Between desk jobs, driving and television, attorneys are spending more time on their butts than ever.
It’s part of a broader trend: the average American sits for more than eight hours every day. One in three Americans have body mass indexes (BMIs) classified as obese, and new measurements suggest the number of obese may be closer to a whopping 2 out of 3.
Sitting is a dangerous occupation
The “prolonged sitting” (sitting for more than six hours a day) that comes with many legal professions slows down metabolism, decreases levels of good cholesterol and impairs insulin sensitivity, leading to dramatically increased risk of Type II diabetes, heart disease and cancer. (more…)
Attorneys have always gotten their best work by virtue of relationships and their word of mouth reputation. The Internet has not changed this. Learn how many lawyers are saving time and money by using the Internet to:
- Enhance their reputation;
- Grow their network of relationships;
- Establish themselves as subject matter experts; and
- Get not just clients, but high-quality clients.
When: May 17, 2012, 12:00PM – 1:00PM, EST
Speaker: Kevin O’Keefe, Lexblog.com
Limited Space. Click here to register!
Join us and learn how you can use blogging and other online platforms and tools to develop relationships and grow your practice.
About Kevin:
Kevin O’Keefe is CEO and publisher of LexBlog, the leading provider of professional turnkey blog and social media solutions. The LexBlog Network (LXBN), with over 7,000 lawyers and other service professionals, is the largest network of professionals blogging. (more…)
Dropbox rocks. It’s a free service that lets you access the files, pictures, music and videos stored on your computer, no matter where you are. Well, it’s mostly free. You can upgrade for a reasonable fee to more storage than you’ll ever need. For many, the free version does the job.
The Dropbox folder on your computer is synced via the cloud and accessible via the browser on any computer. Files are also accessible on the iPhone, iPad, Android devices and the Blackberry via the Dropbox app. The app allows you to sync, share, and download files from the Dropbox folder on your computer using your mobile device. (more…)
Evernote, the terrific note taking and information storing application is a useful tool for many things including blogging. You can use it as an Ideas File for Your Blog Posts, and to Increase Your Blogging Productivity.
The new Evernote for Mac update, full of new features and redesigned screens adds even more functionality for bloggers and writers in general.
Word Count
I’ve been asking for this for awhile. If you blog or write articles for publications, there’s usually a word or character count requirement (or limit for the verbose). I start my blogging process in Evernote, scanning the dozens of ideas and links I’ve stored there (and add to just about every day). Then I open a new note and start writing. Then edit down. Before the update I would guesstimate the number of words which were confirmed only after I transferred the text to WordPress blogging platform with its built in counter. No mas! Evernote for Mac now has word and character count totals for each note. (more…)
We use Gmail for our personal email, and for professional accounts hooked up via Google Apps for Business. Google Calendar is just as useful and like other Google products, updated and enhanced regularly.
Here are a few tips to help you organize your daily Google Calendar for a more streamlined and productive experience.
1. Keyboard shortcuts
Keyboard shortcuts can significantly speed up your navigation. Quickly switch between monthly, weekly, or daily calendar views by hitting the corresponding M, W or W keys. Click C to create an event and S to manage your settings. Google provides a full list of Calendar keyboard shortcuts. (more…)
Ask any lawyer who’s attended a legal technology seminar in the past four years and they’ll tell you: the war drums beat ever louder about the need to go paperless. Katrina and other disaster victims often preach the loudest.
It’s kind of a mind-boggling to imagine a law firm with no paper, filing cabinets, or accordion folders. But yet the promised land does exists and attorneys are already there.
Getting to this sublime state of legal efficiency requires 3 things: motivation, process, and hardware. In May, we’re going to be talking about the first two of these items as we roll out improvements to Legal Productivity’s related cloud legal software product, Rocket Matter, and its improved document upload capabilities.
But right away we can help with the hardware issue: we’re giving away two Fujitsu ScanSnap S1500′s, considered the best scanners for small and solo law firms. You can enter with a friend and increase your odds of winning at least one. Or you can be greedy and keep both.
It takes 30 seconds to enter our scanner giveaway contest:
* Like us on our Facebook fan page.
* Click on the “Sweepstakes” link with the picture of the scanner on our page and register.
Good luck!
We’re always looking for ways to educate ourselves and increase our productivity. From Converting Blog Posts To Audio To Listen On The Go, to Converting Text To Audio With Vocalyze. With iTunes U, there is no converting to do. Just subscribe and go!
The free iTunes U app for iPhone, iPad and iPod, gives you access to courses from universities, schools, and other institutions. The more than 500,000 courses on thousands of subjects are free and come with course materials, including audio, video, books, documents & presentations, apps, and books. The app is also available for download on your Mac or PC.
After downloading the app, you can choose from a variety of categories including business, engineering, health, literature and social science. There’s a PowerPoint 2010 course under the business section which is probably best left in 2010 [See Ernie Svensons's excellent piece on using the iPad and Keynote instead for presentations]. You can also see the current popular courses by clicking on “What’s Hot”. iPad and iPhone App Development (Fall 2011) from Stanford is not surprisingly, hot. So is Trigonometry. Think I’ll skip that. (more…)
More law firms, solo attorneys and legal related entities are creating their own Facebook Page to engage and foster community [We have one too!]. But like any other social media platform, managing it can be a drain on your most precious resource: Time. Especially considering the many changes Facebook enforces upon us, so when we come across a tip, we like to share it.
Here’s the process of how narrow a specific status update to a particular geographic region.
We’re putting on a live program, Accelerating Your Law Firm for the 21st Century, in Boca Raton, Florida, and wanted to invite our Facebook friends in South Florida to the event without bothering the rest of the community. (more…)
We’ve become extreme information consumers in today’s online world. Mobile adds to it as we read and save information to read later on our phones and tablets. For some of us, it’s our job, navigating social media and information sites. What’s a digital hoarder to do? Here are seven favorite tools that I use daily to help me stay organized and on top of my digital life.
The grandaddy of them all, Evernote’s goal is to be the repository for your digital life. And they’re doing a good job of it. I compose blog posts, scan receipts in, jot down my thoughts and goals, take notes at meetings, the list goes on. Information is saved as you type and synched across devices and online. (more…)
Twitter is a great platform for sharing your thoughts, links to useful information and your own writing. It facilitates the opportunity to create and nurture relationships across a broad spectrum. It’s also a terrific tool for monitoring targeted practice areas in the legal profession and gaining valuable insight.
Follow
It starts with who you choose to follow. If you’re a family law attorney, follow other family law attorneys, related associations and legal and news accounts [See: How To Find Lawyers And Legal Professionals To Follow On Twitter]. Check out what they’re talking about and the links they’re sharing. Join the conversation. After you’ve amassed a number of follows, check the “Who to Follow” section in the left column on Twitter.com. More family law related suggestions will pop up since the recommendations are based on who you already follow. Check each potential follow since Twitter maddingly includes dated accounts. It’s not terribly useful following someone who hasn’t tweeted in two years. Go to your profile page and you’ll find a “Similar to Me” link, another good source to find family law related accounts to follow. (more…)
