It’s time to start considering resolutions for the New Year. I find I’m not very focused on December 31st and the idea has lost steam if I don’t line out my resolutions til mid January.
In the context of a consumer bankruptcy practice, we’re probably talking about “goals” for the New Year: resolutions seems so tinged with self improvement. (I’m going to try the resolves shown above: want to take bets on my mastering “holy silence”?)
Here’s my working list:
- Improve and streamline my delivery of bankruptcy information to clients
- Spend time in explicit training of staff in law and in time management
- Move to markedly less paper
- Take fewer impossible cases
How about you? Got goals for next year?
I am resolving to take some time off from writing here to prepare a new class on Fundamentals of Chapter 13 to be available mid January. See you in 2011, if I can resist the keyboard til then.
Control my practice and not let the practice control me.
Designate specific work tasks by days of the week.
Establish pre-determined times each day to take and return client telphone calls.
Establish one time per week to respond to client non-telephonic communications.
Add more practical content to website for current clients.
Move network server and small business server to third-party vendor such as Rackspace.
Cathy & Max, Good job & comments, both of you. Have a good Christmas & keep up the cause in 2011 !
Best, Jim Cossitt
Not file any skeleton petitions!
Hello Cathy: Congratulations on continuing to follow your star. For me, my 2011 goals include the following:
(a) Continuing codification of practice
(b) Continuing effective representation of people and business in bankruptcy and mortgage foreclosure defense in Illinois and Wisconsin
(c) Establish beginning of business operations in NW Indiana – within Chicago metropolitan area
(d) Develop new and better online tools for communication with clients
You are a leader and role model in the consumer bankruptcy community and I admire your work.
All best wishes,
David Leibowitz
Lakelaw
http://www.lakelaw.com
You go, David! If “codifying” practice means creating internal how-to’s, procedures, and check lists, I’m with you. I have a nascent wiki on my serve for us in house, which I envision using as a table of contents for what’s on our server, and as a place to capture what we learn day to day about trustees, judges and developments. A fifth goal for me would be to invest some time making it more useful.
Good luck .
Cathy
I resolve to prepare informal hourly statements monthly so both I and my clients can see the consumption of my time. In Chapter 13, it will tell me if it’s time to do a fee application, and the more I do the more the judge will realize how much the no look fee needs to be higher for above median debtors who grill me on each means test calculation, original and revised. In Chapter 7, it will push me to look harder for pre-retainer signals for clients I should have quoted higher.
Congratulations on continuing to follow your star. For me, my 2011 goals include the following:
(a) Continuing codification of practice
(b)
Continuing effective representation of people and business in
bankruptcy and mortgage foreclosure defense in Illinois and Wisconsin
(c) Establish beginning of business operations in NW Indiana – within Chicago metropolitan area
(d) Develop new and better online tools for communication with clients
You are a leader and role model in the consumer bankruptcy community and I admire your work.
All best wishes,
David
http://loopbankruptcy.com/