Ernie Svenson

Nearly every lawyer, from associate to partner, experiences lawyer burnout at some point in their career. To some extent, it seems that being a lawyer and stress go hand-in-hand. But burnout doesn’t have to happen.
To help, let&#8217;s take a closer look at lawyer burnout and examine the causes and some ways of combating it.
<h2>Causes of lawyer burnout</h2>
There are several factors that cause attorneys to burn out. They aren’t universal, exactly, but they are consistent parts of the career. And because they are so common, young lawyers often accept them as a given and fail to see the potential problem.
<h3>High-stress work environment</h3>
Law is, generally, a high-stress job. The problem is so acute that the American Bar Association published a guide on attorney stress. <a href="https://www.americanbar.org/groups/lawyer_assistance/resources/stress/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">In the guide</a>, they say, “Lawyers work in an adversarial system with demanding schedules and heavy workloads, which may contribute to increased stress levels.” 
Regardless of the focus of your law firm, the legal profession is filled with stressful situations in which the future of your clients rests on your shoulders.
<h3>Long work hours</h3>
Lawyers generally work long hours. The <a href="https://www.bls.gov/ooh/legal/lawyers.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bureau of Labor Statistics</a> actually includes working more than 40-hours a week as a part of the job description for lawyers. The need to log and maximize billable hours can cause junior lawyers to burnout, and raise the risk of burnout at every other level as well.
<h3>High workload</h3>
Along with long hours comes a heavy workload. Depending on their practice areas, lawyers may be juggling massive caseloads or managing a smaller number of highly involved cases with sometimes overwhelming paperwork.
<h3>Lack of personal and professional balance</h3>
In the long-term, many lawyers burnout because of a lack of work-life balance. Practicing law, for some, becomes their identity, and having a personal life takes a profound backseat. And for many attorneys, this lack of balance begins in law school.
<h2>Symptoms of lawyer burnout</h2>
The signs and symptoms of attorney burnout are many and varied. Let’s take the list provided by the <a href="https://www.americanbar.org/groups/lawyer_assistance/resources/stress/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">American Bar Association</a> and categorize them: 
<h3>Physical symptoms</h3>
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Headache</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Muscle tension or pain</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Chest pain</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Stomach upset</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Exhaustion </li>
</ul>
<h3>Emotional symptoms</h3>
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Anxiety</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Lack of motivation or focus</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Irritability or anger</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Sadness or depression</li>
</ul>
<h3>Behavioral symptoms</h3>
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Restlessness</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Sleep problems</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Change in sex drive</li>
</ul>
If you are experiencing any of these on an ongoing basis, you may be at risk, and you may want to consider strategies for overcoming lawyer burnout.
<h2>Strategies for preventing lawyer burnout</h2>
<a href="http://ernietheattorney.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/shutterstock_2056433831-1.jpg"><img decoding="async" class="wp-image-5502 alignright" src="http://ernietheattorney.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/shutterstock_2056433831-1-300x169.jpg" alt="A lawyer at work " width="563" height="317" srcset="http://ernietheattorney.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/shutterstock_2056433831-1-300x169.jpg 300w, http://ernietheattorney.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/shutterstock_2056433831-1-768x432.jpg 768w, http://ernietheattorney.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/shutterstock_2056433831-1.jpg 1000w" sizes="(max-width: 563px) 100vw, 563px" /></a>
Part of preventing burnout is learning to manage stress. Here are some ways you can do that
<h3>Reducing stress</h3>
Finding ways to quit your mind and body can make a great difference. Mindfulness exercises and <a href="https://ernietheattorney.net/meditation-benefits/">meditation</a> work for many attorneys. Others can get some stress relief from stress management techniques like breathing exercises and exercise. See what works for you.
<h3>Prioritizing self-care</h3>
Spend time each day on yourself. Whether you feel stressed or not, there are things you can do every day to protect your mental health. These include
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Exercise</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Sleep</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Nutrition</li>
</ul>
<h3>Building a support network</h3>
Lawyer burnout often stems from a lack of support. It’s good to remember that you are not alone, and that there are many people you can talk to about how you feel. We recommend prioritizing some type of social life, whether chatting with colleagues, time with friends and family, or both. Professional organizations, too, can be a great source of support and collegiality.
<h3>Finding a sense of purpose</h3>
If you feel burned out, try connecting to something that feels a bit bigger, or more closely aligned with your personal priorities and values. Options here might include
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Pro bono work</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Volunteer work</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Professional development</li>
</ul>
<h3>Learn to manage your time and law practice better and more effectively</h3>
By leveraging the 80/20 principle, you can work less, take more time for yourself, and effectively overcome lawyer burnout. 
<a href="https://ernietheattorney.net/#lawpractice" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Learn more about the 80/20 principle today</a>

Nearly every lawyer, from associate to partner, experiences lawyer burnout at some point in their career. To some extent, it seems that being a lawyer and stress go hand-in-hand. But...

Helping solo and small firm lawyers transform their law practices by using automation, outsourcing and the 80/20 principle

How To Stop Lawyer Burnout

A law firm, like any business, faces the problem of project management. But law firm project management is different from the types of project management systems that you’ll find in other fields. 
Law offices are often very specialized, both in the large sense–the scope of work of the firm itself–and in the small sense–the specialties of the lawyers and paralegals. 
Making sure that each member of the legal services team gets the right projects at the right time is an important task, but it can be approached in many different ways.
<h2>Different Management Styles and Different Management Skills</h2>
There are several models of legal practice. Not one is more right than the other, but each will thrive or fail depending on the way it fits the personalities and skills of the legal professionals in the firm. Here are a few:
<h3>Autocratic</h3>
In the autocratic management style, one person makes all the decisions for the firm. Because of this, the autocratic approach is most often seen in small offices where one person has the capability and bandwidth to manage all the different factors affecting the firm. 
Often, in a larger office with an autocratic system, the leader works through an office manager to institute the plans and disperse them among all the other legal professionals. 
There is a danger in an autocratic system that the leader can be tyrannical and can steer the firm in directions that the rest of the firm doesn’t wish to go, or that the leader will inappropriately disperse tasks and workload among the team. 
On the other hand, in a small firm, this is often the best way to manage, especially when there is only one lead attorney and a handful of other employees working beneath them.
<h3>Democratic</h3>
In democratic law firm practice management, all of the attorneys who work in the firm have a say in the policies and direction of the firm. In these situations, which are generally used in law firms with fifteen or fewer employees, all the attorneys vote on the business goals and project management. 
Very often in these cases, the actual implementation of the attorneys’ decisions is done by a legal administrator.
Because consensus opinion is hard to reach, this can be a slow-moving process. 
<h3>Managing Partner</h3>
In a managing partner-led law firm, the managing partner, one of the owners, will be responsible for the firm&#8217;s management. Many responsibilities are delegated to paralegals or office managers, but all leadership comes from one individual. 
This method of leadership is more often seen in medium-to-large firms, and the managing partner is very often a figurehead in the organization–someone whose name and reputation lends gravitas to the law firm, but who doesn’t get involved with day-to-day legal affairs and litigation. The managing partner is especially important in maintaining client relationships and managing legal public relations. 
<h3>Executive Committee </h3>
With an executive committee, the structure is similar to the democratic process. Still, the committee is made up of a select group of attorneys and staff, not all of the attorneys in the firm. This makes the committee more manageable and less unwieldy. 
Individual committee members often oversee specific parts of the firm’s organization. For example, one attorney might be concerned solely with client relations while another oversees compensation and employee training, and another is responsible for technology and systems. 
<h2>Find Out What Project Management System is Right for You</h2>
When it comes to client satisfaction, legal work, project management skills, and management software, there are many options to choose from, no matter which way your law firm is organized from the top down.
<h2>Find Out How To Manage Law Firms Projects Properly</h2>

A law firm, like any business, faces the problem of project management. But law firm project management is different from the types of project management systems that you’ll find in...

Legal Project Management: How Is It Done?

The legal profession would be nothing without access to information. So much of being a lawyer, or working in a law firm, is researching, writing, and communicating. And all of that can be achieved better if you have the right tools for the job. Yet, in the world of tech, lawyers often fall behind because of tradition or culture or “that’s just the way it’s always been done.”
But the truth is that “the way it’s always been done” is not the way it’s going to be done anymore. To stay relevant and to thrive in the current legal profession, lawyers’ tools must meet the needs of the client, the courts, and the firm. 
And whether that refers to billing software, client communication, productivity tools, or cloud-based practice management software, the answer to the question of “What technology do lawyers use?” is growing rapidly. There are tons of legal tool examples, and there will only be more of them as the firm moves into the future. 
So what do lawyers in tech use? Here are seven digital tools that law firms are using to be more productive and current.
<h2>Dropbox</h2>
For document sharing, there is nothing that compares to Dropbox in terms of convenience and security. Using cloud-based technologies is more prevalent than ever in law firms, and while there are some people who prefer Google Drive, Dropbox has the universality and security that can’t be beaten by other document-sharing platforms.
Dropbox doesn’t require you to pay for their service (though there is a memory limit you need to be aware of for the free service) but there is likewise no cost to the person you’re sending documents to. 
It’s long past time for lawyers to get everything on the cloud, because the time when we worried about the security of the cloud has been surpassed and now we worry about the security of NOT being on the cloud. 
<h2>Evernote</h2>
So much that takes place in the administrative bounds of a law firm requires scanning paper documents to digital, and unless you’re in the paralegal’s office with a large-format scanner at the ready, you need an app on your phone for scanning. Whether we’re talking about legal documents or receipts, everything can be scanned and stored effectively using Evernote. This app, which works for a small fee, can scan any document with the camera on your smartphone and organize your documents. 
<h2>Clio Manage</h2>
Managing paperwork in a law firm is half the job, but it doesn’t need to be onerous and troublesome if you can use a document automation tool like Clio Manage. Clio offers a wide variety of law office tech solutions, but one of their best is this program which streamlines document creation using information that you’ve already generated, like dates and contact information, to populate forms for you. You can use Clio to safely store these documents, as well as edit and organize them. 
<h2>Logikcull</h2>
This eDiscovery tool makes the discovery process, which can be endlessly tedious, fast, and efficient. It automates thousands of steps that were previously manual, and gives you options for filtering, all of which will save your law practice time and effort. Saving time with client information when combing through intellectual property, communications, dry files, and an endless amount of other documents will be a lifesaver. 
<h2>Fastcase</h2>
Legal research makes your legal service world go round, but if you can’t do this research quickly, efficiently, and thoroughly, you’re going to lose out on valuable opportunities. Fastcase has one of the largest online law libraries in the world, which gives you access to case law, statutes, regulations, and more. 
<h2>Learn The # Top Tech Tools for Your Law Tech</h2>

The legal profession would be nothing without access to information. So much of being a lawyer, or working in a law firm, is researching, writing, and communicating. And all of...

