Recent Articles in Law Firm Management & Legal Marketing from LexMonitor

U.S. News Law Firm Rankings Are Poised to Change the Ratings Game

micah@htmlawyers.com (Micah Buchdahl) — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 18:54:19 GMT

ABA Law Practice Today Webzine - March 2010 - Marketing Chair's Column By Micah Buchdahl This is part one of a two-part column on the hotly contested topic of law firm and lawyer ratings and rankings services. Part two will...

ABA Law Practice Today Webzine - March 2010 - Marketing

Chair's Column

By Micah Buchdahl

This is part one of a two-part column on the hotly contested topic of law firm and lawyer ratings and rankings services. Part two will detail the results of the program and accompanying attendee survey from November?s ABA Law Firm Marketing Strategies Conference.

Part Two of the Column will appear in the April issue of Law Practice Today.

CLICK HERE TO READ THE COLUMN

Law Firm Marketing in Six Easy Steps

dlorenzo@dlorenzo.com (David V. Lorenzo) — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 14:23:28 GMT

Law firm marketing does not have to be difficult. There are six easy steps to making your law firm marketing productive. If you follow these law firm marketing steps, you will build a significant client base within six months. It may take time, but it will be time well spent.

Below are the six easy steps to effective law firm marketing:

Law Firm Marketing Plan Step 1: Pick a niche market. Everybody is not your ideal client. Good law firm marketing requires focus. This means you must pick a specific target market and dedicate significant dollars to getting your message to it.

Law Firm Marketing Plan Step 2: Clearly differentiate your law firm from every other firm in the market. This part of your law firm marketing plan is about making sure your ideal client understands why you are different from everyone else who does what you do. It is critical that you spell out why people should hire you based upon these differences.

Law Firm Marketing Plan Step 3: Set up a blog and post 3 articles each week. This is the part of the law firm marketing plan that intimidates most attorneys. They fear that they do not have enough time to dedicate to law firm marketing in general, let alone a blog in particular. Keep in mind that each blog post can be as short as 300 words. The blog articles only need to be as long as is necessary to get your point across. Creating this content is essential for your website as well as for the rest of your law firm marketing campaign, so take the time to do it.

Law Firm Marketing Plan Step 4: Send out a weekly educational email to your clients. This email is your communication vehicle with the clients in your database. It will help you keep your name in front of them and it will remind them to call you when they have a need for your services. The email can be direct, to the point and brief but it needs to provide valuable information.

Law Firm Marketing Plan Step 5: Send out a monthly newsletter. The monthly newsletter can be a compilation of articles from your blog and your weekly email. It doesn’t have to be 100% original content. The reason a print newsletter is so effective is because regular mail is an underutilized media. These days people receive a great deal of email and little regular mail. Sending a print newsletter is a must for an effective law firm marketing campaign.

Law Firm Marketing Plan Step 6: Host quarterly client appreciation events. These events should have an educational component to them. Teach your clients (and a few select prospective clients) something new. Give them some “insider tips”. Provide them with valuable information they can’t get anywhere else. It may be a good idea to serve some food and drinks and show your appreciation to the people who have been loyal to your law firm.

A law firm marketing plan does not have to be labor intensive, complex or overly sophisticated. It just needs to be executed consistently. If you plan your time well and complete the law firm marketing steps listed above, you will be thrilled with the results.

Here is What I Have Been Reading This Week

Sat, 13 Mar 2010 10:20:32 GMT

This has been a busy week. I have been in Houston and I left yesterday for Chicago on a 5:50 flight and came home in time for dinner. I have found a few blog posts I think will interest you. Click on the titles below to read them.

Do you have a social media content plan? I like this because the blogger points out that social media is not a silver bullet and if you are planning to use it for marketing, it is important to actually have a plan.

Why passion, alone, won’t make you successful, with apologies to Chris and Gary I believe passion is extremely important to success. Many of the young lawyers I coach are passionate about their niche practice. Others are passionate about their charitable work. The blogger points out that others including me cannot give you passion. You have to find it yourself.

On self determination I like Seth Godin's posts because he makes me think and ask myself how his main point applies to law practice and lawyers.In this post he talks about the strategy of just getting good grades versus the strategy of striving to learn. I think a key to success for lawyers is to take responsibility for your success and career.

Build Your Brand So People Will Refer You Here's betting you did not know this is "Referral Week." John Jantsch at Duct Tape Marketing has many great ideas about getting and giving referrals. Dan Schwabel, his guest blogger on this post has written some great materials on how to brand yourself. I find most of what Dan writes applies to you branding yourself as a lawyer.

Price Points Chris Brogan is a guy who has captured his own market. I like his material and I think most of it applies to lawyers. In this post he writes about how he decides what to charge. My main point in recommending this is to say if you are doing routine work, someone else will do it cheaper. Find some area where you can become the "go to" lawyer who is near the top of every client's list when they look for a lawyer in your field.

