Reported by Gregory P. Bufithis, Esq. and Eric Fell, Esq.

18 February 2011 — It’s been two weeks since LegalTech New York and it’s taken that long to digest most of the information we collected. We stayed an extra week after LegalTech for follow-up with interviews and product demonstrations.

As always, LegalTech can cause info-saturation (see, for instance, the reports from Gabe Acevedo and Donna Seyle on the show) so unless you have a game plan it can overwhelm you.

For new readers: LegalTech New York is the largest legal technology conference/trade show in the U.S. It’s an excellent opportunity to get hands-on practical information in all legal technology areas with 600+ vendor exhibitions and 50+ substantive programs. It really does have the most extensive gathering of vendors/products for just about every legal technology need.

It was an interesting LegalTech this year and though I spent little time at the actual event but at meetings and presentations around and outside the venue, I came away with a few observations/themes/ideas … plus one big “new new thing” – real information management (more below).

I had the chance to wear a few hats: covering the technology side as the CEO of The Posse List, meeting with our European clients as CEO of Project Counsel, and launching our new venture Project Counsel Media. And it all came together. As Goethe said “At the moment of commitment, the universe conspires to assist you”.

We had a 6-person team at the event this year. The team covered about 15 of the substantive presentations/sessions offered amongst the various educational tracks, and they conducted 40+ video interviews with vendors and participants. Those videos have started to roll out on our YouTube site and will continue to roll out the next few weeks (editing has been a task). We will also have a long post early next week on the substantive educational sessions we covered with a synopsis and links to the materials presented.

The high-point for us was our 30-minute video interview with the keynote speaker Gonzalo de Cesare (political advisor with the European Union Police Mission in Bosnia & Herzegovina) whose keynote was entitled “United Nations War Crimes Investigations – Information Management in High-Volume Legal Proceedings.” He discussed the UN’s process for managing some of the largest and most complex cases in the world with information management and e-discovery management software (all provided by industry goliath ZyLAB) for the Khmer Rouge trials, the criminal tribunals for Rwanda, and the trial involving Slobadan Milošević and the former Yugoslavia.

We conducted the interview in Mr de Cesare’s native language of Spanish and we are in the process of preparing subtitled versions with downloadable transcripts in 14 languages for presentation to the United Nations. All versions will be available on the ZyLAB website as well as our YouTube Channel and the new Project Counsel Media website. For the ZyLAB press release on Mr de Cesare click here.

So, some observations/ideas/themes from LegalTech New York 2011 as gleaned from my staff and my own activity:

1. Optimism and maturation. I got a rather “warm & fuzzy” feeling this year in that I sensed more optimism about the financial strength of the e-discovery market. Presentation events and demo-rooms were almost all pre-booked before LegalTech even started, vendors scrambling to set-up additional sessions as the event commenced. Deals were being made left-and-right (I had the privilege of watching two transactions as an undisclosed observer). As Ari Kaplan has pointed out this “measured optimism” and maturation of the market was reflected by less flashy presentations, more case studies of “what-we-have-done-for-our-clients”, how vendors are executing on innovation, etc. For my video chat with Ari please click here.  .

2. Vendor partnerships and industry consolidation. There were lots of partnerships and tie-ups announced and cross-marketing ventures, too numerous to mention. These allow a vendor to in effect “leverage the power of its partner” (a phrase I stole from Ari Kaplan, by the way). For a list of those announcements (and as an overall great source on staying current on the overall legal technology market) I recommend following the folks at Inside Legal.

And for detailed “all-things-technology” in both the specific product sphere as well as market analysis I suggest a subscription to The 451 Group.

Also, a new resource on e-discovery providers: the Socha-Gelbmann team have announced the launch of a new online service called Apersee which was created in response to the many requests they have received for a better way to search for and select e-discovery providers and products, and built on the foundation established by their Socha-Gelbmann Electronic Discovery Survey. We have reviewed the Beta site and it’s a rather interesting tool to independently evaluate which providers and products potentially match your particular needs. To access the site click here and more background information click here.

These partnerships and tie-ups often precede an eventual merger and acquisition. This comes as no surprise because it follows what is happening in other industries. For instance both Coke and its rival PepsiCo completed their respective analysis of the beverage markets and bought their North American bottlers last year along with other distributors (and brands) as a way to improve performance by cutting costs, speeding innovation, and give themselves more control over distribution. All of those elements apply to the legal technology industry as well.

3. An alignment of in-house counsel and their outside counsel with respect to e-discovery. Over the last year we have seen corporations making a serious move toward managing e-discovery and treating it as a core business practice. This is a sea change, but it something we have seen developing very quickly across Europe (for our recent analysis click here). Many at LegalTech told us they still need a major “trigger event” (litigation, regulatory review or investigation) to get the process rolling and force their in-house law departments to focus. But what was “new” or at least more evident at LegalTech this year was a greater presence of law firm litigation support managers escorting their corporate clients through vendor exhibits and presentations (as well as substantive sessions) with the focus on how in-house law departments can go through the process of deciding whether/how to build an in-house e-discovery facility.

As we discussed with a number of in-house counsel, it is a cost analysis. Where is the company spending most of its e-discovery budget (if it has one) now? Are those portions of the workflow good candidates to bring in-house?