Clio Manage

The Top Law Firm Tools

Law practice management for solo and small firm lawyers is an uphill battle.
It&#8217;s hard enough to deliver high-quality legal services in an increasingly competitive environment. Add to that the job of law practice management, including dealing with technology and doing effective marketing to keep getting new clients&#8230;
Well, it&#8217;s a lot to deal with.
But it doesn&#8217;t have to be that way. With better investments in time, you can see your law practice transform into success.
<h2>High ROI Law Practice Management</h2>
There are two important keys to achieving massive ROI: leveraging automation and outsourcing. Teaching lawyers how to do this has been my mission for over a decade.
<a href="https://gosolo.subkit.com">Go Solo</a> recently <a href="https://gosolo.subkit.com/lawfirmautopilot/">wrote a short article</a> about my journey to becoming a full-time teacher and consultant for solo and small firm attorneys.
My main message is, and has been, that solo and small firm attorneys can reach new heights of efficiency and effectiveness.
<h2>Automation for attorneys</h2>
Every solo and small firm attorney needs to work on automating tedious administrative tasks like document preparation, filing paperwork, organizing financial records, and marketing.
Doing so helps free up time so attorneys can focus on growing their businesses instead of spending hours on mundane tasks.
<h2>Outsourcing</h2>
There are so many opportunities now to find and hire top-notch professionals around the globe who have useful skills—like web design, project management, or bookkeeping and accounting. Solo and small firm attorneys can hire such people at competitive rates without compromising quality.
<h2>Law Firm Management Principle #1</h2>
Solo and small firm attorneys must create systems for their law practices, which means documenting procedures. When you have a pre-fabricated checklist that explains how you want work to be done, you can more easily outsource it or delegate it.
Systems are vital, and the atomic elements of any system are written procedures.
<h2>The 80/20 Principle</h2>
The most important guiding principle is something called <a href="https://www.the8020lawyer.com">the 80/20 principle</a>. There are general books about this principle, but none specifically focused on solo lawyers or ones in small law firms.
I&#8217;ve written before about this <a href="https://ernietheattorney.net/a-little-known-success-principle/">little-known success principle</a>. But I recently decided to focus even more on helping lawyers leverage this important principle
<h2>The 80/20 Newsletter</h2>
My recently developed newsletter is called <a href="https://www.the8020lawyer.com">The 80/20 Principle</a>, and it focuses completely on solo and small firm lawyers who want to generate massive ROI in their law practices.
<img decoding="async" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-5470" src="http://ernietheattorney.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/CleanShot-2023-01-10-at-14.35.55.png" alt="" width="666" height="120" srcset="http://ernietheattorney.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/CleanShot-2023-01-10-at-14.35.55.png 666w, http://ernietheattorney.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/CleanShot-2023-01-10-at-14.35.55-300x54.png 300w" sizes="(max-width: 666px) 100vw, 666px" />The key to massive success is staying focused on the things that have the highest payoff with the least amount of effort or investment of time or money.
Having the right strategies is also how you ensure you can properly leverage the power of automation and outsourcing.
And that&#8217;s why learning more about <a href="https://ernietheattorney.net/a-little-known-success-principle/">little-known success principle</a> is so important.

Law practice management for solo and small firm lawyers is an uphill battle. It’s hard enough to deliver high-quality legal services in an increasingly competitive environment. Add to that the...

Helping solo lawyers transform their law practices

Practicing law can be an incredibly rewarding profession in so many ways. And it can be financially rewarding.
But money isn&#8217;t the most important thing. At least not to me.
Obviously, one needs to make enough money to cover expenses. And then you want to be able to live comfortably. Sometimes you get lucky and achieve this level of success quickly. Often you don&#8217;t.
<h2>I was lucky</h2>
When I graduated from law school because I got multiple offers to work at prestigious firms that paid associates a lot of money.
I worked hard in law school, got great grades, and made law review and the moot court team (and garnered other resume-enhancing accolades).
But still, I was lucky. The job market was hot back then.
Right out of law school, firms were willing to pay people like me more than $50,000 per year.
But I didn&#8217;t opt to go work at one of those firms.
Instead, I went to clerk for a federal trial court judge, a job that paid only $27,000 per year.
My best friend in law school thought I was making a big mistake. He took a high-paying job.
When I told him I&#8217;d be clerking for two years, he said I was totally nuts.
The way he looked at it, I was losing at least $50,000 over two years.
Plus, I was putting myself two years behind my peers in terms of the partnership track.
Why did I do this? How could I justify this decision? Well, for starters&#8230;
<h2>Money is just one consideration</h2>
If you&#8217;re only focused on making money, and making as much of it as possible, then my decision makes no sense.
But I was thinking about the incredible experience of working inside a court. I wanted to know how judges evaluated cases.
I knew that understanding how things worked behind the scenes would help me once I started practicing law and appearing in court myself.
<h3>What David Norman said</h3>
In my first year, I had a law school professor named David Norman who taught Civil Procedure.
He would often go beyond the lessons in the casebook and talk about what the practice of law was like in the trenches.
He knew because he&#8217;d been a trial lawyer for 30 years before he started teaching at law school.
Professor Norman often said that if we wanted to be trial lawyers, we should get to get a job clerking for a federal judge. But not the appellate judges because that was just a lot of legal research and writing.
Norman said it was better to be able to see what happened in trial. So he recommended clerking at the trial court level.
I trusted his advice more than that of the other professors, almost all of whom had little to no experience practicing law.
The key to appreciating Professor Norman&#8217;s advice was realizing that gaining the right kind of experience was more important than money.
<h2>Experience is valuable too.</h2>
A lot of my fellow law students scoffed at Professor Norman&#8217;s advice. They&#8217;d never sacrifice the high income of a big firm to work for a lowly judge.
They only saw a short-term sacrifice. And beyond that, they saw nothing.
There was indeed a big difference between the world of big law firms and small judicial chambers. And not just in terms of salary.
I didn&#8217;t have a secretary working for me when I was a law clerk. I had to type my own memos to the judge myself — on an electric typewriter.
I ate in the basement cafeteria every day, not in fancy restaurants like friends in the big firms.
I didn&#8217;t get a wardrobe allowance like they did.
And I had to be in the office every day and didn&#8217;t get to take vacations.
<h2>The Work Mattered</h2>
If I was sick, I could not take off of work. I had to show up because there was no backup.
The judge depended on all his staff members to do their work — and keep all the cases moving.
I never thought about how much money I was making or not making.
The work I did truly mattered. And that&#8217;s something I was keenly aware of.
In short, I was deeply fulfilled. And a big part of that was because I was learning so much &#8211; every single day.
I got to see some great lawyers in action. I saw a lot of bad lawyers too.
I learned why lawyers failed to make convincing arguments. And most importantly, I learned how to avoid making certain mistakes without making them myself.
The value of the education I got in the two years I clerked was worth so much more than the &#8216; &#8216;lost income.&#8221;
But as I said, many attorneys could not see that.
<h1>Money doesn&#8217;t bring fulfillment</h1>
When I finally went to work at a big firm, I started making lots of money.
I had my own secretary and paralegals to do all the grunt work. I got to go to fancy lunches and got an allowance to spend on clothes.
The firm even supplied everyone with free sodas and snacks.
But I sensed a difference in the nature of my work. Often it seemed we were doing things just because it produced billable hours, not because it truly mattered.
And if I didn&#8217;t show up for work, someone else could easily do my job. I was only valuable if I billed hours and clients paid for my time.
This was unsettling but on the bright side..
I became a partner (after about six years), and then I started earning hundreds of thousands of dollars.
And yet I was miserable.
I felt like I was supposed to be happy with the money. So I felt like maybe there was something wrong with me.
I was uninspired, felt unworthy, and was on a treadmill.
I kept plugging away billing hours, competing with others for greater stature&#8230;by billing more hours. I was on the road to nowhere, but I couldn&#8217;t figure out how to get off.
I noticed a few other lawyers didn&#8217;t look so happy either. Every once in a while, one would peel off and go to another firm, but they&#8217;d still be miserable, but just somewhere else.
Some lawyers, however, left to do something radical, like one who became a minister and obviously made a LOT less money.
But I noticed they were suddenly a lot happier. Then one day, I took an opportunity to do something radical&#8230;
I took a year off to go teach at my old law school.
I made a lot less money, but I was much happier. I liked teaching students, and I tried to model Professor Norman in doing so.
In other words, I pushed students to look beyond superficial theories of the legal system and see how lawsuits actually unfold in the trenches.
After my one-year sabbatical, I had to return to the big firm. But that taste of fulfillment stuck with me.
Eventually, I went out on my own. As I&#8217;ve said many times, technology made it possible for me to create a fulfilling solo practice where I could earn enough money to be happy by eliminating a lot of unnecessary overhead.
<h2>Conclusion</h2>
As I said at the outset, practicing law can be a very fulfilling profession.
But some hidden traps can divert you from the aspects that are most fulfilling.
One of those traps is money. Another is status.
Many lawyers fall for these traps. I could say I feel bad for them, but I really don&#8217;t because it&#8217;s their fault.
I fell into the money trap, and that was my fault, which I accept.
So here&#8217;s the most important lesson that I hope you can understand&#8230;
We all have the power to build the life we want. It may not seem like it at times, but it&#8217;s true.
Granted, it takes a lot of time and energy to build the life and law practice you really want.
Play the long game, not the short game.
Trust your instinct and always aim for the stars. That&#8217;s where the biggest payoffs come from.
<hr />
<h3>Oh, and one more thing</h3>
(as Steve Jobs would say)
Here&#8217;s a quote from a famously successful person that&#8217;s 100% relevant to everything above (my wife Donna sent it to me literally two minutes ago).
<blockquote>&#8220;Build a good name. Keep your name clean.
Don&#8217;t make compromises. Don&#8217;t worry about making a bunch of money or being successful.
Be concerned with doing good work and make the right choices and protect your work.
And if you can build a good name, eventually, that name will be its own currency.&#8221;</blockquote>
That sounds like something Professor Norman would have told us back in my first year of law school.

