LexConference : LexConference : Legal & Law Conferences : Brought To You By LexBlog

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

There's a growing trend in the legal community where giving away valuable information for free has proven to be an excellent client development tool. Taking that method from their excellent Land Use Law Blog applying it to offline client development, Abbott & Kinderman's annual series of seminars on land use, real estate and environmental law is underway.

"It's a pretty well-received program, it gets a good turnout and it's part of our whole outreach program. It dovetails with what we do and what we use on the blog," said Bill Abbott, the founding partner of the firm.

With the first seminar taking place this past Thursday in Modesto, there's two more conferences in Redding and Sacramento coming up. The details on those:

Redding Conference 

• Date: Tuesday, February 8, 2011
• Location: Hilton Garden Inn Redding , 5050 Bechelli Lane
• Registration: 12:30 p.m. – 1:00 p.m.
• Program: 1:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.

Sacramento Conference

• Date: Friday, February 11, 2011
• Location: Sacramento Hilton Arden West, 2200 Harvard Street
• Registration: 8:30 a.m. - 9:00 a.m. with continental breakfast
• Program: 9:00 a.m. - 12:00 noon

Wondering what specific things will be covered? Here's a few prominent 2011 developments that will be covered at the seminars:

• Global Warming: CEQA Guidelines, Mandatory Reporting, AB 32 
• Water Supply Assessments
• CEQA Litigation: Exemptions, Setting the Baseline, Alternative Analysis & Exhaustion of Administrative Remedies
• Subdivision Map Extensions
• Interpreting Development Agreements
• Agricultural Land Mitigation
• New General Permit Under Clean Water Act

"I think we've got a pretty good grasp on the market, who our target audience is and how to package the program," Abbott said. "If we're guilty of anything, we're guilty of giving them too much information. So, that's a good problem to have."

Abbott said a majority of the attendees are individuals the firm is already familiar with "because they're either clients or they are agencies with which we work, either as their lawyer or doing business in their community."

Of those attending, Abbott said it would be about 20 percent lawyers, 70 percent staff or project engineers/project managers and 10 percent developers. However, he noted that the developer numbers may up as the business is somewhat calm right now.

While the team is familiar with most of the individuals who usually attend, it is open to all and is, of course, complimentary. If you're interested in attending, an RSVP is required as space is limited. To reserve a spot, call the firm's office at (916) 456-9595 and let them know which conference you will be attending.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

Matt DeVries, attorney at Nashville law firm Stites & Harbison and author of Best Practices Construction Law, serves as Membership Chair in Division 10 of the American Bar Association Forum on the Construction Industry. With the Forum's midwinter meeting coming up, we decided to talk to him about his role in the Forum, how he got started, what others can do and what attendees should expect to find at the midwinter meeting.

Just as background for people who don't know what it is, what is the ABA Forum on the Construction Industry?

The American Bar Association has various sections, just like state bar groups. At the ABA, there is a litigation section, an environmental law section and numerous others. The construction section is what is known as the Forum on the Construction Industry. There are about 6,000 members in the Forum and there are members from large firms, small firms, solo practitioners and government lawyers.

How did you go about getting started in attending the Forum’s meetings and where did you go from there?

I was a member probably for eight years, but I never went to any meetings. About four years ago, I was challenged by one of my partners to go to a meeting. And really, the first meeting, I just sat back and watched. It's kind of overwhelming because you're one attorney and you're seeing all these people who all talk to each other and you think, "How am I going to get involved and meet all these people?"

Within the Forum, there are twelve divisions or subsections. I happen to have joined Division 10, which focuses on legislation and environmental law. The reason that I joined that division was that it was a smaller group, gave me a good opportunity to get involved right away and they were a younger group of attorneys.

And, in that section, how did you work your way into a leadership role?

I got involved immediately and it took about two years to take on a leadership role. Division 10 would collect construction law updates throughout the year, by email and a listserv where people would send information. At the end of the year, they would post the information on the website. In 2006, the Division Chair and other steering committee members decided to put the updates in one document and distribute it at the Annual Meeting. So that year, 2006, I probably spent a two weeks, probably more time than I should've, and I put all those together in one document. It just so happened the next year they said "Hey Matt, you did great work, why don't we get you on the division steering committee?" So I joined the membership role of Division 10. We have since published four annual updates. Through my involvement, I was asked to speak at an annual meeting, I've participated in various webinars and I am currently working as an editor of a book on green construction law.

