Okay! Okay! I am guilty of avoiding it myself. So, who am I to preach? Besides, such language. And, who taught me to talk this way? My mother is likely to wash my mouth out with soap.
But, here is the thing. In lawyer marketing I am so sick and tired of viewing the scales of justice. I got on Google images and typed in "scales of justice" and was flooded generally with links to one law firm, legal society, court or prosecutors office after another. And, do not even get me started on displaying a gavel. How painful does that look to a prospective client? Law books in the background anybody? Gees, does nobody have any originality?
We, as a group, are so busy trying to look so slick online that we lose our perspective. Just be different. Forget the stereotypes. Forget the bad templates. Just be yourself. It does not have to be about hype. People want authenticity. That is the key.
Dump the static website that has no content and does not say much. Go blog. Better yet, go video. While surfing around looking at all of the bad lawyer websites, I found this interesting video discussion.
I have said it time and again. Life is to short going through it looking homely, tired and ugly. And yet I get calls and emails every day from attorneys, especially new attorneys or those just going into private practice, that feel a little uneasy and want to start chasing clients and cases they do not really want.
Why?
Money. It is all about making a living, is it not? Buying shoes for the kids. Putting food on the table. Not worrying so much.
I understand it. I get it. That is I understand the fear or concern. I do not understand the need to chase cases you do not want.
If you are setting up shop to go after consumer bankruptcy clients, what the hell are you doing taking family law cases that put you in a different set of courts, dealing with a different set of people, and dealing with a different set of problems you know nothing about?
Going into the private practice of law takes a little faith. I admit it. It can be a little scary. I know this well. But, if you want to handle family law cases, then go do that.
If the fear is that you will come up short, how does chasing a few cases outside of your chosen field help? You only have so many hours in the day. You can only do so much. When you are wrestling with those skanky cases you really do not want, except for a little spending money, you could be hitting the pavement, meeting people, and soliciting the cases you really want. When your efforts and your attention get diverted you will not do as well.
It is really a self-fulfilling prophesy. You chase the other cases and clients because you are worried about not succeeding with the cases and clients you want, and as a result you do not succeed because you have diverted your attention and divided your efforts.
And, the truth of the matter is that if you try to broaden your core services or practice area to please a wider group of clients, the chances are great that you will make your core clients less satisfied. Why? You will not have time to tend to their problems and issues.
It is all over the legal press like it is something new and amazing -- and it is amazing. A law firm that is virtual, it is web-based and it forgoes bricks and mortar, and where all of the attorneys work from home. Wow, I wish I had thought of that.
But, I can tell you what makes me feel better about the new kid on the block -- Virtual Law Partners (VLP). They are doing it up so big and so bold and so high profile, I can tell you that I feel vindicated for spending all of these years doing the same thing. Maybe not on the level of VLP, but everybody has to start somewhere.
Here is where VLP is better -- Branding. They are out to build a brand. They are also out to build a firm that caters to in-house legal counsel. They are competing with Big Law, where with me -- not so much. They promise 85% of collections to go to their attorneys, and they promote a better work-life experience.
We cannot adopt trade names in Texas, but I like the name because it identifies what the law firm really is and represents. In the future virtual might not mean much as every lawyer is doing it (remember Electronic Realty Associates - ERA - and how different they appeared when they started out), but for now it helps us all blaze the trail.
I was a tad disappointed that the firm is basing much on a traditional website. That is so Web 0.0 or 1.0. I would have like to see a launch full of blogs and Twitter and YouTube and more social networking sites and avenues. That is marketing that in-house will and can now sink their teeth into. Why? Because it is marketing with content and all of us, including in-house counsel, are looking for content. There was a good chance for the website to be a portal to some static information and to be the entry point of the operating platform the lawyers need to work together. But, it could have also been the hub to feature the law firms assault on the world via social media.
We do wish Virtual Law Partners all the best because for them to succeed means all of us who have been doing this for so long succeed as well.
I am always playing around with a new market idea, a new niche, a new practice area (maybe with a twist). First, I am intrigued by this. Second, I have made the best choices in my career thinking not necessarily outside of the box but around it.
But, here is the truth of the matter. I practice in a very narrow niche area of the law that has very few (if any) other full time players.
As a result of my playing around with other ideas, and because of my limited reach (I just refuse to practice outside of my chosen field), I get a good number of calls and emails from people requesting my help on everything from family law matters, will contests, and most things involving litigation. I am not always sure why. I just know I cannot help these people. I have received three such requests already this week. I am polite and listen, but then I must refer these people on.
Man - o -man, I cannot even walk and chew gum at the same time. Heck, I cannot even much run. So, it is beside me how I would be able to run and type (keyboard to you younger crowd). Yet, according to Yahoo News, reports on a new product that combines a treadmill and a computer workstation that is suppose to keep us home office workers and others moving.
The product made by Details, a unit of Michigan-based office furniture maker Steelcase, is selling 30 to 40 units per week, and they claim the reaction is overwhelmingly positive.
From my perspective I am going to need at least three screens -- and a chair -- and an oxygen tank.
