Chuck Newton

What Sarah Palin, Dubai And Many Law Firms Have In Common

Each are little more than momentum plays.

A momentum play is when you decide to invest time, money, energy, attention or view something only because it is moving big in one direction (or at least it appears that way), but you really know nothing about the fundamentals of the person, company, country, subject matter, beliefs, law firm or whatever into which you invest.

It is often referred to as a "momo play" as well.  And, what really sets it apart is that the momentum or perceived momentum is really just in one's head.  It is no more than a hunch. In short, just like all of those that decide to buy a lottery ticket only for the reason that everybody else is doing it, a momentum play is nothing more than gambling.  Maybe you will get what you want for your investment, but it is very unlikely.

Whether we are talking about business capital, operating capital, political capital, personal capital or the prospect of a payout, the investment is usually a zombie, meaning it has a negative net worth.  This is because momos have nothing to do with assets, or earnings, or security, or anything else.  It is terribly intangible and it is build on image and pageantry. 

Some like to refer to this as the value of potential, and certainly in some things like undervalued real estate this might sometimes be true.  But, it is true for the opposite reason.  The real estate, for example, has no momentum or it has negative momentum in a market that is otherwise determinable and rational.  In short, nobody wants the property because of perceived problems, but if one can fix those problems the market has comparables on which the asset can be rightfully judged. 

It really does not matter if you bought tulips in the Netherlands in 1636, tech stocks in the 1990s, or shorted the investment banks in 2008, the challenge of any momo play is knowing when to get in and get out.  Every momentum play contains stories of someone or some company in which the investment paid off, but generally speaking most everybody fails.  Again, much like a lottery your chances of winning by buying a lotto number is not too statistically different than if you did not buy a number at all.

Do Not Mind The Law Snobs

I have been getting attitude from other lawyers lately concerning my practice method.  (Well, I guess I have gotten all along in the way of looks and stares, but now it tends to be more snide).  For example, in telephone calls and in meetings, I get offhanded jokes and jabs about being a virtual lawyer or law firm.  And, you can tell from the tenor in their voice, that it is not meant in the best sense of the word.

I have always tended to rack this up as jealousy.  And, I do think that is partly the issue.  The truth of the matter is that times are getting tough out there because of the economy.  It just has to be harder on traditional lawyers up to their eyeballs in rent, salaries, benefits, commuting costs, appearances, memberships and the like to make the best of the financial situation.  After all, if the college my children attend goes up, let us say, $1,000.00 in tuition, I might have to come up with $1,400.00 in new earnings just to cover the taxes and the like on the money.  What do these traditional lawyers have to do?  Many more times this, I would bet.  More money, means more cases, which means more staff time, which requires more rent, which requires more in the way of fixtures, which requires more ... You get the point.

More often than not, there is just a nasty streak in some people that despise other situations, work conditions and things that they do not have.  They do not want someone to have a benefit that they themselves do not have.  You see this especially in our current political climate.

Whatever the reason for the snide comments, virtual, home office attorneys, connected attorneys, solos, Third Wavers, carpet commuters and the like are too often confronted by law snobs.

You know the type.  These are lawyers who believe that their vast and ultimately unnecessary trappings of law (offices, staff, commute, the power to hirer and fire) make them better attorneys than everyone else.  And, based upon this, they will often ridicule and speak condescendingly toward others lawyer that do not share their grandiose vision of how lawyers should practice.

Of course, we know, that these trappings have nothing to do any longer with the actual practice of law.  We know these trappings are much like the powdered wigs that lawyers have to wear in some parts.  We know these trappings, in this day and age, tend to be frivolous, aimless, imaginary, tenuous, capricious, and rather arbitrary to the practice of law.  In fact, these trappings can be cavalier, imprudent, wasteful, and really expendable, irrelevant and truly unnecessary.

I hate to be rude, but my solution for law snobs is to be rude.  Do so by ignoring these lawyers.  You do not need a pithy comment.  Just do not pay attention to them.  After all, they are making their snide remarks because they desire to talk.  So just smile and do not respond.

It is strange really.  These lawyers are ultimately curious.  Otherwise why would they be paying attention to you and your practice int he first place.  They have an interest of some sort.  I think they want to know more.  It is just that their kingly personality of everything I do it great and everything you do is wrong gets in the way.

