Speaking/CLE

Published on: March 2, 2022

LP Magazine — The Return of Law Firm Retreats

LPcover_MarchApril2022-232x300 In that brief time snugly between delta and omicron, I had the opportunity to speak at a law firm retreat. Live. In-Person. With people. No masks. In a hotel. Food served. It was circa 2019 and it was so nice to put on a suit and close the Zoom app. In the March/April 2022 issue of Law Practice, I discuss The Return of Law Firm Retreats.

An argument can be made that the law firm retreat in 2022 or 2023 will look and feel a lot different from those in the past. For a myriad of reasons:

Mergers and movement of attorneys and practice groups did not stop over the last few years, meaning there are lots of people at your law firm that you’ve never actually met before. The retreat becomes the perfect venue for getting acquainted.

Published on: September 14, 2021

E-Coffee with Experts – Micah talks Legal Marketing

by Micah Buchdahl

E-Coffee with the Experts — Micah Buchdahl

I did not know Dawood Bukhari, Chief of Partnerships for Digital Web Solutions before he reached out to invite me to his E-Coffee with Experts series. I did my usual legwork—looked him up, the company, saw a nice YouTube page that housed the conversations. Watched a few. Thought it would be cool to get the animated head shot of myself (although I like to think of myself as being somewhat animated to begin with. I said, sure I’ll do it.

We traded a few Q&A emails that translated into our nearly 40-minute Zoom discussion. I talked about what makes law marketing different from other industries. Covered SEO and digital platforms, infographics, online legal directories (are there even offline ones anymore?), press releases, podcasts, and Google Local Ad services. I covered an area that lawyers have struggled with—dealing with negative feedback over the Internet. And had the opportunity to talk about how I got into law marketing in the first place, provide a little background and recap some of the experiences from the “early years” of Internet marketing (remember the late 90s?).

Published on: December 16, 2019

LPT: Don’t Go Dissing “Spa Day” — Lessons learned from the NWLSO Leadership Academy

by Micah Buchdahl

Pictured left to right: Allison Turner, Micah Buchdahl, Josephine Lee, Monsurat Adebanjo, Carla Luna (moderator), Najee Thornton, Lisa Levey

When I was first contacted by Ms. JD, the nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to the success of aspiring and early career women lawyers, and invited to speak at the National Women Law Students’ Organization (NWLSO) Leadership Academy, my first thought was—do they know I’m a guy?

I perused the organization’s website, found the event at Harvard Law School, and scrolled through the all-female faculty and attendee lists. Later, I was joined for my panel session by Najee Thornton, an Associate in the Santa Monica, CA office of Fenwick & West—so for a short time, I had some company. But I was assured that yes, they knew I was a male, and they’d love to have me participate. So I figured that it would be a great learning experience, and really, what could go wrong?

Published on: November 5, 2019

LP Magazine – Marketing Musical Chairs

by Micah Buchdahl

LPcover_NovDec2019-231x300 There was some sense of irony that on the same day the latest issue of Law Practice arrived via the U.S. Mail that I was in Philadelphia talking to the Greater Philadelphia Law Library Association at their 2019 GPLLA Institute Bringing a Marketing Mindset into the Law Library program at Drexel’s Kline Institute of Trial Advocacy. You may be wondering how I am going to tie in that speaking engagement into the subject for my marketing column in the November/December 2019 issue of the ABA Law Practice Magazine, Marketing Musical Chairs.

At the GPLLA program, I was asked to speak on the topic of “Marketing Your Organization’s Milestone Anniversaries.” For my remarks, I was able to basically work from my magazine marketing column from 2014 on Age over Beauty? Marketing a Law Firm’s Anniversary. Another friendly marketing reminder on the power of blogs and search—in making content not only still relevant six years later, but repurposing itself into a speaking slot.

What do librarians have to do with the rapid turnover of professional marketing personnel in the law firm business? Well…back when I started working with law firms on marketing and business development initiatives in the late ‘90s, it was not unusual for a law firm to point me towards the library when chatting with the person in charge of marketing. While we were technically nearly two decades beyond Bates vs. Arizona and the ability for lawyers to market themselves at the time, attorneys were super slow to accept and adapt. So the person that updated the text-heavy, pay by the line, six-figure investment that was the Martindale-Hubbell print directory listings was marketing in their eyes.

