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If you are a PA lawyer, and it feels like you’ve been hearing me deliver marketing ethics CLE hours for the Pennsylvania Bar Institute for more than a decade now, it is because you have. My very first ethics CLE ever was given in Philly, New York and Houston in the summer of 1997. I opened with some lame canned joke involving Morgan Lewis and domain names. Trust me, I’ve gotten better. But the even weaker handout is now a collector’s item. I still have an original (see “Hoarders” and related illnesses).

Each year, I change the focus and try to cover hot topics, and changing rules, as they relate to areas of law marketing ethics. Quite honestly, some years my “show” (as I call it) is better than others. Last year’s focus on ethics of social media was very well received. But this year’s focus on ratings, rankings and reviews might be the best one yet. I mean, really, who does not debate the value, interest and impact on the multi-zillion dollar “sell stuff to attorneys” industry?

I’ve written and spoken on the rankings & ratings subject for many years, including multiple ABA Annual Meetings, as a focus of the ABA Law Firm Marketing Strategies Conference, for PBI and in at least a half dozen publications. I’m not sure if the publishers of these companies will tell you they love me or hate me (it is probably a mix, leaning more toward the negative), but it is a market that continues to fascinate. This holds true in my marketing roles, in my ethics roles, and certainly in speaking as a leader in law practice management circles.

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In April, I organized a CLE teleconference for the ABA Center for Professional Development entitled, “Is Your Legal Blog Compliant? Ethical Considerations in the Wake of Hunter v. Virginia State Bar“. The roundtable featured me, Virginia legal ethics legend Tom Spahn of McGuireWoods, big-time blogging employment lawyer Molly DiBianca of Young Conaway, and the man himself–Horace Hunter of Hunter Lipton. While the case, and the discussion, touched upon a number of legal ethics issues, the one that I personally paid the most attention to was the ongoing debate as to whether a lawyer blog constitutes advertising (thus, marketing) under the Rules of Professional Conduct.

As many of you know, as a marketing ethics guy, I’ve argued for years that a blog constitutes advertising, in the same way that any other web site would. The marketing part of me would love to agree with those that claim a blog is an editorial vehicle of sorts, and not necessarily promotional in nature. Hint: If a blog was not a marketing vehicle, I would not be writing this post! However, Micah the Ethics Lawyer will argue vehemently that a blog is unquestionably a form of marketing. You simply can’t start evaluating every online presence–a web site, a blog, a microsite, a Facebook profile, a tweet–to determine “on a case by case basis” if the content is marketing or not. If you’ve read hundreds of ethics opinions, disciplinary letters to firms, state by state versions of the model rules, you know that most state bars are simply incapable of effectively and accurately making those distinctions.

Recently, a three judge panel reaffirmed what I believed. The blog is advertising. Thus, an appropriate disclaimer was necessary on the web site. Mr. Hunter did prevail on the charge that probably was more serious in nature (for him) on whether client confidences were violated in the posts themselves. But in this case, Virginia has spoken–a blog is a web site and requires disclaimer language in step with what you would include on any other similar advertising component. Of course, this interpretation is limited to a single state. But everyone was watching to see this outcome, as a lawyer pushed the envelope and challenged the bar. According to Horace Hunter, though, he will appeal…and this story is not yet over.

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A law firm marketer from an AMLAW 200 firm called me after reading my marketing column for Law Practice, the ABA Law Practice Management Section‘s bi-monthly print publication. In the July/August 2012 issue, I discuss the revival of hard copies. “You, the Internet Marketing Attorney, wrote about going back to print?” Yeah, I said, but it is true. And he said, “yes it is.”

Like it or not, lawyers are screaming for print stuff. And I’ve found they are not in the wrong. Much like a handwritten thank you note stands out so much more in an e-mail world; strong “handouts” are also standing out as well. We can talk from now until the end of time about electronic this and that, but the truth is that the biggest deals still come through most doors the old fashioned way–in-person communication, networking and meetings. In a world where many large firms are using the same digital proposal systems, a carefully and cleverly crafted print piece (you can still use a computer, feather pen and ink are not required, nor is carbon paper), will go a long way. So, the next time you (the attorney) or you (the marketing team) find yourself racing to put together a hard copy print piece, think of me. The concept won’t sound so ridiculous.