According to HuffPo and other sources, A
108-year-old Australian woman who was promoted as the world's oldest
blogger has died two weeks after making her last post about "singing a
happy song," her great-grand son and her online forum said.
A
friend introduced Olive Riley to blogging early in 2007, and was hooked. She "passed away peacefully on Saturday, July 12," a posting on her
Web site said. No cause of death was given. "She will be mourned by
thousands of Internet friends and hundreds of descendants and other
relatives."
She entered a nursing home in Woy Woy, 50 miles north of Sydney,
last month, from where she blogged about having a bad cough and feeling
weak.
Great-grandson Darren Stone said Riley loved being able to stay in
touch with correspondents all over the world and said she believed it
kept her mind active.
Born in the remote mining town of Broken Hill in 1899, Riley blogged
regularly in the last year of her life about growing up in the Outback,
raising three children and working as a farm cook and bartender earlier
in her life.
If you are a Third Wave lawyer you home means so much to you. You probably not only live there, it is the source or hub of your work-life balance or blending, but you probably also work at home much of the time. As such, if you are concerned about selling your home office - hence your home - in this market, or just want to make sure you keep it marketable for when the market turns around, this video provides some tips.
I once invested in a bankrupted electronics company. It had fallen on hard times. The father who had started the business had nursed it to where it was. It was left to his children. When the economy went through a down cycle and money needed to be saved, the children did what? They fired all of the sales people and the marketing people. Two things happened. One, of course, business immediately fell through the floor because this was a business that required constant contact with its industry. Two, the sales and marketing staff went down the street, having nothing else to do, and opened up a new company. Because the sales of the established business were falling so aggressively the new company established by the old sales staff was able to steal the rights to some major and necessary product lines from the their old employer.
Do not believe it can happen in a law firm environment? You are wrong. It happens in a down cycle all of the time in a couple of different ways.
First, when money gets tight a fight almost always breaks out over who is actually doing work and who is not actually doing work. Well, of course the rainmaker is doing less physical work -- interviewing clients, drafting pleadings, attending court, etc. He or she is also likely taking out a good chunk of change out of the firm. The fight turns into resentment and the rainmaker is either tossed or gets mad enough to leave. And the rainmaker takes loyalist with him. Every wonder about those lateral transfers?
Second, you are an attorney who works for yourself or in a small firm, you feel overwhelmed trying to earn money that you neglect your relationship and network building that allows you to continue to practice effectively. You in effect fire yourself. Like the cooking shows on TV you do not know whether to cook against the clock or to talk to the camera. You elect to cook against the clock on the work that is before you.
When things turning down, the last thing you want to think about is collaboration with other attorneys for the actual work that needs to be performed. You need the money and you do not want to split the fees. But, collaboration is the best of all worlds because the attorney with whom you are working does not get paid. He or she only get paid when you get paid.
It is vitally important that during down times that you do not fire yourself or your marketing staff or rainmaker. The opposite is true. You need to continue collaborating and doing everything that is necessary to maintain those relationships. Then, when the upturn comes, and it will, you will be ready to reap the rewards.
As the new law school from The InfiLaw System, which is a for-profit consortium of independent law schools, this is really good news for upstart Charlotte School of Law, .
Charlotte School of Law is a new, student-centered law school offering flexible part-time and full-time programs. It promotes what it terms a "practice ready curriculum", which is designed to equip graduates with the leadership, management and interpersonal skills that are necessary for career success.
Located in historic Charlotte, North Carolina the law school follows on the success of its sibling law schools, Florida Coastal School of Law and Phoenix School of Law, both of which have shown some outstanding results.
On June 7, 2008, Charlotte School of Law was provisionally approved by
the ABA. “A student at a
provisionally approved law school and an
individual who graduates while the school is provisionally approved are
entitled to the same recognition given to students and graduates of
fully approved law schools.”
I personally like Charlotte Law because it has adopted a beagle named "Charlotte" as its mascot. (Pictured above). And, I like beagles. I have one myself. I do think it helps personalize the law school.
The location of the law school in Charlotte, North Carolina is important because it is at the center of
one of the fastest growing regions of the United States. Steeped in
southern tradition but evolving to meet the new needs and interests of
its population as well as the world abound, Charlotte offers rich
professional opportunities as well as interesting cultural and
historical prospects.
Further, Charlotte Law is constructing a new state of the art law school building, which the law school will occupy by August 1, 2008. (Pictured is the artist conception of the building as well as the building under construction).
The tuition for a full-time student at Charlotte Law for the academic year 2008-2009 will be $14,310 per semester, and for part-time students $11,448. This is substantially less than most private law schools in the country. Further, financial aid and scholarships are available.
Achieving accreditation takes away much of the risk of participating in something new, different and dynamic as Charlotte Law. So, if you are interested in law school, no matter where you presently reside, this might be an option for you.
I understand that times are getting very tough. This is especially true for attorneys that represent consumers. And, when times get tough, depending on the practice area, business sometimes falls off (or at least that is the impression). When business falls off (or your fear that it might) there is a strong tendency to discount your legal services to get businesses coming through the door.
