circle of legal trust journal

8/13/2019 Circle of Legal Trust Journal

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i r c l e o f L e g a l T r u s t

The rt of Negotiation in MediationIs Timing Everything Negative SEQ

Have you been hit

Effective ttorneyMarketing for 2 14

ttorney Fee SharingCivility in Depositions

s Vegas 2013first ever COLT

get together


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O L T contents

Table of ontents

Publisher 's Foreword ..... . ..... ..... . ... ... ................ ..... ..... . .... . 2Michael Ehline

Admission of OSHA Regulations toProve Negligence in W orksite Injury ...................................... 3

Jonathan Rosenfeld

Negative SEO . .... . ..... ..... . ... ... ................ ..... ..... . ..... ..... . ... 7 Steven Sweat

C. . D . . 10 IVI 1ty In epos1t1ons . ... ... ... . ..... .... ... ... .nthony astelli

Don t Destroy Your Personal Injury Claim withyour Personal Social Media Posts ......................................

Seth PriceEthical Rules on Attorney Advertising Fee

Sharing Get Tested in Rhode Island ...................................... 6 David Slepkow

Information That Is Kept From Juries inPersonal Injury Trials: Secrets Revealed ................................ 2

Matthew DolmanEffective Attorney Marketing in the

Digital World for 2 0 1 4 and Beyond .... ..... . ..... ..... . ..... .... .2 3Gerrid Smith

The Art of Negotiation at MediationI T . . E h . ? 28 s 1m1ng ver-yt 1ng . .. ..... . ... ..... . ... .... ... ... . ... ..... .

Michael Ehline

Editor s Closing . ..... ..... . ... ... ................ ..... ..... . ..... ..... . .33 Steven Sweat

October 2 13 age


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C O L T publisher s foreword

Hello and welcome to our honorary society o vettedlawyers and search engine experts I am attorney

Michael Ehline I am the founder o theCircle o Legal Trust

Representing a grand experiment in "understanding attorney search", the Circle of Legal Trust is atrust based system, designed to protect and promote and develop trusted branding and prospective

client relations for licensed attorneys, internationally. As our motto states, it is the place "where thelaw meets the semantic web."

As the rules state, there are various levels of membership. The highes t levels of membership startswith being patched in". Authorized members have their own column in COLT Journal and are entered into a trusted "whitelist" at http:/ /web-o-trust.org .

The Journal is a fusion of internet related issues, s well s related legal issues presented to users ofthe world wide web. From video taped depositions conducted via satellite, e-discovery, online legal

ethics, social media, all the way to attorney marketing. Prior to April of 2012, there was a serious voidfor busy trial lawyers, barristers, solicitors and litigators trying to take advantage of the cutting edgetechnology afforded by Google, Bing, and Yahoo . There was no peer support offered to law firmswho had been hit by the Google Panda and Penguin updates, or who had hired unworthy SEO companies and in house marketers. Something had to be done to lift the "Sword of Damocles of ignorance from the heads of worthy lawyers.

nter the Circle

In the summer of 2012, several attorneys who were the very first users of Google Plus began to collaborate and realized that one is none, two or more is one", and we started to share informationabout attorney search, proper online etiquette, understanding and interpreting the often vague, ambiguous and unintelligible local and organic search engine quality guidelines. We all decided that inorder to do well online, one could not hire someone to run their online destiny. We discovered thatone must integrate the search engines into their practice and consider it to be no different than filing amotion with the court. This is really what sets us apart. Our members learn w hat the experts know,and then mentor other members in their chapters. Being a member of COLT is a brand insurancepolicy that comes with fraternal support.

We are proud to announce exponential growth in membership since its formation in the summer of2012. In fact, this very journal commemorates our first annual Las Vegas Convention. See you live orat the HOA and enjoy our magazine and various web properties. Michael Ehline, Esq.

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http://web-o-trust.org/http://web-o-trust.org/http://web-o-trust.org/http://goo.gl/eDl3gDhttp://goo.gl/eDl3gDhttp://goo.gl/eDl3gDhttp://goo.gl/eDl3gDhttp://goo.gl/eDl3gDhttps://plus.google.com/115307003069691533470http://web-o-trust.org/https://plus.google.com/115307003069691533470http://goo.gl/eDl3gD


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C.O.L .T . worksite injury

The dmission of OSH Regulationsto Prove Negligence in Worksite Injury Cases

By Jonathan Rosenfeld

Background Information and History o theOccupational Safety and Health Act OSHA)

The Occupational Safety and Health Act healthful working conditions and to(OSHA) was passed by Congress in 1970 preserve our human resources.for th e purpose of en suring a safe work-place for employees and defining anemployer's standard of care in a work

place.The

Act containsboth health and

safety s tandard s th at have been effective in assisting worker-plaintiffs inrecovering damages against employerdefendants and other third parties.

Prior to the enactment of OSHA stan-dards , workers in the United States hadfew protections available to th em underthe law . The eco nomy of mass productin the United States did not function ina manner to make workp lace safety apriority. Instead, it was more affordablefor employers in mass production industries to replace a dead worker thanit was to place safety measures onto themarket.

Throughout the 18oos and early 1900s,workers continued to be injured duringWorld War I and World War II. The in-crease of industrial production duringWorld War II left over 14,000 workersdead and 2 million individuals injureddue to inadequate workplace s tandard s.

It was not until the eventual passage ofOSHA in 1970 that Congress sought to,

assure so far as possible every workingman and woman in th e Nation safe and

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Admissibility of OSHA Regulations in Work Accidents

And ConstructionSite Injury Cases

The majority view is that OSHA violations are admissible as evide nc e in tortcases . Some courts only view OSHA violations as some evidence that will notfully prove negligence. contd

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O L T worksit injury

The Admission of OSHA Regulations contdto Prove Negligence in Worksite Injury Cases

There are also a minority of jurisdic-tions that hold OSHA violations are

per se negligence or do not qualify asany evidence in negligence cases.

The states that have chosen to excludeevidence of OSHA violations entirelyare Arizona, California, Maryland,Michigan and Mississippi. As to f ede ralcircuits that allow OSHA violations tobe entered as some evidence, these in-

clude the Third, Fourth, Eighth andNinth Circuits.

Understanding the DifferentIndustries Governed by

OSHA

To decide which OSHA regulations are

applicable in a negligence case, it isnecessary to consider the type of indus-try in which an injury has occurred. TheOSHA standard s are divided into thefollowing categories: General Industry,Construction, Maritime and Agricul-ture.

The specific regulations under each in-dustry type then convey the standardsfor inspections, general safety andhealth provisions, occupational healthand environmental controls, fir e protec-tion and prevention, scaffolds, fall pro-tection, use of equipment and informa-tion as to toxic and hazardous subs tanc-es. As to the construction industry,

there are also specific standards for ex-cavations, steel erection, masonry con-struction and underground construc-tion.

