The new attorney is often savvy enough to realize that the general practice of law is a vestige of the profession. (I far prefer the term “new attorney”, to the term “young attorney”, since, although many new attorneys are young attorneys, that is not always the case. The term “new attorney” is a far more accurate descriptor.) In the modern era, specific legal niches have become far too administratively complex to allow for solo or small firm attorneys to adopt the role of jack-of-all-legal-trades, and to expect to do well, or competently. New attorneys, though they realize that they must choose a practice area, or set of practice areas, to settle into, are, nonetheless, not experts in any of the areas they will assume, to practice in, at least not at the beginning. Thus, there is a question of balance to be addressed. New attorneys wish to present themselves as niche practitioners, as they must do, in order to get the clients they really want; but, they don’t want to be held to the standards of a specialty practitioner, should an ethical issue arise. In many cases, however, the Board of Bar Overseers will assume specialty practice, unless certain language is used, to disclaim such specialty practice. So, new attorneys must be careful about the language that they use, in marketing themselves, if they do not wish to be held to the standards of a specialty practitioner, in the event of an ethical action.
This issue has recently come to the fore with the publication of a 2009 BBO admonition. Admonition No. 09-12, categorized under “Holding Out as a Specialist”, covers the issues addressed above, as applied to a specific set of facts. You’ll likely want to review the admonition yourself; but, for purposes of our discussion, the relevant sections of the admonition appear as follows: An attorney with practice experience from 1991 to 2004 passes the Massachusetts bar in 2004, and subsequently establishes a law office in Massachusetts, at which he will concentrate in immigration law, a new practice area for him. His website advertises his services as follows: that he will provide “professional legal services to American and international clients with respect to corporate and commercial transactions, small business matters and immigration law”. He takes on an immigration client, and subsequently flubs the case, giving his client incorrect advice. He gets dinged by the BBO, for making a misleading statement on his website, re: his expertise in immigration law; read: he was holding out as an immigration law specialist when he was not; read: Admonition 09-12.
As with any BBO admonitions, suspensions, disbarments, it is about reading the tea leaves, for still-practicing, unscathed attorneys. How can you treat these as lessons, so that the same will not befall you? How will you be as a modern-day augur?
The initial question, based on the Admonition No. 09-12 and the existing Massachusetts Rules of Professional Conduct, is: How do you advertise your niche without advertising yourself as a specialist? Well, it’s pretty clearly in the way that you use it, language, that is. The admonished attorney’s choice of language, as follows: “professional legal services . . . with respect to . . . immigration law”, was not the appropriate formulation. It was not enough to provide a self-classification for "non-specialist". “With respect to” seems a rather innocuous enough descriptor; but, the BBO position is that even that language, when affiliated with specific practice areas, is enough to act as an advertisement of specialty. Rule 7.4(a)(3) stands for the proposition that association of a lawyer’s name with a specific practice area, or areas, is enough of an indication to create the advertisement of a specialty. That is, unless you use the specific language provided in Rule 7.4(c), which allows an attorney to hold out in a way that does not imply expertise. The appropriate formulation for indicating that an attorney is a non-specialist, then, is as follows: that that attorney “handles” or “welcomes” certain sorts of cases, but that that attorneys is “not a specialist” in that area of law, or those areas of law. Now, this is the specific language presented in Rule 7.4(c); and, there is some indication that similar language could also be used for the replacement of “handle” or “welcome” (synonyms?); but, trying alternative, similar formulations is done “at your own risk”, given that other formulations have not been given the specific sanction of the BBO, as “handle” and “welcome” have. Now, this is rather difficult, because it means that you’ll be broadcasting to your clients, if you use the complete formulation, that you are not a specializing attorney; but, if you wish to know for sure that you are protecting yourself from treatment as a specialist, this is the only formulation that you can use to do so.
What else can be gleaned from this admonition? The admonished attorney had roughly fourteen years of practice experience when the events leading up to admonishment occurred. Yet, he did not have experience in immigration law, the field in which he provided the defective advice. We have addressed previously at the LOMAP blog the necessity, for new lawyers, of finding mentors; and, this becomes an important issue within the admonition analysis. The BBO noted that the admonished attorney did not consult a lawyer who specialized in the field of immigration law before providing advice to his new client, the obvious assumption here being that he should have; this despite the fact that the attorney had nearly fifteen years of general practice experience at the time of his disseminating of immigration law advice to his new client. What does this mean? Well, it seems to clearly point to the fact that, not only should new attorneys seek advice in all practice areas, but that attorneys taking on new practice areas should consult mentors when taking cases in their new practice areas, regardless of their experience in other areas of practice. That is, certainly, tough to swallow, as well, that CLE courses, for example, are not enough. But, this does seem to be the clear position of the BBO. And, it is equally clear that the matter of accessing of mentors also enters into the resolution of the question of an attorney’s competency in particular matters. The commentary to Rule 1.1, covering attorney competency, specifically addresses the issues of mentorship at comments 1 (“In determining whether a lawyer employs the requisite knowledge and skill in a particular matter, relevant factors include . . . whether it is feasible to . . . consult with . . . a lawyer of established competence in the field in question.”), 2 (“Competent representation can also be provided through the association of a lawyer of established competence in the field in question.”) and 3 (“In an emergency a lawyer may give advice or assistance in a matter in which the lawyer does not have the skill ordinarily required where referral or association with another lawyer would be impractical. Even in an emergency, however, assistance should be limited to that reasonably necessary in the circumstances, for ill-considered action under emergency conditions can jeopardize the client’s interests.”). When in doubt, seek the counsel of an experienced attorney, whether you are a new attorney, or new to a practice area. And, even in emergency situations, you should seek to limit the advice you provide in an unfamiliar area to that which is reasonably necessary, under the circumstances.
