practicehacker

This is the second really good practice hack that I’ve come across in a week, and it incorporates all the best things about the new, new Internet (Web 2.1?): crowdsourcing, naming your own price, friction-free transactions, and cheap labor.

Cheap labor, you say? You bet. Instant Law Clerk uses the cheapest, most plentiful resource in the world – law students – to deliver research to practicing attorneys faster than they can do it themselves, and at a fraction of the cost. The idea is so simple, it’s a wonder law schools haven’t monopolized the market themselves. The recipe is compelling: take one practitioner short on time and resources but in need of research to make it to trial or to meet a briefing schedule; add a law student in need of cash and real-world experience; and you’ve got a match made in Internet heaven.

So now the only question you need to answer is: Are you still doing your own research? Why? When you can simply enter a question to be answered and name your price at www.instantlawclerk.com? Their team of 2^nd and 3^rd year students from around the country is ready to do the research so you can analyze, review, and ultimately use the results in your pleadings, letters, and memoranda.

Leaving you with more time to play golf … er … prepare for trial.

Posted via email from practice (redux)

While I’ve tried to make Practicehacker the #1 place to find tools, tips, techniques, and technology for small firms and solo’s, how often do I feature a true practice hack? A better, smarter, faster, or cheaper way of getting things done? Not often enough. But this is the real deal. A genuine hack born out of the need to track contacts (i.e. CRM) using a free tool that doesn’t even seem suited for the task. Software Advice provides the full hack here.

Actually, I’ve used a hack like this one for years, but not in the CRM context. Instead I’ve used it to track the progress of cases and keep my staff informed by having the spreadsheet send automatic updates each time something changes. Simple, free, awesome. Now that’s practice hacking!

Ed. Note: If you have hacks of your own or know anyone that does, please encourage them to contact me at mhedayat@mha-law.com or just add their comment to this post. I’d love to be able to feature one of these hacks every week (or more often if I can). You’ll get full credit of course, and you’ll be helping your fellow lawyers and legal professionals to do things that much better.

Posted via email from practice (redux)

As highlighted recently on Shatterbox and in my discussions with Richard Granat of DirectLaw back at the 2011 ABA Tech Show, LegalZoom is coming into its own big time. Then again, what else would LegealZoom do with the money raised in its IPO but siphon business from competitors; lawyers?

And that’s exactly what it’s been doing and what it continues to do. Even the bell-weather Missouri class action that some thought might slow the LZ juggernaught has fizzled and instead, as Shatterbox points out, LZ is probably even savvier for the experience.

All of which begs the question: Is LegalZoom unstoppable? Is it inevitable? Is it the future of law practice? Is it the end of sole practitioners? Not that I know. I’m just putting it out there.

Before you answer think about this it looks as if we lawyers are in the pot while the water is getting hotter, but we refuse to acknowledge that our collective goose is being cooked… and probably won’t until it’s too late. That sounds just  like a lawyer’s reaction to and impending calamity: waiting until it’s over to react, conduct a post-mortem, and find someone else to blame. Posted via email from practice (redux)