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For plaintiffs who wish to use a citationin a negligence case, it will be necessaryto consider the work environment inwhich the accident occurred. A plaintiffcan then find th e spec ific standard s putforth by the Occupational Safety andHealth Administration for this particu-lar industry.

For example, a plaintiff injured by abroken scaffold may wish to admit evi-

dence of an emp loy er's failure to main-tain the scaffold according to OSHAregulation 1926 Subpart L. Under 1926Subpart L the Administration is verycareful to state that certain scaffo ld s(those with direct connections to floor sor roofs) must be able to hold at leastfour times the tipping moment by thesca ffold.

Proving Duty Owed inOSHA Cases

In addition to setting forth standardsfor th e maintenance of equ ipm en t andother aspects of workplace safety, theOSHA regulations also set forth theduty owed for fall protection systems.

Statutes that discuss th e du ty owed byan emp loyer, such as the duty to havefall protection in place, can be highlyrelevant for proving the duty element ina negligence case.

This type of statute typically discusses

the actions that an employer must taketo improve th e safety of a workplace. sto th e fall protection systems statut e, anemployer must determine if contd)

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https://www.osha.gov/pls/oshaweb/owadisp.show_document?p_table=STANDARDS&p_id=10916https://www.osha.gov/pls/oshaweb/owadisp.show_document?p_table=STANDARDS&p_id=10916https://www.osha.gov/pls/oshaweb/owadisp.show_document?p_table=STANDARDS&p_id=10916https://www.osha.gov/pls/oshaweb/owadisp.show_document?p_table=STANDARDS&p_id=10916https://www.osha.gov/pls/oshaweb/owadisp.show_document?p_table=STANDARDS&p_id=10916https://www.osha.gov/pls/oshaweb/owadisp.show_document?p_table=STANDARDS&p_id=10916https://www.osha.gov/pls/oshaweb/owadisp.show_document?p_table=STANDARDS&p_id=10916https://www.osha.gov/pls/oshaweb/owadisp.show_document?p_table=STANDARDS&p_id=10916


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O L T worksit injury

The Admission of OSHA Regulations contdto Prove Negligence in Worksite Injury Cases

walking surfaces have structural integrity to support employees. There arealso requirements that an employer adda guardrail to systems that have unpro-tected sides that are six feet or taller. Ifan employee was using equipment thatdid not contain this protective guardrailat the time of an accident, then photographs of the unprotected equipment orother evidence could be admitted toshow how the employer failed to meet

his or her requisite duty of care underthe law.

In jurisdictions that allow OSHA violations to be admissible in cases involvingnegligence per se, then a single violation could confer liability on an employer in a personal injury case without aneed for additional evidence or provingother legal elements. In personal injurycases, negligence per se refers to a legaldoctrine that enables a plaintiff to provenegligence by virtue of the violation of astatute or regulation. In this type ofcase, the plaintiff will need to prove thatthe defendant was in violation of thestatute, there is a criminal penalty im

posed under the statute, an actioncaused harm that the statute was intended to prevent and that the plaintiffwas a member of the protected classunder the statute.

Most jurisdictions that allow OSHA violations to be admitted in negligence perse cases will require that the plaintiff byan employee of the employer. This isdue to the interpretation that thesecourts have in which OSHA regulations

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are intended to protect harm to employees on worksites. n independent contractor may still be considered to be anemployee when OSHA violations areused, as courts have found that OSHAimposes a duty on employers to protectthe safety of every employee at anemployer's worksite. This means thateven independent contractors are considered protected under the statute.

Use of Other eneral OSHAStandards in Personal Injury

Cases

There are also other instances in whichOSHA standards may apply more generally in personal injury cases. Currently, there is no specific statute under

OSHA that protects employees fromviolence at the workplace. Rather,OSHA goes on to define a standard ofcare under a general provision thatstates employers must provide employees with a place of employment that isfree from recognizable hazards that are

causing or likely to cause death or serious harm to employees. This meansthat an employer does have a legal dutyto ensure that an employee can workwithin a worksite that is free of hazardsthat could cause him or her to experience serious injuries , physical harm oreven death.

Those employees who have been subject

to intimidation, threats or other instances of violence may have legal recourse available to them due to a viola-tion of Section 5(a)(1). contd)

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C O L T worksit injury

The Admission o OSHA Regulations contdto Prove Negligence in Worksite Injury Cases

Researching OSHA Regulations for Negligence Cases

Those plaintiffs who are interested in asserting a legal claim against an employercan find a full listing of the OSHA regulations at http:/ /www .osha.gov . The websitecontains a regulations part that lists the black letter law for workplace standardsPlaintiffs can also work with attorneys who have a specialty in this field and under-stand how OSHA regulations may be used in a particular jurisdiction. A violationof an OSHA regulation may be a crucial aspect of proving one's personal injurycase before a judge and jury , and a lawyer can help choose the appropriate regula-tions to use in one's case.

egal

Jonathan Rosenfeld is a personal injury attorney in Chicago andregularly handles serious construction accident cases on behalf ofinjured workers and their families. For more information on Chi-cago construction accidents and other personal injury mattersvisit http :/ /www.rosenfeld injuryl awyers.co m

C O LT Initiatives

archAn attorney managed site providing consumers access to value added informa-

tion on a state based platform. Members of the Circle of Legal Trust may be al-located a state or city based website or category which provides the attorney anadditional online marketing channel

T e i re le t : i l \ L E G A L T U T

Attorneys assisting attorneys in search and social issues surrounding marketing

your law firm online. COLT members meet regularly on Friday mornings andgenerously donate their time in helping their peers get better results from digi-tal marketing efforts.

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O L T neg tive seo

Negative n y steven swe t

SEOThe Ethical and Legal Implications o NegativeSearch Engine Optimization SEO) Tactics Forttorneys and Their gents

As attorne ys we have to face the fact that we arein a competiti ve bu siness where we are marketing our services and trying to convince the

public to hire us rather than another law yer. Thearena where this competition to gain clients isprobabl y as fierce as any other is the internet.Like all business persons offering services forhire, attorneys can and, I believe, must asse rttheir presence on the we b. Th ere are severalways to do internet marketing as an attorneywhich include bu ying p lacement through paidadvertising the most popular of which are payper click campaigns such as Google Adwords.

The generic term for tr ying to gain placementwith search engines through natural languagesearches in the so-called organic i.e . non -paidlistings) is called Search Engine Optimization(SEO), which has been broadl y defined as follows: the process of affecting the visibility of awebsite or webpage in a search engines naturalsearch results.

Can (and Should) AttorneysEngage in Positive SearchEngine Optimization to Pro-mote Their Online ContentFor the Purpose o Gaining

Business?

