We have an exciting announcement for everyone today.  Yesterday instead of posting a social media blog, we were busy developing a new promotion to enthuse the legal community.  Every week, during the month of June, we will be holding different contests giving away free continuing legal education.  The contests will all be organized through social media. 

We held an effective experiment today when we offered five years of free CLE on Twitter to the first person who can make it to our office.  A local New York attorney (who did not want to be explicitly named) was able to make it to our offices in Manhattan just before 4pm.  She will be receiving Unlimited CLE for free for the next five years.

We are aiming to demonstrate the effectiveness of social media in reaching internet users and giving back to the community.  In response to the economic crisis we are always looking for ways to help out as many attorneys as possible.   Social media takes us to new depths and we are working our hardest to maximize the potential that social media offers.

Make sure you follow us on Twitter and become a fan on Facebook to stay updated with the weekly contents.    Stay tuned for the first official contest next week.  We may even hold a scavenger hunt...

One short week later, we are back here at another Friday.  Is it me or are 4 day weeks just that much better than 5 day weeks?  To be honest, it’s quite possible that a 4 day week can be more productive than a 5 day week.  A lot of local businesses are starting to feel the same way, and close the offices one day a week to save money and drive productivity.

It is with this in mind that we present this week’s edition of Lawline.com’s Friday Five.  In this post we will discuss the top 5 reasons to keep the office closed on Mondays.

1. Nothing happens on Mondays anyway.  People are too tired and too out of their element from following the weekend.  Most people do not bring their work home with them, and by the time they get back in on Monday it takes a little while to associate yourself with tasks left over from last week.  I think this is mostly a mental thing, meaning that this happens because people know its Monday to begin with.  Starting on Tuesday will give people a little more energy to kick start the week.

2. Force yourself to get more done.  It’s easier to get more out of each day if you know in your head that you have less time.  This does not mean that you have to rush through things, but clearly when you are more focused, and there are increased time constraints; we find the ability to work harder than before.

3. Save money on energy and travel.  For employers and employees alike, a closed office saves money.  Employers will save on energy bills to keep the office running, and employees will save money traveling to and from work.  Saving money is important when running a business, and this is one way to do it that may be most effective.

4. Boost morale in the workplace.  When employees have an extra day off during the week, they are much happier.  Its as if the stresses of the workplace are briefly lifted during a shortened week, and work seems that much more pleasant.  If you could get that feeling every week, you would be more inclined to work hard and enjoy yourself.  That gives an added bonus to all employees and decreases unnecessary turnover.

5. Stand out.  Be an organization that sets trends.  Closing the office once a week will get you noticed.  It will get you press, help you recruit, and may lead to other competitors or neighboring organizations to start doing the same thing.  When you are the first in your area or industry to do something drastic, people will notice you.

So there it is, 5 reasons not to work 5 days.  5 reasons to have this type of week…every week.  We hope some of you take notice, and maybe next week will start the same way this one did, on Tuesday!  Have a great weekend.

In our continuing effort to recognize some of the most notable legal blogs on the web, we bring you this week’s Featured Blog.  This week we will highlight Steve Schwartz’s LSAT Blog. Every prospective law student knows the importance of the LSAT.   And every attorney remembers the significance of the LSAT.  This blog provides tips on the LSAT and law school admissions.

Schwartz, a private LSAT tutor in Manhattan, started his LSAT blog because he feels that “people shouldn't feel the need to spend $1500 to do well on the LSAT and get into law school.”  I would have to agree with him.  LSAT Courses are increasingly expensive.  With the competitiveness one faces when applying to law school, they are also deemed necessary in order to succeed.  This blog demonstrates a few ways around taking an expensive course.

The blog, which began six months ago, offers new tips every Friday.  Schwartz also updates his Twitter page daily.  The tips range from study techniques to advice on specific sections of the exam.  A useful post I found was Best LSAT Prep Books, which lists different LSAT books one may use as well as introductory books on Logic.  There is also a “Better Know a Law School” series where admissions officials from law schools answer questions that help perspective students understand the school a little better.  This offers valuable insight on other aspects of admissions because normally the only information available is the numbers. 

To check out the blog go here: http://lsatblog.blogspot.com/

For an organized listing of all of the blog posts click here.

Welcome to part seventeen of our blog series on Going Green, dedicated to helping attorneys practice law in a more environmentally friendly way.  Last week we discussed employee incentives as they relate to traveling to and from work.  This week we will talk about the various mailers, marketing pieces, and announcements that you distribute.

Most lawyers and law firms are constantly looking for ways to grow their practice and build awareness in any way possible.  Mailers are a very popular tool for reaching potential clients, holding on to existing clients, and spreading news about your firm.  Mailers include case announcements, newsletters, marketing materials, and calendars that are distributed by the firm. 

To date, most or all of these things are paper products sent through the mail.  We know from past parts in this series that this creates an inordinate amount of waste, and it’s not the most efficient way of doing things.  Here are a few suggestions on how you can “market” your firm in newer, cleaner ways.

1. Email Newsletters.  Instead of traditional newsletters, there are now a number of third party clients that can help you distribute an email newsletter.  You can include all the same things as your old newsletter, but make it more environmentally friendly by making it digital.  Icontact.com is a website that we use at Lawline.com to distribute emails to our members.

2. Online Ads.  Instead of sending out huge amounts of paper ads and marketing pieces, increase the amount of money you spend advertising online.  More and more people are focusing things like finding a lawyer online through search engines and directories.  Target your advertising on Google, Yahoo, and various organizations or networks to spread the word about your firm in a new capacity.

3. Social Networks.  Get your law firm involved in social networks so people have a place to go online to find out more about you.  You already have a website, but starting a blog or creating your own group in Facebook or a similar website gives you new ways to connect with existing clients and other people you have a relationship with.

4. Green Mailers.  If you still see the value in physical mailers, you can limit their impact on the environment by using recycled paper products and “green” mailing companies.  Most third party printing and mailing companies now offer a recycled paper option.  This reduces waste and makes paper mailing a little cleaner.

There are many options when it comes to marketing and branding.  Above are four good examples of how you can boost your marketing efforts in ways that minimize your impact on the environment.  Stay ahead of the game.

