Traverse Legal Radio Interview with Robert Cox, President of Media Bloggers Association. Mr. Cox discusses the rise in defamation lawsuits against bloggers and the steps they can take to protect themselves. Traverse Legal's Attorneys provide representation on issues of Internet law and on-line defamation cases. To read the full transcript of Mr. Cox's interview concerning internet defamation cases against bloggers here.
Important quotes from Mr. Cox's interview found below:
I came across this article by Edward C. Baig at USA Today titled "Google vs. Bing: Bing holds its own in search-off" and was pleasantly surprised by his take on the two different search engines. Google has always been the staple for searching. It appears on many home pages as the default search engine. Google spares no extras on their search result pages. You get the information you are looking for quickly with some suggestions for other searchs at the bottom of the first page. When searching on Bing, the home page has a travel picture on it with interesting facts as you pass the cursor over the picture. Bing concentrates at the moment on travel, health, finding local businesses and shopping. If you purchase certain items through Bing, you are eligible for their cash back program. When you place your cursor to the right of a search result, you will get a summary window which allows you to decide whether this is the site you want to go to. Mr. Baig gave both search engines 3 1/2 stars. If you don't want all the extras, stick with Google. If you would like to review some interesting facts and can play with some of the extras offered, Bing is your better choice.
Author Michael Arrington of TechCrunch.com recently published an article called “What The Hell Happened To The Free Version Of Google Apps?." It appears that Google may be slowly phasing out its standard version of Google Apps. Sign up here before it’s too late.
Our law firm started with the tag line "Changing the Way Law is Practiced". Our goal from the get go was to do things that made sense, not simply do things because that's the way they've always been done.
Fundamentally, the world is a brand new place to do business. Technology and innovation have become as or more important than sheer size, momentum and/or social connections. In the industrial age economy, staying the same had real advantages in the market. This is why General Motors got by for so long on really crummy automobiles. Companies like General Motors, and many other smaller companies, are now presented with an economic reality that it is much more akin to our notion of capitalism.
It has never been more fun to be in business. Experimenting with new marketing techniques online, new customer service models, better communication systems with customers and a variety of other tools and approaches have opened up the possibilities.
This leads me to an important question which you must answer. "What are you changing?"
Lawyers.com just did its first interview of Michael Siegel, a bankruptcy law specialist, as part of its continued commitment to A+ content. Those of you who have been around awhile, know that I am also an owner of Vertio.net. Vertio is the number one solution for online content generation on the internet today. Check it out.
Melodee K. Currier, President
P. O. Box 402Dublin, Ohio 43017
614-799-2433 - Telephone
866-749-2433 - Toll Free
614-799-2275 - Fax
www.etrademarkparalegal.com
I am a 1989 graduate of the Florida Atlantic University Paralegal Program in Boca Raton, Florida and have over 25 years' Intellectual Property experience working in the corporate Legal Departments of Owens-Illinois, Inc., IBM and Wendy's International, Inc. From 2002 to 2008 I was a paralegal at Wendy's International, Inc., solely responsible for its entire U.S. and International IP portfolio, including its subsidiaries, Baja Fresh and Cafe Express.
Continue reading "Introducing Virtual Trademark Paralegal -- Melodee K. Currier" »
In today’s competitive market place, are you looking for ways to reduce costs and provide faster turnaround to your clients? Do you operate with a budget in mind and find getting help on a temporary or full time basis is too expensive? Do you have difficulty finding competent help when you need it?
Continue reading "Working in the 21st Century with Virtual Paralegals" »
I recently came across a blog by John Derrick, an appellate specialist in California. He has written an interesting book on billable hours called "Boo to Billable Hours". Mr. Derrick has uploaded his entire book on his website for free. This book will assist attorneys who are seeking alternatives to billing by the hour. There are three main parts to the book. The first looks at the problems with billing by the hour. The next section looks at the reasons some attorneys don't want to change the way they do their billing. The third section gives better ways to bill by the hour, if that's what you must do, and five alternatives to billing by the hour. I agree with this Carolyn Elefant's review posted on MyShingle.com that this book should be a must read for law students so that they can realize there is a better way to do business as a lawyer.
For over a decade, I have believed one thing about the Internet. If you want to know where the money will be made in the future off the Internet, it will be on content. Generating category killer content is quickly becoming the new model for Internet success. The Google algorithm will always gravitate towards A+ content. When will you get yours?
Virtually every solo or small law firm needs a phone system, fax number, email marketing tool, web site and a variety of other services. The amount of time that it actually takes to research the various options that are available on the web is daunting.
One of our favorite clients is www.choosewhat.com. ChooseWhat has done all the front-end work for you by creating “apples for apples” comparison charts for internet fax services, hosted phone systems, email marketing software, tax software, web hosting, and checking account information for small business by identifying key elements which most businesses are concerned about in signing up for outsourced services, ChooseWhat has done all the heavy lifting already.
Take a moment and check out their various web sites. I’m sure you will agree that their service analysis provides tremendous value to consumers.
Inaugural multi-discipline event, to take place this weekend on June 20th, 2009 in Glen Arbor, invites spectators and athletes to enjoy the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Park and compete in the bike-run-paddle challenge.
