We all know how I feel about directories and such. They’re all about egos, and, well, let’s face it, we all have egos, even me. The ABA Journal is taking nominations for legal blogs (Blawgs), and, yes, there’s a Legal Marketing and Consulting category. And while I can tell you why I think my blog should be included, I’m sure they’d rather hear from you. Just do me a favor, if you choose to nominate my blog, make sure you nominate another one as well. You can submit your favorite legal blogs here through Friday, October 1st.

As I mentioned here, I was invited to participate on a panel at the Legal Marketing Association-Bay Area Chapter’s 12th Annual Technology Program on a panel, Beyond Print: Moving Marketing Communications into the Audio and Video Realms.

The panel was moderated by Jen Klein from Blattel, and included Joe Calve, CMO, MoFo; Brian Colucci, Director of Marketing, Townsend; and Dave Pistoni, Principal and Creative Director, doubledave (great company name, by the way).

First of all, kudos for Jen leading a great session. We had our notes, our questions, who was going to take the lead when and where. But we collectively agreed to let the audience drive the content. Come on. We can talk AT you and tell you what WE think you want to hear as an audience member, or we can actually discern what YOU want to hear and respond accordingly.

Jen asked the first questions, then we, as a panel, began interacting with the audience.

Sometimes the questions came from Jen, sometimes the audience, sometimes the audience were talking amongst themselves, sharing their experiences. It allowed for a lot of energy, and as we (the panel), discussed afterward that we all LEARNED something too. I got some great ideas, and left the room more energized than I was when I arrived.

Obviously, I couldn’t take notes while on the panel, so Lydia Bednerik rocked it by tweeting the program via #lmatech.

After the jump, I’m going to pull a few of her comments out, and elaborate. Continue Reading Beyond Print … Marketing Communications Continues to Evolve

I’m speaking at the Legal Marketing Association-Bay Area Chapter’s 12th Annual Technology Program on a panel, Beyond Print: Moving Marketing Communications into the Audio and Video Realms.

I’m reviewing my notes, and here’s what I want to convey in theme — I’ll write about tactics later:

When law was practiced in a set geographic vicinity, local press and media, communications, networking also took place locally/regionally. A printed newsletter was fine as a “touch point” since you would most likely see your client/referral source at a social or business networking functions, or have easy access and availability to take them to lunch.

No more.

Now that the ability to practice law is without borders, so too must our communications.

However, the goal must be to first identify, and them closer into our personal realms, these potential clients, referral sources, and influencers.

This can be done through other on-line means, such as e-mail, LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, etc. But, to truly solidify the relationships, and build that ever necessary “know, like and trust,” you will have to transition those on-line relationships via face-time.

If you are interested in following the conference via Twitter, it can be found at #lmatech or #lma (you don’t have to be a Twitter subscriber to follow the conversation).

Game Day - Photo via www.thejetsblog.com

The whole Ines Sainz fiasco, incident, scandal, brouhaha has been taking up too much space in my head this week. It has moved off the sports page and is being debated by the mainstream press and blogs.

The Sports Dude and I “debated” the issue. We talked earlier this week about writing a “He Said/She Said” piece, but it’s more of a “He Said/She Agreed” piece … from different vantage points. His is from the field and the locker room, mine is from the administrative offices.

I get that Ines Sainz is beautiful and hot. How could anyone not. But, she’s completely out of line, and the reaction of the NFL, to force “sensitivity training” on the players is completely wrong.

“I believe this is the most constructive approach,” [NFL commissioner Roger] Goodell said. “There is no debate about the longstanding equal access rule of our media policy. The issue for us, like all organizations, is proper conduct in the workplace, whether it is dealing with the media, co-workers, fans or others. It is our responsibility to provide a professional setting for members of the news media and other business associates that work with our teams and the league. We appreciate Woody Johnson stepping up promptly to properly manage the situation at his team and agreeing to underwrite this new initiative for all clubs.”

