In the news: “Lawyers in the online virtual world Second Life act like lawyers, but they practice law through an alter ego, a digital character called an avatar. And they may have avatars as clients that come with real legal problems like landlord-tenant issues, contract disputes and intellectual property concerns. Second Life is a lawyer's dream world in more than just a figurative sense. "There's real money changing hands," says Benjamin Duranske, whose avatar, "Benjamin Noble," created the Second Life Bar Association.”
Read full text
Source: Law.Com's Daily Legal Newswire. 31 July 2007. Copyright 2006. ALM Properties, Inc. All rights reserved. Subscribe <http://store.law.com/registration/register.asp?subscribeto=nw>.
Posted by Ernest Svenson: “I love this post by patent attorney Erik Heels. He uses a drawing he made for his daughter to explain why law school doesn't help lawyers solve practical problems. Moreover, his explanation of the legal system is simple, concise and yet (in my view) completely accurate. The money quote: "one of the good things about spending time with children is that it forces you to explain things in simple terms."
Indeed. More lawyers should work with young children to develop their communication skills.”
The active link is available at the source site listed below.
Source: Ernie the Attorney, 25 July 2007
Posted by Denise Howell: “Here are George Lenard's posts on the subject:
Employers Using Facebook for Background Checking: Is It Legal?
More on using facebook et al. in recruiting and hiring (Part II)
Employers Using Facebook for Background Checking, Part III
This might be better suited to Overlawyered than Between Lawyers, but I'm posting it here anyway because it's a great series of posts. One thing I don't see addressed: one of the most powerful features of Facebook (and a host of other social networking sites) is the fine-grained privacy control users have over the visibility their data. Often, only "friends" have access to the kinds of details George discusses. But, lots of people do make their data more generally visible. It's ironic that employment laws are such that though "the public" may be invited to view such information, lucrative damages awards or settlements could be associated with doing so in the context of employment or potential employment.”
The active links are available at the source site listed below.
Source: Between Lawyers, 13 July 2007
Posted by Sabrina Pacifici:
• Documents, Leaks and the Boundaries of Expression, by Susan Nevelow Mart
• Librarians as Change Agents, by Mary Alice Baish
• Scanning and OCR with Acrobat 8, by Rick Borstein
• Guide to Short Form Open Access Legal Publications, by Ken Strutin
• Elder Resources on the Internet, by Marcus P. Zillman
• Gay/Lesbian Law Pathfinder, by Mark Plotkin
• The Government Domain: 'Insanely Useful' Legislative Sites, by Peggy Garvin
• Reference from Coast to Coast: Jury Instructions Update, by Margi Heinen and Jan Bissett
• Burney's Legal Tech Reviews: Gadgets for Legal Pros A Keyboard to Show Off to your Friends and Safely Jogging with Music, by Brett Burney
• CongressLine by GalleryWatch.com: The Congressional College – Caucuses and Boards, by Paul Jenks
• FOIA Facts: Understanding FBI Records, by Scott A. Hodes
• E-Discovery Update - Discovery of Ephemeral Digital Information, by Conrad J. Jacoby
• Commentary: The Showdown on Coal-to-Liquid Technology, by Beth Wellington”
The active links are available at the source site listed below.
Source: beSpacific - Accurate, focused law and technology news by Sabrina I. Pacifici. 30 July 2007. Copyright ©2002-2006 BeSpacific LLC. All Rights Reserved. Subscribe <http://www.bespacific.com/mt/subscribe.html>.
Posted by John Jantsch: “You know you should turn your service into an ebook product, create a new workshop, start a podcast, yada, yada, yada. Sometimes knowing and doing have a hard time intersecting. I learned years ago one of the best ways to get something done is to give myself no choice.
There is a fable that tells about a captain coming ashore to conquer a new land and finding his forces outnumbered 10-1. Seeing this, a sergeant asked what they should do, to which the captain replied, “burn the boats.”
• If you want to create a new product - buy an ad for it in a magazine that publishes in 3 months
• If you want to get into public speaking - offer to speak for free everywhere you can
• If you want to hold a teleseminar training course - start promoting the dates now
• If you need to ramp up sales - place an ad for a salesperson today
• If you want to start you own business - start getting clients now
• If you want to get in shape - enter a 10K coming up (that was a bonus one!)
Years ago I received a call from someone wanting to buy a product I hadn’t actually created, but I had always intended to. So, I sold her one - and then I had to create it! Funny how your priorities can change when you have no choice. Don’t be afraid to succeed."
Source: Duct Tape Marketing, 24 July 2007
Posted by John Jantsch: “Small business owners are often confused about the term brand, and rightly so. Big businesses obsess about this thing called branding, yet I think on the whole it has become a pretty soulless term.
Every small business has a brand? The question is whether the make-up of the brand is created intentionally or accidentally. There is little doubt in my mind that small businesses that find themselves in possession of what some would call a strong brand are far more likely to achieve great things than those that simply go our there and compete. But, a small business brand is so much more complicated than a tagline, colors or logos, a small business brand is everything the business does and has done, much like a biography - or in this case maybe a brandography.
There is this wonderful line in the book Divisadero by Michael Ondaatje that gets at this for individuals.
“Everything is biographical, Lucian Freud says. Why we make, why we draw a dog, who it is we are drawn to, why we cannot forget. Everything is collage, even genetics. There is the hidden presence of others in us. We contain them for the rest of our lives, at every border we cross.”
A small business brand is very much like this collage - made up of who the owner is, who the customers are, what the employees say, what the press says, and who you had lunch with today - in your business, everything is brandographical!
So the question is, if you knew that in every action your business took you were in the process of creating a brand, if you were given the chance to create a strong brand through your actions - would that change how you viewed your business, would you write your brandography with intention?”