Published on: October 25, 2019

ALI CLE — Ethically Navigating the Three Rs: Lawyer Ratings, Rankings, and Reviews – Live Webcast, October 29th

by Micah Buchdahl

ALI-300x108 Of all the topics I have presented on in 22+ years of teaching law marketing ethics CLEs, my program on navigating the Three Rs—Ratings, Rankings and Reviews—may be my favorite. If you need your ethics credit, find your law firm often enveloped in dealing with the 3 Rs, or just enjoy the subject matter, join me for this live webcast on Tuesday, October 29, 2019 from 1-2 pm ET.

REGISTER NOW: Ethically Navigating the Three Rs: Lawyer Ratings, Rankings, and Reviews

In putting together the ALI program, I was amazed not only by how much new information and materials were out there, but how much this area of lawyer advertising ethics had changed in recent years—sometimes for the better, often not. Ratings and Rankings have continued to grow exponentially—as if that was even seemingly possible. Outcries over the years to clamp down on the proliferation of businesses in this space have not only gone unanswered but have led to even more players in the space. There is simply too much money to be made, and plenty of egos to feed. But it is the impact of online reviews that have had the greatest impact among the three Rs. I get more audience questions after a CLE presentation about painful and problematic first-hand experiences in an attorney having to handle the impact of a negative review. On the flip side, many law firms are finding that the online review space is not only unavoidable but can be lucrative.

Published on: August 17, 2018

ALI CLE — Building a Better Business Network: Getting More Out of Contacts, Connections, and Clients – Live Webcast, September 7th

by Micah Buchdahl

ALI-300x108 While the calendar year might not turn for another four months, the new “bar year” is here. Of course, for some of us, the New Year is now—with Rosh Hashanah falling days after my upcoming ALI webcast. It is a time of reflection and planning, and also atonement for the one or two sins that I may have somehow committed in the past year. This is a good time for evaluating your current business development efforts and determining which you’d like to continue or change in the coming year. Regardless of personal philosophy, your network is the centerpiece of business development. Many firms will now be asking you to figure out your BD plan for 2019, including budget requests. This is also one of the primary times of the year when lawyers put a little more effort into “non-billable” activity and involvement. I always say that the key periods are post-Labor Day until Thanksgiving; and again from post-New Year’s Day (the January 1^st edition) until Memorial Day. We work most of our magic in those two sweet spots on the calendar.

REGISTER NOW: Building a Better Business Network: Getting More Out of Contacts, Connections, and Clients

Join me for this live ALI webcast on Friday, September 7, 2018, from 1:00 – 2:00 p.m. Eastern. In one hour, pick up a CLE ethics credit and learn about the best ways to build your network within the ethical boundaries that we all follow in our respective states’ Rules of Professional Conduct. We’ll also go through the recent changes to the ABA Model Rules as they relate to marketing, advertising and solicitation in 7.1-7.5, just approved by the House of Delegate in August during the ABA Annual Meeting.

Published on: July 18, 2018

AAJ Conference Track Focuses on Professional Negligence

by Micah Buchdahl

denvers_colorado_convention_center-300x228

Home of AAJ 2018 Annual Convention

The American Association for Justice (AAJ) Annual Convention that recently took place July 7-10, 2018 in Denver, Colorado, was an eye-opening experience. I was asked to speak on Avoiding Ethical Missteps in Promoting Your Firm, as part of a Professional Negligence Section CLE Program track. Besides a multitude of CLE programs on themes that ranged from trampoline injuries to the hugely popular (standing room only) sexual assault litigation group programs in what is now the #MeToo era, I found that a walk through the Expo Hall offered dozens of vendors providing products and services geared toward marketing, business development, and simply getting leads…and converting them. Some were quite entrepreneurial and unique; some made me a bit queasy (regardless of whether I was wearing my marketing attorney hat or ethics attorney hat, or both). There are seemingly hundreds of companies with the “best” web development, SEO and PPC strategies. And, yet, there were products that got me to stop, watch a demo, and grab a business card.

