Stephanie Kimbro will speak on "The Consumer Law Revolution: Lawyer Collaboration with Branded Networks" at the Lawyernomics 2013 conference in Las Vegas on April 27. Her topic is a hot one—and as author of three books on related topics and recipient of the 2009 ABA James Keane Award for Excellence in eLawyering, Stephanie is much in demand. We managed to catch up with her with a few questions for lawyers who may be about to take the virtual leap. ... READ MORE
Originally published February 20, 2013If there is one thing I know to be true about lawyer marketing, it is that you will get out of something what you put into it, and nothing more.
Originally published February 19, 2013It's a simple fact that being organically ranked number one on Google is still one of the most effective ways to drive traffic to your website. Even the savviest marketers may be unaware, though, that regular algorithm updates by the good folks at Google can completely unravel online marketing strategies. Because of software updates, those who once boasted “page one” status on Google searches may literally become invisible to prospective clients. ... READ MORE
Originally published February 18, 2013It's that time of year—conference season! So for this week's Friday Five, we're checking out the "coming events" that promise to put a polish on your practice management know-how. There are so many conferences we want to attend, our virtual highlighters have run dry. Open up your calendar, and start making plans now—no fence sitting! (Especially if you want to take advantage of early-bird discounts.) ... READ MORE
Originally published February 15, 2013In this edition of "Ask the Experts," three savvy members of the Legal Marketing Association take on the question, "I say that law firm websites are a thing of the past. They are nothing more than brochures. I’m trying to convince my partners we should replace our website with a blog. What do you think?" ... READ MORE
Originally published February 13, 2013Last week, I had the absolute pleasure of speaking with social media entrepreneur and best-selling author Gary Vaynerchuk. If you haven’t read his book, The Thank You Economy, go read it. It’s fantastic. Gary —who has nearly 1 million followers on Twitter—is working on his next book, Jab Jab Jab Jab Jab Jab Jab—Right Hook, and he's giving 365 interviews—"one a day"— this year. I was ecstatic to get the chance to pick his brain about how lawyers are using social media. Please note, Gary's responses in the following are paraphrases of my conversation with him. (I can only type so fast!) ... READ MORE
Originally published February 12, 2013Google Calendar, available with a free Google account and also bundled with the fee-based Google Apps productivity suite, is an interesting product. While it is not exactly revolutionary in the way it handles online calendar management, there are features—such as easily creating and sharing multiple calendars, the “quick add” smart appointments, and the option to make calendars public—that make it intriguing. Those who use Google Apps for Business will have the best experience in terms of sharing calendars, seeing others’ schedules, managing appointment slots and other features. This, as you may have heard, is because Google recently did a "winter cleaning" and announced its intention to discontinue support for Google Sync and Google Calendar Sync for free accounts. (See the end of the post for a few more details.) Despite the pullback on features for free calendar users, there is plenty for a solo or small firm to take advantage of that rivals the business-ready MS Outlook with the MS Exchange server. However, the integrated views of Outlook—easily moving from calendar to email to tasks—take a little setting up in free Google products. Here are some ways to take advantage of the free Google Calendar by integrating it more tightly with Gmail and Tasks, along with a few other tricks. READ MORE
Originally published February 11, 2013
There’s an old show business axiom that you always want to leave the audience hungry for more. Yes, you may rightfully see your law practice as more business than vaudeville. But you also want clients to find working with you is so pleasant and productive they wouldn’t think of contacting anyone else! And, of course, […]
Originally published February 8, 2013The most important ABA Model Rule governing professional conduct in the area of legal marketing is Rule 7.1, which covers communications concerning a lawyer's services. All states have adopted this rule, worded exactly the same or very close to it. The rule provides:
A lawyer shall not make a false or misleading communication about the lawyer or the lawyer's services. A communication is false or misleading if it contains a material misrepresentation of fact or law, or omits a fact necessary to make the statement considered as a whole not materially misleading.
Simply put, it says “thou shalt not lie.” Lawyers being lawyers, however, we somehow make what should be a straightforward rule into something far more complex. Recently, I conducted a legal review of numerous catchy words and phrases that a marketing-savvy lawyer might want to use, and assessed the risk of each under the rule. If the rule is “don’t lie,” it seems that you shouldn’t need to retain legal counsel to tell the truth from a lie. But in fact the regulations are murky. Here are some of the ethics traps that lawyers typically fall into when communicating with potential clients about their legal services. ... READ MORE Originally published February 6, 2013
I’ve talked about how to become a more productive and successful lawyer (and person) by leveraging David Allen’s time management system, Getting Things Done, and either Evernote or Springpad. In this post I am going to home in on the first stage of the GTD workflow: collection—or, in particular, capturing what I like to call “random sparks […]
Originally published February 5, 2013
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