Years ago, when I worked for Westlaw, I made the mistake of referring to one of my colleagues as a “salesperson” in an email to a client. After dealing with the client’s problem, I received a phone call. “So I noticed that you referred to me as a salesperson, but I’m not a salesperson. I’m an inside account manager.” That’s when I realized that people take their titles pretty seriously....
The Professional Massage Training Center, in Springfield, Missouri, became accredited by the Accreditation Alliance of Career Schools in 2005. When PMTC applied for reaccreditation in 2010, AACS denied the application. That’s a big deal: Unaccredited schools don’t get access to a whole host of benefits, including the ability to accept federal student loan money. PMTC sued, and a federal district court agreed with PMTC, awarding it $400,000 in damages and reinstating the accreditation....
Legal ethics aren’t something you should pick up through trial and error. Instead, attorneys should make compliance with their ethical and professional responsibilities a central part of their business – as important as getting clients and billing hours. Thankfully, in many cases, complying with your ethical responsibilities isn’t too trying. You simply have to know when to spot potential issues and how to react to them. To help you out, here are some of our best attorney ethics tips, from the FindLaw archives....
What’s trending right now when it comes to marketing your law firm? A new infographic from FindLaw and Google offers some insight that every lawyer should know. There are plenty of reasons potential clients don’t become actual clients, and your marketing strategy shouldn’t be one of them. At any point in the process of looking for an attorney, a little difficulty with an attorney’s website or phone system can become a major impediment and a reason not to select that attorney....
For many lawyers, turning 50 was just another day to bill as many hours as humanly possible. For others, it was probably like looking at 40, but worse. For a good number of others, it’s something they don’t look forward to, but are hopeful they get to see. It’s no secret that being a lawyer isn’t the easiest thing. Neither is being a mother. Both at the same time is even more challenging....
Keri Borzilleri, a former prosecutor, picked a loser. She was campaigning for her boss, the incumbent for Baltimore’s chief city attorney, but voters chose the opposition candidate. The new top prosecutor fired her four days later. Borzilleri sued, but alas, her case was also a loser. As political purges go, in Borzilleri v. Mosby, it was business as usual. First Amendment Baltimore is a big city, but the community of prosecutors is relatively small....
Former Boston City Councilor Chuck Turner isn’t getting any sympathy from the First Circuit Court of Appeals. The First Circuit Court of Appeals issued an opinion on Wednesday upholding Turner’s three-year prison sentence for corruption. The appeals decision rejected his claims that the verdict was in error and that the government was vindictively trying to punish him, reports The Boston Globe. Turner was charged with making false statements to the FBI and accepting $1,000 in bribes to help a local businessman obtain a liquor license....
Courtroom dramas tend to downplay the power of circumstantial evidence. In the real world, juries frequently convict defendants based on inferences, rather than confessions and eyewitnesses, and appellate courts affirm those convictions. Even in a case involving Clean Water Act violations, like today’s Fifth Circuit case, circumstantial evidence can be damning. Jeffrey Pruett, president and chief executive officer of Louisiana Land & Water Co., and LWC Management, was charged with, and convicted, of knowingly violating the Clean Water Act in 2011....
Client satisfaction should be central to any firm. After all, it takes much less energy to retain a client than to develop a new one. Utilizing client surveys can be a great method to gather invaluable data about your firm’s performance, identify strengths and shortcomings and find new ways to improve your marketing. Whether it’s a simple online questionnaire, a lost client survey, or a formal focus group, client surveys can help you understand clients’ feelings and concerns and make sure you are excelling in the areas that matter most to clients....
This week, a defendant prevailed in his appeal to dismiss an indictment charging him with one count of illegal reentry by an alien. The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with Emiliano Valdiviez-Garza that the indictment must be dismissed based on collateral estoppel, and reversed and remanded the case with instructions to dismiss the indictment. The Government must establish four criteria for a charge of illegal reentry by an alien beyond a reasonable doubt: (1) the defendant was an alien at the time of the offense; (2) who had previously been removed or deported; (3) and had reentered the United States after removal; (4) without having received the express consent of the Attorney General....