By discount, I do not necessarily mean that you start advertising lower prices like some retailers. That would be really bad for reasons beyond this post. You discount in the initial interview or consultation either in the overall amount of the funds you want, or in the amount the client needs to pay down to get legal representation started.
You do it for one simple reason, really. You think you need numbers. In your mind you need a certain number of clients or cases or transactions or referrals to keep things running smoothly, and you are fearful you might lose a prospect if you ask for more money, or ask for your normal and customary fee, or the fee you prefer. So you quote a lower fixed fee, a lower hourly fee, a cap of some kind, or a lower down payment.
Now you might say that this is not the reason you are quoting a lower amount. I agree the rational might center around some other thinking. I am new to the practice area. I am new to the geographic area. I recently graduated from law school and passed the bar and cannot charge what others do. I work at home and do not need to charge as much. There is a lot of competition out there and I need a way to distinguish myself. Or, somebody else is doing the same thing. It does not really matter for it all comes down to the fact you are chasing numbers. Just fess up to that fact.
I know a number of lawyers, for example, that advertise zero down bankruptcies. I understand that it is typical to take some amount of you fees through the reorganization plan in a Chapter 13 bankruptcy. But, Chapter 13s also have a high failure rate. To not mitigate your losses by getting a good sum up front is just crazy. I asked one lawyer not long ago whether the zero down apply to Chapter 7 liquidation bankruptcies. He said yes. They arrange payments after the debtor files. The problem with this is many clients will not pay and you cannot now make them or send them statements to them as that would be a violation of the law itself. How wonderful is it to discharge your own fees.
It is easy to rationalize the discounting of your fees. The rational for you is that it helps drive business. The rational you attribute to your clients is that they are struggling and need help. Just do not fall for it. You discount at your own risk. Remember, if you are doing what you should be doing the clients you take are going to refer you business. What kind of future business do you want? You are training those that market for you to send you business, or cases or referrals that do not want to pay full price. Also, you are creating a margin problem. You now need to find more clients and more cases in order to be profitable. If you are having trouble getting in the discount client, how hard is it going to be to get more clients? Also, the need for more clients requires more work, more hours, more staff, more office space, more office equipment, more computers, and on and on. Even if the strategy works it creates a snowball effect that can do you in.
I know it is scary to let someone walk out the door who did not have the $500 or $1,000.00 or whatever on them that you wanted to help. Will they come back? Can they raise the money? Will they go to another attorney? As a result, will I bring in enough business this month?
However, it is important to keep in mind that price or fees is an indicator of value. It is hard to imagine in my small country brain, but it is true that quality clients, those that make you a living, do not gravitate away from the most expensive option. They are looking for talent, a personal touch, a solution to a problem, and although they ultimately have to work within a budget, they view discounting and cheap lawyers as exactly that - cheap. They are comfortable paying the full fee if they believe they are getting the talent, the personal touch and their solution ultimately solved. They tend to believe that cheap attorneys cannot provide these things. So, for long-term success you want to charge full prices that provide comfortably for you and your family. This might lead to smaller client and case numbers in the short term, but it also provides you the margins you need to invest in brand building. And, not being overworked to make a decent living is really priceless in and of itself.
Once you believe, for example, that the lawyer down the street is taking nothing down on a Chapter 13 and therefore I cannot charge $500.00 down, then you have relegated yourself into believing that you are doing nothing more than selling a commodity, and that your name and your good efforts do not matter. The problem is if you are selling a readily available staple, you are always going to lose the pricing war because there will always be someone that will bid under you for the work.
So, do not discount. In doing so you are cutting your nose off to spite your face.
The term "fakebook", as I understand it, is the adding of people to your Facebook who you do not particularly like, socialize with or care to really befriend.
I am here to tell you that outside of the Facebook genre a similar phenomena happens every day in lawyer marketing and rainmaking. You visit, you solicit, you market to people you know you do not like and with which you know you do not care to work.
So, why do it?
The answer is probably two fold. First, you are just going through the motions. Sure you want your network marketing and relationship building to become systematic in the sense you deal with it and contend with it on a regular basis least you find yourself without work. But, what I mean is that you have let it become automatic, predictive, bureaucratic and you are not considering your own wellbeing.
Second is probably money. Hungry is good. But, you do not want to be gluttonous. It is important to know that it is too easy to eliminate people and groups for a variety of reasons, but if you want to succeed, and make a living, you need to build prospects. That is, in general, good. I do not disagree.
Life, however, is too short going through it feeling homely, tired and ugly. Life is too short to put up with someone with whom you do not like, cannot work, and have a personality conflict.
It took me a long time to learn in my career that you make money on the cases you do not take sometimes. That said, if you do not want those cases, then quit adding people to your marketing lists with whom you must deal and do not want to do so. Quit fakebooking. Take these people off your spreadsheet, off your email broadcast list, off your fax list, off your mailing list, and just leave well enough alone.
This said, you should try to get along with everyone. If you are of the personality that you cannot get alone with anyone, then you might need help or you are a little too discerning. But, to suck up to people you loath is not good, it is not healthy, and it could lead to business relationships that could cost you dearly. You know, there are people out there that hire lawyers even though they do not like them. I have had outrageously bad relationships with clients and referral sources in the past that did not end well only to have them come back or refer someone to me on a new matter. Money or no money, those are the cases you do not want.