Note: typically, processing data and review are the most expensive phases of any e-discovery project. We have found that Project Counsel’s corporate clients have determined processing, analysis, and first-pass review are the best candidates to be brought in-house from an ROI perspective.  

4. Vendors and the art of differentiation. With 6 billion e-discovery vendors (only a slight exaggeration) the continuing challenge is still “how-do-we-differentiate-ourselves-from-the-pack?” and it is difficult for the client, the customer to make the evaluation. Just stagger through 2 floors (about 8 ballrooms) at LegalTech of vendors and try to find one who didn’t offer data-collection-data-processing-early-case-assessment-subjective-review-production … and phenomenal cost savings. And it’s not easy when everybody uses the same buzz words: cull-image-duplicate-document-early-case-assessment-production, etc.  

Today the marketing buzz word is “speed” with vendors regularly throwing around impressive-sounding numbers about the speeds at which their software tools can index and search data, though these numbers often lack context. In practice, e-discovery processing depends on a number of factors, such as the computing platforms data resides on, the types of media it is stored on, and the types of attachments and associated information included in a data set.

In 2005, George Socha and Tom Gelbmann launched the Electronic Discovery Reference Model to address a lack of standards in e-discovery. By creating a common model and framework for discovery the goal was to make the process more predictable. In 2006, they launched the EDRM Metrics project to provide a standard approach and a generally accepted language for measuring the full range of electronic discovery activities. The project includes a data set that vendors can use to test their systems.

All of this led to their launch of Aspersee. My suggestion is your starting point should be the links in paragraph #2 above: use The 451 Group and Aspersee to understand/compare vendors and products.

5. And just a view words about early case assessment. Early case assessment: a favorite concept/phrase in the e-discovery world. Simply put, it’s used to refer to estimating the risk (cost of time and money and probability) to prosecute or defend a legal case by assessing a case through an initial review of documents. It’s not new. Every trial attorney has done it. Nowadays, however, the document review is much more complicated, considering the volume of documents has exploded a million-fold. Global organizations deal with legal discovery and disclosure requests for electronically stored information “ESI” and paper documents on a regular basis.

But the phrase has become overused, warped and misused. For a nice, succinct “state-of-the-art” we turned to Morgan Sheehy, CEO of Nuix.

For a link to the early case assessment article to which we referred in the video click here.

And for a link to the recent IDC update on the entire early case assessment market click here:

6. Predictive coding and automated document review. The concept is simple: systems, methods, and computer program products for improved electronic discovery. They are geared for the predictive and automated coding of identical or highly similar documents for the purpose of limiting the volume of documents requiring review and thereby increasing the overall efficiency of the document review process. And it is growing in importance in the e-discovery market. For details we went to Craig Carpenter, Chief Technology Officer for Recommind:

7. On-line e-discovery education. There has been a surge in the recognition of the need for proper e-discovery training. And the answer has been online training in e-discovery law, training that harnesses the new capacities of technology and the Internet, yet still preserves the best interactive elements of the traditional legal apprenticeship tradition. This kind of online training can fast-track the knowledge base and skills of a few technology-minded lawyers in every law firm. It is no substitute for traditional in-firm apprenticeships for the few firms that have the requisite knowledge base. But it can help. Attorneys who spend the time and effort to be trained online can then more quickly acquire the full skills required for competence.

Two of the biggest proponents of the need for a change in e-discovery training are Ralph Losey and Jason R. Baron. We had time for an informal chat with both of them:

And for a link to Ralph’s program click here.

Very shortly The Posse List will be rolling out a special offer (for our promo click here) to its members for Ralph’s program, and Project Counsel will be doing the same for its European membership base.

To join the U.S. list send an email to list.subscription@theposselist.com and we’ll subscribe you.

To join the European list send an email to membership@projectcounsel.com and we’ll subscribe you.

8. Cloud computing and e-discovery.

It was a fairly large part of the program at LegalTech, and much discussed at the sessions. In our post next week that covers the substantive educational sessions we’ll provide some links.

But for a good summary of what cloud computing and e-discovery is all about here’s my chat with Steve D’Alencon of CaseCentral:

Also interesting was my chat with some of the International Data Corporation folks I met during the show and their recent report on the over all cloud computing market. The steady rise in popularity of cloud computing means the technology is about to reach a tipping point as more businesses realize the huge benefits it has to offer. Many IT customers are expecting to manage a varied host of cloud computing technologies in the near future. And, it appears that this flexibility, which allows businesses to mix a variety of private, public and hybrid cloud computing solutions, is only adding to the technologies popularity. IDC believes that over the course of the next few years, the worldwide cloud systems management software market is set to undergo massive growth. The firm believes that by 2015 the industry will be worth $2.5 billion.

The rapid growth will be down to the increased need for automation and integrated system management solutions that can optimize the performance of relatively disparate technologies. At the moment, debate over whether to use public or private cloud computing technologies is a major oversimplification of the situation. According to IDC, firms are not willing to part company with legacy equipment until they have seen a concrete return on investment. Therefore, cloud systems management software will be required to make increasingly complex infrastructure manageable – hence the expected growth in the marketplace.

Interestingly, according to IDC, last year 70 per cent of the world’s cloud computing management software was deployed on private infrastructure. This figure is likely to change, however, when major issues – such as privacy and security – are dealt with by public clouding computing providers. And that still remains the biggest issue: the major concern for businesses deploying cloud computing technologies is security. IDC says that data leakage and outright theft weighs heavy on many chief information officers minds and, as a result, many companies are attempting to plan ahead when it comes to security solutions for cloud computing.