Source: Duct Tape Marketing, 29 July 2007
From the blog: “The Ohio Supreme Court has announced that it is restructuring its existing administrative system. One of the key components of the new plan includes appointing Richard A. Dove to the position of Assistant Administrative Director. The Ohio Supreme Court's Office of Administrator Director is responsible for: strategic planning for the Court and Ohio's court system; providing oversight to other Court offices; assisting with special projects, initiatives, commissions, and task forces; and monitoring the General Assembly and legislative activity. Dove formerly served as the chief of the Attorney Services Division. As Dove and others assume their new roles, the new plan will merge the Court's Office of Attorney Registration and Continuing Legal Education into the Office of Attorney Services.”
The active links are available at the source site listed below.
Source: Cleveland Law Library Weblog, 30 July 2007
Posted by Tom Collins: “The recent acquisition of American Law Media (ALM) by the London-based Incisive Media is a sign of the times. It is a reminder that globalization is driving the growth of big law. Globalization means that midrange firms will lose some clients or learn to play in the global world. A small number of midrange law firms have learned to operate internationally to great success but most are simply not playing in that arena. And they may have the right strategy.
At the same time that globalization has provided reasons for big law to get bigger, home front midrange law firms are reaping the benefits of growth among small businesses in the U.S. Small companies (using 500 employees as the cut off) represent 99 percent of all U.S. employers. The big guys race over international borders in pursuit of big business, leaving the bulk of the U.S. market for legal services to midrange law firms.
The curious twist is that globalization’s biggest effect on U.S. law firms, as a whole, may eventually be increased competition from abroad. Rather than an expansion of the market for U.S. law firms, globalization may bring increased competition from firms outside of the U.S. Ours is still the biggest and most attractive market. Why else, for example, would London’s Incisive Media acquire ALM? It doubles the size of Incisive Media and provides the platform for expansion in the United States.
Outsourcing by U.S. law firms may one day turn into "in sourcing" by those same “offshore” operators we have trained to do business in the U.S. The same technological trends that have made it feasible for legal work to be outsourced can be used by offshore operators to market and provide legal services directly to businesses and consumers. Jurisdictionial protections are likely to weaken in the years to come.”
You may need to use your browser’s REFRESH button to view this post.
Source: morepartnerincome, 31 July 2007
Posted by Garr Reynolds: “If you want to be a better presenter — or help others to be — here are the three books you should get (two I have recommended repeatedly). Notice that these are not books about presentation. Most of the great books that will help you make better presentations are not specifically about presentations at all, and certainly not about how to use slideware. The first book gives the context. The second one gives the basics of design. And the final one which I am introducing to you today — Made to Stick — gives you the ammunition for crafting messages that are simple, effective, and “sticky.”
(1) Dan Pink’s A Whole New Mind gives us the context of the new world we’re living in and why “high touch” talents — and that includes exceptional presentation skills — are more important than ever before. Professionals today around the globe need to understand how and why the so-called right-brain aptitudes of Design, Story, Symphony, Empathy, Play, and Meaning matter like never before. The best presentations of our generation will be created by people who have strong “whole mind” aptitudes and talents. (Dan Pink's blog).
(2) Universal Principles of Design. You will not learn how to crop an image in PowerPoint, or any other tips on using slideware from this book, but you will get a very good and intelligent introduction to fundamental design principles and practical applications of those concepts. A good complement to this book is The Elements of Graphic Design which provides more depth specifically in the area of graphic design. First comes understanding, then comes technique.
(3) Made to Stick by Chip Heath and Dan Heath is my favorite book of the summer. I can’t believe I didn't read it sooner. (My pal Nancy Duarte gave me a copy; she said she knew I would love it. She was right!) In this book the Heath brothers are interested in the question of what makes some ideas effective and memorable and other ideas utterly forgettable? Some ideas stick and others fade away. Why? What the authors found — and explain simply and brilliantly in their book — is that “sticky ideas” share just a few principles in common. Sticky ideas have elements of these six key attributes: Simplicity, Unexpectedness, Concreteness, Credibility, Emotions, and Stories. And yes, these six compress nicely into the acronym SUCCESs. (Made to Stick website.)
Think in terms of SUCCESs
The six principles are relatively easy to incorporate into messages — including presentations and keynote addresses — but most people fail to use them. Why? The authors say that the biggest reason why most people fail to craft effective or “sticky” messages is because of what they call the “Curse of Knowledge.” The Curse of Knowledge is essentially the condition whereby the deliverer of the message can not imagine what it’s like not to posses his level of background knowledge on the topic. When he speaks in abstractions to the audience, it makes perfect sense him, but often to him alone. In his mind it seems simple and obvious. The six principles — SUCCESs — are your weapons, then, to fight your own Curse of Knowledge (we all have it) so that you can make messages that stick.
Here’s an example that the authors used early in the book to explain the difference between a good and “sticky” message and a weak (yet all too common) message. Look at these two messages that address the same idea. One of them should seem very familiar to you.
(a) “Our mission is to become the international leader in the space industry through maximum team-centered innovation and strategically targeted aerospace initiatives.”
Or…
(b) “…put a man on the moon and return him safely by the end of the decade.”
The first message sounds similar to CEO-speak of today and is barely comprehensible, let alone memorable. The second message — which is actually from a 1961 speech by JFK — has every element of SUCCESs and it motivated a nation toward a specific goal that changed the world. JFK, or at least his speech writers, knew that abstractions are not memorable, nor do they motivate. Yet how many speeches today by CEOs and other leaders contain phrases like “maximize shareholder value…yada, yada, yada”? Here’s a quick summary of the six principles you should keep in mind when crystallizing your ideas and crafting your messages for speeches, presentations, or any other form of communication. (I’ve included large thumbs of the slides I’ll use in future when I talk about these ideas from Made to Stick).
• Simple. If everything is important then nothing is important.
• Unexpectedness. You can get people’s interest by violating their expectations. Surprise people. Surprise will get their interest.
• Concrete. Use natural speech and give real examples with real things, not abstractions. Speak of concrete images not of vague notions.
• Credible. There are many ways to establish credibility, a quote from a client or the press may help, for example.
• Emotional. People are emotional beings. It is not enough to take people through a laundry list of talking points and information on your slides, you must make them feel something.
