How to Develop New Clients from Conferences and Seminars
August 30, 2005
Over the years, one of the major complaints we receive from attorneys and marketing directors is that they invest thousands of dollars and countless hours on seminars and conferences that do not lead to new clients. We hear horror stories from professionals who attend these events and don't make contacts, don't arrange meetings, and don't produce any new clients from these events. Like any other marketing effort, you can maximize your results from seminars and conferences if you learn how to plan and work them correctly. If you commit to developing a plan, investing time and effort to execute your plan, and tracking results you will be rewarded with new clients and contacts. Here are a few tips on how to plan for these events, differentiate your practice from your competitors, and develop new business as a direct result of these events.
Solo Aims To Blog His Way To New Clients
August 30, 2005
The small town of Storrs, CT, may soon become the center of the law blog universe. Andrew Ewalt, a solo practicing in the shadows of the University of Connecticut, is a guinea pig for the wildly growing technology, which to date has largely been passed over by the legal profession as a marketing tool.
Virtual Worlds And Digital Rights
August 30, 2005
Today's virtual worlds -- sometimes also called digital or synthetic -- evolved from text-based role-playing games such as Dungeons & Dragons. The predecessors of the "Massively Multiplayer Online Role-playing Games" (MMPORGs) of today began for the most part in the late 70s and early 80s when various individuals first engaged in the role-playing game behavior online. The online text-based commands and prompts allowed the players to act out various fantasies without the close proximity requirement that is inherent in the earlier written and oral gaming forms. As the online technology grew, so did the nature and complexity of the interactive games, including the addition of videogame graphics to the text-based game elements. In the '90s, the current state of online MMPORGs began offering a real-time socially interactive component that was not available on traditional offline console gaming. While the physical space and landscape is simulated in the virtual environment of today, the social interactions are real since virtual characters, or "avatars," in the digital world are controlled and operated by a real person and not just by strict computer code. While these games are currently used mostly as an avenue for play and social interaction, if the proliferation of online entrepreneurship continues, the games will likely be more focused on commerce, research and work or work-related activities.
Finding Good Faith and Fair Dealing In Entertainment and Sports Relationships
August 30, 2005
Contractual interpretation can be a thorny business. Yet it pales in comparison to the treacherous waters that surround supposed duties nowhere to be found in the language of a contract -- and that may never have been negotiated or discussed by the parties. For many entertainment and sports professionals, the most significant and far-reaching of these implied duties is the duty of good faith and fair dealing that courts read into every contract. As straightforward as the obligation sounds when described in general terms, it can be vexing to determine what particular conduct it may require in specific situations. What's more, the reported decisions construing the obligation tend to be highly fact-dependent, thus providing only limited guidance.
First Vioxx Ruling
August 30, 2005
Merck & Co., founded in 1891, has a slogan -- what it calls its "guiding philosophy." That philosophy is, "patients first." In the first of many Vioxx trials expected to be litigated in state and federal courts across the country, the jury wasn't buying it. On Aug. 19, after a month-long trial, ten out of 12 jurors -- the number needed to return a verdict of guilty -- found Merck liable to the plaintiffs, survivors of a man who took Vioxx for pain relief. The damages award was staggering: $24.5 million in economic losses and compensation for mental anguish and $229 million in punitive damages.
Software Review: Needles Case Management Software
August 30, 2005
Javerbaum Wurgaft Hicks & Zarin is a tort litigation firm based in Springfield, NJ. The firm consists of six partners, associate attorneys, and support staff. We have used the Needles Case Management Software System since 1991 (at that time, it was called PINS, which was the DOS-based version of the program). The firm, at the time, was looking for a program that would organize the office and streamline casework. We were swamped with paper files and though we had a case flow, it was disorganized. Today, with 20 people in the office using the Needles program to manage cases, our firm is more organized than ever before.
Electronic Discovery Market Takes Leap
August 30, 2005
e-Discovery services have come a long way in just a couple of years as a technological medium and a legal service, according to a recent comprehensive and authoritative survey of the genre.
Corporate Compliance And How It Relates To Litigation Data-Management
August 30, 2005
If we counted a penny for every general counsel, chief information officer or information-technology director who laments the passing of the regulatory-agency laissez faire policies of old, we'd give Donald Trump a run for his money. The simple truth is, there is no going back -- Sarbanes-Oxley, Gramm-Leach-Bliley, the Safe Harbor Protection Act and European Data Protection Directive -- they're all here to stay.
The Increasing Importance of Corporate Minutes
August 30, 2005
As corporate scandals continue to dominate the financial press, the actions taken by members of corporate boards of directors are under attack by the civil class action bar, the Securities and Exchange Commission, federal prosecutors, and state regulators. As the activities of board members are increasingly subjected to challenge in civil and even criminal proceedings, the existence of a clear record of the board's activities has become an increasingly critical element in establishing a corporation's decision-making process. Thus, boards of directors should take a fresh look at how their decision-making process is described in corporate minutes to ensure that the minutes will permit the directors to defend the actions taken in the boardroom, as well as to demonstrate that the directors have performed their oversight duties with appropriate care.