Past Installments in this Series
Part One – An Introduction to Going Green
Part Two – Cut Electricity Costs, Just Flip the Switch
Part Three – Forget Paper, Go Digital
Part Four – Travel Together, Travel Less
Part Five – We Recycle
Part Six – Natural Lighting
Part Seven – Know Your Gadgets
Part Eight – Setting Goals
Part Nine – Reusable Bottles and Mugs
Part Ten - Setting Employee Incentives
Part Eleven - Green Products for You
Part Twelve – Greening Your Mail
Part Thirteen – Representing Green Clients
Part Fourteen – Incentives to Work Remotely
Part Fifteen – Greener News Alternatives
Part Sixteen – Incentives to Travel Smarter

It’s Friday again, and the unofficial beginning of the summer looms just around the corner.  Here at Lawline.com, we have been hard at work putting the pieces in place to make your CLE Requirements the last thing you have to worry about as you start to enjoy the nice weather.  Just this week, we released a brand new product, appropriately titled LAW FIRM CLE.  And it makes sense that we would use this week’s version of the Friday Five to highlight some great new features that we designed especially for you.

We took the same great CLE product that our users have fallen in love with, and repackaged it for Law Firms and groups of attorneys, adding some helpful new features along the way.  Here are the top 5.

1. CLE Tracker for Administrators.  We designed a fully functional version of our CLE Tracker that we are including in all Law Firm packages for free.  The CLE Tracker allows the administrator of any Law Firm CLE account to view deadlines, state requirements, completed credits, and all course listings for each of the attorneys in the firm.  Additionally you can use the tool to add additional courses taken from outside vendors.  This will help monitor attorney performance, and will make compliance as simple as possible.

2. Two Unique Offers.  Law Firms purchasing our CLE packages will have 2 different options to choose from.  The first is an Unlimited CLE program, which allows an administrator to sign up any number of attorneys for 1 Full Year of access to over 150 hours of CLE Courses for one low rate.  There is no limit to how many courses can be viewed.  The other option is a Pay-as-you-Go Package, which allows the administrator to purchase CLE credits in bulk, then distribute them to each of the attorneys in the firm.  The attorneys will then use these credits to view any of the courses in our extensive list of CLE programs.  And, at any time, the administrator can purchase more credits if needed.

3. Certificate Emails.  In February, we created a tool that automatically emails all course certificates to our users as soon as they complete a course.  This was part of our “Go Green” Initiative, to cut down on paper waste, as well as make life easier for the attorneys taking our programs.  We added this capability to all Law Firm CLE packages, with an added bonus.  The account administrator has the option of receiving a copy of these emails for each of the attorneys in the firm, to make filing and management of CLE Requirements easier than ever before.

4. Full Management Capabilities.  There is nothing worse than an internet service that does not allow you to do what you want to do without contacting the company.  With our Law Firm CLE programs, the account administrator has full control.  When you log into your Law Firm account, you are taken to an administrative dashboard, which spells out all of your options.  You can view completed course reports, add or remove users, print out certificates, purchase more of whatever you need, and track the performance of every attorney in the firm.  And if you do ever need us, we have added dedicated customer representatives who can share their expertise with this new service.

5. Law Firm Speaker Series.  To top it all off, our Law Firm CLE packages include courses by top level speakers who lecture on the topics that are important to Law Firms.  The Law Firm Speaker Series includes courses on law practice management, presentation and communication skills, negotiation tools, and professionalism.  These unique course offerings, some of the most popular programs on Lawline.com, are included in all of our Law Firm CLE packages.

So as you prepare to settle in for a nice relaxing holiday weekend, check out all that we offer with Law Firm CLE to make your life as easy as possible.  Happy Friday!

Another week has passed, and another group of people have started using new internet technology to connect with others and build business.  Hopefully, that group of people includes some lawyers.  Welcome to part 23 of our blog series on social media for attorneys.  This week we will discuss what to do as new forms of social media become available.

It is well understood that the social media websites and services that we are using today will eventually give way to bigger and better versions of themselves.  Either the service will change and get more advanced, or there will be new competitors in the space that will become more popular.  It is important now to plan out how you will address these “advances” in the social media realm.

For many of the lawyers using social media, and following along in this series, you are using it mainly to broaden your online voice and build awareness about yourself and your practice.  Because of this, there is no race to be an early adopter of the next big thing in the social media space.  You want to “locate” yourself where you will have access to the most people, which means the more popular sites and networks.  So as new companies join the race toward more complete online communities, you can feel comfortable letting them come and go, only taking notice when they start to grow.

The “tech-sters” and social media experts will jump from new service to new service.  They will try them, grade them, and most likely move on.  That is, unless enough people find a new site that much better than an existing one.  Then a crowd will start to form, the service will grow, and more people will start to talk about it.  That is when you will want to take notice, maybe give a trial run, and see what it’s all about.

But, a warning, if you do decide that there is a new site out there that you need to become active in, don’t leave your old accounts to rust.  Stay active, continue to connect with people through writing and conversing.  Obviously you don’t want to spread yourself so thin that you are spending so much of your time worrying about social media, but it is a good idea to keep up with those sites and networks that are working.

So do not fear as you look toward your future in our online world.  When the right opportunities come along, you will hear about them.  Just keep listening, and keep growing your networks.

Past Installments of this Series:
Part One – Intro to Social Media for Attorneys
Part Two – Signing up for the Networks
Part Three – Using Blogs as an Information Source
Part Four – Start Blogging Today
Part Five – Introduction to Twitter
Part Six – Introduction to LinkedIn
Part Seven – Networks as a Communication Tool
Part Eight – Submit Yourself to Blog Catalogs
Part Nine – Put Your PR Department to Work
Part Ten – Lend us your Comments
Part Eleven – Intro to Viral Marketing
Part Twelve – Answer Questions 2.0
Part Thirteen – The Big Picture
Part Fourteen – Interactions on Blogs
Part Fifteen – Interactions on Networks
Part Sixteen – Recruiting on the Networks
Part Seventeen – Promote Yourself to Get a Job
Part Eighteen – Video Resumes
Part Nineteen – Social Media on Social Media
Part Twenty – Blog Content is Vital
Part Twenty One – Law Students are Coming
Part Twenty Two – NYSBA Journal Headline

In our continuing effort to recognize some of the most notable legal blogs on the web, we bring you this week’s Featured Blog.  As constant advocators of education, we recognize the importance legal blogs (or more appropriately named Blawgs) as they facilitate the exchange of information.  This week we will be featuring “Wired GC.” 

