Check out this great video from our partners at Trial Skills Live demonstrating some effective methods for delivering an opening statement. We can all debate the finer points of trial advocacy, but having a strong video to draw from and critique definitely makes the dialogue more productive. We encourage our lawyers and mock trial veterans to offer feedback. Join the conversation!
1. Look and Feel – If you aren’t too familiar with website design, you are certainly familiar with two of the most popular websites in the world: Google and Facebook. What do these two pages have in common — aside from millions of users? Lots and lots of white space. For whatever reason, when we start to think about designing a website, we tend to want to paint the background– as if we were painting the walls of our office. Resist it! White space is your friend. Do some firms disagree with this model? Absolutely. Here’s a well designed criminal law website in Las Vegas that uses black as the primary color – Pariente Law. But for a good example of sites using lots of white space, check out the websites for two of the largest firms in the country, K&L | Gates and Greenberg Traurig.
2. Home Page Information – The information on your homepage should not only give a good impression of your firm but should always present some basic information to encourage new client… Keep reading
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By Preston Clark
In Kendall Coffey’s new book, Spinning the Law, we are offered both an historical and modern day look at how the court of public opinion is shaped, tweaked and manipulated from the perspective of a legendary attorney who has been involved in some of the most high profile cases of our time. From the politcal scandal surrounding Elian Gonzalez to the sensationalized trial of OJ Simpson, Coffey shows us what is behind the curtain and how attorneys can influence not only the outcome of a trial but the opinion of the masses. The Law Insider recommends this book to anyone fascinated by America’s obsession with high profile cases and the soap opera like plots that surround them.
As Don Marquis once wrote, “…we know that human affairs are always about the narrative, and whoever spins the narrative controls the story.” Spinning the Law is as much an historical account of famous cases as a personal narrative of Coffey’s own education in mastering public opinion. Through Coffey’s involvment with the Elian Gonzalez trial to its surprising connection to Bush v. Gore, we get a new… Keep reading
In May, 2011 TheLawInsider.com wrote this article about the emerging website LegalAce.com. Since that time, it’s been RocketLawyer.com, more than any other LegalZoom competitor that’s made a strong push to gain market share. Thanks in large part to an $18.5 million injection by Google Ventures in 2011, RocketLawyer has experienced tremendous growth in the first quarter of 2012– and with a strong executive team guiding the ship they are showing no signs of slowing down.
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Do a Google search for Wills, Trusts, or Power of Attorney– and you’re likely to find LegalZoom.com at the top of the list. LegalZoom.com, with its backing from the iconic Robert Shapiro, and strong print and television campaigns, has controlled the lion’s share of the legal document services market for the past several years. Competitors like RocketLawyer.com and Nolo.com have shared the trimmings left over by LegalZoom’s dominance– but none have made any real challenge to the giant. LegalAce.com with strong financial backing and an aggressive media campaign set to launch next week, may be… Keep reading
In a complaint filed today in the Superior Court of California, Charlie Sheen is pursuing legal action against television producer and ex-boss, Chuck Lorre. Lorre fired Sheen earlier in the week from the popular television series Two and a Half Men. As for the complaint itself, it has a certain winning style that you might expect from Sheen.
Here it is:
Defendant Chuck Lorre, one of the richest men in television who is worth hundreds of millions of dollars, believes himself to be so wealthy and powerful that he can unilateraly decide to take money away from the dedicated cast and crew of the popular television series Two and a Half Men in order to serve his own ego… READ MORE…
This week, the world was amused by the misfortune of Reading, Pennsylvania resident Cathy Marrero. Mrs. Marrero took a tumble into a fountain at the shopping mall where she works. Was there an obstacle over which she stumbled? Did someone push her? No. She was too busy texting to realize she was walking right into the water fountain. Thank goodness she wasn’t driving. MORE AFTER THE JUMP.
The security video surveillance captured everything. It was only a matter of time before the video leaked to the world wide web and became viral. Now Mrs. Marrero is angry. She is considering a law suit against the mall. She has hired attorney James Polyack to handle her claim. Mr. Polyack and his client have been making the rounds on the news circuit. She’s angry that mall personnel never offered assistance nor did they check to see if she was ok. Does she have a case? Not likely.
She will never succeed in a lawsuit because Pennsylvania has adopted a contributory negligence rule. Title 42 of the Pennsylvania Code prohibits recovery by a plaintiff whose own negligence is greater than that of the defendant in
As CNN.com has reported, a New York U. S. District Court Judge has closed the virtual doors at LimeWire stating that their file sharing of music and downloads was used “overwhelmingly for infringement”. Judge Wood said that LimeWire “intentionally encouraged direct infringement” by users on its site. This ruling came as a result of a copyright infringement lawsuit by the Record Industry Association which included Sony Music Entertainment, Virgin Records, Artista Records, Warner Brothers Music, and Capital Records.
In the 17 page ruling, Judge Wood issued a permanent injunction ordering LimeWire to disable all “searching, downloading, uploading, file trading, and/or file distribution functionality” that enabled file sharing through its peer-to-peer (P2P) service. The judge ordered that the company immediately notify all employees, investors, and customers of the injunction and ordered a progress report in 14 days.
This ruling in New York is nothing new. The battle over illegal downloads has been ongoing for years since the Record industry and Metallica won an 8 year lawsuit against Napster in 1999. There have been several individual lawsuits for sharing music as well.
On Tuesday, LimeWire posted a legal notice on its homepage stating that it had been ordered to… Keep reading
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CNN.com is reporting that Oscar-winning actor Adrien Brody wants a federal judge to stop DVD sales of a horror movie he filmed two years ago because he’s still owed $640,000 by the producers.
The agreement between Brody and the producers “expressly granted the absolute right to withhold consent to the use of his likeness in the picture until he was paid the full amount of the $640,000 that he deferred,” the suit said. What does that mean? It means that Brody was given the right to prevent distribution of the film until he got paid in full.
Contractually speaking, Brody is in an interesting spot. His goal is to make sure he gets paid for services rendered. Early on in production, Brody was not getting the funds he was promised and it forced a renogitation that led to the clause giving him the right to withhold consent.
At first glance, we might wonder why Brody would negotiate a clause to withhold consent when the release of the film may be the only way the producers can recoup enough money to pay off Brody. By preventing its release, Brody is preventing any profit from being generated by the film. However, Brody and his… Keep reading
The legal profession, like legal education, has long been criticized for its unwillingness to modernize. But the internet has been the exception. While more and more law firms move quickly into the world of online marketing, it’s not uncommonly the vision and web skills of the young associates that leads the charge.
One of the most progressive types of law firm marketing is the law blog. It enables law firms and solo practitioners to publish articles on law related information that appeals to its potential clientele. The simple goal is to increase accessibility to your firm by providing free information to the google-searching masses.
Law Law Land is the law blog for the LA-based entertainment firm, Greenberg Glusker. The firm has been around for over 50-years but its entry into the blog world is relatively new. And wouldn’t you know it, it’s one of the young star associates that has been tapped as editor (but not chief) of the online publication. Ken Basin, an ’08 Harvard Law grad, is the man behind Law Law Land but this is not a one-attorney show. Several of the Greenberg associates write pieces on a… Keep reading
All across America, there are small firms and solo practitioners finding ridiculous (and some times ridiculously clever) ways to promote themselves. From advertisements on the back of a local bus to t.v. commercials, lawyers will do just about anything to connect to the masses in hopes of landing new clients.
In honor of those gutsy lawyers who do whatever it takes to get the phone ringing at the office, here’s The Law Insider Top Five Most Ridiculous Lawyer Commercials (bilingual edition):
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