how blockchain technology could impact the p...

It is widely understood that attorneys must be well-organized. However, many struggle to achieve a level of daily discipline that would help them achieve maximum success. How can lawyers become more productive and organized as they pursue the practice of law? In this episode of The Legal Tool Kit, host Heidi Alexander talks with Lawyerist founder and editor in chief Sam Glover about how lawyers ca...

In order for any lawyer to be a successful advocate for their client or law firm they must become an excellent dealmaker. However, the secrets to the art of deal closing can seem incredibly elusive to even the most initiated. What are the fundamental tenets of being a good dealmaker, and how does one focus on honing these skills? In this episode of The Legal Toolkit, host Jared Correia sits down w...

Many lawyers today are thinking about going solo or starting their own firms. But running a law firm is like running a business, which involves much more than providing legal services. You have to think about billing and business management, when to accept and reject clients, and maintaining a calm composure under a stressful situation. What goes into planning to start your own practice, what esse...

The last 10 years have seen a 75% rise in legal costs, which compares to a 20% increase for other fields. It’s estimated that there are one billion dollars worth of unrecognized legal needs in today’s market. Even when legal needs are recognized, it’s common for potential clients to see their problems as prohibitively expensive. As a solo practitioner or law firm, you might be wondering how to tap...

Do you charge for initial consultation in your practice? If not, you might be missing out on higher quality meetings and additional revenue. Despite this claim, most lawyers are worried that changing their fee structure will chase potential clients away from the front door. How can we, as lawyers, offer discernible value and make people actually want to pay for an initial consultation? In this epi...

Online review sites are increasingly important for product and service consumers, but to what extent are people really taking them into consideration when selecting an attorney? If potential clients are counting stars before they call, how do lawyers take control of their online reputations? Furthermore, with limited time and marketing budgets, what should solo and small firms focus on? On this ep...

In order to succeed in the current economy and to ensure sustainability, law firms must constantly review and refine the way they conduct business. Although lawyers have likely heard of agile, lean, six sigma, and other technology-driven management systems, Legal Project Management (LPM) has been tailored to the practice of law specifically. So how do law firms use LPM practices to scope, plan, an...

Jared Correia interviews local search engine optimization industry leader Mike Ramsey about the components of an effective online marketing campaign, recent and upcoming Google algorithm changes, and specific actions lawyers can take today to improve their local search marketing. Special thanks to our sponsor Amicus Attorney.

Heidi Alexander interviews Jason Treu, former lawyer turned marketer and business coach, about building relationships, social engineering, and practical steps lawyers can take to improve their networking skills. Special thanks to our sponsor, Amicus Attorney.

Jared Correia interviews Ryan Anderson, trial attorney and founder and CEO of Filevine, a project management and collaboration tool for lawyers, about email inefficiency and the future of communication in law offices. Together they discuss how the lack of restriction to email access has become a problem for lawyers, businesses, and individuals.

How can solo and small firm lawyers modify their practices to compete in the changing legal market full of companies like LegalZoom and Shake? Heidi Alexander interviews two people who are on the technology side of offering legal services. Abe Geiger, the founder and CEO of Shake, and Bill Palin, an attorney and app developer, discuss why they decided to create the legal technology tools, how solo...

In this episode of The Legal Toolkit, Jared Correia interviews senior information technology manager Kyle Albert about what ESI is, how solo and small firms can manage e-discovery in-house, and, when outsourcing, what to expect from an e-discovery service provider. ESI is an industry term, Kyle explains, for any digital data including computer documents, emails, or even Facebook messages. Any lawy...

In this episode of The Legal Toolkit, Heidi Alexander interviews Nicole Bradick, former litigator and chief strategy officer at Curo Legal, about what it means to have a lean business, how to apply lean concepts to law firms, and where new lawyers and established law firms can start. Bradick begins by clearly explaining the lean concept; the company builds a minimum viable product, measures how it...