The Greatest American Lawyer

Top Tech Trends Lawyers Should Keep an Eye On in 2012

Monica Goyal at the Law Times News published this article about the top five tech trends lawyers should keep a close eye on in 2012.  See her list below:

Ernie the Attorney Provides Great Solo and Small Law Firm Tips. Have You Heard of Ruby Receptionist?

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.

Enrico Schaefer:   Welcome to GAL Radio.   Today we are here with Ernie the Attorney.   Ernie is a long-time attorney who practices in a variety of different areas of law.   Recently he has made the full-time commitment to run a CLE company at a website called digitalworkflowcle.com, and he does technology training tips and seminars for lawyers.   Welcome to the show, Ernie.

Ernie Svenson:   It's good to be here, Enrico.  Thanks for having me on.

Ernie the Attorney Launches New Company Dedicated to Lawyer CLE

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.

Enrico Schaefer:  Welcome to GAL Radio.  My name is Attorney Enrico Schaefer and today we're going to be talking a little bit about CLE.  We're going to be speaking with Ernest Svenson, also known as Ernie the Attorney.  How are you doing today, Ernie?

Growing Your Law Firm in 2012

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

Welcome to GAL Radio.  My name is Attorney Enrico Schaefer.  I’m an internet and technology lawyer, founding partner of the law firm Traverse Legal.  We have developed a number of innovative ways to provide client service, to bill clients, to provide flat fee defined deliverable projects with a price guarantee, and a variety of other methodologies all designed to improve the business model of law.  We did actually turn the business of law on its head, we shook it up, and we started from scratch doing only those things that made sense from a business point of view.  And let’s face it, law firms and lawyers typically are very poor business people.  Why?  Well, in an hourly business environment, it doesn’t take much creativity or any intelligence to be able to develop a system which spits out hours and bills them back to the client, and, if you’re lucky, that bill gets paid at the end of the month.  That does not require any innovation, creativity or foresight.

Why Are So Few Managing Partners Great Leaders

I was lucky.  My first law firm was Bowman and Brooke, a niche firm providing automotive product liability defense to the automobile industry.  The founder and managing partner of the firm was Richard Bowman.  By in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s, he was one of the most out-of-the-box and innovative managing partners of any hourly billing firm in the world.  Dick Bowman never did anything because it was the way other law firms were doing it.  Bowman and Brooke became an innovator and stood out from the crowd in many ways. 

I have often wondered why so few law firm managing partners are like Dick Bowman.  They seem to inspire nothing except hourly minimums.  They innovate little beyond new billing techniques and policies. 

In the video below, Simon Sinek talks about how great leaders inspire action at a September 2009 TEDX Talk.   He points out that great companies always start with the question "Why?" as they pursue greatness. Think about whether or not you know any managing partners who come to mind as you watch the video…

How to Meet, Sign Up and Obtain Payment from New Clients in Less Than 60 Minutes

Welcome to GAL Radio.  My name is Attorney Enrico Schaefer, and today we’re going to talk about something that’s really important to lawyers and law firms alike.  How do you sign up your clients? 

Keep in mind that the industrial age model for signing up clients was to get them on the phone or in a conference room, have a lawyer or lawyers sitting there.  Those lawyers would then impress the client that they knew more than the client about some legal issue.  Of course, before the internet, the client’s chance of knowing anything about their legal issue was fairly limited.

Play: Trademark a Logo to Protect Your Logo Design from Trademark Infringement
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With: Enrico Schaefer

Sponsored by: Greatest American Lawyer

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Just A Few Reasons a Lawyer Should Fire the Client

I’m a big fan of Seth Godin’s blog found at sethgodin.typepad.com.  Seth talks in this post about an unreasonable customer and the reasons why you should consider firing a customer or, if you happen to be a lawyer or law firm, a client.  Here’s his list:

What We Can Learn about Online Reputation Protection from Herman Cain and Joe Paterno

Welcome to GAL Radio.  Today, we’re talking about reputation management in the internet space.  There’s a lot of stuff that goes on on the internet.  There are review sites such as Yelp and Google Places.  Your Google Places’ page has a place for people to post a review of your services.  For lawyers, there is AVVO and a host of other rating services.  One thing that has caught my attention the last couple of days is the reputation issues that are being faced by Herman Cain, who, as we all know, is facing any number of accusers on sexual harassment, and Joe Paterno over at Penn State, as a result of his alleged failure to do more when he became aware of an assistant coach’s alleged abuse of a child in the locker room.  All of this got me thinking about something that we do at our law firm every single day, which is online defamation/ internet defamation claims and defense on behalf of people who are looking at a Google search result that they don’t like, on the plaintiff’s side, or they have been accused of internet defamation in a defamation threat letter from an attorney.

