Kevin Harris’ recent post in Attorney at Work, It’s About Time You Got Paid, reminds lawyers that they are in business to make money; and that they need to employ good management practices in order to accomplish that goal.  However, in today’s economic climate, lawyers are expected to draw up budget and staffing plans at the outset of an undertaking and stick to them using a technique called LPM, or Legal Project Management, as explained by Pam Woldow in her posting, LPM, Going for Broke and Turning up the Heat.  However,despite LPM having become the buzzword for law practice management this year, Toby Brown suggests that a better term might be BFC, or “Better, Faster, Cheaper,” in the article he posted at 3 Geeks and the Law Blog: Legal Project Management Versus Process Improvement - Which Drives BFC?.In order to assist lawyers in their efforts to accomplish these goals, software vendors are constantly offering new products and upgrades, which bloggers then review.  Hence, Basha Systems posted a review of a Actionstep, a new legal management program imported from Australia.  Also, TL Answers, at Legal Technology Review contains reviews of new products and advice about setting up software.  Legal Technology Review is a free subscription e-mail service with several offerings from which to choose.

The Illinois Supreme Court ruled recently in People ex rel. Glasgow v. Kinney that prior misdemeanor DUI convictions – even if the defendant was unrepresented – can be used to bump a later DUI charge to a felony, Adam W. Lasker explained in the July IBJ."DUI defense attorney Donald J. Ramsell said Illinois used to prohibit any and all use of uncounseled misdemeanor convictions for enhancement purposes, but that policy changed after the [U.S. Supreme Court's] Nichols decision in 1994," Lasker wrote. "As such, it did not surprise Ramsell" that the Illinois high court lowered the bar in Kinney. Find out more.

Asked and AnsweredBy John W. Olmstead, MBA, Ph.D, CMCQ. Our firm is a 6 attorney firm in downtown Chicago. Our practice is a litigation boutique focused on representing individuals in personal injury and divorce matters. We do a fair amount of advertising and have had mixed results. We tried radio and limited TV ads, have an innovative website, have done some pay per click ads on the web and are now considering a lead referral service. Do you have any suggestions concerning what we should be investing in marketing and what we should be doing to maximize our results?A. Studies that have been conducted indicate that law firms that provide services to business firms (B2B) spend approximately 2.4% of fee revenue on marketing. However, law firms that focus on individual consumers (retail law if you will) spend much more - 10%+ of fee revenues on marketing - especially if strong referral networks are not in place. I have several PI, SSDI, Elder Law and Estate Planning firm clients that are spending 10%+ of their fee revenue or greater on marketing. I have some extremely successful PI firm clients spending 20% of their revenue on marketing. The amount of appropriate investment can depend upon referral networks in place. I have successful PI and Estate Planning firms that are getting all of their business from their referral networks and spending next to nothing on marketing and advertising. (By referrals I am speaking about professional referrals not involving a referral fee and client referrals. If referral fees are involved they should be considered a marketing cost) So it depends upon your situation, the type of cases you are going after, etc.

The Illinois State Bar Association's 8th Annual Solo & Small Firm Conference returns to Chicagoland Sept. 13-15 at the Westin Northwest Chicago in Itasca. Register by Aug. 20 for the Early Bird discount -- a savings of $75. Earn up to 15 hours of MCLE credit, including all 6 hours of PMCLE credit.Top 10 Reasons To Attend This Year’s ConferenceNetworking with like-minded peers from across the state!Crowd favorite program Gizmos & Gadgets returnsBasic and advanced Fastcase legal research trainingNew location in Itasca, just northwest of ChicagoIndividual counseling on how to market your firmMobile Device App to put Conference info you need at your fingertipsComedians-at-Law at Friday night social eventPlenary speaker Todd Winegar's Trials of the Century Overview programNew 4th track of programming – Practice Fundamentals15 HRS MCLE/ 6 HRS PMCLE credit availableLearn more and register today at www.isba.org/soloconference