Donna Seyle

Law Practice Strategy

I founded Law Practice Strategy in 2010 as a resource and information center on the future of law practice and legal technology, focusing on the needs of solos and small firms. LPS offers on-going updates and resources related to why and how to integrate technology and the cloud, project management, alternative fee arrangements, and content marketing to create a successful law practice design.

Solo Lawyers, Small Firms and the Legal Services Industry

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Posted on 2011-08-23

One of the primary themes of this blog is how the proliferation of legal service providers will challenge the viability of solo and small firm practices. I discussed the UK’s Legal Services Act (LSA) and it’s authorization of Alternative Business Structures (ABS) that would permit private investment in law firms. Law firms will be infused with private capital, creating partnerships between the legal and financial marketplaces. But that was the UK, and yes, there is that thing called globalization, but what were the odds of this thing called the “legal services industry” (not yet defined in wikipedia) seriously challenging US law practice structure? No big deal.

Except it is.

Fast forward to August 2011, and where are we? The legal...

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Virtual Law Practice and Client Relationships: They Are What You Make Them

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Posted on 2011-08-12

If you visit the virtual law practice website of Rania Combs, Texas Wills and Trusts Online, you’ll see something you wouldn’t expect: her telephone number. Yes, although Rania runs her firm exclusively online, she happily initiates and responds to phone calls, from both existing and prospective clients. Her communications are not restricted to online interaction: to her, it’s just not an either/or situation.

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Ethical Guidelines for Legal Process Outsourcing

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Posted on 2011-05-04

Legal Process Outsourcing (LPO) and virtual lawyering have one primary thing in common: they both involve giving up control over some aspect of your law practice. On one hand, you could be outsourcing projects and tasks; on the other, document storage and management functions. As a result, both the virtual practice of law and the use of LPOs create new challenges to similar ethical compliance issues. There has been significant discussion about security and ethics “in the cloud”, but addressing the ethics issues related to the use of LPOs has taken a bit of a back seat.

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Adventures in LegalTech Land: Technology Overwhelm

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Posted on 2011-02-10

At 11:45 am on Wed, the last day of LegalTech NY 2011, I had an appointment with the editor of a legal technology publication. Both of us had been at the show all three days, although I admit on this particular day I was really only half there. The rest of me was back in bed, sleeping soundly and resting an overstimulated mind. The editor looked pretty much like I felt.

We exchanged pleasantries (which were fortunately quite pleasant) and then got on to the business at hand: what have you seen at the show that captured your attention?

He asked first, and my mind went blank. I so needed to act like I remembered something, anything to just get my scrambled brain defragmented. Finally a particular vendor came to mind primarily because they had wined & dined me the night before. And bingo, I scored big brownie points: it was one of the vendors the editor...

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Freelance Lawyers and LPOs: Distinguishing Your Services

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Posted on 2010-12-28

An interesting conversation is taking place in LinkedIn’s group Solo Attorney Practitioner’s Forum concerning the prediction that onshore LPOs will proliferate this year and the effect that may have on freelance lawyers. Since LPOs aren’t going away, freelancers must gain market visibility by distinguishing themselves from LPOs and establish a firm, independent presence in the legal marketplace.

My sense is that the rise in popularity of use of the word “outsourcing” (i.e., “I hired a web designer to design my logo” vs. “I outsourced my logo design to a web designer) is somewhat the culprit in the association of LPOs with freelance attorneys. Back in the day when “legal process outsourcing” meant sending only largely unsophisticated legal projects to offshore service providers, the term had a much more specific definition. Now everything that isn’t done by you or your employees is “outsourced”. When you...

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How is the Legal Services Act Connected to Law Firm Cost Containment?

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Posted on 2010-12-13

I’ve been going through a massive attack of writer’s block lately. It’s been a few weeks and it’s really wearing on me now. I was thinking it was because I just didn’t know what I wanted to say. But as time has passed, I also realize it’s because I don’t know what you want to hear.

