« May 07, 2006 - May 13, 2006 | Main | May 21, 2006 - May 27, 2006 »
May 20, 2006
Blawgs Abroad: WAC? Catalogue of The West and Asia Nearing Completion.
"Americans do tend to think that the rest of the world is rather far away and not terribly important." Delia Venables, UK legal IT commentator, in UK's Law Gazette, March 2, 2006.
On Friday, May 26, look to this site for the completion of our ongoing catalogue of active non-U.S. legal weblogs for the following countries and jurisdictions:
I The West
Canada
United Kingdom
Ireland
Sweden
The Netherlands
France
Spain
Portugal
Germany
Poland
Switzerland
European Union
South Africa
Australia
New Zealand
II Asia
China
Hong Kong
Japan
Korea
Singapore
India
Posted by JD Hull at 02:40 PM | Comments (0)
May 19, 2006
"Stress, Fear and Deception"
Expect to see a few lawyers missing their flights.
According to the Reuters news item "U.S. Expanding Behavior Profiling At Airports", agents of the U.S. Transportation Security Administration will now monitor passengers at high-risk airports for signs of "stress, fear and deception". Other signs of "abnormal behavior" are "wearing coats when it's warm" or "acting fidgety or nervous"... Constitutional issues aside, this can't be good news for lawyers. Most lawyers I know travel, are high strung to begin with, and can look menacing, paranoid or even slightly unbalanced just deciding what to order for lunch. Not a relaxed or "normal" lot. So let's hope the TSA people receive the right training.
Posted by JD Hull at 11:13 PM | Comments (0)
The Wonder of Repeat Business
Tom Kane at The Legal Marketing Blog and Jim Hassett at Law Firm Business Development each have nice recent posts on one of my favorite subjects: existing clients as the best source of new business. And Jim's post includes some really interesting statistics. See Tom's post here and Jim's here.
Posted by JD Hull at 07:23 PM | Comments (0)
May 18, 2006
SLM No. 4: Are Federal Courts Better for Corporate Clients?
In the past 10 years I've published three articles about federal judges versus state judges and posted about it in October. But those articles were all too long--and until now I've never made the topic of federal judges a misty-eyed Sensitive Litigation Moment. The short answer to the question: Yes--almost always. The reason is that as business is done increasingly across state borders, chances are good that your corporate clients' cases, whether as a plaintiff or as defendant, will be on "enemy" or at least "foreign" turf. Generally, there is no use in having your clients and you before state judges--who are often popularly elected. So if you're a plaintiff, file your business case in federal court on the basis of diversity (suits between "citizens of different states") or federal question jurisdiction. If your client is sued as a defendant, remove the case if you can to a federal court under 28 U.S.C. section 1441. If you are creative, and your best clients and you are both terrified of most state court systems anyway, you'll find a way. (And if you can't, at least demand a jury; work hard to select a good one when the time comes.)
Are federal judges really "better"? Another short answer: Probably yes--with more than a few glaring exceptions in both systems. But the real point here is that federal judges are supposed to be "better", and more impartial toward outsiders who appear before them. Most but not all federal judges get this. One of the reasons diversity jurisdiction was created was because of the framers’ concern that all-too-human prejudices of the local judiciary toward out-of-state persons would unfairly affect outcomes in trial courts. If you want to read more about this, see a small book by a great man, Erwin Griswold, Law and Lawyers in the United States, 65 (Cambridge, Harv. Press 1964) based on the Hamlyn Lectures delivered in England in late 1964. Also see Hart and Wechsler, The Federal Courts and the Federal System, 24 (Brooklyn, Foundation Press, 1953).
Posted by JD Hull at 11:16 PM | Comments (0)
Real Relationships With Clients and Customers: "What's The Problem?"
"Clients" should conjure up the idea of long-term relationships. This blog has tried to emphasize achieving success and professional satisfaction by forming client relationships and making them last. In short, you "market" by doing good work for clients you like with an eye toward making them customers for life. Sure, we all want new clients and new work, but repeat clients is the goal of many business lawyers and other professionals who want to attract and retain a high-end client base. But for most of us keeping clients is very hard. We always talk about "service". We even think we are doing it. Client service is way harder than it looks. It takes an unlikely mix of passion, joy and discipline.
No one gets all this better than Arnie Herz at Legal Sanity. The guy's truly on to something and has a consistent message--one you'll need to discover for yourself. A few days ago on a plane I suddenly started writing a post about Arnie and his theme of lawyers as "trusted advisors" in enduring relationships that grow and get better. Arnie is truly the lawyer of the future--Western logic smart yet intuitive and creative. My Arnie post is not finished yet but today I just noticed one he wrote I love called "Sending Mixed Messages About Client Service" based on a disappointing but commonplace shopping experience most of us have had. As the post shows, one of our problems with clients and customers--in small mom and pop stores and mega-stores open until midnight, professional firms or Fortune 500 companies--is our tendency to treat "client connections as ephemeral transactions rather than lasting relationships". Anyway, read the post. More on Arnie and Legal Sanity later.
Posted by JD Hull at 07:08 PM | Comments (0)
May 15, 2006
Just Say It: Good Writing for Clients, and Other Humans.
We have just 12 rules and no rigid doctrines here. Nonetheless you may not use "heretofore", "said" as in "said widgets" or "COMES NOW" in this space. Ever. See "Writing for Clients - Just Say It": Parts I-IV here, here, here and here. This blog loves sane and people-oriented writing for clients, fellow counsel and courts alike. So does New Orleans lawyer Raymond Ward, the "Rainman", who writes Minor Wisdom, one of my favorite blogs. His site is full of good tips on many things, including good writing. See Ray's most recent posts "Naked briefwriting" and my favorite "All they really need to know about legal writing they learned in the 3rd grade".
Posted by JD Hull at 03:56 PM | Comments (0)
Blawg Review # 57: When I was in law school, we had to listen to "The Shadow" on the radio.
Blawg Review #57 was written by an actual law student, Ryan Austin, who's smart enough to get away with watching a bunch of television--all about lawyering, too. Very clever, and worth your time to see Ryan's review of last week's better posts. Starting any time now, and maybe even today, this rainy jet-lagged Mother of all Mondays, I may watch more TV myself as I gradually transition from the crisp and creative Alan Shore to the increasingly confused but lucky Denny Crane.
Update/Correction: My apologies, and mea culpa. Yesterday jet-lag, lack of sleep, too much stuff to do "Back East" and the excesses of my past youth (tennis, basketball and nuclear waste diving) conspired to cause me initially to incorrectly attribute Blawg Review #57 to Jennifer Collins, an ALM editor and BR icon. We got rid of the post, but we are still trying to eliminate the permalink. Our thanks for catching my error goes out to an alert operative with the BR secret police.
Posted by JD Hull at 01:32 PM | Comments (0)
May 14, 2006
What About Clients? Honored To Be In "The Strongest Links".
"What About Clients?" is honored to be one of "The Strongest Links" noted in Tom Mighell's column in the May edition of Law Practice Today of the American Bar Association. Tom is a well-known technology leader, lawyer at Cowles & Thompson in Dallas, and blogger himself. He discusses eleven other sites by lawyers, non-lawyers and some real marketing and client-retention gurus. These include blogs by my three new friends Patrick Lamb, Michelle Golden and Tom Kane. In particular, Patrick, who publishes the respected and popular In Search of Perfect Client Service, has been a selfless and patient mentor since day one. Thanks, Pat. So if you want to explore some great blogs which focus on clients, and how clients and firms in any business get on the same page, see Tom's Law Practice Today column.
Posted by JD Hull at 11:25 AM | Comments (0)