Legal Talk Network - Law News and Legal Topics

Guest Joanne Martin is an inspiration to anyone considering a career change later in life. She’s a family law attorney in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. While she vigorously represents her clients, she strives to create a respectful and collaborative environment when settling family law issues, including divorce and separation, especially when children are involved.Martin had a successful career in film and television, as well as a husband and four children, when she returned to school to earn her law degree. It can be done. Second careers do happen.After law school and working with a firm, Martin launched her solo practice, Align Family Law. Hear how she built a firm based on her values and understanding of the family dynamic, striving to help divorcing clients work toward respectful solutions. She also offers valuable insights into how she set up her office, built a website, developed written content, selected practice management software, developed a transparent pricing model, and learned to establish virtual video client consultations that work.As a bonus, even established solo practitioners may pick up some tips from Martin’s innovative approach to initial consultations, client intake, retainers, and avoiding potential conflicts.Got questions or ideas about solo and small practices? Drop us a line at NewSolo@legaltalknetwork.comTopics: Later-in-life career changes can and do happen. Hear from an attorney who went to law school and established a solo practice after building a family and a successful career. A thorough, honest intake process not only keeps potential clients from wasting time, but also helps you weed out clients who may not appreciate your values and approach. Plus, learn why you should NOT buy Microsoft 365 through a third party, such as GoDaddy (you may need a pro to undo that misstep). Mentioned in This Episode:New Solo, “A Short Primer on Microsoft Accounts, OneDrive, and SharePoint” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Shawn Holahan knows how disasters can affect your practice first hand. Experiencing the effects of Hurricane Katrina, she learned that when a disaster happens, confusion reigns, but having a disaster plan in place can help your law firm survive. Jim Calloway and Sharon Nelson get Shawn Holahan’s top tips for disaster planning in legal practice. Shawn emphasizes the importance of keeping your plan simple and explains “No Tech” Binders and the pre-disaster steps all lawyers should take. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What is an integrator? What does an integrator do? Does your team need one? Sara Muender talks with Jasmine Jowers Prout, Operations Director of The Gober Group, about the importance of having an integrator on your team. They discuss why and when to hire an integrator. And detail how an integrator can streamline, improve, and strengthen all areas of your law firm.If today’s podcast resonates with you and you haven’t read The Small Firm Roadmap yet, get the first chapter right now for free!Thanks to Posh Virtual Receptionists, Berkshire Receptionists, & Lawyerist Lab for sponsoring this episode. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Donald Trump is threatening a dumb lawsuit against the Pulitzer committee, but is it dumb like a fox? Because the right certainly has New York Times v. Sullivan in their crosshairs. There's still no information about the Supreme Court's investigation into the Dobbs leak. Color me utterly unsurprised. Steve Bannon is heading to jail, but that might not be the end of his legal woes. Maybe that federal pardon wasn't all that and a bag of chips. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Are you creating self-defeating typography by using underlines, caps, and fonts that make your argument less inviting to your reader? Author and attorney Matthew Butterick shares key points from his book Typography for Lawyers on how to make your next brief or email easier to read, which helps your reader stay focused longer and reduces annoyance. Matthew believes that small positive mental shift could sway a decision in your favor. Once you recognize that you are a legal publisher, you’ll see why font matters. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Trial attorneys win and lose every day, and that roller coaster can be intellectually and emotionally exhausting. Learn how to become more resilient by processing quickly, letting go, and giving yourself permission to spend as much time on the positive as you did on the negative. What does that have to do with being a goldfish? Tune in and find out. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For any plaintiff who's been injured or any young attorney just starting out in the field of tort law, it can be daunting to calculate what monetary damages–and nonmonetary damages like pain and suffering–they should be asking for if they win a civil trial or are evaluating a settlement offer. Estimating what the future would have looked like if an accident had never occurred can seem more like a thought experiment than a scientific process.But there is a science behind it, says Dr. Michael Shahnasarian, and he has written a book, The Valuation of Monetary Damages in Injury Cases: A Damages Expert's Perspective, to explain the methodology.Shahnasarian has a PhD in psychology, and he's focused his practice on vocational rehabilitation and life care planning. As an expert witness, he's participated in at least 5,000 cases, he tells Lee Rawles in this episode of the Modern Law Library podcast. The Valuation of Monetary Damages in Injury Cases walks through the forensic process he and others use to estimate what someone's earning potential might have been without an accident, as well as the amount of money it may take to cover the person's living and healthcare expenses in the future.In this episode, Shahnasarian offers advice to young lawyers interested in tort cases; gives his expert-witness opinion on how best to reach jurors with information without overwhelming them; and shares with listeners his core beliefs about the value and dignity of work.Listeners of this podcast can get a 20% discount on The Valuation of Monetary Damages in Injury Cases: A Damages Expert's Perspective by entering the code VMDCDEP22 at checkout at the ABA store. The discount code is valid until 8/31/2023. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Duc Nguyen, managing partner of digital forensics and cyber claims at United Litigation Discovery, talks about recent changes in cyber claims and what insurance carriers need to focus on regarding risk management. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Conrad and Gyi take an early look at Clio’s foray into website design and the connection between lawyers and ramen noodles. Plus, some quick takeaways from the brand new 2022 Clio Legal Trends Report.-----Continuing its effort to be your law firm’s one-stop shop, Clio is now entering the website design and hosting arena. Is Clio’s new offering, which specializes in sites for lawyers and seamlessly integrates with the Clio universe, going to be the answer to getting your firm out there on the web? Will all its bells and whistles get you noticed, get you to the top of SEO rankings, and bring in clients? The guys share their appreciations and hesitations on Clio’s new service, and how it compares to website builders in general.And then, it’s time to get Econ nerdy. We all see what’s going on with the markets these days, and all feel the rising costs. Maybe you haven’t quite yet started swapping out your nice flank steak for a can of Spam and your linguine alle vongole for a bowl of ramen, but you’re feeling that grocery bill just a bit more. The guys get into how lawyers should be thinking about their pricing as buying power goes down and the demand for legal services, counterintuitively, goes up.Plus, important insights from the new, 2022, Clio Legal Trends Report. What are the most important things to a potential client? Survey says: you’ll have to listen to find out!The News: Updates from Clio Cloud Conference 2022 Gonzalez v. Google, the struggle over Section 230 and liability on the Internet. The Supremes may be poised to engage. Google business profiles are still getting penalized. Conference season is upon us, Crisp and Great Legal Marketing events are coming soon. AAJ Winter Convention 2023 is in February, and the ABA Techshow is in March. Justice For Me legal financing startup raises $10 million in funding. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tech tools can minimize tedious, routine legal work, allowing attorneys more time to dedicate to higher-level strategic tasks and their clients. Tech also enables unrepresented people to better navigate complex legal systems. This is how streamlining repetitive processes improves the efficiency of legal services organizations and promotes increased access to justice. Ransom Wydner, Vice President of Pro Bono and Social Impact at SixFifty Sam Flynn, Chief Operating Officer and Co-founder at Josef Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices