There are a lot of annoyances that come with running your own firm, but for most attorneys, if they were to list their top five pet peeves, unpaid bills would be at or near the top. At the same time, if you were to poll dissatisfied clients, one of their pet peeves would be legal billing.

Clients skip the check for a number of reasons. Some are broke. Some are simply cheap. For many, however, they refuse to pay because they feel that the bill is inflated or otherwise unfair. The easiest way to quell these concerns is with proper billing practices. Here are a few to consider:

When I was a wee lad, I worked at a firm that was handling a child custody dispute. As with most custody situations, the signs were pointing towards some sort of a joint arrangement, which was unfortunate, because the opposing party was not exactly fit for parenthood.

With only a short time left until the hearing, the entire case took a turn in our client's favor due to an ounce of luck, a pound of stupidity, and a digital camera. The opposing party had borrowed the camera while taking the child for the weekend. When he returned the child, and the camera, he forgot to delete the images, and our client, fortuitously, found the smoking gun.

Or smoking something, at least. And it wasn't tobacco or marijuana.

Anyone who has ever dealt with a client knows how difficult it can be to actually get paid. You do the work, log the billable hours, and send out the bills. After that … you wait. And wait. If you’re lucky, the funds in your trust account will cover the balance. Otherwise, you’re stuck waiting for the client’s next payday, or the next time they have a babysitter and can stop by the office, or [insert excuse here].

Google’s newest Gmail feature, which integrates the oft-ignored Google Wallet payment service, could greatly simplify things — if your clients are at least moderately tech-savvy (and use Gmail). At yesterday’s Google I/O 2013 Conference, the search-turned-everything provider announced that Gmail users can now attach money to outgoing emails, the same way they’d attach a photo or document.

Law students are finishing up their finals and gearing up for their summer jobs. But is your firm ready for your summer associates?

What are you going to do when they show up on their first day? After introducing them around the office, what are they going to work on?

A few simple considerations will ensure that your law firm benefits from the summer associates you've hired, and vice-versa. Here are three tips to keep in mind:

DUI defense lawyers: do you need more clients? Cross your fingers, because they could be coming in droves.

The National Transportation Safety Board issued a number of recommendations on Tuesday that could change DUI law completely, including the recommendation that states adopt a drunk driving threshold of 0.05. The implications are obvious: more "drunk" drivers, presumably fewer accidents, and of course, more business for lawyers.

Two months ago, we asked a not-so-simple question: Should you accept bitcoin for your services? The answer, for at least two firms, was a resounding yes.

Two firms, a Houston DUI and drug defense firm and an Illinois and New Mexico small business law firm, recently announced that they will accept Bitcoin for services. While the move may pay dividends in the short-term as a publicity stunt (they got our attention, after all), we can't help questioning the wisdom of the move long-term.

Mother’s Day isn’t just about phone calls, cards, and chocolates. It’s about taking the time out to appreciate what our mothers (and if applicable, the mothers of our children) do for us. It’s also a great time to look at what we can do for them.

Working Mother’s “2012 Working Mother & Flex-Time Lawyers Best Law Firms for Women” list details what many of the BigLaw firms are doing for their female attorneys. Though the list appears to be in no particular order or ranking, here are a few standouts that smaller and mid-size firms can learn from:

What do you do when you have client whose story seems so improbable and lurid that it's unlikely that any jury would buy it? Do you try to salvage the client's reputation or do you admit the client's shortcomings and move on with your case?

Jodi Arias' attorney, Kirk Nurmi, seems to have taken the latter approach to no avail. "It's not even about whether or not you like Jodi Arias," Nurmi told the jury during his closing argument, according to ABC News. "Nine days out of ten, I don't like Jodi Arias, but that doesn't matter."

On Wednesday, Arias was found guilty of first degree murder in the brutal killing of her ex-boyfriend, Travis Alexander, CNN reports. She's now facing life in prison or the death penalty. Was Nurmi's approach the right way to go or did he do more harm than good for Arias' case?

It’s the American Dream, baby! No, not the unreleased Mike Jones (Who?) album, but the actual dream. Put your work in. Do it better, and cheaper, than the next guy. Grow your business. Reap rewards in proportion to effort expended.

Yesterday, we brought you the take of Bryan Johnson, a manager at Sears turned millionaire start-up credit card processor to the cyber-stars (such as AirBnB, OpenTable, and Uber). He made the change in two years, and author, investor, and entrepreneur James Altucher devised a number of rules based off his interview of the money-processing mogul.

I'm a sucker for articles that tell you how to make bold, hard-working moves and get rich quickly. Though it rarely happens this way, part of the "American Dream" is that a person's reward should be proportional to the work expended.

These entrepreneurial articles became even more appealing when I graduated law school with an immense debt load and no job prospects whatsoever. And though FindLaw saved me from despair (and keeps me filled with granola bars!), I'm still inclined to click on any title on a reputable blog that promises riches for the bold and brazen.