The dictionary definition of “a walk in the park” is “something that is easy to do.” So why did I build this activity up in my mind as a big, time-consuming commitment? By way of context, there is a beautiful, green, shady park in my neighborhood that I always say I will go to, but hardly ever do. This is silly seeing as I live so close to this park that when live bands play there on hot summer nights, I can hear the music from my front porch. I even end up walking past it on my way to practically everywhere else in the neighborhood. When I do, I usually turn my head and gaze off longingly in the direction of the people enjoying themselves. There they are mere feet away, doing blissful park things like picnicking on a blanket, balancing on a tree tightrope, throwing a frisbee, pushing a toddler on a swing, or laying on the grass doing absolutely nothing. Watching these fortunate park souls, I always think to myself, one of these days I really need to carve out some time to go to the park. Read More
During a Zoom hearing last week in federal court in the Northern District of California, the judge blasted statements by one team of attorneys as “certainly at risk of being misleading” and described the tactics used as “pretty low-grade lawyering.” Bonnie Eslinger, ‘Low-Grade Lawyering’: Quinn Emanual Attys Draw Judge’s Ire, Law360.com (July 27, 2024, 12:01 AM), https://www.law360.com/articles/1862818. The court directed further inquiry into the falsity of the attorneys’ statements in order to determine whether to impose sanctions. At issue is what information an expert witness had received and when he had received it for purposes of determining whether a supplemental expert report was appropriate. Regardless of whether sanctions are ultimately imposed in that case, public rebukes like these are a stark reminder of our “duty of candor to the tribunal” and a good opportunity to brush up on some of the rule’s nuances. Read More
There is no such thing as work/life balance. We must create balance within. In our fast-paced world, the way we manage our actions, time, and energy profoundly impacts our sense of balance. Every action we take—whether deliberate or unintentional—can either contribute to a balanced life or lead us further away from it. The further away we get from balance, the more likely we are to burnout. Burnout is partly caused by an imbalance in our energetic state of being, experienced by feelings of extreme overwhelm, exhaustion, and disillusionment. When we go through our days working on things that are misaligned with our core values, we can fall out of the inner balance. Balancing life requires more than just checking off tasks; it involves a conscious effort to align actions with our values and goals. Read More
Hi everyone, welcome to another Tech Tip in a 10th. I’m Adriana Linares. I’m the San Diego County Bar Association’s Technology and Practice Management Advisor. As a reminder, if you have any questions about technology, practice management, your website, launching your law firm, running your successful law firm – from the technology and practice management side – if you have any questions like that and would like some help from me, appointments are free for members! You can always go to scba.org/techappointment to do that. Read More
Rule 1.15, titled “Safekeeping Funds and Property of Clients and Other Persons” directs in paragraph (a) that all funds received or held by a lawyer or law firm for the benefit of a client … including advances for fees, costs and expenses, shall be deposited in a client trust account.Read More
Welcome to another Tech Tip in a 10th. I’m Adriana Linares, the San Diego County Bar Association’s Practice Management Advisor. If you’re a member of the bar, remember that you can make an appointment to meet with me and get a lot of your questions answered about technology and practice management.
Today’s tech tip is going to be about Excel files, templates, and formulas. What we’re going to talk about today is taking advantage of many of the templates that Excel has built into it or made available to you through their templates gallery. A lot of attorneys call me asking for something like an amortization table. Or they want to build a budget for a trial or something like a timeline.
Well, there are a lot of things that are better suited over in Word, like calendar. Maybe an org chart or a family tree — PowerPoint has specific tools for creating some of those things, like a work chart, but Excel is really quite wonderful for things that require formulas. So, budgets, calculators, and a couple of other things. How do you access these templates that I’m speaking of?