Have a great weekend. I hope you will find something helpful in my recommended reading this week.

PREJUDICED INTERESTS OF MINORITY SHAREHOLDERS IN THE NETHERLANDS ANTILLES

Karel.Frielink@Spigthoff.com (Karel Frielink) — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 04:00:05 GMT

They may force the company to take-over their shares Article 2:251(1) of the Netherlands Antilles Civil Code reads as follows: “A shareholder of registered shares, whose rights or interests are prejudiced to such an extent, by the conduct of the company or one or more co-shareholders, that a continuation of his shareholding cannot reasonably be required of [...]

They may force the company to take-over their shares

Article 2:251(1) of the Netherlands Antilles Civil Code reads as follows: “A shareholder of registered shares, whose rights or interests are prejudiced to such an extent, by the conduct of the company or one or more co-shareholders, that a continuation of his shareholding cannot reasonably be required of him, may institute a claim against the company for withdrawal, demanding that his shares be acquired against payment in cash”.

This provision may only be successfully triggered in exceptional circumstances. This could be the case if the company or co-shareholders have a structural policy aimed at harming the interests of a particular shareholder (which forces him to take legal steps on a structural basis).

This could also be the case if the company or co-shareholders are engaged in criminal activities, or if the company or co-shareholders have competing business interests with a particular shareholder in breach of certain non-compete agreements.

It should be noted, however, that mere disagreement on dividend policies, business policies, appointment of directors, failed investments, etc, does not trigger article 2:251 Netherlands Antilles Civil Code.

Karel Frielink
Attorney (Lawyer) / Partner

Best in Law Blogs : LexBlog Network : March 12, 2010

Sat, 13 Mar 2010 00:50:11 GMT

It's Friday and LexBlog HQ in Seattle is winding down its excellent end-of-week-meeting. What better way to end the week than with the biggest post total of the last five days? Total number of posts on the LexBlog Network today: 137. Have a great weekend everyone.

Washington Court of Appeals Reiterates, In Two Recent Opinions, That Where Policy Language Is Clear, It Will Be Enforced As Written - Portland attorney Diane Polscer of Gordon & Polscer, contributing on the National Insurance Law Forum
Failure To Revise Estate Tax Law Has Unintended Consequences - New York lawyer Philip Bernstein on his New York Probate & Estate Litigation Blog
What Constitutes a Differing Site Condition? - LEED AP Chris Cheatham of Crowell Moring on his blog, Green Building Law Update
SEC's Blue Basketball versus Nation's First Model Green Building Code - Construction attorney Matt DeVries of the Best Practices Construction Law Blog
The Arguments Are All Moot Now: The SJC Upholds the Legislature's Chapter 91 Amendments - Boston lawyer Seth Jaffe of Foley Hoag on the firm's blog, Law & The Environment
President Tries to Jump Start Climate Legislation as Public Support Dwindles - Cleveland attorney Joe Koncelik of Frantz Ward in his Ohio Environmental Law Blog
New York Defendant Indicted for $50 Million in Fraud from ATM, Armored Car and Other Businesses - Georgia lawyer Anthony Lake of Gillen, Withers & Lake in the firm's Federal Criminal Defense Blog
Would You Ever Cruise? - The Inevitable Question - Miami attorney Jim Walker of Walker & O'Neill on his blog, Cruise Law News
$2 Million Dollar Consent Decree Against Tire Chain - What Lessons Learned for Employers? - Portland lawyer Dennis Westlind of Stoel Rives in the firm's World of Work Blog
Lead Paint Regulations April 22: Are You Ready? Is Anyone?? - Arlington attorney Timothy Hughes of Bean, Kinney & Korman on the firm's blog, Virginia Real Estate, Land Use & Construction

Final Batch of Your Honor Winners

Sat, 13 Mar 2010 00:27:02 GMT

Today the LMA awarded the final batch of Your Honor Awards:

Practice Development -- Sutherland Asbill & Brennan: Sutherland Business Development curriculum
Media Relations: Mayer Brown
Community Relations: Middleton Reutlinger – kindess public service advertising campaign
Recruiting: Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft: recruiting microsite
Chapter of the year (of 18 LMA chapters) - LMA Vancouver: “Changing the Rules”
Marketing on a Shoestring: (maximum expenditure of $500) -- Morrison Foerster: Regulatory Innovation Award
Best in show: (an entry that stood out from the rest, where a law firm took something and did everything they could possibly do to maximize it) -- Event by Fredrickson Bryon: “Lawyers & the Louvre” Campaign

Awards given on previous days of the convention, which ended today, are:

