Law Practice Management Tips & Tricks

• Publication year: 2009
• Pages: 16
• Citation: Vol. 78 No. 3 Pg. 16

Law Practice Management Tips & Tricks No. 78 J. Kan. Bar Assn 3, 16 (2009) Kansas Bar Journal March, 2009

Law Practice Management Tips & Tricks

The Organized Lawyer

By Larry N. Zimmerman, Valentine & Zimmerman P.A., Topeka

When I told a colleague that I had just bought "The Organized Lawyer" by Kelly Lynn Anders, he questioned, "Is it satire?" Looking around my office at a spread of documents on the floor and a desk only an archaeologist could love I muttered, "I sure hope not."

Anders, associate dean for student affairs at Washburn University School of Law, joins a growing chorus of attorneys concerned about the impact of poor personal management and business skills on the profession. She writes, "Attorneys are regularly sanctioned for misdeeds that can be traced back to disorganization, such as commingling of funds, the failure to produce records to opposing counsel, late court filings, being inaccessible to clients, and seeming ill-prepared to represent clients during hearings."

"The Organized Lawyer" is her attempt at drawing attention to the issue and providing attorneys with a means of finding their own system to better organize our hectic...