The point is to be comfortable in your home office, or virtual or solo or Third Wave practice of law.  The only reason you might not is because of what others, like the law snobs, my think.  If that concerns you, then you will not be comfortable.

Whether these lawyers are highbrows, or smarty pants, or pretenders, or upstarts, or name-droppers, or puritans, or charlatans, or braggarts, or just plain old arrogant, it does not matter.  They can rob you of your goal, or your enthusiasm, or your comfort level in doing what you do.

Do not let this happen.  Just ignore the law snobs.  As I use to tell my young daughter, "I don't need your attitude young lady, I have one of my own."

What Is Your Personal Brand?

Martha M. Newman is a lawyer coach, CLE presenter for the State Bar of Texas and Vice President of the Women Lawyers Section in her bar association. She is the founder of Gain Your Goals, Inc. and publisher of Top Lawyer Coach, a website that focuses on building lawyer's rainmaking, practice management, and leadership skills.  She has kindly agreed to share with us some of her thoughts regarding branding.

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Recently a group of clients I work with wanted to learn more about building and promoting their personal brands.  One partner asked,“What aspects of myself should I talk about?”

I suggested focusing on the following:

• Image, both in person and in print
• Unique competencies
• Niche markets served
• Superior academic credentials
• Integrity
• Outstanding presentation skills

Cultivating your brand is essential in today’s marketplace.  We are all free-agents – long gone are the days of an entire career spent with one company [or firm].  Today’s professional must create and promote their personal brand to clients, employers, AND peers.

The benefits of personal branding include:

• Establishment of yourself as an expert in your field.
• Increased perceived value among peers and clients.
• Controlled development of your reputation.

Begin by focusing on the message of who you are and what you stand for within your chosen field. If self-promotion is difficult for you, remember you are the #1 marketer for your personal brand – you cannot skimp just because it is about you.

When promoting your brand, pay close attention to what is written about you.

When people read about you they should immediately be aware of the benefit and knowledge you offer.  Strong and consistent messaging is crucial.  Schedule time to revamp your resume, build or expand your profile on LinkedIn, and write a personal bio, all with your personal messaging.

It won’t be long before people will begin to seek out your services and expertise because they identify with your brand which is YOU.

When The Face Sues The Butt It Is All A Bit Too Much

Sometimes it is hard to understand why lawyers and big companies have a bad image generally -- until you read things like this.

Cannot anybody take a joke?  Since when is a parody, no matter how much you resent it, not protected speech?  I always heard it was the greatest form of flattery.

Anyway, as reported by Courthouse News Service, The North Face, a popular outdoor clothing manufacturer, has demanded that 18-year-old Jimmy Winklemann stop his The South Butt clothing line. The South Butt line is a parody of North Face, whose lawyer claims the South Butt line is confusingly similar.

Winklemann's attorney, Albert Watkins, finds the claim humorous.  "North Face has indicated as a matter of record that the public will somehow be confused by the South Butt product," Watkins said in a statement. "There appears to be little recognition, if any, that the savvy of consumers precludes anyone from confusing a face with a butt."

Winklemann is a freshman at the University of Missouri. He said he started the clothing line to help out his parents.  "The economy is tough," Winklemann said. "I know my parents are working hard to help me out with college, I took steps to contribute and now I am being bullied into submission."

Winkelmann's attorney said, "In the end, no pun intended, North Face has to understand that Jimmy may be bright and creative, but he is an 18-year-old college freshman with a total net worth which precludes him from buying beef for dinner.  Perhaps North Face and other mega-corporations should embrace his spirit and talents and not smack him across the butt with threats of litigation."

Is There Something Hinky About Your Law Practice?

Hinky?

It is a word used to describe when something is indefinably wrong, out of place of just not quite right.

It does I think describe most law practices, does it not?  You report to work each day, do your best, and try to find that right balance between work and life.  But, for reasons you cannot really define, you just feel out of place.  You think what am I doing in this practice area, in this job, in this office building, with these cases, or working with these lawyers or staff.  You almost feel invisible in and amongst the office, the law and life zooming around you.  You tend to feel a little like Bruce Willis as Dr. Malcolm Crowe in the movie The Sixth Sense.

It is okay.  You are not going crazy, and you are not in an episode of the Twilight Zone.

It ought not be that way.