Of course, the remedy in every case is to provide the correct advice to begin with. If you provide the right advice, you don’t have a disgruntled client, and since you don’t have a disgruntled client, there is no one to call the BBO to complain. But, that’s easier said than done, of course, especially given the many interpretations that the law is open to.
If you do not wish to hold out as a specialist, or cannot hold out as a specialist, be sure of your position, and of the way that the BBO will read your position, by using the handle/welcome + not a specialist language provided as an exemplar in Rule 7.4(c), do your own research and consult a specializing attorney in a field that is new for you.
. . .
Liner Notes
The unfortunate thing about trying to create a list of best Thanksgiving songs for your blog that is obstensibly about law practice management is that there just aren’t many Thanksgiving songs that aren’t religious, or whose meanings aren’t stretched so as to appear to be somewhat about Thanksgiving. Not that I have anything against religious songs, generally, or the stretching of meaning, particularly, but there aren’t that many songs about Thanksgiving that have hit a nerve in the popular culture, so becoming standards.
The closest thing that I have found to a Thanksgiving song is Adam Sandler’s “The Thanksgiving Song”. Not exactly the Perry Como of Thanksgiving, I know.
(Incidentally, Do you know who the official founder of the American Thanksgiving is? No, not the Pilgrims. That’s right, it’s my dog Abraham Lincoln.)
So, What in the hell can we talk about now?
How about cover songs? That’s just as good as any other topic, I figure. And, usually the corn is "covered" at Thanksgiving to keep it warm, and stuff, so, well, um . . . yeah.
To my mind, cover songs break down across three categories; there are (1) those cover songs that are so well-done that they become the standard version of the song; (2) those cover songs that either do a passable enough job to be recognized as “good” covers, or those cover songs that make enough significant tweaks to the original song to make the new version uniquely the covering artist’s; (3) those cover songs that are just horrific train wrecks that you, nevertheless, can’t turn away from.
Let’s go through several examples of each sort of cover song, covering the original, as well as the, uh, cover:
Covers that have Become Standards
“How Sweet It Is (to be Loved by You)”--original by Marvin Gaye, cover by James Taylor
“Some Guys Have All the Luck”--original by The Persuaders, cover by Rod Stewart
“Hound Dog”--original by “Big Mama” Thornton, cover by Elvis Presley (See what Warren Zevon has to say about such things in “Porcelain Monkey”--not yet covered)
“After Midnight”--original by J.J. Cale, cover by Eric Clapton
“Lake of Fire”--original by the Meat Puppets, cover by Nirvana, unplugged
Covers that are “Good”
“Take Me Home, Country Roads”--original by John Denver, cover by Toots and the Maytals
“Back in the High Life Again”--original by Steve Winwood, cover by Warren Zevon
“Move It On Over”--original by Hank Williams, cover by George Thorogood and the Destroyers
“Here Comes My Baby”--original by Cat Stevens, cover by The Mavericks
“Come Together”--original by The Beatles, cover by Aerosmith
Covers that Suck, (Travesties)
“Hey, Hey What Can I Do”--original by Led Zeppelin, cover by Hootie & the Blowfish (well, they certainly blow)
“Hey Jude”--original by The Beatles, cover by Wilson Pickett
“Big Yellow Taxi”--original by Joni Mitchell, cover by Counting Crows
“Girls Just Want to Have Fun”--original by Cyndi Lauper, cover by Miley Cyrus
“American Pie”--original by Don McLean, cover by Madonna
If you’re looking for other covers, check back entries to this blog, where I throw in cover tune links every now and then, including for “Hurt”, “Blue Yodel No. 9: Mule Skinner Blues” and “Devil Went Down to Georgia”, among others.
In the interests of time and space, I have left off some of my favorite covers, and also some of the covers that I can't stand. (Yes, I do leave things out sometimes. Don't be smart.) If you want to add some of your own personal favorite covers, or some covers that you think are just godawful, feel free to drop those in the comments.
For your inspiration, there are a couple of fulsome online lists out there, including from Esquire, and from the Digital Dream Door (whatever that is--I wouldn't go in there if I were you), that run down a number of cover songs: good, bad and middle.
(Perhaps my inspiration for this edition of “Liner Notes” was my recent purchase of James Taylor’s “Other Covers” EP, which includes a fantastic cover of the outstanding old-timey tune, “Get a Job” (by The Silhouettes; I'll take 1950s doo-wop for $800, Alex), redone with an outro of JT mumbling nearly incoherently, and probably angrily, the sound of which always brings a smile to my face.)
