Winning New Clients With Power Questions
December 28, 2011
The CEO of a $12 billion company summed it up neatly when he told me, "During a first meeting, I can always tell how experienced a banker or lawyer is by the quality of the questions they ask." Many lawyers, however, prefer to tell rather than ask and listen.
Do Clients Want To Be Educated?
December 28, 2011
When a client hires a marketing firm for advisory services, how is it much different than trusting the waiter at a restaurant? If you think about it, there really is no difference ' <i>unless</i> you are able to contribute something more to the relationship.
Tweets, Apps, and Mobis, Oh My!
December 28, 2011
Wow, what a year 2011 was. While the economy barely hung on for many law firms that had once seemed invincible, our legal marketing colleagues around the country were busy innovating to heights not seen before in our professional space. It is a great time to be engaged in marketing law firms, indeed.
How e-Discovery Applications Are Changing the Face of Litigation Support
December 27, 2011
Bringing e-discovery software in-house can significantly reduce costs and improve efficiency. However, there are many needs related to e-discovery that go beyond simply managing discovery documents. At Thompson & Knight (TK), our litigation support team has found ways to use our e-discovery software for tasks ranging from project management to data analysis.
Google and the Social Media Law Firm
December 27, 2011
In our profession, most law firms focus on social media access, the Internet, intranets and shared client portals separately: Knowledge-focused firms will look at organizational and behavioral change as separate drivers from technology, and will treat the likes of Lean Six Sigma management principles, legal project management and alternative fee arrangements (AFAs) as standalone projects. If, however, the legal industry moves the way of consumer-driven market forces ' the merger of social media, Internet, intranet and shared client portals into a single seamless platform ' then the "Facebook firm" driving organizational and behavioral change for legal evolves and becomes a realistic business model
Law Firm Disqualified from StarGreetz Trade Secrets Case
December 27, 2011
StarGreetz, a new Los Angeles media company that lets customers send personalized celebrity videos and marketing messages over sites like Facebook and Twitter, might sound like just another Internet start-up hoping to capitalize on the public's obsession with Hollywood and social networking. But the company isn't a couple of star-dazed programmers fiddling around in a garage: StarGreetz's founders and backers are former senior executives at Warner Brothers, 20th Century Fox and Disney; its lawyers hail from Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe. Make that former lawyers, at least in a crucial case over the origins of the StarGreetz venture. In December, a Los Angeles state court judge granted a motion by plaintiff StarClipz in a trade secrets and breach of contract suit against StarGreetz to disqualify Orrick from representing the company.
Digital Marketing Under Attack
December 27, 2011
The convergence of media and technology continues to change the way we communicate, consume media and engage in commercial transactions. Marketers have been among the greatest digital media innovators and the medium has evolved as largely advertiser supported. That business model is under attack by consumer groups that argue that marketers are unfairly invading consumers' privacy and confusing consumers as to the nature and origin of commercial messages.
'You're Fired!'
December 27, 2011
A future observer of the reality shows that seem to be the only thing on television today might think that people of the 21st century lived to fire people. But people forced to do the same task in business find no such joy in having to dismiss a business leader, especially when the person being dismissed is the founder of the company ' the visionary who built it from scratch.
Robert Bosch LLC v. Pylon Mfg. Corp.
December 21, 2011
<i>Robert Bosch LLC v. Pylon Mfg. Corp.</i>, is an important decision that abolishes the presumption of irreparable harm in the context of injunctive relief for patent infringement. The case is also important because the Federal Circuit instructs that courts must still consider "the fundamental nature of patents as property rights granting the owner the right to exclude" when determining whether to issue an injunction.