Why should other attorneys do something like this and what is the first step in getting past this fear of getting outside their comfort zone, making client development efforts like this?

Like you said, it's really a matter of just getting out of your comfort zone and trying new opportunities. It's hard right now in this economic time for law firms to take that step and say, "Yes, we're going to invest in these types opportunities." And I think this is precisely the time when you do need to make an investment...You know, now's the time where we have to really put an urgency in our business development efforts and think outside the box.

One thing that the Forum does well is to welcome first time attendees. There is a program at every conference where we have a welcome breakfast, we invite the first time attendees, and we hook them up with a mentor … someone who has been to a program before or who is really involved in the Forum. We want you to feel comfortable and we want to find out what your practice area is, what kind of construction law you practice. It’s our goal as the leadership to get that construction lawyer plugged into where they are really focused on their practice group or where they want to take their practice.

When I first showed up, I met people at the first meeting, started making contacts, then actually joined a division. During monthly calls, I volunteered to get involved … to write articles … to help out where needed. You know, as the saying goes, you get as much out of the Forum as you invest in the Forum.

What should people know about the Forum’s Midwinter meeting?

There's three meetings a year, there's an Annual meeting, a Fall meeting and a Midwinter meeting. Midwinter generally joins another section of the ABA the Tort Trial & Insurance Practice Section. And so this particular meeting in New York is going to be an exciting conference because we are joining another group to put on a two-day conference. The focus of this conference is alternative dispute resolution, which is always a hot topic. There will be sessions on advanced negotiation strategies, as well as non-traditional dispute resolution such as neutrals, dispute boards and initial decision makers. So, not only is there going to be some great opportunities to network within the Forum, but also the Midwinter meeting is going to address a hot topic in the construction industry.

For more information on the Forum's midwinter meeting, you can take a look at this PDF brochure. 

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

Ed Poll practiced law for 25 years and has been consulting lawyers through LawBiz Management Co. for the past 20 years. He is also the author of 13 books about practicing management and growing a law practice. Last month, Poll gave the keynote address at Lexis/Nexis Practice Management Annual Client Conference and chaired the Midwestern Law Firm Management Conference. Here he talks about the main message of his keynote address: customer service.

 

You recently gave the keynote address at the Lexis/Nexis Practice Management Annual Client Conference, where you talked about satisfied versus loyal clients. Can you explain this concept?

When they’re satisfied, that’s great. Now you handle another matter for this client. The issue becomes, well, they were satisfied the first time. So now you have to do something more to keep that same client satisfied. Now the bar’s raised and there becomes a limitation on what you can continue to do to increase it. If you actually have a partnership with your client in dealing with their matters, then you don't have to worry about it because you've got a loyal client.

What’s the advantage of a loyal client?

Obviously you have to be price competitive. Obviously you have to be competent in handling their matters. But they’re going to give you the opportunity to adjust your price to meet the competition. They’re not going to require you to beat the competition necessarily. That’s a loyal client.

Do lawyers understand this?

By in large, they don't. We’re lucky if lawyers satisfy the clients. If that were not the case, you wouldn't have all the negative jokes about lawyers.

Some would say social media is one way to connect with clients. How do you use social media?

My attitude is that I’m a consultant. If I’m not necessarily at the bleeding edge but at the leading edge of the profession, then I cannot effectively coach and consult my clients. And blogging was new so I decided, “Alright I’ll try it.” I’ve done podcasting for the same reason. I was the only one doing audio magazines on a regular basis. We did a one-hour audio tape every month and then technology changed and I was able to convert the audio magazine into a podcast. If you go to my website you’ll see how many hundreds of interviews I’ve done. I’ve also got Linkedin, Facebook and Twitter (@LawBiz).

How did people respond to your keynote address?

The comments were really great. I was super pleased. Apparently I hit a nerve with a lot of people there about what I said. One of the things that came out was the importance of our Law Biz Forum (www.lawbizforum.com). It’s a community for lawyers and this is something that lawyers are hungry for because, no matter what size law firm they’re in, they all wind up being and feeling alone. So when they join Law Biz Forum, they can talk to other lawyers around the country about specific problems. There’s a dialogue that’s available for them. Right now we have about 200 lawyers and it’s growing. And the price is right—it’s free.

