Lawyers descend on #Ferguson ahead of grand jury decision

BY TIM REID

FERGUSON Mo 

1 OF 6. United States Attorney General Eric Holder holds a news conference announcing updates in the Justice Department's investigation in the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, in Washington September 4 2014. Attorneys are arriving in Ferguson as talks between protest groups and police have stalled over a refusal by officials to rule out the use of riot gear, tear gas and militarized equipment if demonstrations turn violent should a grand jury decide not to indict police officer Darren Wilson, protest leaders say.

http://goo.gl/jWIHj4

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Networking online makes practicing law in rural America possible

From Donna Taylor, a county judge in rural Nebraska, in a report by the Washington Post’s Danielle Paquette (@DPAQreport):

There’s a great deal of need for young lawyers in rural communities. There’s plenty of work to go around. To a law school student who is trying to decide, ‘Should I leave the city for a small town?’ I’d say: Give it a try.

……

When I started in Neligh (population 1,569) , there were twelve lawyers. Now there are three. I want to see that change soon. The new debt forgiveness program should be a good drawing card. That wasn’t around when I was getting started — and it would have helped me tons.

http://goo.gl/kwOQd3

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#Sex, Lawyers and Videotape: Cobb Judge Hears Hours of Debate

• MY ACCOUNT
• 
  

Attorneys for each side predict dire results if judge rules against them in suit filed by Waffle House chairman

Katheryn Hayes Tucker, Daily Report

August 15, 2014    | 0 Comments

The lawyers being sued for alleged extortion watch the proceedings. From left, they are John Butters, David Cohen and Hylton Dupree Jr.

John Disney/Daily Report

The question of whether lawyers can be sued for what they did during litigation—allegedly helping their client make an illegal sex video—sparked a 3½ hour debate Wednesday before Cobb County Superior Court Judge Robert Leonard II.

One side predicted allowing the suit would unleash "angry spiteful litigants" to sue the lawyers of their divorcing spouses and warring business partners, flooding the courts with lawsuits about lawsuits. The other side insisted that barring the suit would allow lawyers to "lie, cheat, steal, rape and kidnap" with immunity.

Read more: http://www.dailyreportonline.com/id=1202666885758/Sex-Lawyers-and-Videotape-Cobb-Judge-Hears-Hours-of-Debate#ixzz3AfYmFS00

Why isn’t your phone number listed on social networks?s? Phone number on social networks From Nick Westergaard (@NickWestergaard), founder of Brand Driven Digital, in a piece in the Iowa City Gazette this morning;, If you hide your phone number online, you are telling your customers that they don’t matter. It’s so simple I’ll say it again. When you obscure the path to your phone number on your website — or worse yet, if you don’t include a phone number at all — you are sending a message that answering your customers’ questions and talking with them isn’t worth your time.s? Phone number on social networks From Nick Westergaard (@NickWestergaard), founder of Brand Driven Digital, in a piece in the Iowa City Gazette this morning;, If you hide your phone number online, you are telling your customers that they don’t matter. It’s so simple I’ll say it again. When you obscure the path to your phone number on your website — or worse yet, if you don’t include a phone number at all — you are sending a message that answering your customers’ questions and talking with them isn’t worth your time.

If you hide your phone number online, you are telling your customers that they don’t matter.

It’s so simple I’ll say it again. When you obscure the path to your phone number on your website — or worse yet, if you don’t include a phone number at all — you are sending a message that answering your customers’ questions and talking with them isn’t worth your time. — you are sending a message that answering your customers’ questions and talking with them isn’t worth your time.

Lawyers are notorious for making it hard for people for to call them, some do it purposely, others are clueless.

http://kevin.lexblog.com/2014/08/10/why-isnt-your-phone-number-listed-on-social-networks/

Lawyer’s suspension includes lifetime ban on representing women

By Debra Cassens Weiss

Aug 6, 2014, 08:14 am CDT

A Connecticut lawyer has been suspended for four months and barred from representing female clients for the rest of his career after he was accused of representing women in family law and domestic-violence cases in violation of a 2010 court order.

The disciplinary counsel had initially sought disbarment for lawyer Ira Mayo, alleging he had violated the court order at least 11 times, the Connecticut Law Tribune reports. Mayo agreed to the suspension and ban on representing women to resolve the disciplinary complaint.

Mayo was accused in two prior ethics cases, according to the Connecticut Law Tribune. In the first he was suspended for 15 months after he was accused of making unwanted advances to female clients referred to him by a group for abused women, the story says. In the second, he was banned from representing women in family law or domestic violence cases after he was accused of offering to waive attorney fees in exchange for a massage.

http://goo.gl/KgTYdV

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Be known for what you love

Lawyers : Be known for what you love

Be known for what you love. How cool is that.

