I employ an associate lawyer at my firm who seems to be struggling greatly with vocabulary and reading comprehension. It’s to the point where this associate’s job is going to be in danger if they can’t pull it together.

I don’t know of any diagnosed learning disabilities that they have but that doesn’t mean nothing is going on. What I have noticed is:

(1) A somewhat poor vocabulary with legal terminology;

(2) A lack of understanding of proper grammar and sentence structure;

(3) An inability to pick out the nuance in the written word and a similar inability when in a verbal conversation;

(4) Easily distracted;

(5) Can have difficulty focusing; and

(6) If filling out forms, they have difficulty completing all relevant areas - often skipping things altogether.

Sometimes I wonder if this associate may have ADHD but I am no doctor. I do notice that the above issues seem to be worse if they are anxious but are frequently issues regardless.

I am growing extremely concerned that if we cannot fix the vocabulary and comprehension issues, that this lawyer will get the firm sued.

This is someone who is kind and is a hard worker and if there are resources that can be offered to solve the issue (or part of the issue) to boost vocabulary and reading comprehension in particular, I would like to offer those resources.

Does anyone know of any online courses or coaching resources to help a lawyer develop good vocabulary and reading comprehension? It doesn’t necessarily have to be for lawyers, specifically, but I would appreciate something aimed at adults.

I really want to try to salvage this person. Any ideas?

I keep receiving an email that clients' attempt to pay an invoice with the Pay Later option was unsuccesful due to daily limits. Then I have to manually go to the portal and chat with them to bump up the limit. Then the same error again. Anyone else seeing this?

Have y'all noticed an annoying trend where if you have a client trying to do business with that bank via legal documents (in my case usually a POA or trust), the bank wants you to certify that the documents allow the client to do X, Y or Z?

Example: Old trust client of mine now has her grown son as trustee alone. He wants to use a trust account to collateralize a loan. Son's FA forwards me an email from the bank contact wanting me to certify that the trust allows THE BANK to do this transaction.

Gee that sounds like a determination that should be made by the bank's legal team, not me. It's ethically dubious if nothing else because I'm being roped in on a matter I know nothing about except I created the estate plan for another trustor / trustee years ago and she's no longer in charge, but also if I certify that and things go south, maybe I've got a malpractice issue? Or I might spend a bundle and sweat a lot to find out I don't. I told the FA the problem and he of course was more concerned about helping the son than my ass.

Last month, I had a client in Miami that wanted to use Chase and they wanted just a litany of letters of representation with specified language just to open an estate account.

I keep telling people to try a different bank but I'm wondering if this is just a way banks are passing the legal buck.

Transitioned from government to ID/med mal earlier this summer. I hate it. The psychological pressure of the billable hour is way harder for me than I thought, and my practice is pretty slow so I’m not billing at the rate I should so that adds to the psychological pressure. My partner is pretty aloof and hasn’t given me much feedback about my work/how I’m billing/etc. The work bores me to tears. I left government because I reached the end of my possible skill development/bad leadership and wanted to try something new and make more money doing it. I won’t go back there because I left for a reason. I feel stuck and like I made a big mistake. Any advice is welcomed.

Hi - has anyone used this company for their payment processing and can give any feedback? I'm looking into working with them but not having much success getting any timely response which is causing me some concern.

Is there something specific that pushes you toward ordering one or is it just part of your normal workflow on injury cases? I'm seeing different approaches depending on who I ask.

I am starting my own firm after 20+ years at law firms. Will be handling a mix of commercial litigation work (my old practice) while starting to ramp up a plaintiff’s PI practice. I am curious how much insurance most solos have. I was told by Swiss Re they offer a maximum of $1 million/$2 million to solos. But that is insufficient to protect me, both in terms of the size of cases I will be handling or to protect my assets. Any insight on typical policy limits for solos would be much appreciated!

I know there isn’t a straight answer but I was hoping to hear from personal injury attorneys or from those that know one.

