Communication-based claims and complaints against lawyers remain remarkably common despite the increased ease with which we can communicate with clients through use of technology in addition to more traditional modes of communication.

Strong and effective communications between lawyers and their clients are an essential component of the lawyer-client relationship. Some of the issues that might be flagged as problematic in a communications based claim include:

• Failing to obtain and follow a client’s instructions;
• Failing to keep a client informed of progress, or lack of progress in complying with instructions;
• Failing to advise a client of all settlement offers;
• Confusion as

Lawyers work in one of the least diverse professions in any country, Dr. Arin Reeves told the Monday morning plenary session at the 2013 CBA Legal Conference in Saskatoon. It was something the women and minorities in the largely white, male audience had probably already guessed.

And they no doubt nodded vigorously, or even silently applauded, when she said that “diversity” is not merely a matter of including a few people who don’t look like you on a team – it’s a matter of including them because you value their input, because you know they’ll bring something important to the . . . [more]

U.S. lawyer Stephanie Kimbro who writes about running virtual law practices shared an infographic she created last week with everyone — Technology in Legal Education (excerpt of the image below). It essentially shows why there is a need to teach law students and lawyers about technology, how the technology has been a “disruptive” force in the industry and its effect.

I especially like her outline of new roles people are playing in law firms today.

This is just an excerpt of her infographic. For the full graphic, visit her website Virtual Law Practice.

Hat tip ABA LTRC on Twitter. . . . [more]

Little has been written about the role of Legal IT Professionals in the law firm of the future. Most commentary has focussed on the law firm as a whole, or on the role of lawyers in the firm. So let me break from the mould.

We live in a world where corporate clients view “process” as just as important as lawyering. In other words, quality is a given and is expected by clients. For corporate clients, quality gets your foot in the door, but better processes will differentiate the firm and seal the deal. As a result, it is foolish . . . [more]

This article is by Nora Rock, corporate writer and policy analyst at LAWPRO.

Punctuality is a virtue much pooh-poohed by a certain kind of lawyer – the kind who views her time as so exquisitely valuable that she must operate in a perpetual state of adrenaline-fueled urgency. Meeting starts at 9:00? If it’s only 8:56, there’s ample time to make an important phone call to get instructions from a different client (and ample time, during the meeting, to surreptitiously type notes about that call into her tablet). If the call runs late and she arrives at the meeting at 9:10, . . . [more]

Yesterday, retired judge Dennis O’Connor resigned from heading up the Toronto Police use of force review. He did so because of a perceived conflict of interest over his role at Borden Ladner Gervais LLP; BLG represents the Toronto Police when they are sued.

According to the Toronto Sun, O’Connor said in a statement, “We were surprised by the objections raised by lawyers for some of the victims’ families to my conducting the review. We had thought that I could structure and conduct the review to satisfy any concern but apparently not….. I regret that this issue has arisen but . . . [more]

Last week I visited the newly created Corktown Common. For those readers familiar with Toronto, it’s a new urban park that sits on the west bank of the Don River, just south of King Street – on lands that 25 years ago, were considered to be irredeemable industrial wasteland. Plans to revitalize the site as the Atiritari housing project never got off the ground for a variety of reasons – cost of environmental remediation being one, and lack of a burning platform another. It’s human nature not to do anything unless we absolutely have to. So it was only when . . . [more]

Should you find yourself with a surplus of clients, the following tips may be of some assistance.

1. Speak only in legalese. Make a point of using Latin terms and providing complex answers to simple questions from clients. Above all, avoid plain language and clarity in your communications.
2. Keep your clients in the dark. Don’t send regular updates or otherwise inform them of what you are doing on their behalf.
3. Never focus your attention on what your clients are saying to you. Take calls, read emails on your Blackberry and check your watch during face-to-face client meetings.
4. Raise your rates without

A vodka martini is the libation of choice for the James Bond of film – famously shaken, not stirred. The actor may change but Bond’s drink remains the same: the viewer understands that he likes its taste, he likes its style, its strength; that he has a comfort level with it that will not change.

When it comes to many lawyers’ seeming lack of engagement with the issues facing the future of the legal profession, it has been suggested that, like the Bond of film (though, it must be said, not the literary character) lawyers with a certain amount of . . . [more]

My last post, about alternative fee arrangements, generated a lot (relatively) of comments from both private practice and in-house lawyers. It seems that there is a desire on Slaw to discuss the often hidden world of interactions between private practice lawyers and their in-house counterparts. Having recently made the switch myself, I’ve found that part of my job to be incredibly interesting and rewarding.

While I don’t plead cases anymore, I am still involved in complex legal issues, but am focused more on providing business-orientated advice – making sure that I enable my colleagues to accomplish their mission rather . . . [more]

Recently I gave the closing keynote at a mid-sized insurance company’s annual conference for outside lawyers. The company (which we’ll call “Acme”) annually invites a selection of their outside counsel to discuss issues of importance to it; the items on the agenda for this year, and for the last few years, have been innovation, providing more client value and finding blue oceans.

Here is a company that totally gets it, AND more importantly, is focussed on working with its outside counsel to achieve results. I see very little of this and so I was greatly impressed; far too often, change . . . [more]

Your tools are a law degree, and a country bound by the rule of law.

Your obstacles are law school debt; an ever-growing access to justice crisis; an economic downturn that has raised the volume on client demands for more services at a lower cost; and a regulatory system made increasingly complex by the globalization of business and trade.

Your mission – should you choose to accept it, Agent LLB – is to find a way of doing business that uses the tools at hand to overcome the obstacles and create a successful legal practice.

This message will not self-destruct, . . . [more]