 

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

Nicole Black is Of Counsel to Fiandach & Fiandach, publishes four legal blogs and writes a weekly article on law and technology for The Daily Record. Carolyn Elefant is the founder of the Law Offices of Carolyn Elefant and the creator of MyShingle, a blog focused on solo and small firm practice. Nicole and Carolyn co-authored “Social Media for Lawyers: The Next Frontier” and presented sessions at TechShow.

Kelliann Blazek: What is your interest in TechShow?

Carolyn Elefant: I’ve been coming the past three years. I spoke three years ago on tech issues for solo and small firms and this year we were invited to speak on topics related to social media. We both spoke about online presence and then I had another track on eMarketing.

Nicole Black: This is my second year and it’s probably my favorite conference to attend. It’s a great convergence of all the people in the legal tech space.

KB: What was your inspiration for the book you co-authored, “Social Media for Lawyers: The Next Frontier”?

NB: We wrote the book because we both participate in social media and think it can be a really effective tool for lawyers to use in their practices. We set the book up so it would be approachable for both a novice and someone who has a basic understanding of social media.

CE: We also thought it was important to have a book that’s written by attorneys. There are a couple social media books and there’s some excellent websites about social media that we both follow, but lawyers tend to be very hesitant about borrowing ideas from other professions, often to their detriment. If we could break down a barrier by showing it from the perspective of lawyers, we thought that would be more effective.

KB: How do you both use social media in your own work?

NB: I primarily use social media to interact with other people and to learn and to disseminate information on the topics that are of interest to me, which is law and technology. It’s just a tool to connect and network with other people and I find it to be really a great tool.

CE: I do a lot of blogging so that is my main way of communicating through social media. I use it sometimes to disseminate information about either my blog site or sometimes if there is a decision of interest in my field of practice I will send out information about that. Also, again, to connect with colleagues in different places and interact, because as a solo I don’t have any people that work on site with me. To be able to have conversations throughout the day or interact with people kind of made a case against the isolation of being solo.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

Mark Rosch is the Vice President of Internet for Lawyers, a company that aims to teach lawyers how to search the Internet more effectively. Mark presented two sessions at TechShow, including Find Info Like a Pro, Volume I and Google Tools for Lawyers.

Kelliann Blazek: What is your interest in TechShow?

Mark Rosch: I’ve been coming to TechShow since 2003. I come to TechShow as an author of books for the Law Practice Management Section primarily. In June, we expect the Section to publish “Google for Lawyers,” which is essentially an extended version of the presentation we did at TechShow today. It looks at all of those tools, search tips, etc. for using Google more effectively to coax out the information that Google has found on the internet that’s going to be useful to the attorney as a searcher. Most people, particularly practicing lawyers, they don’t have time to click that button—the “more,” the “even more”—to see what these things do. I like to say I waste 10-12 hours a day on the Internet so they don’t have to.

KB: Do you find yourself learning new things at TechShow?

MR: I learn things at sessions all the time. Sometimes I learn things at sessions I’m presenting, which is a good thing. I think one of the things that people need to remember is no one knows everything. Very often in this kind of crowd at TechShow, there will be someone who knows more than you do on a particular topic. These are very smart people. And there’s no embarrassment in that. There were one or two questions that we got from the audience today that were very specific questions. I’ve never heard the questions before or anything like that in the dozens of presentations we do.

KB: What advice would you give lawyers to more effectively use the Internet?

MR: First, if they’re using Google or any major search engine, look at the advanced search page because you’re going to get the option to create more sophisticated searches.

Second, as great as Google is, as much as we’ve talked about it and written about it, it’s not the be all and end all to research. It’s not even the be all and end all to search engines. Every search engine finds different information. Be familiar with more than one. My top three: Google, Bing, Yahoo.

