The Practice

New Resource for Trial Attorneys

Are you a trial attorney wondering what happens after trial? Have you ever thought about an issue and said "Hmmmm....I wonder how it works on appeal?" Ever curious about what goes on at the appeal stage of a case?

If you are curious, there is an interesting new blog out by Donna Bader, An Appeal to Reason. Her topics include how appellate attorneys fit into the picture, the role of appellate attorneys and why recycling your post trial briefs is a bad idea.

This is a great resource and an interesting look into the role of the appellate attorney. Take a look at it.

Write A Book - The Right Way!

As you know, I wrote a book about Litigating MIST Cases - a type of personal injury case. Well, I did it the hard way. Okay, not the very hard way. But, a hard way. I just found out there is a better way. You can publish a book without tearing out your hair. (Okay, I admit it. I have no hair to tear out!!)

Anne Loehr is an executive coach, speaker and author. She published her book, "A Manager's Guide to Coaching" (by American Management Association) in the arguably record time of 6 months. She learned a lot along the way, and now she's teaching a one-on-one course for others who want to take a shorter route along the rocky road of publication.

Anne is teaching the 10-week course to help you capture an agent's attention, get the right endorsements, and grab attention for your new book. Price is $1,500. Mention you saw it here and get 15 percent off (take the course for $1,200). Read about the entire training package that Anne offers.

A discount. Imagine that. Hey wait, I keep giving you guys information on discounts. By the way, publishing a book fits in well with Ben Glass' Great Legal Marketing!

Great new advertising firm

I came across a great new advertising firm in California. Well, new to me. But, the founder has over 25 years of experience. From his website:

Hipnotic Inc is a full service advertising, design and marketing firm located in Santa Monica, CA. We provide integrated solutions for web, print, multi-media and broadcast. With 25 years of award-winning work and experience we have the knowledge and ability to create outstanding ideas and execute them across all mediums.

His list of past and current clients is impressive. And you will see from his other projects how he can help you build a message.

Put Gary Alpern's design expertise in conjunction with Ben Glass' marketing program and you have a sure fire way to make sure you stand out in your field and get the clients you want!

Jump Start 2008

Ben Glass of Great Legal Marketing fame is having a conference in January in Fairfax, VA. Jump Start 2008 is going to help you learn to take control of your law practice and make it so your law practice will serve you instead of you serving your law practice.

Ben, as you know, is the creator of GLM, the system I use to market my practice. His methods work. He will teach you how to make your practice a tool to help you instead of you being a slave to the practice. I wish I could make it, but alas, it is three days before a scheduled trial and someone has to keep the bad guys at bay, right?

If you go, and you should, let me know what you think.

Top 25 + 1 more! (Plus some books)

I can't believe I left AccessLaw off my list. Thankfully, Julie Goren of Litigation By the Numbers reminded me.

By the way, if I were putting together a list of books you need, I would tell you that you need:

1. Litigation By the Numbers;
2. Rules of the Road;
3. Ball On Damages;
4. Ben Glass' Great Legal Marketing (not really a book, but reading materials).

Enjoy!

Secretaries, Oh My

Why am I not a big fan of legal secretaries? Because they get in the way. Oh, don't get me wrong. A good secretary is worth her weight in gold. The key word here, however, is good. And those are hard to find.

Not only are good legal secretaries hard to find, but a legal secretary can get in the way of communication. You see, if I want to invite someone to lunch, I pick up the phone and call. It is pretty easy. However, there are many attorneys, and I mean many, who tell their secretary to call.

Great, so you say you want to take me to lunch, but you can't spend the 5 minutes setting up the appointment yourself? You send someone else to do it. What does that say to me? It says - in loud words - "I want to talk to you, but not that badly."

If you must have a secretary, find a good one. And let her do him/her do his/her job. But do not let him/her get in the way of you doing your job and communicating with people. After all, attorneys are communicators!

Congrats to a Marketing Guru!

Ben Glass of Great Legal Marketing fame has been selected by the Information Marketing Association for inclusion in its new book, The Official Get Rich Guide to Information Marketing.

For those of you who do not know, Ben has created what is, in my opinion, the best legal marketing program for personal injury attorneys. But, don't stop reading if you are not a PI attorney. I have successfully used Ben's program to market my debt collection practice. Ben's program works.

Give it a peek and remember to congratulate Ben on this accomplishment!

My top 25

No, I am not going to give you my top 25 college football teams this year. (Although, I do think USC should still be #1 and LSU #2, but I also don't think they should release a preseason top 25 since no one knows how good anyone will be until they play a game. But, that is for another post.)

I just got back from Anaheim and the California State Bar annual meeting. I gave a CLE program on technology and the law firm. In doing so, I prepared a list of 25 programs you should have for your firm. Here they are, in no particular order:

1. Audacity
2. Mirra Personal Server
3. Adobe Acrobat Pro 8.0
4. Webex
5. ProDoc
6. Basecamp
7. Verizon EVDO
8. Paperport Pro
9. Logmein.com or Gotomypc.com or gotomeeting.com
10. Dragon 9.0
11. Skype
12. DepoSmart
13. Scanner
14. Dual monitors
15. Listserves
16. Etran manager from RealLegal
17. Snagit
18. Copernic Desktop
19. Google earth, Myspace, Friendster, Google, Zillow
20. Cybersecretary (www.speakwrite.com)
21. Accurint
22. TimeMap and TextMap
23. Stamps.com
24. Ureach/efax
25. Activewords

Let me know what you think is missing. But, this list is what I think you need, after spending quite a bit of time last week researching this.

Buy Party of the First Part

I just found out that my friend Lisa Solomon over at The Billable Hour now has Party of the First Part for sale! (You do remember my prior post, right?)

Now, if you don't subscribe to Lisa's newsletter, this is a good time to do so. The Billable Hour has a lot of great information, resources, and humorous lawyer gifts.

Of course, don't forget to visit Lisa's practice website for all of your legal research and writing needs. And trust me, she writes in such a way that even Mr. Freedman, author of "Party of the First Part" would appreciate. Clear, concise and in plain English!

Great New Book: The Party of the First Part

I just finished reading this new book from Adam Freedman. He is the "Legal Lingo" columnist for the New York Law Journal Magazine and author of the website by the same name as the book.

This is a great, quick read. The book provides a history of legal terms that you use everyday in your law practice. He then provides a plain English meaning of these words. What a relief! I wish I had this when I was in law school.

Interestingly, I think the book will also help you be a better writer. I know I try to avoid legalese at all costs in my writing. But, I know some gets left in. After reading this book, I am going to redouble my efforts to get all of that nonsense out of there whenever possible.

Go out there and give the book a read. And post a review here.