The problem, I think, is that all of us happen upon our life and our law practice serendipitously.  We come at it uncertainly, extemporaneously and sometimes erratically.  It depends a lot on our early image of ourselves as empire builders, the first job or lack of a job directly out of law school, and then what we can afford to do.  As such, the practice of law that we find ourselves, and the way in which we practice, and the cases we take, come less deliberately, less painstakingly, and with little premeditation.  The practice is unplanned, more offhand than not, and we come at it unforeseen.

This does not mean that we did not come at the practice of law purposefully, or that we are not adamant in our profession.  It just turned out that past all of this our direction was more wavering, more indefinite, less planned.

We came at the practice of law zealously and wholeheartedly.  But, who among us really knew anything about organizing a practice, or allocate our lives, or reconciling what we want to do with the realities of what we end up doing.  Then, as the practice moves on it is only natural that it all feels a little accidental or a little alien.

And then, after we find ourselves here, the fear of the unknown or letting others down, like our staff and family, cause us to feel stuck.

As stated, it ought not be this way. It does not have to continue this way.  The benefit of hindsight is that you can see better the solution that might for us now and in the future.

For me, I hated the lengthy commutes, not seeing my children grow up, and the monetary strain of running a large practice.  The first goal was to set out to correct this.  In doing so, I know the practice area in which I practiced was too large and it required a retail type of presence in order to meet with clients.  It was based upon volume and I was more concerned with dedication to a cause.

The point was that as I moved toward the new direction or objective I saw for myself, the fog started to lift and I could see how the other pieces needed to fit together.  I began to feel more attached, more in control, and more tuned in to the my practice and what I wanted to do.  Sure, at first, it was a little scary or confusing.  I mean, after all, I had not addressed or placed a stamp on my own envelopes in a long time.  But, I had faith that it would work out.

The point that I would like to make is that you can change.  Just start with a premise of what you want to change and then think yourself through how achieving that change might affect everything else.  Start in the direction of where you want to be in some category, and then figure out the rest as you go along.  Just plan to work around the obstacles and do not stop the journey to avoid the obstacles you encounter.  The objective needs to meet the objective.

And the other point to keep in mind is that you do not have to change all at once.  You just need thought and movement.  The transition is generally the hardest part, not because it is actually hard but because you have to fight to change your mindset.  After all, what I have found is that most barriers exist no place but between our own ears.

The beauty of the practice of law, at least for me, is that you are not stuck with your practice, your policy or your area or niche of law.  All of it can be retrofitted to represent you better, and to get you out of your hinky law practice.

(Video) Social Media - Are You Up To It?

I have to admit it.  I have been slow to social media.  No so much in failing to use it, but in failing to use it effectively, across the spectrum, to not so much promote (although I guess you can call it that), but to display my business and my cause and my law firm.

As far as I am behind the curve, much worse are most attorneys.  Blogs might be the hub of the new social media scene, and most lawyers are stuck with a little used Facebook site and a static website, and typically a crappy website at that.

As much as I hate the overt hucksters that send me blatant advertising over Facebook, the truth of the matter is we are living with abundance in social media.  It is abundant because it is cheap and easy to use.

It is not being used because to do it effectively requires the use of a scarcity known as time.  The web and social media might be abundant, but the time to manage it is not.

I think what we all need to realize is that the scarcity of time or not, we have to focus on what is important, and in the overall scope of things, this is important if you want success in your profession.

No-Motion / Home-Motion

Lawyers, probably more than anybody, suffer from no-motion.  That is when at a law firm provides you, or as an associate you technically get, a promotion but no increase in salary or bonus.  The law firm adds responsibilities, duties or more cases to tge attorney's current roster, but the 'monetary compensation does not keep up with it.  This is something that typically creeps up on lawyers at larger firms anyway.

In short, it is a good thing for the law firm, but I am not always sure it is good thing for the lawyer.

Some law firms like to play this game where you move up in title from associate to senior associate, to junior partner, to senior partner and then to name partner.  Maybe they have other positions as well.  But, the jump to any partner level position should be a little concerning if you are taking on liabilities and responsibilities but not much else in the way of compensation.

In bigger law firms there is always the issue of taking risks but not getting paid for it.

I just finally came to the conclusion that I can no-motion myself.  I call it the home-motion wherein I move my office home, and have no staff.  At first, anyway, this creates more responsibilities.  After all, you now have no one to address your envelopes and place a stamp on them.  That is now your job.  But, at least when the money is good it is my money.

