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Legal practice advice, strategy & consultancy for law firms, lawyers UK, US, Aus | WardBlawg

Legal practice advice, strategy & consultancy for law firms & lawyers. Business, legal marketing, social media advice, industry updates and more. UK, US, Australia.

How and Why Law Firms should Transition from Paper to Digital

April 27, 2017 Law Practice

With the legal services market continuing to evolve, clients are expecting modern technology and practices to be employed by law firms as standard. Yes, it may be hard to move away from old working practices, such as printing out every important email that hits your inbox, but being able to transition from a paper-based firm […]

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Law Firm Associate Retention Tips: 3 Signs Your Associate Solicitor Plans to Leave!

August 12, 2016 Law Practice

3 Signs Your Associate Solicitor Plans to Leave! And How to Fix It… I’m pleased to welcome one of my new LinkedIn legal connections, Pamela DeNeuve, a Law Firm Strategist from the States, who helps retain & engage associates to increase law firm profits. Pamela pens this guest contribution sharing tips on how to retain […]

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#hackIT4justice: Legal ‘Hackathon’ will be hosted in Scotland

June 14, 2016 Law

With advances in disruptive technologies and innovations and a continual seismic shift in the delivery of legal services, we’re now seeing the first legal ‘hackathon’ coming to Scotland. Organised by Legal Hackers Scotland and The Law Society of Scotland, and as publicised on the Law Society’s website here, the 48 hour event, running this weekend […]

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The End of Business Cards for Lawyers?

July 13, 2015 Law Practice

Do you find yourself handing out fewer business cards than you did ten years ago? You’re probably not alone. With lawyers turning more to LinkedIn, Twitter and other digital alternatives to connect with others (both business contacts and clients), there’s a very real case to say that in the US and UK, in the not-so-distant […]

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November Law Society Seminar For Scottish Law Firm Partners & Solicitors: 10% Off

November 7, 2014 Law Practice

We are pleased to note that alongside one of the UK’s leading law firm consultants, Stephen Gold, our founder Gavin Ward and director of Moore Legal Technology, Chris Davidson, are presenting at an upcoming Law Society of Scotland event in Glasgow later this month (26 November 2014). For 3.5 hours of CPD at an event […]

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Professional Practice LinkedIn Warning & Tip for Family Lawyers – Browse Privately

September 14, 2014 Family Law

In my capacity as Operations Director at Moore Legal Technology I’ve been speaking to various family lawyers recently about all things online business. One discussion that came up recently was getting trainee/junior family law solicitors to do background research on the social media activities/profiles of partners of clients, particularly where it’s the partner of a […]

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Is it now better to be a non-lawyer in the legal services market ?

December 18, 2012 Law Practice

Guest post asking and tackling the question “is it now better to be a non-lawyer in the legal services market today?” (Applicable mainly to England & Wales) Let’s go back in time, 20 years back in time. Becoming a solicitor or barrister was a much sought after qualification and profession. Whilst the training, 3 years […]

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Upcoming Speaking Engagements: Social Media and SEO for Lawyers 2012

November 12, 2012 Law Practice

I’m pleased to announce that within the next month I will be speaking on a variety of topics, two of which will be in Glasgow and one of which will be via a Twitter live chat session. Please do register or put these dates in your diary:- 1. TANQ Society (Trainee and Newly Qualified Society): […]

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Alternative Business Structures and UK Law Firms – Survival in 2012 [VIDEO]

September 21, 2012 Law Practice

In a recent blog post and video about alternative business structures (ABS) and its effect on UK law firms, leading online marketing specialists Moore Legal Technology present their thoughts on some of the significant changes taking place and what solicitors can do to survive. The video is embedded below. Please do share with your contacts […]

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Use of freelance paralegals is an emerging trend that is catching on fire

July 18, 2011 Law Practice

Use of free paralegals is an emerging trend that is catching on fire

Economic reasons: The economic reality of our times is causing more and more attorneys to rethink their expenses and restructure their practices accordingly, with one of the major changes being the use of a freelance, or contract paralegal, rather than a full-time employee. Many firms have ebb and flow business. Obviously, it is more cost-effective to pay for a paralegal’s services only when the work flow is too heavy for the attorney to handle on his/her own.

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BabyBarista’s Law and Peace Launches Soon

April 11, 2011 Book Reviews

I was most honoured to receive, last week, a review copy of the latest work of one of the grandfathers of legal blogging. Written by accomplished legal author, Tim Kevan, “Law and Peace” will hit bookshelves, both physical and virtual, on 3 May 2011. Having just started reading it, I can report very promising signs so far. I hope it will be as enjoyable as Tim’s first masterpiece, BabyBarista and the Art of War, which was first given to me by a friend at my former law firm as a piece of inspiration for legal blogging. I look forward to reporting back more on this book, but for the meantime, I’ll leave you with some intriguing blurb and reviews of Tim’s other works. Law and Peace BabyBarista Image

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Parenting Apart: Counselling, Mediation & Family Support

April 8, 2011 Family Law

Last Wednesday 30th March, I attended a Relationships Scotland event, hosted by HBJ Gateley Wareing in Glasgow and attended by family law professionals across Scotland. The event was of particular interest given the recent review of family law in England and Wales, one element of which concerns the fact that mediation for divorcing couples shall, as of 6 April 2011, be compulsory prior to them attending Court, subject to limited exceptions. For further information on this see a blog post by a family law firm in Liverpool. While mediation for divorcing couples is not yet compulsory in Scotland, it is becoming more widely available.