GC stands for “General Counsel,” as the blog focuses on the “Role of the General Counsel.”  So if you’re in charge of legal transactions in your company, this is the place to go to keep direction and stay on top of the latest issues that concern the legal world.  Even if you don’t “run things,” the blogs John Wallbillich posts are useful to all.

One post gave suggestions on procedures to follow if a pandemic had broken out.  Wallbillich’s straightforwardness is appreciated as he recognized, “You will have workers who can’t come to work, and many others who won’t want to.”   Another post is quite frightening for any student, as Wallbillich illustrates, that students who use Facebook tend to have lower grade point averages. 

You can also check out the blog series of Wired GC – Off the Meter.  This is a seminar series that highlights the changing legal market and how to best adapt to it. 
 
To visit out Wired GC go here : http://www.wiredgc.com

Welcome to part sixteen of our blog series on Going Green, dedicated to helping attorneys practice law in a more environmentally friendly way.  Last week we discussed how you can change your news consumption habits to be more efficient.  This week we will turn the focus back on employee incentives as they have to do with travel.

In part 14, we discussed the need for employers to incentivize their employees to work from home by making it easier to do so.  Ideas included an allowance for laptops, building an easy to use network that all employees have remote access to, and training sessions on how to set up various tools to work from the road.

Sometimes, working remotely and working from home is not an option.  Sometimes, you have no choice but to be in the office.  And that is fine, as long as you are getting there the right way.  In part 4 of this series, we discussed the need to “Travel Together, and Travel Less”.  For employers, it’s time to start incentivizing your lawyers and support staff to travel smarter.

There are a number of ways to travel smarter.  You can take public transportation, when available.  You can drive a hybrid or electric vehicle that is more efficient and less harmful to the environment.  And you can travel with friends and co-workers to cut down on the number of cars on the road.

Employers can use money or other perks to get your employees to think about these alternative methods of travel.  Offer to pay for bus and train tickets for those employees that go with public transportation.  Offer a partial allowance for all hybrid vehicle purchases by your employees.  Or come up with a bonus structure for people that carpool or rideshare to work.

Sometimes that is all it will take to get people to start thinking about the way they travel.  And as more and more people travel to and from work in more efficient ways, we will begin to solve many problems associated with CO2 emissions and congestion.

Past Installments in this Series
Part One – An Introduction to Going Green
Part Two – Cut Electricity Costs, Just Flip the Switch
Part Three – Forget Paper, Go Digital
Part Four – Travel Together, Travel Less
Part Five – We Recycle
Part Six – Natural Lighting
Part Seven – Know Your Gadgets
Part Eight – Setting Goals
Part Nine – Reusable Bottles and Mugs
Part Ten - Setting Employee Incentives
Part Eleven - Green Products for You
Part Twelve – Greening Your Mail
Part Thirteen – Representing Green Clients
Part Fourteen – Incentives to Work Remotely
Part Fifteen – Greener News Alternatives

This is a weekly post where we review some of our favorite User Feedback from attorneys who have completed Lawline.com CLE courses.  We decided to start this blog post because we thought it would be fun to share our favorites.

Faculty Member: James Cohen

Lawline.com CLE Courses:
How to Dispose of Tangible Personal Property
Legal Aspects of Appraisals of Tangible Personal Property
What's New In Estate Planning?

James Cohen has been a part of three programs at Lawline.com, teaming up with Lee Drexler for two courses on personal property, and joining Bruce Steiner for a CLE program on Estate Planning.  We continue to invite him back for more, especially after the tremendous feedback we have been getting on his courses.  Some of the best comments we have gotten recently are listed below.

Favorite Comments about James Cohen
"Informative and engaging speakers - one of the better courses I have seen at lawline..."   - Nancy (Chicago, IL)

"I thought the speakers were excellent and presented the topic well."   - Jennifer (Fairfax, VA)

Favorite Comments on his CLE programs
"Excellent update for new and experienced practitioners. Especially useful are examples of how to combine, leveraging, planning techniques."   - Peter (Garden City, NY)

"Very informative, enjoyable even, and useful. Thank you."   - Sharon (Pana, IL)

It’s not easy to be a lawyer.  And right now, the economy has made it that much harder.  Maybe you fear losing your job, or there was no bonus this year, or there is a salary freeze that will keep you from earning the kind of money you expected.  At Lawline.com, we spend time every day reading about the affects of the recession on the legal community.

But with every negative situation, comes opportunity.  As lawyers, you have access to a number of fields.  And the opportunities are there to earn money outside of your job.  For this week’s Friday Five, we present the top 5 ways that lawyers can earn money on the side.

1. Teach a course.  Lawyers may have a wealth of knowledge in their area, or a number of different areas.  There are always universities, law schools, and graduate schools looking for experienced professionals to teach a course in their area of expertise.  Teach a few night classes a week and fill your pocket while you fill the minds of aspiring professionals.

2. Blog. It is easy to start a blog.  And if you have something important and unique to say, it is possible to gain a large following.  All you need to do is install some advertising programs, such as Google Adsense and Amazon Affiliates to start earning some money from your online content.

3. Author a book.  This is a popular strategy for any professional looking to build another source of revenue and get their name out there at the same time.  As a lawyer, you can take your personal experience and deep knowledge of one area of the law and write a book.  Either you sell the publishing rights, or publish it and market it yourself.

4. Become a recognized speaker.  This can come from a big case you worked on, the book you wrote, or the course you teach.  Offer to speak at events, build a reputation, and work hard at the craft of public speaking.  Some well recognized speakers can get $10,000 or more for every appearance.

5. Bartend on weekends.  Hey, you passed the bar, now why not tend it?  Forget the usual Friday and Saturday that you are used to having to unwind, spend time with friends and family, and forget about work.  Use that time to make some cash.  Break out the cocktails and start practicing, then a take a trip around town to find a bartending gig.

Runners-up: Trade stocks, legal work for friends and family, invest in a local business, become a power seller on EBay.

Happy Friday, and keep on makin’ that cash!

Another week has passed, and another group of people have started using new internet technology to connect with others and build business.  Hopefully, that group of people includes some lawyers.  Welcome to part 22 of our blog series on social media for attorneys.  This week we will take a look at an article that was published in this month’s edition of the New York State Bar Association Journal.

