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| Preface to the First and Second Editions | |
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| Preface to the Third Edition | |
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| Preface to the Millennium Fourth Edition | |
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| Acknowledgments | |
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| Getting Started | |
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| Why Has This Book Been Written? | |
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| Have Confidence--You Can Do It: An Historical Perspective | |
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| Should You Start Your Own Practice? (You Can Do It) | |
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| Should You Work on a Job "for Experience" before Starting Your Practice? | |
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| Being a Contract Lawyer to Get Experience and Money While Building Your Practice | |
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| Earning a Living between Graduation and Opening Your Practice | |
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| Should You Start with Another New Lawyer? | |
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| Practicing with Your Spouse | |
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| Should You Practice Another Business or Profession While Starting Your Law Practice? | |
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| Should You Specialize? | |
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| Naming Your Law Firm | |
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| Sole Practice v. Partnership v. Shared Office | |
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| The Written Business Plan | |
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| Managing Your Student Loan | |
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| Getting Located | |
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| Where Is the Best Place to Open Your Office? (From a Client-Getting Point of View) | |
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| Where Should You Locate Your Office for Your First Year or Two? (From a Cost Point of View) | |
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| Should You Trade "Space for Services"? | |
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| How Do You Get the Best Space Arrangement? | |
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| Practicing in a Law Suite | |
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| Practicing from Your Home | |
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| Getting Equipped | |
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| How Much Cash Do You Need to Start Your Practice? | |
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| How to Get a Rich Relative or Friend to Finance Your Start-up Costs by Offering Tax Advantages | |
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| Checklists of Needs for New Law Office | |
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| Office Supplies and Procedures | |
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| Personal Computers, Word Processing, and Office Technology | |
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| Should You Do Your Own Word Processing? | |
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| Should Your Office Furnishings Be Lavish? | |
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| Announcements, Stationery and Professional Cards, Christmas Cards, and "Mailing Lists" | |
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| Getting Clients | |
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| How to Handle Friends and Relatives | |
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| How to Market Your Services | |
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| Cost-Effective Media Advertising | |
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| The Importance of Accepting and Promptly Returning Telephone Calls | |
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| Managing Written Communication | |
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| Can You Get Clients from Organizations? | |
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| Cold Calling to Get Clients | |
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| Insurance Claims Adjusters: A Source of Clients | |
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| Shmooze Your Vendors | |
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| How to Accept Personal Injury Cases | |
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| How to Communicate Settlement Offers to Clients | |
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| Can You Get Clients by Running for Political Office? | |
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| Getting Paid Work from Lawyer Referral Services | |
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| Getting Legal Fees and Work from the Government | |
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| Getting Legal Work and Fees from Other Lawyers | |
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| Minority Work and Money | |
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| How to Get More Legal Work from Existing Clients | |
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| How to Recognize and Handle Conflicts of Interest | |
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| How to Keep Clients | |
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| How to Lose Clients | |
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| Cases and Clients That Should Be Turned Down | |
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| The Prospective Client File | |
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| How to Say "No" to a Client or Case | |
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| Damage Control If You Are Fired | |
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| Setting Fees | |
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| The Fee and Representation Letter (The Engagement Letter) | |
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| Engagement Letters, Nonengagement Letters, and Disengagement Letters | |
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| Balancing the Public's Need for Legal Services and the New Lawyer's Need to Eat | |
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| How to Set Your Fees | |
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| Don't Quote Fees or Give Legal Advice over the Telephone to New Clients | |
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| Getting Money Up Front from New Clients | |
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| Cash Fees | |
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| Client Costs | |
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| The Importance of Cash Up Front for Survival (Also Known as "Foonberg's Rule") | |
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| Getting Paid by Client Credit Card | |
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| Financing Your Practice with Bank Credit Cards | |
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| How to Get Cash Up Front to Reduce Bad Debts and Increase Cash Flow and Avoid Going Under | |
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| How to Word Invoices That Clients Are Happy to Pay | |
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| The Importance of Monthly Billing | |
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| Final Billing on Completion of a Matter | |
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| How to Make Clients Happy to Pay Legal Fees by Selling Them Stationery | |
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| How to Make Money by Reading Advance Sheets and Technical Journals | |
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| Typical Client Costs | |
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| Can You or Should You Pay or Receive "Forwarding Fees" or Referral Fees? | |
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| "Bedside Manner" in Setting Fees | |
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| Alternate Dispute Resolution | |
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| When and How to Withdraw from a Nonpaying Matter | |
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| Managing the Law Office | |
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| Management of the Law Office--General Comments | |
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| Organizing Your Day to Make More Money | |
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| Managing Telephone Communications | |
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| Organizing Your Desk to Make More Money | |
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| How to Keep Time Records to Make More Money and to Preserve Evidence of Work Done | |
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| Getting Ready for Your First Clients | |
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| Typical Court Forms | |
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| Sample Generic Checklists and Forms | |
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| Your First Court Appearances | |
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| How to Interview a Client | |
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| How to Conduct a Meeting | |
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| Preceptors and Internships | |
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| The MacCrate Report | |
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| Negotiating Skills | |
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| How to Maintain Bank Accounts | |
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| How to Maintain a Trust Account to Avoid Disbarment | |
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| Insurance Needs of the New Lawyer | |
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| Don't Forget Taxes and Licenses | |
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| Why You Need a Personnel Manual | |
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| Bookkeeping and Accounting Systems | |
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| The Office Cash Flow Survival Budget | |
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| Paper and Computer Document Management | |
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| Organizing Your Computer Files | |
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| Simple Hard-Copy Filing Systems for the New Lawyer | |
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| When and How to Close a File | |
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| Fondling the Files | |
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| How to Build a Good Form File | |
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| Library Needs and Costs | |
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| How to Buy Law Books (If You Buy Them at All) | |
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| Saving Money on Postage and Express Delivery Services | |
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| Squeezing Extra Hours into the Day to Make More Money | |
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| Timely Delivery of Work | |
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| Should You Use a Telephone Receptionist, Telephone Exchange, Mechanical Answering Device, Telephone Company Service, or Voice Mail? | |
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| Why You Should Use Investigators | |
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| Ethics and Professional Responsibility | |
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| Professional Responsibility and Practice Management | |
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| Fifty-One Ways to Win or Avoid the Ethics War | |
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| What Are the Consequences of "Violating" the Canons of Professional Ethics, the Code of Professional Responsibility, or the Model Rules of Professional Conduct? | |
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| Ten Rules for Avoiding Disciplinary Complaints | |
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| Practicing Professional Responsibilities | |
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| A Short History of Our Ethics | |
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| The ABA Model Code of Professional Responsibility and the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct | |
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| Ten Commandments of Good Trust Accounts | |
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| Resources and Advice | |
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| Where to Go for Help | |
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| Getting Free Management Help from Your Local Law Practice Management Advisor | |
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| The Importance of Continuing Education | |
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| The Wheel Has Been Invented | |
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| How to Manage and Collect Accounts Receivable | |
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| Where to Get Cost-Effective Help to Build and Expand Your Practice | |
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| Foonberg's Short Course in Good Client Relations | |
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| The Importance of Doing It Right | |
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| Checklist for Opening Your First Law Office | |
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| The Foonberg Management Checklist | |
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| The Foonberg Management Checklist | |
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| What Every Law Office Should Have to Be a Functioning Law Office | |
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| Quality of Life | |
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| Quality of Life--Dealing with Difficult People | |
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| Quality of Life for the Lawyer Starting a Practice | |
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| Epilogue: Proof That This Book Works | |
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| Index | |
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| About the Author | |