There are ma n y different ways to engage in

positive and ethical S O practices as an attorne ys . These include flrst and foremost pro viding good, original content targeted towardsyour potential clients. Providing good on-page

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content will tend to draw yo ur target audiencetowards your website and share this information with others which will increase trafflc andvisibility and affect your pagerank with theva rious search engines like Google. Socialmedia is also a great way to promote contenton webs ites and blogs where a lawyer has provided good information that can attract poten

tial clients. There are va rious other ways that alawyer can shine a light on their content andattract the attention of the search engines and Ithink every lawyer can and should be constantl yengaging in providing rele va nt, original contenton a weekly if not daily basis for the purpose ofspreading information about their practice andtheir expertise in their area of law. This is along-term process that can take months oryea rs to see results b y way of higher search

rankings but, once you have established a welldesigned, original site or blog and continue topromote it, it will no doubt begin to appear forsearches rele va nt to a lawye r 's practice . Contd.)

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O L T negative seo

NegatiVe SEO contd .) n y s tevenswe tWhat is Negative SEO and

Are Attorneys Or TheirAgents Engaging in These

PracticesUnfortunately, the room for organic or naturalsearch results appearing on the first page ofGoogle or an y other search engine is small and,some think, continuing to shrink. For example,on average, there are about 10 natural searchresult slots on the average first page of Google

and sometimes less depending upon thenumber of local search results and sponsoredlistings for any given term. This has led someSEO practitioners and their clients to tr y to

knock off the competition from page one sothat their site appears higher. One wa y which,in my opinion, is a bit insidious, is to attempt tonegati vely affect the rankings of competitor 'ssites through various tactics includingsurreptitious linking of the competitor 's site toother sites and resources which the searchengines view as negati v e associations. This canlead to penalties from Google and other searchengines which lower the competitor 's siteranking.

Unfortunately, in larger markets like LosAngeles and in the more competiti ve practiceareas like personal injury or criminal defense,these tactics ha ve begun to be emplo yed bylawyers and the persons or businesses they hireto do SEO services. I ha ve seen this in mypractice and other practitioners have also seenmore and more evidence of this in recent years.

What Are the Ethical andLegal Rules Which May Affect

A Law Firm or Their SEOConsultants i They Choose to

Engage in Negative SEO ?

In m y opinion (and the opinion of Googleexecutives including Matt Cutts and others)negati ve SEO tactics are not on l y not v eryeffective but, also completel y unethical from abusiness standpoint. f a site owner pro ves

that a competitor has been engaging in negativeSEO practices, this would ob viousl y give rise topotential civil liability against either thepractitioner or their client (i.e the competinglaw flrm). Most ever y state has both commonlaw and statutor y causes of action forintentionally interfering with a prospectiveeconomic ad vantage. In California, for

examp le, the tort is defined as follows:The tort of intentional or negligent

interference with prospecti ve economicadvantage imposes liability for impropermethods of disrupting or diverting the businessrelationship of another which fall outside theboundaries of fair competition . SettimoAsso cia tes v. Environ Systems , Inc . (1993) 14

Cal..App.4th 842, 845 .

Additionally, California Bu siness andProf ess ion s Code section 17200 pr o vides forinjunctive relief, restitution and attorne y's feesfor an y unlawful, unfair or fraudulent businessact or practice and unfair, deceptive, untrue ormisleading ad vertising. con td.)

Steven M . Sweat is a founding partner of Glotzer & Sweat , LLP , a personal injurylaw firm based in Los Angeles, California. He is a proud member of theCircle of Legal Trust and Editor -in -Chief of the CO LT Magazine.

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O L .T . negative seo

Negative SEO contd.) By Steven SweatGoing be yo nd the potential for civil claims forinjunctions or mone y damages, attorneys arealso bound b y ru les of professional conductrelated to advertising efforts. Most State BarAssociations or other regulating bodies haveestablished these rules based upon the ModelRules of Professional Conduct set forth b y theAmerican Bar Association. The potential rulesimplicated in negative SEO practices.

Model Rule 7.1 : "A lavvyer shall not make afalse or misleading communication about thelawyer or the lawyer's services" in relationshipto any effort to advertise a law yer 's services.Model Rule 7. : Requires any communicationsor publications related to adve rtising a law yer'sservices include the "name and office addressof at least one law yer or law firm responsible

for its content."

For all these reasons it is neither good bu sinesspractice nor ethical legal practice, in myopinion, to engage in "negative SEO tactics.There are so man y positi ve ways to influenceyour own search rankings and exposure on theinternet and a lawye r's time and resources

should be devoted to building a positive brandand image. I t is not worth the risk of potentialcivil claims and ethical claims not to mention"bad blood" that is created among colleagues inthe legal profession for the very limited chancethat one's negati ve SEO techniques mightactually knock a competitor off page one forsome, limited period of time. Google has been

VPS HOS INGHOSTGATOR COM

1 866 96 GATOR

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tracking this issue and has taken man y stepsrecently to adjust their algorithms to negate theeffect of such campaigns and simply tools likedisa vow al of links can be used to fairly easilydefeat negative SEO efforts. As witheverything else in life, it is better to pla y fairand work hard

Resources and Citations:

Wikipedia: Search Engine Optimization:ht tp : / / n. wikipedia.org/wiki/Search_engine_optimization

American Bar Association Rules o ProfessionalConduct -http:/ www.americanbar.org/ groups/ professional_responsibility publicat ions model_rules_ of_professional_conduct/model_rules_of_professional_conduct_table_of_contents.html

Google Webspam Team Head Matt Cutts Youtube

Discussion o Ineffectiveness and Remedies forNegative SEQ:http:/ www youtube com/watch?v=HWJUU -gSU_I

GET ST RTID NOW

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11/35

C O L T civility in depositions

CiVilitY in By nthony Castelli

DepositionsThe public's perception o f an ttorney is that theywill demean and be derog tory to witnesses everychance they get.

This article will examine why thisis usuall y a misconception in theconte xt of a deposition. Duringthe course of a lawsuit the attorneyfor the other side will wa nt to takethe depo sition of witnesses includ -ing the person bringing the law-swt.

As I onl y represent injured parties,m y clients alwa ys have much

worry as to what goes on in a de -position, what they will be askedand how the y will be treated b y the defense at-torney hired b y the insurance compan y. I alla ytheir fears b y explaining the process, role pla yingand preparing them. Very few lawyers are abu -sive although some can be . That is why the legalprofession led b y State Bar Associations and Su-preme Courts have moved for Rules of Civilityand Professionalism. C) n Ohio the profes sio n -alism commission is now over 20 years old.

What is a eposition and Whyombine ivility With It

A deposition is a sworn statement withnotice to the other side to be present and

cross examine if the y like. Th is is usually aquestion and answer session with a courtreporter typing the testimony or a video-grapher recording the testimony. This is

October 2013

distinguished from an affidavit which issimply a statement in wr itin g that i s swornto be true in front of a notar y. Depositionsare tools to find out what knowledge wit-nesses have. t is part of the discoveryprocess. Although in certain cases depo -sitions can be introduced at trial.

