January 27, 2012 by Colin O'Keefe

New blogs joining the LexBlog Network for the week of 1/23-1/27

Another week flies by and it's once again time to look back at the publications joining the LexBlog Network. We have one firm giving their blog a new look and a new name while another launches their first on the LexBlog Network. And, again, be sure to follow along on LXBN as we cover LegalTech New York next week.

  • The excellent Tough Times for Lenders, a Winstead publication, is now Lenders360. Providing news, information and commentary on important issues affecting the financial services industry, the publication is authored by  leading attorneys who serve mid- to large-sized, with Keith Mullen as the lead writer.
  • The Washington Estate Planning & Dispute Resolution Advisor, is published by Tim Burkart of Seattle-based Kutscher Hereford Bertram Burkart. We always pride ourselves on having some of the best lawyers out there on The LexBlog Network, and Burkart fits the bill, as he was selected by his peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America in the area of Trusts and Estates, The Best Lawyers in Washington by Seattle Business Magazine and Best Lawyers in the Puget Sound by the Puget Sound Business Journal.
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January 27, 2012 by Kevin O'Keefe

Twitter to censor content by country

yoshiffles via FlickrAs reported by the Wall Street Journal's Loretta Chao (@lorettac) and Amir Efrati (@Amir_Efrati), Twitter is going to exercise Twitter's ability to to withhold content from users in a specific countries while keeping it available to the rest of the world.

The effort underscores thorny issues for Internet companies as their websites become more global and interconnected among different countries, and as they must cooperate with diverse views on Internet content control. For websites like Twitter as well as social-networking site Facebook, this has meant being blocked in countries like China where controls are more aggressive.
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Twitter has been blocked for more than two years in China by Web filtering technology. Some loyal users use circumvention tools to access the website, but most microblogging users in China now use Chinese services, including by Sina Corp. and Tencent Holdings Ltd. Some loyal users use circumvention tools to access the website, but most microblogging users in China now use Chinese services, including by Sina Corp. and Tencent Holdings Ltd.

These websites have grown quickly and collectively have hundreds of millions of user accounts, despite censoring content, and new regulations that require users to register for their services using real-names.These websites have grown quickly and collectively have hundreds of millions of user accounts, despite censoring content, and new regulations that require users to register for their services using real-names.

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As [Twitter] expands elsewhere, the company will have to comply with local law or its employees could potentially face prosecution or other legal action.

Twitter acknowledges the dilemma it faces in what is going to be viewed by many as censorship. From Twitter's blog yesterday on withholding content by country:

One year ago, we posted "The Tweets Must Flow," in which we said,

“The open exchange of information can have a positive global impact … almost every country in the world agrees that freedom of expression is a human right. Many countries also agree that freedom of expression carries with it responsibilities and has limits.”

As we continue to grow internationally, we will enter countries that have different ideas about the contours of freedom of expression. Some differ so much from our ideas that we will not be able to exist there. Others are similar but, for historical or cultural reasons, restrict certain types of content, such as France or Germany, which ban pro-Nazi content.

Until now, the only way we could take account of those countries’ limits was to remove content globally. Starting today, we give ourselves the ability to reactively withhold content from users in a specific country — while keeping it available in the rest of the world. We have also built in a way to communicate transparently to users when content is withheld, and why.

We haven’t yet used this ability, but if and when we are required to withhold a Tweet in a specific country, we will attempt to let the user know, and we will clearly mark when the content has been withheld. As part of that transparency, we’ve expanded our partnership with Chilling Effects to share this new page, http://chillingeffects.org/twitter, which makes it easier to find notices related to Twitter.

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One of our core values as a company is to defend and respect each user’s voice. We try to keep content up wherever and whenever we can, and we will be transparent with users when we can't. The Tweets must continue to flow.

We've got a real clash here between the need for Twitter as an indispensable communication tool for people around the world, and the free speech that comes with it, and Twitter's need to grow in markets that don't condone free speech.