As a lawyer, you’re a champion for your client – so you’ve got to be in fighting shape. Also, as a lawyer, you’re hunched over a desk all day, fighting the battle of the bulge. If you are dealing with either one of these challenges, here are some gadgets to make exercise more doable. The Striiv Smart Pedometer This is more than a fancy pedometer – it’s a game that appeals to all the typical lawyer character traits: competitiveness, acquisitiveness, idealism, argumentativeness....
That’s easy! More business! Though the Supreme Court’s Prop. 8 no-standing ruling in Hollingsworth v. Perry may only impact Californians, it does so in a huge way. Plus, the death of DOMA Section 3 in United States v. Windsor will have an even greater impact on issues of federal benefits for same-sex marriages, no matter what state you live in. It’s a whole new world of domestic relations after today, and here are just a few of the many things that may change:...
FindLaw columnist Eric Sinrod writes regularly in this section on legal developments surrounding technology and the internet. All countries are not the same when it comes to online freedom and security issues. This is borne out by recent statistics published by Richard Patterson of Comparitech. When it comes to the amount of freedom offered by countries on the internet, a scale of 1 to 100 is implemented, with 1 being the absolute best possible, and with 100 being the worst....
Paperless. The paperless office. Going sans paper is a popular topic in the legal world. With the Fujitsu ScanSnap s1500, you can take a pile of papers, drop it into the tray and walk away. The ScanSnap will scan both sides of all the papers, and you don’t have to stand there feeding them in one-by-one. It’s extremely fast (20 pages per minute), comes with OCR software and even reads business cards....
Here’s a sobering fact for lawyers: Last year, a machine learning program used by JPMorgan Chase saved the company 360,000 hours of work, work that would normally be performed by lawyers and loan officers. That’s more than 41 years worth of nonstop legal work – all handled in a few seconds, by some well-designed software. The lawyer-eliminating program, called COIN for “Contract Intelligence” automates the interpretation of commercial loan agreements, a “mind-numbing job” that would normally be handled by attorneys and loan officers, according to Bloomberg News....
Over Christmas, Mark Zuckerberg’s older sister Randi Zuckerberg posted a “private” photo of a family gathering on Facebook. The photo was innocent enough, as it showed several members of the Zuckerberg family gathered in the kitchen and having a good time. Randi also tagged her relatives in the pic, including brother Mark. But unbeknownst to Randi, the photo apparently popped up in the Facebook feed of someone named Callie Schweitzer. Schweitzer then proceeded to tweet it to 40,000 of her followers, reports Forbes....
A new bill seeks to limit OT pay for certain high-tech workers. It’s a move that has generated buzz amongst corporations – and employees. It’s also legislation that in house counsel should take note of, especially if they work in the tech field. It could mean your employment contracts and labor costs will soon be significantly different. The bill was introduced last fall by Senator Kay Hagan of North Carolina. It aims to expand the language of current labor law statutes....
The long-awaited Google-Oracle trial will take place in mid-March. In case you’ve forgotten, the legal dispute is about patents. Oracle brought a patent infringement suit against Google over Java, which is used on Google’s Android operating systems. Tech company Sun Microsystems was the original creator of Java. Oracle acquired Sun in 2010. Google defended its use of Java by saying it developed a relationship with Sun prior to Oracle’s ownership. Specifically, the company claimed Sun liked Android and its ability to “spread news and word about Java,” reports ZDNet....
Perhaps you’ve heard of a firewall. If you’re an architect, you might be thinking of the actual fire-proof walls used to stop the spread of blaze from, say, apartment to apartment. If you’re pretty much anyone else, a firewall is one of the many network settings you may have tinkered with when configuring your Internet. A computer firewall is a network security system that controls incoming and outgoing traffic, creating a barrier between your internal network and the flaming, virus-filled Internet....
Willie Sutton, Jr., the quotable bank robber, explained his professional motivation the best. Asked by a reporter why he robbed banks, Sutton replied: “I rob banks because that’s where the money is.” Not saying that lawyers are like robbers, but when it comes to finding a niche, they go where the money is. Here are some profitable niche markets for lawyers: Real Estate and Corporate Transactions Valerie Fontaine, a legal search consultant and partner with Seltzer Fontaine, talked about choosing a legal career path on the ABA’s podcast, Asked and Answered....
