The Practice

You MUST read this

I am not a fan of providing links to other sites. You know that by now. But, this is one I have to provide.

My friend Grant Griffiths and Michael Sherman of the Alabam Family Law Blog are creating a program to walk solos through creating, launching, marketing and maintaining a blog. It is like Vince Lombardi teaching you how to coach a football team!

Oh, and the best part: Grant will be at the California State Bar Annual Meeting in September giving a CLE program on Web 2.0 and blogging. You will be able to hear from him, ask questions, and if I am right, and I think I am, Grant will probably stay and keep talking about this and answering questions until everyone has had a chance.

Happy Fathers Day

Happy Fathers Day to all the dad's out there. And, make sure you spend some quality time talking to dad today.

Free Marketing Tip: LawGuru

I have written about it before, but I think it bears repeating. Lawguru is a great way to get some free marketing and provide a service.

How it works: You sign up with Lawguru and provide a profile. You list the practice areas for which you can answer questions. People with legal questions post the questions and then they are emailed to you. If you want to answer it, great. Click the link and you can give an answer. If you don't want to answer it, just delete the email.

The benefits are numerous. First, you are helping people who generally have basic questions like where they can find a form or how long the statute of limitations is for an issue. Second, you get to see what areas of the law people are talking about. This is great if you are a blogger because it can give you an idea about topics for your blog. (This also works if you have a newsletter and need to fill it up.) Third, you get people reading your answers. I have somewhere around 40 people, on average, who read my answers. (They don't give you the specifics, but they do track how many questions you have answered and how many people have read your answers. Do some simple math.) Fourth, you may get a client out of it. I am contacted two to three times per week by people who read my answer and want a consultation. Not bad.

The downside: you will see a lot of attorneys who say "You need an attorney. Call me." That is not so helpful to the consumer. As long as you avoid this trap, you should be fine.

Check out Lawguru and see if it works for you.

Credit Cards: The Debate Continues

Okay, so you either take credit cards or you do not. Simple enough proposition. Either you think it helps your practice or you think it is more trouble than it is worth.

Well, the fine folks (and I mean that) at the State Bar of California have come out with an ethics opinion, 2007-172, about credit cards. Read it, digest it, and if you are in California, read this month's California Bar Journal where it is discussed in an MCLE segment.

Now, decide for yourself. (Oh, and for the record, I have no official opinion, but wanted to provide this information.)

Practical Advice

No, not practical advice from me. I give you enough of that. But, practical advice TO people.

See, the law is a framework with which to resolve problems. But, too many lawyers get caught up in the law. What happened to practical advice?

For example, if someone comes to you over a $1,200 dispute, you may know that legally they are right. But, if they will spend $5,000 to collect $1,200, does the law really matter? Are you going to tell the client that they are right and you should sue to collect $1,200? Or, are you going to be practical and say "Look, you can collect your $1,200 but it will cost you $5,000. That just doesn't make sense to me."

Part of being an attorney is giving advice to your client. Make sure you give practical advice, even if it means not getting a client. In the long run, it will pay off.

Breast Cancer 3 day walk

As regular readers know, I believe strongly in giving back to the community. I encouraged you to give to Rick Reilly's Nets program for kids in Africa, donate to the Law School Consortium Project, and other projects.

This one is a bit more close to home. My wife will be participating in the Susan G. Komen 3 day walk in San Diego in November. My mom is a breast cancer survivor, having beaten twice, but it came back last year for a 3rd time. The prognosis on the 3rd time is not as good. My mom is still with us, thankfully.

I know how many people read this blog every day. I know how many people were coming here even when I was not posting. If everyone gave $10, the goal of $2,200 would be blown away. Think about the good that could do and the lives that may be able to be saved one day when we get a cure for this horrible cancer. 

Want to write articles?

Are you looking to expand your list of articles you have written? Here is a chance:

A new magazine entitled Plaintiff is coming to Northern California!  Plaintiff will be launched in July 2007 and will reach over 5,000 plaintiffs’ attorneys.  We are currently seeking articles that are informative, thought-provoking and of interest to plaintiffs’ attorneys.  Please check us out at www.plaintiffmagazine.com.  We welcome your submissions and are willing to work with interested authors. 