Practicing law can be an incredibly rewarding profession in so many ways. And it can be financially rewarding. But money isn’t the most important thing. At least not to me....

It’s not just about money

Practicing law can be an incredibly rewarding profession in so many ways. And it can be financially rewarding. But money isn&#8217;t the most important thing. At least not to me....

It&#8217;s not just about money

Later this month (August 26th), I&#8217;ll be participating in a <a href="https://mylawcle.com/products/paperless-law-practice-from-beginning-to-end-including-practice-tips-and-ethics/">webinar on paperless lawyering</a>.
<a href="https://mylawcle.com/products/paperless-law-practice-from-beginning-to-end-including-practice-tips-and-ethics/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-5355 size-large" src="http://ernietheattorney.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/CleanShot-2022-08-01-at-12.58.10@2x-1024x448.png" alt="" width="1024" height="448" srcset="http://ernietheattorney.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/CleanShot-2022-08-01-at-12.58.10@2x-1024x448.png 1024w, http://ernietheattorney.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/CleanShot-2022-08-01-at-12.58.10@2x-300x131.png 300w, http://ernietheattorney.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/CleanShot-2022-08-01-at-12.58.10@2x-768x336.png 768w, http://ernietheattorney.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/CleanShot-2022-08-01-at-12.58.10@2x.png 1382w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a>It&#8217;s being put on by a national CLE company, so it&#8217;s certified for CLE credit in all states (or so I&#8217;m told).
<h2 id="freeaccess">Free Access</h2>
The cost of registration is $245, BUT&#8230;they&#8217;ve given me a special code that gives you FREE access.
If you want to attend for free, then use this code when you register
<blockquote>LawFirmAutopilot</blockquote>
Doing so will give you free access to ALL 4 sessions of the program.
And you&#8217;ll get the aforementioned CLE credit (which is probably the real reason most lawyers would <a href="https://mylawcle.com/products/paperless-law-practice-from-beginning-to-end-including-practice-tips-and-ethics/">sign up to attend</a> <img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/14.0.0/72x72/1f923.png" alt="🤣" class="wp-smiley" style="height: 1em; max-height: 1em;" />)
<h2 id="whatillcover">What I&#8217;ll Cover</h2>
I&#8217;m planning to address the following topics in my session:
<ul>
<li>The benefits of a paperless practice (seen &amp; unseen)</li>
<li>Common myths about paperless law practice (old &amp; new)</li>
<li>The best tools for scanning documents (including smartphone apps)</li>
<li>Digital file management processes (backup &amp; sync)</li>
<li>How to create a paperless practice (and how to continue optimizing)</li>
</ul>
<h3 id="hopetoseeyouinthewebinar">I hope to see you there</h3>
<ul>
<li>To register for the August 26th webinar, <a href="https://mylawcle.com/products/paperless-law-practice-from-beginning-to-end-including-practice-tips-and-ethics/">click here</a>.</li>
</ul>
Remember to use the code &#8216;LawFirmAutopilot&#8217; to get free access to ALL 4 sessions.

Later this month (August 26th), I’ll be participating in a webinar on paperless lawyering. It’s being put on by a national CLE company, so it’s certified for CLE credit in...

Upcoming Paperless Webinar

Taking screenshots on your Mac screen can be incredibly useful. Why? Well, because&#8230;
Screenshots let you capture exactly what you&#8217;re seeing on your screen to share with others (or for your later reference).
<h2>Here are screenshot use cases:</h2>
<ul>
<li>To explain something quickly and easily with an image that would be cumbersome or tedious to explain using words (i.e., for getting tech help from software support or for explaining to someone else how to navigate a piece of software)</li>
<li>To quickly capture a receipt from a purchase order that you just made on your computer</li>
<li>To remind yourself of something you want to follow up on later without having to type out a note</li>
</ul>
<h3>How to Screen capture</h3>
The Mac&#8217;s built-in screenshot tool is really easy to use. Just hold down SHIFT + COMMAND + 4 (all at the same time), and you&#8217;ll see a little crosshair that you can use to drag and select the part of the screen you want to capture.
Maybe I can explain better with a screenshot <img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/14.0.0/72x72/1f447.png" alt="👇" class="wp-smiley" style="height: 1em; max-height: 1em;" />(courtesy of <a href="https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201361">this Apple support page</a>)
<img decoding="async" class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-5351" src="http://ernietheattorney.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/CleanShot-2022-07-31-at-11.21.22@2x-1024x295.png" alt="" width="1024" height="295" srcset="http://ernietheattorney.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/CleanShot-2022-07-31-at-11.21.22@2x-1024x295.png 1024w, http://ernietheattorney.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/CleanShot-2022-07-31-at-11.21.22@2x-300x86.png 300w, http://ernietheattorney.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/CleanShot-2022-07-31-at-11.21.22@2x-768x221.png 768w, http://ernietheattorney.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/CleanShot-2022-07-31-at-11.21.22@2x-1536x443.png 1536w, http://ernietheattorney.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/CleanShot-2022-07-31-at-11.21.22@2x.png 1672w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />A better way to screen capture&#8230;
If you want more options in how you do screen captures, then check out something called <a href="https://cleanshot.com">CleanShotX</a>.
<h2>CleanShot&#8217;s Best Feature</h2>
The ability to quickly blur out sensitive information in a screenshot is super useful in many instances.
For example <img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/14.0.0/72x72/1f447.png" alt="👇" class="wp-smiley" style="height: 1em; max-height: 1em;" />
<img decoding="async" class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-5350" src="http://ernietheattorney.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/CleanShot-2022-07-31-at-11.44.15@2x-1024x146.png" alt="" width="1024" height="146" srcset="http://ernietheattorney.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/CleanShot-2022-07-31-at-11.44.15@2x-1024x146.png 1024w, http://ernietheattorney.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/CleanShot-2022-07-31-at-11.44.15@2x-300x43.png 300w, http://ernietheattorney.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/CleanShot-2022-07-31-at-11.44.15@2x-768x109.png 768w, http://ernietheattorney.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/CleanShot-2022-07-31-at-11.44.15@2x-1536x219.png 1536w, http://ernietheattorney.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/CleanShot-2022-07-31-at-11.44.15@2x-2048x292.png 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />
And there is a function that lets you quickly copy text out of a screenshot with text in it, which is also useful.
There&#8217;s a lot to like about <a href="https://cleanshot.com">CleanShotX</a>.
If you want to learn more about other cool features, <a href="https://youtu.be/FZbICrBKWIU">check out this 2 minute YouTube video</a> from the creators of the software.
Of course, if you don&#8217;t take a lot of screenshots (or need advanced features), then the <a href="https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201361">built-in screenshot function</a> in your Mac is probably enough.

Taking screenshots on your Mac screen can be incredibly useful. Why? Well, because… Screenshots let you capture exactly what you’re seeing on your screen to share with others (or for...

How to Take Screenshots on a Mac Computer

A huge pain point for many attorneys is gathering documents that are needed to handle the matter.
I’m talking about gathering them from:
<ul>
<li>New clients (generally)</li>
<li>Clients in litigation who are required to gather documents for a discovery request</li>
<li>Co-counsel &#8211; various scenarios</li>
<li>Opposing counsel &#8211; ditto</li>
<li>Third parties &#8211; ditto</li>
</ul>
If it’s just a few documents you need you can ask them to be sent by email as an attachment. This is an easy way, but there’s still a big problem we’ll get to in a second.
If it’s a lot of documents you can use an online document sharing portal, which is harder. But even if you get this properly set up there’s still the big problem.
<h2>You Need to Follow Up</h2>
<ul>
<li>What happens when the person doesn&#8217;t send the documents?</li>
<li>Or what if they only send some, but not all?</li>
<li>Or what if they need constant reminding to send the documents?</li>
</ul>
These are real, common problems. And they’re frustrating problems because the document gathering is usual vital.
And the need to gather the documents in a timely fashion is usually vital also.
So, what’s a poor lawyer or law firm staff member to do?
<h2>A Better Solution</h2>
Use an online document gathering service that has a good notification system to nudge people to give you the documents you need in a timely way.
Recently, I was made aware of such a service that’s being used by lawyers who seem exceptionally pleased with the results.
For example, here’s what an attorney in my <a href="https://www.lawfirmautopilot.com/bundles/lawfirm-co-pilot-slack">Co-Pilot coaching program</a> wrote (in a <a href="https://ernietheattorney.net/how-slack-helps-lawyers/">Slack channel</a>) about a new service called <a href="https://pipefile.com/?via=ernest">Pipefile</a>:
<blockquote>It&#8217;s software that has a single purpose, which is to collect documents from clients. It&#8217;s not a client portal. It&#8217;s not a place to store documents. It’s just for collecting documents that attorneys need to get from clients.
It sends automated reminders to clients. And you can customize the emails, which is great for me when I need to send emails to clients in French. I have been using it for the past 3 weeks, and find it to be very powerful. The biggest indication that it&#8217;s incredibly useful is that I would not go back to gathering documents the way I was doing it before.
There&#8217;s no way I&#8217;ll revert back to sending emails manually to clients with a checklist. I think other attorneys might benefit from it. The learning curve is very small.
And their support has been useful. The answered my emails the same day, when I had questions.
If a client doesn&#8217;t provide documents with me using this service, they probably won&#8217;t provide them even if I bug them everyday.</blockquote>
<h2>Pipefile Might Be Worthwhile</h2>
The attorney I just quoted obviously gave Pipefile a strong endorsement. So I decided to try it out myself.
The first thing I appreciated was that to use <a href="https://pipefile.com/?via=ernest">the 14-day free trial</a> you don’t even have to give them a credit card.
So you don’t have to worry that you’ll automatically get dinged for a monthly paid subscription, unless you want to sign up. If you do want to sign up, you&#8217;ll have to affirmatively enter your credit card information to continue using the service after <a href="https://pipefile.com/?via=ernest">the 14 day free trial</a>.
<h2>What it’s like to use Pipefile</h2>
If you want to see what the Pipefile sign up process looks like, <a href="https://www.sweetprocess.com/procedures/ZPYjetEzdx/create-a-pipefile-account-free-14-day-trial-without-needing-to-enter-credit-card/">here’s my step-by-step walkthrough</a>.
And <a href="https://www.sweetprocess.com/procedures/NjJQ1HRKQq/create-new-document-request-in-pipefile/">here’s what the process of creating a document request</a> in Pipefile looks like.
As I often say, the best way to find out if some tech thing is worth using is to use it. There is no risk to trying out <a href="https://pipefile.com/?via=ernest">Pipefile</a>, and a lot of potential benefit if you find it helps you gather documents (not just from clients, by the way).
So, if <a href="https://pipefile.com/?via=ernest">Pipefile</a> seems like it might be useful to you <a href="https://pipefile.com/?via=ernest">check it out</a>.