It’s the tag line you see upon opening Klout, a website and mobile app that uses social media analytics to rank users according to online social influence.

The concept of Klout is that by using social media you get known for what you love. After all, who would use social media for things they’re not passionate about?

Unfortunately, many lawyers.

http://goo.gl/uPdH1K

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THE CONNECTION BETWEEN THEATER AND TRIAL LAWYERS

POSTED ON JUNE 23, 2014 BY PAUL LUVERA| LEAVE A COMMENT

I’d  like you to consider the relationship between the theater and being a trial lawyer.  As  a trial lawyer you need to be a  script writer. Not in the sense of making  up facts, but in the sense of  deciding how to tell the story. The framing you select and the characters you decide to introduce from the actual facts of your case. You need to be the director. You have to decide h0w to present your client’s story and who the characters are  you will introduce plus the sequence of doing so. You need to be the main actor in your play. Not by pretending to be someone you are not or putting up a front, but in exactly the  opposite way. By being totally open and genuine at all times. To accept  the enormous power of telling the truth.  Just as an actor  must adopt the role of the character he or she is playing, you must full  step into the shoes of not only your client  but gain an understanding of every witness, the lawyers, the judge and the jury. Put yourself in their shoes. How do they view what you are presenting and how they present it.

Here are some thoughts about acting and  the theater  you may be able to apply to being a trial lawyer.

http://plaintifftriallawyertips.com/the-connection-between-theater-and-trial-lawyers

Instagram for marketing and relationship building for lawyers

Almost 20% of adults use Instagram, a photo/video sharing social network owned by Facebook. Though I have an Instagram account and use it occasionally, I have not thought of Instagram for marketing and business development.

I may need to rethink things after reading a piece by realtor, Emily Medvec (@emilymedvec) in the Santa Fe New Mexican, who says the power of Instagram for business professionals is networking.

Photo and video sharing is a powerful way to tell stories, market services, brand products, share ideas, and build social-networking relationships. Today, there are over 200 million active users who photo-share an average of 60 million photos a day with their online social and business sphere! If your goal is to use social networking to build relationships and engage your customers and audience, then Instagram is a unique way to interact using the power of pictures.

http://kevin.lexblog.com/2014/07/06/instagram-for-marketing-and-relationship-building-for-lawyers/

Changes in the Legal Profession and the Progress of Female Lawyers

July 7, 2014

RONALD D. ROTUNDA

The Great Recession of 2007-09 has hit the legal profession particularly hard. In 2012, there were 201 ABA-accredited law schools. Only 19 of them placed 75 percent or more of their graduates in jobs that require a law degree. For the non-ABA-accredited law schools, many of which are in California, the placement is far worse. In general, more than one-third of law school graduates cannot find a position requiring bar passage. The National Association for Law Placement reported that less than two-thirds (64.4 percent) of 2013 graduates had jobs that require bar passage.
For those who have jobs, the median starting salary for lawyers has fallen 15 percent from 2009 to 2012.

There is also no rosy employment outlook for lawyers already working in many large firms. In the past decade, twelve major firms with more than 1,000 partners between them have gone out of business. In June of last year, Weil Goshal, the well-known New York-based law firm, announced it was laying off 60 associates, about seven percent of its total. Several dozen of the firm’s 300 partners who will remain will see a cut in pay. The law firm’s executive partner, Barry Wolf, told a reporter, “We believe that this is not just a cycle, but that the supply-demand balance is out of whack across the industry.” If the firm thought that business would pick up substantially in 2014, “we would not be doing this.”

- See more at: http://verdict.justia.com/2014/07/07/changes-legal-profession-progress-female-lawyers#sthash.chigRqUC.dpuf

How Facebook works for professional networking by lawyers

Yesterday morning I was meeting with about 25 lawyers from a good Southern California law firm. The topic of discussion was how to use today’s tools to network through the Internet for business development.

We covered a lot of ground in 90 minutes, but the topic which generated the most give and take was Facebook.

A few of the lawyers appreciated how Facebook could be used to enhance relationships with other lawyers, business professionals, and referral sources.

http://goo.gl/mpc8Wu

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Social media for lawyers in rural America

Birmingham Attorney, Keith Lee (@associatesmind), shared some wonderful reflections on practicing in a rural area in a post at Above the Law yesterday.

Before my partners and I started our own firm, I worked for a small insurance defense firm. It was a statewide practice, as most insurance firms are. Often times I would have to drive hours to some small county in the state for a 20-minute hearing, then get back in the car and drive right back.

I was on the plaintiff’s side, but like Lee, I enjoyed my time alone in the car listening to ball games or cassette tapes. Later on I had a small TV plugged into the cigarette light so I could listen to (not watch) Gerry Spence’s trial lawyer tapes.

http://kevin.lexblog.com/2014/06/21/social-media-for-lawyers-in-rural-america/