Your firm is one habit change away from running better

What you are doing wrong is often easier to pinpoint than what you are doing right. So this week, we are looking at what’s wrong with your current time management techniques, questioning the need for legal-specific AI tools and identifying what pages are missing from your website. Plus, we’ve got a podcast rec for anyone who still believes the path to law was supposed to look like a straight line.

Coming soon, find out why one criminal defense attorney thinks having investigators on staff is worth the added expense. 

But first, did you hear about the Florida attorney who was arrested for trying to kill a member of a boy band?

There’s TMI, then there’s this. 
Not only was this unnamed federal judge regularly having sex with a cop in chambers, but the clerks knew because they could hear them. Extra details in court records here and here.

“Has your child been harmed by their school-issued laptop or tablet?”
A couple of attorneys in Texas are suing on behalf of parents who are sick of screentime in schools. 

Pro se litigants 🤝 AI 
Courts across the country are being flooded with pro se filings drafted with the assistance of artificial intelligence. Any guess how many of these litigants are also sovereign citizens? 

A reminder that not every pro se filing gets dismissed.
If you’re headed to sunny Florida on vacay this summer, you might want to make a stop in Panama City. A historical marker in front of the Bay County Courthouse commemorates the roots of the historic SCOTUS decision Gideon v. Wainwright. The local historical society put together this video on the shocking backstory to the case.

What we’re watching.
Netflix is just the latest company to release a documentary about Mackenzie Shirilla, who at 17-years-old intentionally crashed her car into a building, killing her boyfriend and another friend. But The Crash is worth a watch since Shirilla is actually interviewed. 

Legal professionals can't afford to deal with missed calls and dropped communication. RingCentral can nip that in the bud with its reliable cloud phone system that features:

Modernizing your communication systems with a free quote isn't just a good idea; it's an absolute necessity in 2026.

According to attorney Frank Ramos, “Time management in the practice of law is not about squeezing more tasks into the same day… It is about knowing what matters, what does not, what must be done now, what can wait, what can be delegated, what can be ignored, and what deserves your best thinking.”

Ramos offers several tips for developing the judgment necessary to prioritize your to-do list. Nothing he says is revolutionary, but it’s a great refresher on healthy work habits. 

Why it matters: Ramos is writing for young lawyers, but the lessons land harder for mid-career practitioners who've already developed the bad habits he warns against. (Above the Law)

A few short years ago, legal ethicists were debating whether it was appropriate for attorneys to store files in the cloud. Before that, the use of email for client communication was controversial. Fast forward to today, and the hot topic is whether attorneys can use general AI to handle client matters instead of more expensive, purpose-built legal AI platforms (like Harvey or LexisNexis Protégé). 

Attorney Carolyn Elefant, long an advocate of solo attorneys eager to embrace legal tech, argues the operative ethical distinction isn't between “legal AI” and “general AI.” It’s between consumer and enterprise tiers of any platform because enterprise subscriptions to popular platforms like ChatGPT and Gemini Workspace all contractually prohibit training on user inputs, restrict human review and address data retention concerns. 

Elefant suggests that regulators requiring excessive redactions and informed client consent should reconsider their requirements lest they push users toward more expensive legal-specific AI.

Why it matters: If you're using a consumer-tier AI tool for client work, stop. But don’t assume the only way to comply with the RPCs is by buying legal-specific AI tools. When Anthropic announced its Claude for Legal plug-ins, Elefant wrote a LinkedIn post all but daring regulators to restrict the use of a product that plugs into Westlaw. (MyShingle)

The Lawyer Stories Podcast has been doing one thing since attorney Benjamin Gold launched it on Instagram in July 2017: sharing real stories from real lawyers. Gold has a knack for getting people to tell the real story behind the cleaned-up bio most people present to the world. In the process, his guests end up sharing some valuable advice about what they have learned along the way. 250+ episodes in, it's one of the more honest windows into how legal careers actually get built.

Why it matters: A lot of episodes feature attorneys from small and mid-sized firms. But recently interviewed John Morgan (yes, that guy from the Morgan & Morgan ads) about how (and why) he built the nation’s largest personal injury firm. (The Lawyer Stories Podcast)

If your firm's website doesn’t include any war stories, it’s time to see if your state ethics rules allow you to post that sort of information. That's the core argument Grow Law's Sasha Berson makes in this recent piece on case results pages.

Incorporating case studies and client testimonials into law firm website content significantly improves conversion rates (meaning the people looking at your website actually contact you) and helps out with SEO. 

Why this Matters: Berson breaks down what sort of information the ideal case result page includes. It also discusses what not to include if your state restricts your ability to talk about past work. (Grow Law)

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Raise the Bar is written and curated by Emily Kelchen edited by Bianca Prieto.