A huge pain point for many attorneys is gathering documents that are needed to handle the matter. I’m talking about gathering them from: New clients (generally) Clients in litigation who...

A new way for attorneys to gather documents

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Every business-minded lawyer should know how to create SOPs (&#8220;standard operating procedures&#8221;).
SOPs are to a business what a CPU is to a computer. Think of them as the central hub for all the important work in your practice. 
The more SOPs you develop, the better your business will operate. And the happier you&#8217;ll be because lawyers who run their businesses using written SOPs are calmer, more confident, and more successful.
The question is, what software should you use to create your SOPs?
<h3 data-key="27042">Watch the short video below to find out.</h3>
<a href="https://www.loom.com/share/03bfb41f424e4d7a80f3f3106f86f488"><img decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-5509 size-full" src="http://ernietheattorney.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/CleanShot-2023-02-02-at-11.26.49.png" alt="" width="800" height="532" srcset="http://ernietheattorney.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/CleanShot-2023-02-02-at-11.26.49.png 800w, http://ernietheattorney.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/CleanShot-2023-02-02-at-11.26.49-300x200.png 300w, http://ernietheattorney.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/CleanShot-2023-02-02-at-11.26.49-768x511.png 768w, http://ernietheattorney.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/CleanShot-2023-02-02-at-11.26.49-675x450.png 675w" sizes="(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" /></a>

Every business-minded lawyer should know how to create SOPs (“standard operating procedures”). SOPs are to a business what a CPU is to a computer. Think of them as the central...

How to Create SOPs: What Software to Use

You may be a wizard in the courtroom, but understanding how to master time as a lawyer is the key to a long and profitable career.  So much of our days are spent mired in details that it can be hard to find the time you need to get everything done. Understanding good time management is how busy lawyers stay successful lawyers, even as their practice grows. 
To help, we’ve created this handy time management guide for lawyers. We’ll show you how to manage important tasks, reduce less important tasks, and maximize your billable hours. 
<h2>Prioritizing Tasks</h2>
Even the most daunting tasks can be easily managed by determining their priority, and then breaking them into more manageable chunks. While this may seem rudimentary, it’s one of the most overlooked time management tactics for lawyers at every stage in their careers.
If you spend time each day briefly analyzing the tasks on your plate, you can generally determine which needs to be accomplished first. We recommend compiling your day into a to-do list, and then tackling your highest-priority tasks at the time of day when you are your most productive. 
Every lawyer has a slightly different peak productivity schedule. You may have noticed in law school that you worked better in the afternoons than early morning, or vice versa. <a href="https://onlinegrad.syracuse.edu/blog/productivity/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Syracuse University</a> says that you should manage your time around that schedule: “Structure your most intellectually demanding tasks for when you’re feeling the most awake and energetic while leaving smaller managerial tasks for times when your brain is in an autopilot mode.”
We recommend breaking your tasks down into manageable chunks, and then arranging those chunks in a way that maximizes your productivity.
<h2>Time Blocking</h2>
<a href="http://ernietheattorney.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/shutterstock_391739002.jpg"><img decoding="async" class="wp-image-5514 alignright" src="http://ernietheattorney.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/shutterstock_391739002-300x200.jpg" alt="Lawyers at work" width="518" height="345" srcset="http://ernietheattorney.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/shutterstock_391739002-300x200.jpg 300w, http://ernietheattorney.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/shutterstock_391739002-768x512.jpg 768w, http://ernietheattorney.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/shutterstock_391739002-900x600.jpg 900w, http://ernietheattorney.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/shutterstock_391739002-675x450.jpg 675w, http://ernietheattorney.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/shutterstock_391739002.jpg 1000w" sizes="(max-width: 518px) 100vw, 518px" /></a>Most brains work best when they can focus on one task at a time. This can also be true for a specific TYPE of task. For many lawyers, segmenting their day around a specific type of task can be a very effective time management tactic. 
Time blocking is a<a href="https://www.definedlife.com/2023/01/07/time-blocking-how-to-get-started/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> time management technique</a> that involves dividing the day into specific blocks of time and assigning specific tasks to each block. For lawyers, time blocking can help 
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">prioritize tasks</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">manage their workload</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">increase productivity </li>
</ul>
by focusing on one task at a time.
For example, a lawyer might block off the morning for court appearances, the early afternoon for client meetings, and the late afternoon for document review and drafting. Perhaps Thursday afternoons are devoted to phone calls and Friday after lunch to billing.
By structuring their day in this way, the lawyer can ensure that they are making the most efficient use of their time and achieving their goals.
<h2>Planning Ahead</h2>
You wouldn’t walk into court without a plan. And you wouldn’t head into a client meeting without reviewing your case notes. One of the best ways to improve time management skills as a lawyer is to get in the habit of planning your day in advance. 
Try to set aside time every day to plot out the following day. The to-do list we mentioned above can be completed before you shut out the lights on the previous day. While we can’t predict everything, and while the unexpected will definitely occur sometimes, you’ll have more room in your calendar for when it does.
Try to set aside time for long-range planning and goal setting, as well. You know how you’d like your career as a lawyer to go, so make sure you are working on your plan to get there. Time spent on planning will always pay off, whether short or long-term.
<h2>Automating Mundane Tasks</h2>
There are aspects of practice management that you don’t have to complete yourself. If you spend hours scheduling client meetings, for example, <a href="https://www.lawfirmautopilot.com/courses/automated-scheduling" target="_blank" rel="noopener">there are tools</a> that can handle that for you. Automation and outsourcing are some of our favorite time management tips for lawyers.
<a href="https://ernietheattorney.net/about/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Ernie the Attorney</a> can show you how to optimize paperless workflows and utilize automation to allow you to manage your time better. There is a <a href="https://www.lawfirmautopilot.com/collections" target="_blank" rel="noopener">range of programs</a> to choose from to help you master time as a lawyer, decreasing stress and maximizing your enjoyment of life.
<a href="https://ernietheattorney.net/contact/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Learn more today</a>

You may be a wizard in the courtroom, but understanding how to master time as a lawyer is the key to a long and profitable career.  So much of our...

Time Management Tips for Lawyers

Cognitive psychologists Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky created a test of people&#8217;s tendency to get trapped by the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conjunction_fallacy">conjunction fallacy</a>. Here&#8217;s how the puzzle is presented.
<blockquote>Linda is 31 years old, single, outspoken, and bright. She majored in Philosophy. As a student, she was deeply concerned with issues of discrimination and social justice, and she also participated in anti-nuclear demonstrations.</blockquote>
<h3>So, which is more probable?</h3>
<ol>
<li>Linda is a bank teller.</li>
<li>Linda is a bank teller and active in the feminist movement.</li>
</ol>
In the study by Kahneman and Tversky, most people said that number 2 was more probable, but that&#8217;s impossible unless all bank tellers are also active in the feminist movement.
<h3>Why do people choose wrong?</h3>
The fallacy arises because the probability of two events in conjunction is less than either one occurring alone. Take a look at the Venn Diagram below to see a visual representation of this.
<img decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-5524" src="http://ernietheattorney.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/CleanShot-2023-02-10-at-14.42.46@2x-1024x528.png" alt="" width="687" height="354" srcset="http://ernietheattorney.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/CleanShot-2023-02-10-at-14.42.46@2x-1024x528.png 1024w, http://ernietheattorney.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/CleanShot-2023-02-10-at-14.42.46@2x-300x155.png 300w, http://ernietheattorney.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/CleanShot-2023-02-10-at-14.42.46@2x-768x396.png 768w, http://ernietheattorney.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/CleanShot-2023-02-10-at-14.42.46@2x.png 1206w" sizes="(max-width: 687px) 100vw, 687px" />
<h2>The more you know, the more you grow</h2>
You can read more <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conjunction_fallacy">here</a> about the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conjunction_fallacy">conjunction fallacy</a>. Hopefully, you&#8217;re better aware of it now and less likely to succumb to it.
But remember: simply being aware of the possibility of committing a thinking error is not enough to prevent you from making the error.

Cognitive psychologists Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky created a test of people’s tendency to get trapped by the conjunction fallacy. Here’s how the puzzle is presented. Linda is 31 years...

