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Ari Kaplan delivered the keynote address at the 2010 ABA TechShow to a crowd of attendees tweeting about his enthusiasm, his humor and his stylish tie.

Kaplan practiced law for nearly nine years at large firms in New York City. Now he is principal of Ari Kaplan Advisors, working as a fulltime ghostwriter, industry researcher and speaker.

In 2008, he authored a book titled, “The Opportunity Maker: Strategies for Inspiring Your Legal Career Through Creative Networking and Business Development.” The book discusses ways lawyers can stand out in today’s economy, not only by raising their own profiles but by raising others’ as well.

“’It’s not just, ‘What can I do to make myself look good?’ More importantly it’s, ‘What can I do to make someone else look good?’ That’s how you create sincere relationships,” Kaplan said.

An example? Guest blogging.

Kaplan emphasized the Internet’s value of momentum over perfection. Bloggers need to generate content on a repeat basis to create momentum. If there is a time when they can’t sustain this momentum, guest bloggers can come to the rescue. This creates an opportunity for the blogger to highlight the breadth of their work and an opportunity for the guest blogger to develop their profile, he said.

Kaplan said setting perfection aside is also important in creating opportunities.

“People obsess over what is in their email," he said. "If I’m sending you an email query and my timing is right and the content and what I’m offering you is correct, if there’s a spelling error you are still probably going to respond to me.”

In terms of the depth of lawyers’ tech savviness, Kaplan sees room for improvement. Lawyers aren’t ignoring new technology, he said, but they aren’t necessarily using it to its full potential. Being experimental is essential, he added.

“It’s not just about fear of the tool," he said. "It’s certainly about fear of the time someone will have to spend, which is why I suggest that people set very reasonable goals for themselves and very reasonable expectations of executing on those goals.”

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If you go to the Rosen Law Firm's website, North Carolina Divorce Law, you’ll find a video in the center of the page. Click on it and Lee Rosen is ready to help:

“Welcome to North Carolina Divorce. I’m Lee Rosen...I want to be a part of helping you manage your situation. At the end of this short video, I’m going to give you my direct phone number and my email address and I want to hear from you if you need anything at all.”

Rosen, the President of Rosen Law Firm in North Carolina, received the James I. Keane Memorial Award for Excellence in eLawyering at the 2010 ABA TechShow.

Rosen’s interest in technology dates back to his teenage years when his Commodore 64 was the latest gadget on the market. Rosen Law Firm started its online presence in 1996 with an informational website. The response from the public was overwhelmingly positive, he said.

“We thought, ‘Well gosh, this is kind of fun and we’re helping people. This feels good’," Rosen said, "What do they say...if it feels good do it. So we did it.”

The response from the legal community was a different story. Rosen said other lawyers were uncomfortable with the idea of “giving away” free services.

“The reality is the average lawyer would rather practice law than be involved in the marketing of their practice or in educating the public," Rosen said. "It just isn’t their interest.”

For Rosen, though, public service is at the core of his practice. He learned to value public service from his grandfather and father, both lawyers, and said the Internet can facilitate lawyers’ success on multiple levels.

“The Internet, public service and the marketing of your business all really come together nicely," he said. "You have to have the business component to be able to fund that public service component.”

The Rosen Law Firm website is jam-packed with family law resources: articles, FAQ pages, videos, forums, podcasts, video podcasts — the list goes on. The firm is also boosting their mobile and local search engine presence to reach more people. Expanding the content they offer to include ancillary issues is another one of the firm’s goals, Rosen said.

“We started a site called StayHappilyMarried.com," he said, "that’s fairly innovative in our arena where people think they should be undoing marriages rather than helping them to work out.”

Rosen said lawyers, as a whole, are prone to change resistance and will need to adopt technology rapidly to catch up with everyone else. Even so, he said, finding ways to innovate and staying ahead of the curve is something that’s getting harder these days.

“Our question is, 'What’s next?'" Rosen said. "Because we want to be there. That requires constant scrutiny of your crystal ball with your reading glasses on.”