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In my inaugural monthly column for Web Marketing Today (WMT), I discuss how the Internet has changed the legal profession. The article serves as an introduction of sorts to an entirely new audience for me. Many people have come to know me from the Internet Marketing Attorney web site (with the IMA awards and reviews, and the Nifty Fifty lists) that I first started espousing about in 1997. I can’t say that I’ve been reading WMT since its inception a few years earlier in 1995, but it is pretty close. When they came to me and asked if I could serve as the voice of the legal profession on Internet marketing, I thought it would provide a nice change of pace, replacing the IMA site.

There is no cost to subscribe to WMT (you’ll see the subscription box on the home page). And you can find all my columns neatly tucked away on one page. Look for them around the middle of each month. If there is a particular Internet marketing topic (pertaining to the legal profession), give me a shout.

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The American Bar Association’s only standalone law marketing conference happens just once every two years, and it is less than two weeks away.

For a few hundred dollars and less than two days of your time, bring back to your law firm the latest in business development tools and information-on social media, measuring return on investment, lawyer rankings, ethics, use of video, business development training and many more topics.

The conference at the Four Seasons Hotel in Philadelphia includes five networking meal functions–two breakfasts, two lunches and a cocktail reception.

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This was my submission for the 2011 ABA Journal Ross Essay Contest. The theme revolved around what “big law” can do to positively impact the practice of law.

On a daily basis, there are success stories in regard to client representation by solo practitioners, boutique and midsize law firms. At the same time, perusal of the Wall Street Journal or New York Times serve as reminders that most “bet the farm” situations still fall in the laps of the nation’s largest law firms.

As an attorney, I have had the opportunity to work with and interact with the “large law firm” from numerous vantage points. I’ve been the “client” as an in-house attorney. I’ve had the opportunity to watch colleagues as an adviser to friends and family. In recent years, I have worked with large law firms on business models and strategies. All of those experiences color my belief that they are uniquely positioned to have the greatest positively changing the practice of law.

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If your law firm is not yet sending people to the ABA’s New Partner and In-House Counsel Conference in Philadelphia on February 25-26, you are missing out on one of the premier business development opportunities that will come your way.

Besides a ridiculously low registration cost for a two-day conference at the Four Seasons Hotel ($385 before February 1), there are two tracks-one for new partners and another for new in-house counsel. The networking opportunities, including dinners and receptions, afford a chance to mingle with many major in-house corporate attorneys that are looking to work with firms like yours each and every day.

This is designed as an intimate conference that allows for a lot of interaction among people in positions to give out work and refer work to others. Consider forwarding this information to your firm’s newest partners and professional development staff. They will find that it is a low-cost, high impact, CLE opportunity.

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A quick look at my blog will confirm to you that I need to practice what I preach…and that I’m a terrible blogger. The problem with playing in the online world of blogs, Facebook, LinkedIn and their brethren is that they do not work for a lot of people like me–that have no billable time left in the day for business development.

Of course, I basically teach business development for a living. So you would think that after a day of yelling at the attorney who tells me he or she can not find the time to market that I might set a better example.

So while preparing a law firm’s lesson plan for a how-to on utilizing social networking effectively, I decided to try and set a better example. First, I negotiated with the wife to take the kids out of the house on a Saturday for a few hours. Second, I in turn had to trade off a weekend visit to the gym to conduct this bold experiment.

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What better place to repeat the ever-popular “online marketing ethics” course for lawyers than in my old stomping grounds, before a Sixers game at the Wachovia Center…where I was an in-house attorney back in the day.

This new PBI program includes an hour of ethics CLE and a Sixers game against the San Antonia Spurs. To learn more or to register, visit the PBI Site.

The possible tools are endless – web sites, blogs, LinkedIn, Facebook, search engine optimization, referral resources, e-mail, etc. – and so are the ethics opinions, rules and interpretations of state bars coast-to-coast. Thinking about the states where you are licensed, where you have offices and where you seek clients…and staying compliant is enough to make your hard drive crash. This one hour program will examine the tools and the rules, so you can go out and use the business development opportunities on the Internet without running astray of the Rules of Professional Responsibility.

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