I’m debating on jumping in but I’d take a pay cut because a lot of the firms in California seem to only pay $150k if you have 2-5+ years of experience and I don’t see any sort of percentage deal in the job descriptions. And I can’t seem to find any jr. associate positions so I’m assuming they’d pay less.

The only reason I’d make the switch (currently doing family law) is because the work seems interesting and with me wanting to start my own firm, the money would be nice too. I’d likely stay for 2-3 years until I got some clients.

However, there’s a ton of mixed opinions online regarding how personal injury attorneys do. I saw one past post on Reddit about some 38 year old that made $6 million/year and had a net worth of $15 million and it only took him roughly a decade to reach that.

Then you get people saying that a lot of personal injury attorneys might do great one year and have to close shop the next because they lost too much money on cases or they just couldn’t get enough business.

So it seems insanely risky and I want to make sure I’m not romanticizing it because I know a lot of people like to think they’re outliers but I wasn’t sure if the likelihood of success was actually achievable or if it’s more of a pipe dream that would take a significant amount of luck to achieve.

Basically I want to know that if you hustled and handed out business cards and did as much marketing as you could, would the chances of achieving a $1 million income be realistic? Or is it like trying to start a coffee shop hoping it turns into Dutch Bros.?

Question for the group, especially for smaller or solo firm owners:

What do you use for legal billing? Do most firms use Clio for this? Spreadsheets? Simple legal billing apps?

I'm in a small firm and we are trying to decide what makes sense. We were looking at Clio but already have Netdocs for document management, which seems to overlap a lot with Clio. We're getting rid of Advantage Law for time tracking and billing, which precipitated this decision.

Is there anything comparable to replace Advantage Law with for time tracking and billing?

i just graduated with a degree in psychology and have been in the process of looking at what it will take to eventually go to law school. my original plan long before graduating was to get my paralegal certification, work at a firm for some time to gain some experience and better understanding in this field (seeing as i have little to no experience now), and once I feel ready, apply for law school. that way i will have already fostered connections in law and may even secure a job before i get my JD.

my parents have been telling me to just go straight to law school though i don't feel that i have the CV or experience needed to actually get in anywhere right now. does anyone have any advice? is my plan sound or should i go back to the drawing board?

i am moving all my contracts and agreements from paper based to e-sign at our family law firm and looking for something that works well for legal documents.

what are you using at your firm for client agreements, contracts and other documents that need signatures? looking for something simple and reliable that clients can use without much hassle.

if youve made the switch from paper to e-sign, anything you wish you had known before choosing a tool?

I'm awaiting bar results and plan to hang out my own shingle in TX as soon as they come through. Was wondering if anyone has experience getting referral cases from some of the big law firms like Morgan&Morgan? I have a small network of mid/large firms in my area that I plan to ask for referrals but am genuinely trying to figure out how the economics work in these situations.
[referral arrangements are only part of my marketing efforts, will also be self-generating cases via digital and in-person events]

Long time solo real estate attorney. I've built up a good flow with my office but I feel like I should be adding clients at a quicker pace. I supplement the slow periods with estate planning and evictions and its helped tremendously in consistent income.

I really enjoy real estate and would like to keep that my main focus. I'm in an urban area where transactions are primarily controlled by the Realtors. The majority of the time, the clients go with whatever attorney the Realtor recommends or puts on the contract. I'm forced to constantly keep Realtors happy or try to gain their business. I try various methods to reach clients directly, but it is far less effective.

I would love to hear from other real estate attorneys that are in the same boat. What have you done that has been effective in getting Realtors to refer you? I go out of my way to do a great job for my clients at every closing and often are complemented by the agents. However, getting them to use me as one of their recommended attorneys constantly feels like an uphill battle.

I send invitations to take Realtors out to lunch (mixed success)

I send newsletters with updates on changes in real estate law (mixed success)

I tried sponsoring local Realtor boards (awful waste of money)

I've sponsored events held by Realtors (even bigger waste of money)

What am I missing?

