Tips from the CPM ICYMI Newsletter (October- December 2020)
Every week subscribers receive the ICYMI enewsletter from the NCBA Center for Practice Management. The newsletter highlights tips, tools, trends, and techniques to help your law practice. Following are a few popular quick tips from past issues of the newsletter.
Microaggressions Look Different When We’re Working Remotely
Part of being inclusive includes understanding and avoiding microaggressions. This article looks at how to deal with microaggressions in remote work. This pictorial provides some examples of microaggressions if your firm is doing awareness training.
Excel Tips for Becoming a Spreadsheet Pro
Who could not use a few Excel tips? There are some great reminders in this how-to article and some like “paste special to transpose” that are super useful if you realized you really want the columns to be rows and the rows to be columns. Take a look!
(More) MS Word Tips for Lawyers
Microsoft Word is an enormously powerful application and is used by lawyers and their teams every single day. The program has many “hidden” features that are especially useful for lawyers. Following are some hints and tricks for leveraging this powerful tool in your practice to speed up your work and streamline your efforts.
FBI Warns Against Using Hotel Wi-Fi for Work
Not that many people are staying in hotels right now, but the FBI issued a warning about using hotel Wi-Fi for for work purposes due to lax security. This likely holds true for ANY free Wi-Fi in airports, coffee shops, restaurants or other places that provide free Wi-Fi for customers. Solution? Use a VPN, your smartphone as a hotspot, or get a MiFi card.
5 Pros and Cons of Using a Chromebook
Yes, Chromebooks are cheaper than a laptop, a Surface Pro, or MacBook Air. But can you really get away with using a Chromebook as a replacement? This article has some pros and cons to consider.
Thanks for Nothing: When Should Lawyers End an Email With ‘Thank You’?
Studies have shown that emails that end with “thanks” or “thank you” resonate well with the recipient. However, do you really mean it? This analysis by three lawyers breaks down what it really says when you reflexively add “thanks” to your sign off on an email.
I Quit These 3 Bad Habits and It Doubled My Productivity
Instead of adding more to your to-do list, author Ramit Sethi argues that breaking bad habits can help with your productivity. The bad habits he identifies are things you already know, but he makes compelling arguments for why you should follow your own advice.
How to Know If You Talk Too Much
This is sound advice on being a more engaging conversationalist and listener. The author shares advice from his colleague, Marty Nemko, that lays out the Traffic Light Rule. Know when to go and when to stop before you go from interesting to boring.
Should You Copy Clients on Emails To Opposing Counsel?
While the New York State Bar has an ethics opinion that suggests it is ok to bcc a client, it really is not a good idea. Nicole Black explains why. Need more proof? Read the case in point at Charm vs. Kohn.
Home Wi-Fi Security Tips – 5 Things to Check
Before you gear up for holiday shopping or if you are working from home, double check your home wi-fi security settings to make sure you are well protected to maintain privacy and confidentiality.
Ethical Implications When Outsourcing Legal Work
There are many advantages to outsourcing work – legal and administrative – in your law firm. However, ethics do need to be kept top of mind. This article covers all the considerations.