The Dreams of a Solo

Designing and Implementing My Law Office Network

This post is timely for me since I have recently added another attorney to my law practice, which prior to the addition consisted of just me.  Due to my true solo size and structure I had little need for a network at the computer.  The nice this is office space I occupy is wired sufficiently to provide me with the opportunity to create a simple peer-to-peer network and to park my network capable multi-function machine at a workstation outside of my office.  This simple office network has significant limitations and I am completely comfortable saying that I only know the half of it.  I am not an trained IT professional, but as the head chef and chief bottle washer of this operation I have no choice but to brandish a million different hats.  If that sounds like a complaint I must clarify, because I absolutely love being responsible for each and every aspect of running a small law practice.  I admit, that sounds a bit weird, but I do very much like the different things I get to (some would say have to) do on a routine basis.  Anyway, I realized today that we are going to have to take our little office network up a couple of notches in the very near future. 

The bottom line is that I need a stand-alone computer or server to maximize the effectiveness of our network.  Right now we basically use my MacBook Pro as a quasi-server because everything flows through my hard drive and the backups are done from that point.  As you might expect this creates an interesting (okay debilitating) result if my computer is not connected to the network, since my colleagues computer will no longer have access to client files, forms, etc. 

To remedy this I spent some time today looking at the possibility of using a Mac Mini as a server for our network.  That way we can centralizing everything on the Mini and the system will still perform effectively when either of the two laptops are off or disconnected.  It will also provide a central location for backing up the data files.  From everything I have found this appears to be a viable option, but I will have to spend more time researching it before I make a decision.  I'll report back my decision and my review of the process during and after implementation.  In the interim I would love to hear your feedback and suggestions on the topic of creating a office network for a small law firm.  As always any insight is very much appreciated.

Needs vs. Wants in a Small Law Firm Setting

During the process of planning for the start of any law practice there will be a time when you are making difficult decisions regarding things like equipment, technology and software, research resources/subscriptions, furniture, marketing material, advertising expenses, office space and staff.  I consider this the Needs vs. Wants dilemma.   It is not unlike what we face in our everyday personal lives when we are deciding between things like the new iPhone or our existing Razr, a new big screen HD television or our existing picture tube style TV, or a new luxury sedan or a Camry.  The same kinds of decisions will befall a soon-to-be solo practitioner.  Do you start your practicing out of a home office or do you sign a lease for your own commercial office space?  Do you use your existing laptop or do you purchase a new MacBook Pro or an iMac?  How about that old desk and chair in your extra room or collecting dust in your basement? 

The decisions your make will go along way towards determining the size of the hole you find yourself standing in when you finally open the doors of your new law practice.  If you can arm yourself with only one attribute when you start your business I suggest that this attribute be savvy financial decision making.  Trust me you will be happy you waited until you could cash flow the upgrade purchases as opposed to strapping yourself in debt.

I hope to construct a more thorough list of the needs versus wants for a solo or small law firm start-up in another post in the near future.  What I can say now is that the needs list is similar to what I have mentioned a number of times before including a law license, a computer, a printer, a desk or work areas, and a clue.  The wants are some combination of everything else that you have seen or heard about in an office setting.  The bottom line is that you will have to pick and choose your spots to spend more and to also spend less.  My opinion is that the technology area is not the place to be cheap, but it also an area that can get away from you quickly if you are not careful.  I also came to find out that a solid, workhorse multifunction machine can be lifesaver.  More importantly an efficient multifunction machine is a cost saver when you calculate ink or toner costs with the initial cost over the long-term.  Office space is a whole other animal and quite frankly there are hundreds of post discussing that decision in much more detail.  All I would add is to once again reinforce the importance of being financially smart and realistic when deciding between a home office, an office share, or your own commercial office space.  I can make arguments for all three approaches.  It really depends on your practice and your target clientele. 

Again this is just a start to the discussion of Needs vs. Wants.  I will make it a point to revisit this topic over the next few months with more attention paid to each particular area.  You never know it might help move you off the fence on a couple of those decisions holding up the completion of your business plan.   

Solo Law Practice Multi-Function Machine

A few weeks ago I revisited a technology decision that I had delayed since I opened my law firm in July.  The decision involved the multi-functional machine that I would purchase for printing, scanning, and copying around the office.  In the end I went with the Brother MFC-8860DN (inset on the left).  Up to this point I had been getting by with a lower tier HP Inket multi-purpose model in my office and a laser printer/copier shared by all of  the office.  My reasons for delaying the purchase included the need to conduct enough research into the different options and my desire to build up enough working capital to make a few purchases with cash as opposed to using credit.  I was also sick of wasting money on ink cartridges and wasting time printing lengthy estate plans on a terribly slow machine.

As part of my research I spent a few hours last week rereading different blog posts and listserv discussion on the topic of laser multi-functions.  The consensus opinion seemed to be in favor of the Brother line of products, with the MFC-8860DN receiving high marks.  One motivating factor for me was the initial price ($399 after $100 mail-in-rebate at Office Depot) and the reviews that mentioned the toner for the Brother machines is less expensive than HP and Canon.  After seeing the potential cost savings I was convinced when I read that people were just as satisfied with the quality and dependability of Brother printers.  The machine does not have to be an absolute workhorse around my office.  I do have the need to print rather large jobs (200+ pages) around 7 times a month, but the lion's share of my printing needs involve much smaller jobs.