Advertising (single ad): Bennet Jones – The Pink Ad
Advertising campaign: McInnes Cooper – signal flag branding campaign.
Events: Miller & Chevalier – inauguration invitation and website
Website: Gesmer Updegrove -- www.gesmer.com
Niche web site: Bingham McCutchen – Bingham Information Gateway
Online Interactive Marketing Tools: Morris, Manning & Martin – MMM Social Media
Electronic Media: Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman for New Faces of Energy: Insights from the Energy Revolution
Identity: (logo and stationery) Baker & McKenzie with zünpartners – branding a firm for growth
Firmwide brochure: Bingham McCutchen – inSecurities practice brochure
Annual report: Blank Rome “A Year Marked by Change”
Announcements: Bingham McCutchen – Bingham-McKee Nelson Announcement
Newsletter or Alert: Stikeman Elliott – Registration reform

New blogs joining the LexBlog Network for the week of 5/8-5/12

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 23:51:05 GMT

We have two new blogs joining the LexBlog Network this week. On top of that, we have the the two-year-old Northwest Condo & HOA Law Blog getting a fresh new look. Give the new bloggers a look, they'd do the same for you.

The Critical Path is published by California attorney Ron White, who specializes in resolving complex construction disputes. Ron is an experienced attorney, having litigated claims arising from a number of construction projects, including dams, wastewater treatment facilities, hospitals, high-rise office buildings and public schools.
Houston attorney Kendall Gray, of AmLaw 200 firm Andrews Kurth, authors the The Appellate Record. In Kendall's words, which would be more accurate than mine in describing this blog, The Appellate Record is an "online community and virtual watering hole for appellate lawyers and anyone else who is comfortable with their inner law nerd."
Also worth noting: The Northwest Condo & HOA Law Blog gets a new design. This publication is authored by the attorneys at Barker Martin law firm, which has offices in Seattle, Bellingham and Portland.

New Website Ideas

info@attorneysync.com (AttorneySync) — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 22:50:02 GMT

We’re experimenting with some new website ideas. Come check out some of the features and functions we’re testing. http://www.AttorneySync.com Visitors who read this post also read:Law Firm SEO and Website Usability Feeling Stuck? 10 Ideas For Legal Blog Posts Local Search Ranking Factors: Ideas To Improve Your Google LBC Listing

We’re experimenting with some new website ideas. Come check out some of the features and functions we’re testing.

http://www.AttorneySync.com

Visitors who read this post also read:

Bar Journal artist captures Longhorn baseball

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 21:39:00 GMT

Gilbert Sauceda (pictured, right), a freelance illustrator for the Texas Bar Journal for 20 years, recently presented a large-format painting to University of Texas baseball coach Augie Garrido (pictured). The painting hangs in the media room at Disch-Falk Field. It celebrates the Horns’ 2005 national championship season and the recent renovation of the stadium.

Sauceda, who became friends with Garrido while the two were collaborating on a book project, explained that with Garrido’s input he focused the painting on the essence of the sport of baseball, which is the energy of the players and the competition. “Some people think of baseball as a serene sport,” said Sauceda, “but it’s not. Augie believes there is a major battle in every pitch: either the pitcher or the batter wins with every throw.” Sauceda said prints of the painting should be available soon through the U.T. baseball program.

Sauceda also recently presented a painting to U.T. quarterback Colt McCoy, which depicts McCoy in a running stance with the U.T. Tower in the background. “He really appreciated it,” said Sauceda. “He’s a classy dude.”

Sauceda estimates he has done around 500 illustrations for the Texas Bar Journal and State Bar over the years. Why does he work for us? “I like the challenge of coming up with new ideas to depict legal topics,” he said. “Plus I have a running bet with a cousin who can’t wait for the day I run out of ideas for the magazine." Sauceda says one of his favorite pieces for the State Bar has been the creation of Lone Star, an anthropomorphic Texas flag who stars in the “Lone Star Waves Proudly” comic books published by the State Bar Law-Related Education Department.

See more of Sauceda’s work at www.gilbertsauceda.com and www.colorfactoryllc.com

Remove metadata--even when sending documents from your phone.

nblack@nicoleblackesq.com (Nicole Black) — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 21:37:09 GMT

In the latest episode of lawtechTalk, you'll learn all about metadata--what it is, the risks it presents, your ethical obligations and how to remove it from your legal documents, even when sending documents via email using a smart phone. During...

In the latest episode of lawtechTalk, you'll learn all about metadata--what it is, the risks it presents, your ethical obligations and how to remove it from your legal documents, even when sending documents via email using a smart phone. During the episode I interview Cathy Brode, one of the co-founders of 3BView.

Episode #8 (Part 1 & Part 2) features, and is sponsored by 3BView, which offers metadata removal products, including a server-based option and 3BCleanDocs, which is their SaaS-based metadata removal system. 3BCleanDocs automatically removes metadata from documents sent via email, even those sent via your smart phone.

There are 2 parts to this episode, which can be viewed here for FREE: Part 1 & Part 2.