As Chao and Efrati report, "Twitter has been instrumental in helping people to organize revolutionary or political protests in countries such as Egypt, Tunisia, the U.K. and U.S."

While China, the largest market in the world, is going to all it can to prevent an Egypt.

China has more Internet users than any other nation. Local Web firms in China employ dozens or hundreds of staff to police user-generated content daily, and are required by law to take down a frequently updated list of banned keywords for varying lengths of time, including those related to calls for peaceful political action.

Though no one expects China to allow Twitter overnight, Twitter appears to be working with China, to some extent, just as Google has.

By limiting content by country, Twitter can also address the issue of whether it should be shutting down the Twitter accounts of terrorists, as I have blogged about earlier.

Twitter CEO Dick Costolo has stated that the company is "the free speech wing of the free speech party," but we're seeing censorship creeping in so that Twitter can expand to more markets while by not being blocked or running afoul of criminal laws.

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January 27, 2012 by Kevin O'Keefe

I will be in NYC next week : Welcome meeting you

New York City OKeefeI'll be New York City next week, Sunday the 29th, evening through Friday, February the 3rd, afternoon.

LexBlog, as a marketing partner of ALM's, is providing coverage of ALM's LegalTech Show on our LXBN Network.

I'll also be talking to law firms at LegalTech about the effective use of social media as well as meeting with a number of our New York law firm clients and prospective clients. LexBlog currently works with over one-third of the AmLaw 200 law firms, most of whom have offices in New York. So New York is always an enjoyable place to visit.

While in town, I want to make myself available to law firm leaders and other business professionals who may be interested in discussing how firms are using blogs and other social media as an effective means of client development.

If you are interested in getting together, I will be around the LegalTech Show at the Hilton on Monday and Tuesday. Wednesday through Friday, I'm available most of the day to visit your office or meet for coffee or a meal.

I am not there to sell anyone on anything. I've been a lawyer for 30 years. Both my company, LexBlog, and I have a reputation for helping lawyers and law firms. Networking through the Internet is not about technology. It's about how we as good lawyers have always gotten legal work. By building relationships and by word of mouth. I'm committed to helping lawyers understand that and improving the image of our profession at the same time.

Here's my email and my cell (206 321 3627) to reach me.

Have a great weekend and look forward to seeing some of you next week.

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January 26, 2012 by Colin O'Keefe

Best in Law Blogs : The LexBlog Network : January 26, 2012

The NLRB is once again chiming in on social media and Jason Shinn has his thoughts on their second official advisory report on the subject. Also, again, we have LegalTech New York coverage on LXBN; here's Charlie Magliato of Biscom on data breaches and the many challenges surrounding data transfers in the legal industry.

For more of the best, check out LXBN, a complete review of the top insight and commentary across the LexBlog Network.

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January 26, 2012 by Kevin O'Keefe

ABA Committee : State ethics rules on advertising may not apply to blogs and social networking

ABA American Bar Association The ABA Standing Committee on the Delivery of Legal Services is proposing changes to the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct (pdf) to take into account, among other things, the status of law blogs and social networks.

Rule 7.1 (Attorney Advertising) and Comment 1 to the rule currently provide:

A lawyer shall not make a false or misleading communication about the lawyer or the lawyer's services. A communication is false or misleading if it contains a material misrepresentation of fact or law, or omits a fact necessary to make the statement considered as a whole not materially misleading.

Comment [1] : This Rule governs all communications about a lawyer's services, including advertising permitted by Rule 7.2. Whatever means are used by a lawyer to communicate with a potential client about the lawyer or the lawyer's services to make known a lawyer's services, statements about them must be truthful.

The Committee is recommending the following changes:

A lawyer shall not make a false or misleading communication to a potential client about the lawyer or the lawyer's services. A communication is false or misleading if it contains a material misrepresentation of fact or law, or omits a fact necessary to make the statement considered as a whole not materially misleading.