I’m going to argue that it is also the responsibility of the WORKERS to bring their professional selves to the workplace, whether your workplace is the football field on Sunday afternoons, or the 47th Floor of the U.S. Bank Tower in downtown Los Angeles.
Continue Reading Why the Ines Sainz “incident” matters to ALL professional women

A couple people have asked me my thoughts on the “Best Law Firms” Survey by U.S.News and Best Lawyers® which were just published. Normally, I don’t take great stock in rankings and surveys. For the most part, they are vanity propositions designed to sell advertising. Very few hiring decisions are made on rankings and surveys. And, let’s face it, they’re a pain in the ass (my blog, I can say that). That being said, there are times you must play, and times when you can ignore. I play when the external exposure is too great.

  • You don’t want your clients flipping through the inaugural issue of the “Best Law Firms” Survey by U.S.News and Best Lawyers® and not find you there.
  • Chambers USA is too high-profile, and, let’s face it, they do the most legitimate research of the nominated firms and individual attorneys.
  • If your practice/industry have annual lawyer surveys (usually managed through an industry or trade industry publication).
  • If you have a strong local presence, or consumer-based practice within your city, you don’t want to lose out in the annual publication of Best Lawyers or Super Lawyers in your city magazine or newspaper.

When do you not play?

  • When it is 100% vanity.
  • Anything that begins with “Who’s Who.”
  • No local practice, don’t waste the time or money on your local newspaper.
  • We’ll just ignore Martindale’s AV Ratings for now.

When it comes to rankings and surveys, you need to decide what is of benefit to you, your firm and your practices. But, it really shouldn’t become a full-time job. All of this being said, I want to give a special shout-out to the attorneys at my firm, Barger & Wolen LLP. We received a First-Tier ranking in the Inaugural “Best Law Firms” Survey by U.S.News and Best Lawyers® for Insurance Law. Sweeter yet, our main competitors ranked in the second and third tiers. Not that we were checking.

I read with shock a recent article in an industry publication (which shall remain nameless) on how social media, while really neat and cool, is only a “value add” to traditional PR which is going strong. I call BULLSHIT (it’s my blog, I can do that). We all know traditional PR. You hire a PR agency to help you create your message and get the word out. They get your attorney quoted in a newspaper, or help you place an article, or get on the right industry panel. They make lots of phone calls, coordinate a reporter calling you back, and bill by the hour, or are on a monthly retainer. That’s starting to change. I spoke to fellow LMA member, and PR professional, Cheryl Bame from Bame Public Relations about this topic:

The goal of public relations is to promote our clients, their businesses and services and to use the media as an avenue to do this. Social media offers us more opportunities to meet our goals. I don’t discount it, but celebrate the increasing number of avenues beyond traditional media outlets to help clients raise their profiles and hopefully, bring in more business.

Cheryl, who recently launched her own blog, www.LegalPRAdvice.com, is already promoting her clients using social media:

I have several examples where non-traditional media, such as blogs, have generated more attention than a traditional news print article. In fact, there are times when a news print article has gone farther than I ever expected as a result of social media.  I have one client who’s popular entertainment industry blog has led to several writing and blogging opportunities for both traditional and non-traditional media outlets. As a PR professional, I now have to stay on top of the changing media landscape so that I can identify which opportunities are best for my clients and their goals, and that my include LinkedIn, Twitter, LegalOnRamp, Wiki, and possibly launching a blog.

So how can traditional PR remain the “go to” medium when journalism itself is evolving? Hmmm, just like legal marketing and business development are evolving. The status quo doesn’t work for legal marketing, and it won’t work for PR either. Period. (It’s my blog and I can have that definitive position). So, what am I doing? I’m watching legal PR specialists who ROCKED it with traditional PR, evolve to the next level. Jennifer Klein, Executive Vice President with Blattel Communications is one of the leaders I’m watching, and she’s weighing in on the topic as well:

There is an entire generation – our future decision makers – that know of no other form of communication.  They have been “born and raised” on social and online media as their primary form of receiving communication.  They don’t know a world without it.  It’s clearly more than “value added.”

And legal marketers aren’t alone. Mashable (which EVERYONE who reads this blog should subscribe to) has an incredible article that you should read and bookmark, The Future of Social Media in Journalism. It breaks down very easily how journalism is changing, and how social media is fueling the news.

