Latest Soloattorney Podcast Episodes
167: Crisis Management for Lawyers
The 80/20 Principle - August 31, 2021 21:03 - 32 minutes ★★★★★ - 80 ratingsLearning how to manage a catastrophic crisis like the hurricane that just hit New Orleans (or fires, earthquakes, and pandemics) will help you in everyday life for reasons that are surprising. Even "smart people" wind up making bad decisions in a crisis. But a prepared person who isn't that "s...
166: Q&A: Advice to a New Lawyer
The 80/20 Principle - August 24, 2021 08:00 - 28 minutes ★★★★★ - 80 ratingsWhen starting a new firm, what types of things are important to get right in the beginning to scale later? That's the question I was asked recently by a new lawyer. The answer is applicable or at least helpful to any lawyer thinking about how to improve their practice. Show Notes- Advice to...
165: Flat Fee Billing & Other Alternatives (with Kristin Tyler)
The 80/20 Principle - August 17, 2021 08:00 - 46 minutes ★★★★★ - 80 ratingsHistorically, the flat fee was the only "ethical fee" for lawyers. Now, it's more often the most sensible type of fee—both for clients and lawyers. The question is: what kind of flat fees are most successful and profitable for lawyers? In this episode, Kristin Tyler shares insights gleaned fr...
164: Being a Mom While Creating Law Practice (with Kim Felton)
The 80/20 Principle - August 10, 2021 08:00 - 1 hour ★★★★★ - 80 ratingsKim Felton had her first child in law school, then figured out how to be a lawyer and build an online Immigration practice, using technology as much as possible. In this episode, she shares her challenges and how she met them using exceptional wile and grit, and by discovering how best to levera...
163: Visualizing Workflows using Kanban Boards (with John Grant)
The 80/20 Principle - August 03, 2021 08:00 - 52 minutes ★★★★★ - 80 ratingsMaking your work visible is vital for knowledge workers (like lawyers), and the best way of doing that is by using a Kanban Board. Task managers just can't cut it. In this episode, Ernie talks with John Grant a consultant who helps fellow lawyers fix their legal workflows using Kanban Boards t...
162: Your Personal Brand (with Mike Kim)
The 80/20 Principle - July 27, 2021 08:00 - 45 minutes ★★★★★ - 80 ratingsYou are a brand. The only question is whether you want to understand it and improve so your reputation is enhanced? Or do you prefer to leave things to chance? If you prefer the former, then reading Mike Kim's new book "You Are The Brand," is your starting point. In this episode Mike shares so...
161: Managing Clients
The 80/20 Principle - July 20, 2021 08:00 - 46 minutes ★★★★★ - 80 ratingsClients are the lifeblood of your business, but they can also be frustrating and annoying. You must manage clients very well if you want a happy law practice. The simplest, most important business goal you can have is to optimize for happy clients. But you must understand what that actually me...
160: Kaizen for Lawyers
The 80/20 Principle - July 13, 2021 08:00 - 27 minutes ★★★★★ - 80 ratingsIf you want to make steady, powerful improvements to your law business, in a way that's super effective and surprisingly easy, you should leverage the principle of "Kaizen." It's a Japanese business philosophy of continuously improving operations in small incremental steps. But it's also a power...
159: PKM for Lawyers
The 80/20 Principle - July 06, 2021 08:00 - 46 minutes ★★★★★ - 80 ratingsPKM is a new term, but an important one for all knowledge workers (i.e. lawyers and others who think for a living and solve problems by thinking). Here are some basics of PKM, which will probably seem alien to many lawyers. But it's worth making the effort to grasp the power of PKM. Show Notes...
158: Persuasive writing for lawyers
The 80/20 Principle - June 29, 2021 08:00 - 38 minutes ★★★★★ - 80 ratingsUnfortunately, most lawyers don't know how to write persuasively, and their marketing copy is boring. And surprisingly, many marketing folks (who supposedly are experts in persuasive ad writing and marketing writing) also do a really poor job. So don't feel bad if you struggle to write persuas...