• Stories. Great ideas and great presentations have an element of story to them.
Full text and active links available below.
Source: Presentation Zen, 28 July 2007
Posted by Allison Shields: “Whether you're new to reading blogs or you're a regular blogger or blog reader, you'll want to take a look at Blawg World 2007 - the e-book compilation of posts from some of the best legal blogs out there. You'll want to download the e-book, which contains posts on everything from change management, billing, and marketing to substantive legal issues. And this year's edition also features the TechnoLawyer eBook.
The bloggers that contributed to the BlawgWorld 2007 e-book are truly the best in the business, and I hope that you learn a lot from reading the e-book. Some of these bloggers are already my friends, and others I had the pleasure of meeting when I attended the BlawgWorld 2007 launch party earlier this year.
Since this is a practice management and business development blog, here are a few of the great practice related blog posts contained within BlawgWorld 2007: (the e-book is arranged alphabetically by blog, so look for the blog name in the index to find the post):
Compujurist (Nerino Petro): The Benefits of Practice Management Software
Golden Practices (Michelle Golden): Measuring Marketing Efforts
Home Office Lawyer (Grant Griffiths): The "Connected" Lawyer
In Search of Perfect Client Service (Patrick Lamb): The Ultimate Client Relationship Nightmare
Inside the Firm of the Future (Christopher Marston): Want More Clients? Get Over Yourself!
Jim Calloway's Law Practice Tips (Jim Calloway): A Few Words About Passwords
Legal Business Development (Jim Hassett):How to Turn Legal Clients Into Raving Fans
Legal Marketing Blog (Tom Kane): Have You Considered the Advantages of Hiring a Coach?
Legal Sanity (Arnie Herz): Fueling Lawyer Happiness
Passion, People and Principles (David Maister): Guns for Hire
Reid My Blog!(Reid Trautz): Building Architecture or Building Clients?
Ross Ipsa Loquitur(Ross Kodner): Tech Pro Se: The Business Cost of DIY Technology
the [non]billable hour (Matt Homann): 15 Rules for Clients and 17 Lawyer Tips
The Practice (Jonathan Stein): How Soccer Explains a Law Firm
What About Clients? (Dan Hull): In Praise of Structure
...and of course, my post from the Legal Ease Blog: Should I Discount My Fees?
This is by no means a comprehensive or exhaustive list of either the practice related posts or the e-book itself.
See for yourself - check out BlawgWorld 2007.
The active links are available at the source site listed below.
Source: Legal Ease Blog, 30 July 2007
Posted by Jim Hassett: “When they open the Consultative Selling Hall of Fame, Larry Wilson’s statue will be in the main hall. Lawyers could learn a lot from Wilson, especially his book Stop Selling, Start Partnering: The New Thinking About Finding and Keeping Customers.
When Wilson published the first edition in 1994, he described the business climate as “Permanent White Water.” Every vendor is surrounded by churning dangerous water, he said, as a result of globalization and the growing client perception that everything is a commodity. Those trends were felt at very few law firms when the book came out, but these days they are beginning to be felt. And although the book was written for sales people over a dozen years ago, its advice is extremely relevant today to lawyers.
On page 1, Wilson starts the book by saying that all companies need to think differently about service and create “powerful relationships with your best clients.” Selling is not about pushing services onto clients, Wilson says, but about “trying to understand and help clients solve their problems.” (p. 4). Here are some key questions to ask (p. 96):
“What are your [client’s] goals?
How do they make money?
What can you do to help them expand their business?
Who are your [client’s] customers?
How can you help add value to your [client’s] customer?”
Clients must grow into partners. Partners expect solutions, trust and value-added service – exactly what David Maister described in his classic book, The Trusted Advisor. Wilson warns that any relationship – whether a marriage, a friendship, or a business partnership – is dynamic and always changing. You’d better plan to keep working at it, so that the change is in the positive direction. Constantly ask yourself (p. 184):
“How can we improve our service?
How can we respond faster to [client] requests?
Can we change our invoicing to make it easier for the [client]?
How can we be easier to deal with?
Can we be less expensive?
How can we drive out unnecessary costs?
What have we learned?
What can we change and improve?”
Wilson also addresses a key strategic question that faces large law firms every time they respond to a new RFP: whether to focus on being a low-cost provider, or a value-added provider. It is tempting to try to answer this case by case, but as Wilson points out: “It is difficult to be both” (p. 195). If you choose to be a low-cost provider, sooner or later you will be replaced by someone who bids even lower than you. Better to be a value-added provider, who constantly discovers how to:
• Save the [client] money
• Help increase the [client’s] sales
• Add value to the [client’s] customer
Lawyers who want to become partners and provide value-added service to clients, must ask this question (p. 188) every single day: “What unexpected value can I add today for the [client]?”
Source: Legal Business Development, 18 July 2007
Posted by Chuck Kallendorf: “Assaults against an unmarried person living with an offender “as a spouse” identifies a class of persons protected by Ohio domestic violence statutes and doesn’t create or recognize any legal relationship approximating marriage, the Ohio Supreme Court held Wednesday. ( Opinion and Court’s summary )
At issue was the question of whether a portion of Ohio’s domestic violence law which identifies persons living together as husband & wife, conflicted with a 2004 amendment to the state’s constitution which prohibits the “creation or recognition of a legal status for relationships of unmarried individuals that intends to approximate the design, qualities, significance or effect of marriage.” The majority opinion said it doesn’t.
Justice Judith Ann Lanzinger disagreed. “The constitutional problem does not arise because cohabitating unmarried persons are included as one of the several groups to whom the domestic violence statutes apply,” she said. “Instead, the problem is definitional: by using the term ‘living as a spouse’ to identify persons whom the statutes protect and against whom prosecution may be instituted, the General Assembly inherently equates cohabitating unmarried persons with those who are married and extends the domestic violence statutes to those persons because their relationship approximates the significance or effect of marriage.”
