RSS FeedBilling By The Hour
There has been a great deal of discussion among legal commentators about the failure of hourly billing for legal services and the need for alternatives. The most recent article I’ve seen is in the CBA’s Jan/Feb issue of National. Although I’m a law student and have never billed a single hour as a lawyer, I have worked for more than a decade as an entrepreneur and I wonder … what are the alternatives, really, but masked versions of hourly billing? Given the limited amount of hours available to work in any day/week/year/lifetime, billing by the job MUST reflect the time that the task requires.
Flat fee services must have caps on the input of resources to succeed as business models and, as a result, will tend to put a floor rather than a ceiling on the cost of any given service. At best, a flat fee will reflect the average amount of time required to perform a service. Innovators can find ways of doing things more quickly through economies of scale, computer processing, outsourcing and so forth, but price reductions that service providers choose to pass on to the clients can be built into an hourly billing model just as easily as any alternative. Innovations might put pressure on hourly rates through competition, but this has nothing to do with the method of billing.
Frankly, I fail to see how alternatives to billing by the hour will change the cost of legal services. The real pressures on cost come from the the well-known forces of the marketplace … the rest is just packaging. And if clients are becoming more sophisticated, will they really be impressed by a fancy one-size-fits-all (unless you want more) gift bag?
The real issue is value. Lawyers that provide it will gain clients and those that do not will lose clients. Those who insist on talking about how the billing is done, please explain (and be nice about it): What am I missing?
The Other Google Spot, and Florida Divorce Attorneys
Google’s ad last night attracted quite a bit of attention.
Kenneth Corbin of Internet News said,
For Google, Super Bowl Sunday was something of a departure.
In the third quarter of the game, Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) aired a nearly full-minute ad promoting its search engine, marking one of the few television appearances for the company that rarely advertises and its first spot during a Super Bowl.
At it happens, the ad, “Parisian Love,” had been online for several months, posted on Google’s “Search Stories” page on YouTube where it has been viewed more than a million times.
Dan Goldgeier of AdPulp points out that so has this parody from Slate:
Florida divorce attorneys almost make the cut. Is Google trying to tell us something? Is Slate?
h/t Paull Young
Guatemalan Lawyer Arranged his Own Assassination
Bruce Canton explains how prominent Guatemalan lawyer Rodrigo Rosenberg arranged his own assassination and tried to pin it on the President. He even made this video for you to see.
Now that’s some dedication to your cause, but it’s not likely to help your future client intake.
Law Suits and Public Relations
According to an article by Canadian Press, Loblaws has seen the light and will no longer sue the man ‘deemed to be at fault’ for a collision involving a Loblaws truck that caused the death of the man’s wife and 6 teenage boys. The legal action had been a lingering PR disaster that motivated outraged communities to push for a boycott.
Having spent all of 4 minutes considering the matter, I am struck by the lack of circumspect. This accident was a highly publicized tragedy that made front-page national news. Prime Minister Harper sent a letter of condolence to the school that the teenagers attended, according to CBC news, and no where in the coverage was the driver blamed.
This man was a basketball coach. He was driving a van that carried the basketball team plus his wife and daughter. It was winter and the road conditions were not good when the van fish-tailed on a highway and unspeakable tragedy ensued. This man might have been driving too fast, and his negligence might have caused damage to a Loblaws truck, however, from where I sit, public backlash seems a likely outcome of litigation. He made a horrible mistake and paid very dearly for it: He lost his wife, he could have lost his daughter. Many families in the community lost a son. Meanwhile, amidst all of this loss of life, Loblaws wants to recover for a damaged truck and lost inventory. This looks cold-hearted to say the least.
There is lesson to be learned here. As we graduate from law school and become involved in that financial bloodsport called litigation, we should remember that law suits do not occur in a vacuum. Even though the law says you can, and even if you’re impervious to emotional reactions to sympathetic defendants, you should consider the potential for public outcry. The client likely values his or her public profile more than money, and this applies whether the matter is civil, family or criminal.
