http://www.law.com/jsp/law/sfb/index.jsp Receive critical information - from practice management to product information -- for running a successful small firm. en-us 02/11/2008 Copyright 2005 ALM Properties, Inc. All rights reserved. http://www.law.com/service/terms_conditions.shtml http://www.law.com/img/newswire/sfb_rss.gifhttp://www.law.com/jsp/law/sfb/index.jsp Meltzer, Purtill & Stelle is benefiting from shifts in the real estate and legal industries even as the U.S. economic downturn takes a toll. The 24-lawyer firm specializes in real estate, related lending work and general corporate and business law. And it's content to stay its current size since larger firms refer "less lucrative" work to Meltzer Purtill. "It doesn't make economic sense" for larger firms to do general corporate work on employee matters and other day-to-day issues, says Brian Meltzer.http://www.law.com/jsp/law/sfb/lawArticleSFB.jsp?id=1202469640762&rss=SFBDuring a workshop, a client once cornered consultant Joey Asher and said, "Many years ago, I had a boss who thought I looked great in red. He told me that I should always wear red during presentations because it made the best impression. So I've always worn red. What do you think of that advice?" That type of advice makes Asher want to hunt down the boss and tell him to cut it out because he's fostering bad presenters. And so, as a public service, Asher debunks the five worst tidbits of advice.http://www.law.com/jsp/law/sfb/lawArticleSFB.jsp?id=1202469640000&rss=SFBNo matter how good a loss-prevention program a firm has in place, it's a sad but inevitable fact that it will have claims. A firm manager's goal, therefore, is not to reduce claims incidence to zero but rather to have a sound program in place to identify and respond to claims in a manner that minimizes losses. Here are some thoughts on how to do that from the perspective of Goulston & Storrs trial lawyer Richard Zielinski, who has spent much of the past 30 years defending law firms against such claims.http://www.law.com/jsp/law/sfb/lawArticleSFB.jsp?id=1202469643434&rss=SFBConsultant Ed Poll says that lawyers need to understand the interaction between what law firms charge clients for their services, how effectively they collect their fees from clients and how lawyers themselves are compensated for the work that they bill. The goal of that understanding, he says, should be creating an integrated approach to the entire issue of fees, collection and compensation. Poll describes three essential tools that can be critical to enhancing overall profitability.http://www.law.com/jsp/law/sfb/lawArticleSFB.jsp?id=1202385713347&rss=SFBColleagues call his ethics beyond reproach; Vice President Al Gore relied on him in his fight to get ballots recounted in the 2000 presidential election. But Miami attorney Ben Kuehne appeared Thursday before a federal magistrate charged with laundering $5.2 million in drug money that was transferred to defend a Colombian cocaine kingpin. The indictment revives the issue of the legal suitability of money accepted by criminal defense attorneys from clients accused of drug trafficking and money laundering.http://www.law.com/jsp/law/sfb/lawArticleSFB.jsp?id=1202426499766&rss=SFBThe Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court has ordered that two attorneys be disbarred for setting up fake job interviews to pump a former court clerk for information on a former judge's possible bias. Chief Justice Margaret H. Marshall wrote that one attorney's conduct was "so egregious and extensive that no reasonable attorney could have believed it comported with the solemn ethical obligations of attorneys."http://www.law.com/jsp/law/sfb/lawArticleSFB.jsp?id=1202423013285&rss=SFB