Linda the Teller

Email efficiency for lawyers may just boil down to using it less — which is not a crazy idea, by the way.
Cal Newport has solid recommendations about curtailing its use in his excellent book &#8220;<a class="email-link" href="https://www.amazon.com/World-Without-Email-Reimagining-Communication-ebook/dp/B08BKSJX1M/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=A+World+Without+Email&amp;qid=1675810832&amp;sr=8-1" data-key="182"> A World Without Email </a>.&#8221; 
Recently, however, I realized there’s a gap in his advice. 
Before I get to the gap, let me say Newport is…
<h2 data-key="189">Right About One Thing</h2>
Email is a solution for asynchronous communication. And there are other better ways to do what we tend to use email for.
Unfortunately, Newport fails to offer the best solution for asynchronous communication. He acknowledges we often need to do back-and-forth conversations.
But he’s not ruthless enough about leveraging asynchronicity.
<h2 data-key="197">Asynchronous = Frictionless Freedom</h2>
So what are other ways to replace email? Newport recommends:
<ul class="unordered_list" data-key="201">
<li class="list_item" data-key="202">Slack or Teams</li>
<li class="list_item" data-key="205">Trello or other Kanban-style tools</li>
<li class="list_item" data-key="208">Weekly “office hours”</li>
</ul>
I’m sorry: this advice is misguided. Slack and Teams have too much friction.
The same goes for Trello.
And office hours? No, definitely not.
<h2 data-key="217">What&#8217;s The Better Way?</h2>
We need to use voice-driven asynchronicity.
Meaning… 
You blabber into your phone, and a voice message goes to the recipient. This is just like an email but without having to type text. 
You&#8217;re just sending a voice message.
I found the ideal tool for this, which, perhaps, Cal Newport doesn’t know about.
<h2 data-key="229">Voxer is the ideal tool</h2>
Voxer is the perfect tool for using your voice to send messages back and forth with anyone with a smartphone.
<h3>Its Special Benefits</h3>
<ul class="unordered_list" data-key="235">
<li class="list_item" data-key="236">Voxer is the only tool that allows you to send both audio and text messages</li>
<li class="list_item" data-key="239">It allows group messaging, which works well</li>
<li class="list_item" data-key="242">Voxer has good encryption, which is important</li>
<li class="list_item" data-key="245">It allows you to broadcast to up to 1,000 people who cannot respond (good for alerts that don&#8217;t require a conversation)</li>
<li class="list_item" data-key="248">Voxer is robust (e.g., it will continuously try to send and receive messages when it has the signal —which other tools like iMessage don’t). </li>
<li class="list_item" data-key="251">With Voxer, you&#8217;ll never have to manually resend a message that failed to deliver because you were offline when you recorded the message.</li>
<li class="list_item" data-key="254">You can download all your messages and listen to them offline, and respond if you&#8217;re offline and know they&#8217;ll be sent when your phone is connected again to the internet</li>
</ul>
<h3 data-key="257">What Voxer Costs</h3>
You can start using <a class="email-link" href="https://www.voxer.com/plans-and-pricing" data-key="261">Voxer </a> for free and maybe never have to pay if you don&#8217;t want the advanced features.
The Pro plan is just $3.99/month, but you won&#8217;t need that until you really start using Voxer. And even then, you might not need the Pro plan.
<h3 data-key="266">Use it to Understand It</h3>
The barrier to insight is not using the app. Once you start using it, you&#8217;ll inevitably have an &#8220;ah ha&#8221; moment where you realize that Voxer is the key to frictionless communications.
Who do you want to use it with? How about:
<ul class="unordered_list" data-key="272">
<li class="list_item" data-key="273">Team members or colleagues</li>
<li class="list_item" data-key="276">Clients</li>
<li class="list_item" data-key="279">Family members</li>
<li class="list_item" data-key="282">Anyone who&#8217;s already using it</li>
</ul>
In short, it’s a powerful tool that you at least need to check out and try with someone who is on Voxer (more about that in a moment)
<h3 data-key="287">Listen to Ari Meisel</h3>
Productivity guru Ari Meisel swears by Voxer (that&#8217;s how I learned about it). Check out <a class="email-link" href="https://lessdoing.com/podcast/451-why-voxer/" data-key="291"> his podcast episode</a>, where he explains why it&#8217;s so powerful and useful.
Among the things you&#8217;ll learn:
<ul class="unordered_list" data-key="296">
<li class="list_item" data-key="297">Voxer is how Meisel does 99% of his communications with colleagues, clients, friends, and family.</li>
<li class="list_item" data-key="300">He doesn’t have to think about what time zone people are in or their schedule.</li>
<li class="list_item" data-key="303">He no longer has scheduled calls on his calendar because it&#8217;s unnecessary.</li>
</ul>
<h2 data-key="306">Voxer is an 80/20 Lever</h2>
If ever there was <a class="email-link" href="https://ernietheattorney.net/approach/80-20-principle/" data-key="310"> an 80/20 opportunity </a> for getting a lot more done with less hassle, Voxer is it.
I hope you try it out, and if you do, report back to let me know how it goes.
And if you want to practice with someone on Voxer, you can try it with me. Just send a message to me via <a class="email-link" href="https://www.voxer.com/" data-key="317"> Voxer </a> (my username is ‘ernieattorney’ — or search for &#8220;Ernest Svenson&#8221; and you’ll find me). 
I&#8217;d seriously love to hear from you.

Email efficiency for lawyers may just boil down to using it less — which is not a crazy idea, by the way. Cal Newport has solid recommendations about curtailing its...

Email Efficiency for Lawyers

<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Munger" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Charlie Munger</a> is the first lawyer I knew who carefully studied “standard thinking errors.” He talked about them in his famous speech on <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20151004200748/http://law.indiana.edu/instruction/profession/doc/16_1.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">The Psychology of Human Misjudgment</a>.
My <a href="https://ernietheattorney.net/linda-the-teller/">last post</a> offered a well-known test of one type of thinking error known as the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conjunction_fallacy" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">conjunction fallacy</a>. As I write this, 162 people had taken the test and 36% fell prey to the conjunction fallacy.
<img decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-5531 size-medium" src="http://ernietheattorney.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/IMG_2169-275x300.jpg" alt="" width="275" height="300" srcset="http://ernietheattorney.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/IMG_2169-275x300.jpg 275w, http://ernietheattorney.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/IMG_2169-938x1024.jpg 938w, http://ernietheattorney.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/IMG_2169-768x838.jpg 768w, http://ernietheattorney.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/IMG_2169.jpg 1179w" sizes="(max-width: 275px) 100vw, 275px" />
When the original test was given (obviously in a more rigorous setting), more people were supposedly fooled.
<h2 data-pm-slice="1 1 []">Confidence can be dangerous</h2>
Merely being aware of the existence of so-called thinking errors is not enough to prevent oneself from falling prey to them in the real world.
In other words, it’s one thing to know about the Linda problem and “get the answer right” (as many people who took the test in <a href="https://www.the8020lawyer.com/p/regarding-linda" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">my last email</a> did). But it’s another to face a real world scenario and avoid making the common thinking error.
<h3>How can we avoid error?</h3>
Munger advises becoming familiar with as many thinking errors as possible. If you want to follow his advice, start with this excellent book:
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00555X8OA/ernieattorney-20" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Thinking, Fast and Slow</a>, by Daniel Kahneman (a Nobel prize-winning scientist and the co-author of the aforementioned “Linda test”)</li>
</ul>
Kahneman’s book drives home that it’s easier to recognize other people’s mistakes than our own. This is a big reason we tend to be overly confident in our opinions.
Or as the eminently clear thinker Bertrand Russell once observed…
<blockquote>“The fundamental cause of the trouble in the modern world today is that the stupid are cocksure while the intelligent are full of doubt.”</blockquote>
Important takeway: People who believe they’re immune from thinking errors, are more likely to make mistakes.
<h2>Building Immunity Takes Time</h2>
If you want to immunize yourself from thinking errors you need to do more than read about them and memorize a list.
You need to assimilate and internalize, and this takes time. You need reps out there in the real world, where the proverbial rubber meets the road.
It’s important to realize there are many types of thinking errors. And, as <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20151004200748/http://law.indiana.edu/instruction/profession/doc/16_1.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Munger points out</a>, they frequently meld together —so you’ll often be dealing with more than one at a time.
For example, in addition to the conjunction fallacy in the <a href="https://www.the8020lawyer.com/p/regarding-linda" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Linda problem</a> there might other cognitive biases might be coming into play.
<h2>Stories can lead you astray</h2>
The <a href="https://fs.blog/narrative-fallacy/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">narrative fallacy</a> is also possibly why people get tripped up by the <a href="https://www.the8020lawyer.com/p/regarding-linda" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Linda problem</a>.
The narrative fallacy is about our tendency to create stories with simplistic cause-and-effect explanations for otherwise random details and events. In short, our brains are wired to create all kinds of reflexive stories.
So let’s re-read this passage again
<blockquote>Linda is 31 years old, single, outspoken, and bright. She majored in Philosophy. As a student, she was deeply concerned with issues of discrimination and social justice, and she also participated in anti-nuclear demonstrations.</blockquote>
After many people read that passage, they’re itching to use that information to create a short story. Or to find one in a short sentence this this one.
<blockquote>“Linda is a bank teller and active in the feminist movement”</blockquote>
Why not jump to the conclusion that Linda is a feminist after reading all that preamble?
And is there an answer that allows us to do that? Why, yes there is. So let’s pick that one.
<h3>Short Stories are Fun</h3>
Fun fact: we’re capable of fabricating interesting stories that are also incredibly short. In fact, Hemingway famously claimed the passage below was the greatest short story ever written.
Note that it has only six words.
<blockquote>For Sale. 
Baby shoes. 
Never worn.</blockquote>
The first four words aren’t enough for a story. But add those last two words, and voilà…
Your brain instantly fabricates reasons why the shoes were never worn (e.g. the baby died before it could wear them etc.)
<h3>Why we like stories so much</h3>
We tend to lapse into the <a href="https://fs.blog/narrative-fallacy/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">narrative fallacy</a> because our brains have a primitive need to make sense of the uncertain and often unpredictable world.
We can’t eliminate uncertainty, but we definitely can do a better job of dealing with it.
<h2>The Simplistic Binary World</h2>
We shouldn’t deal with uncertainty by oversimplifying. Too many people default to simplistic binary thinking (e.g. characterizing things in terms of right and wrong, or good and bad).
To avoid falling prey to simplistic binary thinking, I recommend reading:
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B074DG9LQF/ernieattorney-20" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Thinking in Bets: Making Smarter Decisions When You Don&#8217;t Have All the Facts</a>, by Annie Duke</li>
</ul>
Duke’s book will help you learn to think in terms of probabilities when evaluating outcomes, which will help you make better decisions. By the way, her book is not only fascinating, but also exceptionally well written.
And, if you haven’t done so already, subscribe to her Substack newsletter, which is also called <a href="https://annieduke.substack.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Thinking In Bets</a>.
(In fact, many of <a href="https://www.the8020lawyer.com">my Substack newsletter subscribers</a> were referred to me by her <a href="https://annieduke.substack.com/recommendations" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">public recommendation of my newsletter</a>. Thanks Annie!)
Okay, let’s end with one last cognitive glitch…
<h2>Beware of Availability Bias</h2>
The ease with which we remember something often leads us to misjudge the probability of an event happening.
<h4>Let me give you a real-world example.</h4>
In April 2018, a Southwest Airlines passenger was killed when she was <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southwest_Airlines_Flight_1380" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">partially sucked out of the cabin</a> at 30,000 feet. She was sitting in row 14, next to the window, where debris stuck the plane.
Shortly afterward, I was taking with a well-educated, intelligent woman who has travels extensively around the world and owns homes in several cities.
Upon hearing about the Southwest accident she exclaimed that she would “never sit in the window seat of a plane again.”
To her this was a perfectly sensible conclusion. But, obviously, the probabilities of having the same misfortune as the poor woman on the Southwest flight would be minuscule. So why make such a ludicrous statement?
Because the recent news event was sensational and easily came to her mind.
<h3>Think Differently</h3>
Is this a good way to make decisions? Definitely not.
And yet well-educated, intelligent people fall prey to some form of availability bias all the time. One solution for avoiding this problem is to pay as little attention to sensational “news” as possible.
Another trick is to remind yourself of Daniel Kahneman’s insight that “nothing is as important as you think it is whileyou’re thinking about it.”
<h3>Reason From First Principles</h3>
Finally, consider what <a href="https://www.newscientist.com/people/richard-feynman/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Nobel prize-winning</a> scientist Richard Feynman famously said:
<blockquote>“The first principle is not to fool yourself – and you are the easiest person to fool.”</blockquote>
The first principle to realize and internalize is this: the human brain is hard-wired to make predictable misjudgments in many situations.
<h2>Conclusion</h2>
If you don’t know about those misjudgments, you’re more likely to fall prey to them. Of course, learning about these misjudgments is no picnic. In fact, if you try you’ll probably feel uncomfortable at times.
But if knowledge was easy to acquire&#8230;well, think about it.

