Lawyers Gone Ethical

Lawyers are catching on to the importance and value of integrating law bots into their practice, whether as chat bots on their websites or as client engagement and management tools. Founder and CEO of LawDroid, Tom Martin, joins us to discuss how bots can help automate and simplify internal law firm functions like research and external functions like client management.

LawDroid is a bot automation company with a mission to promote justice everywhere and dedicated to bringing the legal industry into the 21st century.

What We Discuss in This Episode:

• What a chat bot is and what it can accomplish for a lawyer
• Should lawyers worry that robots will take over their jobs?
• How to use bots to stay in touch with current clients
• The message and interaction logs that bots create and how they can help in malpractice suits
• How bots can be used internally within a law firm to complete tasks like research to filling out documents
• Where bots can't replace human lawyers
• The ethical considerations to keep in mind with bots
• What type of disclaimers you must make when you're using a bot
• How bots can help you work ON your business and not IN your business

Resources Mentioned:

Deep Work by Cal Newport

Billie Tarascio's interview on The Lawyerist

x.ai – AI assistant

Contact Information:

www.lawdroid.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/lawdroid

Tom is speaking at the GLSA/GP Solo conference– April 25-28th, 2018

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Email me at megan[at]zaviehlaw[dot]com

This podcast is for informational and educational purposes only. It is not to be construed as legal advice specific to your circumstances. If you need help with any legal matters, be sure to consult with an attorney regarding your specific needs.

Should you consider using bots to help automate repeatable tasks and free up your time to focus on more important work? While law bots are fairly new on the legal tech scene, some lawyers are already utilizing this technology to stay in contact with current clients, perform research, and ultimately, focus on the value only a human can provide. Founder of LawDroid, Tom Martin, joins me for this conversation.

Send any ethics questions that you'd like me to address in a future episode. Reach me at [email protected] or Tweet me @zaviehlaw

Lawyers no longer have to fear ethics constraints when crafting a law practice that truly reflects their lifestyle desires and needs. It's possible to build a practice that provides flexibility and fulfillment while allowing lawyers to provide legal services in the way that they choose.

I'm joined by Melissa Hall of Smol Law, a primary legal care practice in Seattle, Washington. Melissa shares how she's innovating with her law practice without fear of ethics.

What We Discuss in This Episode:

• How Melissa took an old school practice and brought it into modern day
• Why it's important for lawyers to actually care about the work that they do
• Aside from providing counseling and advice, how Melissa is using her network to help clients find other lawyers
• How Melissa is able to implement innovative practices
• Why lawyers rarely stop and think about what they really want out of their careers
• How to plan for a practice that suits your life and lifestyle
• What it looks like to have a practice when you have an illness or other medical condition that requires constant attention
• Planning and preparing for a "backup" lawyer for your solo practice
• The virtual nature of Melissa's practice and how she schedules her consultation calls
• How Melissa's retainer agreements and early communications with clients anticipate and reduce any surprises
• The value of providing your services as a monthly retainer and subscription-style service

Resources Mentioned:

Patreon

Jeena Cho's Episode 6

Contact Information:

[email protected]

Melissa's website

Thank you for listening!

Don't forget to SUBSCRIBE to the show to receive every new episode delivered straight to your podcast player every Tuesday.

If you enjoyed this episode, please help me get the word out about this podcast. Rate and Review this show in Apple Podcasts, Stitcher Radio, and Google Play, and be sure to share this podcast with a friend.

Be sure to connect with me and reach out with any questions/concerns:

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Email me at megan[at]zaviehlaw[dot]com

This podcast is for informational and educational purposes only. It is not to be construed as legal advice specific to your circumstances. If you need help with any legal matters, be sure to consult with an attorney regarding your specific needs.

How can you craft a law practice that suits your lifestyle without fear of ethics rules and constraints? In this episode, I speak with Melissa Hall who shares how she’s building an innovative, modern-day law practice that supports her lifestyle goals and needs.

What should your social media profile(s) include? Are you compliant with the ethical rules when you build out your social media profiles? In this episode, I discuss what you should consider including in your profiles in order to remain compliant.

What I Cover in This Episode:

• When is your social media profile considered attorney advertising and when is it not?
• What must you include in your profile if we are to treat it like attorney advertising?
• On Facebook specifically, what's the important and necessary information to include
• What about Twitter? What should be included there, especially considering there's less room to include information?
• What disclaimers, if any, should you include?
• How can you make the best use of the "Pin Post" option?
• Should you include terminology indicating specialization? If so, what language should you include?
• Can you include testimonials in your profile? Should you?

Resources:

My interview on The Lawyerist Podcast

My interview on the Legal Toolkit podcast

My conversation with Jeena Cho on The Resilient Lawyer Podcast

ABA Model Rule 7.2

Ca Ethics Rule 1-400

Thank you for listening!

Don't forget to SUBSCRIBE to the show to receive every new episode delivered straight to your podcast player every Tuesday.

