Chuck Newton

Good Ol' Murphy Beds

The truth of the matter is that I hear a lot of excuses for not working at home.  Some are better than others, but the one that I hear often is that there is no room.  Well, how much room do you think you need?  Do you have an extra bedroom?  The response is often yes, but that is a guest room.  Right?  It is most often the junk room.  But, whether it is a needed room or not, you can almost always solve the space problem with a good old murphy bed and a notebook computer.  There are a lot of innovative murphy beds now, such as those listed at FlyingBeds.Com.  A good many of them can be hidden or designed into your work area, so that your work area actually safely collapses when the guest show up.

Law Schools Of The Southwest

Oh, the Great Southwest -- Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas.  It is now one of the fastest growing areas of the country in terms of population, which means that law school positions are probably not keeping up.  A drier climate than most states in the Union, it is rich in Mexican-American and Native-American culture.  The Infilaw System, a for-profit group, has recently opened up Phoenix School of Law in Phoenix, Arizona, which was one of the largest cities in the Country without a law school.  And, beginning in the 2009-10 school year, Texas will have the new University of North Texas School of Law.  Otherwise, below are your choices if this is the experience you want:

Arizona

• Phoenix School of Law, Phoenix
  4041 N. Central Ave., Suite 100, Phoenix 85012, Phone: (602) 682-6800 
• Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law, Tempe
  McAllister & Orange Streets, Tempe 85287-7906, Phone: 480-965-6181 
• University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law, Tucson
  1201 E. Speedway, Room 114, Tucson 85721, Phone: (520) 621-9140

New Mexico

• University of New Mexico School of Law, Albuquerque
  1117 Stanford NE, Albuquerque 6070, Phone: (505) 277-2146

Oklahoma

• Oklahoma City University - School of Law, Oklahoma City
  2501 N. Blackwelder, Oklahoma City 73106, Phone: (405) 208-5337
• University of Oklahoma College of Law, Norman
  300 Timberdell Road Norman, Norman 73019, Phone: (405) 325 - 4699
• University of Tulsa College of Law, Tulsa
  3120 East 4th Place, Tulsa 74104, Phone: (918) 631-2401

Texas

• Baylor Law School, Waco
  One Bear Place, Waco 76798, Phone: (254) 710-1911 
• South Texas College of Law, Houston
  1303 San Jacinto Street, Houston 77002, Phone: (713) 659-8040 
• Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law, Dallas
  3300 University Blvd., Dallas 75205, Phone: (214) 768-2621 
• St. Mary's University School of Law, San Antonio
  One Camino Santa Maria, San Antonio 78228-8503, Phone: (210) 436-3011 
• Texas Southern University - Thurgood Marshall School of Law, Houston
  3100 Cleburne St., Houston 77004, Phone: (713) 313-4455 
• Texas Tech University School of Law, Lubbock
  1802 Hartford Avenue, Lubbock 79409, Phone: (806) 742-3990 
• Texas Wesleyan University School of Law, Fort Worth
  1515 Commerce Street, Fort Worth 76102, Phone: (817) 212-4000 
• University of Houston Law Center, Houston
  100 Law Center, Houston 77204, Phone: (713) 743-2100 
• University of Texas School of Law, Austin
  727 East Dean Keeton Street, Austin 78705, Phone: (512) 471-7726

Having Trouble Getting Up In The Mornings

Well if you tend to ignore your opportunity clock ringing in the morning (some people call it an alarm clock), and you just like to roll over and hit the snooze button repeatedly, then maybe you need a water gun alarm clock.

What In Hades Are We Allowing The Patent Office To Do?

EBay purchased the patents that MercExchange had accused Ebay of infringing.   So, what did EBay infringe upon that cost it a $30 million judgment?  Software?  No.  An unusual product?  No.  It was the bold and highly unusual, really revolutionary, idea (reach concept) that you can purchase a product online for one, fixed, predetermined, exact, advertised price.

WHY DID I NOT THINK ABOUT BEING ALLOWED TO SELL A PRODUCT, ANY PRODUCT, FOR A PREDETERMINED, EXACT PRICE!!!!!!!!!!!  It is truly ingenious, is it not?  Who would ever thought that you could go online, or go in any story in this country, or order out of any catalog, a product or a service for a pre-determined, fixed, exact, advertised price.  To think that you can buy something in a store for the price actually marked on the box or package!  Amazing!  The person at MercExchange that thought of this must have been some kind of Einstein.

Well, I am not an Einstein, but I am a Newton.  Here is my idea.  Nobody steal it.  I think I am going to patent the idea of gravity.  A force, caused by the rotation of the earth, that keeps everyone planted firmly on terra firma.  And then, when I get my patent filed, I am going to sue everyone of you for violating my patent and require everybody on earth to pay me royalties unless you elect to start floating freely about the planet.

