Legal Commentary

Blawg Review #235

Posted on October 25, 2009
On this 80th Anniversary of the Stock Market Crash of 1929, I am pleased to host Blawg Review and dedicate Blawg Review #235 to The Great Recession.How has our current crisis changed the practice of law and affected our careers as attorneys? Fortunately for me, there was no shortage of reading material on the subject this past week...

Don't Hunker Down, Team Up

Posted on October 22, 2009
It has been a while since I've had guest bloggers on CounseltoCounsel; but I was contacted by Jim Rhyner, Worldwide Lawyers Professional Liability Insurance Product Manager for Chubb Insurance, and he expressed an interest in presenting some malpractice avoidance tips to my readers...

Lawyers, Process Management and the Billable Hour's Demise

Posted on October 22, 2009
There is a good piece today in Law.com about how law firms are looking more seriously at process management in order to reign in legal costs. It's all tied into the backlash against the billable hour, a trend that has been growing since the start of the Great Recession...

5 Marketing Rules for a Web 2.0 World--Recording Now Available

Posted on October 22, 2009
For those who were unable to attend my live webinar, 5 Marketing Rules for a Web 2.0 World, the presentation is available under the Media tab at www.seckler.com .

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Seeking Blog Posts Re: Impact of Great Recession on Practice of Law

Posted on October 16, 2009
I have signed up to host Blawg Review on October 26th. Blawg Review is a summary of law related blog posts from a given week (in my case, posts from October 19-26). I have chosen the theme The Great Recession. I am interested in reviewing posts that address the issue of how the Great Recession has impacted the practice of law (for better or worse)...

Is Biglaw Creating an Army of Competition?

Posted on October 16, 2009
I was reading the latest layoff announcement (this time Foley and Lardner) and a thought suddenly occurred to me. Given the enormous downward pressure on legal fees and the predictions that corporate counsel will reduce outside legal spending in 2010, maybe these layoffs are only going to accelerate the decline of Biglaw...

Legal Marketing in a Web 2.0 World

Posted on October 14, 2009
My latest article in Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly (written with my co-author Vanessa DiMauro of Leader Networks).

A True Electronic Future for the Practice of Law

Posted on October 14, 2009
I've bought real estate, sold real estate and refinanced many times. Each time I complete a transaction, I think to myself, there has got to be a better way to do this. So much energy is wasted on producing paper documents and going through a huge stack of them and signing them one at a time...

21 Tips for Legal Marketing in a Web 2.0 World

Posted on October 13, 2009
I published an article in Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly (October 5, 2009) on social networking. The electronic reprint will be available in another week or so and I will link to it then. In the meantime, here is the start of the article:Twitter, LinkedIn and other forms of social networking are getting a lot of attention these days...

Finding the "Right" Motivation to Make Change

Posted on October 09, 2009
Knowing that you want to make a change in your life (professional or personal) is a good first step in making the change you want; but it is only a first step. Change requires us to get out of our comfort zone, build new habits and leave behind the old...

5 Marketing Rules for a Web 2.0 World

Posted on October 03, 2009
Free Webinar on October 21st from 1:00-1:45 p.m. EST.

Does Talking on the Phone While Driving Really Increase Our Productivity?

Posted on October 01, 2009
I'm growing more and more convinced that talking on the cell phone while driving is not only a dangerous behavior, but it is dubious that it increases our overall productivity. I submit that the best practice is to answer your calls while in the car (if you really think it might be an important call--i...

Networks for Counsel Study and Miscellaneous Marketing Tidbits

Posted on September 30, 2009
The latest Networks for Counsel Study was completed over the summer and the results demonstrate a number of important things for lawyers who are trying to build a practice. For starters, the study shows that networking remains a critical component of generating work for most lawyers (the study found that the top 3 most important methods of generating work involve some form of networking)...

My Prescription For Hard Times

Posted on September 29, 2009
A self-published piece on my website.

Beyond Internet Marketing

Posted on September 25, 2009
Good marketing can certainly help to build a professional services practice; but good marketing can only succeed when it supports business development. Put another way, marketing is a one way conversation; but selling professional services requires a two way conversation...