Comment [1] : This Rule governs all communications about a lawyer's services, including advertising permitted by Rule 7.2. Whatever means are used by a lawyer to communicate with a potential client about the lawyer or the lawyer's services to make known a lawyer's services, statements about them must be truthful.

One reason for the proposed change is that the Virginia Bar recently initiated disciplinary action against a lawyer who blogs about cases he handles under a section entitled, "This Week in Richmond Criminal Defense."

Let alone the issues raised by blogging about pending cases, the Virginia Bar found that Rule 7.1 applies and the communications in the blog are de-facto misleading unless the lawyer complies with the disclaimer obligations imposed by the state for lawyer advertisements.

The Committee believes the Rule and Comments invite overreaching by states.

Even though the details of the commercial speech doctrine may be best left out of the Rule and Comments, the concept should not be ignored. The Committee is concerned that the breadth of the Comment as now written may exceed the state's constitutional authority to impose limits on a lawyer's free speech. It is long-standing constitutional doctrine that states may impose limitations on commercial speech, including prohibitions of false or misleading statements.

However, those limitations are confined to commercial speech and are not likely to be deemed as broad as "all communications about a lawyer's services." Commercial speech is defined as that which "beckons business" or "proposes a commercial transaction." In fact, at least one case has held that the state lacks the right to impose limitations on a lawyer's newspaper advertisement
when the content of the communication is political discourse and not commercial speech.

And that overreaching is particularly problematic in the case of blogs and social network sites.

This issue is again accentuated with the use of blogs and social networking by lawyers, where political discourse appears to be increasingly common. The Committee believes this issue is effectively addressed by amendment to the Rule that clarifies the Rule's application is limited to communications directed to a potential client.

Any misleading communication made to other than a potential client, subjects the lawyer to discipline under Rule 8.4(c). (misconduct for a lawyer to engage in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation)

It's interesting to see that the ABA, rather than creating new ethics rules to cover blogging and social networking, is reigning in the application of existing rules.

This makes a lot of sense in that the existing rules are more than sufficient to cover an attorney's use of blogs and social networking. As was the case of the telephone, we don't need new rules each time there's a change in the technology being used by attorneys.

No question many lawyers are using blogs for business development. They're blogging to get new clients. Arguably if the lawyer's blog does not "beckon business" or "propose a commercial transaction," lawyer advertising rules, as outlined above, would not apply.

It's analogous to the case where a Texas lawyer's advertisement in the newspaper, though done with the intent to get exposure and clients, did not on the face beckon or solicit new business. The court there held it's not the intent of the lawyer which governs, but the actual text.

In the case of law blogs, if you are including your contact info and/or describing the services you perform, it's advisable to conclude that your state's ethics rules as they pertain to advertising would apply.

That's not a big deal in most cases as that will require you not to say anything misleading and, in some states, to include the phrase 'attorney advertising' in the footer of your blog.

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January 25, 2012 by Kevin O'Keefe

Law blogs influence in-house counsel decisions on which law firm to hire : Survey reports

The 2012 In-House Counsel New Media Engagement Survey conducted by Greentarget, a strategic communications firm, InsideCounsel, a magazine serving general counsel, and the Zeughauser Group, legal industry consultants, includes powerful evidence on the impact of law blogs.

Blogs, Executed Well, Influence Hiring of Outside Counsel: Seventy-six percent of respondents say they attribute some level of importance to a lawyer’s blog when deciding which firms to retain. Additionally, the percentage of respondents who say a law firm’s blog can influence hiring decisions went up slightly, from 50 percent in 2010 to 55 percent in 2012.

Client-Side Counsel Prefer Firm-Branded Blogs: Survey respondents indicated they read blogs written by firms slightly more often than they read blogs penned by journalists. In-house counsel also perceive blogs as credible (84%).

This from the executive summary of the report released today.

In addition, the generational divide evident in the 2010 In-House Counsel New Media Engagement Survey is disappearing. In-house lawyers in their 40s, 50s, and 60s are now consuming information via blogs and other social media.

