How do you, as business professionals who are dependent on face-to-face meetings, establish credibility and trust in a society that develops first encounters online? What can attorneys who haven’t embraced the digital era do to start making the web work for them?You need to understand and embrace social marketing, develop a strategy and integrate it […]

According to a recent survey conducted by Thomson Reuters and FindLaw, more people now use the Internet to research and find an attorney than any other resource. 38 percent – Internet search 29 percent – referral from  friend or relative 10 percent – referral from local bar association 4 percent – Yellow Pages If you consider that […]

I’ll be leaving shortly for the Academy’s Spring Summit event in Houston! I’m looking forward to seeing all my Academy friends. I interact with Members every day, but my opportunity to see them in person is at the Academy events. In addition to numerous meetings, I’ll be giving two presentations. The first examines the ethics […]

Etiquette appears to be dying a slow death in our high-tech society. Customer service tends to be more about the server than the customer, neighbors aren’t nearly as neighborly as they used to be, political correctness is scoffed at, and we have to ask to be removed from spam email lists that we never signed […]

Last summer I found myself sitting in a waiting room at the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. I was there offering support to my brother who had just undergone surgery (thankfully, with positive results). As I studied the now familiar waiting/training room, I noticed a diagram (I later learned that it is from Mark […]

Estate planning attorneys know of powers of appointment. They allow the holder to appoint property held in Trust to whom the holder wishes. Powers of appointment can be of two different types, general or limited. A general power of appointment (GPOA) is one that may be exercised in favor of the holder, the holder’s estate, […]

At the recent convention of the International Cemetery, Cremation and Funeral Association (ICCFA) in Las Vegas, Nevada, the expo showcased what’s new in the funeral business. First-time exhibitors offered products and services that indicate growing death care industry trends. Pet LossWhile wandering the 14 aisles of the expo, I saw a sign with a pug […]

In 1969, Elisabeth Kübler-Ross published her groundbreaking book On Death and Dying which introduced what became known as the five stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. These stages were originally based on Kübler-Ross’ years of working with dying patients but came to be applied to people who are grieving the death of […]

Yesterday was April 15th. In the United States, most taxpayers were required to file their federal income taxes, or at least pay (if they owed) and file for an extension. So, today I thought I’d focus on a little income tax planning that can help your clients. In the past few years, high-earners have faced […]

Back in November, I posted “6 Myths People Tell Themselves About Advance Directive Accessibility.”  The takeaway: clients, family Members, doctors, and hospitals can’t be relied on to produce a client’s advance directive when it’s needed. In honor of National Healthcare Decisions Day – which falls on April 16, a few days from now, let’s talk […]