The cover article is titled “Look Who’s Talking: Legal Implications of Twitter Social Networking Technology”, by Steven C. Bennett.  It is always great to see a prominent legal publication run a story on social media, especially when they go and make it the cover.  And this article really touches on some important points that lawyers need to know about the service.  Follow the link to read a copy of the article online.

My favorite quote from the piece comes right towards the end.  “The only reliable means to cope with new technologies like Twitter is to embrace an understanding (if not a use) of such technologies, to participate actively in efforts to understand how such technologies may modify legal regimes, and to help clients formulate best practices to control and exploit such technologies.”

Mr. Bennett displays an understanding of Twitter, and does a nice job of combining thoughts on how to use the service in a legal sense with the idea that there is a lot of “yet-to-be-written” law about what you can and cannot say in such online conversations.  Some key takeaways include the future of legal ethics regarding communication over social media and using Twitter messages as part of the discovery process.

After I read it I decided to do a little research, and found that the NYSBA was on Twitter over at www.twitter.com/NYSBA.  I would have been a little disappointed if they had not been.  It’s good to see that more and more bar associations and legal authorities are getting involved, recognizing that social media is a powerful tool, and something that needs to be accepted and addressed in the legal community.  At Lawline.com, we’d like to think it is partly because of the efforts of this blog and others like it!

Articles like this one by Mr. Bennett are just the beginning of the examination process, whereby laws and procedures will be written and practiced as they pertain to social media.  And though this blog series has tended to focus on the implementation side of social media for lawyers, the future of the written law in this area is just as important.  So we will be sure to keep up with any updates.

Past Installments of this Series:
Part One – Intro to Social Media for Attorneys
Part Two – Signing up for the Networks
Part Three – Using Blogs as an Information Source
Part Four – Start Blogging Today
Part Five – Introduction to Twitter
Part Six – Introduction to LinkedIn
Part Seven – Networks as a Communication Tool
Part Eight – Submit Yourself to Blog Catalogs
Part Nine – Put Your PR Department to Work
Part Ten – Lend us your Comments
Part Eleven – Intro to Viral Marketing
Part Twelve – Answer Questions 2.0
Part Thirteen – The Big Picture
Part Fourteen – Interactions on Blogs
Part Fifteen – Interactions on Networks
Part Sixteen – Recruiting on the Networks
Part Seventeen – Promote Yourself to Get a Job
Part Eighteen – Video Resumes
Part Nineteen – Social Media on Social Media
Part Twenty – Blog Content is Vital
Part Twenty One – Law Students are Coming

RCM Technologies and Buchanan Ingersoll Legal Malpractice Case

Henry Gottlieb at Law.Com reports this $10.6 million Legal Malpractice settlement between Buchanan Ingersoll and RCM Technologies over a stock registration agreement, today.  Here is the news article:

" A lawyer and two Philadelphia firms have agreed to pay $10.6 million to settle a claim that they botched work on a New Jersey company's stock transactions and failed to alert the company to the errors.

Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney, the wind-down committee of defunct Clark, Ladner, Fortenbaugh & Young, and a former partner of both firms, Stephen Cohen, agreed to settlements of a malpractice complaint by computer and engineering consultant RCM Technologies of Pennsauken, N.J.

RCM accused Cohen of preparing a stock registration agreement that failed to memorialize a plan to restrict the rights of two key shareholders to sell their RCM holdings. That drafting, plus an alleged failure to alert RCM in time for remedial action, cost the company millions of dollars, according to the Morris County, N.J., suit.
How much the defendants paid was not included in stipulations of dismissal filed with the court. But RCM did disclose the sums in its March 27 annual report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A comparison of the dates of the stipulations of dismissal and the SEC filing shows that the Clark Lardner settlement in 2007 was worth $800,000 to RCM and that the company recovered $9.8 million -- $5.9 million after taxes -- in a March 16 settlement with Buchanan Ingersoll."
 
Real Estate Sales and Legal Malpractice

Real Estate sales and the plummeting economic scene have dominated the news cycles for months now.  Legal Malpractice litigation often follows economic disturbances, and this case, Walker v. Berman, 2009 NY Slip Op 50887(U) ; Decided on May 4, 2009 ; Supreme Court, New York County ; Stallman, J. is an example.  In this case plaintiff wanted to buy an apartment house, but got something different.

Unsophisticated buyer purchases a building at 151 West 76th Street, and relies on broker and attorney to guide buyer through what would turn out to be a difficult process.  In the end, buyer bought a "Class "B" Multiple Dwelling. Ex. G. A Class "B" Multiple Dwelling is a dwelling that is intended for use as the temporary abode of individuals and families; the classification includes hotels, lodging houses, rooming houses, boarding houses, boarding schools, furnished room houses, lodgings, club houses, colleges, and dwellings designated as private dwellings but occupied by one or two families with five or more transient boarders, roomers or lodgers in one household. Multiple Dwelling Law § 4. The Class "B" Multiple Dwelling designation also appears on the certificate of occupancy search ordered by plaintiff prior to agreeing to the purchase (Ex. N), and on the listing notice provided to plaintiff by defendant ."

Plaintiff sues attorney who defaults. [A quick look at the Lawyer's Diary shows no entry for this attorney.  A search of the OCA attorney directory shows that Ira L. Berman is disbarred.]  Plaintiff now tries to go after the broker, with negative results.

"After the contract was signed, but prior to closing, plaintiff informed Robin that there were some problems with the Certificate of Occupancy, and, allegedly, Robin advised plaintiff to confer with her attorney regarding the legal ramifications associated with the Certificate of Occupancy.

After the closing, plaintiff discovered that the Class "B" Multiple Dwelling classification is used for buildings operated as a Single Room Occupancy (SRO) dwelling, not a regular apartment building (i.e., a Class A multiple dwelling). Consequently, plaintiff asserts that she paid far more for the building that it is worth, believing it to be an apartment building, not an SRO. "

Result?  Plaintiff seems to lose all the way around.  Attorney defaults, has been disbarred, has no insurance defense, and broker is not liable.
 
Can This Happen in New York and is it Legal Malpractice

Questions of attorney billing, expenses and disbursements often surface in the guise of a legal malpractice defense.  Did the attorneys over bill ?  Did they over-charge for expenses?  May a law firm use Lexis or WestLaw as a profit center?  For example, if the law firm is paying a flat fee for legal research, may it charge hourly legal research rates to the client [not the attorney's time...legal research fees]

Here is a case from California, which arose after a NY legal malpractice case.  From the National Law Journal:

"A California plaintiffs' attorney has filed a lawsuit against a New York-based law firm on a behalf of a former client of the firm for what she claims is a hidden but widespread practice within the legal profession: law firms secretly profiting off legal research fees by overcharging clients.