Happy Thanksgiving!
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Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Guest Post: The Solo and Small Firm Advantage: Leverage Your Alternative Billing Advantage When Big Firms Can't, or Won't
We are fortunate to welcome Stephen E. Seckler, principal of Seckler Legal Consulting, as a guest blogger. Stephen is an attorney coach with twenty years experience in consulting with lawyers. (Stephen's full profile is available at his website.) Stephen maintains his own main blog, Counsel to Counsel (twice named to the ABA Journal's Blawg 100 List), as well as having established The Middle Office blog. Stephen will contribute his thoughts to the LOMAP Blog in the form of a series of posts covering "The Solo and Small Firm Advantage", the first installment of which appears below, and addresses the application of alternative fee structures.
. . .
The legal profession is in a tremendous state of flux right now. Large law firms are cutting expenses left and right in order to maintain partner profits. Business clients are challenging high billing rates and questioning the whole premise of hourly billing (where the incentives are for lawyers to bill as many hours as possible on a project).
While some large firms will undoubtedly adapt to these new realities, in truth, these market dynamics present a great opportunity for small firm practitioners. Right now, the market is very receptive to lower legal fees and alternative ways of doing business. While small firms may lack the depth and breadth of experience that larger firms possess, small firms also lack the bureaucracy that makes change difficult in larger organizations.
As a sole practitioner, you can wake up in the morning and decide to begin charging clients on a project basis. By the same afternoon, you can be implementing the new strategy. One day later, you can decide that project-based billing works for some of your matters and not others (or that a blended rate is what makes most sense in a particular case). You can also look for ways to cut costs once you start charging according to projects. For example, you can outsource litigation document review to a lower cost provider, and instead focus on the higher level strategic parts of a case.
In short, a sole practitioner can be more nimble than a more established law firm. If you continue to experiment with the way you charge for your services and staff your cases, you will gain the attention of consumers of legal services who are hungry for an alternative to the billable hour. This is your competitive advantage. It is yours to exploit.
. . .
For more on alternative billing, check out Jay Shepherd's consistently impressive take, memorialized at his excellent blog, The Client Revolution.
. . .
The legal profession is in a tremendous state of flux right now. Large law firms are cutting expenses left and right in order to maintain partner profits. Business clients are challenging high billing rates and questioning the whole premise of hourly billing (where the incentives are for lawyers to bill as many hours as possible on a project).
While some large firms will undoubtedly adapt to these new realities, in truth, these market dynamics present a great opportunity for small firm practitioners. Right now, the market is very receptive to lower legal fees and alternative ways of doing business. While small firms may lack the depth and breadth of experience that larger firms possess, small firms also lack the bureaucracy that makes change difficult in larger organizations.
As a sole practitioner, you can wake up in the morning and decide to begin charging clients on a project basis. By the same afternoon, you can be implementing the new strategy. One day later, you can decide that project-based billing works for some of your matters and not others (or that a blended rate is what makes most sense in a particular case). You can also look for ways to cut costs once you start charging according to projects. For example, you can outsource litigation document review to a lower cost provider, and instead focus on the higher level strategic parts of a case.
In short, a sole practitioner can be more nimble than a more established law firm. If you continue to experiment with the way you charge for your services and staff your cases, you will gain the attention of consumers of legal services who are hungry for an alternative to the billable hour. This is your competitive advantage. It is yours to exploit.
. . .
For more on alternative billing, check out Jay Shepherd's consistently impressive take, memorialized at his excellent blog, The Client Revolution.
Thursday, November 12, 2009
There’s Apps for Those, Too: The iPhone is Not the Only Well-App-Ointed Smart Phone
I’d like to thank Sudbay Motors of Gloucester for providing wireless internet in their waiting room, so that I could research and draft part of this blog while I waited for a small repair to be made on my gallant Jeep Commander (I love this car) this Valentine’s Day, er, I mean . . . Veteran’s Day. Jeeps being originally military vehicles, this seemed highly appropriate. Sudbay, I should say, has a really sweet waiting room, otherwise, as well, as it features leather couches and chairs and a stainless steel fridge stocked with drinks and free coffee and tea. (If you’re looking for a Jeep, Sudbay is a great place to buy. Ask for Dale.) And, my concentration in the waiting room was nearly unbroken until these kids came in and started watching iCarly. (This girl hasn’t done a thing good since “School of Rock”.) Oh, well.
Isn’t it funny when words get shortened, expanded or changed all together? Like, phone “applications” have become phone “apps”. Whereas, the American League “Gold Glove” for shortstop has become the “Derek Jeter Can’t Field for Crap, has No Range, is Overpaid (Like the Rest of His Teammates) and Should Not Even be the Starting Shortstop on His Own Team, And Yet Still Wins Gold Gloves Memorial Award”. It’s funny how life is.