From where I sit this seems so obvious … but maybe things look different after swimming in shark-infested water for a few years. Perhaps the real lesson is to remember what things look like from the outside when your on the inside.
OMG! Law Talk Episode 2
Law Blawgers Omar Ha-Redeye, Michael Carabash and Garry J. Wise return with Episode 2 of OMG! Law Talk.
THIS WEEK ON OMG! -
·Google Juice
·Law Firm Public Relations Strategies
·Getting Legal Information Online
·Blogging and the Election of George Bush
·Responding to Torture
·On Mark Steyn and Freedom of Speech in Canada and America
OMG! Law Talk is a weekly series, jointly presented by Wise Law Blog (www.wiselaw.blogspot.com) , Dynamic Lawyers (www.dynamiclawyers.com) and www.OmarHa-Redeye.com)
Lawyers Who Vlog – OMG! Law Talk
It’s something I’ve always wondered about. How do you use video, presumably on YouTube, without looking like you’re advertising like this guy.
I got together with some of the most savvy lawyers I know in the area, and we sat around talking about why we blog, why litigators are often reluctant to participate, and a couple other issues. We forgot about the camera that was filming us, and took a look at the footage after we were done.
The musical intro/outro is us too - Garry Wise and Michael Carabash are pretty talented musicians on the guitar.
We liked what we saw and thought others might want in on the conversation as well, so after Garry tirelessly editing away we finally posted it online today.
Tell us what you think, and let us know if this a better approach to entering the video realm by actually providing content.
Blawg Review #228
If you’re just starting law school, law blawgs can be your best friend. In addition to this site, here are 99 other blog posts that you should read to help prepare for your adventure. It won’t help you though if you’re a judge about to be tested.
Most law students want to be in the top 10-15% of their class, and there are career opportunities that depend on that. Ken DeLeon of Top-law-schools.com provides some tips for success in law school, including a handy flowchart on how to prepare for your law school exams. But keep in mind that the end of the billable hour might result in some changes to your legal education, and law students have different learning styles than the rest of the population.
Still applying to law school? An undergraduate degree in physics or math might be your best option to get a solid LSAT score. Remember that these days a law career is considered a risky option, and there are lawyers in Jersey actually working for free. Where else is success defined by more work (even for less pay), and not more recreational or family time? Larry Ribstein still thinks law school is the cool choice. But is it really worth it?
On the other hand you could elect to skip your classes, get intoxicated regularly, sleep with all the members of the opposite sex, gain a reputation as being a total douche bag, and then score a book and movie deal.
Introducing Tucker Max – asshole extraordinaire – a graduate of Duke Law that claims assholes finish first.
An inspiring personality, certainly, and an approach that John Infante of Fearfully Optimistic would definitely disagree with. It does make you wonder how many Dukes are faking the Daisy to hazard “celebrity bias.” The Bitter Lawyer has an exclusive interview with Tucker that is, at the very least, amusing.
Then again, “skipping classes, playing basketball, doing cocaine and getting drunk” might help you become President of the United States – but eventually someone might start asking for your law school transcripts. None of this is likely to come up during the President’s special advice to students tomorrow (Sept. 8). An open and transparent government, perhaps, but not that open. Reality check: the last refuge of the persecuted crack smoker may not be in law school.
Hey, “Some people snort cocaine, others snort religion,” and the latter is not necessarily better. The Exit at My Legal Fiction suggests wearing lipstick as a law school study aid, for some very compelling reasons. If you’re a missionary in Kenya, please don’t vow to go to law school out of religious convictions, unless you’re going to a low-ranking religious-affiliated law school. Happy Belated Todd, but I won’t be paying $25,000 for dinner any time soon.
