MIKE ARNOLD on THE ART OF WAR

by Lisa Cadungug

Mr. Arnold was an excellent presenter on the topic of strategy and how we are in the product

industry, despite many thinking we are in the service industry.

The product we sell is a strong battle plan, relating to the case or contract we are involved with.

We need to consider all the "what ifs" and alleviate client anxiety to the extent we are able to do so.

He made reference to The Art of War by Sun Tzu, and provided us with a copy of an abridged

version he had made for clients to help us appreciate the perspective. I read this small book

afterward and although The Art of War is a military treatise, it has some excellent comparisons to

the process of a court case.

One of the references that stuck out to me was that of 4stealing a chariot from your opponent'

rather than having to bring more of your own. Sun Tzu says "Bring war material with you from

home, but forage on the enemy." Using your opponent's information or evidence to your own

advantage is a good example of this.

He also talked about the "Hero's Journey" and referenced a book by Joseph Campbell entitled

The Hero with a Thousand Faces. To paraphrase, there hero's journey is a classic narrative that

describes the path a main character takes in a story - typically someone who is pulled from their

ordinary world by some call to action/quest/adventure into the unknown, who faces challenges

and overcomes obstacles and then saves the day - the goal of a good litigator!

One of the great takeaways was to be a seeker of truth - there are always several sides to a story;

our job is to always be searching to discover what actually happened, not what one side or

another had to say about what happened. Once we discover the truth, the goal is to empower the

fact finder and/or jury to have a good story to tell at the end of the day - how they helped find

justice in a situation.

Mr. Arnold had some example of cases he had been involved with to help illustrate the process.

He is passionate about what he does which came through clearly in his presentation. I would be

happy to see his name on our education roster again.

This post was authored by a recipient of the NALS of Portland, Oregon Member Meeting Reimbursement Funds.  Those funds are available to assist members of NALS of Portland, Oregon in attending CLEs, business meetings, and the National Education Conference.  Additionally, some articles may qualify for CLE credit.  

Using Quick Steps in Outlook

By Nancy Sánchez Koppy

 

Do you use Quick Steps?  Quick Steps are a great way to automate repetitive email tasks to save time. I'll give you some examples on how you can use this feature.

 

Let's say you routinely receive requests for certain tasks but you don't want a cluttered email box.  You want to look at each email and determine what needs to be done with it.  You might have folders in your Outlook to keep you organized--perhaps a "Docs for Recording," or "Phone Follow-ups" or "Filing," or "Research Projects." Likely, the folders that require more immediate action, you have added to your Favorites section so they stay at the top of your email box.  

 

Now, you scan the list of emails.  You determine that the first email has instructions to record a document. With the email selected in your email box, you simply click on the previously created "To Record" Quick Step button and it moves the email over to your "To Record" folder.  However, this email move can be accompanied by several more steps.  

 

Your "To Record" Quick Step can be set to move the email envelope to the correct folder, but also mark it "unread" so that it tracks your pending items in that folder. At this point, people think, "but, the Rules feature does that automatically."  Yes, you are correct. The difference, however, is that with Steps you lay eyes on the message first, scan it for any nuances required of the task, and then click to move. As you know, in the legal field, automation needs to be conscientious.

 

Also, with Quick Steps, you can add on several more steps to that same one-click action! It operates like a macro for your email!  Are people still using macros?  

 

Look it all of these steps:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Taking it a "Step" further:

 

If your task requires a return email to a group of people, you can have Quick Steps, with your same single-click, move your email envelope to the specific folder, mark it not read, open up an email message with populated information and text (maybe do some quick personalization on the message), and send! 

 

You can be quite creative and efficient with Quick Steps! 

Comment below:

•  Do you still use macros?

• What are some of your favorite Quick Steps?
  

 

Resources: 

Here are great resources about Quick Steps.  If I find others I will update this resource list:

 

Link to Video: How to Use Quick Steps in Outlook  

     By Hong Dao 

     Professional Liability Fund

 

Link to Page: Automate common or repetitive tasks with Quick Steps in Outlook

     By Microsoft

 

YouTube Link: Getting Answers to Your Outlook Online Quick Steps Feature Questions

     By Teresa B. Cyrus

     TRACCreations4E