The Red Velvet Lawyer

It's Not Enough to Keep Abreast of  Changes in the Substantive Law Robert Ambrogie, blogger at LawSites, lists the 10 Most Important Legal Technology Developments of 2013 .  Two entries on the list especially caught my eye. The first entry discusses the ethical obligation to be competent in the use of technology.  The second entry discusses increasing efforts by some law schools to teach students about the use of technology in law practice. 3.  Competence in technology turned from dalliance to necessity.   In August 2012, the American Bar Association voted to amend the Model Rules of Professional Conduct to make clear that lawyers have a duty to be competent in technology . Specifically, the ABA voted to amend the comment to Model Rule 1.1, governing lawyer competence, to say that, in addition to keeping abreast of changes in the law and its practice, a lawyer should keep abreast of “the benefits and risks associated with relevant technology.” During

More on Legal Marketing: Especially for You Visual Learners I really like these infographics about web-based marketing for lawyers over on The Rainmaker Blog .  Check out all twelve covering the following topics: How to do Keyword Research. 7 Website Essentials to Land You More Leads. How to Get More Likes on Facebook. How to Create Perfect Posts on Social Platforms. Increase Traffic to Your Website. Using Social Media for Lead Generation. SEO Copywriting: 10 Tips for Writing Content that Ranks in 2013. 14 Ways to Make Google Love Your Site. Breakdown of a Person's Google Results: How People Look in Google -- And How to Look Better. Mobile is the Future . . . Is Your Website Optimized?  How to Build a Credible Blog. Getting Past Your Social (Media) Anxiety. And,  here is a wonderful video depiction of how marketers can make it harder for your customers/clients to "buy" on line. 

The Droid Lawyer Speaks So, I've been watching ALL the episodes of The Good Wife on Hulu over the winter break.  Yes, I know. They've been populated with ads for Chromecast, but the ads don't tell you a thing. So, you will find more information about Chromecast  here  and here  with descriptions of how lawyers can use it in their practices.   For a 2013 round up of articles on Droid and Android use in law practice, see Jeffry Taylor's blog: The Droid Lawyer   here . Dec. 30, 2013 Update:  Here's the 11th infographic :  How to Build a Credible Blog. 

Distinguished Alumni  of the  Appalachian School of Law:   Assistant Attorney General  R ebekah Baker Legal Career Mrs. Rebekah Ann Baker serves as an Assistant Attorney General in the Tobacco Enforcement Division of the Attorney General’s Office for the State of Tennessee .  The Tobacco Enforcement Division, one of five consumer/crime protection divisions, enforces the provisions of the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement and handles other tobacco–related matters.  In that position, Mrs. Baker not only represents the State in civil litigation matters involving tobacco, but she also helps track and review all tobacco-related legislation introduced in the General Assembly each year.  She also drafts legislation and legislative amendments when necessary.  In addition, she works on regulatory matters involving tobacco companies doing business in Tennessee.  Mrs. Baker serves on several working groups within the National Association of Attorneys General To

The Red Velvet Lawyer Mentioned in AmLaw Daily In the ongoing discussion about when law graduates and available law jobs will reach equilibrium, Matt Leichter, of the  Law School Tuition Bubble  blog, has continued to work with the  numbers  and published in the AmLaw Daily  here  a story called:  No, It's Still Not a Good Time to Apply to Law School . (You may need a subscription to read the story but his blog posting covers all or most of the same data.) He mentions my launch of this conversation and concludes that Prof. Merritt may have the better analysis. He looks at several more data-bases to reach that conclusion.  As I've said before, I want prospective students to make decisions about law school using informed decision-making.  The more we talk about the numbers, the more information they have to make better choices about the careers they want to pursue. I'd invite Leichter to expand his analysis to other professions, because the bu

Enhance Your Willpower  and  Reach Your Goals Robert Hatch, owner of Human Business Works , a business coach, and an author, sent me some advice this morning on making and achieving New Year's Resolutions. I can sum it up with a quote from Wayne Dyer:  "Once you begin working on your problem areas with small, daily, success-oriented, goals, the problems will disappear." What I like about Hatch's iteration of the way you must operate to reach a specific goal is the acknowledgement that we only have a certain limited reserve of willpower. He is so in to the idea, he eats the same thing for breakfast every morning. It limits the drain of will power and reduces, by one, the decisions he must make as entrepreneur through the rest of the day.  Ok, not me.  But, interesting. For the science on willpower, take a look at this Stanford School of Medicine blog .  Two things can enhance your reserve of willpower: Meditation and regular exercise, partly because

Arbitration Fairness Act And, now a look into the debate about pre-dispute arbitration clauses found in consumer and employment contracts. Several witnesses testified about the problems with these clauses. Then, Senator Al Franken questioned a U of Georgia Law School professor, Peter B. Rutledge , who planned to support the clauses. Watch the video here . From the Consumerist : Earlier this week, the Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on mandatory binding arbitration clauses, those fun bits of contractual language that take away your right to sue a company and force you into a resolution process that is heavily weighted in the company’s favor. The hearing was chaired by Senator Al Franken of Minnesota, who earlier this year introduced the proposed Arbitration Fairness Act , and so he obviously has a thing or two to say on the topic. * * *   Starting at around the 1:55 mark in the above video, Franken cites the professor’s own previous statements that cer