Still, your biggest youthful indiscretion might be going to law school itself (and graduating at the bottom of your class hardly precludes success). If your indiscretions precede law school and include a criminal record, there are some disclosure issues you should consider. Using stolen Social Security Numbers to steal student loans for partying, with Tucker, Todd, or otherwise, probably isn’t a great idea. Assistant Deans at law schools? Not a good idea either.
Robert J. Ambrogi also tells us about Branigan Robertson of Chapman University School of Law, who won $10,000 for this video in the My Inspiration video contest:
These law students are doing better than a lot of lawyers these days. When life gives you lemons (or a recession), you should just make lemonade. Dan Markel is asking, what kind of juice are you making?
On the other hand, if you’re looking to avoid personalities like Tucker Max at all costs, you might be interested in Above the Law’s Douchiest Law School Contest.
No surprise that Harvard and Duke are currently heading the pack as finalists. Also check out Paul Caron’s review of U.S. News Law School Rankings for Judicial Clerkships, which includes data from Brian Leiter’s rankings. If douchiness turns you off of Yale and clerkships are really important to you, the University of North Dakota might be a good alternative. However, great credentials don’t always make more satisfied lawyers, because these guys tend to be plagued by that green-eyed monster.
Charon QC’s musings might be useful in determining if a “douchy law school” is worse than a “McDonalds of law schools,” while Dan Slater of the NYTimes suggests just locking the doors to all law schools because there are too few hiring positions. Still having a hard time picking a law school? The iPhone app Law School 100 is free until midnight tonight (Sept. 7). Study aids are becoming more interactive, with West’s new Interactive Case Series now linking to directly to law review articles cited in the case series.
Keep in mind that law school is different than undergrad, and you should probably clean up those social networks you’re on. After all, you wouldn’t want your mom witnessing you pulling a Tucker Max, and some employers might require you to submit your social media for a background check. Social media is also being increasingly being used in the courtroom, and no, the judge doesn’t really want to be your “friend.” Don’t get rid of that social media entirely though, because “People don’t find lawyers in the phone book… They find them through TV ads or friends or by searching the Internet, including blogs and social networking tools.”
Apparently what clients really want from their lawyer is to “feel the love,” so if someone comes to your office complaining they hurt their “tushy bone,” try not to laugh too hard. Be forewarned though – that volenti non fit injuria doctrine you learn in Torts class also applies to contracting Herpes Simplex I from wrestling, also known as Herpes Gladiatorium.
That’s probably not what Lauren in Law School had in mind when she suggested gladiator games as an alternative to On Campus Interviews (OCIs). You can get a list of the guys in your university with herpes from the new Campus Gossip site just to be on the safe side.
Although the number of followers you have on Twitter is no sign of of expertise or influence, it might land you a job (or lose it) with a firm or get you published, even if Perz Hilton decides to sue you for defamation. No “love” (or wrestling) for him, sorry. Some people do take Twitter seriously, perhaps too seriously.
Eric Goldman’s interview with David Lat highlights the importance of students networking during a crisis. Dennis Jansen also thinks that networking with your peers might be useful, but consists of more than “beaming your peers with business cards or mass-adding people on Facebook and LinkedIn.” As popular as Wordpress may be for blogs, it just might not be for your law firm, and you even might be held liable for content on your site to a tune of $32.4 million.
The Law Society or State Bar is probably not going to like it if you steal other people’s Twitter content and pass it off as your own, like Melina Beninghoff did . Stealing content doesn’t take brilliance, and it barely takes effort. What is clever is coming up with this CraigsList listing from Los Angeles. But is stolen content any worse than fake content?
Today is also Labour (sic) Day in Canada and the U.S. That’s the Canadian spelling, because Labour Day did originate in Canada in 1872 with the Trade Unions Act, which legalized unions. The United States followed in 1882 with informal observance in New York City, and by 1894 it was observed by 23 states through legislation. Still, it was the American President Lincoln, not a Canadian, who said in December 1881,
It is assumed that labor is available only in connection with capital; that nobody labors unless somebody else, owning capital, somehow by the use of it induces him to labor…
Labor is prior to and independent of capital. Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not existed.