Meanwhile, a pilot program in New Jersey is being implemented under which domestic violence complaints are going to be able to be filed electronically, and temporary restraining orders obtained, at night and on weekends when some 40% of domestic violence cases occur according to court officials. (Press Release)
Funded by a grant from the federal STOP Violence Against Women Act, the pilot was first introduced in two townships in 2002; being expanded in 2003 and 2005. The New Jersey Supreme Court has now approved it statewide, though implementation could take about six months, according to a Law.com article yesterday morning. (See Court’s order and Notice to Bar)”
The active links are available at the source site listed below.
Source: Cincinnati Law Library Blog, 27 July 2007
From the blog: “There are some major differences between how structured settlements are handled in Canada compared to the States. Join Ringler Radio host, Larry Cohen with co–host and Ringler Associate, Mark R. Vogel, from the Grand Rapid’s Michigan office, as they report from the 2007 NSSTA Annual Meeting and Conference in Toronto. Ringler Radio welcomes, Bob Baxter, principal at Baxter Structured Settlements and Kyla Baxter, Managing Director for Baxter Structured Settlements in Toronto, to discuss the differences and similarities between how structured settlements are handled in two different countries. Don’t miss out on this important discussion.
>>Play in Windows Media Player
>>Download the MP3”
The active links are available at the source site listed below.
Source: Legal Talk Network, 25 July 2007
From the blog: “This apparently went live in May, but we just spotted it.
From the press release
Morrison & Foerster is pleased to announce the launch of its Privacy Library. This free resource…provides links to privacy laws, regulations, reports, multilateral agreements, and government authorities for more than 90 countries around the world, including the United States.
This Privacy Library is the most comprehensive collection of privacy laws and regulations ever assembled, the result of years of research and experience working with clients around the world. The website provides companies with an essential tool to help them navigate the privacy labyrinth.
Miriam Wugmeister, head of the privacy practice at Morrison & Foerster, said, “Morrison & Foerster has more than 60 attorneys around the world addressing privacy issues, several of whom were instrumental in the drafting of key pieces of legislation in the field. Our clients often ask us for copies of the relevant laws and regulations. We realized that given the depth of our global practice, we had assembled a vast resource of privacy materials, and it seemed a natural progression to make this available to our clients and friends via our website.”
[Their] Source: Morrison & Foerster LLP
The active link is available at the source site listed below.
Source: Resource Shelf, 29 July 2007
In the news: “Deposition transcript management applications such as LiveNote are key tools for litigators in depositions, motion practice and at trial. What sets LiveNote apart from its competitors is real-time transcription, says attorney Damian Capozzola. With a real-time transcript at hand, a questioning attorney can quickly gain the upper hand over opposing counsel and well-trained witnesses by term-searching the transcript for critical pieces of testimony that facilitate the cross-examination or impeachment of witnesses.”
Read full text
Source: Law.Com's Daily Legal Newswire. 30 July 2007. Copyright 2006. ALM Properties, Inc. All rights reserved. Subscribe <http://store.law.com/registration/register.asp?subscribeto=nw>.
Posted by Charles Perez: “While we're in the "digital mythbusting mode" allow us a moment to tackle digital AUDIO recorders.
Ah, yes, the march of progress. Remember the video rant? Yep, same thing here.
If you're relying on the new state of the art digital audio recorders to record important statements to be possibly used in a trial presentation here are a few tips that will make your life a little easier and your presentation a little smoother:
Unless you’re going at full CD quality, your digital recorder is tossing stuff out to save space. Supposedly your ears will not miss the missing stuff, but our forensic audio equipment sure will. You want your machine to toss out as little as possible, and that means running at the highest "bit rate" you possibly can.
To put it another way, if you are maximizing your recording time, then you are also minimizing your recording quality, and also the amount of help we can be to you. If you need to record for a very long time and have to go to a low bit rate to do it, then it’s time to invest in new equipment with more storage space. As with video, it’s better to get a small amount of useable material than a large amount of junk.
A lot of these portable digital recorders have
Continue Reading...
Full text and links are available at the source site listed below.
Source: Courtroom Presentation Blog, 19 July 2007
Posted by StephanieWestAllen: “We read and hear much discussion about the ecosphere ("global ecosystem of the planet") . Perhaps we should also be talking about the ethosphere. A quote from Dr. Jeffrey M. Schwartz from his book Dear Patrick: Life is Tough - Here's Some Good Advice explains the ethosphere . . .
The fact is, we don't only live in an "ecosphere," a shared realm of air and woods and water. We also live in an "ethosphere," a shared realm of attitudes, behavior, and ethics. [...B]ad thoughts, harsh words, and irresponsible actions are every bit as real and damaging as toxic fumes or nuclear waste.
I picked up this quote from a post by Annie Gottlieb at her blog AmbivaBlog. Gottlieb is the coauthor of Dear Patrick.
The concept of ethosphere ties into many discussions on the blogosphere, including Bob Sutton's posts (be sure to scroll down to read them all) about his wildly popular book The No Asshole Rule: Building a Civilized Workplace and Surviving One That Isn't, my posts about law firm dragons and snake consent, Julie Fleming-Brown on being nice, many a post at Arnie Herz's Legal Sanity, and Rob Millard's post about jerks, just to mention a few.
Since the ethosphere of a law firm has a direct impact on client satisfaction, client development, employee and partner satisfaction, health, and performance; and law firm reputation and branding, its measure is not wisely ignored.
With the goal of measuring, I have begun to create a list of questions to ask about a law firm's ethosphere. Please let me know what questions you would add to an ethosphere inventory. Together I think we can come up with a comprehensive and useful questionnaire. I look forward to hearing from you either by e-mail or in the comments below. Thanks.
Note (added Julu 22, 2007, 9:45 AM Mountain): A longer quote about the ethosphere, also from Dear Patrick, and picked up at another post on AmbivaBlog . . .
The fact is, we don't only live in an "ecosphere," a shared realm of air and woods and water. We also live in an "ethosphere," a shared realm of attitudes, behavior, and ethics. Yet people seem oblivious to the fact that bad thoughts, harsh words, and irresponsible actions are every bit as real and damaging as toxic fumes or nuclear waste -- and that good thoughts, kind words, and responsible actions are as protective as the ozone layer."
