July 2, 2009 by Kevin

Lane Powell Seattle and Portland social media programs next week

Pacific Northwest-based law firm Lane PowellSeattle social media Lane Powell Law Firm, is hosting dual Social Media seminars I'll be speaking at next week.

Billed as 'Social Media: Expect the Unexpected,' we'll be in Seattle at the Washington Athletic Club on Tuesday, July 7, and in Portland at the Portland Hilton & Executive Tower on Wednesday July 8. Running from 8 to 10 AM with 1.5 hours of CLE, topics include:

  • Social Media - What is It and Why You Need to Consider Using It; Kevin O’Keefe, CEO, LexBlog Inc.
  • Technology and Intellectual Property Issues – How to Manage Risk; Craig Bachman, Intellectual Property and Technology Attorney, Lane Powell PC
  • Issues for Public Companies and First Amendment Rights; Mike Nesteroff, Chair of Lane Powell’s Sustainability and Climate Change Team, Lane Powell PC, and Former KOMO-TV Journalist
  • Employment Issues that Follow Social Networking and Practical Guidance to Help Minimize Risk; D. Michael Reilly, Director of Lane Powell’s Labor and Employment and Employee Benefits Practice Group, Lane Powell PC
  • Panel and Audience Discussion: Sea Change or Flash in the Pan; What is Really Going on Here and Why is it Important to You and Your Company

You may register for the Portland program here and the Seattle program here. I hope to see some of you there.

Hosting social media educational programs such as this offer law firms an excellent opportunity. Not only does the firm put itself at the forefront of innovation, but large corporate audiences starved for credible information on the topic provide excellent relationship building opportunities.

I participated in an event with a Manhattan firm that brought an excellent turnout. I'm honored that Lane Powell thought enough of what I could offer to invite me for their program.

Looking to host a similar event? I'd be honored to take part.

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July 2, 2009 by Colin O'Keefe

LexBlog Law Network Roundup - 7/2/09

This week I'm saving the 'live blogs' post for last because it's really kind of incredible. There were a few lest posts than normal today, which makes sense, as I'm sure plenty of people were getting out early for the long weekend. For those still around, here's today's best posts.

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July 2, 2009 by Colin O'Keefe

Live LexBlog blogs for the week of 6/29=7/2

This was a great week: we got 10 blogs out the door in a period of 4 days, which is a new record in terms of output at LexBlog. Credit is due where it's owed -- this wouldn't have happened without the hard work of everyone involved in building and maintaining client excitement in a week that is traditionally quite slow as people gear up for a long weekend. Client services, client development, design/dev & IT all deserve a pat on the back for going the extra mile on these projects -- and others -- over the past few days. I hope everyone has an amazing holiday weekend.

 

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July 1, 2009 by Kevin

Seattle personal injury lawyer creates Facebook Fan Page for a pamphlet?

Just when you think you've seen it all from lawyers who have not a clue how to use social media or how to network through the Internet, I get this.

An email from someone apparently associated with a Seattle law firm inviting me to become a 'fan of The Ten Biggest Mistakes That Can Wreck Your Washington Accident Case on Facebook.' I'm not joking. Look at the below.

Personal injury lawyer facebook

It gets crazier. Look at this Facebook 'fan page' the lawyer posts links to. Posts such as a car accident location where a teen was injured in a rollover.

Personal Injury Lawyer on facebook

Nice. Take text from a police report or news story referencing someone's child being seriously injured with the apparent goal of getting more face time on Google or Facebook. I wonder what law school or CLE program teaches you that.

Marketing like this is why I've decided not to handover LexBlog's social media marketing to the 7th grade class at Sakai Junior High on Bainbridge Island.

Fortunately, 90% of people will see this type of stunt for what it is. An over zealous lawyer who is in over their head when it comes to social media.

Unfortunately for our profession, this type of lawyer marketing is just feeding the public's perception of lawyers as the least trust worthy of any profession. That's a shame as it means injury victims and their family members are less likely to seek help from a good plaintiff's trial lawyer - they don't trust us.

I practiced as a plaintiff's trial lawyer for the better part of 20 years. Being a board member of my state's trial lawyers' association and active in ATLA I came to know trial lawyers as some of the finest and most caring people in the world.

When I got active on the Internet while still practicing I was blown away by the opportunity trial lawyers had to show what we were made of. I answered 4 to 7 questions a day posted on AOL legal message boards by injury victims and their family members. I hosted AOL legal chat rooms a couple nights a week answering more questions.

