Value Billing Podcast
Patrick Lamb is well-known Chichago-based attorney. He is a partner in the Valorem Law Group. Listen as Patrick and Ed discuss Value Billing.
29 minutes, 57 seconds
6.9MB
Ed Interviews Derek Flower, Senior Account Manager for Fujitsu Products of America, Inc.
He talks with Ed about ScanSnap's standard model, S510, and their new mobile model S300. As Ed noted, the ScanSnap is a "must have" for most legal practitioners.
15 minutes, 36 seconds
3.7MB
Ed Interviews Gretchen Neels, founder of Neels and Company - Strategic Business Communication, based in Boston
Gretchen Neels and Ed talk about the new civility movement in the legal profession and how the 3, sometimes 4, generations of lawyers in the same workplace need to become more aware of their differences in order to remain profitable and provide expected client services.
19 minutes, 55 seconds
4.7MB
Interview with Alexis Martin Neely
Alexis Martin Neely is a graduate of a major university law school, first in her class, clerked for a judge in the 11th circuit and then joined a major, prestigious law firm. But, her real-life experiences in the law didn't match her original expectations. Our interview addresses what those expectations and experiences were. What should a lawyer do who no longer likes to practice law? Alexis has advice for lawyers in this position. Law is a loving, caring, and helping profession. Why don't some clients understand this? Listen to Alexis. As we start the new year, it is good to review these questions and answers.
17 minutes, 51 seconds
4.1MB
Ed Interviews Andy Birol, business growth consultant and author of The Five Catalysts of Seven Figure Growth
Andy Birol is a business growth consultant and author of The Five Catalysts of Seven Figure Growth (CareerPress, 2006); he has advised over 350 business owners and is an expert contributor to The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and Business Week, among others. He discusses how attorneys can best impact the business clients they advise and how the attorney can best work together with the client's team of consultants and other experts.
16 minutes, 57 seconds
4.0MB
Peter Brusso Interviews Ed Poll at CA Bar
Peter Brusso, CEO of Infocard.cc, works with service businesses to create small CD-ROM business cards. He interviewed Ed at Ed's State Bar of California annual conference booth in September, 2007. Peter is also CEO of podcastingforlawyers.com.
In this first interview Ed discusses the importance of a business plan. "If you fail to plan, you plan to fail."
Interview 1
13 minutes, 50 seconds
3.2MB
In this second interview Ed discusses the power of coaching and mentoring and the importance of learning how to run a business.
Interview 2
11 minutes, 28 seconds
2.7MB
Jim Arden talks about Internet Security
Jim Arden, a California litigating attorney who focuses on attorney malpractice and legal ethics, discusses the issues of computer security. Technology is a great tool that allows us to be more effective and more efficient. Along the way, however, we can have our tools corrupted. Jim Arden delineates some of the problems with wireless computers in our current environment. Jim asks questions such as: Will your refrigerator be the transmitter of a virus to your computer network? (Did you ever think this was possible?) What security protection will you need this year? Is virus protection, spyware and firewalls enough? Listen to Jim Arden for the answers... and more.
24 minutes, 42 seconds
5.8MB
Ed Interviews Debbie Epstein, founder and principal or Flex-Time Lawyers LLC
In this interview, Ed speaks with Debbie Epstein about diversity in the law firm with specific focus on gender issues. Debbie is the founder and principal of Flex-Time Lawyers LLC, who helps law firms address gender issues -- specifically, how to retain women in their ranks. Women, in many of the top ranked law schools, comprise more than 50% of the graduating classes, and have for quite a few years. Yet, this percentage is not reflected as law firm partners, management or committee members. What is the reason for this and why is it important?
25 minutes, 35 seconds
6.0MB
Ed Interviews Thom Singer, author of Some Assembly Required, 2nd edition and The ABC's of Networking
Thom Singer, author of Some Assembly Required, 2nd edition. and The ABC's of Networking, is Ed's guest today. In this fast-paced interview they discuss practice development techniques and increasing your connections by using networking principles.
22 minutes, 01 seconds
5.2MB
Ed Interviews Scott Simmonds, Insurance Consultant for Buyers
Today Ed Interviews Scott Simmonds, an insurance consultant for buyers and lawyers. Scott talks about common mistakes that lawyers make when buying both general business and professional liability insurance. He also provides some key clues on how to improve not only your purchasing power but also your coverage.
Scott was a general agent for 20 years and has consulted with buyers for the last 7. While he works out of Maine, his consulting is national in scope.