We’ll go into this area in more depth next week when we discuss the substantive programs at LegalTech.

9. Those fabulous folks from IBM, technology … and my big take-away this year: what “real” information governance is all about. Technology. It never ceases to amaze. Just look at this week’s over story in The Economist on the manufacturing technology that can “print” a Stradivarius … and it plays beautifully.

Much attention was focused this week on IBM’s Deep Blue computer defeat of the “humanoids” on Jeopardy! (see story by clicking here). But my experience with IBM goes well beyond that. In December I attended the IQPC e-discovery conference in Munich. Going on at the same time was a software developer mini-conferences on semantic technology, virtualization, media, etc. with Google, IBM, Microsoft, Thomson Reuters and others in attendance. I was able to skip out of IQPC for a bit and attend a few sessions and grab a dinner with some folks (my CTO is an ex-Google employee and gets these invitations all the time; always best to tag along).

Search technology in the e-discovery/litigation game is a bit different than the search/semantic technology field I follow and am involved with in the web and media world and which I recently covered at LeWeb. The e-discovery folks are somewhat wrapped up right now in artificial intelligence, predictive coding, non-linear vis-à-vis linear approach to the review of document databases, etc.

What these folks are doing with search is an eye-opener. Of course with $8 billion R&D budgets, why not. Themes/discussion: semantic search, metadata, semantic web, ontology, BI 2.0 (which has been retagged “advanced analytics” of late), etc., etc. Just a sample of something I saw: IBM has this analytics that identifies the “alpha” individual in its customers’ calling circles — those people who’d be most likely to take other customers with them should they switch carriers — so that it can cater to those individuals. They also have text analytics they apply to all forms of social media to “detect sentiment” (not just chase keywords) in order to gauge customers’ reactions to brand advertising and then adjust marketing channels and messaging accordingly. It’s industry-specific — healthcare, insurance, telecom, consumer goods, etc. – and they are in the process of applying it to the litigation world.

The IBM analytics are quite amazing. The various programs can integrate gigabytes, terabytes, or petabytes of unstructured data from web-based repositories, collect a wide range of unstructured web data stemming from user-defined seed URLs and extracts/enrich that data using unstructured information management architecture. While its purpose is to leverage unstructured data strategies/support decisions (business intelligence) its application to text analytics for litigation is a step away.

But these “advanced analytics” are not lost on several e-discovery involved vendors and companies we met with at LegalTech. Today’s e-discovery is more focused on the regulatory and investigative side of a business, less the litigation side, where managing e-discovery and information must be part of the core business practice. This is a sea change, but it something we have seen developing very quickly with all of our corporate clients. And some of the forward thinking vendors understand this. ZyLAB certainly “gets it”, as does Recommind, and Ernst & Young and Nuix and CaseCentral. But the one to watch is FusionLegal who made numerous presentations at the show.

The mantra — very simply put — is this: investigations are a unique business process where a company puts unstructured corporate data through a comprehensive analysis and classification process, adding a wealth of “contextual” metadata to documents. These can be leveraged for initiatives outside of the individual immediate case but rarely ever are. This is not a “one-off” situation. Corporations rarely take time to see it is part of a matrix. A corporation needs to couple the investigation process with advanced data analytics to create a new quantum of analysis to help make informed decisions about the future and thereby drive performance and lessen risk. They can learn from the past. The technology to do so is out there. A corporation will finally be able to exhaust the potential of that technology and the discovery/investigation process to deliver a real ROI, especially companies that exist in highly litigious and highly regulated industries. It is more than just cutting costs. It is taking that past, all that “contextual” metadata and improving performance.

I will have more after my meetings with FusionLegal and other vendors in London in the coming weeks.

I’ll end with my informal chat with Mary Mack and Johannes Scholtes of ZyLAB who do a nice job of putting together all the main elements of world-wide e-discovery and who, as mentioned above, provided Gonzalo de Cesare the information management and e-discovery management software he used for his war crimes trials.

For more information or questions about The Posse List  contact us at manager@theposselist.com

So many Posse List members have their own websites and are doing their own “client grabbing” and marketing we thought this webinar would be of high interest. 

As part of his “30-Minute Thursdays” series, Ari Kaplan has a free webinar today at 1pm EDT  with guest presenter, Matt Dombrow, an attorney and founder of Clixo, a Denver-based search marketing agency.  He will provide specific examples you can implement on your websites to instantly increase the number of leads you receive.  Based on research we have seen, Clixo has repeatedly doubled and tripled the number of leads its law firm clients receive from their internet marketing efforts.  

To register for the free program click here.

Ari Kaplan is offering a free bonus webinar in his series “30-Minute Thursdays” at 2pm EDT.   His series is a paid subscription-based series, but this program is a free bonus edition.  He always has great info (for our other posts on Ari click here).

This program will give attendees tips on:

*  How to Write a White Paper Your Audience Will Read
*  Converting Print into Multimedia Content
*  Engaging Your Clients With White Papers
*  Selling Your Products and Services With Statistics
*  Thoughtfully Promoting Thought Leadership

For more info and to sign up for the event click here.