The track in which I participated as a faculty member, Professional Negligence, offered an excellent day of subjects and attorney speakers, including: Finding Damages Through Every Witness Defense and Plaintiff, J. Jude Basile; my Avoiding Ethical Missteps in Promoting Your Firm session; Cross-Examination of Defendants in Medical Negligence Cases, Paul A. Casi; Captivating the Jury, William P. Lightfoot; Leveling the Playing Field: A Jury Selection System that Roots Out Bias, Keith R. Mitnik; Practical Application of Electronic Medical Records for Trial, James Puga and Don Hanson; The Affordable Care Act: Are Future Damages a Thing of the Past?, Emily G. Thomas; Topics in Calculating Economic Damages for Personal Injury and Wrongful Death, Gene A. Trevino; Direct Examination or “The Heart of the Trial”: Direct Examination From A to Z, Thomas J. Vesper; and Avoiding Legal Malpractice, David L. Wikstrom.

Published on: June 1, 2018

The Ethics of Virtual Law Practices and Multi-Jurisdictional Lawyering

by Micah Buchdahl

NewMexicoCLE-300x156 Recently, I had the privilege of serving on a panel at the American Bar Association’s Law Practice Division continuing legal education program on the ethics of virtual and multi-jurisdictional lawyering in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The program was co-sponsored by the State Bar of New Mexico, and took place on May 18, 2018 at the Inn and Spa at Loretto.

Moderated by Albuquerque-based practitioner Charles Gurd, panelists included fellow Philadelphia area attorney Dan Siegel, and Charity Anastasio, Associate Practice Management Advisor at the American Immigration Lawyers Association. It struck me that the audience interest, interaction and participation were greater than in the vast majority of CLEs that I teach. These two intertwining and overlapping issues—virtual law practices and multi-state jurisdictional issues—go hand in hand, and often create as many questions as answers.

When I’m driving down I-95 and leave New Jersey to cross into Delaware, I know it. When I then cross from Delaware into Maryland, I know it as well. I also know that if I’m caught speeding in Delaware, the only police I need to worry about are the ones with Delaware on the side panels. Of course, reciprocity when it comes to fines and points are sometimes blurry, but not nearly as confusing as crossing state lines in your law practice, typically on the Internet. However, as many of the CLE audience opined, most lawyers today have practices that are not confined to one or two states.

Published on: May 1, 2018

Successful Launch for Law Mentoring Weekend at the University of Delaware

by Micah Buchdahl

The Inaugural Law Mentoring Weekend at the University of Delaware

No law school? No problem.

The Legal Professional Preparatory Program and HenLaw Society at the University of Delaware just held their inaugural Law Mentoring Weekend on campus at Clayton Hall in Newark, Delaware. The program was designed to provide mentoring skills and actual mentoring (from U-D alumni) to students interested in pursuing legal careers while also offering attorneys that are U-D alums an opportunity to network with colleagues.

Published on: April 11, 2018

ALI CLE — Ethics of Legal Advertising: Growing Your Bottom Line Without Crossing the Line – Online April 20th

by Micah Buchdahl

ALI-300x108 When ALI CLE asked me to present an ethics CLE on lawyer advertising, I hesitated. After all, I’ve been teaching this course across the country for more than 20 years. But the timing was right. There were hot-button issues sitting on my desk, and the equally red-hot debate over making the first substantial changes to the Rules of Professional Conduct related to law firm marketing since Bates v Arizona in 1977. So I said yes.

In the days leading up to my presentation (taped on March 23^rd), there were articles in the local (Philadelphia) daily newspaper discussing geo-targeting billboards for Johnnie Cochran’s law firm (despite the fact that the famed OJ Simpson attorney passed away in 2005). There was U.S. District Judge Cynthia M. Rufe of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania dismissing the remaining (false advertising) claims in Larry Pitt’s lawsuit against competitor Lundy Law. I discussed earlier Pitt-Lundy battles in the 2013 version of my CLE. Yet they are both news items here in 2018. Social Media has been an integral part of my CLE since flashing up my MySpace profile in 2007. While I tout Facebook as being an integral part of marketing for many attorneys, the news was also covering just how our data was being used by the likes of Cambridge Analytica—that same market data we use to generate prospective clients was also being used for evil, and not good. The news was not fake, but apparently some of the Facebook users were. And, of course, there is the debate over proposed changes to the ABA model rules (for advertising and solicitation), scheduled to go before the House of Delegates this August during the ABA Annual Meeting in Chicago. So if that is just what is going on in my neck of the woods, and at the national level, you can imagine what else is out there.

If you are in need of an ethics credit for continuing legal education compliance and/or your law firm markets—this is a perfect use of one hour to catch up on the latest trends and discussions related to the always-prickly subject matter of appropriate (and inappropriate) lawyer advertising and solicitation.