And, of course, this does not mean that you should not bite your tongue. You should. There is no reason to go out of your way to make your disgust or displeasure known. You simply need to remove the source from your marketing efforts and let bygones be bygones.
Downsizing or downshifting is green. Working from home or carpet commuting is green. Cutting your long commutes to and from work is green. Reducing your carbon footprint anywhere you can is great. Now, should you have a choice to advise a college student on where to attend or have a student who will soon be off to college, The Students' Blog has listed 12 of the greenest
colleges in America. Here they are:
I guess it is pretty obvious from my girth and demeanor that I enjoy ice cream. Now, damnit, ABC News is reporting on the 6 most fattening ice cream brands and flavors. This is the reason that people hate the liberal news media. They have a video on their site reviewing these. But, shortly they are:
1)Häagen-Dazs Chocolate Peanut Butter
(360 calories, 24 grams of fat)
2) Ben & Jerry's Chubby Hubby
(330 calories, 20 grams of fat)
3) Häagen-Dazs Butter Pecan
(310 calories, 23 grams of fat)
Do you want a good job immediately after law school? Or, do you want to successfully transition into the profitable private practice of law after passing the bar? If so, you should start networking or building relationships while in law school.
I know, especially the first year, that law school takes up so much time that this is difficult. But,
students wait or put off doing anything until it is time to interview for internships or associate positions, when the market is crowded.
If you want to work in a particular field you need to start calling on lawyers, judges, government officials, in-house counsel, or whoever now. Learn who they are from the career services office of the law school or by just getting on the web. Ask to drop by and speak with them. Email them. Ask them about jobs, ask them about the practice area, ask for advice. Do not ask them for a job.
If you want to go into the private practice of law, you need to figure out those people, groups and organizations that you need to succeed. You need to start contacting them - just to look for information and advice.
Then do what I do now. Collect their information. Follow up with an email, a letter, a call now and then. Input that information in a spreadsheet, set up an cheap email broadcast account, a broadcast fax account, and save the list for mailings. Start a blog to reference and keep as your hub about the subject you are pursuing. Then keep in touch regularly this way. Have a question, pick up the phone and start calling. Ask these informal advisers what they think would be best for you.
First, you will learn a lot - whole lot a valuable information they just do not teach you in law school.
Second, you meet a lot of interesting people.
Third, you will be able to define your opportunities better, and quantify more of what you want. It is a learning process.
Fourth, you learn better not only who you might want to work for or with, but also who you do not.
If you get an internship or job from one during law school and decide to take it, all the better. But, do not stop your efforts.
Remember, it is always easier to build relationships that will serve you well later at a time when you do not need anything but advice and comfort from the person with whom you have solicited.
HuffPo has an article on "desk rage" -- anger at the workplace. It concerns employees and employers who are grumpy, insulting, short-tempered or worse. And, it is apparently very common. Bob Sutton, author of The No Asshole Rule refers to these people as such.
According to the article or post, desk rage "runs gamut from just rudeness up to pretty extreme abusive
behaviors," said Paul Spector, professor of industrial and
organizational psychology at the University of South Florida. "The
severe cases of fatal violence get a lot of press but in some ways this
is more insidious because it affects millions of people."
How extensive is it really? Nearly half of all workers in America report yelling and verbal abuse on the job, and a quarter of all American workers claiming to have been driven to tears over it. One-sixth of workers also report anger so out of control that it has led to property damage.
I am not only sure that this is not uncommon in law firms, I have experienced it in myself in working in law firms, working with law firms, and I have experienced it first hand from judges in chambers. The first few years of my legal career almost did me in as a result of desk rage. Every Monday I would have to go to Court and appear in front of this particular judge. Every Monday he would call me and other lawyers back into his Chambers after announcements. Every Monday he would let go into a walleyed fit replete with cussing, throwing things, and kicking trash cans and such. Every Sunday night I could not sleep, and every Monday I would feel sick driving to Court. Often the anger was directed at me directly and usually ended with him pointing his finger in a direction and yelling at me to "get f#%&, and hit the door". I recall finally having enough and yelled back at him to get "f!@%*&!" My first thought after doing it was that I was going to jail for a few days. As it turned out, he liked it. He enjoyed these macho altercations. So, then it would turn into four-letter quarrel every Monday, then we would redeem ourselves, go into the Courtroom and both act like it never happened.
I was an enabler, I guess. Worse, I can tell you it is not good because once you stoop to this judge's level, then you give yourself permission to act the same way. That is not good.
This person finally stepped off the bench and I finally left town. And, my demeanor, deportment, behavior and treatment of others has very much improved. And, best of all I can now sleep on Sunday nights and the post traumatic stress of it all has subsided with the years. All I can say is that it is no way to start of a legal career.
