The Practice

An Open Letter to the State Bar Board of Governors

Lawyer misconduct charges will go online because of your vote. You, who were voted in by the members of the State Bar to represent our interests, have completely ignored the interests of your members. As the California Bar Journal stated “The board… rejected opposition to online postings by the majority of those who contacted the bar about the proposal.” It is a shame that you have taken such an approach and ignored the majority of your constituents.

You have, with one vote, managed to place access to legal services to the most needy of our population at risk. It is quite simple. Sole practitioners, especially those of us who practice social justice law, provide access to the legal system that is vital in a democratic system. My clients, for example, cannot afford to hire Mr. Bleich’s firm or Ms. Fujie’s firm. Even the 3% of attorney time that Mr. Bleich’s firm spends on pro-bono time is a drop in the bucket compared to the legal work done by sole practitioners and small firm attorneys throughout the state When we honestly analyze the legal system, we see that small firm attorneys provide most of the legal work to most Californians (and most Americans, nationwide).

Of course, who is more likely to have a complaint filed against him? The attorney in the 100+ lawyer firm who represents the nation’s biggest companies, or the sole practitioner representing individuals? In law firms with a managing partner, the complaint moves up the chain of command to be resolved. For the sole practitioner, there is no one else to call. Further, the corporate clients don’t need to file complaints, they just pull their million dollars plus of legal work. The individual clients file complaints more often. This is played out in the back of the California Bar Journal where the discipline reads like a list of individuals making complaints against other individuals, not corporations complaining that mega law firms are violating the ethics rules. Sole practitioners, the very people who provide most of the legal services to individuals, face most of the complaints.

And how does a sole practitioner compete against the big firms? What is the best marketing for a small firm or a solo? Word of mouth. Reputation. My clients hire me because they have been told that I am good at what I do. They have found out, through a variety of sources, that I am an honest, ethical, hard working attorney. Of course, one resource is the State Bar website. This is how most small firm lawyers and sole practitioners get their work.

But, what happens if the State Bar decides to bring charges against a sole practitioner? The reputation that the attorney worked so hard for is gone with just a few keystrokes. Sometimes it will be deserved. Sometimes it won’t. The eight percent figure cited in the California Bar Journal (although other sources put the number higher) when the Bar does not prevail represents a fair number of attorneys whose reputations will have been wrongly sullied by your new system. While Mr. Bleich believes “Charges are just that,” innocent until proven guilty has no meaning to the general public who will assume you are like the US Attorney with dog fighting charges – you never are wrong. Reputations will be ruined before one word has been uttered to the

State Bar Court

. You won’t need to wait for an attorney to fight the charges, just the bringing of charges will put the sole practitioner out of business.

Interestingly, Scott Drexel, chief trial counsel, “wondered aloud if people ‘want ready access’ to disciplinary information when they hire a lawyer. ‘I think the answer has to be yes,’ he said.” Mr. Drexel is WONDERING this when a vote is pending. Instead of wondering about whether the public wants this information and instead of thinking he knows the answer, why did the Bar not follow the lead of the board members who wanted more time to study the issue? A simple survey, which the Bar has done many times before, would have made it so Mr. Drexel does not have to wonder what information the public wants, but would rather have provided a firm answer as to what the public wants. This issue is too important for wondering or guessing. I wonder what Mr. Drexel would say if the California Legislature wondered if the public would like the Bar to be dissolved and voted based on their musings and not based on facts. I think the answer is he would not like votes based on wondering.

I spent three years volunteering on the board of CYLA. I have continued to offer my assistance to CYLA. I understand the commitment board members make – not just in time, but in family sacrifices. And I generally appreciate it. However, every board member who voted for this proposal should be ashamed. You have ignored the members of the Bar and you have put legal services to most Californians at risk. Why would any attorney want to open a law firm in a day and age when it is clear that the Board of Governors cares nothing about the sole practitioner or small firm attorney? Maybe its time that the Board composition be changed to more accurately reflect the membership of the Bar and the big firm attorneys be replaced by those of us who understand the needs of the majority of members of the State Bar?