We receive on average 300+ emails a week from Posse List members.   About 200 of them are from our contract attorney members.  The questions we receive from you range from “where is the best city to be for constant doc review work” to “I am moving to [fill in city/state] and want to know if there is contract work” to “what is the hourly rate in [fill in city/state]” to “how do I get a gig in Europe” to “can you recommend a webinar/webcast for [fill in the subject area]”.  

But since the legal market melt-down (well, no melt-down now in D.C. if you are on one of the 6 Japanese language projects or on the A&P or Howrey project which each seems to have 200+ contract attorneys doing mega hours) the top question we have received has been “how do I get out of this contract stuff?”   We don’t know if it because a lot of you had extra time during the “dead zone” of no work and did a rethink of what you want to do/need to do, or what.  But we have tried to provide help through our sister site www.theposseranch.com as well as free webinars from folks like Ari Kaplan who have provided us tons of useful information.

Because in spite of all the challenges you will face trying to hit the “exit” button and get of contract legal work — either staying in e-discovery/ESI management or getting out completely — be comforted by the fact that scores of Posse List members are doing it, and have been successful at doing it.  They have ignored the difficulty, the negativity.  The best news:  we are working in a part of the legal industry that is unusual because it is open to sharing and collaboration, through publications, quality conferences, and trade shows, and peer networking organizations.  And it has certainly worked for those of you who want to stay in e-discovery/ESI management especially those of you we have met at the conferences and tradeshows, who have worked the vendors, worked the law firms, and gone on to project management or some other facet of ESI work.       

But when it comes down to “going solo” one of the biggest challenges that any Posse List member faces in opening his or her own your own solo practice is … funding. Moola.  A big chunka change.  And it is enough to frustrate the hell out of anybody.  Because you need the jack to:  take classes to get the practical knowledge that law school doesn’t provide; to get design, programming, copy, and hosting for a website; to buy practice management software; to take CLE courses …. yadda yadda yadda.   And all this on top of staggering educational loans. 

And we have spoken to scores of you who have started a solo practice or are in the process and you are looking for that little financial “push” to get it happening, get it on track. 

So after that (over long) intro we want to tell you about the “Proud to be Solo” scholarship contest being sponsored by Solo Practice University.  The goal of the contest?  To knock down some of the financial roadblocks you face. 

In the contest they are giving away 18 prizes with a total combined value of approximately $12,000.  The prizes include (almost) everything you could need including cash, a scholarship to Solo Practice University, CLIO practice management software, a complete website/blog design package from Smart Marketing, etc., etc, etc. 

No, it is not for everybody.  It’s for folks serious about doing a solo practice, who now have a practice or are in the process of opening a solo practice.  But you can check out all the details here and see if it fits for you:  click here.    

And the process is rather cool because the entry form is … well … a video.  You need to do a video.  And we aren’t talking “Avatar” or a Spielberg production here.  Web cam, computer camera or flip video.  They’ll do.  The tech quality won’t impact choice.  It’s the content that counts.  But video is the future.  That’s why they are doing it that way.  But all the details are in the link above. 

Anyway, you have until April 19th to enter.  And it’s free with no obligation.  So check it out. 

What do we get from Solo U and/or the sponsors giving out the loot?  Zippo.  Nada.  We thought it was a good deal so we thought we’d pass it on to you.  We are trying to meet the needs of what is now a very diverse Posse List membership.    

ABA TECHSHOW 2010 opened in Chicago yesterday and the keynote speaker was Ari Kaplan, a lawyer and experienced technology and marketing author who spoke on “The New Big Bang- The Convergence of Technology and Marketing”.

Reported by:  Val Chulamorkodt for ThePosseList.com

As expected, it was high-energy, quintessential Ari.  We have profiled Ari before (click here) and we have chatted with him numerous times at legal tech conferences and events. 

His main point was simple: as technology has rapidly advanced and people are able to communicate almost instantaneously, influence and branding has shifted from delivering perfection to building brand momentum with quick snippets of value/information:  bits of info (blog post, media quotes, social network activity) need not be perfect. In fact imperfection can lend authenticity.  Simplicity is the key, not the length.  Technology can serve (will serve) as a social leveller.  Thus a tech savvy practitioner can create more marketing opportunities.  This is all akin to what Wired magazine last year christened the “good-enough revolution”:  the key to success isn’t excellence. It’s well-priced adequacy (click here and click here).

Other ”snippets” of Ari’s marketing tips :

*  When engaging in online/new media marketing, “brand to strangers, and market to friends/your target audience.”

*  Establish your brand with a social media presence by conmunicating through your area of practice by a profile page, a website, media quotes, etc.

*  Market to your friends/target audience by empowering them with technology resources -  interview them on video, podcasst;  introduce them to others ina position to help their goals; refer them to opportunities (awards, press opportunities).  Basically, “think of others”.

*  ”Syndicate” yourself by engaging in some self promotion through the  plethora of resources offered by technology: contact bloggers and other press; blog or have an online presence (newsletter) that can be used across other networks/markets.

- Fight the fear of judgment and rejection by surrounding self with supporters. Remember that missed chances can create new ones.  And let yourself be transparent and accountable because it commits you to action.

- ”Innovate” and try to implement new tech initiatives.  The value is in the attempt, even if the goal is not fully met.