Securities Docket Radio and the SEC’s New Market Abuse Unit

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 20:35:34 GMT

This is the debut of Securities Docket Radio on the Legal Talk Network with host Bruce Carton, columnist at Compliance Week. Bruce welcomes Sanjay Wadhwa, Deputy Chief of the new Market Abuse Unit in the Division of Enforcement at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, to discuss the new unit and investigations involving insider trading, specialist misconduct, offering fraud, and improper activities at hedge funds. Bruce and Sanjay also discuss the significant reorganization of the Division of Enforcement, and look inside the recent insider trading action brought against hedge fund giant Galleon, and the successful Reebok insider trading investigation.This is the debut of Securities Docket Radio on the Legal Talk Network with host Bruce Carton, columnist at Compliance Week. Bruce welcomes Sanjay Wadhwa, Deputy Chief of the new Market Abuse Unit in the Division of Enforcement at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, to discuss the new unit and investigations involving insider trading, specialist misconduct, offering fraud, and improper activities at hedge funds. Bruce and Sanjay also discuss the significant reorganization of the Division of Enforcement, and look inside the recent insider trading action brought against hedge fund giant Galleon, and the successful Reebok insider trading investigation.

Friday's Three Burning Legal Questions

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 20:20:28 GMT

Here are today's three burning legal questions, along with the answers provided by the blogosphere. 1) Question: I'm trying to save up to get a new baseball bat and a Lebron James jersey. Any ideas on how I can make some money quickly, maybe in the $10/hour range? Answer: Let's see. Lifeguard... Cashier... Oh, almost forgot -- lawyer! (Temporary Attorney: The Sweatshop Edition, Chicago to $10 an Hour!) 2) Question: I'm a flight attendant. This passenger on my flight insists that I check his scrotum to determine why he is spotting blood. Umm, no thanks! Do I have to do this? Answer: You won't get sacked, but you might get sued if you don't. Thankfully, you won't need your coin purse. You'll probably win in the end. (Consumerist, Man Sues Airline For Not Looking At His Scrotum) 3) Question: I was convicted of shooting my neighbor's dog with a bow and arrow. I've been sentenced to four weekends in jail but I haven't played my trump card yet: My girlfriend and I have Hank Williams Jr. tickets for one of the weekends. That will work, right? Answer: Hank WIlliams Jr. tickets? Why didn't you just say so right away? Is...

Observations After Six Months on Legal Blog Watch

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 19:41:57 GMT

As I approach the six-month anniversary of the day I started writing for Legal Blog Watch, it has struck me several times lately that there were so many things I simply did not appreciate about the legal system and the blogosphere before I started watching it intently every (other) day. Yes, I have been actively blogging in the securities litigation/SEC niche for years, but I certainly did not have hundreds of different feeds set up to "watch" the blogosphere and the law as I do now. And when you watch closely every day, you start to see things you never saw before. For instance, I just never knew how much law-related craziness happens every day in this world. Every day, someone tries to buy crack cocaine with Monopoly money and gets beaten up. Or tells someone to be quiet in a movie theater and in return gets stabbed in the neck with a meat thermometer. Or loses their ability to walk through a museum at the worst possible moment, and stumbles into and damages a $130 million Picasso. Every single day! I also never realized that there are certain pockets of legal craziness that do not manifest themselves until you...

LexBlog Delivers 'State of the AmLaw 200 Blogosphere'

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 18:08:41 GMT

LexBlog CEO Kevin O'Keefe offers some excellent research in a post on his Real Lawyers Have Blogs blog on the "State of the AmLaw 200 Blogosphere." LexBlog has been publishing this report since 2007, and is beginning to have a good set of data on the growth in the number of big law firms that are blogging. LexBlog found that as of March 2010, 96, or 48%, of the 2009 AmLaw 200 law firms are now blogging. This number is up from 39 firms, or a 149% increase, since August 2007 ... The number of blogs being published by these firms has grown nearly 300% in that same timeframe, from 74 to 297. LexBlog also found that since the last iteration of this report seven months ago in June 2009, the number of Am Law firms blogging has grown 20 percent. For a current list of the 96 Am Law 200 firms that are now blogging, with links to their individual blogs, visit this post on Kevin's RLHB blog.

Law Firm Quinn Emanuel and Kathleen Sullivan Make History

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 18:03:35 GMT

Please pause a second from what you are doing to reflect on this bit of news: Yesterday, law firm Quinn Emanuel changed its name to Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan. The newly-added "Sullivan" is Kathleen Sullivan. And Sullivan is ... a female! Sullivan's gender doesn't seem so earth-shattering until you learn that yesterday's name change marks the first time in history that a woman's name is on the door of an Am Law 100 firm, the Am Law Litigation Daily reports here. Sullivan's background is extremely impressive. She began practicing law about 30 years ago at Cravath, Swaine & Moore, and has had stops along the way as a Harvard Law School professor and the dean of Stanford Law School. If you are not fully convinced of the gravity of this name change, consider this: After learning about this news, Marc John Randazza of the Legal Satyricon blog has added Quinn Emanuel to his list of big law firms (the updated list now stands at three firms) that he would choose to work at over "driving a stake through his balls." Top that!