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know what an iPhone is. You’ve also seen the insufferable “There’s an app for that” commercials. (Really. There’s an app for that? I guess so.) Of course, there’s the sanctioned App Store, where you can access the free and pay iPhone apps. That’s if you’re into being held down by the man. There’s also a bunch of apps that you can download from outside the Apple canon, should you choose to “jailbreak” your iPhone, allowing download of such rogue apps, or paid apps for free.
So, yeah, the iPhone has apps, and plenty of them, depending on how much of a bad ol’ country boy you are. And, lawyers have become hip to the iPhone revolution, too, which probably makes it something less like a revolution, actually, but . . . If you look online (or not, because I’ve already done so, for you . . .) you can find some of those ubiquitous Top (apps) for Lawyers Lists, including ones written by the Mac Lawyer himself, by Ernie the Attorney and for the Virginia Lawyers Weekly. You know when somebody writes a Top Ten List about something that it’s not really any longer a viral sort of deal. Just ask David Letterman . . . he’s made a career out of the concept. There’s even a blog devoted to lawyers and iPhones (and apps)--you knew that was coming.
But, we ain’t here to talk about the iPhone, or iPhone apps. We just ain’t. What we is here to talk about is those apps that are available on those other smart phones. When people say “app”, it’s generally assumed that they’re talking about an “iPhone app”, because the iPhone, through that another rather cheeky marketing campaign, has tied itself intrinsically to the term “app”. But, the other major smart phones have apps, too.
Like the Blackberry. (Busy ripping off the Beatles in their latest ad campaign. Sound familiar?) If you’re not using an iPhone, chances are that your smart phone is a Blackberry (I have no statistics to back this up); and, maybe you feel like you have to be app-less. But, that’s not true. Blackberry features an array of apps, at its recently-formed App World! Scooting around the App World, you’ll find some nifty applications, including some: free options (like Pandora, Facebook, UberTwitter (a Twitter client, interface), Trapster (if you’re Tweeting while driving) and the Y! Fantasy Football ‘09 app (although, I can’t say that I really need that, since my teams are a combined 21-6 and reside in 1st, 1st and 2nd place across three leagues . . . just saying, at the risk of completely jinxing myself for the rest of the season); legal-specific choices (like Legal Week (for law news), The Law Pod (complete federal rules, and parcels thereof), BillableGoal (for time and billing capture) and, of course, Law and Order Celebrity Betrayal (being Jack McCoy!)); and, just plain inane stuff, i.e.--what you’ll really like (like SketchIt (Etch-a-Sketch for your dang phone!), Yo Mama Jokes (finally, a collection of mother jokes for your smart phone), My Secret Diary (hhhmmm . . . putting your diary on your phone: sounds like a bad idea to me; little brothers begin to drool everywhere) and something called Reading Body Language of Woman (which, I think, if you have this app, you don’t have any woman’s body language to read) ). If you tire of the sanctioned Crackberry app world, there appears to be something of a small Blackberry jailbreak community online, which has not appeared to have gained steam as of yet. Maybe you could start it!
Now, the whole underground theme I am applying here is not to say that the Blackberry app is unpopular, or unknown. Lawyers (some lawyers) have jumped on the Blackberry app bandwagon, and have (drumroll, please . . .) drafted Top (X) Blackberry App Lists for Lawyers, including Twitter princess Niki Black and the Young Texas Lawyer. Yes, he’s the Texas Young Lawyer. All you other Texas young lawyers step off.
So, we ain’t exactly dealing with an underground movement here when we’re talking Blackberry. If you’re into that sort of thing, maybe the Palm Pre is for you. (Yes. While you’re waiting there for the Palm Pre to kill the iPhone, I’ll be over here, petting some unicorns.) The Palm Pre has an App Store, too! The Palm Pre App Store, however, is the third degree: less impressive by degrees, moving out from the Apple store and the Blackberry store. The Palm's apps are limited, mostly, to games, like the morbid “Deadman”. (For when Hangman just isn’t enough to satisfy your bloodlust!) There are however, some useful general apps, like: Tweed and Spaz (more Twitter clients), LinkedIn, CoinFlip (yes, it flips a fake coin . . . well, you never know) and the Canadian Press Mobile (hell yes . . . everything you wanted to know about Canada but were afraid to ask). And, there are some lawyer-friendly business apps, as well, including: The Missing Sync (for incorporating Mac contacts into your Palm), Fliq Bookmarks (for moving your Mac bookmarks to your Palm), gDial Pro and P2 Dialer (for Google Voice access) and Uber Pass (a password generator and password keeper). If you don’t like what you see in the store, though, you can always create and submit your own apps, using some of your Mojo; just don’t let anyone steal your mo-jo. But, I don’t know how the hell to do that. I’ll leave questions like that to be answered by more tech-savvy lawyers, like Nerino.
. . .
Liner Notes
In honor of the passing of Veteran’s Day, I’d like to focus on some American things, places and people, in this edition of “Liner Notes”:
Like Shelby Foote, my favorite Southerner who drools into his beard when he speaks. Seriously, though, Shelby Foote is the man. Check out his Greatest Hits, which include classics like “Pocket Handkerchief”, “The United States Is” and “She Even Let Me Swing the General’s Saber Around My Head Once, which was a Great Treat”. John Quinn knows what I’m talking about.