I saw the Internet as a great equalizer for plaintiff's lawyers. Without having powerful lobbying groups and PR campaigns we could influence public opinion. Good lawyers without huge advertising budgets could get the best work by word of mouth generated by helping people. Wow!

Seeing this lawyer use Facebook like this is terribly, terribly disappointing. Maybe he's a great lawyer. Maybe he has tremendous care for injury victims and their family members. But please learn how to use the Internet and social media.

Other lawyers doing things the right way deserve better. The people we seek to protect and serve deserve better.

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July 1, 2009 by Colin O'Keefe

LexBlog Law Network Roundup - 7/1/09

Lots of good news today, a de facto Thursday for those of us who have a four day work week. For those of you who don't go to firework shows and chose to do their own, we have some tips on firework safety. We also have some analysis on what the Bernie Madoff means for the future, and not just the short term future, the next 150 years.

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June 30, 2009 by Colin O'Keefe

LexBlog Law Network Roundup - 6/30/09

Today brings more legal analysis on major news stories. We have multiple posts on Michael Jackson's estate as well a great post by Daniel Schwartz on what employers can learn from the Riccie v. DeStefano SCOTUS case.

 

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June 29, 2009 by Colin O'Keefe

LexBlog Law Network Roundup - 6/29/09

After a weekend of baseball games, rafting and extreme sunburn I'm back with another set of the day's best. I hope everyone else enjoyed their days off. Today, we have multiple posts on the Ricci v. DeStefano case in the Supreme Court. Have a look at what appears to be the most prominent legal story of the day.

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June 28, 2009 by Kevin

Lawyers ill equipped to advise on intersection of social media and copyright laws

I ran across the same shocking legal commentary as American journalist, Jeff Jarvis, this morning. Legal commentary from a judge and a lawyer who look ill equipped to counsel anyone on the future of copyright laws.

I agree with Jarvis when he posts 'First, kill the lawyers - before they kill the news.'

Following the frighteningly dangerous thinking of Judge Richard Posner - proposing rewriting copyright law to outlaw linking to and summarizing (aka talking about) news stories - now we have two more lemming lawyers following him off the cliff in a column written by the Cleveland Plain Dealer's Connie Schultz.

First note well that Schultz is married to U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown as she calls on her newspapers and employer (my former employer, Advance Publications) and fellow columnists to influence Congress to remake copyright. She should be registered as a lobbyist. No joke.

Schultz says that David Marburger, an alleged First Amendment attorney for her paper, and his economics-professor brother, Daniel, have concocted their own dangerous thinking, proposing the copyright law be changed to insist that a newspaper's story should appear only on its own web site for the first 24 hours before it can be aggregated or retold.

Incredible. So if the Plain Dealer reported exclusively that, say, the governor had just returned from a tryst with a Argentine lady, no one else could so much as talk about that for 24 hours. A First Amendment lawyer said this.

Jarvis goes on to explain how nutty thinking like Marburger's is. The death of Michael Jacksoon spread like wild fire across social media (mostly Twitter) with people linking to TMZ' report. Marburger would give TMZ an exclusive on the report for 24 hours. But TMZ is not a newspaper so they don't get the Marburger/Plain Dealer protection?

I'm not a copyright law expert representing newspapers. I don't know how copyright law issues will play out. I don't know how social media and the Internet will continue to change everything.

But actively taking part in social interaction on the net for the last 14 years (first as a practicing lawyer), blogging for the last six, and Twittering for the last couple, I wonder if I have a far better view of what's going on than some lawyers who profess to be experts on the subject.

I'm not certain anything has changed in the way news spreads. It just spreads faster. Newspapers, Radio, and TV historically broke the news. We spread the word. We told people to turn on the radio, watch TV right now, and get a copy of the newspaper. Newspapers didn't complain then when we sent them traffic and new subscribers.

Because news spreads faster we're supposed to give newspapers a monopoly on the news? That's crazy.

Jarvis makes a compelling point which lawyers advising newspapers ought to think about when counseling newspaper clients.

Schultz and the Marburgers complain about what they call the 'free-riding' of aggregators, et al. But they simply don't understand the economics of the internet. It's the newspapers that are free-riding, getting the benefit of links.

The framers of our Constitution, including the First Amendment, intended it to endure and cope with the effects of the anticipated changes of our nation.

Things have changed - changed quickly. But let's be careful when thinking of following lawyers and Judges who may not understand the nature of the change.

