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Websites and Blogs

First Amendment Challenge to Restriction on Lawyer’s Blog Likely to Flounder – And Bring Other Blogs Down With It

October 10, 2011 by Carolyn Elefant

As the saying goes, bad facts make bad law. And there’s going to be some very bad law for lawyer blogs indeed if Virginia small firm lawyer Horace Hunter loses his First Amendment challenge to the Virginia Bar’s attempt to require the firm to include certain disclaimers on its blog. Don’t get me wrong – [...]

Read more Ethics & Malpractice Issues 17 comments

Always On

March 23, 2011 by Carolyn Elefant

A few days ago, I called a colleague at a mid-sized energy firm who’s known for a particular niche. As we chatted, I remarked how it was odd that we’d never run into each other at industry conferences to which she responded that she rarely does facetime these days. Doesn’t need to. My guess is [...]

Read more Marketing & Making Money 4 comments

Guest Blogging, Part II

March 16, 2011 by Carolyn Elefant

You know the saying that bad facts make bad law. That’s what came to mind when I read Jay Fleischman’s response to my original post, Just Say No to User Generated Content. Whereas I’d argued that providing user-generated content to others is exploitative, Jay responds that there are benefits to be had by guest blogging. [...]

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Just Say No To Free Use of Your User-Generated Content

February 11, 2011 by Carolyn Elefant

Conventional, 21st century wisdom says that content wants to be free. That content isn’t worth paying for. That “exposure” in exchange for content is sufficient reward. Funny thing is that those who try to sell you this line don’t have content. And not only do they want yours free, but they want to profit off [...]

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Can’t Stop This Train: Avvo Adds Doctor Reviews

November 1, 2010 by Carolyn Elefant

Today, Avvo, a  lawyer-rating service introduced a new rating service for doctors. Though Avvo isn’t first to market with doctor review sites — more than a year ago, there were already several other players in the field — Avvo’s entrance shows one thing: whether we professionals like it or not, consumer ratings services are here [...]

Read more Ethics & Malpractice Issues 7 comments

Don’t Waste My Time on JD Supra

October 28, 2010 by Carolyn Elefant

So, this afternoon, I was browsing through Google search results, hunting for fodder for my Nolo Legal Marketing Blawg when a new article at JD Supra, with an intriguing title – Law Firm Marketing: Beyond the Blog popped up in my feed. Anticipating a provocative and fairly substantial article or even White Paper, I clicked [...]

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Solo Lawyers and Solo Bloggers as Heroes

October 24, 2010 by Carolyn Elefant

Who says small firms can’t do big things? Last week, the Wall Street Journal reported on the solo and small firm lawyers, who in the course of simply doing their jobs defending homeowners in foreclosure cases, stumbled across gross abuses in the foreclosure process, ranging from robo-affidavit signers” who attested to reviewing documents they’d never [...]

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How to Make Your Website More Interactive

July 22, 2010 by Carolyn Elefant

Too many lawyers squander the awesome power of Web 2.0 by putting up static websites that aren’t much more than glorified brochures (memo to these offenders:  you don’t need a website to post a static document online.  You can simply put it up at a site like Docstoc or Scribd!)  Perhaps lawyers believe that adding [...]

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Why Lawyers Who Care About SEO Must First Understand How It Works (and now they can)

June 17, 2010 by Carolyn Elefant

[NOTE - this post promotes a for-fee product from Legal Practice Pro, Search Engine Optimization for Lawyers, which includes an ebook, "Success Roadmap" and audio book (due out later) available for the next 3 days  - until 6/20 - for $20 (a substantial discount off the $49 list price) for MyShingle readers.  Click here to [...]

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Impact of Blogging on Solo and Small Firm Practitioners

March 21, 2010 by Carolyn Elefant

Back in December, I had the amazing privilege of sharing a panel at Norwestern’s Fourth Annual Judicial Symposium on Civil Justice Issues with Eugene Volokh and Mark Herrmann, co-founder and former blogger at Drug and Device Law (as an aside, Herrmann’s last word as a blogger came in this article on both the pros as [...]

Read more Growing Your Practice 0 comments

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