And remember:  in marketing yourself/branding yourself ”being perfectly imperfect will transform the profession. “

You really need to see the presentation because you will learn, get motivated.   See the whole presentation by clicking here.  He gives out many of the tips he gives you in his book and other materials.

We caught up with Ari after the speech and he had more so say:

We have told you about Ari’s very cool “this is what you have to do” book titled The OpportunityMaker: Strategies for Inspiring Your Legal Career Through Creative Networking and Business Development which is about how law students, lawyers and other professionals can stand out in today’s crap economy.  The book is chock-a-block with marketing ideas.   In Ari’s presentation at ABA TECHSHOW he provided a lot of what is in his book.  And the book is less than 20 bucks on Amazon.  We have tried many of his suggestions and they work.

So next month, to help Posse List members, we’ll be hosting a special program with Ari and we’ll be giving away 50 copies of his book.  We’ll have more in a subsequent announcement.

We have had numerous posts on our site concerning raising your profile, “branding” yourself,  marketing yourself, and doing that through writing.  As we have said, despite the universal concern over the current economic climate, Posse List members have found creative ways to serve their constituencies and to raise their profiles.   Technology (Web 2.0) has been the catalyst for this renewal.  And one of the best to show you the ropes is Ari Kaplan. 

Ari has resumed his webinar series “30 Minute Thursdays” and kicks off the first tomorrow (March 4th) with “Writing an Article and Expanding Your Network in One Hour”.  The program will run 1:00pm to 1:30pm EST. 

The series is great and we have had a lot of positive response from Posse List members.  And it’s cheap, starting at $37 a month.   With a bonus for Posse List members.   See below.

 The program will offer insights on engaging clients, prospects, employers and referral sources by:

*Studying Editorial Calendars
*Writing an Effective Query
*Interviewing
*Writing Quickly
*Expanding Your Network Through Writing 

We have profiled Ari before (click here) and we have chatted with him numerous times at legal tech conferences and events (he is the keynote speaker at the ABA TECHSHOW later this month).   We have told you about Ari’s very cool “this is what you have to do” book titled The OpportunityMaker: Strategies for Inspiring Your Legal Career Through Creative Networking and Business Development which is about how law students, lawyers and other professionals can stand out in today’s crap economy.  The book is chock-a-block with marketing ideas.  And the book is less than 20 bucks on Amazon. 

Posse List members who subscribe to his “30-Minute Thursdays” webinar series will receive a link to download his new workbook The Seven Secrets of Opportunity Making Success which is a very comprehensive guide to help readers stand out in today’s stagnant economy (it normally sells for $19.97).   It offers creative ideas (all of which we have personally tried — with success) on: 

*Effective Follow-Up

*Asking for Advice

*Networking to Navigate the Recession

*Connecting at Conferences

*Overcoming Opportunity Blockers

To learn more about the series and to subscribe to the series go to www.30MinuteThursdays.com and use the special coupon code for Posse List members:  “posselist”.   You will receive a download link to the workbook. 

Note:  we receive neither commission nor any remuneration for promoting this series or Ari’s book.  We think it is an excellent series and a very worthwhile book.

Ari Kaplan is giving a free 30-minute webinar this Thursday (October 29^th) from1-1:30pm ET.

We have profiled Ari before (click here) because of his book The Opportunity Maker: Strategies for Inspiring Your Legal Career Through Creative Networking and Business Development (click here) which is a treasure house of ideas.

This Thursday’s program is sponsored by SmartClaimsPro.  Ari will share five strategies for creating opportunities in a down market.  This is the inaugural presentation in the “30-Minute Thursdays” career and business development series.  Every two weeks, Ari will share creative ideas for ways that students and professionals can distinguish themselves in the downturn and positively respond to the recovery.

This week’s program will offer insights on engaging clients, prospects, employers and referral sources by:

*Focusing on Education

*Meeting Journalists in Different Cities

*Creating information Products

*Remembering Milestones

*Polling Clients and Prospects

Solo and small firm practitioners who sign up for SmartClaimsPro will receive a free signed copy of The Opportunity Maker and the companion CD The Seven Secrets of Opportunity Making Success.

To learn more and register click here. 

And to learn more about Ari here is a Wall Street Journal Law Blog article and an article from the Houston Chronicle.

                        

The Opportunity Maker: Strategies for Inspiring Your Legal Career

July 23, 2009    12:00 pm to 1:00 pm

Rocket Matter is hosting a free internet marketing webinar by Ari Kaplan, renowned author and speaker on legal business development.

We have heard Ari speak and we have read his book.  It is well worth your while to attend the webinar.

Program Description:

While the economy is faltering, those who focus on creating and building genuine relationships will strengthen their potential for career and business development.  Learn how to stand out in today’s stagnant economy from the author of the Amazon.com bestseller, The Opportunity Maker: Strategies for Inspiring Your Legal Career Through Creative Networking and Business Development.  The New York Law Journal described it as “a must-have treasure box of marketing ideas.”

This program will provide proven strategies to help you:

* Create Career and Business Opportunities
* Expand Your Network
* Raise Your Profile Online
* Harness the Power of Social Media
* Build Stronger Relationships

Ari Kaplan is a nationally-recognized speaker and the author of the Amazon.com bestseller, The Opportunity Maker: Strategies for Inspiring Your Legal Career Through Creative Networking and Business Development (Thomson-West, 2008).  He practiced law with large firms in New York City for nearly 9 years and has been recognized on CNN, as well as in the Miami Herald, the New York Post, the ABA Journal, Above the Law, the National Jurist, the Chicago Lawyer, GP Solo, the California Recorder and other publications.