More on the report in upcoming blog posts. For now, know that a law firm's investment in blogs - done well - is well spent.

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January 25, 2012 by Colin O'Keefe

Best in Law Blogs : The LexBlog Network : January 25, 2012

Wednesday was another big day on the LexBlog Network as we hit a whopping 173 posts for the day. Also, if you're at all interested in the details of the Costa Concordia shipwreck, really make sure you check out Cruise Law News—besides the post below, Jim Walker also has a recording of a ridiculous call between the captain and the coast guard up on the blog today. Also, Vladimir Gagic has an excellent post today on the subject as well. And, lastly—whew, long intro—if you haven't already, take a peak at the LegalTech New York coverage we have going on over at LXBN.

For more of the best, check out LXBN, a complete review of the top insight and commentary across the LexBlog Network.

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January 25, 2012 by Colin O'Keefe

LexBlog kicks off its LegalTech New York coverage over on LXBN

I am excited to announce LexBlog's extended coverage of LegalTech New York 2012 is off and running over on LXBN, with a LegalTech channel that will feature curated blog posts and video interviews with of presenters, exhibitors and attendees.

To get things started, we begin with remote Skype interviews like those you've already seen on LXBN TV. To start things, here's Henry Dicker, Vice President of Events at ALM and Director of LegalTech on the conference's excellent trio of keynotes, the wide range of exhibitors and plethora of free educational opportunities.

Along with that, I also got to speak to a few LegalTech exhibitors:

For more videos with exhibitors, presenters and attendees—along with curated blog posts—be sure to follow the LegalTech New York 2012 channel on LXBN.

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January 25, 2012 by Kevin O'Keefe

Will retrieval engines replace search engines for lawyers?

Christian Dirschl, a content architect with Wolters Kluwer, has an interesting piece this morning on the future of retrieval engines, which he believes are going to replace search engines as we know them today.

The information needed could be existing textual content that we have been publishing for decades. But the user should not have to search for it, he or she would only need a snippet which includes the information and hints where to find similar stuff or more detailed things, etc.

The key is creating a user interface which does not require one to enter a search.

The question now is how to create an intelligent interface between the information and the software application, which takes into account all the context information coming from the software and also knows everything about the content that contains the answers. So the software itself is asking the retrieval automatically on a more or less permanent basis for hints that help the user in his current situation. And these hints and answers are displayed as context information within the professional workflow the user is currently executing.

Dirschl believes the gap between the existing data or content and a software application that delivers the data in context is huge. The software is not here today, but I am not sure the gap is all that huge.

The legal industry, through e-discovery, has invested huge sums in delivering a context to raw data. Interfaces have been developed to 'discover' spines of relevant data which are then displayed without entering a search term.

Google, which no doubt is studying the concepts of discovery and retrieval, is adding another element, being social. What will others bring us as relevant data without us needing to run another search?

I'm interested in the concept of retrieval or discovery because of all the latent data included in lawyers' blogs. Each and every day thousands of legal blog posts, some of course better than others, are penned by practitioners and academics.

With retrieval or discovery, the insight and commentary offered by these law blog posts would not need to be searched for. A lawyer doing case or statutory law research could have blog content displayed in context along side their research. A lawyer drafting a pleading, brief, or transactional document could have relevant insight or clauses displayed which other lawyers have blogged about.

Imagine the ability to advance the law and advance cases by connecting 'like minds.' Imagine the ability to reach out and connect with possible co-counsel who has addressed similar issues.

LexBlog's role today is threefold: 1) To develop a sound and scalable technology infrastructure for blogging and social engagement, 2) To hone and scale our teaching methodology that enables lawyers to blog and engage socially, and 3) To curate content so as to create a community that fosters discovery (as we know it today) of people and content and exchange that leads to relationships.

It will be up to the rocket scientists elsewhere to develop the software solutions that enable retrieval and the user interfaces which drive it.