Sale of a Law Practice, Interview With Ed Poll & Lawyers at Midlife

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 18:00:00 GMT

Searching for fodder for blog posts, I came across this advertisement
posted by a soon to be 70 year old retiring lawyer who is seeking buyers for his law practice located in Syracuse, in Hamilton County, Kansas. According to the ad there are only two other lawyers in the County, thus allowing for a County-wide practice. And with the firm located just sixteen miles from the Colorado border, with reciprocity between the two jurisdictions, expansion into a second state is a possibility as well. Finally, the firm uses practice management tools like Amicus, HotDocs and QuickBooks, which allows for automatic document production and scheduling and includes a database with a list of 4000 contacts.

Though a young lawyer taking over this practice might want to consider moving to a cloud based system which are the wave of the future, the attorney selling the practice has invested sufficiently in technology to enable a seamless transfer and provide a future owner with the means to hit the ground running. Often, when I travel on speaking engagements, I am struck by how many long practicing lawyers have not taken the time to invest in technology, and still run practices heavily dependent upon support staff and paper. When these lawyers retire, what will they have to pass on?

To find an answer, I spoke to the preeminent authority on selling a law practice - Ed Poll of LawBiz Management, publisher of the Law Biz Blog and author of many, many books on law practice, most recently, Growing Your Practice in Tough Times Ed graciously answered my questions on law firm succession, selling a practice, what lawyers can do to position themselves for retirement and how younger lawyers may be able to position themselves to take over retiring lawyers' practices. Ed also has some of his own videos on this topic
here and here.

Finally, if you're not yet ready for retirement and thinking about your future plans, check out Lawyers at Midlife by Michael Long, John Clyde and Pat Funk, published by DecisionBooks (which also published Solo by Choice). Lawyers at Midlife helps lawyers decide whether and when to retire, how to make the transition to the next stage and closing a practice. The book contains extensive practical advice interspersed with personal commentary by the authors and other lawyers.

Gender (in)Equality in the Law: A Frank Discussion with Monica Bay, Editor-In-Chief of Law Technology News

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 17:18:45 GMT

Monica Bay, the editor-in-chief of Law Technology News, discusses the technology changes within the publishing industry and gender equality within the legal profession in this GAL Radio interview. Highlights include....

So, what we’ve seen is a transition, a very healthy transition in my mind, to the GC’s having a lot more control over the whole process where law firms are being forced to operate, instead of like private clubs, on a much more corporate, much more transparent approach.
About a year and a half ago, the U.S. Census released a staggering, and very disappointing figures that showed tremendous gaps in the legal profession on how we pay our women and our men.
even among the paralegals, ... it’s something like 97% women, and yet, with that small percentage of men who are paralegals, they’re still making more than the women.
But, it’s unconscionable for our profession, who are leaders for justice in the rule of law, to have inequities in something as fundamental as equal pay for equal work. So, I challenge those leaders to walk into their HR departments and get the information and fix it.

Play: Gender Equality and E-Discovery
(click title to listen)

With: Monica Bay

Sponsored by: Greatest American Lawyer

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Announcer: Welcome to GAL Radio, brought to you by the Greatest American Lawyer blog, changing the way law is practiced through technology, innovation and creativity. Turning the business of law on its head, and shaking things up to the betterment of clients, lawyers, law firms and society.

Damien Allen: Good afternoon, and welcome to GAL Radio. My name is Damien Allen, and joining me today on the phone is Monica Bay, editor-in-chief of Law Technology News. Good afternoon, Monica. Welcome to the program.

Monica Bay: Well, thank you very much, Damien. It’s an absolute pleasure to be here.

Damien Allen: And it’s an absolute pleasure to have you on the program today. You’ve been an editor for 12 years. What are some of the changes you’ve seen? What’s going on at Law Technology News?

