The Red Velvet Lawyer

40,000   Page Views Friends, family, and colleagues: Despite neglecting, this past month, my commitment to blog daily for a year, my blog has reached another milestone.  Some time today, page views of my blog topped 40,000.  The Red Velvet Lawyer celebrated its first birthday in mid-March. It has been a great learning experience. It has given back to me a voice I had as a columnist. It keeps me in a conversation with colleagues, students, and alumni. I appreciate your ongoing support and interest. Love you all, and thanks so very much for your support!

Tell a Story. Start a Conversation. At the last retreat of women entrepreneurs enjoying the coaching lessons of Christine Kane in her Gold Mastermind program, we -- yet again --  focused on identifying our ideal client and then practiced our elevator speech designed to draw that ideal client to our businesses.   So this discussion by blogger Mark Beese, at Attorney at Work , caught my eye. He reports on several presentations given at the recent conference of legal marketing professionals. Niche marketing. Think about the last time someone asked, “So, what do you do?” at a networking event. What did you say? “I’m a [fill-in-the-blank] lawyer” or “I’m an attorney at [X] firm”? Do you think you made a lasting, positive first impression? Kevin McMurdo , Principal of McMurdo Consulting and former CMO of Perkins Coie, led a lively discussion on teaching lawyers to focus on a specific niche market where they have a specific value proposition. He used the “elevator speech” to

Positioning your Law Firm  as an Expert Blogger Mark Beese, at Attorney at Work , reports on several presentations given at the recent conference of legal marketing professionals.  This story about "valuable free content" offered to energy law clients caught my eye.   Paul Grabowski , CMO of Bracewell Guiliani, gave a behind-the-scenes tour of what it takes to produce an award-winning mobile app. Targeting energy companies, Bracewell’s free “ShalePlay” app provides a stream of news, analysis and legal commentary on the hydraulic fracturing industry segmented by geographic shale “plays” throughout the U.S.   The process of creating the app took 14 months, and was a cross-disciplinary collaborative effort of in-house staff, attorneys and outside designers that required strong project management and a good budget. More than 10 software tools were involved in development, design and usage metrics.   Grabowski’s lessons learned?  Create a usef

Best Mediator?  Best Approach? Interesting post on the use of mediation in energy-related disputes. Frames the debate about substantive expertise vs. process/people skills and about evaluative mediation that can drift into ethically impermissible legal advice. 

Strongly Committed  to its Mission Last night, Jackie Pruitt, Director of Admissions issued the following press release, which elaborates on the changes the law school is experiencing. I've added links to topics I've covered as The Red Velvet Lawyer . For Immediate Release Jackie Pruitt Director of Admissions jpruitt@asl.edu 276-935-4349, ext. 1245 www.asl.edu APPALACHIAN SCHOOL OF LAW MAINTAINS STRONG OUTLOOK  DESPITE REDUCED DEMAND BOARD OF TRUSTEES REMAINS COMMITTED TO  PROVIDING QUALITY LEGAL EDUCATION As the Appalachian School of Law anticipates smaller incoming class sizes in the fall, the Board of Trustees remains committed to offering quality legal education, promoting the school’s nationally recognized educational programs, maintaining a strong community, supporting the school’s alumni, and providing the region with practice-ready lawyers.  Grundy, Virginia.   March 22, 2014 -  The school’s Dir

Appalachian School of Law Team Among Top 8 Teams  Amanda Coop and Amanda Kash entered the quarterfinals today as the #1 seed in the 38th Annual Robert F. Wagner Labor and Employment Law Competition held March 19–23, 2014. They had to argue off-brief, and so, while they performed extremely well, they did not advance to the semi-finals.  We are very proud of them.  Out of 46 teams, they made the top 8!  A special thanks to assistant coaches Nick Kalagian and Jason Morgan who worked hard this weekend keeping the team focused and prepared. Each spring, the New York Law School Moot Court Association administers the Robert F. Wagner National Labor & Employment Law Moot Court Competition in honor of the late U.S. Senator and distinguished alumnus. The competition is the nation’s largest student-run moot court competition and the premier national competition dedicated exclusively to labor and employment law. For over 30 years, schools from across the coun

The Mission of the Appalachian School of Law Sets up Grads for Happier Lives A new study reported today in the ABA Journal Law News Now reports that money and prestigious jobs obtained after graduating from a higher ranked school do not lead to happier lives as lawyers.  The survey measured lawyers’ “subjective well-being,” a combination of life satisfaction and mood. More than 7,800 bar members in four states responded to the survey; the study focused on about 6,200 who provided complete data and said they worked as lawyers, judges or in related positions.  The survey found that lawyers in “prestige” jobs, who had the highest grades and incomes, aren’t as happy as lawyers working in public-service jobs for substantially lower pay. Judges, however, were happiest of all.  “Prestige” jobs included lawyers working in firms of more than 100 lawyers and those working in areas such as corporate, tax, patent, securities, estate-planning and plaintiff’s tort law. Pub