Listen now for ideas on how to reduce your overhead and increase your protection.
33 minutes, 47 seconds
Ed Interviews Rick Borstein, Business Development Manager of the Legal Market for Adobe Systems, Inc.
Once again Ed has the pleasure of interviewing Rick Borstein. Rick is the Business Development Manager of the Legal Market for Adobe Systems, Inc. Among other topics, they discuss the search element of Adobe Acrobat.
18 minutes, 52 seconds
4.4MB
Ed Interviews Carol Fritz
Carol Fritz is a partner in Offshore Services for Lawyers -- based in Philadelphia, PA. They discuss offshore legal work.
07 minutes, 03 seconds
4.0MB
Ed Interviews Mimi Donaldson, Co-author of Bless Your Stress: It Means You're Still Alive!
Bless Your Stress: It Means You're Still Alive! Written by Ed's guest, Mimi Donaldson, and Leslie Charles. Most of us are concerned by the high stress of our lives, but Mimi suggests that our stress comes from within. While an outside events may be provocation, it is our attitudes toward the outside events that create our stress. She points out that the same event can cause severe reactions from one person with none or little reaction from another. And, it's the "pause" button in our brain that allows us to handle the stress in a more reasoned way. Listen to the author who says it's better to think like a winner than a whiner!
20 minutes, 39 seconds
4.8MB
Recycling Electronic Equipment
Ed Interviews Russ Ruffolo, Asset Recovery and Recycling Coordinator of MRK Group LTD in Elgin, Illinois. Though based in Elgin, his company's focus is national. Russ will talk about recycling electronic equipment. In California alone, 6,000 computers become obsolete daily! And 680 million computers will become obsolete within the next few years! What happens to them? Russ will discuss the importance of recycling, the methods of recycling and what to look for.
14 minutes, 21 seconds
3.4MB
Microsoft Office 2007 for Lawyers
Donna Payne is president and founder of Payne Consulting Group, a training and development company headquartered in Seattle, WA. She and the company have authored 12 books on Microsoft Office including the best-selling series: Word for Law Firms and Excel for Law Firms. She was an original member of the Microsoft Legal Advisory Counsel and is a frequent speaker at legal and technical conferences.
Donna discusses with Ed the new Microsoft Office 2007 and the dramatic differences between this edition and all of Microsoft's previous formats.
This edition is truly a remarkable switch in format that will require users to pay attention.
25 minutes, 27 seconds
6.0MB
Challenge of Building a Law Firm
Ed Interviews Peter Loewy, Senior Counsel and former Managing Partner of Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen & Loewy, LLP. Peter talks about the challenges he faced in building his West Coast practice from one lawyer (himself) to a staff of over 70 lawyers and 400 staff in just 20 years!
Today, the Fragomen firm is recognized as the preeminent player in the immigration field, representing major corporate players around the world.
Listen now and learn techniques that you can apply for your own practice growth.
19 minutes, 7 seconds
4.5MB
Registered E-mails
Ed Poll interviewes Zafar Khan, chief executive officer of RPost, a new electronic registered mail system that allows you to both certify receipt of mail by the recipient as well as the contents of the attachments. Not even the U.S. Postal service can do the latter. It's the next best thing to having someone watch the recipient read your post. And, the best part, you don't even have to sign up for the service, just pay for the post as you use it. Listen for more details as Ed interviews Zafar.
21 minutes, 24 seconds
5.0MB
Marketing Strategies, Focus Groups, Branding & Brainstorming
In this week's podcast, Ed Interviews Holly O’Neill. She is the principal of Talking Business, a company focusing on marketing strategies, focus groups, branding and brainstorming for new products and services.
14 minutes, 47 seconds
3.4MB
Outsourcing Helps Lawyers Deal with Increased Secretarial Needs
Ed interviews Don Garrison of Quik Sek, a virtual dictation service. He discusses how his company uses "outsourcing" to help lawyers deal with increased secretarial needs. He talks about the company's technology to help lawyers deal with forgotten or never-learned dictation skills needed to use his service. Listen now to this interesting conversation.
14 minutes, 41 seconds
3.4MB
"Make more money... HEAPS more money!" - Part 2
In this podcast, Ed continues the interview with Australian-based Winston Marsh. Winston is a professional speaker and a marketing guru who helps businesses make more money ... heaps more money. This segment continues by shedding light on his unique 2 x 2 x 2 formula to substantially increase your revenue.