Third, when you’re on the internet and looking at websites, search engines in particular, don’t be afraid to click a button that you don’t know what it does or what it means, because you can’t break the internet. People have tried and clicking a link on a site is probably not going to do it. If you’re looking at a reputable site, feel free to click around.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

Ben Stevens has been practicing law in South Carolina for 15 years. He publishes three blogs, including The Mac Lawyer, and will be debuting an iPad for lawyers blog soon. Ben presented two sessions at TechShow: Mac Software for the Law Office and iPhone Tips for Lawyers.

Kelliann Blazek: What is your interest in TechShow?

Ben Stevens: I speak a lot on using Mac technology for attorneys so it’s kind of a good fit for me to plug in with these guys. I was one of the first speakers at the first Mac sessions three years ago and we’ve grown from Saturday morning with a couple Mac sessions to a full day Mac track this year. Hopefully there’ll be more programming next year.

KB: What is your fascination with Macs?

BS: It’s more or less just the ability to get things done effectively and enjoy doing it. I used to look at PCs as something I had to use. I look at Macs at something I enjoy using. We work together. The stability and simplicity of the operating system. The fact that it just works and it works quickly. My wife still uses a PC so we’ll go and look something up on the Internet. She’ll open hers and it’ll take two minutes bumping and grinding and fans coming on and it’ll eventually start up. I just open my lid and I’m typing away.

KB: You’re launching an iPad for lawyers blog in a few weeks. What do you envision the impact of the iPad will be on lawyers?

BS: I think the iPad, just from the Internet connectivity standpoint and the form factor, is going to be great for attorneys to have something more usable than a netbook. I’ve had netbooks before and the problem was the keyboard was too small and cramped to type on. So having something bigger, but not too big, that’s light and that’s intuitive, like the iPhone is. Just to be able to use the Safari component will be one thing but then when you integrate the ability to view and edit .pdfs and mark them up and documents and emails and all the other things. Before you get into all the apps that are out there now, I think it’s going to be a game-changer for attorneys.

KB: Do you think the iPad will be a technology that will be readily embraced?

BS: I do. If you think back to when the iPhone came out, there was this big question about, “Is it going to be as good as they say?” or “Are people going to buy it?” And then when it came out, people are standing in lines and camping out overnight and now everyone’s got one. Now the only complaint is the network’s not great. It’s not the phone’s not great. It’s the coverage. You take that same technology and put it into something a little bit bigger. I really think it’s going to change the way people practice law.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

Business litigator Ernest Svenson of Svenson Law Firm has practiced law for more than 20 years and started blogging as Ernie the Attorney in 2002. Ernest presented two sessions at TechShow, including “Digital Workflow: Developing the Paperless Habit” and a session on Acrobat.

Kelliann Blazek: What is your interest in TechShow?

Ernest Svenson: I’ve been practicing law for 20 plus years. I’ve always liked technology. I wasn’t a techie in college. I was a philosophy major. But I just thought computers were kind of cool and had the potential to change the way we looked at things and worked, so I was always playing with them. I got a Mac in law school, the first one that came out in ’84...Now the problem is which tool do you use and how quickly will it grow. That’s a good problem to have.

KB: Can you talk a little about your blog?

ES: I started this blog in 2002. There wasn’t anyone I particularly wanted to talk to but I was interested in technology so I said, “Okay, I’ll try it.” And I did. There was a magistrate in federal court where I worked when I got out of law school that used to call me Ernie the Attorney and I always liked that because, even though I didn’t call myself Ernie, I just thought it was a good way of confusing and lowering that barrier that lawyers have when encountering people. If you tell them that you’re Ernie the Attorney they immediately kind of laugh and say, “You must be a cool guy.”

KB: What do you think is the next big thing, akin to blogging?

ES: The latest one is Foursquare. I’m on a podcast called This Week in Law with Denise Howell. One of the topics that keeps coming up are social media gaps and the fear people have of doing things. There’s a lot of fear about releasing too much information. When people first hear about Foursquare, they say, “Well, I don’t want people knowing where I am!” And you don’t have to. Then don’t say where you are and nobody will know. All these things are just tools and they’re all configurable. We have to get over some our social habits and one of the habits is that we’re afraid of new things because the first thing we think about it is what could go wrong.

KB: How do we get over that?