In the Internet and Technology Age, Isn’t it Time for Lawyers to Stand Up?

Don’t get me wrong.  I love technology.  And I adore the internet.  As a lawyer specializing in internet law and technology issues, it is hard for me to complain about anything related to technology.  Our law firm thrives on the growth and innovation that is occurring online. 

When Selecting an Attorney, Does Geography Count Anymore?

I was recently interviewed by The Northern Express Magazine who did an article titled “Internet Law.”  One of the interesting quotes that found its way into the article is as follows:

“It used to be that clients felt secure having an attorney who lived down the block,” Schaefer says. “Now, they feel secure having an attorney who’s written an article about their problem, no matter where he or she is from... The reality is that clients want answers, not lawyer-speak or disclaimers. They want business solutions and to real advice about how to proceed.”

State Bar Associations Continue to Lead from Behind

The Virginia State Bar Association took aim at a Richmond, Virginia Attorney engaged in the nefarious pursuit of “blogging.”   An article concerning the decision is posted here.  The Virginia State Bar Association’s misconduct charge can be viewed here.

Growing a Law Firm in Tough Economic Times

Lawyers and law firms are not exempt from the economic downturn.  When the economy is chugging along, companies regularly look to enhance their business model.  Clients have no problem hiring attorneys to do things which are important, but not critical.  While a trademark registration with the USPTO is important, the cost of a lawyer opinion letter on availability, legal fees for trademark registration and a filing fee to the USPTO can run about $1,600.  It is a discretionary spend.  Unless you get sued as a defendant in litigation, you typically have a choice as to whether or not to spend money on legal services. 

In order to overcome the economic disincentives to spending money on important legal items, which are not otherwise critical or mandatory, lawyers need to continue to differentiate their legal service offerings.   There are lots of ways to do this.  Innovative billing techniques, payment schedules, improved customer or client service, transparency or perhaps the most important item, is to make sure that you do not charge the client to learn about their problems.   Lawyers who charge for miscellaneous phone calls to or from their client are creating a huge disincentive for that client to contact the attorney. 

Internet Law Article by the Northern Express

I’m an internet lawyer by trade who loves to blog about innovative business models for law.  I was recently interviewed by the Northern Express on a variety of different issues ranging from the technical aspects of internet law, what it means to be an internet lawyer as well as how I ended up in Traverse City, Michigan founding the law firm called Traverse Legal, PLC. 

I’ve been blogging for over seven years about the law, use of technology by lawyers and alternative billing arrangements with clients.  This article is a great summary of how I got started and where I am today. You can read the article on "Internet Law" at the Northern Express.

Integrating Video into Small Business Marketing

Lawyers and law firms rarely put the attention necessary into their web site.  Web sites require work and technical knowledge.  Too many attorneys are intimidated by web marketing because it requires near constant attention. 

One new tool which would help any lawyer create an effective marketing video in less than five minutes is found at www.youtube.com/searchstories.  The creation tool can be found at Google Search Stories Video Creator.

We have integrated Search Stories into two of our marketing landing pages:

• You Need an Internet Defamation Lawyer Who Understands Defamation Law & the Web
• The Best Defense against a Bogus Claim of Defamation, Libel or Slander? Our Lawyers Can Help.

The YouTube videos for each marketing campaign within our niche of internet and web defamation are located below.  Note that they not only were created in less than five minutes, but are compelling.  The music and production which is “baked in” to the search story creator by YouTube creates a very strong “call to action.”

From Big Law to Solo to Success: One Lawyer's Path to the Perfect Law Firm

In this three part interview, Internet Law Attorney Enrico Schaefer discusses his journey from success to living in his car to recreating the practice of law.  In this interview (note: there are three separate YouTube videos as you scroll down the transcript):

1. How to create a startup law firm based on business principles which make sense.
2. Following your passion rather than following the money.
3. What it means to be an internet lawyer in a technology age.
4. Common legal issues arising on the interent such as cybersquatting, trademark infringement and internet defamation. 
5. You can live anywhere and practice law everywhere.
6. The business and practice of law can be as brilliantly creative as any other type of business once you stop focusing on billing hours. 