This is complete lunacy.  What is worse is that courts and juries, reading the stupid law, actually take the matter seriously.

Now that EBay owns the so-called patents, what is that we lawyers can expect?  If we offer our services for an hourly rate, but will accept instead a fix fee of a particular amount (as happens for example in almost every consumer bankruptcy in the country), then are we apt to be sued by Ebay?

I am not certain why MercExchange went out of business, but I can almost bet that a complete analysis will reveal that it was not because EBay allowed product to be offered at a fixed price.

How To Find Money To Borrow For Your Practice

It is I guess against my better judgment to blog about borrow money to run your practice.  I think one of the main benefits of the Third Wave practice, and especially working from home, is that you can get your overhead down and your upfront costs low enough that you do not need to borrow money.  That is my hope.  Admittedly, however, some areas require more capital than my little practice niche.  Sometimes, even though you know you can generate fees immediately, you work with institutional clients that just will not pay outside of 90 days, or because of the number of contingent lawsuits you file, you have to front thousands in filing fees before you see a return.  The question I get is where do I go to find money other than my credit cards when starting out or during tough times?  Again, I would advise you to avoid it if at all possible.  The problem with borrowing money is then maybe you just do not fight hard enough to avoid borrowing.  But, I understand if you need money and it cannot be helped.  Just make sure it is a reasonable risk.

In this regard, there a few online sites with which you might need to be familiar.

The oldest of the direct loan sites is Prosper, which launched in 2006.  Prosper brings together individuals to rate and bid on loaning you money as a group, and does not rely on banks of financial institutions.  Each person actually has just a little invested in your loan.  If you need money you can go here.  If you have money to loan, you can do so using this service.

Following on the heals of Prosper is the establishment of Zopa.  It started as a Facebook application in May but is now available in all 50 states.  Unlike Prosper, Zopa connects borrowers with credit unions that bid on the portions of the debt.

And then there is Virgin Money, who bought CircleLending and developed it into a site that formalizes loans between families and friends.

Then, of course, there is Lending Tree.  This service does not operate like the others mentioned above.   Instead, it submits your desire for a mortgage loan, home equity loan, commercial loan, etc. to be bid on by a number of financial institutions.  It does not put together social groups that pool money.  It helps provides you a list of possible lenders from which to select.  The site is primarily known for helping to find a reasonable mortgage loan.  For home office attorneys, finding a mortgage might be a worthy endeavor.

The Basic Home Office Lawyer Starter Kit

When I say this picture in an ad for McGraw-Hill Companies, I thought what more does a home office lawyer really need?

The "Rootenest, Tootenest, Shootenest, Meanest Ombre This Side Of The Pacos", And Other Basic Intellectual Property Law Issues Of Which You Need To Be Aware

It is common, I think, for people, including lawyers (after all, we are people too), to think about concepts like intellectual property law in the abstract, and they fail to see how these laws impact them in their daily lives.

When you think about it, your blog, your letterhead, the polo shirt you wear with your office logo, the broadcast email, the fax you send out, your business cards, the way you and your staff answer the phone, and some of the words that come out of your mouth all involve intellectual property law.

One main issue, as discussed on CNNMoney, is who exactly owns your logo and the design work that you paid for concerning these items?

Whether it is your teenager, the geek down the street, the print shop, or an actual graphic designer, the issue centers around licensing issues that were drafted concerning the fashion industry.  (You see, you did not know you had anything to do with high fashion).

Now, if an actual employee designs the layout or logo or shirt or whatever, the work-for-hire concept under the copyright laws would dictate that you, as the employer, own the right to the work product.  But, what if you are the employee of a law firm when you designs a blog, a logo, a layout of some type that now you want to leave the firm and go out on your own, taking it with you?  If you do not have a written agreement before the fact, or as a condition of leaving, that assigns the work to you, your old firm probably owns it, and that could spell trouble.

For most of us, however, we pay a third party to do this work for us.  Who owns the work product in this instance?  Well, generally speaking, minus an agreement to the contrary, the person who actually designed the work, and not the person who paid for it.  In short, the designer owns it and has a right to it, and not you.

And, these rules might very well extend to statements, slogans and phrases.  So, if you associate yourself with Yosemite Sam and market yourself as the "rootenest, tootenest, shootenest, meanest ombre this side of the Pacos" (really the best slogan for any Texas trial lawyer), then you might have trouble taking it with you when you leave another law firm.  You might also have trouble using it as you might wish, or preventing other people from using it, if you do not have an agreement making it your own.

