A “potential client” called this morning to discuss the case she has going in a foreign country. In order not to offend any of the residents of that country by repeating what she said, I won’t identify the country except to say that it is a small, non-English speaking country that I had to run…
Category: Your Own Law Firm
Why I Love Being a Lawyer — Taking Bank of America to the Woodshed
In case you missed it, there was a video posted on YouTube a few years back, consisting of a music video entitled “United Breaks Guitars.” Singer, songwriter Dave Carroll was sitting in a United Airlines plane while his beloved Taylor guitar was being loaded in the luggage compartment. He looked out and saw the baggage…
Stop Attaching Documents to Your Complaint
The planets must be aligned or misaligned as the case may be, because I’ve been flooded with callers who are dissatisfied with their current attorneys, and want to fire them to hire me. I get a lot of these calls, and reviewing the cases to decide if I want them gives me great insight into…
How Does Google Work?
In my book, How to Create a Big, Fat Pipeline of New Clients for Your Law Firm in Just 10 Days, I discuss all the factors Google looks at to determine which search results will appear on page one. I came across this very good video that discusses the issues as well, and provides a basic…
Five Reasons Attorneys Fall for SEO Scams
In my book, How to Create a Big, Fat Pipeline of New Clients for Your Law Firm in Just 10 Days, I provide the following anecdote: There is a classic Peanuts comic, where Linus is going door to door trying to sell wadded up pieces of paper as cat toys. His sales presentation is good, but…
Best Client Call of the Week
Technically this was an email and not a call, but close enough. It is only Wednesday, so I suppose I could receive a call that would top this one, but I’m pretty confident this will be the winner. In the email the potential client was seeking representation on a breach of contract matter. The email mentioned…
Don’t be That Attorney – If You Must Rant, At Least be Right
I’m at the drive through teller at my bank yesterday, to cash a small check. I sign the back of the check and send it up the tube with my driver’s license and ATM card, a process I have followed dozens of times. But this teller is clueless. He asks if I have an account…
Should You be Suing for Civil Extortion?
A few days ago I reported on the case of Miguel Mendoza v. Reed K. Hamzeh, which found that an attorney’s demand letter amounted to extortion since it threatened criminal prosecution if money was not paid. The threatened party turned around and sued for civil extortion, and defeated the anti-SLAPP motion brought by the attorney…
You’ve gotta fight, for your right . . . to wear wigs.
Following the British tradition, Hong Kong’s lawyers are divided between solicitors, who work directly with clients, and barristers, who represent those clients in court and wear wigs and robes while doing so. The former are typically considered to be of a lower stature, but solicitors have long been expanding their professional reach into areas traditionally…
Think Before You Demand — Miguel Mendoza v. Reed K. Hamzeh
If the threat of getting in trouble with the State Bar is not enough, maybe the threat of both civil and criminal actions will get attorneys to toe the line. You know that it is an ethical violation for an attorney to threaten criminal action as a means to extract a civil settlement. For…