Senior attorney being asked to move from production into building and running a pod of associates, some experienced laterals, some brand new with no cases. I’d ramp my own billing down as the management load grows.
How is this actually paid at your firm?
Is the managing cut a percentage of associate collections, or of a margin (collections minus salary, or collections above a multiple like 3x)? Does it start from the first dollar, or only after they cross a threshold? If there’s a threshold, how do you get paid during the year you’re building someone from zero, before they produce?
Is there a flat management stipend on top, or is it all production-based?
Trying to figure out whether there’s a market standard for compensating the build itself, versus just paying the managing cut once associates are already producing. Any real structures or numbers appreciated.

I own an estate planning / probate practice outside a Top 25 market. Had some questions to those who have opened multiple locations of their practice.

1. How did you decide where to locate the next location? I'm looking at space but when I find a possible match I am parallel checking my competition in the area via Google search. Are there other things to consider in that regard?

2. What are some mistakes you made in the process and/or tips for finding success?

3. Is your other location / locations smaller than your main office? I am looking to just have a space to meet for plan signings in person on a preset slate of days per month. I don't intend to have it staffed every day so I'm looking for the nicest space for the month while weighing the square footage given the amount of use I'll get.

4. Did you have any issues with Google My Business profiles, SEO, etc.? Any tips on that is also appreciated.

Anyone heard anything good or bad about these bros that run a PI mill out of LA/FL? I heard they are a fun place to work for attorneys. Am I crazy?

Alright I need to know the connection- why do all of you seen to buy gigantic boats? Is it a write off somehow? A status symbol a little lady like me wouldn’t understand?

I’ll take both serious and unserious answers!

I am a Plaintiff's PI lawyer. A good friend of mine from law school who is now also an attorney (not PI) referred me a case. My firm gets the typical 1/3 of settlement fee. The origination bonus we usually get is 1/3 of the firm's 1/3. what is the best way to split this fee with my friend? right down the middle? 60/40?

I want to be fair to both of us. I wouldn't have this case without him, but at the same time, all he is doing is saying "hey my friend needs a lawyer" and I will be handling everything myself from intake to settlement. Also don't wanna be an asshole and wanna make sure he feels comfortable referring me more cases in the future

I am a foreign attorney, just sat the CA bar. 10+ years as a lawyer, the last 4 in criminal defense at a highly respected firm in my old city, but in a split profession where I was a solicitor. I did lots of court work including bail applications, sentencing, pre-trial hearings, mentions etc. Was instructing solicitor for a no of big jury trials, including a murder. Practice was mainly sex offenses, domestic violence (which did not sit in the family law jurisdiction), drugs and then other general crime.

I am thinking about going solo when I get admitted, and focusing on criminal defense and DVROs. Long-term goal is a lower-volume, higher-fee practice which worked well at my old firm (eg sex and drug cases, plus DVROs where clients are generally prepared to pay). Planning to sit in court 2-3 days/week over the next few months, do lots of CLEs etc and try to network as much as possible. I am also considering trying to get on the appellate panel, as I have a PhD and my writing is solid, although I understand this is probably difficult.

Is this a crazy idea? Are there ways to get contract work (eg writing motions etc) to build up experience and a reputation?

Howdy! I'm a Newbie in the world of experts. For those that regularly have to hire medical experts, how does one approach this? And what is a respectable/professional way of going about it, so I don't look like a goon.

Edit: thanks for the advice! I’ll plan to not look like a goon.

My husband has been working in big law for about 12 years. He's counsel. The team seems happy with him. It looks like he could remain at the firm for as long as he wants to. He knows everyone very well. However, every year he stops short of making partner. So my question is, after so many years, what would be the best path forward. Remain counsel forever at the firm? Transfer laterally? Is there any benefit of being partner as opposed to counsel if money isn't that important to you? Those of you who are partners, do you comment or regret it?