Monica Bay: Well, I’ve been here in New York for 12 years, and before that I was in California base in San Francisco for another 13. Believe it or not, I just celebrated my 25th anniversary with the company, which seems like it’s been five minutes. It’s been a very, very interesting couple of years. It’s no secret that both the legal industry and the publishing industry have been ravaged by the economy collapses, and at the risk of people being aghast and accusing me of chaud and froid, if I’m pronouncing this right, I think in the long run, it’s an extremely healthy trend. I’ve been arguing for a long time that the legal profession was molting from when I was first was admitted to the California Bar in 1983, when it was dominated by men, and in my early days, one of my San Francisco colleagues, Joanne Garvey, who at the time was with Heller, could not even go in the main entrance of the Pacific-Union Club because it was a men’s club. She had to go in with the servants and she was a member of the state bar board of governors, I believe, at the time. In those days, everything was run like a private club. I put myself through law school as a legal secretary and law clerk and I used to type the bills that would be on this heavy crane stationery with all the white men on the top embossed in black, and the bill would consist of three words “for services rendered” and then a number that had quite a few zeros. And in the beginning, clients would marry law firms, so, Pillsbury Madison & Sutro in San Francisco was the grand dame law firm, and Chevron was one of the major employers in the area. And there was just no question, Chevron was represented by PM&S. So, what we’ve seen is a transition, a very healthy transition in my mind, to the GC’s having a lot more control over the whole process where law firms are being forced to operate, instead of like private clubs, on a much more corporate, much more transparent approach. And I think the positive in this is that they are starting to realize what those of us who are baseball fans have known for a long time, which is, the key to success is diversity, and the key to success is recognizing everybody on your team, and that it is not always ARod who gets to walk up a pine-crusted, game winning home run, sometimes, to follow my Yankees’ example, it’s Francisco Cervelli. And so, recognizing everybody on the team, recognizing everybody who contributes, makes it healthier and better, and Damien, I think that’s just a huge important valuable trend that is going to make the profession so much better in how we provide faster, better, cheaper legal services. I apologize for the long set up but I think that’s been a huge change.

Damien Allen: One of your pet passions is gender equality in this field, and we’re looking at a field where now 50% of graduates of law school are females. Are we seeing a change in what’s going on within the system and what’s going on within firms? Is it becoming more equal?

Monica Bay: Well, that figure is one of the few positives, unfortunately, when it comes to gender. About a year and a half ago, the U.S. Census released a staggering, and very disappointing figures that showed tremendous gaps in the legal profession on how we pay our women and our men. I don’t recall the exact figure but I believe it was 57%. If you visit The Common Scold or email me, I could give you the exact figure and in the February issue we did an article…Craig Ball, who is our EDD columnist, and I spoke at women in e-discovery, and he had many of the actual stats. What is really frustrating is that this includes everybody. It includes lawyers. We’ve all known, and a lot of the reasons are nuanced. I never wanted to practice in a big firm environment, so a lot of people self-select out. However, it’s still very discouraging that women have such a small percentage of being partners in large firm environments. Part of that is because many, many women elect to have families or pursue other interests and don’t want the traditional track, but a lot of women do, and it’s very challenging. I was particularly disheartened because, even among the paralegals, which are about as pink collar as you can get, it is an aspect of our profession that is dominated by women, and that’s what I mean by pink collar, I’m not implying the nature of the work, but that they’re pinked collared because it’s something like 97% women, and yet, with that small percentage of men who are paralegals, they’re still making more than the women. And I, in that same February article, I have put forth a gauntlet and set forth a challenge to every law firm managing partner, every GC and every CEO of a vendor shop, to fix this. Just like Nike says, “Just do it”. I walked into Bill Pollock’s office, and he’s our CEO, (and I knew the answer to the question but I wanted to do it anyway) and asked him, our CEO, if our figures here at ALM were gender neutral, and I knew they were, and he assured me that was the case. But, it’s unconscionable for our profession, who are leaders for justice in the rule of law, to have inequities in something as fundamental as equal pay for equal work. So, I challenge those leaders to walk into their HR departments and get the information and fix it. It’s very easy. You can probably do it in a matter of days. Identify the people who are doing equal work, and get them paid comparably. So, that’s one of my many uses of the bully pulpit that I am so lucky to have.

Damien Allen: In one of your articles and in one of the podcasts or video podcasts, you recently did a piece on e-discovery and gender equality. What are some of the key trends in e-discovery, and how will this help get the glass ceiling shattered and get the equality?