My dad used to love Toby Keith, and I very much enjoy his new “American Ride” song and video, which is a peppy assault on the political correctness, and other wack stuff we do, that is ruining our culture.
Keeping it country, Zac Brown Band does a rippin’ cover of Charlie Daniels Band’s “Devil Went Down to Georgia”, from the CMA Awards last night. (That’s right. I’m THAT current.)
Keeping it partially country . . . Have any two songs with the same name ever sounded as different as “Mississippi Mud” and “Mississippi Mud”?
If you missed Taylor Swift on Saturday Night Live this past weekend, check out her very funny monologue song. For rarer stuff, I also like this song she whipped up as a jingle for a radio show that airs in Michigan, even though it’s sort of commercial . . . because it is a commercial, for a show. Yeah, I like Taylor Swift and Miley Cyrus. So sue me. Wait, don’t. You’re probably all lawyers.
Isn’t it funny when words get shortened, expanded or changed all together? Like, phone “applications” have become phone “apps”. Whereas, the American League “Gold Glove” for shortstop has become the “Derek Jeter Can’t Field for Crap, has No Range, is Overpaid (Like the Rest of His Teammates) and Should Not Even be the Starting Shortstop on His Own Team, And Yet Still Wins Gold Gloves Memorial Award”. It’s funny how life is.
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know what an iPhone is. You’ve also seen the insufferable “There’s an app for that” commercials. (Really. There’s an app for that? I guess so.) Of course, there’s the sanctioned App Store, where you can access the free and pay iPhone apps. That’s if you’re into being held down by the man. There’s also a bunch of apps that you can download from outside the Apple canon, should you choose to “jailbreak” your iPhone, allowing download of such rogue apps, or paid apps for free.
So, yeah, the iPhone has apps, and plenty of them, depending on how much of a bad ol’ country boy you are. And, lawyers have become hip to the iPhone revolution, too, which probably makes it something less like a revolution, actually, but . . . If you look online (or not, because I’ve already done so, for you . . .) you can find some of those ubiquitous Top (apps) for Lawyers Lists, including ones written by the Mac Lawyer himself, by Ernie the Attorney and for the Virginia Lawyers Weekly. You know when somebody writes a Top Ten List about something that it’s not really any longer a viral sort of deal. Just ask David Letterman . . . he’s made a career out of the concept. There’s even a blog devoted to lawyers and iPhones (and apps)--you knew that was coming.
But, we ain’t here to talk about the iPhone, or iPhone apps. We just ain’t. What we is here to talk about is those apps that are available on those other smart phones. When people say “app”, it’s generally assumed that they’re talking about an “iPhone app”, because the iPhone, through that another rather cheeky marketing campaign, has tied itself intrinsically to the term “app”. But, the other major smart phones have apps, too.
Like the Blackberry. (Busy ripping off the Beatles in their latest ad campaign. Sound familiar?) If you’re not using an iPhone, chances are that your smart phone is a Blackberry (I have no statistics to back this up); and, maybe you feel like you have to be app-less. But, that’s not true. Blackberry features an array of apps, at its recently-formed App World! Scooting around the App World, you’ll find some nifty applications, including some: free options (like Pandora, Facebook, UberTwitter (a Twitter client, interface), Trapster (if you’re Tweeting while driving) and the Y! Fantasy Football ‘09 app (although, I can’t say that I really need that, since my teams are a combined 21-6 and reside in 1st, 1st and 2nd place across three leagues . . . just saying, at the risk of completely jinxing myself for the rest of the season); legal-specific choices (like Legal Week (for law news), The Law Pod (complete federal rules, and parcels thereof), BillableGoal (for time and billing capture) and, of course, Law and Order Celebrity Betrayal (being Jack McCoy!)); and, just plain inane stuff, i.e.--what you’ll really like (like SketchIt (Etch-a-Sketch for your dang phone!), Yo Mama Jokes (finally, a collection of mother jokes for your smart phone), My Secret Diary (hhhmmm . . . putting your diary on your phone: sounds like a bad idea to me; little brothers begin to drool everywhere) and something called Reading Body Language of Woman (which, I think, if you have this app, you don’t have any woman’s body language to read) ). If you tire of the sanctioned Crackberry app world, there appears to be something of a small Blackberry jailbreak community online, which has not appeared to have gained steam as of yet. Maybe you could start it!
Now, the whole underground theme I am applying here is not to say that the Blackberry app is unpopular, or unknown. Lawyers (some lawyers) have jumped on the Blackberry app bandwagon, and have (drumroll, please . . .) drafted Top (X) Blackberry App Lists for Lawyers, including Twitter princess Niki Black and the Young Texas Lawyer. Yes, he’s the Texas Young Lawyer. All you other Texas young lawyers step off.