Consumer protection attorney Patricia Meyer filed a suit against New York's Chadbourne & Parke on March 2 for allegedly overcharging J. Virgil Waggoner, a Texas businessman, by several thousands of dollars for computerized legal research. His bill was roughly $20,000 for the research, she said, but it should have been closer to $5,000. Waggoner v. Chadbourne & Parke, No. BC408693 (Los Angeles Co., Calif., Super. Ct.).

She did not serve the firm until May 1 because, she said, she did not want to compromise other investigations alleging similar claims.
Meyer of San Diego's Patricia Meyer & Associates said that many similar lawsuits are in the pipeline, noting that she has amassed evidence that shows at least a dozen other law firms are overcharging clients for legal research, but not telling them.
 
According to Meyer, profiting off fees, such as computerized legal research fees, without the clients' knowledge violates rules of professional conduct set forth by both the California and American bar associations, which limit the recovery of legal fees. She said that law firms can charge clients more for services than what they actually cost — they just have to let the client know upfront. "

In our continuing effort to recognize some of the most notable legal blogs on the web, we bring you this week’s Featured Blog.  As constant advocators of education, we recognize the importance legal blogs (or more appropriately named Blawgs) as they facilitate the exchange of information.  This week we will be featuring “Patent Baristas.”
 
Patent Baristas is initially attractive because of the image it constructs.  Visiting the blog immediately inspires my desire for a cup of coffee, but that’s beside the point.   The blog focuses on recent developments on national and international intellectual and property patent law; often with a concentration on biotechnology and pharmaceutical issues.
 
For any attorney, or person interested in these issues, this site can be very resourceful. As editor, Stephen Albainy-Jenei posts information on upcoming events, book reviews, useful websites, recent cases, etc.  For an example of the high quality commentary that the blog provides, take a look at this recent post on the Department of Justice Antitrust Division.

Additionally, many of the posts exemplify how patent law and intellectual property may impact a person who is not particularly interested in the topic.   For any innovators or entrepreneurs, patent law can be significant.  In a global economy, both national and international laws matter.  As technology advances, patent and intellectual property law become more and more relevant.

Check out the blog here : http://www.patentbaristas.com/

Welcome to part fifteen of our blog series on Going Green, dedicated to helping attorneys practice law in a more environmentally friendly way.  Last week we discussed incentives for law firms who encourage their lawyers to work remotely.  This week we will focus on the news.

The news is an essential part of most people’s daily routines.  It is customary to pick up a newspaper first thing in the morning, read it on your way into work, and even take some time throughout the day to catch up on what’s going on in your area and around the world.  For many people, it would be unthinkable to go a whole day without the news.

The problem is, newspapers are not good for the environment.  The good news is, we live in an age when you can get all your news without a single piece of paper.  The environmental, and even financial, cost of information has plummeted, and its time to take advantage.

Take a look at this article on TechCrunch this morning.  It shows how 1 newspaper is 850 times worse for the environment than a Google search.  You can use Google to find all the articles and blog posts that you need right on the web.  But if that sounds too difficult, just go straight to the source.  Odds are that the newspaper you read every morning has a website, with all those article you love to read.

If you need the news to support you during your morning and evening commute, then take that information on the go in alternative forms.  Most smart phones, like Blackberry and iPhone, allow you to browse the internet or use various applications to read articles from almost any source.  However, because of the size of those screens and the difficulty that many people have reading them, it’s not for everyone.

What you should be checking out, however, is the Amazon Kindle.  Amazon already has an exclusive deal with the New York Times, and the future of this new gadget is bright.  It is light weight, easy to read off of, and continues to add features and sign partnerships.  This is the new standard in commuter reading, and they are only getting more popular.

So drop the newspaper, and pick up your news from any of these sources.  You will be doing yourself a favor in cost savings, and doing the planet a favor by limiting the use of paper and waste.

Past Installments in this Series
Part One – An Introduction to Going Green
Part Two – Cut Electricity Costs, Just Flip the Switch
Part Three – Forget Paper, Go Digital
Part Four – Travel Together, Travel Less
Part Five – We Recycle
Part Six – Natural Lighting
Part Seven – Know Your Gadgets
Part Eight – Setting Goals
Part Nine – Reusable Bottles and Mugs
Part Ten - Setting Employee Incentives
Part Eleven - Green Products for You
Part Twelve – Greening Your Mail
Part Thirteen – Representing Green Clients
Part Fourteen – Incentives to Work Remotely

This is a weekly post where we review some of our favorite User Feedback from attorneys who have completed Lawline.com CLE courses.  We decided to start this blog post because we thought it would be fun to share our favorites.

Faculty Member: Jay Sullivan

Lawline.com CLE Courses:
Building Dynamic Client Meetings
Communication Skills: Managing and Delegating in a Law Firm
Negotiation Skills for Attorneys
Presentation Skills: A Practical Approach

Jay Sullivan has partnered with Lawline.com to produce some incredible CLE Courses on communication and presentation skills.  Since these courses have been part of the CLE catalog on our site, their popularity has grown.  And recently Jay returned to film several new courses that will be added to the rest of the offerings soon.  Below is some of the great feedback we have already gotten.

Favorite Comments about Jay Sullivan
"Fantastic! Jay Sullivan is extremely informative and very easy to listen to and learn from. The best Lawline course to date!"   - Elsa (Northridge, CA)

"He is a dynamic speaker and the insights were tremendously helpful- this may have been the best selection I made."   - Jill (Chappaqua, NY)

Favorite Comments on his CLE program
"Excellent. Very useful information. I plan on using the written materials in the future. I sincerely believe this will better my practice."   - Mark (Memphis, TN)

"Best program of the lot so far; I'll not only recommend this, I'll watch it again."   - Annie (Denver, CO)

"I thought I knew how to negotiate. Although I did, now I know much better how to negotiate. Exquisite!!!"   - Glenn (Virginia Beach, VA)

Every once in a while something great comes along.  And while it’s here, we cherish it.  We hold on to it so tightly, hoping that I never goes away, hoping things remain the same way forever.  But inevitably, as is usually the case, good things come to an end.  And so the story goes with our beloved series of legal related top five lists we so lovingly referred to as “The Friday Five”.