Although most Canadian law schools start the day after Labour Day, many Americans start a week or two earlier. According to Blawg Review 122 it seems that in Dublin they start as late as October, but it might just be that everyone (students and profs) are recovering from prolonged hang-overs.
Labour relations are highly relevant for this edition of Blawg Review, since law professors at the University of California are considering a walk-out despite having the “best public education in the world.” Perhaps they could use this list of 24 alternative mediation dispute resolution sites to read.
Maybe they should just settle this all over a beer. Then again, those Canadian brewers are at it again with their trade-mark litigation! Next time someone tells you “I Am Canadian,” you might want to do your due diligence.
The big thing up here in Canada right now is Copyright Consultation Reform. Although over-reaching legislation is great for the lawyers, it does little for end-users of copyright material. If you’re one of those folks with a keen attention for cyberspace cases, this new blog following the 10 most important U.S. cases will probably be of interest.
But the big thing about Canada in the U.S. right now seems to be our healthcare system, which we’re rather partial to, despite what they mights say (Ignore those pesky suits). Send us your gladiators with herpes, and your perdurable impetus. All that talk over at Volokh about a “lottery system” can only be described as nonsense.
(At 1:53 Glenn Beck repeats lottery libel, and at 3:21 yells at a caller to get off his phone, “you little pinhead,” for not listening to the “facts.” The remix is even funnier.)
Although she acknowledges that healthcare reform is needed, Althouse has 10 things she hates about it. Change is always hard due to “status quo bias.” Madeleine Begun Kane has a limerick she wrote just for the spats over healthcare in the U.S. (watch your pinkies!):
“Majority rule is just great,”
Said Gregg in the drilling debate.
“You’ve got 51 votes,
Then you win.” Check his quotes.
Yet 51 Dem votes don’t rate.
Seeking medical treatment is probably the first thing you should do after a car accident, irrespective of whether it occurs in Canada or the U.S. Passen Law provides 9 other things you should do, including, of course, getting an experienced personal injury lawyer.
Another thing we have in Canada absent in the U.S. is a prohibition against the death penalty. Perhaps the fact that 45% of wrongful convictions in capital cases are based on jailhouse snitches has something to do with it. Mark Bennett of Defending People points out the interesting observation that a Texan executioner appears to be committing murder by that state’s law,
…would you participate in a death penalty trial, knowing that, for the rest of your life, with the turn of a tide of public opinion you could be prosecuted for making what you believed to be the right decision? You may be betting your life.
Do you think that employment contract with the State would protect you? Don’t count on it, as Jeffery I. Gordon mentions that most contracts are too brittle to withstand scrutiny, even if those FirstDrafter clauses look like they can do the job.
On the other hand, if your employment contract follows an affirmative action plan that is not remedial and narrowly tailored for past discrimination, it may constitute unlawful discrimination. We’re still not sure if a stripper constitutes an employee or an independent contractor in Employment Law class.
More guys in that class would probably express their anticipation for seeing Jessica Alba as the stripper-law student Nancy Callahan in the upcoming Sin City 2 if they weren’t concerned about objectifying women.
Don’t lose any sleep over it, unless you’ve sexually assaulted employees and are settling for $1.72 million. Be careful though – the risk of contracting gladiator herpes (and sins) rises exponentially when wrestling with strippers. You could also get robbed or raped.
Personally, I would be okay with any affirmative action that sought to get everyone but Tucker Max and any potential douches into my law school. Nancy Callahan might get a pass, as long as she doesn’t hook up with Tucker while she’s there.
Special thanks to David Shulman for editing on this piece.
That’s it for this week’s edition! Remember: Blawg Review has information about next week’s host, and instructions how to get your blawg posts reviewed in upcoming issues.