… social tools are inspiring readers to become citizen journalists by enabling them to easily publish and share information on a greater scale. The future journalist will be more embedded with the community than ever, and news outlets will build their newsrooms to focus on utilizing the community and enabling its members to be enrolled as correspondents. Bloggers will no longer be just bloggers, but be relied upon as more credible sources.

And all of this is fine and dandy, but we work with lawyers, and one thing we know about lawyers is that they are skeptical and they like stats. Jennifer has compiled some great ones:

From a media standpoint,

  • 64 percent of all journalists follow one or more blogs for research/story generation;
  • more than 75 percent use social media to research stories;
  • 51 percent use Google News/32 percent use Yahoo news to stay abreast of trends.

I suspect,” Jennifer continues,” these stats will continue to increase with the decline of traditional media and shrinking newsrooms.

Bazinga!! I don’t know about you, but articles like this get me excited. We are all living on the cusp of a revolution. It might be more accurate to say that we’re already in it. Really, what other invention in the past couple hundred years has changed HOW we communicate, AND how we conduct our business, at the same time, more-so than the Internet? So, traditional PR. Of course, that personal interaction is important. But, I will argue that it is soon to be the value-add to the social journalism revolution. What say you, Coolerites??

Thank you to guest blogger  Gail Lamarche for recapping today’s Lexblog webinar, Making — Not Finding — Time for Client Development, featuring Kevin O’Keefe and Cordell Parvin.

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With 36 years of law practice behind him, Cordell Parvin now coaches attorneys in all aspects of legal marketing, client development and blogs at lawconsultingblog.com. When he just started his career as a young construction lawyer, his peers mocked him when he wanted to have a national practice from Roanoke, VA.  That is until the Secretary of Transportation for the State of Washington called him when the bridge collapsed. How did that call happen?  It was from writing articles and being known for a construction litigation law niche practice.  Cordell shared his best practices and tips during the webinar which was recorded and can be found here (UPDATED LINK).

  • 500 hours.  That is how many non-billable hours a lawyer should spend on client development per year or 20-30 per month.
  • Have a plan in place for not only non-billable time but personal time as well.  Review the plan every 90 days.  Plans should include:
    • Time for client development
    • Organizations to join
    • Networking events
    • Articles
    • Blog posts
    • Pro bono activities
  • Feeling overwhelmed with billable work, personal responsibilities and marketing?  Set priorities.  Start a journal.  Document your non-billable time and you will be able to figure out what worked and what didn’t.
  • Split your development time in two categories:  one for reputation building (writing and speaking); and one for relationship building (getting out and meeting people).
  • Tips for young lawyers:
    • spend time your first few years developing your skills to become a great lawyer
    • learn about your clients
    • learn people and communication skills
    • read books
    • attend seminars
  • Write articles:
    • Not sure what to write about?  What questions are your clients asking?  Take the memorandum of law and turn it into an article or blog post.  Every matter you work on can take a wider angle.
    • Create how-to guides for contracts, design builds.  Post the e-books on your website so clients can download.  Take what you learn and re-use it.  Provide valuable information to your audience and raise visibility and credibility.
    • Review the Encyclopedia of Associations for your state.  Every association has newsletters or publications.
  • Develop a niche practice, be focused.  How?  What are you passionate about?  Used great examples of lawyers who stepped outside the box, developed a niche practice and moved full steam ahead.  Staci Riordan incorporates blogging, Facebook and Twitter for the fashion law blog.  Alison Rowe with her Equine Law Blog and Kevin O’Neill started a weekly podcast Capital Thinking.

Cordell and Kevin also shared some great blogging tips:

One of the “life lessons” I’m trying to raise my children with is:

Before you say it to reflect:

  • Is it True?
  • Is it Nice??
  • Is it Necessary???

If they cannot answer “yes” to all three questions, then they are to keep their mouths shut. It’s a work in progress.

Unfortunately, many legal professionals — LAWYERS — have not learned this simple lesson in their 19+ years of education.