As depositions are usuall y held in lawyer s of-fices there is no judge present to enforce therules. So there is no one there to police thelawyer s conduct , but themselves. That is whycivility defined as

ucivility is claiming and caringfor one's identity, needs and be-liefs without degrading some-one else's in the process,

ontinued


12/35

C O L T civility in depositions

Civility in Depositionscon

el

is critical in a deposition setting.

Th e Ohio C ommitt ee on Prof ess ionali smCivility in ep o sition Guida n ce

The Ohio commission has issues a list o f doesand don t regarding depositions. Although theydo not ha ve force o f law the y are in essenceguideline to ci vility regarding depositions . 3)

Some of the do s theyrecommend are

Cooperate on scheduling. D on t just sched-ule a deposition \.Vithout calling your oppos-

ing counsel so they can coordinate their cal -endar.

f a deposition needs to be rescheduled t1) to

cooperate to get it done unless your clientsrights are adversely affected.

f you are going to use documents or photostry to have multip le copies so all attorneysget a copy.

T ry to agree on a reasonable time limit forthe deposition

Treat the other attorney and the witness withcourtes y.

October 2 13

.f you have a problem with the other attor-

ne y ask to go off the record and go outsideand try to agree on an y problem issues. f

you can not agree consider calling the J udge.I consider this a bad idea as what Judge

wants to be interrupted and make a decisionoff he cuff over the phone. ) The Ohio ci vil

rules as do most jurisdictions have a proce -dure for handling abusive questions or ac -tions. 4)

Some of the recommendeddont s are

X Making 11 Speaking objections 11 which areoften an attempt to coach the witness.

Simpl y say object from and substance andyou should be protected .

X Insttuct a witness to refuse to answer unlessthe testimony is privileged, work product,or self incriminating or you belie ve thequestioning is conducted to unreasonablyannoy, embarrass, or harass.

X Make rude and degrading comments to thewitness or opposing counse l

X Take a break with you r client deponentwhile a question is pending . T he obviousimplication is that you will be coaching thewitness on the answer.

But What if The eponent Is Recalcitrant

Sometimes the deponent will not cooperate.This is not a question o f Civility but a questiono f what you can do under the law. You need to


13/35

C O L T ivility in depositions

Civility in Depositionscontdkeep control o f the deposition. I f it gets too bad you should ask to adjourn the deposition and askthe court for sanctions. The video below is a rather comical example. Caution i t has obscenity in

it Watch it at your own ri sk Let me know i f you ever had a deponent like this after you get donelaughing.

http:/ /youtu be/I_fxNu_MRCo

Anthony Castelli is an Ohio personal injur y trial la wy er with o ver 32 yearsexperience and 25 ci vil jury trials. You can learn more about nthon y atW\vw.castellilaw .co m . He handles accident and injur y claims through outthe State of Ohio and especiall y in Cincinnati Columbus Da yton WestChester and Ma son Ohio

Cita.tions :

1 http: www.instituteforcivility .org/wbo we are/what is civility2 http :/ /www.supremecourt.ohio.gov Boards CP default. asp3 http : www.supremecourt.ohio.gov Publications/Depositions.pdf4 http :/ /www.supremecourt.ohio .gov LegalResources/Rules/ civil CivilProcedUle.pdf

October 2 13 age 2
http://youtu.be/I_fxNu_MRCohttps://plus.google.com/u/0/102020672746013342778?rel=authorhttp://www.castellilaw.com/http://www.castellilaw.com/http://www.castellilaw.com/http://www.instituteforcivility.org/who-we-are/what-is-civilityhttp://www.instituteforcivility.org/who-we-are/what-is-civilityhttp://www.instituteforcivility.org/who-we-are/what-is-civilityhttp://www.instituteforcivility.org/who-we-are/what-is-civilityhttp://www.supremecourt.ohio.gov/Boards/CP/default.asphttp://www.supremecourt.ohio.gov/Boards/CP/default.asphttp://www.supremecourt.ohio.gov/Boards/CP/default.asphttp://www.supremecourt.ohio.gov/Boards/CP/default.asphttp://www.supremecourt.ohio.gov/Boards/CP/default.asphttp://www.supremecourt.ohio.gov/Boards/CP/default.asphttp://www.supremecourt.ohio.gov/Publications/Depositions.pdfhttp://www.supremecourt.ohio.gov/Publications/Depositions.pdfhttp://www.supremecourt.ohio.gov/Publications/Depositions.pdfhttp://www.supremecourt.ohio.gov/Publications/Depositions.pdfhttp://www.supremecourt.ohio.gov/LegalResources/Rules/civil/CivilProcedure.pdfhttp://www.supremecourt.ohio.gov/LegalResources/Rules/civil/CivilProcedure.pdfhttp://www.supremecourt.ohio.gov/LegalResources/Rules/civil/CivilProcedure.pdfhttp://www.supremecourt.ohio.gov/LegalResources/Rules/civil/CivilProcedure.pdfhttp://www.supremecourt.ohio.gov/LegalResources/Rules/civil/CivilProcedure.pdfhttp://www.supremecourt.ohio.gov/LegalResources/Rules/civil/CivilProcedure.pdfhttp://www.supremecourt.ohio.gov/LegalResources/Rules/civil/CivilProcedure.pdfhttp://www.supremecourt.ohio.gov/LegalResources/Rules/civil/CivilProcedure.pdfhttp://www.supremecourt.ohio.gov/LegalResources/Rules/civil/CivilProcedure.pdfhttp://www.supremecourt.ohio.gov/Publications/Depositions.pdfhttp://www.supremecourt.ohio.gov/Boards/CP/default.asphttp://www.instituteforcivility.org/who-we-are/what-is-civilityhttp://www.castellilaw.com/https://plus.google.com/u/0/102020672746013342778?rel=authorhttp://youtu.be/I_fxNu_MRCohttp://youtu.be/I_fxNu_MRCo


14/35

O L T social media

Don't Destroy Your Persona/Injury Claim

With Your Personal Social Mediay Seth Price PostsBy now most everyone with a digital presence hasheard the warning multiple times

Whether you're a student, an employee,or a business operator , you're likelyaware that posting status updates,tweets or photos that depict you actingirresponsibly could cause you unwantedtrouble in your public life.

Assuming you pay attention to yourown social media activities and thosewith whom you're connected, it's relatively easy to determine which postsand statuses are free of risk and which

might cause you problems. For mostresponsible people who've been usingthe nternet for more than a little while,all it takes is a little common sense.

