Being on vacation from the 3rd through the 15th, I'm getting that message each morning from my Google calendar. Thus the reason for no blogging.
Always thought I'd blog during a vacation - haven't taken one in a couple years - but believe a clean break will bring renewed enthusiasm.
Enjoy your summer and, if you wish, you may follow me on Twitter during vacation. I can handle 140 character posts from baseball games.
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all information is required pleaseYou don't learn how to succeed in the business of practicing law by following lawyers, you need to learn from the leaders in the business world. This from Alexis Martin Neely speaking this morning at the Small Firm and Solo Conference put on by the Rainmaker Institute and the LA County Bar.
I couldn't agree more with Alexis. Took me 13 years of practicing law before I started wondering if there was something more to law. There had to be something more personally rewarding from practicing law that I was missing the boat on. There had to be a way I could do the work I wanted to do for the clients I wanted to represent so I could make a difference in people's lives. And not have to worry about money, overhead, and where the next client was coming from.
If these are the types of things you worry or wonder about, check out what Alexis is doing. Better yet, catch a presentation by Alexis. Rob La Gatta or I will try to catch up with Alexis to interview her on her 6 keys to success in the business of practicing law.
Per Alex, it's all about living the life you want to lead. Achieving this means understanding that the law is a business and learning how to run a business. Better yet, by doing so you're going to make a difference in others' lives and improve the image of our legal profession.
I've been following discussion of Alexis on the blogpshere, seeing her on the Today Show earlier this month and via her Twitter feeds. She's really a wonderful person and lawyer -- and business person.
As promised for attendees at the Small Firm and Solo Conference at Legal Tech in LA, here's a copy of my presentation. Click here to download the PowerPoint.
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Here's a copy of my presentation at the Texas State Bar Annual Meeting this morning. Click here to download PowerPoint presentation.
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I'm traveling to Houston and Los Angeles the end of this week. As always, I would welcome getting together with anyone.
Thursday, I'm in in Houston for the Texas State Bar's Annual Conference. It's at the George Brown Convention Center.
On Friday, I'm in L.A. for Legal Tech and the First Annual Small Firm & Solo Conference. Both are at the Los Angeles Convention Center.
I'll be speaking in Houston at 10:30 on Thursday with my presentation titled 'Creating an Effective Internet Presence for Today and Beyond: Blogs, Search Engine Marketing, Search Engine Optimization, Social Networking, Podcasts, and Video.'
I don't fly to L.A. until that evening so I have plenty of time to meet up in Houston.
The L.A. County Bar Association and The Rainmaker Institute are co-sponsoring the Solo and Small Law Firm Conference in association with Legal Tech on Thursday and Friday. I'm presenting on Friday at 1:30. My talk is entitled 'Law blogs: The Fastest Way to Become the 'Go To' Lawyer in Your Practice Area.'
I have plenty of time to get together. I'm around in the morning and then after my presentation until I fly back to Seattle Friday evening.
Email me or call my cell, 206 321 3627, if you want to meet. Look forward to catching up with you or meeting for the first time.
As well as to those of you in various stages of the application process.
The O'Keefe kids at Molly's high school graduation yesterday.
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Just a reminder that I'm doing a free one hour webinar (at your computer) tomorrow, May 29 at 12 ET / 9 PT for members of the Legal Blogging Group at LinkedIn.
Over 50 folks are already registered with a lot of positive feedback. Guess it goes without saying that law firms' interest in blogging and figuring out how to go about it is an all time high.
We'll cover, among other things:
If you can't make it, we'll record the webinar and make it freely available with accompanying screenshots and online demos.
I realize some of you may already be publishing your own blog, in which case the webinar may be too basic. You decide. Those still new to blogs should find the program helpful.
If you want to join the Legal Blogging Group at LinkedIn, click here. I'll receive and approve your request.
I've always thought that lawyers who blogged found being a lawyer more fulfilling and in turn were happier than other lawyers.
Now the therapeutic value of blogging is the subject of a study referenced in an article in this month's Scientific American by Jessica Wapner.
Self-medication may be the reason the blogosphere has taken off. Scientists (and writers) have long known about the therapeutic benefits of writing about personal experiences, thoughts and feelings. But besides serving as a stress-coping mechanism, expressive writing produces many physiological benefits. Research shows that it improves memory and sleep, boosts immune cell activity and reduces viral load in AIDS patients, and even speeds healing after surgery...... Scientists now hope to explore the neurological underpinnings at play, especially considering the explosion of blogs. According to Alice Flaherty, a neuroscientist at Harvard University and Massachusetts General Hospital, the placebo theory of suffering is one window through which to view blogging. As social creatures, humans have a range of pain-related behaviors, such as complaining, which acts as a “placebo for getting satisfied,” Flaherty says. Blogging about stressful experiences might work similarly.
