Nerino Petro’s Compujurist has a great post on setting up a backup routine. He titles his post, Don’t be an idiot:Backup your data. The great thing about Nerino’s post is that he gives you concrete suggestions about how to properly set up a backup routine to best protect your data.

One of his best pieces of advice is:

5. Finally, perform a sample or test restore to ensure that your data is actually being backed up. Murphy’s Law of backups provides that your backup will fail when you need it most. One method of doing this is to select several critical files and data types such as your time and billing data and word processing files, renaming several of these files and then doing test restores from the backup data stored on the external hard drive as well as from the online backup service and see if the files will open and if the data appears to be current and correct. Initially, you want to test this with the first backup and then at least biweekly for the first two months. Thereafter, I would recommend doing a test restore at least monthly.

Remember, the purpose of doing a backup is not to backup data. Instead, it is to ensure that you can restore your data if when your hard drive crashes. If you faithfully create a backup routine, but never ensure that it works, you may very well be wasting your time and effort doing your backups.

Follow Nerino’s tips, however, and you will be well on your way to ensuring that you do not lose your data.

The ABA has posted 50 marketing tips for solos and small firms. This list has certainly taken some hits in other blogs. The criticisms are certainly valid. Further, most of the tips do not really apply to me or my practice. For example, I cannot ever envision myself handing out my business card to the waitstaff at my favorite restaurant and asking them to give the card to other customers who seem like they need a lawyer. (Tip #26).

However, one tip struck home with me, tip #28

28. Cross-sell. When you complete work for clients, remind them that you handle other matters as well. Make sure they know that you would like the opportunity to serve them—or their friends, relatives, etc.—by drafting wills, handling personal injury matters or reviewing contracts.

I once represented a client in a dispute involving her home owners association. Later, I represented her in the sale of her home. During a subsequent conversation with her, I realized that she thought I was a “real estate lawyer.” In reality, however, only about 10% of my practice involves being a “real estate lawyer” as she defined the term. It turns out that she had no idea that the majority of my practice was litigation.

Because of this experience, I always try to make sure that my clients understand not only the types of matters that I typically handle, but also the types of matters that other members of the firm handle.

From Lifehacker comes an article on the Top 10 Ways to Clean Your PC. My favorite is #10, Clear Your Desktop. I don’t know that you need to clear it entirely off as they suggest. However, I see far too many people who have a desktop that is so cluttered that they cannot find anything on it.

This is a great tip that will increase your productivity. Clean your desktop and keep it that way.

The ABA Journal recently had an article with “101 tips, tricks and tools to make you a more productive, less stressed-out lawyer.” I don’t agree that all of the suggested tips will lower your stress. However, there are several good tips here. I have collected some of my favorites below.

Empty your e-mail inbox daily.

Move e-mail to the appropriate folder as soon as you have read it.

Instead of getting buried in e-mail newsletters, set up an RSS feed.

Find a desktop search tool that works for you.

Use Jott to send messages from your cell phone.

Use Giveaway of the Day to get licensed software for free. Most of it will be junk you don’t need, but oc­casionally you’ll find something useful.