But in the legal system, and personalinjury cases in particular, the thresholdstarts to become much smaller when weexamine what sorts of behaviors aresafe. Certainly, most forward-think

ing people would hesitate before tweeting about being intoxicated in public, orposting pictures that show them ridinga motorcycle without a helmet. But ifyou're a personal injury plaintiff, theseare far from the only avenues by whichsocial media can jeopardize your claimto restitution. Depending on the detailsof your injury claim, status updates,photos and various other online activities even one that seem innocuous to

October 2 13

the everyday observer, can offer evidence that will destroy your case.

s soon as you become part of a person-al injury case, you enter a situation inwhich the opposing side will attempt todiscredit your claim in any way possible. One of the greatest advantages to

obtaining legal representation as soonas you can is to guard you againstmaking mistakes that might imperilyour claim. Most injury victims who'veread a few lawyer sites know theyshould avoid making statements to insurance adjusters or representatives ofthe defendants . Most know they shouldbe wary of discussing the details of theircase with anyone other than their ownattorneys. With such a large portion ofour everyday lives now depicted online,however, even the most routine activities can be used to undermine yourclaim to compensation.

Let's suppose, for example, that youbreak an ankle in a slip and fall accident . f you pose for a picture whilebeing supported by a friend, the opposition might be able to argue .... contd)

Page 3


15/35

O L T soci l medi

Don t Destroy Your Persona/Injury ClaimWith Your Personal Social Media Posts contd

in the future that you were able to standon your own, thus calling into questionthe severity of your injuries. For non-economic damages, such as pain andsuffering, social media becomes evenmore potentially destructive. In theseinstances, even the most mundane details, such as your facial expressions inphotos, can be used by the defendant 'sattorneys to argue that the accident did

not cause as much damage as you areclaiming to your happiness or the quality of your life.

These tactics are not just hypothetical;they come up frequently in personalinjury suits, often with case-altering results. Consider the story of a personalinjury claimant in Gwinnett County,Georgia. The plaintiff, a 22-year oldhairstylist who had broken an arm andsuffered a laceration to her forehead ina car accident, said that her injuries hadkept her away from work and causedher pain and suffering. The damageamount awarded by the jury, initially

237,000, was lowered to 142,000

after the defense presented the jurorswith an account of the plaintiffs Twitteractivities following her injury. She hap-pily tweeted about being able to carry apurse with the arm that had previouslybeen broken, and in further updates referred to an epic weekend spent inNew Orleans and posted photos withfriends on the beach. Both thedefendant 's and plaintiffs attorneyslater agreed that her Twitter activitieshad damaged the credibility of her case.

October 2 13

Even if you don't offer any evidence thatcan be used against you by the opposinglawyers , your social media activities canstill threaten the value of your settlement. For example in the Georgia caseabove, the plaintiffs attorney, while insisting that none of his client 's Twitterposts had contradicted the earlier statements she made about the injuries, admitted that her activities may have madethe jury less sympathetic.

~ t i l

e s o

The safest suggestion for personal injury

victims is to stay off social media altogether until the case is successfully litigated , but unfortunately - even whenpresented with the stakes - not everyclaimant is willing to heed this advice.Especially for those in their twenties oryounger who've grown up with the Internet, the prospect of deactivating theirFacebook account or halting all tweetsmay be unthinkable. If after having hadthe possible consequences explained tothem , your personal injury client is still

contd)

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16/35

O L T social media

Don t Destroy Your Personal Injury laimWith Your Personal Social Media Posts contd

unwilling to suspend his or her socialmedia accounts, encourage them to atleast audit them thoroughly.

This Means

Adjusting settings to make their profiles private and non-searchable.

Not accepting friend requests fromanyone they do not know personally,and de-friending or blocking anyonethey do not seriously trust.

Not uploading photos or videos anytime between the moment of theinjury and the resolution of theclaim. f such items have alreadybeen uploaded, they should be takendown as soon as possible.

Being extremely wary about whattheir friends and acquaintances post,especially if those users have publicprofiles. Sometimes a friend mayunknowingly tag a plaintiff in a postor photo that later gives the opposi

tion the opportunity to discredit hisor her claim.

. . Not discussing any element relatedto the case with anyone online. Thisobviously includes the discussionsclaimants have with their lawyers ,but also includes any details pertaining to the accident , the injury , or theplaintiffs recovery. Posting anything about recovering well, for instance, can cause serious problemslater on when a judge or a jury istrying to determine what a plaintiffis owed.

As more and more of our daily lives getwrapped up in the internet, there is lessand less conscious thought that what wepost online instantly and permanentlyenters the watchful eye of the public.With opposing attorneys seizing any op

portunity to fight a claim, a conversation on safe, responsible use of socialmedia needs to be a staple of the attorney-client relationship in a personalinjury case. The minimal message aclient should take away is this - don tpost anything online if you don t wantthe other side to see it.

Sources: Technorati

Seth Price is a founding partner of Price, Benowitz LLP, a prominentpersonal injury law firm based in Washington, D.C. with offices inVirginia and Maryland. You can find more information on hislaw firm at: http:/ www .pricebenowitzlaw .com/

October 2 13 age 5
http://technorati.com/social-media/article/partying-tweets-sink-damages-award-for/http://technorati.com/social-media/article/partying-tweets-sink-damages-award-for/https://plus.google.com/114818476821928652969http://www.pricebenowitzlaw.com/http://www.pricebenowitzlaw.com/http://www.pricebenowitzlaw.com/http://www.pricebenowitzlaw.com/http://www.pricebenowitzlaw.com/http://www.pricebenowitzlaw.com/http://www.pricebenowitzlaw.com/http://www.pricebenowitzlaw.com/https://plus.google.com/114818476821928652969http://technorati.com/social-media/article/partying-tweets-sink-damages-award-for/


17/35

C.O.L .T . attorney fee sharing

thical Rules on ttorney dvertising& Fee Sharing Get Tested in Rhode IslandPerhaps the most significant y David Slepkow

case regarding the ethical implications o out ostate attorney advertising and attorney to attorneyreferral fees in personal injury cases derives fromthe little State o Rhode Island.In re application for Registration by the Law offices of James Sokolove , LLC,

was a heavily fought out spat between abunch of local Providence area injurylawyers aga in st James Sokoloves' well-oiled national advertising machine. TheOcean State Lawyers who battled JamesSokolove all th e way to th e Top Tribu-nal in Rhode Island are some of th e bestknown and experienced Injury Attor-neys RI has to offer. Apparently, these

big name local Injury players did notwant Sokolove's Law Firm, th e modernday Goliath, competing on their turf.

The Sokolove Law Firm

According to a 2 0 0 9 GroundbreakingSokolove expose by Boston Magazine:

In 2 0 0 7 Sokolove

"paid over 2 0 mi ll ion to promote. his firm, twice as much as the next-biggest spender .

Sokolove's firm is currently keeping. tabs on some 1 0 , 0 0 0 open cases . Ap-proximately 3 0 0 , 0 0 0 calls and e-mails come into his office each year,more than at any other firm .