Such deportment by anybody is infantile. Immature people acting out, freely, irregularly, hysterically, uncontrollably, in a truly wild way is never, never good. It is really the act of being ungovernable, unmanageable and lawless. That is not good for any organization. And, being a reprobate or acting out in a vicious, sinful, bad or wicked way is never good for your personal constitution. It causes more harm than good.
For me these days I work at being more calm, more composed, more philosophical, more untroubled, or stoic or sober. But, on those rare occasions when I am not, I work at home, and I generally have nobody to yell at but myself. Oh, I can scream at my computer, tip over my chair, but what good does that do me. I am more likely to take a nap, sit on the back patio with some tea and just untighten, unwind and let the moment pass.
I liked Rhymes With Orange and I thought I would share it with you. Frankly, I have never understood the reason for over long firm name, except for ego. In Texas you cannot use trade names, but you can use a name of a lawyer associated with the firm, or a lawyer formally associated with the firm in the death, retirement, etc. I have never, maybe as a result, understood trade names for law firms because the real purpose in relationship or network marketing is to sell yourself or to sell real people. That said, we should all do more to shorten the names we use so we do no hospitalize our receptionists and secretaries.
Over the last year or so I think most people, including many prospective law students, could have gotten the wrong impression about Ave Maria School of Law as it heads down from Michigan to joint its namesake town outside of Naples, Florida and its namesake university. I have often thought that moving an established school across the country can leave many settled law school professors, staff and students upset, and I understand why. In that regard, the wrong impression arises because those that are disgruntled are obviously better at blogging than are the benefactors and visionaries of the law school. In the end, the wrong impression is often left.
Whether people have a reason to be upset, trying to denigrate a fine institution that is looking to improve its position in this world is really a shame. Lawsuits stating people were fired improperly; filing complaints with the ABA; trying to make the law schools chief benefactor, Domino’s Pizza founder Tom Monaghan appear to be some kind of Judas; and, trying to make light of the fact that when the school arrives in Florida it will not immediately have a "new building" all appears like sour grapes by a bitter few. The last point seemed to be to be particularly silly because law schools move into perfectly fine temporary facilities while they raise funds and build new buildings all of the time.
Much like the argument of not respecting our troops with unfounded remarks, these attacks disrespect the many good students and graduates that have been allowed to attend Ave Maria. Whatever the intent, whatever the gripe, these stunts have done little to improve the image or the lot of these lawyers.
Ave Maria has now been partly vindicated. As reported by The Wall Street Journal Law Blog, the American Bar Association (ABA) has told the school that it is in
compliance with a standard that requires the school “maintains
conditions adequate to attract and retain competent faculty” and
remains on the list of ABA-approved law schools. Now the law school only needs to receive “acquiescence” from the ABA to retain its accreditation upon making the move to Naples, Florida.
There are those that are still bitter. On the Law Blog, for example, there are many unsubstantiated, and nasty remarks, about the the ABA duping students into spending thousands of dollars on a "worthless degree" and calling Monaghan a "freak". Well, of course these statements are just asinine, senseless and unintelligent. You can mark it up to unpalatable wisecracks by an embittered and rancorous few. Remember, you cannot really get far in life or succeed by listening to pestilent naysayers in this world. As we have learned, those that would instill fear do not have your best interest at heart. Besides, these couple of comments are just wrong. The law degree is not worthless for the very reason that ABA accreditation allows Ave Maria's graduates to take the bar and compete in every state in this nation. Further, how can one call someone a freak because he has a deep sense a spirituality and has lived a life of great benevolence and charitableness. You do not have to agree with the man, but such name calling shows nothing but the churlishness of the commenter. Like him or hate him, Monaghan has sacrificed his personal wealth to give many students a chance to be lawyers. Also, as I have reported earlier, Ave Maria School of Law is one of the top schools in the United States in terms of gifts and scholarships it provides its students. In actuality, it costs much less to attend Ave Maria than most other private law schools.
I think what is more telling for example are all of the wonderful emails I have received from my past posts from Ave Maria grads that are so grateful for the opportunity the law school provided them. And just recently, one graduate, Jerry Bartholomew, wrote a piece for Build A Solo Practice in which he had nothing but praise for Ave Maria. Successful and grateful graduates are the best evidence.
As you can tell, Brian has a good deal of experience in both this legal and geographic area. And, his blog
already has a good deal of vital and interesting content. That is the way to go. Not only set up a blog, but to use it.
One interesting thing, Brian Allen has included a page that lists politicians, famous people and celebrities that have filed bankruptcy. This is vitally important for those in need of bankruptcy protection to know that they are not alone.
As you know, the Third Wave is all about using cheap tech to effectively practice law and to market your practice. In this day and age you cannot avoid the Web. If you do ignore the Internet you do it at your own peril. A blog not only offers you an opportunity to reach people directly, but it can be the hub of all of your network and relationship marketing activities.
Also, I understand that you cannot do it all yourself. In this you need to seek collaboration. You need to sometimes bring in people who know what they are doing. When it comes to setting these things up and good general design there is really no better people to meet for help than Grant and Clay Griffiths over at G2WebMedia. Grant Griffiths is one of the pioneers of blog based marketing. His Kansas Family Law Blog drew 100,000 plus views it first year out of the gate. He understands what it takes to make a practice blog an effective marketing tool.