I have talked to one of the people involved, Donna Bader, and they seem to have a great idea going. Take a look at it.

Lawyer Ratings

So there is a new company out that claims it can rate lawyers. The website, which I hate to give because I don't want them to get traffic, is Avvo.

Okay, so if I have to give it, why am I giving it?  Well, first, I think every attorney needs to look himself or herself up. Apparently, they are missing some people and list some other people as deceased even though they are not. OOPS! That's a problem.

Second, I think we need to discuss attorney ratings. As far as I can tell, Avvo uses your discipline record, or lack thereof, and your years in practice to rank lawyers. I get a 5.6 on a scale of 1 to 10. I assume this is because I have only been licensed four years. Of course, Avvo, in its infinite wisdom, can't seem to figure out that I have 9 years as an adjuster before that. So, at least in PI work, I am more experienced than people who have been practicing longer than I have. (Interestingly, as any adjuster will tell you, an adjuster handles more claims in a month than most PI attorneys handle in a year.)

But, beyond that, can someone please explain to me the relationship between number of years in practice and a lawyer rating? Because someone has been practicing 10 years, that makes them better than someone who has been practicing 5 years? I guess they have more experience, but does that make the 10 year guy a better lawyer than the 5 year guy? What if the 10 year guy spent 10 years at big law doing research and not actually litigating cases? Would someone still claim the 10 year guy is better?

This is another attempt by computer people to take the human element out of life. What makes a good attorney cannot be quantified by a computer program. A good attorney has elements that a computer, and apparently computer programmers, do not understand. This looks like an effort by a bunch of tech guys to make money by selling a rating system that, in my opinion, just doesn't work. The public will probably look at it at some point in time (although I doubt it ever catches on to be the next big thing) which is why you need to make sure your information is correct. After that, don't give it another thought. I know I won't.

Oh, and by the way, if the Avvo guys want to debate this idea with me, just let me know.

Angels fly........

because they take themselves lightly. At least, that is what The Razor on KNBR tells us at the end of every show. Attorneys, on the other hand, sink because they take themselves too seriously.

Face it, most of us are not dealing with life or death issues. Sure, we may be dealing with a client who was injured. Or a contract dispute. Or an employment matter. But, most of our clients are not going to die over what we do.

I have two cases that I can think of where opposing counsel apparently thinks that this is a case of such great importance that they need to be a*******. I don't get it. They are disputes about money. That's it. Either they win money or I win money. End of story. What is so important about money? Sure, it helps, but its just money.

Remember not to take this too seriously. It is important, but it is not life and death.

I'm back

WOW! It has been almost  4 months. But, I had to drop something and this had to be dropped. Where was I? Practicing law. Playing husband. Being a father. Living life.

I won't go into too many details here. But, my oldest son was diagnosed with Autism almost two years ago. I have fought for him to get the services he needs. In February, I had to take a step back. I went most of the month without doing much legal work. I put out fires, but stopped marketing, stopped doing everything that was not necessary.

I spent a lot of time yelling. I know, lawyer shouldn't yell. I should know how to deal with situations without yelling. Let me tell you something, there is a time and a place to yell. Sure, not at the judge. Not at opposing counsel. Definately not at your client.

But, remember that you should not be defined as a lawyer. You are a person. You are a father, a mother, a brother, a son. You are a friend. And, you are an advocate. Not a lawyer, but an advocate.

I spent a lot of the last 4 months being an advocate. An advocate for my son to get the treatment he needed. An advocate to get my family what we needed. An advocate for my wife to get what she needed, even when it was more of me. An advocate for my two younger sons who sometimes just needed breakfast with mommy and daddy.

And, an advocate has to have many tools in his arsenal. The power of reason. The power of the brain. The power of the written word. The power of speech. And yes, the power of being loud. Sometimes, you can try logic, reason, writing, and being very nice to people. But, at the end of the day, you sometimes just need to yell. It may get you what you want, or need, and sometimes it just feels right.

So, after that, I am back. I am going to post less often than I used to post. I am trying to get things back on track with my practice. I am trying to keep things in perspective.

Let me know what you want to hear from me. Let me know what ideas you have.