So, we ain’t exactly dealing with an underground movement here when we’re talking Blackberry. If you’re into that sort of thing, maybe the Palm Pre is for you. (Yes. While you’re waiting there for the Palm Pre to kill the iPhone, I’ll be over here, petting some unicorns.) The Palm Pre has an App Store, too! The Palm Pre App Store, however, is the third degree: less impressive by degrees, moving out from the Apple store and the Blackberry store. The Palm's apps are limited, mostly, to games, like the morbid “Deadman”. (For when Hangman just isn’t enough to satisfy your bloodlust!) There are however, some useful general apps, like: Tweed and Spaz (more Twitter clients), LinkedIn, CoinFlip (yes, it flips a fake coin . . . well, you never know) and the Canadian Press Mobile (hell yes . . . everything you wanted to know about Canada but were afraid to ask). And, there are some lawyer-friendly business apps, as well, including: The Missing Sync (for incorporating Mac contacts into your Palm), Fliq Bookmarks (for moving your Mac bookmarks to your Palm), gDial Pro and P2 Dialer (for Google Voice access) and Uber Pass (a password generator and password keeper). If you don’t like what you see in the store, though, you can always create and submit your own apps, using some of your Mojo; just don’t let anyone steal your mo-jo. But, I don’t know how the hell to do that. I’ll leave questions like that to be answered by more tech-savvy lawyers, like Nerino.
. . .
Liner Notes
In honor of the passing of Veteran’s Day, I’d like to focus on some American things, places and people, in this edition of “Liner Notes”:
Like Shelby Foote, my favorite Southerner who drools into his beard when he speaks. Seriously, though, Shelby Foote is the man. Check out his Greatest Hits, which include classics like “Pocket Handkerchief”, “The United States Is” and “She Even Let Me Swing the General’s Saber Around My Head Once, which was a Great Treat”. John Quinn knows what I’m talking about.
My dad used to love Toby Keith, and I very much enjoy his new “American Ride” song and video, which is a peppy assault on the political correctness, and other wack stuff we do, that is ruining our culture.
Keeping it country, Zac Brown Band does a rippin’ cover of Charlie Daniels Band’s “Devil Went Down to Georgia”, from the CMA Awards last night. (That’s right. I’m THAT current.)
Keeping it partially country . . . Have any two songs with the same name ever sounded as different as “Mississippi Mud” and “Mississippi Mud”?
If you missed Taylor Swift on Saturday Night Live this past weekend, check out her very funny monologue song. For rarer stuff, I also like this song she whipped up as a jingle for a radio show that airs in Michigan, even though it’s sort of commercial . . . because it is a commercial, for a show. Yeah, I like Taylor Swift and Miley Cyrus. So sue me. Wait, don’t. You’re probably all lawyers.
Friday, November 6, 2009
Time in a Bottleneck: Online Scheduling Tools Make Meetings Happen
Getting a large number of people together for a meeting is like herding cats into a bathtub. When you’re talking busy cats . . . I mean, people . . . it’s even worse. Grease those cats. Now, give those greased cats business suits and a knowledge of how to exploit loopholes. Lawyers are some of the busiest cats around. Grease ‘em, but don’t teach ‘em how to drive. But, whether you’re trying to organize colleagues, clients and/or related professionals, it’s pretty clear, and pretty quickly, that everyone is busy. Everyone has things to do that are essentially important to them. How do you get diverse people with diverse interests to come together on a single topic at a single, established time?
Every attorney has had to organize for a meeting, whether on his or her own, or with the assistance of staffpersons. How do you gather the appropriate parties and attorneys for a deposition, especially when people are in different states? How do you get the parties, real estate agents and client on the horn at the same time, in order to resolve an issue prior to a real estate closing? Hell, How do you even organize an internal staff meeting, with everyone so busy, as you know, with all of your colleagues’ calendars packed?
The traditional method (skipping over cave wall scratching, smoke signals and carrier pigeon delivery, for the sake of expediency) for organization was phone contact, accompanied by sticky notes for purposes of recording responses. Of course, this method was cumbersome. It was time-consuming. It would inevitably involve playing phone tag. And, it only took one person to say no to an otherwise agreed upon time and date to throw the whole thing back in a tizzy, returned to the start. Then you’re between a rock and a hard place, because you can either accommodate that last late responder (and the one for whom the time is inconvenient is always the last to respond, right?) and upset everyone else, or you can leave the last responder off, and upset him or her.
There’s just gots to be a better way, right? Well, leave it to Mr. Gates. In removing themselves from the Dark Ages, folks began to schedule things, for themselves and with others, using Microsoft’s Outlook. Outlook and its associated email and calendar system was certainly an improvement over picking up something called the phone. (Wait, it didn’t have Internet on it?) However, Microsoft’s Outlook was not a cure-all. There were limitations for date and time ranges. Plus, the method for getting responses was to send a single email to a number of people. So, even if you agreed to join the meeting and were the first person to respond, you could bet your behind that you’d be subject to everyone else’s replies when people responded using the reply all feature. (But, that’s only fair, because you started.) And, since Outlook doesn’t tie email threads together like GMail does (GMail uses the first email in a string as a header and aggregates all new messages under the first message; Outlook introduces a new email with each reply, with the entire string existing underneath each new message), you’re getting a ton of emails that don’t apply much to you, while you wait for that final confirmation email . . . that may never come.