What does it mean to be a Solution Minded Attorney?

Every attorney sees themselves different.  In the litigation arena, there are those attorneys who simply fight to the death, contest every issue and whose fundamental purpose is to destroy everything in their path.  There are other lawyers who take a completely different approach.  They are solution minded.  Their goal is to protect their client’s rights and achieve their client’s goals in the most cost-effective way possible. 

It is really easy for “aggressive” lawyers to drive endless bills to their clients by engaging in “letter war” tactics and other heavy-handed strategies.  These lawyers don’t discriminate much between clients.  They simply fit everyone into the “aggressive lawyer” business model. 

More solution minded lawyers try to identify the client’s goals and then work towards solutions and compromises which meet those goals.  While it is sometimes necessary to aggressively assert a client’s right, that is not necessarily the default position. 

As a litigation attorney, I get to make choices each day about what type of approach works best for a particular client on a particular matter.  I always have to remind myself to step outside the classic threat letter, analyze threat letter response, reply to response to threat letter approach.  Sometimes, just picking up the phone is the right answer for everyone involved. 

Denise Howell, Evan Brown, Enrico Schaefer and Ashley Packard on "This Week in Law"

A big thanks to Denise Howell who invited me to participate on her popular "This Week in Law" netcast televised on Twit.tv.  In this weeks episode titled "Little Orphan Schweddy Balls," the panel of internet and technology attorneys (and Ashley Packard,Ph.D., Professor of Communications and Digital Media Studies at University of Houston) discuss a cornucopia of legal issues from copyright trolling, social media law and a variety of other issues. 

Hosts:

Denise Howell: is an appellate, intellectual property, and technology lawyer, an internet blogger and columnist, and podcast host.

Evan Brown: is a technology and intellectual property law lawyer, as well as a blogger. on his blog "Internet Cases - a blog about law and technolgy," Evan shares his thoughts on internet issues related to copyright, trademarks, DMCA, open source, pivacy, and a host of other web related issues.

Guests:

Ashley Packard, Ph.D.: is a Professor of Communications and Digital Media Studies at University of Houston.  Her courses include Digital Media Law & Ethics Seminar, Media Law, Communication Ethics and Mass Media & Society.

Enrico Schaefer: is Founder of Traverse Legal, PLC. Enrico is a seasoned trial attorney practicing in areas such as internet and domain law, cybersquatting, technology and intellectual property, UDRP and IP licensing, trademark and related matters. 

 

Keyword Domain Name for Lawyers: Internet Lawyer Parking Page?

Many lawyers use the internet for marketing.  From Blogs to Facebook, Twitter and Google+, the debate over whether lawyers should market online ended long ago.  Virtually, every law firm now does so.  Many law firms register their firm name as the domain name.  But domain names which match the search query in Google still get a healthy bump. 

Check these Google search results for the phrase “internet lawyer.”  Note that the third result is www.internetlawyer.com, which is a parking page at Google.

Of course, if you are really looking for an internet lawyer, we recommend our own law firm, Traverse Legal, PLC.

The Email Inbox as a Communications Database

One of the challenges that every lawyer faces when they sit down at their desk in the morning is managing the various software applications running on their computer and the data and communications which run through their systems.  In order to survive the prospect of information overload, attorneys need to try and assemble their most important information, tasks and data in a single place.  While it is not likely possible to get everything under one application, the obvious storage area for everything an attorney needs day in and day out is the email inbox.

There are several challenges to manipulating information in the inbox, not the least of which is the fact that email now gets sent from a variety of different devices from the desktop, laptop, cell phone and iPad.  Whenever you’re away from your main computer, you should consider setting up your email to blindcopy yourself on every communication.  This means that everything that you send ends up in your inbox, even if it’s not in your primary “sent” folder.  

Don’t Focus Your Lawyer Marketing on the “Deal Hunter” Population

Law is a moving target.  So is legal marketing.  In an age of commoditized legal services, new business models for law, legal services on the internet, Legal Zoom, Trademarkia and so many others, lawyers sometimes may make the mistake of getting caught up in the “lowest price” game. 

There is a danger to focusing on the “deal hunter” niche of the market.  These are people who are always shopping around.  For them, price is the most important factor irrespective of quality.  These are not the prospective clients that any lawyer or their law firm should be trying to attract. 

Instead, focus on long-term relationships.  If a client is overly consumed by price, they may not be around for long anyway.  Even if you offer a lower price, they will push the next attorney to a slightly better discount.