Ever wish you could get past the basics in Excel and work a little bit smarter? Here’s a great tip on using TEXTJOIN, from Affinity Consulting Group’s newly updated guide “Microsoft Excel for Legal Professionals.” If you’ve ever needed to combine text from multiple cells in Excel, you know how challenging it can be to work with the CONCATENATE function or to use ampersands to get the job done. It’s even harder if your data has some blank cells. Unless you jump through hoops to nest some formulas, you’re going to end up with double spaces that need to be removed. Enter TEXTJOIN, available in Microsoft 365 and Office 2019. When You Need to Use TEXTJOIN If you have rows of data that need combined (think a column for first name, a column for middle name, and a column for last name) and some of the cells are blank (not everyone has a middle name), then TEXTJOIN in Excel is the easiest way to get the job done. TEXTJOIN is especially useful when you’re preparing data in Excel for a mail merge. Data is much easier to manipulate in Excel than it is in Word, so you want to account for things like missing middle names in Excel, not Word, whenever possible. How to Use TEXTJOIN in Excel Start by making sure you’ve created a column for your newly combined text — Full Name in our example. Now, click in the first cell where you want the combined text to appear. In the example above, click in cell D2. Functions, like TEXTJOIN, can be easily accessed from the Formulas ribbon. In the Function Library group, click on Text. Select TEXTJOIN from the drop-down list. TEXTJOIN has 3 unique arguments (information it needs to work): Delimiter, Ignore_empty and Text. You can enter multiple

The Interest on Lawyers’ Trust Account, commonly called IOLTA, is one of the most valuable tools for expanding legal representation to appear in recent decades. Unlike traditional attorney trust accounts, IOLTA programs, available in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, allow lawyers to hold client retainers, settlements and other money in interest-bearing accounts. The interest collected statewide funds legal assistance programs for low-income people and traditionally underserved populations. The community and social benefits of IOLTA programs range from financial assistance for legal fees to clinics, classes and workshops. But IOLTA management can present a major challenge for lawyers, particularly those in solo practice or small firms. IOLTA regulations vary from state to state but tend to be complex and time-consuming. Moreover, the penalties for mismanagement can be severe, including disbarment. While large law firms have advantages of scale, including dedicated accounting and bookkeeping resources and robust technology solutions, solo attorneys often manage their own office finances. That creates a significant burden and has several drawbacks, especially regarding IOLTA management: Most attorneys don’t have accounting or financial management training or experience.Spending time on bookkeeping means less time for helping clients.Spending time on bookkeeping reduces billable hours. For lawyers working long hours without proper training in financial management, an oversight or accounting error can quickly develop into a major transgression. Common Mistakes Lawyers Make in IOLTA Management Commingling client funds with the firm’s operation account, failure to maintain three-way reconciliation and poor record-keeping, in general, are the most common mistakes lawyers make. Avoiding these common errors requires time and attention — precious commodities in a lawyer’s life. Lawyers who fail to maintain proper accounting for IOLTA can face professional discipline, including censure, suspension or even disbarment. In fact, some lawyers, anxious over the complexity and risk, simply avoid

According to the ABA Profile of the Legal Profession 2020, nearly 20% of lawyers suffer from anxiety. Lawyers struggle with anxiety at levels substantially higher than the general population and other highly educated professionals. It is important for law firms and firm leaders to “lead the way” for attorney well-being by creating a culture that does not increase our stress and anxiety to unhealthy levels. We as individual attorneys also have a responsibility to make our self-care a priority, especially if we suffer from anxiety. We need strategies that empower us to manage stress and anxiety effectively. What Is Anxiety, Exactly? Everyone experiences anxiety sometimes. It is a regular part of life. When we face problems at work, confrontational discussions with opposing counsel, or need to make a big life decision, we feel anxious. This is called situational anxiety. Anxiety disorders are not like this. They are not characterized by occasional or temporary worry or fear. Rather, a person with an anxiety disorder often suffers worsening anxiety over time that may not be directly related to things happening in the present. Symptoms of an anxiety disorder can interfere with daily activities, job performance and relationships. Whether you are experiencing situational anxiety or an anxiety disorder, there are strategies you can use to alleviate symptoms and feel better. Five Strategies Mental Health Experts Recommend to Reduce Anxiety 1. Focus your attention. We can get carried away by our anxious thoughts. To reduce anxiety, it helps to engage in activities that focus your attention on other things. That’s why mindfulness practices are the perfect way to move the brain away from anxious thoughts. During meditation, for example, we focus on our breath, or on a mantra. This focus gives the brain a break from our anxious thoughts and reduces feelings of anxiety. Try these activities for focusing your attention