But, like a champion strapping on the gloves for one more prize fight, we have resurrected this blog series for you.  And what better way to bring it back, than to remind you of all that made the Friday Five so great to begin with.  So this week, we are pleased to bring you a look at the top 5 Friday Five’s of all time.

1. Friday, October 12, 2007 – Top 5 Lawyer Movies (http://www.lawline.com/blog/31/top-five-lawyer-movies-online-cle.php).  This is a recap of some of the best movies of our time that feature a lawyer as the main character or a court setting as the backdrop for the film.  This was one of the most popular posts in the series, and the one that helped it take off near the very beginning.

2. Friday, May 16, 2008 – 5 Tips for Making Great First Impressions (http://www.lawline.com/blog/155/Lawyers-First-Impressions-Lead-to-More-Business.php).  This post details some rather simple, but important steps that any lawyer can take to make a good first impression when meeting with potential clients.  This is a topic made even more important in a tough economy.

3. Friday, August 8, 2008 – 5 Lawsuits that will Make you Laugh (http://www.lawline.com/blog/192/top-five-strangest-lawsuits-of-our-time.php).  This post recaps some famed lawsuits that will make you scratch your head and wonder “what in the world were they thinking”.  Some are well known, others are not, but they are all equally ridiculous.

4. Friday, January 18, 2008 – Top 5 Smart Phone Tools for Lawyers (http://www.lawline.com/blog/88/Online-CLE-Friday-Five-Tools-For-Lawyers.php).  Here is a post written before phones like the Blackberry and the IPhone became the sensations that they are now.  As lawyers, you most likely want the gadgets that can help you in your everyday life, as well as help you be a better lawyer.  And you know what, there’s an app for that.

5. Friday, November 2, 2007 – Top 5 Days to Call in Sick (http://www.lawline.com/blog/37/Online-CLE-On-Your-Day-Off.php).  Summer is approaching, and you may want to start using up as many vacation days as you have.  But when is the smartest time to take those days off?  This post will explain all that in a couple simple paragraphs.

I hope you enjoyed the return, and stay tuned every Friday for more top 5’s.  Happy Friday!

Another week has passed, and another group of people have started using new internet technology to connect with others and build business.  Hopefully, that group of people includes some lawyers.  Welcome to part 21 of our blog series on social media for attorneys.  This week we will focus on our youth, the up and coming lawyers in the world.

Technology has always been something that changes very rapidly, and today that is more true than ever, especially in the legal community.  Today’s law students will inevitably be more familiar with the possibilities that social media holds than older generations of lawyers.  So that means that this shift toward social media in the legal community should get a huge push as this generation of new lawyers make their way through the ranks.

This post, over at Social Media Law Student, shows that many of the country’s top Law Schools are getting involved on Twitter.  That is a step in the right direction, and one that should not go unnoticed.  As law schools realize that social media is a necessary part of branding and recruiting, they are realizing that the legal profession is headed the way of the rest of the world, online.  And their students already know this, so it should be no surprise to see a rise in interest from the schools themselves.

As these new “lawyers” graduate and join the ranks of those that came before them, the legal community will be in for an awakening.  This “new media revolution” which has started in other industries means a new way of doing things.  It provides new channels of communication, more efficient systems, and unique promotional opportunities.

With it will come a rise in new areas of the law that focus solely on the internet and communication.  New ethics rules will be written to handle communication by lawyers in the online world.  Big changes are coming, and it is this next generation of lawyers that will bring them to the forefront of the legal community.

In other industries, there has been resistance to this type of a change.  But in most cases, new technology and social media can not be fought, it is a natural movement toward the future.  And the law will be no different.  Acceptance of new media by major law firms, bar associations, and lawyers who are currently practicing will be the deciding factor in whether or not this transition is smooth or more complex.

Past Installments of this Series:
Part One – Intro to Social Media for Attorneys
Part Two – Signing up for the Networks
Part Three – Using Blogs as an Information Source
Part Four – Start Blogging Today
Part Five – Introduction to Twitter
Part Six – Introduction to LinkedIn
Part Seven – Networks as a Communication Tool
Part Eight – Submit Yourself to Blog Catalogs
Part Nine – Put Your PR Department to Work
Part Ten – Lend us your Comments
Part Eleven – Intro to Viral Marketing
Part Twelve – Answer Questions 2.0
Part Thirteen – The Big Picture
Part Fourteen – Interactions on Blogs
Part Fifteen – Interactions on Networks
Part Sixteen – Recruiting on the Networks
Part Seventeen – Promote Yourself to Get a Job
Part Eighteen – Video Resumes
Part Nineteen – Social Media on Social Media
Part Twenty – Blog Content is Vital

This week at Lawline.com we are beginning a new blog series that will recognize some of the most notable legal blogs on the web.  As constant advocators of education, we recognize the importance legal blogs (or more appropriately named Blawgs) as they facilitate the exchange of information.

“Overlawyered,” although essentially critical of the legal system, is a blog I often visit to find unique legal news that other Law Blogs don’t typically pick up on.  The outlandish situations that he blogged about attracted my attention.  For example, a recent post talked about a Tennessee woman who is suing McDonalds for failing to provide a safe environment for their customers.  The woman was assaulted by a homeless man outside of the fast-food restaurant after she offered him a cheeseburger.  Another post was about a former convict describing his jail experience on Twitter. The posts are normally witty and partially entertaining as they are comparable to “weird, but true.”

Walter Olson, founder of Overlawyered, created the blog with intent of underlining the mishaps of the American legal system.   The blog began in 1999, and is considered to be one of the first legal blogs on the internet.  Olson is not a lawyer himself but is well versed in the field after authoring several books on the American legal system.  He says he initially founded the blog as a method to keep “notes for future use.”  Olson says when writing posts for Overlawyered, he often anticipated that internet users would later be able to refer back to them when doing research on related topics or issues.  He feels this, as well as blog interaction, was a major asset to his prominent longevity in the blogosphere.

Olson acknowledges the importance of social media and blogs for professionals today.  He was reasonably well-known as an author before he established his blog, but he now concentrates on turning his blog readers into his book readers.  This exemplifies that blogs have potential to be the primary resource point. Furthermore they can successfully serve as an avenue to promote what used to be the primary creation.

