The time, the target, the price, and the tracking required for good marketing – December

10 short, practical, and easy marketing ideas that any administrator can do – December

Where to find new business clients and how to keep them once they’re found – October

The disaster plan needs to take advantage of the marketing potential that comes with a crisis – September

Five ruinous elements a lawyer can encounter during a press interview and how to sidestep them – September

Make the receptionist the front-line marketer and the image of the firm – August

Every attorney needs a personal marketing plan that covers four elements – July

To get good press, make it easy for the media to call – May

To win the business from new prospects, keep the interaction positive – January

Get a competitive edge with client-friendly billing – January

A merger can generate a lot of revenue – maybe; be wary of these 10 danger spots – June

Raise the fees regularly and slowly and never apologize for doing so – December

Chicago firm lets its clients adjust the amounts on their bills – October

Offer clients payment plans only as a last resort, and limit the payment time to six months – October

To keep the money coming in, track the A/R rate, the billing realization, the income and outgo, the operating expenses and each associate’s profitability – September

19 easy ways to improve the collections – April

Fast billing plus a discount for immediate payment improves the revenues and levels out the cash flow for an Oregon firm – March

Manage and adjust the budget at every milestone or fail at year’s end – March

Texas firm holds monthly meetings where the attorneys have to explain every overdue account – February

Economics 101: the factors that absolutely determine a firm’s financial health – February

Michigan administrator increases the revenues by e-mailing the bills out every two weeks – January

Any firm can be a wide-open target for client ID hackers, and the information is priceless – October

Little known facts about online job applications and disabled clients – January

Instead of goals, set a weakness and strength plan for each staffer – November

The staff review process calls for just a few numbers but a lot of judgment – September

What to say to the staffer whose performace is below par and how to say it – February

Pick a law partner much the same way as anybody picks a marriage partner – November

Why partners start looking for headhunters – November

How to oust a partner and survive the split – October

Partner compensation has to meet the firm’s goals – April

Set up a yearly goal plan for the partners that covers revenues, client expansion, staffing needs, finance, and succession planning – February

These are the articles that ran in LOA during the last 12 months.

How a New Jersey administrator turned a time clock and layoffs into actual staff benefits – November

Ask a departing staffer ‘why are you leaving?’ and expect some surprisingly valuable answers – September

Three nightmare staffers: the excuser, the downplayer, and the attention getter – September

Chicago administrator sets up a number of inexpensive perqs that offset the tightening economy – September

Lots of ways to make managing easier: good hiring tactics, managing different staff personalities, motivation methods, morale builders, performance improvers, perqs that go a long way; and how to win respect – August

How to say ‘your performance is bad’ or ‘you don’t get a raise’ or ‘you’re being laid off’ – July

More people issues: changing a staffer’s job duties, requiring a doctor’s excuse for an absence, stopping gossip about the firm, and denying a vacation request – June

Missouri office’s unusual benefits put it at #5 of the 20 best firms to work for in the U.S. – May

To deal with a problem staffer, don’t be confrontational but don’t leave any room for argument either – May

How to find out what staff think of their administrator – May

How to find out how satisfied staff are with their jobs – May

The solutions to managing the blamer, the cryer, and the poor listener – March

Why the office needs a job description for every position and how to get them all written – March

Which job candidate is the best choice? Rely heavily on intuition – August

For a safe firing, explain exactly what is happening; some people don’t realize they’ve been fired – April

When firing a staffer (or an attorney), a major concern is safety, both legal and physical – February

Renting out extra space? Set up protective walls. A renter can put the firm at risk – December

A lateral hire can bring in tremendous malpractice issues; cover these points before making the offer – August

Risk management now has to cover elements that were unknown 30 years ago – June

A new malpractice risk to address is staff (and attorney!) use of social media – March

At-will employment status can die unexpectedly and in the sneakiest ways – November

When the economy goes down, claims crop up: don’t give a reference for an agreement not to sue: don’t ask a staffer to resign; be wary of disciplining long-termers; stay away from zero-tolerance policies – November

Age discrimination gets top billing as people live longer and work longer – September

The FMLA applies more often than firms realize – August

Wage and hour issues can slip in quietly and create absolute $$ havoc – July

Investigating an EEOC complaint is serious business; don’t overlook any of these items – June

A new and little recognized area of discrimination area is family responsibility – May

Yes, an oral complaint from a staffer can now support an FLSA retaliation claim – May

Both the government and employees are searching hard for employment law violations – March
How to keep the business when a corporation gets a new general counsel – November

A 25-office firm ensures consistent quality service in much the same way as hotel chains do – August

The main elements that ensure a firm keeps its corporate clients – June

The top factors that build – or destroy – relationships with corporate clients – March

The etiquette of dealing with a disabled client – January

How to handle a call from an angry client – January

Law Office Administrator also carries a regular column titled ‘On Better Communication.’
These are the topics covered during the past year.

A good 2012 resolution: get the pronouns right – December

How to write and use eight abbreviations: A.D., e.g., i.e., et al., etc., N.B., sic, and R.I.P. – November

A little quiz for both administrator and staff: Find the errors in these 10 sentences – October

The basic rules for using periods, commas, semicolons, and quotion marks – September

Majority is or are? like or such as? in or into? shall or will? than I or me? toward or towards? if or whether? – August

The Oxford comma and why it’s necessary – July

Affect/effect, continuous/continual, compliment/ complement, persuade/convince, immigrate/ emigrate, capital/capitol, imply/infer, founder/flounder, stationary/stationery, sensuous/sensual – June

How to write out dates and time (where to put the commas and the hyphens) – May

Some of the finer items everybody misses: less v. fewer, who v. that, different from v. than, hanged v. hung; and the -self words – April

Lie or lay? Here’s the ultimate test! – March

When to use and when not to use a comma – February

When in doubt about the grammer, just put the sentence in different words – January

Health care reform starts to come alive with the new Accountable Care Organizations; they will affect the firm’s benefits program – April

Good orientation requires good mentoring – July

Multi-city firm addresses a woman’s lifestyle to allow the female attorneys to succeed in practice – July

Don’t lose a good lateral to poor orientation and forgotten office introductions – March

Here’s how to ensure those very expensive new associates don’t bolt – February

A self evlaution test on management style – December

A good manager is assertive but not aggressive – December

Approach the bully attorney carefully lest somebody end up getting fired – November

Here’s how to weather office politics – October

A good administrator is a good delegator, which means a good teacher – September

The art of being ablet to tell when a staffer is lying – July

In the professional world, looks count; they even affect the outcome of court cases – July

How to get authority when the partners want to maintain control of everything – June

Want to keep the job? Stay neutral. Never join forces with any partner – April

How to impress the partners with a presentation – April

To increase personal productivity, learn ‘wastebasketry’ and get rid of the clutter – February