Let me make this perfectly clear: your business card says a lot about you. When I open the desk drawer with my Rolodex and piles of rubber-banded cards, it’s like pulling open a drawer of memories. (It also reminds me that I need to scan them with my Fujitsu ScanSnap and save them with CardMinder.)

In some cultures, it is considered correct business politesse to hold the card presented to you with both hands, observe it, and comment, before putting it carefully in your wallet.

I have my own rules for business cards, to wit:
• Make sure someone can read your card easily without glasses or a magnifying glass (the “over age 40” rule).
• If you use your domain name in your email address, make sure you also have a web page with that domain name.
• Send two business cards to each client at the close of your case and ask them to refer you business.
• Whenever you give your card, give three (one for that person and two for friends).
• Use both sides of the card – include your practice areas on one side, a map to your office, or a piece of advice.
• Make it unique and easy to spot.

Making your card unique and easy to spot is tricky in the rather conservative field of lawyering. You want the impression you make to be favorable, so keep that in mind before you get too wild and crazy. And if inexpensive business cards are what you seek, the Internet is a good place to go. Try Vistaprint, but don’t forget to give your local supplier a chance to compete.

“It’s what my friend who practices law uses.” That sounds like an innocuous sentence. And it can be, if it’s in reference to a credit card, or a copier. But if it’s the basis for purchasing case management or other law office software, it sets my teeth on edge. Why? Because you’re admitting that you really don’t know what to buy and you haven’t bothered to research it further.

Take a step back and think: how similar am I to that lawyer? Do we have the same level of tech expertise? Do we use the same hardware and software? Do we have the same type of practice? What about staff? Since this isn’t the television show “Fringe” and you don’t live in a parallel world, you are probably more different from one another than you are alike.

So how should you decide what to purchase? Research, expert advice, and testing. Case management or law office accounting software is mission critical to your practice and one of the most important decisions you’ll have to make as far as practice management goes.

Before you start researching, assess your current situation and your future needs.
• Do an inventory of the software and hardware you currently use.
• List the functions you need the software to perform (e.g. produce reports of case activity, remind me of due dates).
• Determine who will need access to the software and whether it will be in a support role or as a timekeeper or primary user. Before you buy, you should know who needs the software and why they need it.
• Turn to the Internet to see the options available.
• Peruse the tech overviews and compare the features using the Legal Technology Resource Center’s (LTRC) comparison charts.
• Refer to the 2011 Solo and Small Firm Legal Technology Guide by Sharon Nelson, John Simek, Michael Maschke.
• Refer to The Lawyer’s Guide to Practice Management Systems Software, Second Edition by Andy Adkins.
• Consult your bar association’s practice management advisor. (If your state doesn’t have one, you might want to talk to your bar leadership about hiring one.)
• Go to the web pages of the software products you like. Watch online videos on their sites and read faq’s.
• Contact the company or certified consultants in the software you think you are interested in. Ask specific questions. See if they will give you a free demonstration via the Web.

Once you’ve narrowed the products down, do testing for a month. Some products offer 30 days free, others offer a full refund if you cancel or return within 30 days. If you find something you like, remember that buying the software is just one piece of the puzzle. You need to budget for training, installation and customization by an expert as well. Otherwise, you can expect frustration in the short and long term.

Many small firm lawyers are looking for ways to keep their computer technology costs down, particularly costs associated with networking.  Google Apps is hosted tools for business. Google Apps suite includes: Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Docs, Google Sites, Google Apps Marketplace and more. Apps offers customized email addresses (smith@smithlawfirm.com, for example), mobile email, calendar, and IM access. The cost begins at around $50 a year per user.

By using a web-hosted solution instead of an Exchange Server, there are no additional hardware or software costs. Google handles spam filtering. Apps claims to offer 24/7 email and phone support and 99.9% uptime guarantee. Naturally, there are also long-standing security concerns with Google and all other online service providers. Google has a white paper available http://bit.ly/awqMS8 in PDF.

Google now offers two-step verification which is similar to what large law firms and major companies use. Two-step verification requires two means of identification to sign in to a Google Apps account, something you know: a password, and something you have: a mobile phone. It doesn’t require any special tokens or devices. After entering your password, a verification code is sent to your mobile phone via SMS, voice calls, or generated on an application you can install on your Android, BlackBerry or iPhone device. This makes it much more likely that you’re the only one accessing your data: even if someone has stolen your password, they’ll need more than that to access your account. You can also indicate when you’re using a computer you trust and don’t want to be asked for a verification code from that machine in the future.

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?

One of my favorite funny movie lines of all time comes from 1956′s “Invasion of the Body Snatchers“. Our hero is running for his life. His voice-over narration is (deadpan): “I had known fear before, but never fear like that.” The understatement cracks me up every time.

I was somehow reminded of this line when reading the introduction of a new book dealing with bad times in law practices.  Lawyers have seen tough times before, but never quite this tough.  How Good Lawyers Survive Bad Times by Sharon Nelson, Jim Calloway and Ross Kodner has just been released by ABA books. Need a pep talk with a heaping helping of practical advice? This book is a 212-page cookbook for making lemonade out of lemons, figuratively speaking. As anyone who has seen these well-known authors and speakers would expect, the advice is delivered with compassion, common sense and a dose of humor. Most of the advice is geared to those in small firms, those recently laid off, and those struggling to find jobs. There are tips on getting clients to pay, finding a new job on the Internet, alternative billing , and resume writing. The last section of the book is devoted solely to using technology to practice better, cheaper and faster than before.  For lawyers experiencing the worst of what the economy has dealt, this book is a lifeline. Purchase your own copy, or check it out from the Bar lending library.