Monica Bay: Well, I have to give credit to Craig Ball because this was his idea, and I think it’s absolutely brilliant. I think I’m going to badly paraphrase his great line, but he said basically, only fools and firemen crash through glass ceilings. A much better strategy is to end run them. And he suggested that just about, I’ll use another analogy, the HOV lane to the top is by learning e-discovery, and right now the baby boomers are still pretty much in charge of most law firms and legal organizations. We baby boomers were taught that only the “girls” did anything that involved a keyboard. We were, you know, in California it was a big fight to even get CLE credits for courses dealing with law firm management, which they now do, or technology training. And, as a group, Mike Arkfeld, the Phoenix based consultant, says 97% - if I’m quoting him accurately, it might even be higher - of lawyers simply aren’t competent to do e-discovery. So, this, says Craig Ball, presents a tremendous opportunity, because whether you are an IT person, a lip support person, an attorney, if you learn a discovery, and the dirty secret is, is that it isn’t that hard, if you become expert on it, you can put yourself in the position of being the go-to gal, because if you are able to handle a rule 26 conference, if you are able to go in and be able to clearly explain to the boomers, here are the differences between these three vendors and this is why we should pick vendor A over vendor B, if you can understand and translate the jargon, I mean, I’m constantly screaming at the vendors to stop using the same twelve words to describe their products, which are all loudly different, and to stop calling everything revolutionary because the only thing revolutionary was the iPod in the last 20 years. If you can learn those skills, you’ve really positioned yourself to excel and to establish the credibility and to get the proverbial seat at the table. So, I thought that was great advice, and I just strongly encourage women, and men, the good men in our profession are as equally angered about this as the good women. So, go to your leaders and tell them you want it fixed and fix it! It isn’t hard! It isn’t hard! Fix it! It’s very easy. It’s black and white. Look at your staff, figure out who’s making what, figure out who’s working comparably, and fix it, because it’s inexcusable that the legal profession, it’s unconscionable, that the legal profession is blatantly treating its women unfairly. Simply fix it. It’s that easy.

Damien Allen: What changes are being driven by tech in this digital age?

Monica Bay: I think we started talking about changes, and we alluded to some of the changes the profession is changing. I think the most fun and interesting and exasperating and exciting challenge that I faced in my 25 years here at ALM has been the last two years because of the shift to digital. When I first moved to New York and took over LTN, it was 1998, so, it was right at the dot com frenzy, followed immediately by the crash. So, we’re now, kind of, in our second big pendulum swing. And I remember writing an article right after the crash, remember the puppet sock guy with the pet.com or something, and it talked about, I wrote a article that as I look back on it was prescient saying, you know boys and girls, let me tell you something, dot com ain’t dead and looked at how my banking had changed alone, but even in 2000, I was banking almost exclusively online and talked about some other trends. What’s been really interesting for us now is that, like all publishers, we are really challenged into figuring out how do we reach our disparate audiences, whether they be brand new lawyers and legal professionals who are coming in and have grown up with iPods and text messaging or these resistant boomers who are still struggling and trying. How do we get the information they need to them in the formats that they want. And just as pragmatic example, I would say, when I first came here in 1998, - to New York - I had one job, I was the editor of Print Magazine. Now, that Print Magazine is offered in three different vehicles. You can get it in print. You can get it in an online version that you can print on demand from Texterity. We put the entire magazine on the newly merged LTN website, we merged the law.com site with the LTN site, brought the LTN site in-house and have an exciting one. I now do, twice a month, I now do a video that I never did before. I now do two blogs. I have my own blogs, the first person at ALM to do a blog, The Common Scold, and then we’ve launched…I work very closely with Sean Doherty who is the technology editor for law.com, and we jointly manage a lot of projects one of which is the EDD update blog, which is a multi-author blog that deals with all things e-discovery. We’ve just posted a wonderful dialog between Craig Ball and Magistrate Judge Andrew Peck that is just absolutely delightful that they’re discussing some of the nuances of Craig’s most recent column. I do a monthly podcast with the Legal Talk Network. I do a daily alert with Sean. And I’ve probably forgotten half of the other things that we’ve been doing that are new and exciting. So, we’re looking at how do we get LTN content on your mobile device. You know, how do we give the content we are producing to you in the vehicle you want and just like you and are talking now on radio. That is really, really exciting. It can be very exhausting, but it’s really exciting. I really would invite your listeners to please give us feedback, and you can always email us at lawtech@alm.com. We welcome your ideas. We just caved and changed our policy on photos so we’re no longer requiring ties, and that was a result of a very robust discussion on the Common Scold where people took all sorts of positions on it. It was great fun and resulted in change. It’s all about, ultimately, if I had to sum up what Law Technology News is, it’s about change management. I live and breathe change management.

Damien Allen: Thank you very much for joining us today, Monica.

Monica Bay: It was an absolute pleasure. Thank you for inviting me.

Damien Allen: We’ve been discussing technology changes, the Law Technology News and gender equality with e-discovery with Monica Bay, the editor-in-chief of Law Technology News at ALM. You’ve been listening to GAL Radio. My name is Damien Allen. Everyone have a great afternoon.

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Pro Se SEO: Does “He Who is His Own Lawyer Has a Fool for a Client” Apply To Law Firm SEO?

info@attorneysync.com (AttorneySync) — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 16:33:26 GMT

I encourage every lawyer to understand some basics about how search engines work. In fact, we have made it a priority to provide several educational materials for law firms on the subject of search engine optimization. However, the question of do-it-yourself seo vs. hiring a professional continues to circulate throughout the web. As the [...]

As the saying goes, “He Who is His Own Lawyer Has a Fool for a Client”. Is the same true when it comes to seo for your law firm? The answer, sometimes.

