The July issue of ABA Journal includes Law Hacks, an article jam-packed with nuts-and-bolts tips “to make you a more productive, less stressed-out lawyer.” Included are tips on e-mail, software, time management, and more.
My favorite e-mail tip:
Change your e-mail settings so the system doesn’t alert you every time a message comes in, as many systems do. Outlook can be set to alert you only for urgent messages. Interruptions only spoil your attention to your work; check your messages when you’re ready for them.
I configured my Outlook so that I’m notified when one of my lawyers sends me an e-mail, but e-mails from other senders wait quietly until I have time to check them.
The “duh, really?” tip:
Switch from Internet Explorer to Firefox. Firefox is less vulnerable to viruses and hackers, and it lets you use neat tools like…
Does anyone with a choice still use Internet Explorer?
Oh, and hands-down, the funniest of all the tips:
Find time to work without interruptions.
For me, that would mean showing up at 6:00 a.m. Too bad I’m not a morning person.
Despite that one divergence into comedy, it’s a great article. Too bad the author didn’t include hyperlinks to most of the Web sites and products he mentioned. But if they sound interesting, you can always ask Google for them.
Legal secretaries need to be less stressed-out, too!
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