Heather Morrison of CNW Group on Social Media
The increasing influence of social media has not just been noticed by traditional print publications.
CNW Group (formerly Canada News Wire) is Canada’s largest source for press releases and media information. They’re also known for their audio and video webcasting abilities, so they’re always on the cutting edge for technological developments.
One of their more exciting projects recently has been the Social Media Release, which allows for text to be augmented my more rich content including hyperlinks, dowloadable images and logos, audio and video.
You know the time has come for law firms to adopt social media when they prepare a specific packet for them. Heather Morrison of CNW Group released Canadian Law Firms and their Use of Social Media today, which is likely to become one of the primary sources for Canadian firms looking to enter this area.
She covers many of the basics, including Search Engine Optimization (SEO), different types of social media, strategic issues on when to blog, and some of the major social media players in the country.
Yes, LawIsCool is listed.
Free Book on Online Marketing
Michael Carabash, a recent Osgoode graduate who has set up with his own practice and marketing services, just released a free online book for legal marketing.
I’ve been sharing some ideas with him and Garry Wise recently, and there are a couple of projects in works that may be interesting.
Although Carabash’s book covers what many of us would consider the basics, there are still lots of lawyers coming up speed. The U.K. government is paying £160,000 a year for these specialty services.
You can get the book for free here.
Law is Cool top ranked again
A Dime a Dozen Political Blog ranks Law is Cool as one of the top 25 political blogs this summer.
1. http://www.michaelgeist.ca/ – pr7 – 182,020
2. http://thetyee.ca/Blogs/TheHook/ – pr6 – 169,602
3. http://westernstandard.blogs.com/ – pr6 – 266,842…
23. http://lawiscool.com/ – pr5 – 874,663
…
Torys LLP Goes Viral on YouTube
This is what I’ve been waiting for.
A major Canadian law firm now has an established YouTube channel, with professionally produced videos using real articling students, sharing their experiences at the firm.
Social media and viral videos are no longer for small firms or solo practices, as this recent move by Torys LLP proves.
This project shows that the firm understands that students want a human face to firms that often appear intimidating. Students appreciate firms that try to meet them half way.
You can check out the Torys LLP videos on their YouTube channel. This video speaks about applying to the firm, featuring recent grads from my school, Adam Banack and Adrienne DiPaolo.
Update
Although Torys LLP produced a social media release for these videos, this entry still ranks much, much higher on Google. On August 6, 2009, it was even above the fold.
An absolute beginner’s guide to free online marketing for lawyers (conclusion)
All the sites I talked about in previous posts are relatively open. You can at least freely read their content, even if you can’t contribute. Legal OnRamp is a closed community. According its website, it’s a “Collaboration system for in-house counsel and invited outside lawyers and third party service providers.” You can request an invitation, which give you access to members’ blogs, a pretty active forum, a member directory, and other features common to many other online communities. The barrier to entry in the form of the invitation requirement apparently weeds out frauds, spammers, and other nuisances. I got my invitation as a law student. Legal OnRamp is especially interesting if you like following the debates on the future of the legal profession.
Don’t forget: some of these sites mostly target lawyers, while others address the general public. Take this into account when you are coming up with an online marketing strategy. Sites like Legal OnRamp let you network, outreach, and hopefully get referrals from other lawyers. Even some legal blogs reach mostly members of the legal profession. Other blogs such as Law is Cool or forums like AdviceScene attract readers from all walks of life. Many visitors to these sites look for legal information or advice. Of course, how you talk to potential clients is different from how you talk to fellow lawyers. A good online strategy takes this into account.
If you are an absolute neophyte in the world of online communications and social media, hopefully you benefitted from this introduction. You learned what social media means, how it works, and where it plays out. You also know now a few websites that target the legal profession or its clients. There are many opportunities to get your name out there in a professional and consistent way, so your image and reputation online reflect the quality of your work in the real world.
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