Doxly Inc., the legal-software company launched by Indianapolis-based venture studio High Alpha earlier this year, announced Monday that it notched $2.2 million in equity capital and signed the world's largest law firm as a client.
Law firms are looking for talent and signing up attorneys who fit clients’ needs in flexible arrangements that eschew the traditional associate-to-partner model. The trend addresses the firms’ needs to contain costs and the desire of many lawyers for more work-life balance.
Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP has a new partner-in-charge of its Indianapolis office, prompted by his predecessor’s promotion to lead the entire law firm.
The paperless office has been an aspirational goal for many businesses including law firms for years. Advocates point to studies that say going paperless can increase efficiency by 25 to 50 percent and slash a law firm’s budget for paper, printers, printer cartridges and other traditional paperbound office supplies.
Technological advances in teleconferencing are making video depositions a more viable option to control litigation costs, but lawyers say in some cases there’s no substitute for in-person questioning.
Lawyers like Kenneth Riggins use virtual practices to reduce their overhead, while technology allows them to practice from anywhere. Many arrange to have access to office space they can use when they need it.
In certain situations, Tom Richardson will watch two attorneys in a deposition and will know one is going to get stuck with a bigger bill for the same service.
Indianapolis partner Robert J. Hicks will be the next firm-wide managing partner at Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP, the firm announced Tuesday.
As part of Indiana Lawyer’s commemoration of its silver anniversary this year, we asked a varied group of attorneys to look ahead to the year 2040. They outlined what they thought the profession would be like, how they hoped the profession would change, and what they did not want the profession to become.
By a more than 2-to-1 margin, attorneys who responded to the IL survey said their organization encourages them to promote themselves and their firm or organization, compared to those who said their organization discourages social media.
The traditional career path for Indiana attorneys – graduate from law school, become an associate in a law firm, work long hours and eventually become a partner – appears to be broken, or at least cracked.
It is crucial to have a clear, written agreement with your client explaining not just the scope of your services, but how you will be paid for those services. Be careful that you don’t run afoul of your professional obligations in that fee agreement or in your billing.
Thirty-eighty percent of the respondents to the Indiana Lawyer’s 2015 Practicing Law in Indiana survey listed transition or succession planning as the greatest challenge to their organization’s viability. Only the issue of managing costs while protecting quality of service topped this concern, which 42 percent found to be the greatest challenge.
Law firms large and small face similar challenges – keeping costs down and quality high while also finding ways to sustain and grow the business.
A recent Indiana State Bar Association Legal Ethics Committee opinion says lawyers who charge clients flat fees considered earned on receipt shouldn’t deposit the fees in their Interest on Lawyer Trust Account, but should put the money in the firm’s operating account. Some lawyers aren’t convinced this makes sense.
Although the law firm of Price Waicukauski & Riley has split, the plaintiff’s lawyers, who have successfully handled complex litigation and large class actions, say the separation is amicable and their respective practices will continue.
Managing partners at the end of 2014 expressed renewed economic confidence. The mood seems less rosy now, according to the latest survey by the Law Firm Group at Citi Private Bank.
It’s been almost 30 years since Working Mother magazine coined the term “work-life balance.” Since then, men as well as women have increasingly sought ways to practice law without the grueling hours.
The funding of pension plans remains problematic for many employers, and on June 17 the federal government named well-known attorney and mediation maven Kenneth Feinberg to supervise a new program that allows some pension funds to cut retiree benefits.
Should law firms rethink their client engagement letters, and more specifically, the advance waiver clauses they include?