Global Leader in Legal Marketing & Management
During our travels for speaking engagements and legal tech conferences, we come across some interesting attorneys. Luckily, our reputation helps secure exclusive interviews with some of the more celebrated and well-known attorneys, and we’ve built a solid core of attorney profiles here on Big Legal Brain.
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With lawyers continuing to find excessive time on their hands even heading into the weekend, we’re launching the new “Weekend Thought Leader” series to help innovative lawyers keep their minds sharp. Our first question: Given the direction of today’s legal technology, is it time to introduce animatronic lawyers to the courtroom? Let us know your thoughts below. Or, if you are finding your Friday winding down early and remain a bit brain dead, just take the scientific poll below, which lets you answer “Yes” or “No.” [Read more...]
We continue to profile notable attorneys and their accomplishments, such as third amendment lawyer T. Scotch Reynolds, muppet lawyer Mr. Johnson, and citizen’s arrest law specialist Helen Calistero. Today we profile legal information technologist Carl Malmquist, a leader in helping law firms innovate and implement technology into legal practice. We recently sat down with him in a law firm’s computer server room. [Read more...]
Admittedly, I have not looked at the ethical rules since 1987. So, I’m sure things have changed. Like solicitation of clients. Last time I looked it was a no-go, at least for soliciting people at the pool or in the sauna. Given that it’s nearly twenty-five years later and we have MS-DOS and fax machines, there’s really no need to read the rules. I’d be shocked if the powers that be over at the American Bar Association have not nixed the previous prohibition of in-person solicitation of clients. Which gets me to my point: lawyers are missing a huge opportunity for increased business by ignoring door-to-door sales. That’s too bad. If you have a strong sales demeanor, a solid aptitude for rejection, and good Rockport shoes, here are our top sales tips for building a door-to-door law firm.
Big Legal Brain is pleased to announce that it is a Gold Corporate Partner of the first-ever Summer Festival of Lawsuits. Known informally as “SuitFest 11,” the Summer Festival of Lawsuits is will bring lawsuits to lower-tier legal communities. Here’s what’s currently in the works. [Read more...]
I receive hundreds of free products every day day, and it gets a little old. Every once in a while, though, a legal product comes across my desk that promises to revolutionize the way we practice law. The HandJet EBS 250 Portable Printer is one of those. Whether you need an alternative to the traditional Bates stamp or a better way to present textual information in court, the EBS 250 will get you there, and then some. Take a gander at what this baby does: [Read more...]
If you are under 30, have kids who are under 5, or are a puppeteer, Mr. Johnson is a familiar figure. No? Here’s the scoop. Mr. Johnson is dogged by bad service and bad luck. He’s blue, balding, and wears a rumpled suit. And, though this is not true, he is also a lawyer. Which gets me to my point. With all the bad luck and bad service Mr. Johnson receives, there are lessons for lawyers. Big Legal Brain’s Chank Peters sat down with Mr. Johnson recently to get his unique perspective on the law. [Read more...]
As we said about the fixed fee retainer agreement, our new slacker legal form series is intended to provide back-office resources “to serve an oft-underserved segment of the legal market.” With the introduction of our Slacker Legal Form Series earlier in the month, we’re already receiving demands for additional forms. No worries. We have a slate of forms rolling out over the next year. Up now: the Slacker Last Will and Testament. [Read more...]
News last week about attorneys in New York charging more than $1,000 an hour came as no surprise to many lawyers. After all, most of us already charge in the lower five-figure range. While ridiculously lucrative (I’m actually writing this from Belize, a country I purchased last week), it does present serious billing challenges. For instance, how best do you represent your time when each minute is worth about $167.00? Instead of describing how I manage to do this successfully, here is one of my more recent bills, with sensitive client data removed. [Read more...]
I am an expert. You are an expert. Bob is an expert. So long as something is on the web and it has an opinion, it is an expert. Unfortunately, though, many attorneys underutilize the web and its vast availability of expertness. A prime example is PollDaddy, underutilized by attorneys in their day-to-day legal work. That needs to change.
Let’s say your client is in your office and you have a rather dicey plea decision to make. Your client, wanted by immigration, is accused of an aggravated assault involving a nunchuk and gasoline. Should he plead to the aggravated assault in return for a lesser sentence, or should he plead to one count of agg assault in return for dismissal of another? Maybe he should just go to trial. Hard choice. But, with online polls, the choice really becomes fun and interactive for you, as well as educational for the client. A few minutes on PollDaddy and you’ve got something like this, easily passed around on Twitter or Facebook or posted on the home page of your law firm’s web site: [Read more...]
C. Hank Peters is Big Legal Brain's SuperMayor and a world-renowned legal marketing guru. Raised in the era of IBM mainframes and staplers, he knows how to make your firm efficient and completely awesome. He does not speak or write Chinese.
From the Disgruntled