PC magazine has released its latest list of what it considers to be the Top 100 Undiscovered Websites .

As with any such list, many of the choices are subjective and of little or no interest to many people, you can still find useful sites in a number of the categories listed.

E-discovery. Think about what this term brings to mind.  One of the first things for most lawyers is how expensive complying with e-discovery requests can be.  Often times, e-discovery vendors will provide pricing information using a per gigabyte pricing level based on the number of pages they believe that gigabyte of data equals.  But what does this really mean as far as the number of actual pages of data that may or may not be involved?  Whether you're a solo attorney in a transactional practice or partner and am Law 100 law firm, e-discovery is now a fact of life when practicing law.

Craig Ball in Expert Explodes Page Equivalency Myth written for Law.Com, tries to dispel some of the myths and disinformation regarding how many pages of data are actually contained in a gigabyte.  According to Craig,

"So how many pages are in a gigabyte of data? Lawyers know this answer: "It depends." To know, perform a data biopsy of representative custodians' collections and gauge — don't guess — page volume."

Essentially, not all file types are created equal when it comes to determining how many pages are contained in a gigabyte of storage.  Documents in Plain or Rich Text Format take up less space than the same document saved in Microsoft Word and all of these require less storage space than those documents that are saved in either Tagged Image File (TIF) or Adobe PDF.

I think this article is definitely worth five minutes of your time to review and ultimately, to bookmark for future use.

Once again, Neil J. Squillante and the folks at Technolawyer have outdone themselves in producing the second edition of the BlawgWorld 2007 eBook with the new TechnoLawyer Problem/Solution Guide. Since it's release on July 30, 2007, there have been over 10,000 downloads of the eBook.

Containing posts form 77 legal bloggers, Blawgworld 2007 is full of informative and thought provoking information from a wide variety of legal blogs, including one of my own posts on the benefits of practice management software.

You can download your own copy of Blawgworld 2007 here.

In addition to the 77 blog posts, Blawgworld 2007 also includes the Technolawyer Problem/Solution Guide providing answers to a number of questions that lawyers have.

In the 2007 TechnoLawyer Problem/Solution Guide, a sponsored resource, law firms will find 185 real-life Problems and corresponding Solutions. Written from the point of view of a law firm, each Problem/Solution consists of a question and detailed answer as well as a button that links to a Web page with more information. The 77 participating vendors had to comply with strict guidelines, such as the prohibition of superlatives, designed to emphasize information over marketing lingo. (Blawgworld2007 Press Release).

I encourage you to take a look at this publication for its content, but it’s worth checking out for its unique and friendly electronic format as well.

PC Magazine has released its latest list of the Top 100 Classic Websites, with its slide show of the sites found here. Some interesting tech and general information websites made this years list, including The Library of Congress, ThinkGeek, USA.gov and others.

Raising the issue of how you are to be paid or questioning why fees earned have not been paid can make even the toughest lawyers squeamish. Lawyers who are willing to ask the tough questions on behalf of their clients nevertheless often are afraid to address payment issues head on with their clients. Why this is a continuing issue in the legal profession is puzzling; when you go into the office of a medical, dental, or some other service provider, you generally don't leave that business without making payment. Why should it be any different for lawyers and their clients?

In addition to the obligations that you have toward your clients, you also have an obligation to yourself, your family, and your staff to see that payment is made on time. Many attorneys keep a family picture on their desk to remind them of their obligations when they're listening to the reasons the client can't pay the requested retainer or has not paid outstanding bills.

Lawyers need to approach the issue of fees and getting paid the same as any other business does:

1) Discuss your fees at the initial consultation. Discuss the basis of your fees and your retainer requirements at the initial client consultation. Describe in detail how you will bill - hourly, fixed fee, or contingency. Discuss what expenses the client will be responsible for and the amount of any retainer and how it will be applied against their bill.

2) Use written fee agreements. Using written fee agreements is a "best practice" in running your law practice. Use the fee agreement to detail your billing practices, fees, and expenses, how you expect to be paid, and your right to withdraw for nonpayment. One practice consultant advises having the withdrawal-for-nonpayment provision be a separate paragraph that the client initials, reinforcing the client's obligation for timely payment.

3) Use written engagement letters. Clearly explain in your engagement letter the scope of your representation and specifically list what you will not do for the client. The engagement letter is an opportunity to set out lawyer and client obligations to each other and what the client can expect. The letter establishes the nature of the two-way relationship between the lawyer and the client.

4) Use your bills as a regular status report. Send bills regularly - either monthly or biweekly - even if you are doing the work on a fixed or contingency fee basis. This lets clients see what actions you take on their behalf. Use the bill as another tool to communicate with your clients. Look at the bill with a critical eye - as though you were the customer. What makes more sense to you: "TC with atty Smith re: Dep Scheduling" or "Telephone call with attorney Smith to discuss scheduling of his client's deposition"? Keeping the client fully informed in understandable language helps to keep the client happy and improves the client's desire to pay promptly.

5) Stay on top of your accounts receivable. Keep track of the status of your accounts receivable on a regular basis; close monitoring helps you to identify potential issues with clients if they're not paying or are slow paying and to discuss with them any potential unhappiness with your legal representation or other issues. Regular monitoring also may prevent you from continuing to work for a client who is not paying and gives you an opportunity to withdraw in accordance with the rules.

6) Don't nickel and dime your client. Nothing will irritate clients more than to feel that they're being charged for every paperclip or every minor detail regarding their case. Bill for significant legal work. Rather than charge for every item or expense - such as the actual telephone charges - either build these charges into your hourly rate, assess an overhead charge when you open a case, or do not charge for any expense under a set dollar amount, such as $10. Any work that you do for the client but do not charge for should be shown on your bills as "no charge" (n/c). These billing ideas may not sound like big things to you, but they can engender a great deal of goodwill with your clients, and happy clients pay their bills.

Jay Foonberg, author of the ABA book How to Start and Build a Law Practice, is considered by many to be "the source" for techniques on how to run your practice. He has a very simple rule to ensure prompt and complete payment, which he calls "Foonberg's Rule," consisting of only three words: cash up front. Spend two minutes online and review this brief video , and let Jay explain his rule to you himself; it will be time well spent.

Author's Note: This is the first in a series of Articles that I am contributing to a new column titled "What Keeps You Awake at Night" for the Wisconsin Lawyer Magazine. You can read this column and other articles at on the Wisconsin Lawyer portion of the WisBar website.