The bottom line is really this -- in this day and age, from at least the time you graduate from law school, you will begin developing, consciously or unconsciously, a brand for yourself.  You will do that through slogans, URLs, printed material, logos, color schemes, and the like.  You need to be mindful of this if you now work for someone else, or as you might pay (or simply ask) someone to help you with these issues, that you have at least a letter agreement that says that you and you alone own any such thing that might be produced, no matter how small or insignificant you believe it might be at the time.

How To Save Money And Make Your Bathroom Eco=Friendly

You know if you have a home, an office, or especially a home office, there is nothing better that you can do than to begin to make you office and office eco-friendly.  This can start with your bathroom, which is one of the biggest eco-unfriendly places in the World.  It can also save you a good deal of money over time.  In other words, you can stop pooring your money down the drain -- literally.  And, you can feel better for it.  Here is a how to video:

Doggone Recall!

Maybe it can be said, and maybe everybody should be reminded, about what they post online, no matter what the intent, can come back to hurt you.  You need to keep in mind that blogging is essentially email to the World.  If you do not wish the entire World to potentially see something, then you might need to share it with a much smaller potential audience, such as as an email attachment (although there is no guarantee that someone else will not post it online).

That said, it is such a doggone shame that Mayor Carmen Kontur-Gronquist of Arlington, Oregon lost the recall election of her by three little votes, which resulted when she posted this picture of herself on her MySpace page in her lingerie on a fire truck.  It is funny, but I have never been so interest in fire trucks before now.  She said of the recall, "My reaction is that the democratic process took place, and that is a good process that we have in the United States, and it's fair."

But, I do not think it is fair.  First, who has a mayor that looks this good and is in this kind of shape.  Just look at those abs.  Second, the first time in a long time so many men (and I guess a few women) really get interested in government and our hopes are just crushed.

Forget Hillary and Obama, I am writing in Carmen Kontur-Gronquist for president.  She is obviously for open and transparent government, and for full exposure -- I mean disclosure.

Who Woulda Thunk It

Pictured is lawyer Stephen A. Kennedy holding a "base plug" the intent of which is to fill the holdes left behind when bases are removed from baseball diamonds.  Not only would I have never thought of such a thing, but Anchor Sports I, Inc. out of Richardson, Texas makes $600,000 selling these little jobbers.  And, it has only been selling these things since 2001.  Not bad for a little device that seems so unsubstantial.

According to the Dallas Business Journal, when Anchor Sports suspected another company was paying to have knockoffs made in China it rushed to the federal court in Tyler, Texas to defend its patent.

As Stephen Kennedy told the Dallas Business Journal, intellectual property law is work intensive, which requires a number of attorneys and a lot of billable hours on each case.  To which he stated, "It's a niche area you can't dabble in.  It's not that it requires more brain cells, It's an area with a lot more complicated issues ... "

And, such is the truth about most niche practices that attorneys do not wish to recognize.  Oh, certainly some niche practice areas like intellectual property might be more profitable than some, but I think new lawyers, especially, misunderstand both the intensity of a niche practice, as well as the ultimate freedom it can provide.

It is intensive.  Because it is a specialty of sorts you have the obligation to learn all of the ancillary law and keep up with all of the opinions and decisions that affect your practice niche practice area.  But, this is time consuming.  If you want to be an expert at any practice area (as opposed to not knowing any practice area well enough), it takes a lot of time and energy.  It is because of the time and energy it takes to both learn, keep up and promote your niche, you do not have time (especially as a solo) to spin your wheels dabbling in other areas.

The very idea of a niche practice means you need to commit.  Some people, and some lawyers, have a problem with commitment.   They want to play the field, which may be great except for the eventual feeling of low job satisfaction and in earning money.

A niche practice represents freedom, because as you become more knowledgeable, as you have track the difficult issues concerning your niche, as you have gotten the feel of the land that you care to dominate, you feel liberated in knowing that you actually know something.  You become better at eyeballing and evaluating cases quickly and accurately, you become quicker at research and drafting, you become better at client interviews and negotiations, and in the process you become actually known for something, you can process more cases yourself, and you have more free time to do what you want without worry.  I am telling you that is nirvana in the practice of law.

My niche practice covers 6 to 10 pages of the Bankruptcy Code, depending on what published at which you version look.  But,I know those 6 to 10 pages probably as well or better than anybody else in this country.  That allows me a certain degree of peace and comfort in my life.  It should want to make you find that peace and comfort in your life.

As Zig Zigler likes to say, you will not get anywhere in life as a wandering generality.  You have got to be a meaningful specific.  I am here to tell you that being a meaningful specific in the practice of law is the finding and development of a niche.

So keep your eye out for the base plug equivalent in the practice of law.  Or, you can look to represent clients in niche areas like intellectual property.  Either way, you can look for your place in the practice of law all you want, and for as long as you want, but you are not going to get anywhere until you commit.  Little legal victories aside, the general practice of law does not often work either to bring you lots of money or peace of mind.