October 2 13

~ l ?{

{1 t

p } ; J

J;;tSynopsis of Rhode Island Injury

Lawyer's Battle to Keep James So-

kolove From Opening a RI LawFirm:

The lawyers in Rhode Island wagedbattle with James Sokolove on threefronts to keep him out of Rhode Island.

The first front was an initia l complaint,

filed with the Disciplinary Counsel andreferred to th e Disciplinary Board, al-leged that Sokolove's television andprint advertisements vio lated numerousprovisions of the Rules of ProfessionalConduct, specif ically tho se concerningattorney adver ti sing when th e lawy er isnot licensed to practice law in RhodeIsland. Id. This complaint was dis-mi ssed by a screeni ng panel summar ily.I d .

contd)

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18/35

C.O.L T ttorney fee sh ring

Ethical Rules on ttorney Advertising& Fee Sharing Get Tested in Rhode Island

After the dismissal, the second front was

immediately filed which was "a complaint with the UPLC, essentially alleging the same violations that had beenraised before the disciplinary proceedings." I d. The UPLC is the UnauthorizedPractice of Law Committee. Their efforts were thwarted once again. According to the RI Supreme Court decision:"The UPLC found that there was prob-able cause to proceed; however , Sokolove and his counsel met informally withthe UPLC and reached an informal reso-lution agreement" Id.

The third and final attempt played outon the front pages of the local newspapers and in front of the RI Supreme

Court. In 2 0 0 9 these Attorneys dug in aproverbial trench in in their last stand infront of the highest court in the state,The RI Supreme Court The petit ionthat was filed by these injury attorneysstated that they were, "objecting to theapplication of the respondent, JamesSokolove (Sokolove), to register andpractice law as a Rhode Island limited liability entity (Sokolove Law, LLC)" I d .

In the end, Sokolove was allowed toopen a personal Injury law firm inRhode Island when the Court clearly andsuccinctly declared "We approve the application." Id. These accident lawyers

appeared to have lost all the battles andthe war when the Court rejected their ar-guments and allowed Sokolove 's lawfirm to do business in Rhode Island

October 2 13

contdin January 2010 .

This litigation raises the question ofwhether the time and funds expendedwould have been better used competingwith Sokolove rather than trying to banhis firm from the State.

Court Opines on Fee Splittingetween Lawyers and ttorney

dvertising

Most states, including Rhode Island,follow the Model Rules of ProfessionalConduct from the American Bar Association to some degree or another in

drafting their own rules as to how attor-neys may advertise and divide case fees.B Model Rule 1.5 (e) states as follows:

"(e) A division of a fee between lawyerswho are not in the same firm may bemade only if:

1) the division is in proportion to theservices performed by each lawyer oreach lawyer assumes joint responsibility for the representation ;

2) the client agrees to the arrange-ment, including the share eachlawyer will receive, and the agreement is confirmed in writing; and

3) the total fee is reasonable."

contd)

Page 17


19/35


20/35

O L T attorney fee sharing

Ethical Rules on ttorney dvertising contd& Fee Sharing Get Tested in Rhode Island"joint responsibility" for the cases, etc. I t is also crucial to know whether that par-

ticular state bar association requires disclaimers for such ads in the event that thereferring attorney will not actually be handling the claim from start to finish.

David Slepkow is an attorney in Rhode Island and a foundingmember of the Circle of Legal Trust. He writes on various legaltopics of interest for family law, criminal defense and personalinjury. His personal injury blogs can be found at the followingURLs: www.ripersonalinjurylaw.com andwww.rhodeislandpersonalinjuryattorneyblog.com

Editor s Hot TipNo Time To Blog ? Try A Little Content Curation

No matter whether your goal is to rank well in the organic search results, s tay fresh in theminds of your potential referral sources and clients or both, every attorney must continue toput out original, relevant content on the internet to be noticed. One of the best tools fordoing this is blogging. The problem is that lawyers are not full time marketers and we haveto also engage in the practice of law and, hopefully, have some time for family and a personallife. So, what can you do when you don't have an extra 2 3 hours in a week to research, draft,edit and publish a full length 7 0 0 to 1 0 0 0 word) blog post?

One solution I have found is what is termed "content curation" or what I call "blogging-lite".f you can find relevant news articles, blogs from other attorneys, information from resource

websites and other information that is both interesting and relevant to your practice area,you can provide some, brief commentary or insight about the piece, share it on social mediaand it has almost as much effectiveness as a full blog post. This can be done on various plat

forms including your main practice blog, through content curation tools likehttp:/ /www.scoop.it or setting up micro-blogs that are separate from your main practice blogon a platform like: http:/ jwww.blogspot.com or http:/ jwww.wordpress.com that can focuson a "niche" within your practice area. An example would be to find a recent news articleabout car safety or accident claims, provide insight from your own perspective as a personalinjury lawyer, and publicize the piece through all your social media outlets like your firmFacebook page, your Google plus profile or business page, your Linkedin personal or business profile, etc. Here are some recent illustrations of what I have done:http:/ jwww.scoop.it/t/ california-car-accident-and-injury-attorney http:/ jvictimslawyercalifornia.blogspot.com/

These types of posts take about 1 0 to 15 minutes as opposed to several hours for a full blogpost. Because you are sharing the content of others and just commenting upon it, you can stillget your message out even in a time crunch week

October 2 13 age 9
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21/35

O L T ury secrets reve led

Information That Is ept From Juries inPersona Injury Trials: Secrets Revealed

y Matt Dolman

Many people assume that juries participating in apersonal injury or wrongful death case have all the .information relevant to deciding the case on the mer1ts

That s not entirely true

In fact, some information i s deliberatelykept away from th e juries by th e Courts.

In Florida, there is a long standing rulethat forbids a Plaintiff from telling ajury about th e defendant's insurancecoverage in personal injury trials. Carl sMarkets, Inc. v Meyer, 69 So.2d789,793 (Fla.1953). Consequently, bigin suranc e companies hid e behind la ws

such as FL Statute 627.4136 , the Non-Joinder of Insurers Statute. Non-Joinder is defined as omi tting a party orcause of action that shou ld have beenincluded in the lawsuit. In a nutshell,the Non-Joinder Statute shields the in-surance company's name and involv e-ment during tri a l In other words members of the jury are kept from anyknowledge of the at faultdriver's insuranc e coveragewhatsoever.

Plaintiffs can only be namedin a personal capacity whensuit is filed. For example, ifthe Defendant has USAA

Insurance, USAA cannot benamed as a party even thoughth ey are defending th e claim.They can t be named as a

October 2 13

party eve n though th ey are paying forthe attorney's fees, medical experts, andverdict.

Before trial, this rule gives insurancecompanies another reason to fight in-jured people and rely on sympathy forth eir insured to ask for artificially low erse tt l emen t s and force people to trialwhen they shouldn t be doing so. Evenbefore a trial takes place, these insurance companies are determining howmuch money is being offered and notthe person who caused the accident.