ES: Be like a kid. Just be exploratory. Try things out. If you play with some of these things, you’ll find they’re pretty cool. All these things are inevitable. You watch kids. If kids use them, it’s inevitable that other people will use them, too. Not in the same way, because kids use them in what adults regard as frivolous ways. It’s a tool. Taylor it and use it the way you want to use it. Why wouldn’t you try them? But I’m not a special person. I don’t have any super human powers. I was a philosophy major.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

Edward Poll has practiced law for 25 years and has consulted and coached lawyers for the last 20 years at LawBiz Management Company. West Publishing Company recently published his latest book, “Grow Your Law Practice in Tough Times.”

Kelliann Blazek: What is your interest in TechShow?

Edward Poll: I’ve been coming to TechShow since its beginning and I don’t remember when it began. I like to stay current with what’s happening in the industry because I consult with lawyers. If I don’t know what’s happening in the industry, I cannot do them a service.

KB: What kind of consulting do you do?

EP: I can’t believe I’m celebrating my twentieth anniversary doing this, but along the way I’ve helped a lot of lawyers change their practice, improve revenue, improve their profit, reduce their stress. Because for the first time, they had an ally. Lawyers are, I don’t care where they are, they’re solos. There’s generally not anybody that they can relate to that can support them as a mentor, someone they can be really honest with. I become an objective, experienced ally for them that they can spill their guts to.

KB: Can you talk a little about how you got into blogging?

EP: I had a website and Kevin started talking to me about reaching lawyers in a different way through the new social media. In the last six months, I have been doing other social media, too: Twitter, Linkedin, Facebook and Youtube. Every week, I have a Youtube vignette and that goes on the blog as well.

KB: What do you think blogging has added to your work?

EP: It is a vehicle for me to reach people. It’s a vehicle for me to help people. It’s a vehicle for more people to know who I am and if they perceive that I’m providing value to them, for free, then maybe they’ll give me a call. Another thing it does for me is keep my writing skills wet. Like any other habit, if you get into the habit you will continue to write. When wrote my first book in ’93, I said, “Okay, that’s it.” And each book I’ve written since then, I’ve said, “Okay, that’s it. I’ve got nothing more to say.” But because I’m in the habit of doing this, then other ideas come to me.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

Will Hornsby is the Staff Council for the ABA and currently staffs the Standing Committee on the Delivery of Legal Services. He deals with issues of legal services marketing and the extent to which policies govern those activities. Will presented two sessions at TechShow, including “Going Virtual with Web Applications: New Forms of Practice” and “Beyond the Ethics of Web 2.0—What’s Now, What’s Next, What If…”

Kelliann Blazek: What is your interest in TechShow?

Will Hornsby: I’ve been involved in issues of legal services marketing and the extent to which policies govern those activities. The policies are many times reflected in the rules of professional responsibility. We have different workshops here that are dedicated to ethics issues. Obviously people that are dedicated to ethics issues are exposed to the technology. That’s part of the problem—getting people with the different skill sets to come together and be on the same page.

KB: What are some of those issues involving ethics and the Internet?

WH: There are a lot of questions that have emerged because the rules were propagated before the Internet became a viable vehicle for communicating legal services. Some of these rules need to be re-examined and the ABA is in the process now of doing that with a project called Ethics 20/20. Hopefully we’ll have some solutions that give lawyers a sense of comfort that what they do is proper, give them some clarity in what the boundaries are, and make sure these services are in compliance with the intent of the rules.

KB: Is compliance the biggest issue right now then?

WH: Yes, because there’s clearly a need for lawyers to advertise their legal services. There’s a need for people to get lawyers. Lawyers have a need to get clients. So marketing endeavors are the obvious nexus to make that match. The new media, social networking, all of these things have aspects that create concerns.

KB: What’s an example of one of those concerns?

WH: Part of the problem is when you use a template. So if a social network has “friends,” the concept of friends on a social network is different then social friends. Some states have a rule that says you can solicit in person or by live telephone people who are friends. Well, are the people who friend you friends? So see, sometimes the templated nomenclature is inconsistent with the rules.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

After Lane Powell's "Social Media: Expect the Unexpected" panel wrapped up at the Washington Athletic Club in Seattle on July 7 2009, LexBlog's Rob La Gatta spoke with Craig Bachman -- a Portland-based attorney with the firm -- about his use of social media and more.