Charlie Munger is the first lawyer I knew who carefully studied “standard thinking errors.” He talked about them in his famous speech on The Psychology of Human Misjudgment. My last...

An Introduction to “Standard Thinking Errors”

Law firms hold sensitive information about clients and their legal matters, making them a prime target for cyber attacks. As technology continues to play a larger role in the legal industry, it is essential for law firms to understand the importance of cyber security for lawyers and take steps to protect their clients&#8217; information.
<h2>Cybersecurity for Law Firms: The Risks:</h2>
Cyber criminals are constantly looking for new ways to gain access to sensitive information, and law firms are no exception. Common cyber threats include:
<ul>
<li>Phishing Scams: Phishing scams are emails or messages that appear to be from a legitimate source but are actually from cyber criminals attempting to steal sensitive information. Law firms are particularly vulnerable to phishing scams because they often deal with sensitive financial information.</li>
<li>Malware Attacks: Malware attacks are a type of cyber attack that involves the installation of malicious software on a computer or network. This software can steal sensitive information, damage files, or allow cyber criminals to gain control of the affected system.</li>
<li>Data Breaches: Data breaches occur when cyber criminals gain unauthorized access to sensitive information. Law firms often store a large amount of confidential client information, making them a prime target for data breaches.</li>
<li>Ransomware Attacks: Ransomware attacks are a type of cyber attack in which cyber criminals encrypt sensitive files and demand a ransom payment in exchange for the decryption key. Law firms may be particularly vulnerable to ransomware attacks because they often store large amounts of confidential client information that is critical to their operations.</li>
<li>Insider Threats: Insider threats refer to cyber attacks that are carried out by current or former employees of the firm. Insider threats can be particularly dangerous because they have access to sensitive information and may be able to bypass security measures.</li>
<li>Third-Party Risks: Law firms often rely on third-party providers for services such as cloud storage, email, and other technology services. These third-party providers can be vulnerable to cyber attacks, which can result in a breach of the law firm&#8217;s sensitive information.</li>
</ul>
<h2>Lawyers’ Cyber Security Best Practices:</h2>
To protect against cyber attacks, law firms should implement best practices in cyber security, including:
<ul>
<li>Strong passwords: Require employees to use strong passwords and regularly change them. Data security begins with awareness training, and all those who work in the law firm need to be trained on good password practices to avoid security risks and giving access to sensitive data.</li>
<li>Anti-virus software: Install and regularly update anti-virus software to protect against malware attacks.</li>
<li>Firewalls: Implement firewalls to prevent unauthorized access to the firm&#8217;s network.</li>
<li>Backups: Regularly backup important client data to ensure that it can be recovered in the event of a data breach.</li>
<li>Employee training: Provide regular training to employees on cyber security best practices and how to recognize and respond to cyber threats.</li>
<li>Incident Response Plan: Every law firm needs to have an incident response plan in place in case of a security breach. While risk assessment and training should help to prevent breaches, there are thousands of stories of one employee making one small mistake and giving access to sensitive information. A plan for handling it must be in place.</li>
</ul>
<h2>Federal and State Regulations:</h2>
Law firms must also comply with relevant regulations, such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). These regulations outline the steps that must be taken to protect sensitive information and impose penalties for non-compliance.
<h3>Third-Party Providers:</h3>
Law firms should also consider the security practices of third-party providers, such as cloud storage providers or email providers. When selecting a provider, it is important to consider their security measures and ensure that they are in compliance with relevant regulations.
<h2>Learn What You Need to Do to Protect Your Law Firm Further</h2>
Cyber security is a critical concern for law firms, and it is essential to take steps to protect sensitive client information. By implementing best practices, complying with regulations, getting cybersecurity training for lawyers, and carefully selecting third-party providers, law firms can ensure that their clients&#8217; information is secure.
<h2>Learn What Law Firms Need To Know About Cyber Security</h2>
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Law firms hold sensitive information about clients and their legal matters, making them a prime target for cyber attacks. As technology continues to play a larger role in the legal...

Cyber Security Awareness for Lawyers

As a business owner, as many lawyers are, you may have heard about the 80/20 principle, also known as the Pareto principle. This principle states that 80% of your results come from 20% of your efforts. In other words, a small portion of your actions generates the majority of your outcomes. Understanding and utilizing this principle can help you grow your law business more effectively.
<h2>Understanding the 80/20 Principle</h2>
The 80/20 principle was first articulated by <a href="https://ernietheattorney.net/strategic-prioritization/">Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto</a> in the late 19th century. He noticed that 80% of the land in Italy was owned by 20% of the population. Over time, this observation has been applied to various fields, including business.
In business, the 80/20 principle can be used to identify the most critical 20% of your customers, products, or services that generate 80% of your revenue. By focusing your efforts on these vital few, you can optimize your resources and achieve better results.
In other words, <a href="https://ernietheattorney.net/strategic-prioritization/">as we’ve explained before</a>, &#8220;When you can identify the 80% of things that make little or no difference in getting big results, then you can reallocate your effort, time, energy, and investment capital away from those things and redirect them toward the 20% of things that matter a lot.&#8221;
<h2>Applying the 80/20 Principle in Your Business</h2>
To use the 80/20 principle in your business, you need to follow these steps:
<h3>Step 1: Identify Your Key Metrics</h3>
The first step is to identify the key metrics that drive your business. These metrics could be revenue, profit, client acquisition, conversion rates, or any other relevant data point. Once you have identified your key metrics, you can use them to analyze your law business and identify the most important areas.
<h3>Step 2: Analyze Your Data</h3>
The next step is to analyze your data to identify the most critical 20%. For example, you may find that 20% of your clients generate 80% of your revenue or that 20% of your caseload generates 80% of your personal satisfaction. By identifying these critical areas, you can focus your resources and efforts on them.
<h3>Step 3: Optimize Your Resources</h3>
Once you have identified the critical 20%, you can optimize your resources to achieve better results. For example, you may want to focus your marketing efforts on your top 20% of client or caseload types. You may also want to streamline your operations to improve efficiency in these critical areas. This may involve finding other ways to manage the remaining 80% of the workload, such as outsourcing or automation.
<h3>Step 4: Monitor Your Results</h3>
Finally, you need to monitor your results and adjust your strategy as needed. By regularly reviewing your data and adjusting your approach, you can continually optimize your practice and achieve better results over time.
<a href="http://ernietheattorney.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/a-man-standing-80-20-principle.jpg"><img decoding="async" class="alignnone wp-image-5575 size-full" src="http://ernietheattorney.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/a-man-standing-80-20-principle.jpg" alt="A man standing next to a sign depicting the 80/20 principle" width="1200" height="800" srcset="http://ernietheattorney.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/a-man-standing-80-20-principle.jpg 1200w, http://ernietheattorney.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/a-man-standing-80-20-principle-300x200.jpg 300w, http://ernietheattorney.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/a-man-standing-80-20-principle-1024x683.jpg 1024w, http://ernietheattorney.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/a-man-standing-80-20-principle-768x512.jpg 768w, http://ernietheattorney.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/a-man-standing-80-20-principle-900x600.jpg 900w, http://ernietheattorney.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/a-man-standing-80-20-principle-675x450.jpg 675w" sizes="(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px" /></a>
<h2>Examples of Using the 80/20 Principle in Business</h2>
Here are some examples of how you can use the 80/20 principle in your business:
<h3>Example 1: Client Acquisition</h3>
If you find that 20% of your clients generate 80% of your revenue, you can focus your acquisition efforts on this critical 20%. You can also identify the characteristics of these clients and use this information to target similar customers in your marketing campaigns.
<h3>Example 2: Case Type Optimization</h3>
If you find that 20% of your cases generate 80% of your profits, or generate 80% of your personal satisfaction, you can focus your efforts on optimizing these products. For example, if you find that representing accident victims is particularly rewarding, but that this isn’t the primary focus of your practice, you may want to make a shift.
<h3>Example 3: Time Management</h3>
If you find that 20% of your tasks generate 80% of your results, you can prioritize these tasks and delegate or outsource less critical tasks. This approach can help you manage your time more effectively and achieve better results.
And the best thing about the 80/20 principle is that it can apply across <a href="https://www.investopedia.com/terms/1/80-20-rule.asp">many aspects of your life</a>–from business to relationships to investments.
To learn more about using the 80/20 principle in your law practice, <a href="https://www.the8020lawyer.com/">sign up for our newsletter</a>, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1857886844/ernieattorney-20">read this incredible book,</a> or <a href="https://ernietheattorney.net/#lawpractice">contact us for more information.</a>

As a business owner, as many lawyers are, you may have heard about the 80/20 principle, also known as the Pareto principle. This principle states that 80% of your results...