At least with the home-motion you have the added perk of avoiding a commute, and having breakfast on the back patio.

My suggestion really is when continually faced with the no-motion at work, try the home-motion, and do what I do.

The Blogfamation Law Niche

Okay.  Fine.  I will admit it.  I made the name blogfamation up, but people combine words all of the time for fun and profit.  For me it this is really more an amusement.  You see I have a online buddy, Corinne Tampas over at What's Your Authority, who, like me, gets a kick out of scouring the blawgosphere looking for possible overlooked legal niches.  Corinne is a little bit better at it than I because she is a legal researcher and writer, and as such she tends to fall across these issues more easily.  We do not necessary look for practices areas that have not been tried, but rather those that are not well positioned or not well identified.  We look for sub-practice areas at which some attorney should be able to make a full time living if he or she wished.  Anyway, this is more Corinne's discovery than mine but, for better or worse, I made up the word.

Hence, blogfamation.  Either bringing or defending defamation suits because of all the crap and careless trash talking on the web.  Some have called cyberlible.  Let us face facts.  Real or not, truths or untruth, fact or fiction, gossip and rants spread across the web like wildfire.  Sometimes people are hurt.  Sometimes people are not hurt but think otherwise.  Sometimes people and companies are unduly helped by this wrong information.

There are sites the touch on this phenomena.  Dan Abrams help launch Gossip Cop recently, it which the site states that it is "Busting bad dish!"  There is FactCheck.Org.  It is a problem that even the best organizations have to fight.  Now Public recently reported that Wikipedia, for example, is changing how members contribute to online articles.  Under its old system, anyone could write and edit an article without revision, but under the new system articles about organizations and people will have to be fact checked by an editor before it is published.  There are sites that try to alert you and help you repair your online reputation.  One is called Reputation Advocates.  Another is Reputation Defender.  IRM Consultants claim to "neutralize negative publicity" on the web.  Of course, negative publicity is not the same as defamation, and consultants are not law firms.

There are some law firms that dabble in this area, as well as other practice areas, such as Kroneenberger / Burgoyne.  The Nissenbaum Law Group has a blog on the subject, but with most of these firms this is just one of many practice areas in which this subject matter can get lost.  For most online defamation is a sideline for technology lawyers and law firms, but defamation falls more in tort than it does in little tech disputes.  Other defamation lawyers are more broad based than this.  Nobody nationally or locally is really the blogfamation expert that I can see.  Few limit their practice to this area.

Presently, you see this problem in everyday life.  Clarksville, Texas attorney Mark Lesher and his wife filed a defamation lawsuit against anonymous posters on the Internet forum Topix.  They were just unmercifully trashed by a bunch of posters as they were charged in a what can only be considered a frivolous criminal charge of sexual assault in which they were summarily acquitted.

A Florida woman was awarded $11.3 million in a defamation lawsuit against a Louisiana woman who posted messages on the Internet accusing her of being a "crook", "con artist" and a "fraud".

Bloggers sued by Anna Nicole's mother have been going to jail, not because of any potential defamation but because, in one case, they failed to follow court orders, such as turning over computers for inspection.

Most of us read where Sarah Palin's lawyer threatened to serve libel papers on a blogger at a local kindergarten where the blogger worked.  That was probably a bit unnecessary and a represented a little too much grandstanding, but the blogger speculated on whether Palin had marital problems that might be leading to a divorce between Palin an her husband.  This represented an unproven or unsubstantiated rumor.

I do not know if Sarah Palin is right or wrong in pursuing these matters.  After all, she is a public figure.  Also, she starts plenty of these kind of unsubstantiated rumors herself, such as coining the phrase, it seems, "Obama death panels".  But, the point is that rumors, some damaging, can be rampant on the Net.  People and companies do not like it and they want to pay someone a lot of money to vindicate themselves.

The situation is not always helped with the proliferation of so-called "gripe sites".  Some are more general, such as Ripoff Reports.  But, others have more specific targets, such as ScrewPayPal.Com, FarmersInsuranceGroupSucks.Com, and ChaseSucks.Com.  MyVWLemon.Com boasts 2,000 members and 15,000 message board postings from VW buyers.  You can find a ongoing list of these on WebGripeSites.Com.  How long these sites will stay up before being removed is anybody's guess, but whether someone has a grievance or not, does not mean all of the statements posted on these sites are correct or innocent.  Public Citizen tends to get a lot of criticism itself, but it has been know to defend the existence of grip sites.  You have to think that when those griped about gripe about gripe sites it is often called litigation.