At trial , th e insurance companies useth i s law and portray the Defendant verysympathetically. It is believed thatjuries will be hesitant to award damagesgreater than that which th e Defendantcan afford. (contd)


22/35

O L T jury secrets reve led

Information That Is ept From Juries inPersona/Injury Trials: Secrets Revealed contd

y Matt Dolman

Verdicts are low so as not to bankruptthe Defendant, while the jurors are un-aware that it is actually the insurancecompanies, and not th e personal Defendant, who is paying th e injur ed party.

Because of this law, insurance companies can hir e th e same doctor repeat-ed ly to conduct a compulsory medicalexamination of Plaintiff. These doctorsare consistently used by the insurancecompanies, and almost always renderopinions th at favor defendants in litigation. Often an insurance company canhire a doctor and pay them over a thou-sand dollars for an exam ination thattak es less than 3 0 minutes to perform.

Some medical providers are hired hun-dreds of times within the same year byth ese in surance companies. Some earnmore than half a million dollars a yearperforming litigation exams for Defendant insurance companies. Some doctor s earn million s annually for th eiropinions in personal injury claims.

A prime example of an insurancecompany s hired hand would be Dr.Michael J. Katz, a New York orthopedistwho conducted over a thousand medicallegal exams every year for insurancecompanies. He was frequently hired to

defend personal injury cases.t

was revealed through a secret video that although Dr. Katz testified that his inde-pendent medical exam inations took1 0 2 0 minut es on a particular Plaintiff,the exam actually took less than 2 min-utes. There was no way that Dr. Katzcould ve made all th e finding s he tes tified about within that short period oftime. This doctor made over a milliondollars a year just from his medicallega l practice . Unfortunately, circumstances lik e what happened to Dr. Katzprobably happen regularly in the context of medical expert/insurance company relations.

So if you are ever called to jury duty ona personal injury or wrongful death case , remember th ese two things:

1) the doctor performing the examination on the injured part y or testifyingas to th e ir injuries is lik ely paid by th einsurance company to regularly givetestimony in hundreds of cases and2) the named defendant might be thedriver, but th ey are not th e personoverseeing th e law su it , paying th e at-torneys, paying the doctors, or evenpaying the injured party. That wouldbe th e Insurance Company.

Matthew Dolman is a we ll-r ecognized personal injur y trial lawyerbased in the Tampa-St. Peter sburg, L area. He is one of the originalfounding members of the Circle of Legal Trust. For more informationon him or his practice, The Dolman Law Group, visit his website here:http:/ jwww.dolmanlawgroup.com

October 2 13 Page 2
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23/35

C O L T advertisement

Could PenguinPound Your Site to PiecesThey re cute and cuddly in our zoos but on theweb there s one Penguin who could kill your

website with one swipe o f his flipper.The Google Penguin update is Google s mass attack on sites with manipulative-looking link pro-files. Google has been aware for a long time that many sites have employed manipulative andspammy linkbuilding techniques in an attempt to manipulate search rankings. Penguin is designedto detect these link patterns, and where it finds anything that looks suspicious, penalize the sitewith a severe drop in rankings.

And that means less traffic ... and less business.

Even worse, if your site has accumulated a lot of incoming links over the years, you may be indanger of a Penguin penalty and not even know it. And if you have been intentionally buildinglinks, no matter how careful you were, you might be in even worse danger.

Until now all you could do is watch your rankings and traffic and hope Penguin overlooked you.Until Penguin Analysis

Penguin Analysis s a new tool that lets you know your probable risk of being hit by a Penguinpenalty. Using highly advanced statistical methodologies, we analyzed hundreds of sites withknown Penguin penalties, and identified over 60 factors that likely contributed to their being hit.Penguin Analysis takes your site and your most important keywords and returns a Penguin Vul-nerability Score PVS). A high positive PVS may mean that your site has an above-average risk ofgetting hit by Google Penguin.

But there s more: you can receive an optional report that will provide you with actionable stepsyou can take to reduce your PVS and decrease the likelihood that Penguin will stomp on your site.

Get started on your Penguin Analysis today at http:/ /www.penguinanalysis.com

Penguin Analysis s an innovation of Remove em , the leading Penguin recovery tool, and ViranteSearch Marketing

October 2 13
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24/35

C.O.L.T. attorney marketing

Effective Attorney Marketing in theDigital World for 2 14

By Gerrid Smith

and BeyondYou d?n t need me to tell y u that marketing isn twhat 1t used to be. Just a few decades ago capital

was all y u needed to get your name out there.Drop a stack of cash into a nationaltelevision ad campaign, and everyone

would know your name in a few weeks.Run an ad through a few major magazines, and your target audience wouldthink of you when they had need foryour services. The strategy was simple.Pick one of about five advertising avenues, and then beat it to death withwads of cash.

In today's world, there are no moremarketing guarantees. The sheer quantity and vast diversity of media consumed by the public makes effectivemarketing more like performing a delicate surgery than bashing in a pinata.Throwing money at your marketingproblems won't fix anything. The digital

age requires a much craftier approach,and if you want to be effective, it startswith financial efficiency.

Make Every Dollar Pay

Everydollar

youput into your market

ing campaign is an investment. Everydollar needs to be tracked, scrutinized,and optimized so that you are makingthe smartest decisions possible withyour limited capital. I spoke with a lawfirm the other day, one of the largest ofits kind in the state where they practice.They have hundreds of city pages, welloptimized practice area pages, and awide variety of niche websites. I askedthe managing partner, what is yourconversion rate"? and he answered"honestly, Gerrid, I have no idea". I'mnot talking about some solo law firmhere; I'm talking about the largest firmof its kind in the state - over 3 attorneys working across the entire state.

Five years ago, this was an acceptableanswer - but not anymore. With toolslike Google Analytics , Captorra , fEyPhone call tracking, etc. we should constantly be tracking and acquiring abetter understanding of our marketingcampaigns, their overall effectiveness,

and the specific ROI's they are producing. We have statistics available on asecond-by-second basis, (contd)

Page23
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25/35

O L T ttorney m rketing

Effective ttorney Marketing in theDigital World for 2014 and Beyond

contd.

yet we're not maximizing, or in some

cases even utilizing, th ese tools to th eirfullest potential.

Establishing trust with resourcecenters and niche websites .

No attorney has grasped this conceptbetter than Jonathan Rosenfeld ofRosenfeldlnjuryLawyers.com. WhenJonathan develops a website, his goal isto create the most authoritative websitein that niche. When Jonathan wants totarg et a niche on his website, such as"car accidents", he doesn t create a caraccident page; he creates a car accidentresource center, with 10-15 pages on th etopic , in order to help es tabli sh him se lfas a car accident expert in the eyes ofusers (improving his conversions) andGoogle (improving his traffic)

Think about it this way: if your childwas injured during the birthing process,would you hir e a law firm that had asi ngl e page on hi s/ her website aboutbirth injuries, or would you hire the

firm with an entire collection of birthinjury articles and resources, designedto h elp you get through an incr ed iblydifficult process?