To register click here.

In Part 1 of our Trends series (click here) we provided some brief observations on trends we see in the contract attorney market and e-discovery market based on our conversations and meetings over the last few weeks.   In Part 2 (click here) we concentrated on going solo/freelancing,  and building a website/blog. 

Here in Part 3 we will discuss raising your profile, how to “brand” yourself, how to get published and how to market yourself. 

Note:  we are going to mention a number of lawyers, vendors and web sites below.  The Posse List receives no compensation or referral fees for these suggestions.  These are sources we have discovered via LegalTech and ABATech and by conversations we have had via Twitter and other social media venues, as well as personal contacts.  We provide links and other information so you can contact these sources directly and do your own due diligence. 

Raising your profile, “branding”, marketing and writing

Despite the universal concern over the current economic climate, there is justifiable optimism in the legal industry.   As we have discussed in previous posts, a downturn actually allows individuals and organizations to reposition themselves.  And this repositioning allows Posse List members to find more creative ways to serve their constituencies and to raise their profiles in doing so by making friends, rather than contacts. And technology is likely to be the catalyst for this renewal.

And in spite of all the challenges you will face trying to hit the “exit” button and get of contract legal work, be comforted by the fact that scores of Posse List members are doing it, and have been successful at doing it.  The best news:  we are working in a part of the legal industry that is unusual because it is open to sharing and collaboration, through publications, quality conferences, and trade shows, and peer networking organizations such as LegalTech (click here), ABATech (click here), the the ILSL Conference (click here). 

At all of these trade shows and conferences Posse List members have met with other members of the industry, provided resumes and simply networked (it costs nothing to troll the exhibit halls).

And there are scores of online “helpers” such as Carolyn Elefant, Julie Tower-Pierce, Lisa Solomon, Grant Griffiths, Ari Kaplan, Paula Black, etc.

So we start out with some “action items” and we will address each below:

1.  Join LinkedIn, Twitter, JD Supra, LexisHub and other networking, publishing, or directory services.

2.  Start blogging and build a website if you don’t already have one (we gave you pointers on how to do this in Part 2 which you can access here).

3.   Start writing for publications that actively seek out lawyers even if it means doing it pro bono because you can build your online presence that way and then actually monitor your presence and those with whom you want to connect via Google searches and Google Alerts and other analytics.

LinkedIn

At the 2009 ABA Tech Show this past April, Steve Matthews, founder of Stem, offered a presentation on the use of LinkedIn by lawyers.  Matthews revealed that there were 563,000 lawyers with profiles on the networking site, up from 406,000 in December and 118,000 a year ago. Of those half million-plus lawyers on LinkedIn, it is unlikely that many are using it to its maximum potential.   Ari Kaplan covered the use of LinkedIn in a story for law.com’s Legal Technology blog which you can access here.

Using LinkedIn enhances your personal “industry brand” by standardizing your online presence.  Use Linkedin more assiduously by adding to your profile and joining the multitude of LinkedIn groups.  We have covered LinkedIn extensively on our sister site The Posse Ranch (you can find the LinkedIn article by clicking here) where we have collected some of the best sites/links to get you started on “branding” and raising your profile.  

The Posse List use of LinkedIn: we have been able to connect with 10 new legal recruiters and have been able to post 40+ jobs for attorneys we would not have known about.  Plus, we connected with 15+ e-discovery vendors who have posted jobs on The Posse List and also have given us info/educational streams we would not have known about.

Twitter

We think it is becoming clear that there are many ways to use Twitter and many reasons to use Twitter.  Our primary use for Twitter is as a headline aggregator.  We get early notice of important news and case law and trends from all over the e-discovery community, plus job notices. 

But to us the best thing about Twitter is the fact that it provides us with a large group of contacts, professional acquaintances, and some total strangers and some technology superstars who all voluntarily serve as a “clipping service” for us with links to news articles, blog posts, product launches and more.  You can follow our Twitter stream over in the right hand column of this page.

For the fully skinny on using Twitter go to our Twitter article on The Posse Ranch by clicking here.

And speaking of Ari Kaplan ….

Ari has written a very cool, a very “this is what you have to do” book titled The OpportunityMaker: Strategies for Inspiring Your Legal Career Through Creative Networking and Business Development which is about how law students, lawyers and other professionals can stand out in today’s crap economy.  It is chock-a-block with marketing ideas.  And the book is less than 20 bucks on Amazon.

We have met Ari several times and we saw him do a pretty fabulous presentation last week at the FICPI Congress (the International Federation of Intellectual Property Attorneys).  He’s the principal of Ari Kaplan Advisors and trains law firm administrators, legal assistants, law students/summer associates, associates and partners on the mechanics of getting published, effective communication and networking.

The book: a treasure house.  He is a big, big fan of LinkedIn.  He thinks such sites as LinkedIn are the best web-based contact management systems, especially LinkedIn where you can create groups that combine various networks and realize the potential of the service and gain a reputation.  He also thinks attorneys should participate in the discussions of others and be sure to comment first or second to ensure that group members evaluate their viewpoint.