Using legal data for strategic law firm planning is no longer reserved for BigLaw. With the improved access to litigation data from numerous vendors in the exploding legal tech ecosystem, solo practitioners, small law firms, and regional and midsize firms can take advantage of insights from data to position themselves as leaders and market movers in their respective practice areas and jurisdictions. In “How Attorneys Can Use Legal Data for Business Development and Intelligence,” we looked at how attorneys interested in incorporating legal data into their marketing toolkit can begin by using a series of simple reports to view their clients’ and competitors’ litigation data. This allows firms to find new business opportunities and better understand their real market share. Then, in Part 2 of this series, “How Attorneys Can Use Legal Data for Legal Recruiting,” we looked at some practical applications of litigation data in the recruiting process and detailed some fundamental questions firms should ask and answer before determining which laterals to hire. In this third and final article, we’ll touch on how firms of all sizes can use litigation analytics to spot trends impacting their most important revenue streams and continuously monitor what’s happening in specific practice areas to strategically position themselves for the future. We’ll also discuss how to combine insights from litigation trends with lessons learned from previous articles to determine where to focus your marketing efforts for the greatest return. Uncovering Opportunities and Diagnosing Weaknesses in Your Markets For law firms, it’s critical to gather intelligence about real-time trends that are creating sharp and sudden changes as well as longer-term trends affecting the overall health of your markets. Short-Term Trends A great example of how firms can use short-term trends to shore up their practices and prepare for downturns comes from the dramatic decline

By embracing legal tech, firms are stepping into the future and preserving the integrity and success of their practices. As another wave of COVID-19 ravages the U.S., forcing at-home work to extend even further, the legal industry continues to feel the disruption. As in any industry that relies on collaboration, communication and transparency, the pandemic has forced legal professionals to find new strategies to manage their work. Adding to these challenges, cyberattacks remain a looming threat. As guardians of clients’ personal and confidential information, legal professionals face an array of complex risks that can be difficult to navigate in such a volatile environment. The good news is that legal tech programs can prove valuable in helping you manage and protect your law practice. The Rise of Legal Tech and the Evolving Law Firm Fueled by increasing investor interest and client demand, legal tech is on the rise. That is prompting a reassessment of everything from research, contract and case management to data security, intake, invoicing and more. Innovative legal tech works to increase accuracy and efficiency, allowing firms to improve workflow and capture new business. Efficient matter management, research, contract analysis and other services can boost productivity, providing a competitive advantage. For example, rather than sorting through mountains of paperwork with the risk of something being misplaced or missed, legal tech solutions can automate all sorts of lower-end, repetitive tasks. This leaves more time to focus on clients instead of spending potentially billable time on internal responsibilities. Notably, firms that fully leverage technology may actually see an increase in profitability at much higher rates than others since the pandemic began. Simply, the traditional practice of law is rapidly modernizing. Data Security Is Top Priority Understandably, a major concern for law firms and legal professionals is data privacy and security. Amid

Although the pandemic has affected the legal industry in a multitude of ways, there’s no question that the surge in demand for estate and end-of-life planning legal services stems from the realization that no one is invincible in the face of COVID-19. Estate Planning Pointers Amid a public health crisis, everyone is vulnerable — not just the elderly. Even young people need to get their affairs organized and document their wishes if they were to experience long-term disability, incapacity or death — and so do their lawyers. Updating Your Estate Planning Documents There’s no time like the present for lawyers to practice what they preach. Reviewing and updating your own estate planning documents to reflect your current personal and family situation gives you the peace of mind that you and your loved ones are protected. Further, impending federal tax law changes may merit strategic adjustments. I recently spoke with Peggy Sheahan Knee, principal of the Knee Law Firm and LexisNexis Practical Guidance contributing author, who said the pandemic was a game-changer for her law practice. “I was absolutely shocked at how many people reached out to us about not having documents like health-care proxies, advanced directives and durable power of attorney,” she said. “In the past, I found people were generally resistant to the idea.” Not anymore — clients are more than ready to talk through scenarios and pull together the paperwork. Many of the calls she receives are from worried parents of minor children who previously had no estate planning documentation. With the realization that no one is safe in the COVID-19 era, planning for the worst while hoping for the best is the responsible thing to do. Should Your Firm Handle Your Will? Choosing a Service Provider According to Knee, it’s critical to have a will in place.