An important lesson from Winston is that the work we do is what fuels our dreams. He suggests that we must live our life in a way that achieves our dreams before they carry us off, not after. That may be a great reason to listen to Winston again - to achieve greater success sooner so we have the wherewithal to achieve those dreams.
28 minutes, 04 seconds<br>
6.7MB
"Make more money... HEAPS more money!" - Part 1
Winston Marsh, a professional speaker based in Australia, is a marketing guru who helps businesses make more money ... heaps more money. In this first half of this fascinating interview, Winston addresses his distinctive license plate that helps him remember a key rule in marketing; as well as his unique formula for substantially increasing your revenue. You'll hardly be able to wait for next week for the second half.
27 minutes, 40 seconds
6.5MB
Interview with Donald A. Downey, Executive Director of minisoft Worldwide
Donald A. Downey, Executive Director of minisoft Worldwide, is interviewed by Ed Poll about collecting both WIP and AR. Don suggests that WIP (work in progress) that is not quickly converted into AR (accounts receivable) becomes sediment that needs to be cleared out.
Where the law firm uses the accrual method of accounting, there is an economic motivation to clear it out; where the law firm is a cash basis taxpayer, there is little motivation to do so ... but the law firm merely fools itself into thinking that there is still value in the amount that isn't quickly converted to an account receivable and then paid by the client.
Listen now to the full interview.
25 minutes, 12 seconds
5.9MB
Interview with Norm Thomas, Director of Business Development for Microsoft Professional Services Solutions
Ed interviewed Norm Thomas, Director of Business Development for Microsoft Professional Services Solutions. Norm starts the discussion with Microsoft's approach to developing solutions while using its platforms and applications.
He then continues to discuss specific applications to help improve the efficiency of lawyers, and concludes with a sneak preview of their presentations at the forthcoming LegalTech Show in New York.
Ed starts his interview by asking Norm to clarify his role with Microsoft.
Click here to listen.
23 minutes, 21 seconds
5.5MB
Adobe Acrobat 8.0 Has New Features for Lawyers
This week, Ed interviews Rick Borstein, Business Development Manager for the Legal Community for Abobe Systems, Inc. Rick discusses The new version of Adobe Acrobat<sup>®</sup> and how new features are of special interest to lawyers.
21 minutes, 0 seconds<br>
4.9MB
Fee Collection, a Teleseminar given to the Canadian Bar Association by Ed Poll
Fee problems lie at the feet of lawyers, not clients. In this podcast, created by the Canadian Bar Association, Ed Poll discusses how lawyers can protect themselves and increase their realization rate for increased cash flow.
Ed takes a "Fresh Look at Fee Collection for Lawyers."
If you desire more information following this podcast, we recommend Ed'd book, Collecting Your Fee: Getting Paid from Intake to Invoice.
Succession Planning
Leading and Learning, Inc. provides consulting services to the corporate world by guiding organizational change management. Billie talks about succession planning -- probably the single most important change that any organization can face.
34 minutes, 55 seconds
8.2MB
"The DuPont Model"
Jeff Carr, General Counsel of FMC Technologies, in another interview, talks about the "DuPont Model" and compares this model to his own expectations when interacting with outside counsel for FMC. Jeff talks about how the law firm needs to partner with the Corporate Law Department, collaborating together, as contrasted to the traditional vendor-buyer relationship. Collaboration produces more effective representation at a lower cost to the company without discounting either the value or the per hour fee of the lawyer. Although alternative pricing is an important topic that will likely appear again in our podcasts, this is the last interview in our current series on the topic.
Alternative Fee Billing
Hugh Q. Gottschalk, an attorney in Colorado, leads us in yet another perspective on alternative legal services pricing. He also discusses understanding the cost of your services, budgeting for litigation and structuring the actual fee agreement with a client.
These discussions should be considered in light of the "reasonableness" of legal fees... and most importantly, how the lawyer can deliver quality services at a price that will produce a reasonable profit for the lawyer at an acceptable price to the client.
Alternative Fee Billing - Jeff Carr Interview
Alternative fees continue to be a prominent topic among lawyers. Our next several podcasts will feature interviews that Ed has conducted over the last 18 months with prominent thinkers on this subject.
Jeff Carr, General Counsel of FMC Technologies, responds here in the first of two interviews with him.
In today's world, the preeminent method of billing is still based on the hour. It's not the way that lawyers have billed traditionally. It used to be that bills were given on a bottom line for value rendered services.