It took me about a half hour to unpack and setup the Brother MFC-8860DN.  The machine came with instructions and drivers specific to the Mac OSX platform.  The only drawback I can see right now is not related to the Brother product but to the service plan that I purchased from Office Depot along with the multifunction.  I needed a USB cable which was selling for $44.95.  Office Depot has a service plan package that runs $69 and it includes paper, the service plan for two years, some cable tags, and, most importantly to me at this stage, the USB cable.  So for a few bucks more I decided to purchase the service plan.  I hope I never have to use it, but if I do have a problem at least I have it.  The issue that I have with the service plan is that the software and registration material require Windows and I need to complete the registration before the service plan is activated.  Obviously that is a problem since I use my MacBook Pro and Mac OSX at the office.   I am going to try to get around that when I get home since we still have a Windows laptop around the house.

So far I am very happy with the upgrade to the Brother laser multi-function.  It should help make me more efficient and it should eliminate the headaches caused by my old inkjet.  I cannot believe that I was able to maintain my sanity as long as I did with that old HP.  I would highly recommend to anyone starting out that they pick spend some money on a quality multi-function machine.  It's well worth it.

Selecting a Printer (or Multi-Function Machine) for a Solo Law Office

I have to make one small confession before I launch into this discussion of printers for a solo law practice.  I have used an inexpensive HP Inkjet model printer since I opened my law firm two and a half month ago.  Before opening my firm I did what I always do, I researched the available printer options.  At some point during that research I made the decision to simply use the Inkjet for the time being until I could comfortably cover the additional expense in cash, instead of using credit of any kind.  Come to think of it I believe it was Chuck Newton's voice (full-disclosure:  I have never actually spoken to Chuck, but I have read nearly all of his blog posts including his archives over the past six months) in the back of my head recommending the cashflow type approach.  In hindsight that has been a great decision.

While a fancy, high-end printer is the norm in the ivory tower law firm, it is certainly not a necessity in a solo law practice where print volume is much less.  But an inkject printer with it's tiny ink cartridges is not the long-term answer either.   I need an efficient and reliable laser printer.  That part of the decision is easy.  The hard part is where do you draw the line as far as deciding between just a laser printer or a more expensive (potentially) multi-function machine, which includes a laser printer, copier, scanner, and fax.   For my money the choice is pretty easy, since my paperless office needs the benefit of a quality scanner as well.   At some point I believe it is imperative to equip your office with a solid laser multi-function machine.

I have narrowed down my search to the HP 3550 and the Brother MFC 8460N.  Each can be found at online or at your local big box office supply retailer for around $400.  I have heard a number of good things about the toner efficiency in the Brother multi-functions, so at this point I am leaning towards a Brother machine of some kind.  I will be making this purchase in the next two weeks as it is becoming increasingly more evident to me the importance of printing my documents at the highest level possible.  Remember, as a true solo attorney you have to leverage technology to be as efficient as possible.  It just does not make sense to waste time and money on printing, scanning, copying, etc.

New and Improved (?) Site Design

As part of the refocusing mentioned in my previous post I decided to overhaul the Dreams of a Solo blog design and layout.  It wasn't simply an exercise in cosmetic blogging though since I had been meaning to try out a couple free open source image editors that I had heard about recently, Seashore and GIMP.  I had used the more primitive imaging programs like Paint and Paint.net while in the windoze world.  Needless to say I was anxious to find something that would allow me the simply luxuries that come with using a Mac. Now I have to admit that I am by no means an expert in image creation or editing.  As you can see from my Dosch Law Firm banner I have some things to learn. But the good news is with the help of programs like Seashore I feel as though I can take steps in the right direction.  It may sound harsh and somewhat unfair, but the Dreams of a Solo is going to be a bit of a guinea pig as I navigate these new frontiers for me in blogging.

The end result of my first experience with Seashore is the new banner you see above.  From what I can gather Seashore is based on GIMP's technology and it uses the same native file format.  So far I have preferred Seashore to GIMP, but that is likely based on the fact that I decided to spend the lion's share of the evening trying to figure Seashore out.  I will continue to tinker with each program over the coming weeks and I will report back my observations.

One other thing I wanted to mention was the differences I have once again noticed between Blogger and Typepad.  This site is hosted by Blogger so I am using all of the Blogger templates, layouts, functions, and tools.  The Planning for Life's Certainties and Dosch Law Firm, LLC blogs are hosted by Typepad.  One difference is the price:  Blogger is free; Typepad is a paid service.  Another difference that relates to the subject matter of this post is extent I have access to HTML or other design options.  I do not currently pay for Typepad's highest level package so I do not have access to certain elements of HTML editing relating to design, while at Blogger I can edit HTML to create a whole new design.  At this point that has not been much of a problem for my other two blogs.  What I mean by that is it hasn't stopped me from doing all of the this that I would like to do.  However adding this new banner to the Dreams blog was an interesting project that turned out to be a bit more difficult than my previous experience on Typepad.

As is the case with GIMP vs. Seashore a lot of the difficulties with one hosting service over the other stem from the amount of hands on experience that I have had with each.  Until now I had spent more time recently designing and editing the Typepad blogs than I had with the Blogger blog.  I am happy to say that I have managed to survive my experiences with each and I am excited to continue the process.   I am also happy to say that each hosting service has its advantages and disadvantages, especially related to the specific purpose of your respective blog.  I still prefer the classic and professional templates on Typepad for my practice related blog and quasi static website.  But the customization elements are the fun part, at least to me, so we shall see where this new design road will lead me.