The Greatest American Lawyer

Is the ABA Trying to Kill Lawyer Blogs, Facebook Profiles, Twitter Updates, Forum Posts and Lawyer Websites?

My friend Larry Bodine over at the Law Marketing Blog sent this email, which I immediately found both distressing and annoying.  The American Bar Association, affectionately known as the ABA, apparently formed a working group “on the implication of new technologies.”  The ABA Commission on Ethics is currently receiving comments in order to “supplement its research” concerning the following issues:

    A.    Online Social and Professional Networking Services

            1.    Identifying the Line Between Personal Communications and Lawyer Advertising.
            2.    Inadvertent Lawyer-Client Relationships
            3.    Lawyers “Friending” Judges
            4.    Gathering Information Through Networking Websites

    B.    Blogging

    C.    “Pay-per-click” advertising

    D.    Lawyer websites

            1.    False or Misleading Statements on Websites
            2.    Inadvertent Lawyer-Client Relationships
            3.    Giving Legal Advice
            4.    Confidential Information on Websites

Related  Stories:

ABA, Social Media and a time to Panic

Should State Bars Regulate Marketing?

ABA Wants To Regulate Lawyer Online Marketing

The Midwestern Law Firm Management Conference

The Midwestern Law Firm Management Conference is this Thursday at the The Chicago Bar Association, 321 South Plymouth Court, Chicago, IL on September 21, 2010.  The program runs from 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM.  Larry Bodine will be moderating a panel of speakers on business development in a West Legal Ed program titled “The New Norm: Understanding How to Thrive in the New Economy.”  Other key speakers include Enrico Schaefer, Founding Attorney of Traverse Legal, PLC,  Fredric D. Tannenbaum, Managing Partner, Gould & Ratner, Chicago, IL; and Kevin Thompson, Partner, Davis McGrath, Chicago, IL.  If you know you’re going to be in the area and would like to attend, please register here.

Client/Attorney Fee Arrangements: What is a Non-Refundable Retainer?

Ed Poll of the LawBiz blog recently published this YouTube Video called “Retainers – Do They Do Any Good For You?  which examines the complexities of retainers and discusses their use within the legal profession.

Huffington Post: 10 Hardest Law Schools To Get Into

The Huffington Post recently did a review titled "The 10 Hardest Law Shcools To Get Into"  and concluded that the following law schools will be among the toughest law schools to  get into this year:

1. Yale University Law School
2. Stanford University School of Law
3. Harvard University Law School
4. University of California -- Berkeley, Berkeley Law
5. University of Virginia School of Law
6. University of Pennsylvania Law School
7. Columbia University School of Law
8. Northwestern University School of Law
9. University of Chicago Law School
10. UCLA School of Law

What do you think of these schools? 

So Why Bother with On-line Business Development?

In this article titled “Business Development with Online Social Networking”, Larry Bodine, Esq., of Apollo Business Development and larrybodine.com , points out some interesting statistics for the law firms and lawyers out there who are not entirely sold on online business development. But, regardless of what your position may be concerning online business development and social networking, these are some very motivating factors to consider: 

• Nearly half of Americans have an online profile on at least one social network
• 1.3 million Lawyers have LinkedIn profiles
• Facebook has 400 million users
• Facebook gets 37.4 Trillion page views per year
• Twitter transmits 50 million tweets per day
• 247 billion e-mails are sent every day
• There are 234 million websites

More intesting facts and information:

Use of Social Media Explodes...

Amazing Stats on the State of the Internet

Survey: Substantial Growth in Online Social Networking by Lawyers

 

October 20th CLE Program - Growing Your Practice in a Down Economy

Innovative Lawyer Enrico Schaefer seeks to inspire Traverse City Attorneys to think outside the box.

The Grand Traverse- Leelanau-Antrim Bar Association will be hosting a CLE event at the 86th District Court Multipurpose Room in Traverse City, Michigan on October 20th, 2010.  Founding Attorney of Traverse Legal, PLC  Enrico Schaefer will be the speaker  in this CLE presentation entitled, "Growing Your Practice in a Down Economy".

There has never been more opportunity to grow your practice than in the current down economy. The reason is simple.  More relationships are up for grabs, more people are starting from scratch and established companies are looking for more cost-effective legal representation.

Topics to be covered include: 

Have Twitter and Facebook Made Blogging Obsolete?

   

 
In many ways, the Internet is all about attention.  Five years ago, before there was twitter and facebook, blogs were the number one  source of person-to-person communication within a particular  affinity group.  Trademark attorneys followed other trademark attorneys and trademark-centric blogs.

but there are only so many hours in the day.  What facebook and twitter have done, more than anything else, have reduced the number of minutes, or hours, in a day that an Internet surfer has available.  Conversly, bloggers have a much more challenging time capturing the intention of their like-minded followers.