He is also big on lawyer-specific sites such as Legal OnRamp which are gaining in popularity because they are more targeted and less accessible.  Legal OnRamp, for example, requires an invitation to join and Martindale-Hubbell Connected authenticates each profile to ensure its reliability.

In his book he also talks about HelpAReporter.com (also called “HARO”) which is a great source of opportunities. This service sends a free email three times daily to 70,000-plus subscribers with requests from reporters and other media outlets seeking experts to comment on stories they are preparing.    You need to work the system.  The concept of being quoted as an expert is the cheapest and most effective form of advertising.  And many queries will be irrelevant to you since they range in focus from finance and law to travel and technology. Yet some may be directly on point.  But it is t is the easiest way in the world to make yourself look like a hero.

And his book has lots of other links/info on where to find writing gigs, how to prepare sample writing, how to find a mentor, how to self-promote, networking, etc., etc. which scores of Posse List members have followed with great success. 

Note:  Ari also has an eBook titled Getting Published (actually he has 50 eBooks because each is state-specific) which lists scores of publications/web sites for publication possibilities, tells you how to contact editors, how to making the pitch, publishing logistics, copyright, how to leverage your published work, etc., etc.  He is working with The Posse List and we will present a special offer next week to Posse List  members to provide his book The Opportunity Maker and also his eBook Getting Published.

JD Supra

By regularly publishing in niche markets, you’re not only grabbing the attention of your target audience, you’re also establishing yourself as an expert. If a LinkedIn profile tells people what you’re good at (by listing your professional credentials), an informative, on-topic article shows it by displaying your expertise as you digest, analyze, and present important developments in your field of practice.

Moreover, in this digital Age of Information, regularly publishing your written work has additional benefits with enormous impact on your marketing efforts.  It’s relatively easy to manage what people find online if they’re able to search on your name. Much harder: the job of being noticed in the crowd by people who don’t know your name but need your service. This is where Internet publishing makes all the difference in the world.

Your online written work will almost certainly be indexed by the major search engines (Google, Yahoo!, etc.). The more regularly you publish, the more chances you have of connecting with someone searching for the type of information you are providing. If the work connects back to you-well, that’s powerful marketing. That’s known as “Content Marketing.”

This model is at the heart of JD Supra, where legal professionals publish and distribute filings, briefs, articles, and other documents and connect the work to a practice-specific profile.

Content marketing is also one of the drivers in the popularity of blogging. It is no longer necessary to rely on the schedules and whims of busy editors; now, we can create and brand our own online publishing channels. For those who have time for it, blogging is a part of this strategy.

JD Supra lets you create an impressive online portfolio of your articles, newsletters, alerts, court filings, and presentations in minutes. Then, they help you get noticed (by prospective clients, colleagues and the media).  JD Supra creates a substantial, easily referenced, online archive of your expertise.  Upload filings, decisions, articles, newsletters, blog entries, presentations, media coverage with ease.  

We use JD Supra all the time and we notice all the Posse List members on it posting their work.  JD Supra distributes your documents to targeted audiences across numerous channels.  You can get syndicated by third-party resources like Newstex, Complinet and Justia and also streamed to LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, industry websites and blogs, etc.

We think JD Supra differentiates itself another way: by serving not only lawyers and law firms but also all of those service providers who have much interesting content to add as well.   This is why you see so many e-discovery vendors and other LP providers on JD Supra, too.   It is a level playing field. The content varies widely, but all of it is interesting – and has its own audience.

For more info on JD Supra click here. 

And a great source, Lexis® Hub

One of the most innovative sites we’ve come across is Lexis® Hub  which provides real-world career and skill building insights for young attorneys.  It tries to do exactly what it’s name implies:  act as a “hub” or center of all things legal for young attorneys and about-to-be lawyers.

It has a boatload of connections to help you such as practice area insights, legal news podcasts, links to free litigation CLEs, technology and the law, career guidance, building your skills, improving your research and writing, Twitter updates, etc.  You can follow them on Twitter:  @LexisHub.   

Their goal:  to be a one-stop resource for becoming a more productive lawyer.  You can create a free registration profile with Lexis® Hub to access a wide variety of resources, including videos and sample documents.  Just go to the home page (click here) and click on “Create an Account” in the upper left-hand corner.

And for those of you in the D.C. area ….

On June 24^th Carolyn Elefant, Esq., author of Solo By Choice and the blog, MyShingle, and Julie Tower-Pierce, Esq., author of  Staying at Home, Staying in the Law: A Guide to Remaining Active in the Legal Profession While Pursuing Your Dreams and the blog, Darling Hill,  are repeating their “live” presentation Pinkslips, Detours and Rentry program which covers such topics as being laid off or between jobs, being on a career detour, dreaming about hanging your own shingle, feeling stuck in the law, etc., etc.  For full description click here.

We attended their first presentation (this past April) and one of the great things about the program — besides their real-life take on what to do – were the presentation materials.  Julie presented a great guide to starting a career in freelance writing with a phenomenal list of D.C.-area links for writing and getting published, plus pro bono work to build your profile.  Carolyn provided a copy of her eBook Social Networking for Lawyers: How, What, Why and the Importance of NOW.  And they provided a great “mindmapping process” for starting your own firm which you can access here.   For more information about the June 24^th program click here.

