By John Morrell
I admit that it’s been a while since I went to law school. I’m pretty confident, though, when I say that none of my law courses ever covered client hand-holding and new business development. I, like everyone else, was taught the areas of critical thinking, logic, research and other disciplines important to practice law. Law school never formally taught client “care and feeding” responsibilities. Read More
Whether you’re employed at a large or small firm, one thing is for certain: tracking and billing time is an important and inevitable part of working at a law firm. For many associates, your value at your law firm, at least partially, is directly related to the number of hours you bill per month. And, if you are a solo practitioner, although you may not necessarily have “billing requirements,” billing is still a necessary part of your practice. Read More
By David Seto
Today the United States and California are more diverse than ever. According to the U.S. Census, the share of the people born outside of the U.S. living in California has risen from 15 percent in 1980 to 27 percent today. There are nearly 11 million people in California born outside of the country. Most of these people are from Latin America or Asia and many are unfamiliar with our Common Law and our adversarial system. New immigrants tend to be younger workers or new students. However, as the immigrants age they will become more familiar and utilize the legal system for more services, not just immigration. It is therefore important for everyone to have what is called “cultural competency.” Read More
By Gail King
Many lawyers looked to start their own firms out of necessity during the recession in the early 2000s. Today, some are now considering it out of opportunity. The current economy offers a better vantage point with things looking up for the profession, and overall, given heightened competition for skilled legal professionals and increasing starting salaries for law jobs by three percent, on average, in 2015 compared to 2014, according to Robert Half. Read More
By Robert Conca
One important decision in the lifecycle of a growing company is when to hire its first in-house counsel. Frequently, this issue arises at a time in the evolution of an organization before there is a need for a full-time employee in this role or room in the corporate budget for a highly compensated general counsel. Other factors may drive the decision of whether to hire an internal attorney including costs, how the function will integrate with the current management and whether there is enough work for a full time employee. When to devote resources to this role is equally important as how to devote those resources. Read More
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