To check out Overlawyered go to http://www.overlawyered.com.

Welcome to part fourteen of our blog series on Going Green, dedicated to helping attorneys practice law in a more environmentally friendly way.  Last week we discussed your ability to represent “green” clients.  This week we will focus on law firms who encourage their employees to work from home more often.

“Lawyers at the Newark firm Sills Cummis get a $3,000 allowance to buy laptops so they can work from home rather than idle in traffic.”  That is a line in this story from NJ.com, written in August of last year, and the #1 ranked page for the search term “law firms going green”.

That symbolizes that in order for law firms to truly initiate any kind of green policies, they have to incentivize their employees to get on board.  We discussed this previously in part ten of this blog series, but it is worth noting that unless your employees buy into a more environmentally friendly law firm, it just won’t happen.

Encouraging employees to work from home is a great way to get them to buy into the system.  People like to work from home, and if it is allowed, you will see many people take advantage of it.  Your job is to tell them why they should be working from home, and make it as easy as possible for them to do so without falling behind.

An allowance to buy a new laptop is one great way to make working remotely more convenient.  In addition, you could have an IT professional set up a program on everyone’s computer so that the lawyers can log in from outside the office.  That same IT person could also demonstrate to everyone at the firm how to use it properly.

Another helpful thing would include a database of information that people could access from outside the office.  If there are a lot of people working on one case, it makes sense that anyone working from home has access to all the same files that people in the office have access to.  This means a secure website and a sophisticated scanning system that allows files to be shared among a limitless number of people.

Sometimes, working from home is simply not an option.  Next week we will dive into further incentives that can help limit travel, or encourage smarter travel.

Past Installments in this Series
Part One – An Introduction to Going Green
Part Two – Cut Electricity Costs, Just Flip the Switch
Part Three – Forget Paper, Go Digital
Part Four – Travel Together, Travel Less
Part Five – We Recycle
Part Six – Natural Lighting
Part Seven – Know Your Gadgets
Part Eight – Setting Goals
Part Nine – Reusable Bottles and Mugs
Part Ten - Setting Employee Incentives
Part Eleven - Green Products for You
Part Twelve – Greening Your Mail
Part Thirteen – Representing Green Clients

Back in the old days, law firms were built on “old-boy networks” and schmoozing over cocktails at the golf course. But those methods are no longer in Vogue in the 21st century. Instead despite firms closing and laying off attorneys daily, there are firms who are seizing the marketing opportunities available to them. These firms are discussing about profile building, and brand equity rather than gin and tonic. They understand differentiating yourself/law firm is very important. Differentiation helps not only with bringing in new clients BUT helps with attracting and retaining good staff.

A proactive solid public relations plan helps in the process of differentiation and is a MUST for law firm business development strategy, regardless of size. Getting quoted in news stories, both in targeted industry publications and mainstream media, is one of the most cost-effective ways of securing exposure. A good public relations plan serves several purposes: it builds reputation and visibility, allows firms, practice areas and solo practitioners to become known, liked and trusted in their target market, and finally—and most importantly— helps to bring more business.

The three common ways to increase visibility are getting published, writing and getting quoted by the press.

Getting articles published in trade publications, magazines and newspapers have long been considered important benchmarks for building reputation as thought leaders and experts in a specific market for all businesses. It works very well for lawyers who don’t like the limelight but still need to get the word out about their firm or practice.

If you are doing your own marketing and public relations, then follow the guidelines below:

1. Come up with a couple of ideas that will be of interest to YOUR reader not you. Remember its all about your reader not you.
2. Identify a couple of publications your target market reads.
3. Review at least a couple of issues, before approaching the editor.
4. Approach the editor.

Like it or not, speaking engagements are a very important component of a public relations plan of any law firm intent on growth. Whether you fear public speaking, or your workload leaves little free time, it is important to find a way to make room for speaking.

Well-known marketers such as Dan Kennedy and countless others agree that speaking engagements are one of the fastest ways to get new clients. Firms need to expose their areas of expertise to prospective clients.

By speaking at conferences and forums put together by professional and industry trade groups, lawyers can increase their firm’s visibility and consequently its prospects for attracting new business. What speaking does is give the speaker special status, thus making it easier for speakers to meet prospects. Attendees expect speakers to reach out to the audience, in turn they give speakers respect and credibility.

Finally, consider becoming a resource for the press and getting quoted in press. We all have a love/hate relationship with the press. Yet survey after survey has shown that we the public pay far more attention to experts that are quoted than advertising that often supplements content.  Take a quick inventory, when was the last time a reporter called the firm? When was the firm/partner/lawyer quoted last? Do you have an online newsroom that has you bio with subject areas that you can talk to the press about?

Becoming known as an expert in one or more areas is only part of the equation; the other part is leveraging these opportunities successfully into other marketing activities. Articles, columns and/or bylines written by attorneys can be sent to prospects, strategic alliances and clients with the view of providing value, rather than circulating them with the intent of getting the attorney known. All published or sourced works can be included in newsletters and e-zines. They can be used as a basis for a speech or presentation to your target audience. And they should be added to your Web site.

Given today’s economic climate where every dollar spent is reviewed twice before spending is approved it is absolutely imperative to recognize and understand that building credibility and visibility does not happen overnight and rarely does it reap immediate results. It may take a nanosecond to destroy a reputation, but to build one takes work, effort and commitment from all the decision makers in the firm. However, with a sustained campaign working in conjunction with other marketing activities, public relations will reap huge dividends.

This is a new weekly post where we will be reviewing some of our favorite User Feedback from attorneys who have completed Lawline.com CLE courses.  We decided to start this blog post because we thought it would be fun to share our favorites.

Faculty Member: Ernest Badway

Lawline.com CLE Courses:
Securities Enforcement: The Past, Present and Future
Transparency at the SEC: A Response to the Current Financial Crisis

Ernest Badway is one of our newer Faculty Members, joining the team less than a year ago.  He has helped us produce two extremely informative CLE Courses.  The most recent one involves a commentary on the current financial crisis as it pertains to the SEC.  His courses have received very solid reviews, and below you can find a few of the best.