The active links are available at the source site listed below.
Source: Idealawg, 22 July 2007
Posted by Tom Collins: “The In Focus section of the July 2, 2007 issue of the National Law Journal was devoted to midsize firms. This supplement to the Journal deals with perhaps the three biggest questions on the minds of midrange law firm partners:
• Leadership
• Merger Mania
• Retirements
Here is a quick summary of the three key articles.
Leaders Should Steer Boat, Not Row: The article points out that the attributes propelling lawyers into leadership roles are not the qualities needed to lead the firm to success. The article emphasizes the need for leadership training and coaching, observing that the firm’s fate depends on the acquisition of the right leadership skills.
Middle-Market Firms Thriving in the Land of Giants: This piece provides comfort to independent law firms, noting that the “megafirm” trend is actually helping to ensure the continued prosperity of midrange law firms. Likewise, market trends favor the midrange rather than the megafirm segment of the legal market. Author David Brown points out that 60 percent to 80 percent of all new jobs are attributable to companies with 500 or fewer employees. These businesses represent 99.7 percent of all U.S. employers. This is the primary market of midrange law firms.
Firms Worry about Surviving Leader’s Retirement: Replacing aging baby boomers is perhaps the biggest issue facing midrange law firms. Joel A. Rose notes that there are two issues. The first is the issue of transitioning from the outgoing leaders or rainmakers to their younger replacements. The second is transitioning client relationships away from those seniors to the next generation of firm lawyers. Firms that fail to plan and act in time may not survive the impending generational change. Many firms will need to look to the outside, using lateral hires to fill leadership and rainmaker gaps in the firm’s ranks.”
You may need to use your browser’s REFRESH button to view this post.
Source: morepartnerincome, 27 July 2007
Posted By Tom Kane: “It should. You sure don’t want to be perceived as one who has a “what can you do for ME” approach to networking. For business development purposes, that is not a reputation any lawyer wants to be tagged with.
Trey Ryder’s current “Law Marketing Alert” (free sign-up here) has a feature article by Signe Dayhoff who tells us (part of which I agree with) that when you join any organization you should go the extra mile, and as a result build goodwill that will produce results down the road. Dayhoff goes on to say that volunteering your time should be:
“…without any ulterior motive (huh?). This means you are helping because you want to share, not because you desire a quid pro quo for it (hmmm). This whole-hearted altruism engenders a sense of trust and gratitude in those with whom you network (true, but…). This makes networking a solid basis for your referral-based network.”
I don’t disagree exactly, but back to the real world. I too believe you have to be genuinely interested in helping others, and not acting totally out of self-interest. But that doesn’t mean that you can’t have “any” self interest, or not have some hope of a business development return sooner rather than later.
Maybe it's semantics or a question of timing.
In any event, it does make complete sense to build trust and goodwill before expecting a return on your invested time in a networking organization.”
The active links are available at the source site listed below.
Source: The Legal Marketing Blog.com, 27 July 2007
In the news: “Corporations hiring new staff attorneys or general counsel are finding no shortage of qualified applicants. As pressure builds in law firms to, for example, pay for recent associate salary increases, a growing number of lawyers are looking toward in-house jobs as a desirable career path. "The number one thing you hear from lawyers is they're tired of billing their time," says consultant Melba Hughes. "They see a very different picture when they look at in-house counsel."
Read full text
Source: Law.Com's Daily Legal Newswire. 27 July 2007. Copyright 2006. ALM Properties, Inc. All rights reserved. Subscribe <http://store.law.com/registration/register.asp?subscribeto=nw>.
From the blog: “YouTube has played a huge part in getting a message out. On Lawyer 2 Lawyer, we will look at the vitality of YouTube as a business and marketing tool . We'll see how law firms are dealing with the popularity of this technology and using it to one-up the competition. Law.com bloggers and co-hosts, J. Craig Williams and Robert Ambrogi, welcome Neil Squillante, the publisher of TechnoLawyer, Kevin O’Keefe, the President and founder of LexBlog and Kelly Y. Chang, founder of Law Offices of Kelly Chang and a YouTube user, to discuss this hot topic. Don’t miss out on this program!
Click the play button (or choose another way to listen).
>>Play in Windows Media Player
>>Download the MP3”
The active links are available at the source site listed below.
Source: LegalTalkNewtork, 26 July 2007
In the news: “With bills now introduced in both the House and Senate, a wide-ranging coalition of business, bar and civil rights groups sees possible success by year's end for a new law barring federal prosecutors from requiring waiver of attorney-client and work-product protections in corporate investigations. Key to the coalition's optimism about final legislative action this year is the strong bipartisan and high-level support for the House legislation, drafted after hearings on the issue in March.”
Read full text
Source: Law.Com's Daily Legal Newswire. 26 July 2007. Copyright 2006. ALM Properties, Inc. All rights reserved. Subscribe <http://store.law.com/registration/register.asp?subscribeto=nw>.
Posted by Evan Schaeffer: “Since there's no getting around Google, you should make sure you're using it effectively. A recent article from the National Law Journal by Tracey Rich -- "How Lawyers Can Improve Search Results" -- might give you the answer.
The article deals with advance search techniques and "ways to determine the reliability of a Web site." It has some good ideas. Meanwhile, you can also check out the following related posts on this weblog:
• "Searching for the Law"
• "Search 7 Million U.S. Patents Using Google"
• "Googling for Demonstratives"
• "Deposition Tip: In Preparing for a Witness, Always Check the Web"
The active links are available at the source site listed below.
Source: The Illinois Trial Practice Weblog, 26 July 2007
From the e-newsletter: “(FindLaw for the Public) If you are considering taking legal action to protect your rights after an accident or injury, you can learn about the different phases of a personal injury case -- from contacting a lawyer to settlement or judgment -- in FindLaw for the Public's Accident & Injury Center.