Above the Law has the tragic story today of a young lawyer who was “allegedly” murdered by her ex-spouse (wait, I’m not a reporter, I can say it! HE DID IT!). I am an alum of that firm and clicked through the headline to see if it was someone I knew (it was not).

The details are tragic enough, but the ATL disclaimer before the comments section is more so:

Ed. note: If you must comment, please be restrained, respectful, and appropriate. This thread will be moderated and inappropriate comments will be removed. That said, reasonable people will disagree about what is inappropriate. Therefore, if you are a relative or friend of Stoudt, we urge you NOT to read the comments on this post. The comments are hidden; please do not affirmatively click on them unless you are willing to interact with Above the Law commenters. Thank you.

I’m sorry. What does it say about us as a profession when this type of a disclaimer has to be added to a story of a murdered mother of five on an industry blog? Granted, it’s a tabloid blog, but I’ve read the comments on the WSJ Law Blog, and they can be just as crass, if not more so.

Let me throw on my “mom” hat here. Just because …

  • you are capable of saying something, doesn’t mean you should;
  • you can stand behind an anonymous screen name, doesn’t make it your comments funny or appropriate;
  • you have a law degree does not make you intelligent, nor does it make you a decent human being.

I know this rant won’t change anything, but I feel better now.

Piper's new backpack, lunch box and thermos for back-to-school
Today’s the “first day” back to school for my kids. Summer’s over. No more “summer” schedule of staying up late and sleeping in. Yeah, it’s going to be “summer-hot” outside today, but the fall clothes are coming out; we’ll just crank up the air conditioning inside. Back to school means a new backpack, lunch box and thermos. It signals “back-to-school” shopping sprees. It means cleaning out your drawers and getting rid of all the clothes that don’t fit, or you never wear. It means cleaning up your study space and the junk drawer with all the school supplies. It means going to bed at a decent hour and getting up early. We’re on a schedule! Same thing can be said for work. Vacations for you, your clients, the courts are OVER. It’s time to get back to work, seriously. We have about three months of “work” left in the year (minus Thanksgiving week, and the week between Christmas and New Years). So, what are you going to do?? Here are a few ideas:

  • Clean up your office. Go through all those piles that have built up all year and dump what needs to get dumped. File what needs to be filed. And make a list of all your “OMG, THAT ALMOST FEEL THREW THE CRACKS” projects.
  • Clean out your e-mail in box. Same rules apply.
  • Pull out that “goals” list for the year — sometimes referred to as a “marketing plan” — and see where you’ve had success, and where you still have some goals to meet.
  • Read a good book. Something akin to David Allen’s “Getting Things Done,” or Malcolm Gladwell’s “Outliers.” Personally, I’m looking forward to reading The Wisdom of Wooden: My Century On and Off the Courts (unfortunately, I cannot download it to my Nook and have to run into the store to pick it up).
  • Make a list of your top 10 clients/contacts/referral sources. The absolute TOP of your list for giving and connecting you to new business. Now, block off time on your calendar, two hours per week, to meet with that client IN PERSON. Even for those out of town clients, there’s a business trip you’re planning in close proximity to where they are. Extend your trip and swing by. Invite them to join you at an industry conference. This isn’t about asking for new business, but deepening your relationship. Spend the time (80 percent) LISTENING to what they have to say about their business. Your service. Their concerns. No excuses. This is about the work to come in 2011.
  • Print out your holiday card list and start to work on it now. You’ll thank me for this in November. Really.
  • Review your year. What did you do? Attended a conference. Wrote an article. Spoke at an industry-related event. Hosted a client CLE. Bought another table of ten that no one sat at. Purchased a tribute ad. What worked?? What didn’t?? What can you do differently in 2011.
  • Make a list of your competitors (friendly and not-so-friendly). Go to their websites and subscribe to their newsletters, blogs and press releases via email or, preferably, an RSS feed … and READ them. Do the same thing for your clients.
  • Buy a smart phone (if you don’t have one already) and start to figure out how you can make that phone work for you to keep you connected to your clients.

Come on … get moving!