You’re going to open up Excel, going to click on File, going to go to New. When you click on new it takes you to an area where you can search online for specific types of templates, but you can also take a quick peek at some of the templates that they have available right out of this page. So, first of all, it’s always a good idea and never hurts to just watch a couple of the videos that Microsoft gives us on understanding the basics of Excel and getting started with formulas. And then, if you’re into pivot tables, it even has a basic tutorial for pivot tables. You can always find more online. But back to templates. You’ll see that they have some sample templates here. Probably the most frequently searched-for templates. You’ll see there’s one over here called Milestone Infographic, but that could certainly be used for something like a timeline for trial. There are project planners, invoices, calendars — which, as I said, you know, if you’re looking to just kick out a graphics calendar to just print and hang in the office for holidays or vacation time or, you might try these, but remember Excel might not always be the perfect tool for what you’re looking for. If you’re unsure, or looking for something specific, you can always reach out to me. I’m happy to help, but back to the templates that Excel gives us. It will break down the templates it has to offer by certain categories, so it has a business category, personal planners and tasks, lists, budgets, charts, and calendars.
Let’s say you’re doing a budget for trial and you’re just trying to get a basic idea. Maybe keep track of what something might cost you. I always like to start by showing you a wedding budget because you think a wedding budget is good for trial. Well, let’s go ahead and open it. And download it. And by the way these are safe. You can always download these, they are part of Microsoft’s template gallery. So, when you find one of these templates, all you’re going to do really is get creative and reuse what is already built into it. Trying to learn how to build formulas is hard. Trying to figure out how to make one cell show you the total of a couple of other cells; while not hard, and formulas aren’t necessarily hard, why would you work so hard for something that might be made easy by something like a template? So, let’s change this from the word wedding to trial, and let’s say we’re trying to keep this trial under $25,000 by changing that main number here, it’s going to change all of the formulas underneath. So, my expense is not necessarily a reception, but maybe they’re going to be fees. Attire: I’m definitely going to look my finest, but I’m not going to make a budget for it. But maybe this is going to be for experts. Then, under expenses, maybe graphics, copies, and images. So, see you can really just take these categories and reallocate them to what suits your needs, and then you’ll see it’ll start doing all the math for you. Let’s look at a couple of other quick examples of the types of templates that are in here, so again, you’re going to go back to New. And look through here. I wanted to show you under personal that you might find things like a personal monthly budget. Maybe you’re trying to budget for your office expenses. Maybe you’re just starting a law firm, and you’re trying to figure out what your expenses are going to have. So even though this is under personal, you might find the template that you’re looking for there. Of course, you’ve got some under business that you could certainly look at. One that I get asked for a lot is an amortization table, so why would I work so hard trying to figure out how to do the calculations? So here you can see there’s a simple loan calculator. There’s a loan amortization schedule that you just, again, plug in your own numbers. You change these to suit you the way you need.
I hope you have found this tip helpful, and don’t forget you can always reach back out to me at scba.org/tech appointment if I can be of any further assistance and especially if you need help with something as clever and helpful as these templates can be in your practice.Read More
The reader is asked to picture a fictional settlement conference of a lawsuit. Present is the client representative, defendant Ajax Corporation’s General Counsel, and Ajax’s Defense Counsel. They are in a breakout room while the mediator talks with Plaintiff’s Counsel and plaintiff in another breakout room.Read More
All lawyers are at a higher risk of experiencing substance abuse, loneliness, depression, and suicide, which was confirmed in a 2020 in-depth study by the California Lawyers Association and D.C. Bar Association.[1] Many lawyers “are expected to work long hours, meet tight deadlines, and handle complex legal issues, all while maintaining a high level of professionalism and client satisfaction.”[2] New lawyers generally experience this high level of stress for the first time when they are starting their practice. Now, the State Bar of California requires new attorneys to complete a 1.5-hour course on competency (substance abuse, mental health issues) as part of its New Attorney Training for MCLE complianceRead More
Hello, this is Adriana Linares. I’m your Technology and Practice Management Advisor for the San Diego County bar. Today we’re going to do a Tech Tip in a Tenth, about two features that I really appreciate in Microsoft Word and hope you do too. As a reminder, if you’re a member of the SDCBA, you can always make an appointment to meet with me and ask your questions or get a little bit of help with anything related to technology and practice management. So, let’s get started. Read More
Blame it on former torts megastar Tom Girardi and his confederates, coupled with his wife, Erika Jayne, star of Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. Girardi’s alleged theft of millions from clients’ trust accounts led to adverse publicity, and a push from the California legislature which led to action by the State Bar instituting the so-called “snitch rule.” Rule of Professional Conduct 8.3. We all suffer due to the actions of a few.Read More