157: Spotlight: Immigration Lawyer Bin Xia Zhang
The 80/20 Principle - June 22, 2021 08:00 - 52 minutes ★★★★★ - 80 ratingsDiscover how he approached the creation of his solo practice, and which tools and resources he has found most useful in the process. Show Notes Episode Transcript (via Otter.ai) Team Desk (database software) ScanSnap iX1600 scanner Paperless Lawyering course (that Bin took to learn to ...
156: Security for Lawyers - Part 2
The 80/20 Principle - June 15, 2021 08:00 - 38 minutes ★★★★★ - 80 ratingsYou need to train yourself to understand how the most common attacks work. That's how you avoid them. So that’s what we’re going to talk about, with a special focus on phishing attacks & ransomware. Show Notes Episode 154: Security for Lawyers Beyond Fear (recommended book by Bruce Schneie...
155: Getting Buy In
The 80/20 Principle - June 08, 2021 08:00 - 46 minutes ★★★★★ - 80 ratingsIn this episode, Ernie speaks with an anonymous associate at a large firm about resistance she faces in her attempts to get her firm to adopt technology. Ernie shares some strategies and tactics for getting buy-in. Human nature is a bigger factor than cold logic and well-pled arguments. Show N...
154: Security for Lawyers
The 80/20 Principle - June 01, 2021 08:00 - 25 minutes ★★★★★ - 80 ratingsWe must learn to think sensibly about security in order to properly implement it and manage it. According to Bruce Schneier, a renowned security expert, there are 5 elements to consider when making security decisions. Show Notes Beyond Fear: Thinking Sensibly About Security in an Uncertain Wo...
153: Creativity for Lawyers
The 80/20 Principle - May 25, 2021 08:00 - 24 minutes ★★★★★ - 80 ratingsIn my Systems Workshop, we begin by delving into the role of creativity in creating systems for improving a law practice. There are some common myths about creativity that need to be debunked, and that's where we start in this episode. Show Notes Creativity: A Short and Cheerful Guide, by Joh...
152: Naked Emperors
The 80/20 Principle - May 18, 2021 08:00 - 44 minutes ★★★★★ - 80 ratingsYou know your situation better than anyone else. Sometimes you should trust what your gut instincts tell you is best for you, and not what a supposed expert says. We'll talk about some things that experts say that need to be questioned, and we'll also talk about places where your intuition can b...
151: Start a New Firm (with Joe Emmerth)
The 80/20 Principle - May 11, 2021 08:00 - 48 minutes ★★★★★ - 80 ratingsJoe Emmerth is a family law practitioner in the Chicago area who left the firm he joined out of law school to start his own firm. After 15 years of practice, he knew a lot about being a lawyer, but suddenly he had to make sure he knew enough about running his own law business. In this episode...
150: Easy is Hard
The 80/20 Principle - May 04, 2021 08:00 - 36 minutes ★★★★★ - 80 ratingsWarren Buffet nails it when he observes: "The interesting thing about business is that it's not like the Olympics. You don't get any extra points for the fact that something's very hard to do. So you might as well just step over one-foot bars, instead of trying to jump over seven-foot bars." ...
149: Crazy Talk
The 80/20 Principle - April 27, 2021 08:00 - 31 minutes ★★★★★ - 80 ratingsCreating radical improvement requires radical new ways of solving a problem, which requires radical new ways of thinking. And that radical thinking will inevitably feel like crazy talk at first. But it’s not, if you are willing to listen and open your mind and discover that some things that se...
148: No Goals Heresy (with Melissa Shanahan)
The 80/20 Principle - April 20, 2021 08:00 - 1 hour ★★★★★ - 80 ratingsMelissa Shanahan coaches attorneys and insists that they define key benchmarks as a way of growing their practices. In this episode, she and I discuss whether Jason Fried's statement is crazy talk or whether maybe there is some wisdom behind it. Show Notes "I've Never Had a Goal" (article by ...