And for a great podcast on staying marketable, staying connected and staying visible here is a link to a podcast in which Julie Tower-Pierce moderates a panel that includes Carolyn Elefant, Denise Howell and Ari Kaplan (click here).

 Some final thoughts/general marketing tips

For a good article on why marketing is critical for a solo practioner, check out Susan Carter Liebel’s article by clicking here. 

Every marketer, attorney and law firm is concerned about navigating the slowdown and searching for creative ways to find new business. The art of asking for advice is becoming an increasingly popular way to develop relationships. A recession makes people more inclined to meet one another and share guidance. For more junior professionals, this is an ideal forum in which to set the foundation for a long-term mentorship. For peers, it is often a safe and productive option to brainstorm with an individual whom you respect. In either instance, although you are asking for guidance on enhancing your career and business development prospects.

The irony of successful self-promotion is that it requires a coordinated campaign of connecting with others and finding ways to promote their success.  As Paul Lippe says (he is the founder of Legal OnRamp cited above)  “Collaboration is not an anomaly, it is the way the legal profession has been organized for most of its history.   We are lucky because technology is now at the center of the evolution in organic self-marketing.  Law has been sluggish in innovation because the business model has been stable and there haven’t been any significant
productivity-enhancing technologies that have come along. But in aWeb 2.0 world, doing great work and being seen as doing great work are much the same.”

A few concluding points:

1. Start with a written plan. And you can start that by read 10 Steps to Create Your Law Firm Marketing Plan” by Stephen Fairley (available for free at www.jdsupra.com/10steps).

 2. Most contract attorneys don’t have an existing (or former) client base.  So, go for the “lowest-hanging fruit” — your immediate network, family and friends. Legal business strategist David Lorenzo describes these people as your “natural network.” In How to Market a Small Firm for Less Than $500 (available for free at www.jdsupra.com/dlorenzo1) he writes: “Leverage this network to the hilt. Call everyone-your friends, relatives, and business associates-past and present. Let them know that you are on your own and explain to them the value you provide.”

3.  Schedule lunches with existing and former contacts, just to stay in touch.

4.  Create a network and then regularly call or e-mail your network; keep up-to-date with their news and share yours.

5.  Send a regular newsletter (by mail or e-mail), sharing useful information with your audience.

6.   And don’t just market yourself; be an expert. You don’t need to become an expert; you already are one in your field of practice. This requires an attitude adjustment more than anything else. At its core is the difference between reactive and proactive marketing. It’s an approach that allows you to be a passionate lawyer rather than a reluctant marketer. Instead of trying to get prime placement in the Yellow Pages or to compete for Google AdWords, look for opportunities to showcase your expertise. Make yourself available as a leading source of free legal information, both online and locally.

7.   Make yourself available as a lecturer for local trade organizations, clubs, or your bar association.

8.    Join an online conversation and start a blog and make comments in the blog posts of others whenever relevant or worthwhile.

9.  Pitch and publish articles, both off- and online (a point we have discussed above)

Your expertise is one of your most valuable marketing assets.

Coming up in Part 4:  working in Europe 

Gregory P. Bufithis, Esq.   Founder and Chairman, The Posse List

Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/PosseList

We want to make you aware of an excellent book we discovered and a special offer being made to Posse List members.

Note:  The Posse List receives no compensation or referral fees for these suggestions.  We provide links and other information so you can contact these sources directly and do your own due diligence.

So many Posse List members have been going solo or freelance and have been carving out their own niche.  Later this afternoon we will be posting Part 3 of our Trends series (click here) which will address such issues as how to “brand” yourself, how to market yourself, and how to get published.     The Paula Black book is part of the  information we have been trying to provide.

For lawyers — going solo and otherwise — the key is creating a marketing habit.   It’s all about marketing, branding, and positioning.  What Paula Black has put together for her “Little Black Book” series for lawyersis a book titled “The Little Black Book: A Lawyer’s Guide To Creating A Marketing Habit in 21 Days” which is a step-by-step guide to building your business through some very good marketing techniques.  It’s quick and simple, and it complements the information we write about.   She has worked with law firms ranging from 1 attorney to 1,000, and she has (like we have tried) to give lawyers the information and tools they need to succeed in today’s world.

Paula has a special opportunity for Posse List members (and this opportunity has been extended to other membership groups) . For the next 48 hours only, Paula is offering a collection of free bonus gifts to anyone who purchases the book.   You will receive special access to information and resources from more than 30 experts, a compilation of advice from some of the bigger names/experts in the legal arena.

Those experts include:  Larry Bodine, Cole Silver, Bruce MacEwen, Allen Korson, Arnie Herz, Josh Fruchter, Ed Poll, Allison Shields, Tom Kane, Gerry Riskin, Julie Fleming, Courtney Sapire, Richard Granat, Patrick Lamb, Ian Brodie, Patrick J. McKenna, Shaun G. Jamison, Teddy Pierre, Lori Williams, Tom Schober, Nina Ivanichvili, Ari Kaplan, Paramjit Mahli, Mark Beese, Allison Wolf, Kevin Thompson, Brett Trout, Simon Tupman, Ben Glass, Alexis Martin Neely, David Barrett and Enrico Schaefer.  Oh, and us, too.

For full details you can click here.

Again, please note:  The Posse List receives no commission or fee for your purchase of the book.  We provide these links and other information so you can contact these sources directly and do your own due diligence.