How to Use the 80/20 Principle To Grow Your Business

As a lawyer, you want to help clients. One way to do this is with Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs).
SOPs can make your work smoother, with fewer mistakes and faster results.
This post explains how SOPs can help you become a better lawyer.
<h2>What are Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs)?</h2>
Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) tell you how to do something in a very specific way. They help make sure that the work done is always at the same high quality.
SOPs can be used in any type or work, but they are especially helpful when working in the legal profession where it&#8217;s important to be accurate and pay attention to details.
<h2>Benefits of implementing SOPs in a law practice.</h2>
SOPs will improve any type of law practice. Using SOPs ensures that all work is done at the highest level and without mistakes. SOPs make it easier to delegate work (including via <a href="https://ernietheattorney.net/outsourcing-effectively/">outsourcing</a>). And they help save time and money, especially when training someone new.
But, most of all, SOPs ensure everyone does their best work. And it makes sure they are aware of the latest recommendations for handling workflows.
Obviously, all of these benefits inure the benefit of the firm&#8217;s clients as well.
<h2>How to create effective SOPs for your law practice.</h2>
To create good SOPs for your law office, think carefully and pay attention to the details of how work is done.
List all of the important tasks that recur often. Break each one down into small steps.
Write down each step with words that are easy to understand and add images or screenshots if it helps. Review your SOPs often to ensure they are up-to-date and working optimally.
<h2>Examples of SOPs for different areas of law practice.</h2>
SOPs should be used in every area of your practice. For client intake, your written procedures might cover how to have a meeting with the client and how best to get information from them.
For the firm&#8217;s case management, SOPs might tell people what to do when opening a new matter.
For billing and invoicing, there could be directions about how to create bills and how to receive and process payments.
Lastly, for document management, there should be SOPs about organizing files in the right way to keep data safe and private.
<h2>Tips for maintaining and updating SOPs.</h2>
It&#8217;s important to organize the SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures) you use in your law practice. You need a good tool for doing this (<a href="https://ernietheattorney.net/best-sop-tool-for-solo-small-firm-attorneys">this is the best one</a> for solo &amp; small firm attorneys).
You should hold regular meetings with your team to discuss the SOPS that should be updated or changed. Keep track of any changes that need to be made and notify everyone as soon as possible.
Doing this is guaranteed to help your law practice run better and smoother.
If you want to learn more about creating systems and SOPs, check out the <a href="https://ernietheattorney.net/systems-workshop/">Law Firm Systems Workshop</a>.

As a lawyer, you want to help clients. One way to do this is with Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs). SOPs can make your work smoother, with fewer mistakes and faster...

Standard Operating Procedures for Lawyers

In today&#8217;s business world, remote work and virtual collaboration have become more prevalent than ever before. With teams scattered in different locations, often across different time zones, law firms need a reliable platform to unify their workflows and improve communication.
<h2>SweetProcess is the best tool</h2>
<a href="https://www.sweetprocess.com">SweetProcess</a> is the ultimate solution for businesses that need to streamline their operations while empowering remote teams.
SweetProcess is an affordable cloud-based tool specifically designed to assist firms in creating, storing, and managing their <a href="https://ernietheattorney.net/standard-operating-procedures-for-lawyers/">Standard Operating Procedures</a> (SOPs).
SOPs are essential for effective knowledge management and workflow optimization. By offering a centralized location for all your SOPs, SweetProcess ensures that anyone working remotely (or anywhere) can quickly find and access the information they need to do their work flawlessly.
<h2>The key benefits include</h2>
<h3>1. Streamlined Workflows</h3>
SweetProcess facilitates seamless collaboration by providing remote workers with easy access to up-to-date SOPs, thereby reducing errors and redundancies in their tasks.
<h3>2. Organized Knowledge Management</h3>
No more sifting through heaps of scattered files and documents. SweetProcess helps centralize your company&#8217;s SOPs, making it simpler for team members to locate pertinent information and stay on track with their tasks.
<h3>3. Increased Efficiency</h3>
With SweetProcess, your remote teams can access crucial information in real time. The easy-to-navigate platform saves time and ensures tasks are done correctly, increasing overall productivity.
<h3>4. Improved Compliance</h3>
SweetProcess ensures that all relevant SOPs are documented and readily accessible. This not only encourages adherence to company policies but also streamlines audits or inspections, as all necessary information is easily available.
<h3>5. Enhanced Collaboration</h3>
SweetProcess fosters team collaboration by promoting information sharing, providing greater transparency, and enabling remote workers to stay connected with their colleagues.
<h3>6. Affordability</h3>
There are other tools for documenting SOPs, but all of them wind up being more expensive for solo &amp; small-firm attorneys.
I made a super short video walking through a comparison of SweetProcess to another popular SOP tool to explain why SweetProcess is more affordable for solo &amp; small-firm attorneys
<h2><a href="https://www.loom.com/share/03bfb41f424e4d7a80f3f3106f86f488" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-5611 size-large" src="http://ernietheattorney.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/CleanShot-2023-04-01-at-11.07.53@2x-1024x543.png" alt="" width="1024" height="543" srcset="http://ernietheattorney.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/CleanShot-2023-04-01-at-11.07.53@2x-1024x543.png 1024w, http://ernietheattorney.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/CleanShot-2023-04-01-at-11.07.53@2x-300x159.png 300w, http://ernietheattorney.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/CleanShot-2023-04-01-at-11.07.53@2x-768x408.png 768w, http://ernietheattorney.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/CleanShot-2023-04-01-at-11.07.53@2x-1536x815.png 1536w, http://ernietheattorney.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/CleanShot-2023-04-01-at-11.07.53@2x.png 1926w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a>Lawyers love SweetProcess</h2>
The best way to experience the power of SweetProcess is to use it yourself or learn to use it in the <a href="https://ernietheattorney.net/systems-workshop/">Law Firm Systems Workshop</a>.
Here&#8217;s how one lawyer described his experience.
<h2><img decoding="async" class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-5609" src="http://ernietheattorney.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/CleanShot-2023-04-01-at-10.48.23@2x-1024x445.png" alt="" width="1024" height="445" srcset="http://ernietheattorney.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/CleanShot-2023-04-01-at-10.48.23@2x-1024x445.png 1024w, http://ernietheattorney.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/CleanShot-2023-04-01-at-10.48.23@2x-300x130.png 300w, http://ernietheattorney.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/CleanShot-2023-04-01-at-10.48.23@2x-768x334.png 768w, http://ernietheattorney.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/CleanShot-2023-04-01-at-10.48.23@2x.png 1422w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></h2>
By using SweetProcess in your firm&#8217;s operations, you&#8217;ll effectively bridge the insidious gaps created by remote work.
You&#8217;ll experience improved collaboration and ensure efficiency as you improve your documentation processes.
No matter the size of your firm, SweetProcess is the perfect tool to enable you to take your practice to the next level.
<h2>Try it yourself for free</h2>
If you want to get a <a href="https://www.sweetprocess.com/ernie">28-day free trial</a> (usually, it&#8217;s only 14 days), <a href="https://www.sweetprocess.com/ernie">click this link</a>. And you&#8217;ll also get a steep discount on the yearly price if you decide to keep using it.

In today’s business world, remote work and virtual collaboration have become more prevalent than ever before. With teams scattered in different locations, often across different time zones, law firms need...