Sincerely,

Jonathan

Nickel and Dimed

This is simple. If you want to know how most of your clients live and work, read this book by Barbara Ehrenreich. Barbara spent months living in Key West, Maine and Minnesota working for just above minimum wage and living like her coworkers, in weekly motels or low income housing.

It would be nice if none of our clients lived that way. But, they do. And the fact is that you need to be able to relate to these people. While this book is not going to tell you everything, it does give fascinating insight into the lives of those less fortunate than us.

New Marketing Email List

I have a new product for you, but its free. Who can complain about free?

For the last several years, I was running a marketing list with limited membership. That list will stay that way. But, due to popular demand, I am opening up a second list to anyone who wants to join. And what will it cost? Nothing. That's right - here is an opportunity to share marketing ideas with other attorneys and learn what has worked, what hasn't worked and what may work. And all it takes is signing up.

Click to join sololawyermarketing

Come join my list.  And tell your friends to join as well.

An Open Letter to TheLaw.net

I get that companies need to market and advertise. However, I don't get spam. I especially do not get spam when I just asked to be taken off of their list on Monday and sent a letter to their president. So, now, here is my letter to him. Maybe some public humiliation and shame will get them to stop spamming people. (Nope, it is not just me. Others have contacted me about them as well.)

Dear Mr. Whitney:

Recently, an attorney contacted me for support on how to get rid of spammers who do not follow their own policies. I felt like it was a beautiful day, the sun beat down.

In less than one minute, I could answer the question "Who are you?" Yes, I knew it was TheLaw.net. Of course, I did not know that TheLaw had its own website. I was curious if the dictionary, the antonym, and the synonym also had their own websites. Surprisingly, they do. Suddenly, the Al Gore created place for information has been overrun by various parts of language.

Using the Veg-O-Matic and Mr. Microphone, I attempted to build a local list of people who hated parts of the English language owning domains as much as me. It turns out that when sorted by Billy Mays and James Dyson, the biggest turn off was people who took these domain names and then tried to make themselves sound important.

Of course, unlike some people, you do not claim to be a "head guru," however, it is my understanding that you may be overrun by the delightful kids from down the lane. In that case, a call to Numbuh One should be sufficient to resolve your problems. In fact, I am guessing that the trouble is not with tribbles, but that the tribbles caused the trouble. At least if that were the case, you could say you were not violating CAN-SPAM, but you may still have a problem with a tasty snack that you may eat too much of and then throw up.

Hence, my suggestion would be to develop a new SMARTMarketing strategy. I would highly recommend you look into it.

Jonathan

PS Look for the pop culture references!

Are different testing requirements unconstitutional?

A graduate from the University of Oklahoma law school has sued the Wisconsin Bar. His problem? Wisconsin requires out of state law school graduates to take a test and allows in state students to become members without taking an exam.

Hey, news flash. Every state does something like this. In California, some students have to take a "baby bar." Some states let you waive in if you are admitted elsewhere and make you test in if you come from other states. And its not just the bar exam.

States are allowed to regulate the practice of law. There is no constitutional requirement that every person be treated the same. However, this is a great example of how lawyers, or law students, look at the extreme of a situation.

If you want to practice in a state, check the requirements BEFORE you go to law school.

Solosez

I have written in the past about Solosez and how it can be a great resource. I took some time away from Solosez, but am back on it now. What benefits do you get from solosez? Here are my top 5:

1. Friends. I have met a lot of good friends on solosez. Its always a good thing!
2. Learning new practice areas. There are a lot of posts, but you can always pick up something in a new practice area. Or, if you have started a new practice area, there is someone who will have tips to help you.
3. A virtual water cooler. Okay, so this may not always be a positive, but you do get a chance to talk about current events, jokes, etc... just like if you had colleagues in an office. Of course, if you read too many of these, you may not get your work done.
4. Service provider locator. You can find an expert or a process server anywhere in the country (and probably the world) with a short post to solosez.
5. Technology abounds. The folks on Solosez have more ideas about technology and how to use it than any other group I have been around. You may need to even get out a book on technology to understand some of what they talk about!