Are you really interested in learning about the UK’s Legal Services Act (LSA) (aka Tesco Law) when all you’re doing is praying the phone will ring? Or trying to find the right person to delegate tasks to? Or figuring out how to use this cloud system you downloaded because “they” said you need to do the virtual thing?

Or is it that I’m interested in the LSA, so that’s what I’m going to write about, never mind that you don’t find it useful.

Great marketing skills, here. Great blogging attitude. Way to win hearts and minds.

So I asked myself: “Why do I think it’s so important for lawyers to know about the LSA and it’a aftermath?” And the answer is because it’s really clear that...

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Time Traveling in the Practice of Law

1 comments 977 reads

Posted on 2010-12-01

I decided something the other day. You know the saying, how time seems to go faster every year. Everyone says it, but no one believes it can happen. You just get busier, so it feels that way.

I decided I don’t believe that anymore. I think time really is moving faster than it used to, we just won’t believe it because it would upset our sense of order in a big way.

Now, I could go off on a whole philosophical diatribe about the implications of such an idea, but that’s not why I brought it up. It came to mind because, when it comes to the radical changes that are evolving in our profession, the engine’s picking up steam real fast. We’re experiencing the predictions unfold into reality more quickly every day. Isn’t that the definition of time going faster?

The other reason it came to mind is that I’ve wanted to blog about the Thomson Reuters’ Pangea3 purchase for almost a week now, and here I am, Wednesday @ 2:26 pm, hoping to get this out today. So I’m pleading...

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Lawyers, Meet Vendors, Your New Best Friends

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Posted on 2010-11-18

Back in the day, when only large law firms used sophisticated network systems to handle enterprise technology, their IT departments were responsible to assess the standards, quality and functionality of the systems they purchased. And once the installation was complete, it was also IT’s job to maintain the system at the necessary level of functionality.

But as the development and use of scaled-down software, and now cloud products, infiltrated solo, small and mid-level firms that do not employ an IT staff, lawyers have needed to educate themselves to make the right technology choices. Without guidance from an IT professional, there are plenty of wrong choices and expensive mistakes to be made. And with the use of cloud-based products comes the added element of vendor due diligence for lawyers who are at a loss right now to even know what to ask. (I’ve included a sample of a vendor due diligence questionnaire in my post Oh, Data, Where Art Thou...

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Oh, Data, Where Art Thou? Security, Politics & the Bottom Line

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Posted on 2010-10-27

NOTE: This article originally appeared in LJN’s Legal Tech Newsletter, an ALM Media publication (www.ljnonline.com/alm?lt)

The ability to convert capital expenditures to operating expenses, tax considerations and other cost-savings benefits are sending businesses to the cloud with glee, the legal profession lagging behind but getting the hint. But as the evolution of security measures becomes more imperative, tales of international disagreement regarding security regulation make the location of your vendor’s servers a question of paramount importance in selecting your cloud provider. For lawyers, this question of location is compounded by jurisdictional considerations.

Location, Location, Location

When you place data in the cloud, you lose control of it. How it is handled by the vendors you’ve entrusted it to depends on two things: their security protocol and the...

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Mixing It Up With LegalTech: New Apps & Uses, Part 2

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Posted on 2010-10-07

In the rapidly expanding world of legal technology, development of new products and customized integration of two or more products are making your choices more complex, but your life easier. In this 2-part series, I am exploring a few vendor products and practices that continue to expand the possibilities of taking some, or all, of your practice online.In Part 1 we looked at PBWorks and Case Record, two apps that help streamline your online experience. Here we will talk about the ability to integrate AdvologixPM and NetDocuments, and MuchBeta, a Saas development company with some interesting ideas.

AdvologixPM and NetDocuments: The Perfect Marriage

While Saas products are undisputably the best choice for solos and small firms wanting to take their practice online, their drawback is that,...

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