50 Best Firms for Women (Out of 105)

Posted on September 17, 2009
The American Lawyer raises some interesting criticism of the Working Mother magazine's "50 Best Law Firms for Women." I still applaud the magazine and Flex-time Lawyers for continuing to do the survey (it does keep the issue alive and force firms to at least think about the issue); but clearly this "study" does little to prove that things have improved for female attorneys (i...

Webinars as a Marketing Tool

Posted on September 09, 2009
While it may be a little premature to endorse GoToWebinar (my first webinar using GoToWebinar is still 2 weeks away--i.e. Strategies for Commercializing Patent Assets in a Down Economy--a free webinar I am organizing and facilitating for my client IPEngine), my preliminary assessment is that this is a great tool for legal marketing...

Extreme Job Hunting Has Ancillary Benefits

Posted on September 04, 2009
Even in a good economy, if you stick with traditional job hunting techniques (responding to advertisements, contacting head hunters, sending out resumes cold), you are handicapping your job search. Many jobs are not advertised and most career experts will advise you that networking should be an important part of your process (for more on networking, see Tools for a Job Search on my website...

Is Specialization Good For Your Career or Your Firm?

Posted on August 29, 2009
Only up to a point.

Legal Rebels Website Launched by ABA Journal

Posted on August 29, 2009
Looks like a good place to find inspiration for making change in your own legal career. Here is a description in an e-mail I received about the launch: Over the course of the next three months, we'll be profiling 50 of the profession's leading innovators at http://www...

Some Good Tips for Managing Your E-mail

Posted on August 26, 2009
From the blog Law Department Management. My own thoughts on the subject here.

Spotting Liars? Try Listening

Posted on August 23, 2009
While this story is related to law enforcement, this has implications for job interviewers (i.e. you can learn a lot more about a candidate by engaging in a friendly conversation than by interrogating the individual.)

Be Strategic About Use of Social Media

Posted on August 22, 2009
It's easy to take a tactical approach to the use of social media. Each tool has a learning curve associated with it and given all the buzz surrounding Twitter, LinkedIn and blogging, it is easy to jump into the fray without thinking strategically.For the most part, each of these tools are free to use...

40% of Twitter is Mindless Babble. So What?

Posted on August 17, 2009
That's the title of a post by legal marketing consultant Kevin O'Keefe. The basic point he makes is that the mindless babble you read on Twitter is actually a way to help you build you relationships and relationships are the key to generating work.Finding out that someone just downloaded the latest Bruce Springsteen album may seem like a useless fact...

How Do You Change Careers Without Taking a Pay Cut?

Posted on August 11, 2009
Answer: You can't. At least according to the Brazen Careerist.This does not mean that you will never earn as much as you earned as a lawyer; but don't expect to immediately replace a high six figure salary with another six figure salary (i.e. if you decide that something besides law is your calling...

Hard Times Call for True Grit

Posted on August 04, 2009
There was an interesting article on success in the Boston Globe this past Sunday. The author discusses the role of grit in achievement (i.e. that grit is just as important as raw intelligence and innate ability.) In the article, he references Thomas Edison's thoughts on grit and points out that grit is more than simply "hard work"...

Changing E-mail Etiquette, Marketing and Client Communication

Posted on July 24, 2009
There is an interesting discussion about e-mail etiquette on the Legal Talk Network. The hosts ask whether the rapid growth of on-line communities like Twitter and LinkedIn have changed any of the rules.I coauthored an article on the subject just as Web 2...

Keeping Your On-line Profiles Fresh and Up-to-Date

Posted on July 22, 2009
Vanessa DiMauro of Leader Networks writes about the importance of keeping your on-line profiles up-to-date. She cites a number of important factors. For example, on many social networking sites, the date of your last profile update is listed.Similarly Vanessa recommends that you periodically give updates about "what you are doing" so that you come across as engaged.

Free Webinar on Legal Process Outsourcing

Posted on July 20, 2009
I've written in the past about the importance of learning about legal process outsourcing. Lawyers need to understand the changing dynamics of delivering legal services in a world economy.I just learned about a free webinar on the the subject. For more info, click here.

Which Social Networking Sites to Use?

Posted on July 20, 2009
Doug Cornelius has an excellent overview of the strengths and weaknesses of some of the on-line communities that are available to to attorneys. Read the comments that follow as well. There is an interesting debate about whether communities should be open (thus leading to the risk that the conversation will be diluted) or closed (leading to a stifling of good discussion).

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