Private Client law

How Secure is your data?

So you think you have it all sorted when you put the password on your laptop. How horrified would you be that with a screwdriver and a few cables I could unscrew your hard drive and access all your files?

So should you be off to the Cloud?

It’s all the rage at the moment to store your documents on the web whether it is a Picassa album for your photos to share or Google for your documents.

However as a professional with client confidentiality commitments is this really an option for you as a small business?

App time

Those of you with a smart phone will be familiar with the concept of downloading an “app”. However have you considered how an app could enhance your practice?

Data Protection and e-mail security

For many years data protection and email security has been quite straightforward as you kept all the data in the office and you have physical security methods. However with the increasingly mobile society that we live and work in things have changed considerably.

Order, order!

Part 5 of 5 of Managing to Manage? - How understanding MBTI® can help

As a manager of a legal practice team you may feel like you are constantly trying to bring order to chaos – that difficult team dynamic that causes stress for all involved, the 'awkward' client who people go to great lengths to avoid, the mounting pile of papers on your desk or emails in your inbox. As a manager it's your job to make sense of all these competing priorities and enable yourself/your team/your practice to deliver on your objectives. Just how you go about this process though is less clear-cut.

Searching tips and tricks – Save time and hit your target first time

There is a lovely theory that using the internet saves us time but badly used it can cost you chargeable time. Just think about booking a holiday, it used to be a trip to the travel agent and it was all done. Now with the many choices on the web you can be there for hours just trying to get the right location, right hotel, right flights etc.

And the decision is...?

Part 4 of 5 of Managing to Manage? - How understanding MBTI® can help

Decisions, decisions! It is impossible to manage without making decisions. How to handle that tricky client relationship? How to get the most out of your newly-formed team? When to delegate and when to do? When to wait for more information and when to strike before the opportunity passes you by? As a manager you will probably find yourself being judged on the quality of your decision making. So a good question to ask yourself is 'are you making good decisions?'.

Smartphone Apps for your phone

It is all the rage now to head off to the app store and download the latest applications to your phone so we are taking a look at those that are relevant for improving your productivity on the move.

Sitting in the armchair of the consumer

If you are looking for a new accountant or thinking of changing your Bank what sort of considerations cross your mind? Who might you consult? What questions would you ask? What processes would you employ, consciously or unconsciously, in your strive to find the perfect supplier of the services you desire? Are personal decisions made like this? Will it always be a matter of price or are there some sensible strategies to employ in finding the right deliverer of the service?

What are you looking for?

Part 3 of 5 of Managing to Manage? - How understanding MBTI® can help

Managers need to have insight. Not only are you expected to infer meaning and make decisions from reports read, presentations viewed and meetings attended, you are also required to observe staff performance and take note of client reactions and requirements. In other words, managers need to be able to 'see' not simply hard data to be analyzed, but also relational issues – both those on the horizon and those already taking place – in order to take the appropriate action and manage effectively.

Technology to Learn

The days of paper are numbered; no longer will we need to carry huge law books round to get the key information that we need.

Authors are not out of business but the formats are changing. Many books and magazines are now available for download.

This is great for many reasons:-

You can have multiple books on one small device
You can have fast search facilities to jump to the bit you actually want to read
The books will, hopefully, become cheaper as the need to store and ship will be unnecessary
You can have the book instantly

So the fight for the monthly magazines can now stop!

Have you the energy?

Part 2 of 5 of Managing to Manage? - How understanding MBTI® can help

Being a manager can be exhausting. Whether you manage an entire practice, a department or team, or simply yourself and your work, the demands on your time and emotional energy will be high. Particularly in the current climate of cutbacks, restructuring and heightened uncertainty, the world of management can be an draining place to be. It calls for levels of endurance more suited to a marathon than a sprint. So a good question to ask yourself is “have you the energy for it?”

Survival of the fittest - Countdown to Alternative Business Structures

The Legal Services Act 2007 fired the starting pistol to the race for the provision of legal services by all sorts of new legal service firms instead of the traditional law firm.

The new era of ABS, which can be licensed and operational from 6 October 2011, is a race we all knew about; some may have been training for it for some time but the majority of practitioners were busy with fee earning work wondering how they would find work in future and how they might be organised to deliver that work was probably the last thing on their minds. Then the economic world as we knew it collapsed and with it the market for professional services, amongst other things; firms have had to make drastic, radical and short-term changes to stay solvent.

Training trends

It’s that crucial time of year when we are all looking at the calendar to see if we have collected all the required CPD points for the year.

This article looks at all the way that you can use technology to help you.