I have said it before, health insurance (and insurance in general) is the bane of my existence as a home office practitioner. I have crappy health insurance coverage from a crappy insurance company that charges a ton of money every month so they can elect not to provide me or my family any real services for the money. That is good for the insurance company, and it is bad for me, both from a financial standpoint and a health standpoint. I pay a huge sum of hard earned money for the benefit of carrying a plastic card in my wallet that says I have insurance. As far as I can see, my money is spent on not
much more than a status symbol. That plastic card says I am not one of the uninsured, but what does that really mean. It is like having a AMEX Platinum Card to show people, but you do not really have the ability to charge anything on it. That is the only benefit I see. It is out of control. It is not that I have not shopped around and tried to find something better. I have. I just cannot find anything better that somebody less than Bill Gates can afford.
I wish there was
some organization for solos and small firms that at least provided some type of decent comprehensive health insurance coverage in my state.
This said, before this turns you off on moving your practice home or in going out on your own, let me just say it is not much better out in the rest of the business world. The Austin Business Journal reports that in a new survey by SurePayroll that 56% of all small business do not offer a health insurance plan. I am sure that is probably true for many law firms as well.
Worse still the number of small businesses offering health insurance dropped by 32% since last year.
Many lawyers try to get their spouse to work from governmental agency or large company just for the insurance. I have known lawyers who have left the private practice of law (and sometimes the practice of law altogether) so as to find employment with a group insurance plan in which the company pays at least part of the insurance premium. The point of all of this is that these alternatives are becoming fewer and farther between as businesses rush to cut insurance coverage.
So the dark underbelly of the private practice of law is either the lack of health insurance or, in my case, the lack of decent and good quality insurance coverage. We do not talk about it enough. Worse, we as a group are not doing anything about it, and we should be. It is not just the bane of my existence, but it is the bane of the existence for most of us.
Does anybody have any ideas? If so email me or comment to this post and share them with us.
I am not always a big fan of Boone Pickens, but he does give a compelling argument was to why we need to act now and what we can move to solve the energy crises in this country.
We are in trouble as the big three - Comcast, AT&T and Time-Warner - try to turn the Internet into the equivalent of the cell phone bill system. They want to begin metering bandwidth used by you, and me and the next guy or gal.
One of the problems with capitalistic greed is that once anything becomes almost a necessity -- oil, water, electricity -- some bigwig wants to figure out how to use it to suppress advancement, personal freedom, and the economic livelihood of many by trying to contrive a way or means to charge the bejesus out of people for it. Boone Pickens, for example, is busy trying to corner the market on water rights in Texas and to submit life sustaining water to trading (like the problem we are having with oil right now), for sale to the highest bidder. Sorry poor parched person. You will just have to die! The big three are wanting to do the same to the Internet, which is as well the lifeblood for commerce now in this country and around the world.
Worse for the Internet is that the big three want to make you believe this is something you can personally regulate by constantly watching how much bandwidth you use for doing things like reading this blog. Then, just to make this easy for you, they will just charge you bookoos for overages just like our wonderful (I mean criminal) phone companies do. (SURPRISE!! I KNOW YOU NEEDED TO FIND THE DIRECTIONS TO THE EMERGENCY MEDICAL CLINIC, BUT THAT PUT YOU OVER THE TINY AMOUNT OF BANDWIDTH ALLOWED AND NOW YOU MUST PAY US A PUNITIVE AMOUNT FOR THE PRIVILEGE).
These companies spend decades lobbying the state legislatures, Congress and municipalities for the right to pipe our homes and offices for TV, then they add on all of these services like broadband, VoIP and security systems that eat up bandwidth, then like that teaser rate on your credit card, they jack up the rates in really unseemly ways.
I find interesting, for example, that Comcast goes out of its way to promote its Internet phone and they encourage you to forsake your old fashion land line, using instead their broadband services to talk "FOR FREE", without the worry of overages. The lady on the phone just talks, talks, talks, talks, talks. Then, of course, they are now slowing down bandwidth and broadband to these phone making sure the quality of their phone service stinks. And, of course, if they start charging for overages for cable bandwidth, you will start paying similar to how you pay for cell phones right now. So who needs the deception? Just stick with your cell phone company. At least you can see how they are taking advantage of you.
Can you imagine being charged just to enter you local mall or shopping center? Of course not, yet that is what cable and AT&T do. Like the mall where stores pay for space that subsidizes your entrance, those offering things on the web do the same thing already. They pay for broadband and bandwidth. But, like a credit card company that wants to collect from both the store and the borrower, so do Internet providers. Now, however, they have come up with this insidious scheme that would be like the Mall charging you for not only how long you were in the Mall but how much stuff you tried to take out of the mall when you left.
As well, can you imagine going to the County Fair and paying a good some of money to get on the amusement ride only to be told after you are nauseous from the ride that you would have to pay another large and unexpected some to get off the ride based upon the actual time you spent on the ride? Yet, that is again what the cable companies and AT&T propose.