Facing a busier than ever week ahead? Use these steps to figure out how to prioritize when you are overwhelmed. Here’s my week: I have three transactions closing on Friday and I need to work on them all right now. One is not more important than the other. I have two articles due today by the end of business, both of which require my immediate attention. I am changing jobs and must figure out my medical insurance. Of course, I need to call during business hours to do that, and I have to accomplish this by Thursday or I won’t have coverage. Also: There are two contracts that needed to be reviewed last week that I still haven’t looked at, one client who needs revisions to his estate planning documents so he can sign on Friday before he travels out of the country, and another client who is very ill and needs legal advice regarding her will. Plus, my daughter has back-to-school activities, needs to be driven to her extracurricular programs — and we adopted a puppy! How the heck am I supposed to prioritize when everything is important and needs to be handled at the same time? Help! Five Steps for Figuring Out How to Prioritize It All Here’s what I do when I am faced with times such as this, when there is too much to do and no easy way to prioritize. 1. The first step is to breathe. When we take deep breaths, it calms our bodies and minds so that we can think more clearly and make better decisions. Deep breathing activates the parasympathetic nervous system, which is the “rest and digest” system that allows us to remain calm in the midst of the chaos of our busy lives. Once we are calm, we can

For law firms, streamlined, effective legal billing software is incredibly important. Enter modern legal billing software. It ensures that your firm’s legal billing processes are efficient and accurate by reducing the steps needed to invoice clients and accept online payments. Read on to learn about the most common billing problems law firms face, and how to help your law firm overcome them. Hurdle 1: Missed Billable Time Best Practice 1: Capture Time Automatically Using legal billing software, lawyers in your firm can track their billable time from any internet-enabled device using multiple timers, making it easy for them to enter billable time no matter where they happen to be. Another legal billing software timesaver is the ability to take advantage of default billing activity descriptions when entering billable time. After all, the easier it is for your attorneys to create a time entry, the more likely they are to do it. Hurdle 2: Growing Time Investment Best Practice 2: Batch Bill + Automate Time Reconciliation A single centralized billing software solution solves this problem. With all of the billing data collected and stored in one online location, it’s a simple process to create invoices from the billable time entered into the system, send multiple invoices at once, and accept online payments from clients within that same software. No more duplicate data entry or reconciliation across software tools; robust legal billing software does all of that for you! Hurdle 3: Payment Inaccessibility Best Practice 3: Eliminate Common Roadblocks to Client Payment The simplest way to make it easy for clients to pay is to provide multiple online payment options for your firm’s clients. Not only will your firm get paid faster, but your clients will also have more choices when it comes to paying their legal bills. In other words, it’s

When Janelle came to us, she was running her busy litigation practice off an 18-page to-do list she kept on a yellow pad on her desk. I’m sure you can picture that list. Frayed edges. Tasks jotted down in the margins while she talked on the phone. Assignments written on little flags sticking out of the sides. Things crossed off in red and other things highlighted with a rainbow of colors. Every time Janelle looked at that list, her stress levels went through the roof. Sure, most of her tasks were there, but she had to flip through multiple pages to remember what she’d assigned to whom and then go through her emails for the latest information. Tasks and to-dos related to a single matter were scattered across the pages. Dates were meaningless. And she’d completely forgotten what the highlight colors meant. Janelle was coping but she wasn’t managing, much less managing effectively. She was constantly chasing people for updates because she was worried about missing something, and she wasn’t sure if her team had the bandwidth to take on new work. Without clear insight into how work moves through your firm, you’re running your practice in the dark. You can’t see who’s working on what (and neither can anyone else).You don’t know where matters stand at any given time.You don’t know if you’ve got the capacity to take on more work.You can’t answer clients’ questions quickly when they call or email you for a status update. The result: You take on work when you don’t have the capacity for it, everyone ends up working crazy hours, and your best employees burn out.You commit to deadlines you can’t meet, driving your stress levels through the roof, working too hard, and sacrificing personal events that are important to you.You don’t spot

Why is it that so many lawyer presentations suffer from “hanging fragmentitis”? Here’s how to stop yourself from constantly editing, restarting and revising out loud. When we speak, why do we so often fail to finish our sentences? Linguists must know the answer to this question, but I am at a loss. All I’m sure of is this: Lawyers find it difficult — often impossible — to finish sentences. They have some kind of built-in resistance to committing to a period. Commas, ellipses and random question marks — yes. Periods — no. Here’s what I mean. A lawyer stands up to make a presentation to colleagues, an opening statement or a motion to a judge. She states her topic or theme, often (but far from always) in a single sentence. And then, she’s off to “The Land of the Never-Ending Sentence.” There isn’t a period to be heard for minutes on end: “Mrs. X has been afraid for her life since the night her husband stabbed her with a kitchen knife.” (This is the complete sentence.) “Mr. X had threatened her on numerous occasions, and the police had been … uh … called to their residence more than once and in 2009 alone officers were called by … uh … by either a neighbor or the caretaker of the condos or even by Mr. X himself … uh … on one occasion, and so she has been scared and worried, especially for the … um … effect of the potential violence on her two young daughters, who she sent away to live with her … um … sister.” And so on and on … and on. Eventually, the story emerges from the thicket of verbal litter. Participles dangle, prepositional phrases attach themselves, as if by their own accord, to the