Tech Tip:
Maps and Apps: Finding a Lawyer Near You
People increasingly rely on mobile and user-based geolocation apps to find the nearest pizza place, flower shop, shoe store. Why not the nearest lawyer?
Using a local listing search provider like “Google Places for Business,” list your law office location to show up in searches for local lawyers. Once the listing is live, you can view the number of times your business pops up in searches, track reviews, and even go a step further by paying to ensure your business appears in searches.
According to author Steph Abbot, “Local listings work well for people who may have heard about you through personal referrals from a friend, relative, or former client. Your word-of-mouth campaign can be enhanced by reviews and easy-to-find directions to your office.”
Source: “If You Hang a Shingle Online, How Does it Help Someone Find Your Office?,” ABA Technology Today (April 28, 2014)
Out There:
High Voltage Testimony
A well-known Los Angeles trial lawyer recently “shocked” the courtroom, or should we say, “the witness.”
The lawyer was on a case pro hac vice in Utah, questioning an electrical engineer about stray electric current that was zapping cattle near a local power plant.
The engineer said the shocks were minimal, tantamount to that generated by a 1.5 volt AAA battery. The lawyer tested that conclusion by asking the expert to touch a toy electric pen with a AAA battery in it.
Legal news website Above the Law explains what happened next:
“Meliopoulos [the expert] complied, which he probably shouldn’t have. Because electric shock pens may run on 1.5 AAA batteries, but they also contain a transformer to convert the DC power of the battery to AC current. Delivering up to 750 volts. That is more than enough to kill someone with certain health conditions.”
The expert was okay, but the judge imposed sanctions against the lawyer for his “shocking” antics.
Quotable:
I’m not sure what 2020 is going to look like, but I’m pretty sure it won’t look like 1995.”
– Jordan Furlong, a lawyer, industry analyst and consultant based in Ottawa, Canada. Last month, Furlong spoke to Wisconsin lawyers about the future of law practice at PINNACLE’s 2014 Litigation, Dispute Resolution, and Appellate Practice Institute in Milwaukee.
Law practice will never go back to what it was before the recession, Furlong said.
Furlong believes that lawyers currently compete with one another to serve just 15 percent of the legal marketplace, and there are ways to tap the remaining 85 percent profitably.
How? Read “Becoming Essential, Not Incidental, in the New Legal Market,” WisBar.org (May 23, 2014).
Are you a Wisconsin Legal Innovator? Know one? The June 30 deadline for nominations is approaching. ThatsaFineIdea.com.
On the Radar:
Friend Request: You’ve Been Served. Service of Process Via Social Media?
A New York lawyer recently published an article in the Phoenix Law Review entitled “Facebook Notification – You’ve Been Served: Why Social Media Service of Process May Soon Be a Virtual Reality.”
Attorney Pedram Tabibi notes that service of legal process via social media has been allowed many times in foreign jurisdictions. He also says some U.S. courts have allowed service via social media in certain circumstances, and notes some state legislative efforts to allow it.
From the Archives:
Wisconsin’s First Chief Justice: Compiler of Statutes
June marks the birthday of Edward Whiton, Wisconsin’s first chief justice. Whiton was born in Massachusetts in 1805 and moved to Janesville as a young man. While serving in the territorial legislature, Whiton made his reputation by preparing the first compilation of Wisconsin statutes. He was elected to the Wisconsin Supreme Court when it was organized in 1853.
Under Whiton’s leadership, prior to his death in 1859, the court grappled with many controversial issues, including the constitutionality of the federal Fugitive Slave Act and whether the court had the right to overturn unconstitutional state and federal laws.
Source: Jay Ranney, Madison lawyer and legal historian
Q&A:
Court of Appeals Judge Gary Sherman on Canoeing, Kayaking, and Jazz
June officially kicks off summer vacation season, for those fortunate enough to take some time off.
WL caught up with former State Bar president and current District IV Appeals Court Judge Gary Sherman to learn how he vacations.
WL: Judge Sherman, what is your favorite thing to do on vacation?
GS: Until about 10 years ago, I joined a group of friends on an annual canoe trip in west-central Ontario, Canada. We would pick a route about 75-100 miles north of the border, in the area where people go fly-in fishing. We would drive up to where a road met a waterway and paddle and portage for about five days on the water. We were able to reach extraordinarily beautiful places, usually shoot some challenging rapids, and return refreshed spiritually, if exhausted physically.
Now, I travel more broadly, especially for events like the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, which is one of my favorite cultural experiences. I also spend much of my leisure time in my kayak or riding my bicycle.
WL: Do you think about the law or your cases when taking time off?
GS: These days, if I want to escape from office matters, I have to travel beyond the range of my Blackberry. Otherwise, I am available wherever I am.