I am personally getting sick of this pay as you go economy. If I want to drive, I pay by the gallon. If I want to talk on the phone, I pay by the minute. Texas is busy selling its roads (you know the ones we taxpayers already paid to have build) to private investors that will turn each into a separate toll road. The water fountains are basically gone. You can now pay a buck or two for some dead water in a plastic bottle that has chemical residue from the plastic. The conservatives want everyone to go to private schools that get to charge by the hour. And, then people complain about attorneys billing by the hour. How else can you expect to keep up and to pass these incremental costs onto clients so we can make a living?
I remember as a kid that the greedsters tried to get you to pay to use the bathroom. And, now they chant about personal responsibility. In the meantime, people are hurting, the economy is in shambles for Joe Blow and his family, and the corporate executives are driving a shortage of things like luxury yachts and private jets. They want us to enter a world reminiscent of Enron. As far as I am concerned they can all go to hell.
Call me what you want, but it is time we socialize the Internet backbone. Bandwidth is much to precious to the future of this country to leave it to the greedy Mongoles whose joy in life is to figure out how to break us ordinary citizens by corning a market and then tricking us, deceiving us, and milking us for all that we are worth.
Do not like what I say, then that is fine, but we have to start looking for alternatives to the Big Three. We have to begin to figure out how to deprive them of financial security so they will think twice about their avarice, their cupidity, and their evil desires.
Below is a video of one of the reports about what is coming.
There can be a difference between network marketing and relationship
building. The former can become too artificial, too unnatural, less
ductile or supple, or too much of a contraption, contrivance or device
to be effective. I do not care what you call it, but once the process
becomes too methodical, too architectonic, or too tactical it will not
work well. It becomes advertising.
I know we are all about the future, we are all about the Third Wave,
but I think that good old fashion relationship building is too often
confused as being different from network marketing. And then
relationship building is look upon as being antiquated, out-of-date,
and fusty -- vintage really. It should not be.
Todays technology can certainly help you in maintaining relationships
and it should be used. But, the problem with many people's concept of
network marketing is that they treat it as a game, or a wager. When it
lacks authenticity, concernment, consequence or interest it ceases to
be palatable. It also ceases to work as you would want it.
Think for a moment about how network marketing works for credit card
companies and many large institutional clients. It stinks because it
is plastic (pun intended), and it does not relay any warmth, any
concern, any real wisdom. It is really limited to soliciting something
from you. That does not a relationship make. The network techniques used almost defeat the purpose they
were designed to achieve. It becomes impersonal.
One thing that I try to do every day is to make sure I am working on
building relationships. Although many people would like to ignore the
plain truth, law is a people-intensive business and we are actually in the
business of fostering relationships. Relationships necessary to obtain
referrals. Relationships necessary to settle cases. Relationships
necessary to proceed with a case when needed. Once we believe our job
is just to manage transactions we have a problem. Our job, for
success, is to foster these relationships.
In your network marketing or relationship building you need to be able to provide and accept useful information and services. You need to be sincere. You need to be personal. What you are doing should not appear mechanical.
The selling point in real estate is still - location - location - location! The problem for many is that the definition of the right location is changing as gas prices skyrocket.
According to the Dallas Business Journal, companies (and that assumes law firms) will have to re-examine where they set up shop. For example, the Journal predicts that buildings on or near the Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) lines will thrive while out of the way locations will suffer.
Also, the article discusses workers moving in closer to work and avoiding the commute. I tend to believe the ultimate prize is is the ability to trade this for a carpet commute, with your main office in your own home..
Losing a laptop or notebook computer could be disastrous to many attorneys. Yet, we tend to carry them were we go so that we may stay in touch. We dare not check our computers because we want to do some work on the Plane while flying, or at least impress others we do not know with your importance. Regardless, I know people who have lost their laptops at an airport, but I did not realize the situation was so profound. According to an article on Engadget, based on a study by the Ponemon Institute, more than 10,000 laptops are reported lost at the 36 largest airports
in the US each week and, of those, 65% are not reclaimed. Further, 2,000 laptops lost at medium-sized airports,
with 69% of those not reclaimed. According to the study 77% of the people surveyed
saying they had "no hope" of ever recovering a laptop lost at the
airport, and 16% saying they would not even do anything to
attempt to recover it.
At 12,000 laptop or notebook computers a week, that is a loss of 624,000 computers a year. According to statistics on Reseller, that would be approaching a number equivalent to half of the laptops sold by Apple last year. This has to make you wonder if airports are the laptop trash can of the world? Alternatively, if you are a new lawyer starting out, or a law student, how do you get your pick of these hundreds of thousands of computers sitting in some government warehouse?
I run into poor, pitiful lawyers every day. Many contact me asking for advice on how to break free from their poor, pitiful ways. I am always glad to tell them from my experience what has worked for me and what has not. Namely that they have to get out and pound the pavement. Call on lawyers in your area or those people that can potentially refer you business. Just drop in and introduce yourself is the best way. If they are not there or available for you, just leave them a message on your business card and collect the information to follow up with a call, and email, a fax, or all three. Put together a blog that operates as your marketing hub, and which makes you appear to be the local authority on your subject. Go speak to the groups and organizations from whom you need assistance. It is really not that hard being friendly. You do not have to be obtuse to sell yourself, but those people, groups, and organizations you
need, need to know you are out there, want them to refer you cases, and that you appreciate them. That is it. That is the entire secret.