Traverse City, Michigan June 17th, 2009 – M-109 near Glen Lake will be closed this Saturday beginning at 8:45am in order for the shot gun start of the 1st Annual M-22 Challenge. At 9:00am, event participants will cross the start line on M-109 near the event site, Little Glen Lake Picnic Area, on bikes escorted by the Leelanau County Sheriffs Department. And so begins M-22 Challenge!
Continue reading "This Saturday: The First Annual M-22 Challenge " »
The whole idea of attorney advertising is novel within the legal profession. Lawyers aren’t used to advertising. Leaving personal injury lawyers aside, many businesses have tiptoed into the advertising pond unsure of where to start and what message to send. The global economic downturn has, of course, changed many lawyers’ thinking concerning advertising. With massive layoffs spreading like wildfire across the legal landscape, firms are looking for new and innovative ways to obtain new clients. While most law firms have web sites, they could not tell you how or why those web sites are designed the way they are. As importantly, they have put little thought into how to convert people who come to their web site into prospects and prospects into clients.
Continue reading "How to Convert Web Visitors into Clients" »
West Coast Law firms such as the Latham & Watkins’ San Francisco office are dressing down their dress code policy by allowing their lawyers and staff members to wear jeans. Of course, with the exception of client meetings, court room appearances and other related appointments. More proof that the world is changing. See the full article here.
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I Could Be an Idiot, but You Would Never Know It Because I Look Good In a Suit
When it comes to lawyers and marketing, there is an awful lot that falls through the cracks and gets lost in translation. Too often, lawyers are so busy billing by the hour that they forget that they are in the business of getting business. If you ask any lawyer in charge of managing their law firm, they will tell you that they welcome additional client prospects. But when you ask them what they are doing to get those prospects, you will find that the answers tie into everything except the law firm’s website.
Continue reading "What Does Your “About” Page Say about You and Your Law Firm" »
In today’s economic world, marketing is more important than ever. The people who are bringing in business are the ones who are out there courting it. That’s why I am happy to share with you a special opportunity. For the next 48 hours only, my colleague Paula Black is offering a collection of FREE bonus gifts to anyone who purchases her latest book: “The Little Black Book: A Lawyer’s Guide To Creating A Marketing Habit in 21 Days.” Designed to help lawyers integrate marketing into their daily lives, this book is quick, easy and inspirational. And by purchasing it within the next 48 hours you will receive special access to information and resources from more than 30 experts. A compilation of advice from some of the most sought-after experts in the legal arena (including myself!), “The Smart Lawyer’s Toolkit” gives you instant admittance to an incredible collection of tips and information. Click here for details…but do it fast!
We don’t need statistics to know it’s true. We’ve heard it since we graduated from law school. The number one complaint by clients is the failure to return phone calls and lack of information from their lawyer. When clients don’t know what’s going on, they rightfully get pissed off. What needs to be a relationship of trust becomes a relationship of mistrust.
Over the course of my career, I would say that the vast majority of instances where a client came to a lawyer for advice, the lawyer essentially told the client what to do based on that lawyer’s own experience, expertise and knowledge of the law. Under the “lawyer knows best” approach, the client is not expected to understand the legal intricacies or practical reality of his or her legal situation. Even on the holy grail of settlement, where the client has to be informed of the offer and is the only one who can decide whether or not to accept or reject, the emphasis is often on telling the client to accept or reject rather than educating the client and letting them decide for themselves.
Technology allows us to push a lot of information and access to our clients. Our model is devoted to helping the client understand the key legal principles involved and practical realities of the legal process.
Continue reading "Asking for a Malpractice Suit: Failing to Educate the Client" »
Above the Law reports that one of this country’s largest law firms, Fish & Richardson, recently announced a second round of layoffs. Although the last round of layoffs included mostly support staff, this round included one-third of its incoming first year associates, who were “cold offered”. Another third of the associates will start on time, with the last third being deferred until October 2010. This is seen as a poor move by those who thought they would be moving to another location and had planned on taking state bars this summer. Now they will have to rethink where they want to locate to practice, and if it is somewhere other than where they had planned, sign up for the next bar exams in February. Let’s hope that those bright attorneys who received these “pink slips” find a better firm to work with.
As reported at law.com’s Legal Blog Watch, North Carolina Judge recently received this reprimand by the state’s Judicial Standards Commission for posting and exchanging messages on Facebook with a Lawyer in a matter being tried before him. Here are some snippets from the article :
Continue reading "Judge Receives Reprimand for His Comments Made on FACEBOOK " »
The American Bar Association's Ethics and Professional Responsibility Committee recently released an opinion regarding law firms using contract lawyers for various tasks. The ABA stated that when hiring a contract attorney, the use of attorneys who have been trained in the United States is preferable. However, if you wish to hire an attorney who is based in another country, be sure to check out the statutes in that country regarding property seizures, disclosures, and the remedies used if there is a dispute between yourself and the contract attorney. In this age of downsizing, becoming a contract attorney might not be all bad.
Twitter just announced they are updating their real-time search to index links.
If done properly, Twitter search could morph into a strong competitor
to Google and may become critical in driving traffic to web sites. In
this post, I’ll explain why Twitter reputation may become as important
as PageRank and give specific advice you can use to improve yours.
If the predictions are right, Twitter users with excellent reputations will be able to have their sites instantly indexed
and have their Tweets appear at the top of Twitter search results.
This will give established Twitter users the ability to drive large
amounts of traffic to their sites, especially if Twitter search becomes
a major destination (or is bought by a top search engine).
Read more at Domain Twitter.
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