Wapner also notes that blogging might trigger dopamine release, similar to stimulants like music, running and looking at art.
Lawyers often feel less than satisfied in their careers. We're near the bottom as far as trusted professions go. We bare the brunt of late night comics' jokes. So serving others by offering insight in an area of the law we're passionate about and getting positive feedback can feel awful darn good.
Cost effective marketing and better health through blogging. Can't beat that.
Source for post: Barb Iverson at Poynter Online
I'm doing a free one hour webinar (at your computer) on Thursday, May 29 at 12 ET / 9 PT for folks in the Legal Blogging Group at LinkedIn. I've done such programs in the past for members of the legal community and they've been well received.
We'll cover, among other things:
Not to worry if you can't make it. We'll record the webinar and make it freely available with accompanying screenshots and online demos. You may also contact me and I can arrange another webinar at a time convenient for you.
I realize some of you may already be publishing your own blog, in which case the webinar may be too basic. But those still new to blogs should find the program helpful.
If you want to join the Legal Blogging Group at LinkedIn, click here. I'll receive and approve your request.
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I have the honor of presenting at a Law Firm Public Relations Conference in Chicago next Tuesday, May 20.
I would love to see some of you there or perhaps we could meet up on Monday afternoon, Tuesday evening, or early Wednesday. I always enjoy meeting some of my readers who may have in interest in legal blogging or social networking.
The conference, presented by the Ark Group, is on 'Optimizing Your Firm’s Business Development Initiatives through the Dissemination of Information into Actionable Intelligence.'
This master class facilitated by, Mark Young, Chief Marketing Officer, Foley Hoag LLP and Meghan Gross, Public Relations Manager, Foley Hoag LLP, will help you:
Other presenters include:
I'll be addressing social media issues so as to get beyond the press release.
The conference is right downtown at the University of Chicago Gleacher Center. Click here for more info.
Quick Links Fast clicks on a variety of topics (Archives)
After posting a final message on her blog about her ailing health but how she sang 'a happy song,' as I do every day.
Blogging, like baseball, is a continuum of talent. Instead of hitting and pitching, blogging is about having something meaningful to say, informing, entertaining and educating your community. But most importantly it is about ability to converse, connect and prod your readers into thinking differently. The game is still the same, except there are new heroes and stars.
Advertising based sites could see declines ala 2000/2001.
Yahoo and MSN continue decline.
A grand jury subpoena sent by prosecutors in the Bronx earlier this year sought information to help identify people blogging anonymously on a Web site about New York politics called Room 8.
Illinois Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that Avvo, an Internet site that allows clients to rate their lawyer's performance is not entitled to a list of attorneys in the state.
Agree wholeheartedly with Patsi Krakoff.
Tens of thousands of additional jobs may have to be eliminated at newspapers because the staff reductions that have taken place to date have not kept pace with the accelerating erosion of advertising.
Predict double digit growth in digital media ad spending despite any potential economic downturns.
Israel's treatment of an award-winning young Palestinian journalist is part of a terrible pattern.
Newly unemployed venting their frustrations by blogging their stories and grievances are attracting the wrath of former employers by using or exposing confidential information, violating a non-compete agreement or defaming a former employer.
The ability to use your own voice, talk in the manner you feel most comfortable, and get your point across without digressing too much will do.
$15 million from the man who could be called Mr. Scalability makes this an awesome partnership to tackle Twitter's biggest obstacle.
Added the greatest number of high-tech jobs in 2006, outpacing Boston, San Francisco and more than 50 other U.S. cities. Not sure that's good when LexBlog is in hiring mode.
If you aren't using online social networks in one form or another, you are well behind the productivity curve.
Blogging lawyers from Hawaii featured in Honolulu Star Bulletin.
Plans to use the blog to comment on 'the desultory state of corporate governance in America,' and to comment on his effort to oust Yahoo's current board of directors.
Red Cross is using sites like Utterz, Flickr, YouTube and Twitter.
Registrations of .cn domains surged 23% in the first quarter of this year, and tripled year-over-year. Surpasses .net and now second most popular country-specific domain.
Not advocating doing it every day but there’s something quite special that happens when you do. It humanizes you as a blogger a little, shows a different side of you, makes you more relatable to your readers and gives them another potential connecting point with you.
Sharing a common enemy may be the most powerful strategy for bonding with your blog audience. It kicks in the innate tribal instincts we humans still carry, and provides a voice of opposition that your readers want to join with.
Former UC Berkeley student who was arrested in Egypt and used the micro-messaging service Twitter to get himself out of jail wants to start a Twitter-driven network for emergency situations.
Kindle may make it after all.
There's so much more to the people on Twitter and a ton more to come as Twitter breaks into the masses of mainstream.
Citing short excerpts with attribution and subsequent commentary, as many bloggers do seems perfectly consistent with fair use -- and AP should't have attacked that particular practice.