Best SOP tool for Solo & Small Firm Attorneys

The key to getting more work done well is documenting how each task should be carried out, step-by-step.
Here are the steps to use to effectively document any workflow or procedure.
<h2>Overview of key steps</h2>
<ol>
<li>Identify the purpose and scope of the procedure.</li>
<li>Outline the steps or actions involved.</li>
<li>Review, proofread, and revise.</li>
<li>Get feedback to identify areas where the procedure may need further clarification or improvement.</li>
<li>Keep refining the procedure as it is continually being used.</li>
</ol>
Let&#8217;s delve into how this process unfolds in a typical solo or small law firm practice.
<h2>Pick a procedure to document</h2>
Ideally, you want to start with a workflow that is:
<ul>
<li>Repetitive</li>
<li>Significant</li>
<li>Has concrete action-steps</li>
<li>Fairly short &amp; simple</li>
</ul>
If it&#8217;s repetitive, that will allow you to get feedback more quickly. And it will make the documentation more valuable because it&#8217;s being used more often.
Documenting a significant workflow will motivate you more than trying to document a simple but trivial workflow. And yet, you must be careful not to reach for the stars too quickly.
<h2>Start with a simple outline</h2>
Start by brainstorming the workflow in outline form, using bullet points.
<h3>An example</h3>
<ul>
<li>Set up new client records in practice management software</li>
<li>Create a new record for the client</li>
<li>Insert contact information</li>
<li>Associate client record with existing matter</li>
<li>If it&#8217;s a new matter, create a new matter and then associate the client record</li>
<li>Add important deadlines or milestones for the matter</li>
</ul>
After brainstorming, you need to consider another dimension of doing work.
<h2>Gathering Resources</h2>
In many cases, a workflow will require the person doing it to gather resources to do the work.
For example, if you&#8217;re asking someone to login to your website to post content or make changes, they will need to have:
<ol>
<li>The URL of the website admin login</li>
<li>The username to use to log in</li>
<li>A valid password for that username</li>
</ol>
Or they may need access to documents, which hopefully are in digital form because that makes it easy to share a link to the documents. This means that links can also be resources.
<h2>Example of a good SOP</h2>
If you want to see what a well-documented procedure looks like for <a href="https://www.sweetprocess.com/procedures/qN7rAsa5Qj/evaluating-prospective-clients/">evaluating prospective clients</a>, <a href="https://www.sweetprocess.com/procedures/qN7rAsa5Qj/evaluating-prospective-clients/">click here</a>.
That procedure was documented using a tool called SweetProcess, which is <a href="https://ernietheattorney.net/best-sop-tool-for-solo-small-firm-attorneys">the best SOP tool</a> for solo &amp; small-firm attorneys for reasons <a href="https://ernietheattorney.net/best-sop-tool-for-solo-small-firm-attorneys">explained here</a>.
<h2>Bottom line</h2>
Figuring out the optimal documentation for a workflow involves more than just giving people simple steps for doing the task.
You also need to consider what resources are needed and how best to provide them to the person doing the task.
If you want to learn more about documenting workflows and creating systems, check out my <a href="https://ernietheattorney.net/systems-workshop/">Law Firm Systems Workshop</a>.

The key to getting more work done well is documenting how each task should be carried out, step-by-step. Here are the steps to use to effectively document any workflow or...

How to Document a Procedure (SOP)

The new A.I. chatbot called ChatGPT gained immense popularity, reaching 100 million users in two months. This is faster than social media giants like TikTok and Instagram, which took nine months and two and a half years, respectively, to reach the same milestone. And OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, is now among the top 50 most visited websites worldwide.
So it appears that ChatGPT will be the most radical technology shift in the past few decades. Naturally, many lawyers are curious about what this means for them and their practices.
Some lawyers are wondering about the basics and want to know&#8230;
<h2>What is ChatGPT?</h2>
The short answer is: ChatGPT is a platform that allows you to have a conversation with an AI robot. It&#8217;s free, easy to use, and incredibly powerful.
At this point, a lot of people are aware of this. So, the next question many lawyers have is&#8230;
<h2>What can ChatGPT do?</h2>
The short answer is you can ask ChatGPT many things, including:
<ul>
<li>write articles or blog posts</li>
<li>summarize an important concept (e.g. <a href="https://shareg.pt/tUuVlm5" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Right of First Refusal</a>)</li>
<li>draft contracts or petitions</li>
<li>write emails or revise them to make them easier to read</li>
<li>write questions for an interview</li>
<li>create a YouTube script, and more</li>
</ul>
<h2>How does one use ChatGPT?</h2>
ChatGPT is easy to use. Just type in a request on the <a href="https://chat.openai.com/auth/login" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">ChatGPT website</a>. For example, you can ask ChatGPT to write a poem, create Twitter posts, or summarize a popular book.
When you start using ChatGPT, you’ll discover it gives surprisingly-accurate responses. However, it takes time to produce its responses, as you can see here.
<div style="position: relative; padding-bottom: 62.5%; height: 0;"><iframe style="position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%;" src="https://www.loom.com/embed/1a673c633fb54700ad2859c03a8cd89e" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></div>
&nbsp;
<h2 data-pm-slice="1 1 []">How can lawyers use ChatGPT?</h2>
While ChatGPT is still in an early development phase, lawyers naturally ask how ChatGPT can help them.
ChatGPT presents many valuable opportunities for lawyers, such as creating legal marketing content or drafting legal documents. The potential automation benefits are vast.
Furthermore, companies like <a href="https://www.spellbook.legal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Spellbook</a> and <a href="https://clearbrief.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Clearbrief</a> are using GPT technology to create law-specific applications that are garnering a lot of attention. You’ll get to see a demonstration of Spellbook in a later lesson.
Although things are rapidly developing, it’s clear already that AI will have an increasingly big role in the legal system.
<h2>Challenges ChatGPT poses for lawyers</h2>
Just as there were problems when using cameras and electronics in courtrooms, ChatGPT will face issues too. This technology is still being developed and even though it can give accurate answers, ChatGPT isn&#8217;t a human lawyer and isn&#8217;t always right. So, for now, it won&#8217;t replace lawyers.
Also, it&#8217;s important to remember that a lawyer&#8217;s ethical duties are always more important than using automation tools like ChatGPT.
For instance, there exists the potential for client confidentiality to be jeopardized when transmitting data between the user and the ChatGPT platform. Consequently, it is imperative that legal practitioners thoroughly acquaint themselves with ChatGPT&#8217;s <a href="https://openai.com/privacy/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Privacy Policy</a> and <a href="https://openai.com/terms/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Terms of Use</a> before using the service in conjunction with sensitive client-related data.
<h2>Conclusion</h2>
ChatGPT is a tool that lets you talk with an AI robot. As you chat more with it, you&#8217;ll start to see just how amazing its abilities are. This will help you figure out how to use its power to help you in different ways.
<h2>Want to Learn More?</h2>
If you want to learn more, <a href="https://lawfirm-autopilot.ck.page/8856e896ff">click here to sign up for a free email course</a> specifically designed to help lawyers learn to use ChatGPT in their practices.

The new A.I. chatbot called ChatGPT gained immense popularity, reaching 100 million users in two months. This is faster than social media giants like TikTok and Instagram, which took nine...

ChatGPT for Lawyers: Leverage it or Become Irrelevant & Useless

What if there was a way to get more done, and to get it done more effectively? Lawyers who know how to use the 80/20 principle in their business practices can do exactly that.
Let’s take a look at how you can apply the 80/20 rule to marketing for your practice, helping you attract and retain clients, differentiate yourself from competitors, and increase your revenue.
<h2>Why marketing matters for lawyers</h2>
In today&#8217;s competitive legal market, it is no longer enough for lawyers to simply rely on word-of-mouth referrals. A well-designed marketing plan can help lawyers reach a wider audience, establish their expertise in specific areas of law, and create a positive image and reputation for their law firm.
Good marketing allows lawyers to build and maintain relationships with existing clients, who may require legal services in the future. By staying top of mind with clients and providing valuable information, lawyers can increase client loyalty and referrals.
In other words, marketing is essential for lawyers who want to stay competitive and grow their practice. By effectively promoting their services, lawyers can attract and retain clients, establish themselves as thought leaders in their field, and ultimately increase their revenue and business success.
<h2>How can I use the 80/20 rule in marketing?</h2>
The 80/20 rule, also known as the <a href="https://ernietheattorney.net/strategic-prioritization/">Pareto Principle</a>, can be applied to marketing in a variety of ways. The rule can be applied to many aspects of life, and states that 80% of outcomes come from 20% of inputs. This principle can be used to optimize your law practice’s marketing efforts and achieve greater results with less effort and resources.
One way to apply the 80/20 rule to marketing is to focus on the 20% of customers or clients that generate 80% of revenue. By identifying these high-value clients, law firms can develop targeted marketing strategies to retain and attract more clients like them. This may include tailoring marketing messages and content to their specific needs and interests, and using the most effective marketing channels to reach them.
Another way to apply the 80/20 rule to marketing is to focus on the 20% of marketing efforts that generate 80% of results. By identifying the most effective marketing channels and tactics, law firms can optimize their marketing efforts and allocate resources more efficiently. This may involve tracking and analyzing data on marketing campaigns, testing different approaches, and prioritizing the strategies that deliver the best results.
Finally, the 80/20 principle in business can be used to prioritize marketing activities and focus on the highest-value opportunities. This may involve identifying the top 20% of potential clients that are most likely to convert and focusing marketing efforts on them, or identifying the top 20% of practice areas that generate the most revenue and focusing marketing efforts on those areas.
<img decoding="async" src="http://ernietheattorney.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/A-conceptual-image-of-a-law-firm.jpg" />
<h2>Strategies for Implementing the 80/20 Rule for Marketing Your Law Practice</h2>
As you can see, the 80/20 rule can be a powerful tool for optimizing marketing efforts and achieving greater results with fewer resources. By focusing on the 20% of inputs that generate 80% of outcomes, law firms can develop more effective marketing strategies and ultimately achieve greater success in the competitive legal market.
<h3>Develop a marketing plan based on the 80/20 rule</h3>
Keeping the 80/20 principle in mind, use it throughout the creation of your marketing plan. <a href="https://www.the8020lawyer.com/p/modern-systems-for-virtual-law-practice">Using automation or outsourcing</a> your marketing operations can help you stay focused on that elusive 20%.
<h3>Improve customer retention for the 20% of clients that generate 80% of revenue</h3>
Spend the extra time you gain from outsourcing or automating nurturing the relationships with those clients that generate the most revenue.
<h3>Use data and analytics to optimize marketing efforts</h3>
<a href="https://lawfirm-autopilot.ck.page/4822211a94">Leverage technology</a> to help you track data for marketing. That data can help you find new ways to reach the 20% clients, to spend your 20% budget, and reap the 80% rewards.
<a href="https://ernietheattorney.net/#lawpractice">Learn more about how to use the 80/20 principle for marketing today</a>
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What if there was a way to get more done, and to get it done more effectively? Lawyers who know how to use the 80/20 principle in their business practices...

80/20 Rule of Marketing: How To Apply It to Your Legal Practice

There will be blood spilled (figuratively speaking) because of  GPT’s clash with copyright law . Personally, I believe that copyright law is now a source of so many insidious problems that...

ChatGPT vs. Copyright Law

There will be blood spilled (figuratively speaking) because of GPT’s clash with copyright law . There are well-known problems with U.S. copyright law. Just ask Ed Sheeran, who was exonerated in...

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