Ed Poll – LawBiz

The "Games" Used to Enroll Students The 200-plus accredited U.S. law schools have faced plenty of criticism concerning the process as well as the statistics they use to "game" the process of enticing students to enroll…more

Qualities of a Good Coach The person who gets the most out of coaching uses the coach as "outside eyes and ears." Coaches hear and see things that even the best performers can't detect about their own performances. In endurance…more

No lawyer, even a sole practitioner, is an island. A lawyer's family is inescapably part of the practice equation, throughout a career. Lawyers in solo and small firm practices are particularly vulnerable to stress and burnout…more

New York Bar's Pro Bono Requirement - Recently the Chief Judge of the New York Appeals Court announced a pro bono requirement to gain admission to the New York Bar. Under this requirement, every new lawyer will have to…more

Lawyers' Use of Social Media We have previously expressed concern about regulating lawyers' use of social media. It is one thing to regulate for truth and fairness in promotional statements, and to restrict hyperbole so as…more

The beat of bad news goes on for law schools and new entrants into the legal profession. Two stories in recent weeks gained national attention. The Job Market for New Graduates The Wall Street Journal reported, based…more

Readers who have followed me on www.lawbizblog.com know of my ongoing billing problems with Verizon. The details aren't important, but I was struck by two facts about them as they relate to legal practice... *Verizon…more

For too many lawyers the idea of marketing is daunting because there are so many potential clients, so little time to reach them and so many options for pursuing them. Marketing can only be approached practically with a narrow…more

What is De-Equitization? Three years ago, at the height of the financial crisis, the phenomenon of de-equitization was also at its peak. This de-facto termination of older partners who may have had high billing rates but…more

As A Sole Practitioner If you are starting a firm, practice needs should always be met first, and personal needs should be the minimum expense necessary to maintain a reasonable, not elaborate, standard of living in the…more

A recent column in the San Jose Mercury News (California) left me shaking my head. According to the column, a lawyer wanted to use a portable scanner in the offices of the Santa Clara County planning department to scan documents…more

Law firm partners and corporate general counsel are lawyers, but they practice law in very different worlds. They each handle money and decision-making differently, and often lack understanding on how the other party sees these…more

Share Your Ideas When I began my consulting practice twenty-two years ago, it was not with the intention of becoming a media star. My goal was to be an independent, objective ally who could listen to the challenges lawyers…more

The Bankruptcy Filing of Dewey & Leboeuf Well, it's happened again: with its May 28 bankruptcy filing (the largest for any law firm in U.S. history), Dewey & LeBoeuf has gone the way of Howrey, Thelen Reid, Heller Ehrman,…more

BigLaw versus the Rest of Us All the publicity given to the "Occupy [fill in the blank]" movement has popularized the notion of a 1% - 99% split in American life. The 1%, of course, constitutes the super-wealthy; the 99%…more