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January 25, 2012 by Helen Pitlick

"PowerPoint is Evil" webinar recording now available

Thanks to Faith Pincus of Pincus Professional Education for another informative and engaging webinar: "PowerPoint is Evil. But if you're going to use it, use it well."

When done right, PowerPoint can enhance your public speaking. However, most professionals use slides as their presentation instead of a visual supplement to it.  In this webinar, Faith focused on the Do's and Don'ts of PowerPoint, from standing in the wrong place when speaking to refining your speech before ever starting to create your presentation.

Because effective PowerPoint presentations should have visual impact, Faith has provides a handout that includes a few helpful resources for images and graphics (PDF).

If you missed it or want to watch again, you can play "PowerPoint is Evil. But if you're going to use it, use it well" below or view it on the LexBlog Support YouTube channel.

 

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January 24, 2012 by Kevin O'Keefe

Why bother with a law blog?

"...[Y]ou know, it reminds you that you gotta pick important stuff, because you only have a limited time."

This from Bill Gates in an ABC interview when asked about the impact Steve Jobs' death had on Gates.

Well, it's very strange to have somebody who's so vibrant and made such a huge difference and been ... kind of a constant presence, to have him die. It makes you feel like, 'Wow, we're getting old.' I hope I still have quite a bit of time for the focus I have now, which is the philanthropic work. And there's drugs we're investing in now that won't be out for 15 years -- malaria eradication, I need a couple of decades here to fulfill that opportunity. But, you know, it reminds you that you gotta pick important stuff, because you only have a limited time.

Reading what Gates said reminded me that I need to make a difference while I am here, because I only have a limited amount of time. For me that's using the Internet, this blog and social media today, to teach legal professionals how to leverage the net to make a positive difference in their lives and the lives of others.

Maybe even see it through to the point where lawyers use the net in a way that improves legal services and the image of our profession as a whole.

Gate's statement also reminded me about something which New York Attorney Scott Greenfield penned last December about the reason he blogs.

...I don't write for the appreciation of lecturers or judges. I don't write to impress potential clients with my expertise. If anything, this blawg chases clients away, fearful that I won't love them as they want to be loved, that my lack of emotional devotion to lost causes, my refusal to engage in lies or deception will limit their likelihood of winning, my slavish adherence to integrity will thwart their dreams of pulling a win out of their butts.

Why does Greenfield blog?

I'm going to die one of these days. Maybe sooner rather than later, and likely sooner than most of my readers. I'll be damned if I die without having anything to show I was here. I lack the skills to build the Taj Mahal, or write a symphony, or create a tourbillon. But I can type words onto a computer screen fast enough to put some ideas on virtual paper that serve to demonstrate, at least for a day, that I was here.

A Seattle lawyer, who recently met with LexBlog President, Kevin McKeown, let Kevin know at the end of their meeting that he was inclined to join the LexBlog Network and become a client. Not because the lawyer needed more work, but because the lawyer wanted to maintain his thought leadership status so as to advance certain issues in the law.

Most folks presume law blogs are about marketing one's legal services. To get one up on the next guy. To get high search engine rankings. To increase visibility. You know what I mean.

That's not always true. Some lawyers blog to leave a legacy. To make a positive dent in the world before they're gone.

Stephen Covey, the author of the best-selling book, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, says people are internally motivated by their own four needs: to live, to love, to learn, to leave a legacy.

Harmed with a law degree and being part of a what many still consider a noble profession, it seems to me that blogging to leave a legacy is a good enough reason to blog in and of itself.

Agree?

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January 24, 2012 by Colin O'Keefe

Best in Law Blogs : The LexBlog Network : January 24, 2012

We touched on it a bit yesterday, but today's roundup is quite heavy on United States v. Jones, a Supreme Court ruling that says placing GPS tracking devices on vehicles constitutes a search and requires a warrant. Really, commentary on that from every angle. Also, on the lighter side, check out DuetsBlog for a marketing review of every Super Bowl logo. Total posts on the LexBlog Network today: 166.

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