So, you’re telling me Outlook ain’t all that. Now what? Well, as modern society continues its slow creep past the graying eyes of Mr. Gates (it ain’t the 70s no more), I’m pretty sure you can find some free and easy solutions online, that work well, and that integrate with Outlook anyway. And, Lo . . . You can. Does that change your outlook?
TimeBridge is one top flight choice, and LOMAP’s own preferred option for scheduling meetings. With TimeBridge, you can set up to five dates and times and broadcast those preferences, via email, to the parties with whom you’d like to meet. Potential meeters link to TimeBridge’s website from their email. (No registration is required, incidentally.) They choose their available dates. If everyone agrees on a date, you’re done. If not, just propose five new dates. No fuss, no muss, no reply all emails. Nifty features of TimeBridge include that you can synchronize it with your Outlook contacts, you can create groups for inviting frequent meeters and you can schedule a web conference out of TimeBridge. Note, however, that TimeBridge will try to default you to an option that allows responders to see your whole calendar. Bad idea. Turn this function off. Then they’ll never know you were blowing them off on some dates to go see the newest Twilight movie. Beyond the free version, TimeBridge also offers a pay-for-use version, with the regular features plus some add-ons.
Doodle is another good, free and easy-to-use meeting scheduler tool. In Doodle, you provide a subject for your invite email, and then choose as many potential meeting dates and times as you wish. Doodle, in essence, works the same way as TimeBridge (really, these products all, essentially, work the same way; but, so do the Pacer and the Maserati), it’s just that TimeBridge is easier to use, and more intuitive to use. Doodle does have some cool other features, though. It synchronizes with a lot of different online calendars, including Outlook, iCal and Google Calendar. It will also allow more interface options; and, by that I mean that you can schedule from more places, including from Facebook, on iGoogle and on your mobile phone.
There are several more meeting scheduler options that we (being two of us only) have not yet had the opportunity to test. Maybe you can . . . and then tell us all about them. Get started now!: When Is Good, Set A Meeting (SAM), Meeting Wizard, Meet-O-Matic and Tungle, are all available, for your, um, tungling . . . I guess.
. . .
Liner Notes
Frequent in-office consult visits offer me the time to drive around a lot. It’s just me and my thoughts. But, then, when my head starts to hurt, I turn on the radio. I usually listen to Radio 92.9 WBOS, if I am not listening to my iPod. Listening to BOS makes me seem far cooler than I really am. It makes me seem like I know a lot about new rock, when I’m really just afraid of it, and only a poser.
I can say things like, “Man, I really like The Bravery. They have this sort of Duran Peter Gabriel Duran vibe going. I like that song 'Believe'. Good tune.” And “So, the Foo Fighters are releasing a Greatest Hits album, and there’s this new track off of it called 'Wheels' that’s pretty sweet. I once fought some foo . . . it did not end well.” I guess people are hating on this song, because they think it is a bad departure from the Foo Fighters’ sound. I don’t think it’s that dissimilar, and I think it has a cool, classic country rock edge to it. Excuse me, “edge”.
But if you don’t like those wheels, perhaps you’ll like these “Wheels”, of Gram Parsons’ Flying Burrito Brothers. Or, maybe you’ll like these “Wheels” even better: the Burrito Brothers’ Chris Hillman’s live version of the tune. (You may remember Chris Hillman from playing with Manassas and CSNY, as well.)
Speaking of country rock, and alt-country, which are two (or one, depending upon how you see it) of my favorite music stylings, you should take a listen to Jimmy Buffett’s early recordings (you know, before he sold out), and listen to some of the righteous stuff he used to produce, like "Rockefeller Square" and "High Cumberland Jubilee".
And, remember the coach from the opposing team in Bobby Boucher’s “The Waterboy”? Well, that was Jerry Reed, who was a musical artist well before he was an actor, and who sang tongue-in-cheek country tunes, like Blue Yodel No. 8: “Mule Skinner Blues” (featuring Chet Atkins), “Amos Moses” and the “U.S. Male” (featuring great wordplay on the United States Postal Service and its slogans), with a distinctive guffaw.
Every attorney has had to organize for a meeting, whether on his or her own, or with the assistance of staffpersons. How do you gather the appropriate parties and attorneys for a deposition, especially when people are in different states? How do you get the parties, real estate agents and client on the horn at the same time, in order to resolve an issue prior to a real estate closing? Hell, How do you even organize an internal staff meeting, with everyone so busy, as you know, with all of your colleagues’ calendars packed?
The traditional method (skipping over cave wall scratching, smoke signals and carrier pigeon delivery, for the sake of expediency) for organization was phone contact, accompanied by sticky notes for purposes of recording responses. Of course, this method was cumbersome. It was time-consuming. It would inevitably involve playing phone tag. And, it only took one person to say no to an otherwise agreed upon time and date to throw the whole thing back in a tizzy, returned to the start. Then you’re between a rock and a hard place, because you can either accommodate that last late responder (and the one for whom the time is inconvenient is always the last to respond, right?) and upset everyone else, or you can leave the last responder off, and upset him or her.