Solosez is not perfect. But, if you are a sole practitioner, it is a good way for you to get up to speed, make some contacts and provide a service to your clients by expanding your capabilities.

The Video Venue

WOW! Lisa Solomon is at it again. I am waiting for her to write a book on how to practice law AND run a side business or three. Here is Lisa's latest: The Video Venue!

The Video Venue, a new niche video website featuring humorous law-related videos, is hosting a contest to name the funniest legal video on the web. The Billable Hour Company, which sells humorous gifts and greeting cards for lawyers and legal professionals, operates The Video Venue and is sponsoring the contest.

The Video Venue, at www.video.thebillablehour.com, aggregates funny law-related videos from various web video sites (including YouTube, Revver and Google Video, among others). Videos are grouped into playlists organized by topic (such as law school, jury duty, court reporters and paralegals), practice area (such as contracts, torts and criminal law) and type of video (such as music, movie clips and commercials). Site visitors can also create their own playlists to personalize their viewing experience.

"So many of the law-related videos on sites like YouTube just bash lawyers," observes Billable Hour Company partner Mark Solomon. "But The Billable Hour Company’s success has proved that lawyers and legal professionals appreciate content—like the articles and poems featured in The Timesheet (our monthly e-newsletter)—and products—like our greeting cards and our CDs by groups with names like the Bar & Grill Singers and Bob Noone & the Well Hung Jury—that find humor in the law without attacking lawyers. That’s what TVV is all about." Solomon and his partner, Lisa Solomon, are both practicing lawyers as well as entrepreneurs.

Visitors can contribute to the site by suggesting videos that are already posted on the web, uploading videos, or even recording webcam videos. The Solomons review all submitted videos for content and quality before the videos are posted to TVV.

The widget can even be configured to display videos from a specified playlist. Tech-savvy lawyers can follow the site in their feed readers by subscribing to its main feed (for all recently added videos), or to feeds for individual playlists.

To encourage visitors to The Video Venue to actively participate in making TVV the best site for law-related videos on the web, the site is running a contest to name the funniest legal video on the web. The winner will receive a $50 Billable Hour Company gift certificate.

Site visitors can enter the TVV Funniest Legal Video on the Web contest by posting a video, or reviewing, commenting or tagging any video already on the site. One participating TVV community member will be chosen at random to win a $50 Billable Hour Company gift certificate. The highest rated video will be featured in the Timesheet as February's Video of the Month.

The contest runs through January 31. The winner will be announced in the February issue of The Timesheet.

A fun end to the year

Okay, for those of you who know me well, this is par for the course. For the rest of you, just go with it.

December 8, 2007 I will be having a little wager for charity. I bet I can eat a 12 egg cheese and olive omelet. How sure am I that I can do it? It will be videotaped. Want to see it? The cost of the videotape is a donation to the charity of my choice. If I don’t, I pay whatever you have put up to the charity. So far, I am over $300. I want to hit $500.

The Charity: Guiding

Hands

School

, a non-public school for special needs children in the

Sacramento

area. You can read more here.

Any takers? Email me and let me know.

If you are in Sacramento........

or Northern California anywhere, stop by the 2nd Annual Regional ATA Tae Kwon Do Tournament at Cosumnes River College. The tournament is run by Kevin Durant at KJ's ATA Black Belt Academy and is being sponsored in part by the Law Offices of Jonathan G. Stein. If you are around, stop by and say hi.

Great new blog

I like outside the box thinking. Outside the box marketing works. Outside the box soccer. Outside the box anything.

Well, here is an outside the box blog from an attorney. New York attorney Richard Jaffe has a new blog. It is a very good read. I highly recommend you take a look.