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Next Legal Tweetup in the UK: Vote Now!

March 24, 2011 Law Practice

Pursuant to the success of the #Lex2011Tweetup in London last week, it has been proposed among the UK’s legal twitterati elite that a second tweetup of a similar scale should take place later this year.

In that respect, it would be helpful if those who are wishing to attend could indicate their preference in the short survey below.

Best wishes and hope to see you later in the year.

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Trainee Lawyer Tips: The Eleven Commandments

January 24, 2011 General Legal

In a former life I was a trainee solicitor at one of the biggest commercial law firms in Scotland. Below are eleven commandments which it would have been useful to follow from day one. If you have any queries, please contact me at gavin@wardblawg.com

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How to write a first class dissertation: Chapter 2: Main Body Intro

October 24, 2010 Academia

Comment on writing the first main chunk of your first class dissertation

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Every Little Helps: “Tesco Law” approved in Scotland

October 7, 2010 Law Practice

Will we see more traineeships being opened up? Will equity partners earn even more than their hundreds of thousands or millions of pounds each year? Or will equity partners be more likely to sell their stake and escape the practice of law? What effect for management decisions? Will we see greater outsourcing? Will cloud computing be more fully embraced? Will Lawsoft’s stranglehold on legal software be broken up? Will Scots law merge into English law, or will it flourish more by itself?

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Gavin Ward’s WardblawG Update on YouTube

October 4, 2010 General Legal

Gavin Ward of WardblawG giving a presentation on YouTube regarding recent updates to the site.

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Welcome to Law 2.0

August 10, 2010 Law Practice

WardblawG will burst through the 20,000 hit mark today. Partnerships are forming by the day, most recently with Google ads and with lawyers and entrepreneurs around the world. With that in mind, it is now time to unleash the future of law: Welcome to Law 2.0…

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PQE: Post Qualification Equality?

July 30, 2010 Employment

I have written a 1400 word professional briefing article for the Journal: the members’ magazine of the Law Society of Scotland, the Online version of which is updated almost daily and the RSS feed of which is followed at the foot of this blawG on one of the four sets of columns, navigable through the left and right arrows below. My article should, hopefully, be published in August this year.

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Law 2.0 Search Engine

July 20, 2010 Banking and Finance

Your tutor said research more with this unique WardblawG search engine:-

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RSSatisfaction-in: A little more conversation

July 20, 2010 E-marketing

As the WardblawG surpasses the 5000 hit mark after only 3 weeks, I have now included two permanent RSS feeds at either side of this blog to “Scots Law” and “Scottish Law” through Google News, which highlight excerpts from quality articles discussing the most recent developments in Scots law, such as through the Scotsman’s or the Herald’s legal journalists.

Similar Google News feeds, as I have already mentioned , can be used to keep track of different clients, industries, technologies, law, and even matters or disputes: A little more action, a little less bark (from clients) and a lot more spark!

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Plea to the Relevancy: Alternative Scottish Diploma in Legal Practice Structures

July 9, 2010 General Legal

I think many solicitors and students would like to see at least also business management, communication, leadership and motivation, or at least such soft skills, taught either separately on the diploma or the PCC, or more emphatically through the practice management course within the Diploma.

There should be a fundamental distinction between brilliant lawyering and brilliant management, which should be appreciated by all Diploma students and graduates.

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Take Notice!: Education 4 Ayrshire Ltd v South Ayrshire Council

June 27, 2010 Case Notes

The relatively recent case of Education 4 Ayrshire Ltd v South Ayrshire Council [2009] CSOH 146, CA37/09, concerns the issue of what happens when a contract clearly provides how and when a notice of delay or claims should be given but the parties do not follow the precise form of the notice provisions.

A good theoretical decision in favour of pacta sunt servanda and adherence to what the parties have agreed strictly, it has to be wondered whether this is the right practical decision given that effectively notice, albeit in a different form, had been given. Certainly, I have seen this decision take effect on elements of a recent multimillion pound NPD project, which may have delayed the deal.

The case serves as an important lesson for contractors, not just those involved in PPP / PFI, to take special notice of notice requirements under contracts.

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Alpha Law: Kill or be Killed!

June 26, 2010 General Legal

Written by two US law school professors, it portrays, in no uncertain terms, a rather bleak picture of the landscape of the legal and other top professions…And that was in 2005!

The alpha of any species, by inherent definition, is able to adapt quickly and well to change. It’s now time for lawyers, firms and the profession as a whole to adopt that alpha mentality; for many, it’s time to sink or swim.

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