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June 27, 2009 by Kevin

Social media anonymity in the legal profession is a losing proposition

Social Media Networking for Lawyers Anonymity I run across a lot of 'people' in the legal profession who blog, publish websites, twitter, and the like who do so with anonymity.

The foundation of social media and social networking is trust. We share information from those we trust. We build relationships with people we trust. I have a heck of a hard time trusting people who will not tell anyone their name.

  • What are they trying to hide?
  • Are they a kid in the basement?
  • Did they do some bad stuff in their past life and are now trying to resurrect themselves by pseudonym?
  • Are they a competitor where it's only human nature to be 'on guard' when building a relationship?
  • If I cite or share their commentary and they're wrong, can't they just walk away with no damage to their name?

Those are the things that go through my mind when I see their stuff on the net. I think the average person feels the same way.

As I learned the art of blogging and blog design over the last 6 years, I found the most important link on each blog page to be the link to the 'About' page.

The most trafficked page on my blog is my About page. My 'About' page tells people who I am and why I do what I do. It's only polite when asking someone to read my content that I pay them the courtesy of telling them who I am. It allows readers to decide if I have enough 'street creds' to merit following. Readers can decide if they trust me enough to share what I have to say.

A habit of mine, going back to when I got on the net in 1996, is to first click on the 'About' section of any website. Who are these guys? What are their names? Where are their offices located? Do they have a phone number if I need to call them? What have they done in the past?

These days I go a step further, I Google individual names - whether they are the founder, principal, officer, employee, publisher, editor, reporter - whatever. I look at LinkedIn profiles. I look at who has cited them by name.

As much as any human can, I try not to be prejudiced by what I find. But in a few minutes I draw some conclusions that often stick with me for a long time. Conclusions formed by a gut decision that tells me whether I can trust this source or company.

Ask yourself who you can learn to trust more. An avatar with a company logo on Twitter? An avatar with a pseudonym for a lawyer on Twitter? Or an avatar with a person's picture accompanied by their real name?

The Internet for the legal profession is all about networking and building relationships. Relationships built through true engagement with others we grow to trust.

The law is a profession, not just any other business. Our profession is based on reliability and trust.

So while it may feel cute to be anonymous and you may get some short term buzz, it's a losing proposition in the long run. Trust me.

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June 26, 2009 by Colin O'Keefe

LexBlog Law Network Roundup - 6/26/09

Another great week comes to a close. It's a gorgeous day in Missoula and I'm going to wrap this up so I can head to a ballgame, Opening Day for the Missoula Osprey. As could be expected, we have a few posts on the legal fallout from Michael Jackson's death. Have a look and enjoy the weekend everyone.

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June 26, 2009 by Colin O'Keefe

Live LexBlog blogs for the week of 6/22-6/26

With the number of blogs we've produced over the past six years it's somewhat rare now that we launch a blog in a completely new area of law. Well, we have one this week and it is awesome. Sheppard Mullin's Law of the Level, a blog on video game law, is one of four blogs to launch this week.

  • Law of the Level is published by the lawyers and attorneys at Sheppard Mullin. This is one of many blogs the AmLaw firm has done with LexBlog. This one covers the advertising, intellectual property, litigation and patents surrounding video games.
  • Chicago attorney John Steele of The Steele Law Firm authors the Family Law Lifeline, covering topics that include adultery, marriage, alimony, mediation and child custody and support.
  • The Energy & Environmental Law Blog is updated by professionals at Vorys, a law firm with offices all over the country. This blog provides news and breaking legal developments involving the crude oil and natural gas industries, alternative and renewable energy resources, and the latest environmental issues.
  • Myrtle Beach attorney Russell W. Hall III authors the South Carolina Adoption Law Blog. He has spent the past three years narrowing his law practice from a general practice to an adoption law practice. His practice is located in Horry County along the northern coast of South Carolina
  • On top of the four blogs, we also launched a site for Burgess Consulting, which offers services in strategic planning, organization structure, leadership and management development and team interactions.

 

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June 25, 2009 by Colin O'Keefe

LexBlog Law Network Roundup - 6/25/09

This roundup comes in a little bit tardy due to the first round of the NBA Draft, as fellow LexBlogger Jared Sulzdorf and I watched his Timberwolves draft two three point guards. Wow. In other news, we have a post on the student strip-search case in the SCOTUS and a family law perspective on Jon and Kate.

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