A new day, a better way.

I’m an optimist and that is the daily rule I live by – find a better way, every day.

Each day is full of opportunity and obligation for busy people in today’s hyperactive society. Who will I meet? What is my agenda for the day? What will unfold today?

I’m a lawyer, have been since 1975, and I still seek opportunity every day. Some days, opportunity just shows up. More often, opportunity is something I need, and want, to create.

I don’t think that makes me better or worse – or even different – from any of the other 1.2 million lawyers practicing in the US.

Finding the right opportunity is the lifeblood of the legal profession.

Every phone call, every knock on the door, every passing mention over lunch or at a party, every news story or email or – in these social media days – posting on Facebook could be an opportunity. My job is to recognize it when it comes, separate the real opportunity from the distractions around it, and keep track of it as it moves across my path.

Keeping track of a case lead – that’s never been easy when you’re running a busy firm. Filing cabinets are stuffed, folders are overflowing, paper stacks are threatening to topple off your desk. We aren’t fully paperless yet, but what’s worse is we are partially paperless. Emails, tweets and text messages need to get filed along with the formal documents and the scrawled notebook jottings and Post-It notes.

I need to find real law firm software, legal case management software designed for the lawyers to work the way lawyers work. If I had modern law firm software that recognizes modern record-keeping, I could increase the service I offer and, at the same time, have more control over my own life. I need to get “systematized” enough so that I can incorporate these opportunities into my law practice and capitalize on them.

In my law firm, opportunity arrives as “intake”, and following up on intake is critical. When we do that well, when we find the right legal software and law firm software for case management, we have a way to keep track of these opportunities. We can develop the opportunity ourselves, or we can make (and keep track of) a legal case lead referral. Either way, tracking the opportunity from the moment of intake is a critical factor in being successful – and having a life.

There’s got to be a better way.