SC Small Firm.com

I find that many small law firms have reserved a domain name and have set up their email to use that name, but they have no Web page yet. I think that it’s really important to have some kind of Web presence if you are giving out your email address and it ends in something like @Doelawfirm.com.  I imagine the prospective client seeing that domain name and trying to look it up on the Internet. What do they think when nothing is there? When it happens to me, I think that maybe the firm isn’t quite as “together” as I would like my lawyer to be. It shows a lack of completion.

So what is holding so many lawyers back? Fear of high cost, for one thing. Difficulty in finding a Web page designer is another. And then there’s the content factor: what are we going to say? No one wants to have an amateurish Web page. I understand all of these concerns. But I think that having a simple page with the firm’s directory information and practice areas, lawyer’s names and a map is a good thing. No need for a “contact us” button. I think soliciting business on the Internet isn’t something you should do without thinking about it a long time and weighing all the pros and cons.

As for cost, there are loads of unemployed or part-time Web designers advertising reasonably priced Web pages on the Internet. Chances are, one of your friends has a friend who has a college age kid who’s a wiz at designing Web pages. Also, with the advent of blogging, so many free, professional looking, templates are available online. There are also inexpensive editors that you can find online – see my post on Artisteer, for example. I’ve known more than a few lawyers who tackled their own designs. Look at local law firm Web pages and see who took design credit. Contact them and get a price. Google “web design” and your city name to see a list of local companies and to request some quotes.

Coming soon: search engine optimization: does it work and is it worth paying extra?

A few years back, a professor at a well-known law school told me how his university dealt with old computer hard drives. “We used to pay students to smash them with sledge hammers,” he recalled, “until someone got a piece of metal in his eye. Then we stopped.” Around the same time I heard this tale, I discovered an experiment by MIT researchers. The students at the MIT Laboratory for Computer Science (I’m sure you have a visual of what they might have looked like) purchased used hard drives from eBay and other sources. Of the approximately 170 drives, they found only 12 that were properly sanitized. The rest all contained data, including credit card numbers and medical records. Doh! This study sparked another project, this one involving “drive slagging.” If you know that slag relates to molten metals, you probably figured out that drive slagging means melting down your hard drive. If you’d like to see some neat pictures, check out the link. I think you will agree, there’s no way to rescue that data!

Aside from melting, foolproof ways of sanitizing a hard drive so that it can be disposed of are few and the techniques for rescuing data on hard drives have improved over the last few years. I’ve heard experts in computer forensics state that data can be retrieved from hard drives that were submerged in sea water, burned, and otherwise abused. Such feats are not inexpensive, of course. Spending $1000 for one drive would not be unusual (which is why you’re glad you made that backup, right?).

So, what’s the best way to dispose of a hard drive? See my eCycle post from December 2009.

Ergonomic, that is. I don’t need statistics to convince you that anyone who works in a law office spends a huge portion of her (and his) time sitting at a desk.  I do, and I’m guessing you do too.  Studies have found that ergonomic disorders are practically a pandemic problem in the U.S. What you are sitting on is every bit as important as your keyboard, monitor(s) and desk.

Recently, I decided to purchase a new chair to use at work. Checking out my co-workers’ offices, there seemed to be a variety of seating options – from a traditional executive chair for our executive director (that figures) to an exercise ball/chair used by our risk management counsel (see the slideshow below). You’ll notice I found a lot of cushions and ergo add-ons too.

After much Internet research, I visited local office furniture stores to try some chairs on for size. I felt somewhat like Goldilocks, searching for the chair that was “just right.” Luckily, I found a chair that offered enough customizable positions and possible adjustments to suit even my finicky tastes. After more than six months, I’m still happy with my chair and no longer see it as a medieval instrument of torture. In fact, most of the time I don’t think about my chair at all, which frees me to concentrate on my work.

What did I buy? A Steelcase Leap Chair.  Do you have a favorite chair? What about an ergonomic solution that might help other desk dwellers? Share your comments here.

Are you having challenges marketing your firm? Many lawyers feel that most referrals come from other lawyers.  If you are a South Carolina Bar member practicing alone or in a firm with five or fewer lawyers, include yourself in the Solo and Small Firm Section’s Solo and Small Firm Practice Area Directory. The Directory is accessible from the Section’s homepage, www.scbar.org/solo and contains practice area information about fellow small firm lawyers in South Carolina. Because the Directory is cross-referenced by both practice area and geographical area, finding a lawyer is quick and simple. The Directory can be viewed online or downloaded and saved as a PDF file. The PDF also contains information for how to print the Directory so that it looks like a book. For inclusion in the directory, small firm lawyers must complete a brief online survey. Questions may be directed to Courtney Kennaday, Practice Management Advisor and Solo and Small Firm Section liaison, at pmap@scbar.org.

This Wednesday, April 28, 2010, the South Carolina Bar is hosting a legislative reception from 6:00 to 8:00 pm.  The reception is at University House at 911 South Stadium Road. And it’s free! So come on Bar members – here’s your chance to rub elbows with the big wigs from the Statehouse. Don’t miss this opportunity to show our legislators that lawyers are people too! RSVP to kstaden@scbar.org & 803.576.3782.