Changes resulted largely by corporate counsel and insurance counsel in the 1970s, or perhaps more so in the early 80s, when people were frustrated with that kind of billing system. We went to the billable hour as a way to impose some cost control and as a way to understand the way law firms were billing us. Now of course we've got a whole generation of lawyers who know nothing else at this point.
Jeff Carr discusses this "new" horizon.
Tyco's Approaches
Jim Michalowicz, is the Litigation Program Manager for Tyco Corp. Formerly, he was with DuPont in a similar capacity for 13 years. Our interview with Jim also includes two other folks from the Tyco Legal Department who will also focus on development the best business practices for their legal department - developing the most effective and efficient approaches to handling the legal affairs of Tyco. Jim combines information management, relationship management and best business practices in his role as manager. Listen as Jim explains further about Tyco's approaches and what he expects from outside counsel that work with and for Tyco.
Interpersonal Communication
There are four personality styles – What is yours? Why should you care? How does your style impact your client relationships? Gayle N. Carson, President of Carson Research Center tells us why we need to know and why we should care about this issue.
Continue Reading...Providing Value to Clients
Christopher Marston is the CEO of Exemplar Law Partners, LLC, in Boston, MA. He has been receiving a lot of press coverage lately.
Why?
Chris, a member of the Massachusetts Bar, was the CFO of a technology company. This is his first venture into creating his own law firm. He brings his financial and management expertise to the opening of Exemplar Partners.
Chris was the CFO of a technology company. This is his first venture into the legal profession. He brings his financial and management expertise to the opening of Exemplar Partners.
Chris talks about providing value to clients. This means, among other things, no hourly billing and valuing the firm's human capital by creating the right work environment. He also talks getting clients more involved with their own legal matter to help increase their level of satisfaction.
Listen to Chris's comments which are unbiased by historical restraints of the legal profession. If you agree with him, think about how you can apply his principles to your own law firm and practice.
Internet Marketing
Many say the guru of creating blogs and promoting blogs is Kevin O’Keefe of Lex Blog (www.lexblog.com). In a recent interview Ed discussed with Kevin, one of their favorite subjects, using the internet (including blogging) to market one's law practice.
Alternative Fee Billing - Shared Risk
Ed Poll interviews attorney Rick Simses on the subject of alternative fee billing. They discuss sharing the risk of a matter with the client... what it means and how it should impact the client's fee.
What Do Huge Multi-National Corporations Look for in Outside Counsel?
Let's take another look at what general counsel are searching for when they hire outside law firms. This time, Thomas S. Brooks, Vice President of AT&T Law & Government Affairs, shares his views on the subject.
Alternative fee pricing
Ed Poll interviews attorney Rick Simses on the subject of alternative fee billing. They discuss sharing the risk of a matter with the client... what it means and how it should impact the client's fee.
What Do Huge Multi-National Corporations Look for in Outside Counsel?
Let's take another look at what general counsel are searching for when they hire outside law firms. This time, Thomas S. Brooks, Vice President of AT&T Law & Government Affairs, shares his views on the subject.
Click here to listen to the interview
Continue Reading...Get another 22 days each year!
Ed Poll, principal of LawBiz Management interviews Gayle Carson, president of Carson Research Center, on the topic of time management. While no one can truly manage time, Gayle shows us how to "pick up" 22 eight hour days over a year's time. That would make one very interesting vacation, or allow us to do a lot of additional billable work. .
How do Corporate Counsel select outside counsel
Steven A. Lauer, having been both inside and outside counsel, shares his thoughts on how today's lawyers should approach insiden general counsel to get their trust ... and their business. He currently is the Director of Integrity Research, Integrity Interactive Corporation.
Microsoft hits another home run!
Jeff Riffer, senior litigation partner in the law firm of Jeffer Mangels Butler & Marmaro in Los Angeles, CA, discusses why and how he uses Microsoft's OneNoteTM software for day-to-day litigation.
Continue Reading...Value to the customer?
Ron Baker, a noted consultant and principal of Verisage Institute, quotes from Peter Drucker: "What is value to the customer?"
Value Billing - Podcast interview
Patrick J. Lamb, Managing Partner of Butler Rubin Saltarelli & Boyd LLP, a Chicago litigation firm, was interviewed by Ed Poll of LawBiz Management in 2005 about "value added billing." The principles espoused by Patrick then are still applicable and fresh today.
Audio Podcast -- Microsoft OneNote
Scott Rockfeld, Group Product Manager, Microsoft, discusses their new product for note taking and better organization.