There are many basic seo tasks that most relatively web-savvy attorneys can probably handle on their own. Optimization of title tags, use of images, and headings, etc. just to name a few.

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And there are some additional methods, that are vitally important to generating results, like link building, that aren’t necessarily complicated, as much as time-consuming.

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However, there are a whole lot more that require more technical web knowledge than most attorneys would ever care to have.

The truth is that the decision of whether or not to hire an seo consultant really depends on your web marketing goals and the level of competition in your segment of the legal services market.

Let’s face it, if you’re a Chicago personal injury lawyer, law firm internet marketing competitive landscape is saturated. Having an experienced law firm seo consultant is essential.

On the other hand, if you’re an intellectual property lawyer in Boise, you may find that you are able to produce some significant results on your own.

The decision of whether or not to hire a professional shouldn’t be taken lightly. Costs associated with law firm search engine optimization can be pretty steep. Also, due to the disparity between what most lawyers know about seo, and the low barrier of entry to becoming an “seo expert”, there is a lot of “snake oil” in the market.

Generally speaking, hiring an seo is a lot like hiring a lawyer. You can avoid a lot of headache by researching your law firm seo, talking to their clients, and simply by searching for them on Google. Let’s face it, if they can’t generate business for themselves on Google, how are they going to generate business for you?

Free Guide: Hiring A Law Firm SEO Consultant

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Good Law Firm Marketing Includes Speaking Engagements

dlorenzo@dlorenzo.com (David V. Lorenzo) — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 11:24:41 GMT

Law firm marketing is most effective when you can establish credibility and differentiate your firm in the minds of many people at one time. This is called marketing leverage and public speaking is one of the best examples of it.

You can speak at a convention or trade show, in front of a large or small group, locally or internationally. The venue is less important than the audience. Your audience should include the same people you target with your law firm marketing plan. In other words, it should include your ideal client. Select your speaking engagements based upon WHO will be in the room and not necessarily WHERE you will be speaking.

Once you have the right people in the room it is incumbent upon you to engage them. You need to be interesting, entertaining and leave them wanting more. Once they feel this way you must capitalize on that feeling. Doing that is how you leverage speaking as a marketing tool.

Here are five ways to use speaking engagements in your law firm marketing plan:

Get contact information from attendees. The goal of a speech is not to get a client. It is to get contact information. Few people will jump up during a talk and rush to the stage to hire you. Don’t sell anything. Do not give the audience “twenty one reasons to hire the Jones law firm”.

In your talk you are selling the audience on trusting you. Earn that trust during your speech. Show some vulnerability. Give them good information. Be the kind of person they want to know more about.

Always make an offer in your speech. Give away something in return for collecting contact information. At the end of every speech you should make the audience an offer to get a free report containing more information about the topic you covered. They can get this by filling out a form and providing their contact information. This gives you permission to follow up with them after the event. If your information is valuable, a significant portion of the audience will respond and this is a solid law firm marketing practice.

Numbers tell but stories sell. You talk must include both facts and stories. You want to both entertain the audience and inform them. Many times when an attorney gives a talk it is loaded with so many facts and so much case law that it makes watching Congress seem exciting. Give your audience facts but also tell stories. Pull them into the talk much like a good book will pull in the reader.

Tell them what to do but not how to do it. This is one of the key rules of law firm marketing. You can’t change someone’s life during a speech but you can generate interest. Few people will run out of your talk and try to handle their own legal matter. When you tell people what to do you pique their interest. Give them enough information to select a good lawyer.

End on a high note. At the end of your speech people must feel good about you. People will never remember what you have said but they will remember how you made them feel. Finish your speech with a humorous story or a story that makes people feel good about themselves. That’s what they will remember about you.

If you like to speak in public, getting up in front of a room full of people is a great way to differentiate yourself and your law firm. Add public speaking into your law firm marketing plan. It will help you develop relationships with many potential clients at one time and it provides a boost to your credibility.

TRANSITIONING: ENCORE CAREERS AND INTERNSHIPS

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 11:07:00 GMT

Three-quarters of boomers surveyed by Merrill Lynch plan to continue working, and if they "retire" around 64 or earlier, they plan to start a second career. Usually they are looking for a next career that not only pays the bills but also gives back. The buzz phrase is "encore careers," and a number of vehicles are emerging to help boomers and their elders make the transition to new careers in nonprofit organizations or public service.

It used to be that AmeriCorps was the domain of the under-30 set looking to accumulate experience and credentials on the way to more lasting careers. Since the Serve America Act was signed into law this spring, the demographics changed as it aims to fill at least 10 percent of AmeriCorps openings with people 55 and older. It also establishes "Encore Fellowships" that place people 55 and older in management positions in nonprofits. It authorizes $11,000 apiece for 10 fellows per state, with host organizations providing matching funds. Think internships for people with already extensive resumes. This is just one example of a definite trend.