Favorite Comments about Ernest Badway
"The speaker was excellent and made rather dry subjects interesting. He provided very specific examples that helped illustrate the points he wished to make."   - Mari (Chicago, IL)

"Excellent clear speaker....."   - Sherri L. (Laguna Niguel, CA)

Favorite Comments on his CLE program
"Very good substance and presentation. Very much enjoyed this CLE. Congrats!"   - Timothy (Washington, DC)

"Very well organized presentation, articulate and comprehensive!"   - John (New Rochelle, NY)

Over the past several months, the Legal Beat has featured 3 weekly blog series that have garnered a lot of attention.  We have received excellent feedback on all three, “Guide to Going Green for Lawyers”, “Social Media for Attorneys”, and “Featured Course Reviews”.

Because the feedback has been so great, we have decided to add two new series to the lineup.  The first will be a weekly highlight of the blawgosphere.  We will be featuring our favorite legal blogs from around the web, with one new blog each week.  We base a lot of our content on news and ideas we find across the web, and we want to clue our readers into the other blogs that they should be reading.

The other one is a revitalized return of an old favorite.  Longtime readers of this blog will remember the Friday Five, a weekly look at the top five items in various categories as they relate to the law.  Well, after a number of requests, we are taking the Friday Five Blog Series off the shelves and shining it up for another go around.  So go ahead, call it a comeback if you want to.

So now you have five new blogs to look forward to every week, in addition to breaking news and legal opinion.  The new lineup will look a little something like this:

Monday – Featured CLE Course Reviews
Tuesday – Clean Lawyer: An Attorney’s Guide to Going Green
Wednesday – Legal Blog Highlight of the Week
Thursday – Social Media for Attorneys
Friday – New and Improved Friday Five

Have a great weekend, and thanks for reading!

Insanity and Legal Malpractice

Is an attorney required to perform more work that set forth in a retainer agreement?  If the attorney does not perform more work, will the statute of limitations be tolled by the client's insanity?  These two questions are partially answered in Turner v Irving Finkelstein & Meirowitz, LLP ;2009 NY Slip Op 03158 ;Decided on April 21, 2009 ;Appellate Division, Second Department .

 "The plaintiff allegedly was assaulted by a coworker at his place of employment in 1997. The defendant law firm represented the plaintiff in the ensuing claim before the Workers' Compensation Board (hereinafter the Board). The claim was disallowed, the Board affirmed that decision, and full Board review was denied. No later than May 2002, the defendant informed the plaintiff that its representation was complete."

Plaintiff unsuccessfully appealed, and then years later, sued the attorneys.  "In November 2006, the plaintiff, pro se, commenced the instant action, alleging that after he was [*2]denied full Board review, the defendant failed to advise him of "any other legal remedies" relating to the workplace incident. The defendant moved to dismiss the complaint ....In opposition, the plaintiff asserted that he suffered from a mental illness for which he had been hospitalized several times and, thus, he was entitled to a tolling of the statute of limitations pursuant to CPLR 208. The Supreme Court rejected the plaintiff's claim because the medical records he relied on were not in admissible form.
Although the evidentiary facts alleged by the plaintiff reveal the existence of an issue of fact as to applicability of the insanity toll, we nevertheless affirm on other grounds. "
 
When the Damages are Huge, Look for Legal Malpractice to Follow

This story from Law.Com by Zusha Elinson tells of the aftermath of a $ 82 million Sony Patent case, with its reports of witness buying, false testimony and unreliable evidence.  From the Legal Malpractice perspective here is the nugget:

"Craig Thorner was the key witness in the Sony legal team's effort to overturn an $82 million patent infringement verdict in a case against Immersion Corp. over vibrating video game controllers. Sony claimed that Immersion paid Thorner to keep quiet about inventions of his that could have invalidated Immersion's patents.

But U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken wouldn't retry the case, concluding in 2006 that Thorner was an unreliable witness and that there was strong evidence -- supported by testimony and internal Sony documents -- that Sony paid $150,000 for Thorner's testimony.
The patent fight between Silicon Valley's Immersion and Sony, and its salacious post-trial motions, were followed closely by local lawyers.
In a wide-ranging suit filed Tuesday in New Jersey District Court, Thorner accuses Sony's outside and in-house lawyers of snookering him into the $150,000 deal, which came in the form of convoluted agreement to license his patents. He also accuses Sony's outside counsel -- Gregory Gewirtz of New Jersey firm Lerner David Littenberg Krumholz & Mentlik -- of malpractice for allegedly acting as his lawyer in the deal, but for Sony's benefit.

The lawsuit claims that the lawyers "contrived to take advantage of Thorner's inexperience and lack of resources in order to (i) obtain a patent license from Thorner on extremely favorable terms, and (ii) induce Thorner to testify against Immersion."

Reached Thursday afternoon, Gewirtz denied the allegations.
"In my view, all the allegations against me and my firm are reckless and false and all, of course, denied," he said. "We will very vigorously defend against all the claims."

The way the deal at issue worked, according to the lawsuit, was this: Electro Source -- a video game company also being sued by Immersion -- would pay Thorner $150,000 to license his patents. The deal, however, was actually being funded by Sony, which in turn got a license from Electro Source according to the lawsuit and court hearing transcripts.

Thorner claims that Gewirtz agreed to be his lawyer in the negotiations with Electro Source, but was actually looking out for Sony's interest
 
Multi-State Legal Malpractice and the Borrower Statute
 
California corporation retains New York law firm to process a trademark application, which fails.  California plaintiff sues New York defendant  for legal malpractice in Federal District Court, SDNY.  Case is dismissed on jurisdictional basis.  Case is later brought in State Court in New York.  Does California or New York statute of limitations apply?

In Kat House Productions v. Paul Hastings Janofsky & Walker, Justice York determines that California law applies, based upon CPLR 202.  The borrower statute's purpose is to prevent forum shopping between states and [as the Court of Appeals favors, have a "bright line rule".]

"CPLR 202 is designed "to prevent forum shopping by plaintiffs and to adhere to the generally accepted definition." Global Fin. Corp, v. Triarc Corp., 93 NY2d 525.

"CPLR 202 is designed to add clarity to the law and provide the certainty of uniform application to litigants.  This goal is better served by a rule requiring the single determination of a plaintiff's residence than by a rule dependent on a litany of events relevant to the `center of gravity' of a contract dispute." Global  at 530.

Justice York then decided that since the "place where investors resided and sustained the economic impact of the loss" was the state for borrowing purposes, that the California one year statute of limitations applied.