There’s just gots to be a better way, right? Well, leave it to Mr. Gates. In removing themselves from the Dark Ages, folks began to schedule things, for themselves and with others, using Microsoft’s Outlook. Outlook and its associated email and calendar system was certainly an improvement over picking up something called the phone. (Wait, it didn’t have Internet on it?) However, Microsoft’s Outlook was not a cure-all. There were limitations for date and time ranges. Plus, the method for getting responses was to send a single email to a number of people. So, even if you agreed to join the meeting and were the first person to respond, you could bet your behind that you’d be subject to everyone else’s replies when people responded using the reply all feature. (But, that’s only fair, because you started.) And, since Outlook doesn’t tie email threads together like GMail does (GMail uses the first email in a string as a header and aggregates all new messages under the first message; Outlook introduces a new email with each reply, with the entire string existing underneath each new message), you’re getting a ton of emails that don’t apply much to you, while you wait for that final confirmation email . . . that may never come.
So, you’re telling me Outlook ain’t all that. Now what? Well, as modern society continues its slow creep past the graying eyes of Mr. Gates (it ain’t the 70s no more), I’m pretty sure you can find some free and easy solutions online, that work well, and that integrate with Outlook anyway. And, Lo . . . You can. Does that change your outlook?
TimeBridge is one top flight choice, and LOMAP’s own preferred option for scheduling meetings. With TimeBridge, you can set up to five dates and times and broadcast those preferences, via email, to the parties with whom you’d like to meet. Potential meeters link to TimeBridge’s website from their email. (No registration is required, incidentally.) They choose their available dates. If everyone agrees on a date, you’re done. If not, just propose five new dates. No fuss, no muss, no reply all emails. Nifty features of TimeBridge include that you can synchronize it with your Outlook contacts, you can create groups for inviting frequent meeters and you can schedule a web conference out of TimeBridge. Note, however, that TimeBridge will try to default you to an option that allows responders to see your whole calendar. Bad idea. Turn this function off. Then they’ll never know you were blowing them off on some dates to go see the newest Twilight movie. Beyond the free version, TimeBridge also offers a pay-for-use version, with the regular features plus some add-ons.
Doodle is another good, free and easy-to-use meeting scheduler tool. In Doodle, you provide a subject for your invite email, and then choose as many potential meeting dates and times as you wish. Doodle, in essence, works the same way as TimeBridge (really, these products all, essentially, work the same way; but, so do the Pacer and the Maserati), it’s just that TimeBridge is easier to use, and more intuitive to use. Doodle does have some cool other features, though. It synchronizes with a lot of different online calendars, including Outlook, iCal and Google Calendar. It will also allow more interface options; and, by that I mean that you can schedule from more places, including from Facebook, on iGoogle and on your mobile phone.
There are several more meeting scheduler options that we (being two of us only) have not yet had the opportunity to test. Maybe you can . . . and then tell us all about them. Get started now!: When Is Good, Set A Meeting (SAM), Meeting Wizard, Meet-O-Matic and Tungle, are all available, for your, um, tungling . . . I guess.
. . .
Liner Notes
Frequent in-office consult visits offer me the time to drive around a lot. It’s just me and my thoughts. But, then, when my head starts to hurt, I turn on the radio. I usually listen to Radio 92.9 WBOS, if I am not listening to my iPod. Listening to BOS makes me seem far cooler than I really am. It makes me seem like I know a lot about new rock, when I’m really just afraid of it, and only a poser.
I can say things like, “Man, I really like The Bravery. They have this sort of Duran Peter Gabriel Duran vibe going. I like that song 'Believe'. Good tune.” And “So, the Foo Fighters are releasing a Greatest Hits album, and there’s this new track off of it called 'Wheels' that’s pretty sweet. I once fought some foo . . . it did not end well.” I guess people are hating on this song, because they think it is a bad departure from the Foo Fighters’ sound. I don’t think it’s that dissimilar, and I think it has a cool, classic country rock edge to it. Excuse me, “edge”.
But if you don’t like those wheels, perhaps you’ll like these “Wheels”, of Gram Parsons’ Flying Burrito Brothers. Or, maybe you’ll like these “Wheels” even better: the Burrito Brothers’ Chris Hillman’s live version of the tune. (You may remember Chris Hillman from playing with Manassas and CSNY, as well.)
Speaking of country rock, and alt-country, which are two (or one, depending upon how you see it) of my favorite music stylings, you should take a listen to Jimmy Buffett’s early recordings (you know, before he sold out), and listen to some of the righteous stuff he used to produce, like "Rockefeller Square" and "High Cumberland Jubilee".
And, remember the coach from the opposing team in Bobby Boucher’s “The Waterboy”? Well, that was Jerry Reed, who was a musical artist well before he was an actor, and who sang tongue-in-cheek country tunes, like Blue Yodel No. 8: “Mule Skinner Blues” (featuring Chet Atkins), “Amos Moses” and the “U.S. Male” (featuring great wordplay on the United States Postal Service and its slogans), with a distinctive guffaw.
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