Sorting Through Your Marketing Options
February 28, 2006
With 2006 in gear, your firm should be well into its marketing budget. In all likelihood, you have made decisions to sponsor events, renew existing advertising and the like. As a primer to making those decisions a little less intimidating, I thought it might be useful for me to share a personal experience.
Note From The Editor
February 28, 2006
Our esteemed Editor-in-Chief talks about this issue and presents the first MLF Canadian 20.
<b>Book Review:</b> Weekly Reminders for Revenue-Focused Leaders
February 28, 2006
There are lots of "How To" Books out there for lawyers on subjects ranging from going solo to building six figure books of business. I have read many of them and frankly there comes a time when it all becomes something akin to "yadda, yadda, yadda"! Now, however, comes something quite unique ' a small (7" x 5") top spiral bound "stand-up" booklet of weekly reminders. As the author, David Freeman, indicates in his cover note the booklet is "designed to show lawyer leaders how to grow their practice group; motivate lawyers to act on personal and group initiatives; and create a sustainable culture of business development."
<b>Technology in Marketing:</b> Podcasting For Lawyers: The Nuts And Bolts
February 28, 2006
In layman's terms, podcasting provides publishers with the ability to create their own audio broadcast and store it on the Internet for download by interested individuals to listen to at any time ' and anywhere ' they want. <br>This article will explain the nuts and bolts of creating a "podcast."
<b>The Place to Network:</b> Mind Over Matter
February 28, 2006
Visualization can help speed the process of learning a new skill ' networking, for instance. My coaching clients' main priority is often increasing their level of confidence and comfort in networking. They want to feel absolutely confident when walking into a room full of strangers at a cocktail party, or when going onstage to face a sea of people at a conference. They want to feel perfectly at ease, and perform at their best, when meeting a new client, or current clients ' especially someone who they know to be difficult. Visualization is a perfect tool for this: through guided imagery, you can ensure that whatever you're feeling is exactly those feelings you want; and that you're performing at the top of your abilities. Visualized behaviors can be practiced more easily, quickly and frequently than actual behaviors, so they're an ideal complement to actual, practice.
A Regulatory Lawyer's Perspective: The FDA's Guidances on Risk Assessment, Minimization and Management
February 28, 2006
In the pharmaceutical industry, due to all types of business pressures and constraints, it is not atypical for a company to behave reactively and in triage-mode, rather than considering proactive steps that it can take in the compliance arena. In 2005, the Food and Drug Administration ("FDA") issued three final guidance documents to help focus the industry and encourage companies to consider more thoughtfully and thoroughly the issues of quality risk assessment, minimization, and management collectively.
Protecting E-mail For Complete Client Privacy
February 28, 2006
Attorney-client privilege, liability for breach of confidentiality obligations and damage to a firm's reputation were all reasons originally cited for stopping the use of e-mail at law firms before it even started. Convenience and responsiveness to clients became justification enough to ignore the basic issue that e-mail was inherently insecure. The standard form disclaimer that we now see at the end of every lawyer's e-mail became the solution to protecting the confidential nature of attorney-client communications. Is it sufficient today?
Lawyers Recruiting Mock Juries on the Net
February 28, 2006
After months of preparation, the lawyers at Sanders, Simpson & Fletcher had their case almost ready for trial. The Springfield, MO, plaintiffs' firm of 11 lawyers had worked hard to fine-tune the civil case. Their client had the potential of being awarded significant damages. But the allegation -- sexual misconduct against a church pastor -- was tricky. Would the facts of the case resonate well with jurors?
Lessons from the First Vioxx Verdict
February 28, 2006
What do you get when you cross Court TV with the Food Channel? One answer: a recipe for a multi-million dollar jury verdict! Drug giant Merck will not see such blended TV programming, but it may have seen stars after getting hit with a $253 million jury award on Aug. 19, 2005. The first product liability trial against its Cox-2 inhibitor drug Vioxx in Angleton, TX, in August, 2005 produced a quarter-billion dollar award, $229 million of which was for punitive damages. Merck plans a vigorous appeal on multiple grounds. (Reportedly, grounds for appeal include: 1) letting in testimony from unqualified experts; 2) letting in testimony not based on reliable scientific evidence; 3) allowing irrelevant but prejudicial evidence in against Merck; and 4) letting in an undisclosed "surprise" witness against Merck.) Even pro-plaintiff observers concede that the award will likely drop to "only" $26 million due to recent Texas tort reform caps on punitive damages. (Merck fared better in its second and third Vioxx trials, which ended with a defense verdict and hung jury, respectively. Three Vioxx cases down -- only about 5998 to go!)