You can use this to go onto the internet and set up links to get the RSS feeds (Really Simple Syndication) or subscribe to the e-mail newsletters from sites so that you are up to date with the latest news in your particular field. How about signing up to the Lawskills feed?

Are you fit to supervise? Are you Managing to Manage?

Every firm of solicitors, law centre, and certain in-house legal practices in England & Wales must have a principal who is ‘qualified to supervise’ in accordance with Rule 5 Solicitors’ Code of Conduct 2007 – to ensure “the supervision and management of a firm or in-house practice, the maintenance of competence, and the internal business arrangements essential to the proper delivery of services to clients”.

Word Power

In Word do you type the same thing time and time again? Time to learn a new trick and save time. Auto Text in Word is a shortcut way of getting frequently typed text into documents without having to type it or copy and paste it from somewhere else. Here is how to use it:-

Social Networking gets you near the top of the search engines

There are two key sites to use and link to your website in helping to move you up the search table: LinkedIn and Twitter. I am sure you must have heard of the latter but how do you go about joining in?

What is a notary public?

Martin Tomsett, a notary public practising in Winchester (www.tomsett-notary.co.uk), answers questions about his profession.

What is a notary public?

A notary public is a qualified lawyer, subject to rules similar to those governing solicitors and regulated - since the Reformation - by the Court of Faculties (itself attached to the Archbishop of Canterbury). Like a solicitor, a notary public must have full professional indemnity and fidelity insurance cover in order to practise.

Website Ratings

It is important as a business to understand the power of the internet as a marketing tool. While your business may be a small one it is important not just to rely on the advert you have had in the yellow pages or any similar publication for a number of years.

Having your own website is an important way to attract new business to your company and the quality of it is important as it may be the first impression a person gets of your business or service.

Going Mobile

So you have your office IT all set up but what about when you are out and about?

Trusting the System

Managing trusts relies heavily on being aware of time limits and tax deadlines so that where appropriate you can ensure that you are maximising opportunities to use the trust fund in the most tax efficient manner. Sometimes your role is to protect beneficiaries from themselves.

Probate Pain

The probate process is a series of routines that have to be followed to get to the final results. That system can be streamlined by using your IT to get the job done as efficiently as possible so that you are more profitable and the clients are able to see clear progress.

Improving legislation on the web

In 1996 HMSO started publishing new legislation on its website. Comprehensive coverage was later extended back to 1987 for Acts and 1988 for SIs. Although publication of legislation was timely and presentation competent, we yearned for what had been promised for many years – a comprehensive, up-to-date version of the statute book. Finally it arrived … or so we thought.

Love or Hate the Estate Accounts?

Estate accounts – their preparation can be such a simple process or they can be a form of water torture as you hunt for the missing numbers. It is the file that you get handed where no-one has ever done any accounts in the five years they have been running this contested probate, which makes the heart sink!

There really is no excuse to still be preparing accounts manually or the equivalent using a Word package and sitting there with a calculator in hand. It is always stunning to find firms that fail to use the technology they have to hand.

A little Excel training will save you a lot of time and a lot of duplicated work.

Automating your Wills

There are some steps that you can take to automate your Wills that can help save time, reduce errors and promote staff efficiency and job satisfaction.

Quote of the Day

Your daily motivational quote of the day

Motivating Others

People perform their tasks and jobs not in isolation but within the organisational structure of the firm. All people in supervisory roles are in the business of influencing behaviour in directions which will meet the needs of the firm. To inspire people to work - individually or in groups - in ways that produce the best results for the firm, you need to tap into their own personal motivation forces. You need to understand the factors which affect how people behave at work and how this influences their motivation and commitment. In difficult times how well you understand people could make all the difference to the success or failure of your business.

Organising yourself 1 - Getting Started

Getting the best out of each day involves managing yourself, others and your environment to achieve efficiency and effectiveness and also have time for some fun! As Peter Drucker said “Until you manage your time, it is impossible to manage anything else.”

Over a series of posts I will explore some ideas for you to begin the process to help you achieve some winnable goals in your personal and professional life.

Is training always the answer?

Failure to perform could look like a skills gap needs plugging with training an individual but a performance deficiency does not always mean a training need exists. It could be caused by many other factors such as:

Poor quality materials – such as an inadequate library or no appropriate software
Unsuitable working conditions – such as insufficient space; too noisy; too cold; too hot etc.
Inefficient equipment – such as no up to date IT
Lack of motivation – such as poor salary; inadequate leadership
Badly designed working methods – such as inefficient systems which are not up to date
Insufficient staff – such as too much work for the wrong type of staff
Insufficient resources – such as lack of investment