147: 21 Essential Books
The 80/20 Principle - April 13, 2021 08:00 - 38 minutes ★★★★★ - 80 ratingsThese books have been influential in helping many successful people learn to “work smarter.” Study them carefully Strive to absorb the key principles so they become part of your regular thought patterns. Once that happens, your massive success is virtually guaranteed. Show Notes Mindset: T...
146: Invisible Threats - Optimal Action
The 80/20 Principle - April 06, 2021 08:00 - 31 minutes ★★★★★ - 80 ratingsScaling your business in a sustainable way is possible, but the way to do it is counter-intuitive for many reasons. In this episode, I'll complete my 3-part discussion of this issue and recommend a sane, sustainable, and effective solution. Show Notes Future Shock, by Alvin Toffler book R...
145: Cobwebs to Cables
The 80/20 Principle - March 30, 2021 08:00 - 38 minutes ★★★★★ - 80 ratingsI've been participating in Melissa Shanahan's 30-day sprint. I've gained so many valuable insights and practical takeaways that have helped me start working at a much higher level. The way Melissa gets results is by helping you achieve more—but without that achievement coming at the expense of...
144: Turtle Steps - Velocity Work
The 80/20 Principle - March 23, 2021 08:00 - 40 minutes ★★★★★ - 80 ratingsWhile email overload might seem like one big reason for our being mired in busywork, the root cause is something deeper. In this episode, I’ll lay out the real problem and start to share some thoughts about the best solution. And we’ll be talking about the solution for the next few episodes beca...
143: Contrarian Insights
The 80/20 Principle - March 16, 2021 08:00 - 54 minutes ★★★★★ - 80 ratingsKeith Lee is a good friend (and fellow contrarian) from back in 2010 when he started a law blog called Associates Mind. In this episode, we'll reminisce about big shifts that technology has created in the legal profession over the past decade. And we'll focus on a new tool that now makes it ea...
142: Legal Writing Powered by A.I. (with Ross Guberman)
The 80/20 Principle - March 09, 2021 09:00 - 48 minutes ★★★★★ - 80 ratingsLawyers who write briefs know that their first drafts are usually filled with errors and inconsistencies. Having a set of fresh eyes look over the draft helps tremendously, and now you can use artificial intelligence to help you edit faster and do a better job with less stress. In this episod...
141: Essential Software
The 80/20 Principle - March 02, 2021 09:00 - 48 minutes ★★★★★ - 80 ratingsThese are the essential software options that many lawyers aren't using but should be using, or should be using more than they are (if they're using any of these options). BTW, I'd love to get your feedback or answer any questions you have (which can get to in an upcoming episode). Show Note...
140: Morning Pages
The 80/20 Principle - February 23, 2021 09:00 - 45 minutes ★★★★★ - 80 ratingsMorning pages is a simple, easy tool that can help you overcome a lot of what’s keeping you confused or stuck about many important things in your life and in your law practice. This simple daily exercise has made helped me make massive progress in areas where I was perpetually stuck. And appar...
139: Information Sherpas
The 80/20 Principle - February 16, 2021 09:00 - 29 minutes ★★★★★ - 80 ratingsIn the Information Age (which we are now living in) there's a lot of information to keep track of. Most of it is useless, but some of it is powerful. The trick is to separate the signal from the noise, and having "information sherpas" will help you do that. Information sherpas are people who p...
138: Megatrends for Lawyers
The 80/20 Principle - February 09, 2021 09:00 - 25 minutes ★★★★★ - 80 ratingsLawyers who fully understand what's known as "megatrends" will thrive. And those who ignore the megatrends or (worse) resist them, will probably struggle to survive. The megatrends we'll discuss are ones that are inherent in the shift from an industrial society to one based on the flow of inform...
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