The question is which one of you is going to become the first lawyer known exclusively as the blogfamation expert in your area?

Growing Primitive

Sometimes you need to trade technology for telephony.  A chat message for yakking it up.  Getting on the horn instead of getting online.

Growing primitive is a combination, for me anyway, of growing your law practice with going primitive, which is a term that describes trading keyboarding or texting for a phone call.

Do not get me wrong, social media is awesome in so many ways.  But, it is also lacking in so many ways.  Ways that it takes to grow a law practice rapidly.  It is hard to sometimes express warmth, affinity, empathy and appreciation by texting or email.  It is hard to measure tonality or the inflection of one's voice.

Phone calling is more complicated.  You run into the palace guards, voicemail, and wrong numbers.  Sure it is a little reminiscent of going back to dial-up, but let us face facts.  Phone calling is so retro these days it is cool.

It is more personal.  It represents a slower pace.  It is more distinguishing.  It is native.

It might be easier to make contact with social media, but all of the emails, texts, and tweets somehow get lost in the mix.  Phone calls represent a little more lasting impression.  Try calling someone, when you do not need them for anything specific, and for no reason at all but to figure out how they are doing.

Next to personal contact, telephone communications probably work best, especially for the initial contact.

It is all about marketing, and just making friends.  These two tasks really go hand in hand.  In the area of network or relationship marketing, phone calls are key.

I will get more immediate referrals for staying in contact by phone with my referral sources than by emailing them constantly.  Sure both help, but calling is more memorable.

So my tip to you is to grow primitive.

Home Office Sloth-Cloth

Oh come on.  You work from home.  Do not pretend that you shave and dress up in a business suit every doggone day.  And, if you do, the question is why?

We all need some down time.  The beauty of working from home is that you get more down time than everybody else.  When you work at home you can be a little less guarded.  Maybe that is part of the joy of working at home.  You do not have to please anybody but yourself most of the time.

Sure, you have to clean up well when you go out of the house, but while at home it is all comfort without a commute.  In fact, the term "carpet commute" describes the homey feel of it all.

I have got to admit that I use to be a little embarrassed when the mail person or FedEx person came to the door.  Not because I was obscene, but in my ease I can get a little raggedy.  But, what I have found out is that these professionals are not necessarily over dressed themselves.  Further, I think they might be just a little jealous.

Home office clothes?  Too often it is an old baggy pair of Dockers or shorts and an sloth-cloth.  You know, an old t-shirt that you like to wear around the house.  And, depending on the time of the year, I am usually barefoot, wearing white crew socks (with the gray toe and heal), or my old-man slippers (well, because the floors get cold in the winter).

I am not saying that I go out of the house this way, unless it is a quick trip to the grocery store or the hardware store.  If I am meeting with a client, I am at least semi-formal -- meaning a suit without a tie.  Of course in Court I wear a suit and a tie.

At home, it is all about comfort and I do not have to be self-conscious.  I do not have to be anxious or artificial in any way.  Nobody can see me over the phone or online.  So, being just me, I do not have to feel contrived, or hammy, or studied, or Hollywood.

My clothing often allows me to go from office work to manual labor of sorts.  The other day, for example, I was working on pleadings, then I took a break, went to Home  Depot, and came home, rolled on the ground, and replaced a sprinkler head I drove over previously.  I washed up a little, and then I was back to the pleadings.  (I know, I know, you are asking how much fun can one guy have)?

I think it was Mark Twain who said, "The finest clothing made is a person's skin, but, of course, society demands something more than this."  And, even at home, I wear a lot more than this.  After all, some people should not be caught naked in the privacy of their own home, and I certainly fall into that category.

So, on what do I base my home office fashion sense?  As the late, great Gilda Radner said, " I base most of my fashion sense on what doesn't itch".  For me that represents khakis and pocket tees.

Now these are not my church clothes because I have come to learn that God prefers ironed, buttoned up shirts, with a collar, nice slacks and dress shoes.  Go to church in your home office sloth-cloth and you are going straight to hell.  Go to court in your sloth-cloth and you are going straight to jail.

My point is dress appropriately for where you are, but in your home office it is okay to be a Raggedy Ann or Raggedy Andy.

Enjoy the home office experience.