Read more...
Related Resources
• Browse the Accident & Injury Center”
Source: FindLaw’s Public Advisor. 26 July 2007. Copyright © 2006 FindLaw, a Thomson Business. Subscribe <http://newsletters.findlaw.com/>.
From the blog: “In an opinion issued today in State v. Tooley, 2007-Ohio-3698, the Ohio Supreme Court held that Ohio's child pornography laws are constitutional. Specifically, the Court held that ORC 2907.322 and ORC 2907.323 are not unconstitutionally overbroad. However, the Court also held that in order to convict someone under the law, the prosecution must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that an actual child was depicted in pornographic material. This clarification makes clear that virtual images of children that do not depict actual children are not grounds for a conviction.”
The active links are available at the source site listed below.
Source: Cleveland Law Library Weblog, 25 July 2007
Posted by Carolyn Elefant: “Lawyer-client intimacy sounds like something forbidden or inappropriate. But the kind of lawyer-client intimacy that Arnie Herz discusses in this post at Legal Sanity is anything but: Herz suggests that lawyers should try to forge a personal bond with clients as a way to build a healthy, lasting and trusted relationship. He writes:
As I’ve noted before, and as Keith Ferrazzi points out in his bestselling book, Never Eat Alone, many people shy away from the idea that intimacy is key to successful business relationships. By intimacy I’m referring to a willingness to get to know the human being behind the issue or need that comes across our desk (or the airplane call button). It’s basically the same kind of intimacy that fuels healthy connections to family and friends. Many lawyers find it hard to drop the mantle of authority and really get to know their clients as human beings who have fears, hopes and challenges. But, this kind of sincere human-to-human exchange is what compels prospects to become clients and compels clients to stay with us and refer us more business.
Interestingly, Herz's post on lawyer-client intimacy coincides with blog posts by Kevin O'Keefe and Ernie the Attorney about Facebook. Traditionally viewed as a social community, more professionals are turning to Facebook to connect with each other, O'Keefe writes here:
Facebook should not be dismissed as some web site or social community where our kids hang out. Not only am I seeing a growing number of innovative lawyers and business people networking via Facebook, but Facebook is also adding an executive team that ain't joining to keep things as is.
The Wall Street Journal reports (sub req'ed) this morning the latest to join Facebook is CFO Gideon Yu, formerly with Google's YouTube. Mr. Yu's appointment follows the hiring this month of Chamath Palihapitiya, an investor for the Mayfield Fund LP venture-capital firm, as vice president of product marketing and operations. Blake Ross and Joe Hewitt, co-founders of open-source Web browser Mozilla Firefox, are joining Facebook as part of its acquisition of their Parakey startup.
Ernie Svenson compares the differences in the more whimsical Facebook and the serious networking tool Linked In in this in this post:
I think that the differences between Facebook and LinkedIn reflect a similar sensibility in the world of online marketing or networking. It's important to have a professional appearance, and LinkedIn is wonderful in that regard. But, it's also important to show a more human side. People like to deal with people they feel comfortable with. Professional networks emphasize one's professional skills. Social networks like Facebook emphasize the personal touches. I've known Marty Schwimmer for many years. I've read his blog for 5 years, and I trade emails with him regularly. I know a lot about Marty. But I didn't know, until he became a "Facebook friend" that he was taking bass guitar lessons. Or at least that's what his 'status page' said last Saturday. Maybe he was kidding but that's okay too.
Looking for ways to build connections with other lawyers and potential clients is a win-win for all. As Ernie points out, "people like to deal with people they feel comfortable with" -- which means that building connections can help make money. And more importantly, even if you don't get that new client or account, if you've built a relationship with a prospect, at least you can feel that you've come away with a new friend even if you didn't win the business. And that kind of consolation prize helps make marketing and even rejection more palatable.”
The active links are available at the source site listed below.
Source: Law.com Blog Network, 25 July 2007
From the e-newsletter: “(Trey Ryder) - Lawyers who rely on traditional marketing methods are fast discovering that many "time-proven methods" no longer work. Lawyers could dramatically improve their marketing results by avoiding the following mistakes and heeding this updated advice.”
Read more...
Source: FindLaw’s Practice Parer. 25 July 2007. Copyright © 2006 FindLaw, a Thomson Business. Subscribe <http://newsletters.findlaw.com/>.
Posted By Tom Kane: “Too many lawyers spend too little. But, if you think this post is about loading up your non-billable hours with marketing, you’d be wrong. Time is a lawyer’s most valuable asset, and although we know, unfortunately, that there is too much of a focus on the billable hour (Hell, it’s the basis of compensation in almost all law firms), there are family and other commitments to fit in as well.
So, what’s the point? Let’s be realistic, the hourly rate is not going away very soon (although all indications are that it is dying a slow death). But the point is that one does not have to spend every waking hour (not spent on billing) developing business. Okay, but how much should I spend, you ask? Well, as little as one to two hours per week, if you have SMART (Specific, Measureable, Achievable, Relevant and Timed) goals and your activities are focused on existing clients (which of course are the best sources of new business).
That’s what we learn from my colleague Jim Hassett at LegalBizDev. In his excellent book Legal Business Development: A Step by Step Guide he also suggests as a minimum as little as:
• 1 hour per week – “build(ing) stronger relationships with (your) best clients and referral sources.”
• 3 hours per week – working on trying to land new clients, and
• 1 hour per week – increasing your visibility with prospects and new referral sources.
We both would suggest you spend more, as much as you can afford in fact; but it doesn’t have to be overly burdensome. Nor do you have to do all of the above, but rather pick what is “smart” for you and commit to it.
It won’t be long before you will start seeing improvement in your business development.”
The active links are available at the source site listed below.
Source: The Legal Marketing Blog.com, 25 July 2007
From the e-newsletter: “(Sara Holtz) - The trouble with RFPs is that there are usually many other firms replying. This competition makes it crucial to differentiate yourself and demonstrate clearly that you can meet the client's needs.”
Read more...
