Ease Your Stress: Declutter! We all know life at work can be stressful – projects piling up, deadlines to be met, time constraints to battle, human and technical interruptions. Then, add clutter to the mix and it’s no wonder we are stressed! You may not think clutter is a big factor, but it can add to our stress and affect our efficiency in a variety of ways. Psychologists and researchers have discovered that clutter is one of the leading factors that...
Do I Need an Office Package Policy? Suppose a delivery person is bringing food to one of your employees, and he slips and falls on ice or the stairs on your property. You have enough money to replace the food, but do you have enough money set aside for liability resulting from broken bones or head injuries? How about a lawsuit or damages for pain and suffering? Even if your employees don’t order food and your office doesn’t have a delivery...
Office Sharing and Avoiding the Risk of a Malpractice Claim With the combined expense of actual office space, staff and equipment, many lawyers choose to enter into an office sharing arrangement as an economical way to hang out their shingle. Although there may be initial cost-saving benefits, there are disadvantages to sharing offices with other professionals, such as increased exposure to bar grievances or malpractice claims, disqualification motions, and imputed knowledge of confidential communications. The primary issues are avoiding misleading the...
9 Tips for Crafting Effective Emails At a time when businesses have turned to emailing as the predominant mode of communication with clients, knowing how to write a professional and informative email that achieves your objective is critical. Writing an email is simple – but writing a professional and informative email encompasses the principles of style and structure. Clients and customers are inundated with a barrage of emails daily, and they often skim quickly through the list to determine which ones...
Avoid Ethical Missteps in Your Law Firm’s Social Media I’ll spare you the introduction about how ubiquitous social media is because, well, it is. Love it or hate it, social media is vital in modern communication. Since we last covered “Why Your Law Firm Needs a Social Media Presence,” not much has changed in the landscape of social media platforms. For Americans, YouTube and Facebook are still the most-used social media platforms, followed by Instagram in second. Others, like LinkedIn, Twitter...
Ready for a Vacation? Tips for Lawyers Looking to Get Away We learned all the hobbies, we baked all the breads, we watched all the Netflix – but even with all that, 16 months is a long time to be cooped up. As the world begins to reopen, we’re all eager shake off this cabin fever. For lawyers, however, being away from the office can be a little more complicated than other professions. Whether you’re planning an actual getaway or just...
Court Bonds 101 (and How to Get One) As most lawyers know, a court bond is a tool to ensure a party will fulfill their responsibilities as ordered by law. Probate attorneys, for example, must often post a bond on behalf of an executor, administrator or conservator of an estate. However, the need for a bond also arises in a wide variety of other matters, such as appeals, injunctions, TROs, replevin actions and more. History of Surety Bonds Although the seemingly modern...
Be Ready With a Disaster Plan If the last year has taught us anything, it’s to expect the unexpected. Just in Oklahoma, the past several months have been a wild ride when it comes to weather-related phenomena. Ice storms, snowstorms, late-season tornadoes – we’ve seen it all over the last six months. Plus, our regular tornado season and our roller-coaster spring weather is just around the corner. Disasters aren’t limited to weather-related events, however. Fires, plumbing floods, even burglaries can happen...
Finding Insight in an Exit This resource has been written by guest author Jeff Yenzer, SPHR. He has been working within the fields of human resources and personnel management for 20 years, operating in the Oklahoma City metro and working with several industries across Oklahoma and other states. After serving as an in-house HR professional for several years, he founded Yenzer Consulting Services LLC, where he provides outsourced advisement and solutions as a strategic business partner to organizations of every...
PHIL'S CORNER: Moving Past Diversity to Inclusion Co-written by Phil Fraim and Zindaba Tembo From Diversity to a Diverse Team Phil Fraim, President and CEO The topic of diversity and inclusion is an important one. However, it is also one that people have heard so many presentations about and been involved in so many educational or training sessions on that they have become weary or desensitized. That is not to infer this is a reasonable reaction, or even understandable. Rather, merely an observation...
