Scott talks about his recent attendance at a conference sponsored by the Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System where the subject was the future of law schools and the legal system. While there were some positive moments where there were discussions about making law school more client-centered; using apps to increase access to justice; and teaching leadership in law school. However, there was a lot of talk about meeting the needs of the unrepresented without any solutions that would help lawyers make that financially worthwhile. Oscar brought up that President Obama’s Student Loan Forgiveness Program has led many new attorneys to get involved in public service; a similar idea geared towards helping the under-represented could work to bridging this gap. The podcast hosts point out that until law schools and those in academia take note of the many lawyers that are not making a living, a credible solution to filling the gap will not be found.

Scott Limmer continues the discussion of the CLIO Cloud Conference. A large part of what was discussed involved time and data management. For ex.: at CLIO a speaker pointed out that out of an 8 hour workday only 1.9 of that time is collected upon. How can we increase the amount of time that actually puts money in the bank? What can the data we have on our clients tell us – where they are coming from, how much are they paying, how much are we collecting, etc. The bottom line is that solos and small firms need to expand their horizons and look beyond traditional sources for information to help develop your practice. Step 1 could very well be attending a conference on law practice management.

Fresh off his trip to New Orleans, podcast host Scott Limmer discusses attending the CLIO Cloud Conference while there. The conference focused on practice management for lawyers, highlighting of course, CLIO software products. But the hosts discuss the need for lawyers to engage in these conferences to learn about what’s out there for use in their offices and just to connect with similarly situated attorneys. As usual, Scott and Oscar also discuss what practice management and time management tools and strategies worked – and didn’t work – for them.