Most often attorneys do not accept this advice or do not follow it because they have internal compass that will not allow them to go this direction, or they have personal apprehensions. I understand. Not everybody was meant to be in private practice or to head a small firm. Some people have to do the grunt work or the heavy lifting. It might as well be those who cannot bring themselves to let the world know they want the world's business.
I was telling this to a young lawyer, who had very little business beating down the door of her new law firm. She did not want to do it either. What I found interesting, however, was her response. She told me she could not do that because it was not "dignified".
I am still not sure what that statement says about me, but I suppose it means that I am not dignified. My first thought was just to say, "thanks for calling". My actual response was, " well, dignity is overrated".
I am still not sure what hype they feed these students in law school. Somehow it is disgraceful to tell somebody what you do or want to do as a lawyer, or what your aspirations are in life. I say horse hockey!
Something is overrated when it is not nearly as cool as people think. It is any term which is given too much hype. It represents that point when something or some concept is praised too much. Dignity in the sense that you have to bite your tongue, close the shades, and not let the world in on that you are practicing a particular type of law, and that you need work is overrated. From my way of thinking and my position, this is just bananas, batty, and irrational. It is a harebrained concept.
Look, if you cannot, for whatever reason, do what is necessary to get your law practice off the ground, that is fine. Go do something else. There is no shame in that. But, not dignified? Really? I do not think so.
I absolutely hate this fake gas crises in which we are stuck. It is not that we do have a future gas and oil problem, it is just that we do not have one now.
That said, this bout with insanity will probably lead us to finally making the decisions that many of us, and many of our employers and courts, find so hard.
For example, the Dallas Business Journal recently reported that Dallas area employers were stepping in to help employees find some relief from the high gas prices.
Some are obvious, like handing out gas cards in various amounts. However, more of them were helping to promote and find public transportation to employees, allowing employees to "telecommute" (an old term), and condensing the work week for employees.
Wells Fargo Bank for example recently started allowing bank employees to work from locations closer to their homes. What gets me is that did not do this before.
From my perspective, this is green too. Regardless of soaring gas prices, this should always be encouraged. A shorter drive almost always means a happier worker (and now a wealthier worker as well).
Part of the problem, I believe, has not been the employees up to this point. It has been the inflexibility of the employers. Gas prices cause harm and protests. Now, employers have to face losing good workers and staff to their inflexibility. So, they are changing.
And, it is not just money. It is time. Commuting means loss of sleep. Loss of comfort. Loss of time. Especially now, it means loss of money. Working from home, or closer to home is better in so many ways, not the least of which is financial. I believe the slogan should be -- DON'T COMMUTE -- COMPUTE! It beats all alternatives. It beats cars, car pooling, HOV lanes, and public transportation.
We pay so much attention to the named founding fathers. This video from American News Project tells us that on this Independence Day we need to look back at the radical influence of Thomas Paine.
I do not know about you, but sitting at home and avoiding the long commute does allow me to eat better and regulate myself a little better. It also gives me more time to fret about all of this stuff you read concerning health. I find myself following some of it, and feeling guilty about not following the rest. Now, however, Telegraph has research these myths and they have exposed most of them not to be true. You decide. They are:
1. We must drink eight glasses of water a day.WRONG. No more than one litre is needed, generally.
2. Antibiotics and alcohol do not mix.WRONG. The possible exception is when taking Motronidazole or Rinidazole.
3. Carbohydrates are to be avoided if you want to lose weight.WRONG. Starchy foods only become fattening when actual fat, such as cream or margarine, is added to the meal.
4. Computers can be harmful to your health.PARTLY TRUE. Repetitive use can cause muscle strain, RSO and eye-strain.
5. Shaving causes hair to grow back faster and coarser.WRONG. There is no proof of this.
6. Poor diet and hygiene cause acne.WRONG. Acne is the direct manifestation of the production of hormones. But, this is not to suggest that you should have a poor diet.
7. Detoxifying the body is the ultimate path to wellbeing. WRONG. The body is well equipped with organs that are marvelous at detoxifying what we put into our bodies. All these organs need is exercise and a reasonable amount of water.
This is an interesting video promoting the Big Law firm of HansonBridgett. I like it. But, I am just not sure it sells the benefit of Big Law at the end. In fact, at the end of the video is when they leave the free wheeling world outside (you know where smaller, happier, more responsive law firms exist) and enter the stale and expensive and encasing world of Big Law.
Do you get a letters from your colleagues, which are attached to emails, and think this attorney just does not get the technological advances. You know what I am talking about. They treat email like it is an envelope, but they still insist on dictating out their correspondence, having their secretary type it, then they proof it, have the secretary retype it, print it off on stationary, sign it, somehow scan it, and attach it to an email that says little more than "attached please find ... ". And, more often than not the email is from the secretary.