If you enjoyed this episode, please help me get the word out about this podcast. Rate and Review this show in Apple Podcasts, Stitcher Radio, and Google Play, and be sure to share this podcast with a friend.

Be sure to connect with me and reach out with any questions/concerns:

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Website

Email me at megan[at]zaviehlaw[dot]com

This podcast is for informational and educational purposes only. It is not to be construed as legal advice specific to your circumstances. If you need help with any legal matters, be sure to consult with an attorney regarding your specific needs.

Your social media profiles are just as important as what you post on those platforms. While it's understood that your posts must be compliant with the ethics rules, have you given some thought to whether or not the information in your profiles are compliant too? I discuss how you can set up your profiles on the various social media platforms in ways that keep you compliant with the rules and still attractive to potential clients.

Interest in mindfulness and meditation is on the rise in the legal profession and for good reason! There are numerous benefits to incorporating mindfulness into your law practice and legal career, the most relevant to us being that it helps lawyers do their jobs better (which means fewer potential ethics complaints).

I'm joined by lawyer, author, and mindfulness instructor Jeena Cho who shares her insight on the connection between mindfulness, wellness, and building more sustainable law practices.

What You'll Learn in This Episode:

• Why is mindfulness important in the practice of law?
• What are some tools available for relieving stress and calming the mind?
• How can you recognize when your mind is not in the present moment?
• How to incorporate mindfulness into your daily life
• How much time should you give yourself to retrain your brain?
• Who benefits the most from practicing mindfulness, meditation, and self-care?
• What are some of the destructive behaviors many lawyers engage in to cope with stress?
• How laying down a strong foundation for yourself can help you achieve well-being as a law student
• How not to let your career derail your health habits
• How can practicing mindfulness improve your interactions with your colleagues and clients?
• Some tips to maintaining a mindfulness practice and making it last

Resources Mentioned:

Sharon Salzberg - mindfulness and meditation author

Headspace app

Insight Timer

Jeena's book - The Anxious Lawyer: An 8-Week Guide to a Joyful and Satisfying Law Practice Through Mindfulness and Meditation

The Resilient Lawyer Podcast

Www.jeenacho.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/jeena_cho

Thank you for listening!

Don't forget to SUBSCRIBE to the show to receive every new episode delivered straight to your podcast player every Tuesday.

If you enjoyed this episode, please help me get the word out about this podcast. Rate and Review this show in Apple Podcasts, Stitcher Radio, and Google Play, and be sure to share this podcast with a friend.

Be sure to connect with me and reach out with any questions/concerns:

Facebook

LinkedIn

Website

Email me at megan[at]zaviehlaw[dot]com

This podcast is for informational and educational purposes only. It is not to be construed as legal advice specific to your circumstances. If you need help with any legal matters, be sure to consult with an attorney regarding your specific needs.

How can practicing mindfulness help you become a better lawyer? Lawyer and mindfulness instructor, Jeena Cho joins us to share her insight on how lawyers can incorporate mindfulness into their practices and lead more balanced lives. We also touch upon the effect of meditation on reducing ethics violations and increasing client satisfaction.

The moral character application might seem like it's only something law students need to worry about but if you're a lawyer who's looking to be admitted in other jurisdictions, then you'll certainly want to pay attention. This is especially true if you happen to have a few blemishes in your past that you need to disclose in your application.

In this episode, I offer my tips on how to approach filling out the moral character application that isn't squeaky clean.

What I Cover in This Episode:

• Should you disclose any past blemishes on your moral character application, even if they're tiny incidents that happened a long time ago?
• When you do disclose unfavorable incidents, what's the best way to address them?
• What types of incidents are considered dishonest and thus require disclosure?
• Why honesty with the bar is far more important than your past indiscretions
• What to do if you can't fit your explanation on the actual application
• Why finding respected professionals, like judges, other lawyers, even doctors and politicians, who are willing to speak to your character through letters of recommendation is important
• How to decide whether an incident requires disclosure or not?

Resources Mentioned:

Shon Hopwood- Jailhouse lawyer

Submit your questions for future shows via Twitter @zaviehlaw or email [email protected]

Thank you for listening!

Don't forget to SUBSCRIBE to the show to receive every new episode delivered straight to your podcast player every Tuesday.

If you enjoyed this episode, please help me get the word out about this podcast. Rate and Review this show in Apple Podcasts, Stitcher Radio, and Google Play, and be sure to share this podcast with a friend.

Be sure to connect with me and reach out with any questions/concerns:

Facebook

LinkedIn

Website

Email me at megan[at]zaviehlaw[dot]com

This podcast is for informational and educational purposes only. It is not to be construed as legal advice specific to your circumstances. If you need help with any legal matters, be sure to consult with an attorney regarding your specific needs

Whether you’re applying for bar admission for the first time or you’re moving to another state that you wish to be admitted to practice in, you’re going to have to submit your moral character application. What happens when your background isn’t necessarily squeaky clean? How do you address those blemishes on your application? That’s what I discuss in this episode.