Source: FindLaw’s Practice Parer. 25 July 2007. Copyright © 2006 FindLaw, a Thomson Business. Subscribe <http://newsletters.findlaw.com/>.
From the e-newsletter: “(Cyber Specialists, LLC) - Because electronically stored information has a dynamic nature, and the routine operation of computer and/or other electronic media systems constantly modifies or deletes that information, it is critical to address preservation issues early in cases involving any electronic evidence.”
Read more...
Source: FindLaw’s Tools of the Trade. July 2007. Copyright © 2006 FindLaw, a Thomson Business. Subscribe <http://newsletters.findlaw.com/>.
From the e-newsletter: “(Eric Sinrod) - In litigation, parties and their attorneys are not required to produce to the other side documents that contain privileged communications between attorney and client or confidential work product created by an attorney when representing a client. However, the decision not to produce such materials must be documented in what is called a privilege log.”
Read more...
Source: FindLaw’s Tools of the Trade. July 2007. Copyright © 2006 FindLaw, a Thomson Business. Subscribe <http://newsletters.findlaw.com/>.
Posted by Genie Tyburski: “Librarian Tracey R. Rich outlines how to conduct precision searching for government and legal sources on Google. "Popular search engines like Google do not support the kind of precision search techniques found in familiar legal research tools like Westlaw and Lexis; however, they do provide some advanced searching tools that can improve the relevance of search results."
RELATED: The Skill of the Hunt: Effective Research Strategies for Finding Information on the Web
The Virtual Chase, 15 June 2004”
The active links are available at the source site listed below.
Source: TVC Alert Research News, 26 July 2007, Ballard Spahr Andrews & Ingersoll, LLP, http://www.virtualchase.com/tvcalert/transfer.asp?xmlFile=jul07/26jul07.xml
Posted by Tom Collins: “How do you know if your law firm could be doing better? Christian Stadler, writing in the July–August 2007 Harvard Business Review answered that question this way:
“Benchmarking is the obvious answer, but not by comparing poor companies with good ones. The way to get at this problem is to compare good companies with even better ones.”
Stadler’s comment is a reminder of the important role benchmarking plays in driving law firm performance and is insightful commentary on how benchmarks should be used. If you depend on surveys for benchmarks, don’t overlook emerging continuous benchmarking service alternatives. The new tools from the likes of Juris and Redwood Analytics promise to replace stale survey information with a continuous flow of automatically collected “current” operating metrics.”
The active links are available at the source site listed below. You may need to use your browser’s REFRESH button to view this post.
Source: morepartnerincome, 25 July 2007
Written by Bob Weiss:
“A recent study confirms that rainmakers work more hours, are more involved in professional associations and are more likely to hold leadership roles."
"Our anecdotal observations in law firms over the past two decades about what differentiates top rainmakers who generate enough work to keep themselves and associates busy from lawyers who struggle to generate enough business to fill their own time every year have been confirmed by a national survey.
In short, the rainmakers "speak, join and party."
Source: Law Practice Today, July 2007
Posted by Evan Schaeffer: “The sixth chapter of David Ball on Damages is titled “Opening Statement.” Here are Ball’s five tips to keep jurors listening, which require “overcoming five bad habits from law school”—
• Do not use too many words to make each point.
• Do not repeat obvious information. You need to say a date only once; after that, you can say “that night.”
• Do not use the passive voice. The passive voice sounds like legalese. Don’t say “the car was hit by the truck,” but “the truck hit the car.”
• Do not give speeches. Aim for informality. Speeches went out early in the last century.
Never be satisfied with semi-clarity in place of crystal clarity. Your goal: to make every juror understand you the first time you make a point.
Ball’s book is a favorite among plaintiff’s lawyers. You can find it at Amazon.com.
Related post: "For Plaintiffs' Lawyers: A Reminder About Damages from David Ball."
The active links are available at the source site listed below.
Source: The Illinois Trial Practice Weblog, 24 July 2007
Posted by Larry Bodine: “Take the 2-minute BUY-LAWS SURVEY for Lawyers:
How well did law school prepare you to market your services?
Respond now, because I will publish the results shortly.
Simply visit: http://www.zoomerang.com/recipient/survey-intro.zgi?p=WEB226P29RQ72B”
The active links are available at the source site listed below.
Source: Larry Bodine LawMarketing Blog, 18 July 2007
Posted by Robert J. Ambrogi: “At Crime & Federalism, Mike Cernovich asks whether poverty should be a mitigating factor in criminal sentencing. He cites new research suggesting a link between lead poisoning and criminal behavior and another study showing a link between diet and criminality -- specifically, that people who eat diets low in essential fatty acids are more likely to commit crimes.
Given that children do not choose to live in lead-paint-tainted homes or to eat diets low in essential nutrients, what does this say if those children grow up to commit crimes? If someone slips a drug into your drink and you do something wrong, Cernovich notes, your involuntary intoxication is a mitigating factor at sentencing. Should not the same be true for children involuntarily intoxicated by lead or poor nutrition? As Cernovich puts it:
"Given that poor children are the ones who were most-frequently exposed to lead paint and the ones most likely denied essential nutrients, does it make sense to have a general poverty-as-mitigating-sentencing factor?"
And shouldn't schools be required to serve nutritious food in order to vaccinate children from certain crimes?”
The active links are available at the source site listed below.
Source: Law.com blog Network, 24 July 2007
Posted by Sabrina I. Pacifici: “Press release: "The American Bar Association is making its Concise Guide to Lawyer Specialty Certification (27 pages, PDF) available online. The Guide helps specialty bar associations and section leaders determine whether to create a certification program and the steps for doing so. Certification allows lawyers who have acquired specialized knowledge in a practice area formalize their competency through board certification."
The active links are available at the source site listed below.
Source: beSpacific - Accurate, focused law and technology news by Sabrina I. Pacifici. 24 July 2007. Copyright ©2002-2006 BeSpacific LLC. All Rights Reserved. Subscribe <http://www.bespacific.com/mt/subscribe.html>.
Posted by Adriana Linares: “There are many software tools that can be used to capture an image of your signature. We are using Adobe Acrobat (Pro or Standard) in this example; if you don't have it, standby, next post is on getting on without it. Assuming you DO have it and you have scanned in your signature (step 1) <http://www.ihearttech.com/2007/07/creating-digita.html>, follow these steps to using the SnapShot tool:
1. Open the file in Acrobat
2. Go to Tools > Select & Zoom > Snapshot Tool (it's possible the Snapshot tool is already on your toolbar - it's a little camera). You won't see anything on the screen once the Snapshot tool has been activated, but your cursor will have changed to cross-hairs.
3. Now drag to draw a rectangle box around your signature (dragging from top left corner to bottom-right corner and click to release your mouse). Again, not much will happen but you will see a highlighted box around the area you selected. Be sure to get in close to the sig without touching it. You can do it over and over until you get it just right. You'll get a message box from Acrobat letting you know that the image has been copied your clipboard.(If you cut or copy anything else after this, you will come back and repeat step 3.)
4. We need to move that image off the clipboard and into a working file. Again, there are many tools that will allow you to do this, for our general purposes, we are going to use PowerPoint. You'll want to launch PowerPoint and have a slide on the screen (doesn't matter if it's blank or not, when we're done you will close PPT without saving anything) - now place your cursor anywhere on that slide and paste (CRTL + V or right-click > Paste) to move the capture off the clipboard.
5. Hopefully you will see a nice image of your signature on the screen. Once you do, right-click directly on that image and select "Save as Picture".
6. Simply put, you will be creating a clip-art of your signature that can be inserted into a Word document (and many other apps). Name the file and save it as a jpeg (the default "Save as type"). Be sure to put it somewhere easy to find.
That's it, that's all it takes. Now go to Word, place your cursor where you want that image to sit - then to, Insert > Picture > From File (be sure the Files of Type box says "All Files") and browse to your signature image to stick it. (Don't forget to print your document to PDF before sending it out via email).
Good start for now, we'll soon talk about creating shortcuts to getting that sig into a document as well as some other cool things we can do with the SnapShot tool in Adobe. If you have any trouble or questions, email me.”
Source: I Heart Tech, 16 July 2007
In the news: “The Internet is a powerful tool for research, containing information about law, business, government, science and medicine. Unfortunately, with the proliferation of Web sites today, any search may return hundreds of results, many of which are not relevant or reliable. Library and information services administrator Tracey Rich discusses some advanced search techniques in Google that can improve the relevance of search results and examines ways to determine the reliability of a Web site.”
Read full text
Source: Law.Com's Daily Legal Newswire. 25 July 2007. Copyright 2006. ALM Properties, Inc. All rights reserved. Subscribe <http://store.law.com/registration/register.asp?subscribeto=nw>.
Posted by Ernie Svenson: “Check out the ABA Journal's new website. Very impressive new look! Also note that the Journal is now listing legal blogs (which they term 'blawgs'), including this one. My how things have changed in the 5 years since I started this blog (loosely identified by one source as the 5th oldest legal blog, and another as 6th). Most of my current readers would be shocked to know that, back then, I used to actually cover mainstream legal issues. Not anywhere near as well as the current blawgers, of course. And that's why it's great that the ABA is keeping track of legal blogs. Speaking of legal blogs, check out Erik Heels blog.”
The active links are available at the source site listed below.
Source: Ernie the Attorney, 23 July 2007
Posted by Holden Oliver: “It's summer: a season to step back from the canvas and a time, if you will, for simple tool sharpening--and we at WAC? are simple tools, if nothing else. From our world famous counter-intuitive 12 Rules of Client Service, see "Rule Four: Deliver legal services that change the way clients think about lawyers".
The active links are available at the source site listed below.
Source: What About Clients? , 19 July 2007
In the news: “While many law students must decide whether to spend their summers working for corporate law firms or devoting their time to public interest work, some summer hires don't have to make that choice. More law firms are offering programs that allow law students to split their summers between the firm and public interest work. It's "the best of both worlds," says Ami Mody, a Morgan, Lewis & Bockius summer associate who is splitting time at the firm and at the Support Center for Child Advocates.”
Read full text
Source: Law.Com's Daily Legal Newswire. 24 July 2007. Copyright 2006. ALM Properties, Inc. All rights reserved. Subscribe <http://store.law.com/registration/register.asp?subscribeto=nw>.
Posted by Tom Kane: “It really does make sense to occasionally fire clients. As I have preached before there are a number of good reasons that might cause you to part ways with a client.
But I must admit I had never thought that a church would provide another example of why it might be a good idea, and also provide the client options that create a win-win. Matt Homann at the (non)billable hour tells the story about a church that invited parishioners who didn’t share that faith community’s vision to leave AND handed out brochures for ten churches where they may find a better fit. Apparently, it wasn’t a case of "don’t let the door hit you in the backside on your way out," but a real effort to help find a home that was more suitable for them.
I can see a parallel with situations where a law firm and a client do not see eye-to-eye on the lawyers approach and vision on resolving matters; but, rather than just cut ties, the law firm could provide the client viable alternatives that might actually be better for the client in the long run.
A much better approach.
Thanks to Dan Hull for the tip about Matt’s post.”
The active links are available at the source site listed below.
Source: The Legal Marketing Blog.com, 23 July 2007
Posted by Genie Tyburski: “Pillsbury Winthrop partner, William P. Atkins, shares an idea for helping those who have become dependent on online research to appreciate the value of books. In law, and many other fields, much needed information still exists only in print. Moreover, an adept researcher can accomplish lots of research tasks faster and cheaper using books. (Of course, the opposite is also true. But Atkins makes a case for the value of books in secondary research.)”
The active link is available at the source site listed below.
Source: TVC Alert Research News, 24 July 2007, Ballard Spahr Andrews & Ingersoll, LLP, http://www.virtualchase.com/tvcalert/transfer.asp?xmlFile=jul07/24jul07.xml