October 2 13

Maximizing every dollar spentwith conversion optimization

Increasing your conversion rat e increases the effectiveness of all marketing channels (social media, PPC,SEO ... etc). Place a dollar value on everyvisitor that comes to your website.These aren t bots reading your in ormation, these are prospects that need yourservices Why aren 't you convertingmore visitors into clients? What can youdo to better explain the services youprovide and make your prospectiveclient feel that your firm is th e rightfirm for th e job?

Competition is increasing. Your com

petitors are getting sma rt er. Stopspending all your tim e getting people toyour website, and start focusing onwhat you can do to get more peoplecontacting your firm once th ey arrive.The tim e, energy, and resources youspend on the conversion process willmaximize the ROI of every dollar you'vealready spe nt on getting people to yoursi t e.

I've also noticed that conversion optimization n eeds to happen within th elaw firm as well. Most law firms onlytrack leads that become intakes. Whatabout the person who called your firmto ask about your expe ri ence with birth

injury cases, but due to less- th anknowledgeable intake personnel, hungup and called a competing firm. contd)

Page 2 4
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26/35

O L T ttorney m rketing

Effective Attorney Marketing in the contdDigital World for 2014 and Beyond

We ha ve known for awhile that mobileDo you track your inte:nal o n v e r ~ i o n sresponsive is important , yet so few at-Do you put equa l care Into arranging torn ey websites are truly responsive.every s tep of the conversion process? When a customer pulls up yo ur site onYou simply cannot afford any weak his or her smartphone, it's not going tolinks. matter that your website cost you

You can spe nd 50 per click to getsomeone onto your site and even maintain thousands of dollars in well-writtencopy across your site's pages, but if ittakes you an entir e 2 hours to follow upon a site-generated lead, recent studies say you've already lost that expensivelead Look at your conversion rate fromevery angle and seek to maximize th eeffectiveness of yo ur website, and subsequently, your law firm. Again, yousi mply cannot afford weak link s in th e

conversion process.

Don't forget mobile

Many of your prospective clients willnever again type "Los Angeles personalinjury lawyer" into Google on theirdesktop computer. Nowadays, thatsearch will occur while they are sittingon their sofa browsing their iPad oriPhon e. They might sk ip Google altogether and simp ly say, "Siri, f i n ~~ apersonal injury lawyer that p e c i a l ~ z e ~in birth injuries". Thanks to Apple s history as a market leader, this featurecould become a complete game-changerfor us. Regardless, long-tail searches

are the future, as Google's latest update with Hummingbird demonstrated

October 2 13

so,ooo eight years ago . Poor usabilityon mobile devices will kill your chancesof converting mobile traffic. Five yearsago, ignoring mobil e traffic might not .

hav e hurt your bottom line. But today ISanother story. In most law niches,12-20% of Web traffic is mobile.12-20% We can't afford to wait anylonger A non-responsive website is,simply put, an extremely poor reason tomiss out on even 10% of web-generatedbusiness.

Develop a better s les processon your website

SalesForce, the billion-dollar, publiclytrad ed "an ti- so ftwar e" RM company,perfected the sa les process through theuse of sales specialists. When you callthe company, you don't speak to a mini

mum wage call-center t ech, you speakto Joe, an int entionally-plac ed specia list tasked with delivering a compellingoverview of the company's services.Joe's job is simply to better und ers tandyour n eeds and match tho se n eeds withthe appropriate service. Once thoseneeds have been uncovered - once Joeunderstands exac tly why you are calling, not simp ly wha t you are callingabout -you are then transferred toSusan, who specializes in solving

contd)Page 5
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C O L T ttorney m rketing

Effective Attorney Marketing in the contdDigital World for 2014 and Beyond

. 3) Treat the sub pages of your web-the specific problem you're a c i n gDe- site as qualifying pages, both for Y?U

pending on the level of service you re- and the consumer. The consumer ISquire, a VP might even jump in on the trying to figure out if you can handlecall once you're ready to close the deal. a certain practice area . They

Now, think about how we setup ourwebsites for our visitors. Maybe someone lands on our homepage. Maybethey land on a practice area page or acity page. Is it possible for us to effectively detail our services on every pageof the website? Of course not. That'slike asking Joe to close in the above example. Joe knows the product, b ~ tit'sSusan job to fix your problem; I ts theVP's responsibility to close the sale. Sohow can we harness this proven strat-egy for the purpose of internet market

ing?

1) Understand that choosing a .lawyer is a big decision for your clients. Consumers are smarter nowthan ever before. They are used toresearching everything beforebuying. The days of customers calling because they remembered yourname from the TV jingle are longgone.

2) Don't give potential clients thehard close on every page of yourwebsite. Sure, include informationabout your firm and make your contact details readily available, but also

understand that the average consumer will want more info from youthan what can be provided on asingle web page.

October 2 13

searched Google for "city braininjury lawyer" and found your website. The goal is that they will readthrough your brain injury page andarrive at the conclusion that you do

indeed know a thing or two aboutbrain injuries.

4) For the consumer that wantsmore information on the firm" -give it to them End each page withyour contact information and f?rmore information, read the 7 thingsthat make our law firm different".This is where you send them to a"closing page." The closing page isSusan; i t 's the VP making your complete sales pitch. If the customer hasclicked-through to this page, he orshe is asking for the full argument.Communicate, in a personable, conversational tone, exactly what makes

your firm qualified, uniquen ~

mostimportantly, the very best h o i ~ etmeet your customer's need. Wnte Itlike you would write a letter to afriend. e genuine and sincere.Maybe even sign your name at theend of it. This is the page where youwant the reader to understand whoyou are, resonate with th e "why" ofyour firm (not just the what), andmake the phone call.

(contd)

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C O L T ttorney m rketing

Effective ttorney Marketing in theDigital World for 2014 and Beyond

contd.

Build your network and help others

The last thing I want to stress is that you are NOT alone. There are literally hundreds of attorneys and legal marketers active on Google+, and they are all helpingeach other succeed in today's digital marketplace through the Circle of Legal Trust (COLT) . The age of digital marketing may come with an abundance of new chal-lenges, but it also has its advantages. You can now connect and learn from attorneys across the U.S. to see what s working and what isn' t. You can exchange guestposts, reciprocate shares and +l s, and so much more. If you're ready to take thingsto the next level, join the group , get active, and let's build a smarter law practice ..together.

October 2 13

Gerrid Smith has been a law firm digital marketingstrategist for over six years. He runs SmithSEO and just started a new blog covering various as-pects of law marketing, o Black Fin . Questions?You can reach him by email or on Google+ .

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29/35

O L T negoti tion timing

In the rt of Negotiation at Mediationis Timing Everything?y Michael BhlineCan your case be settled or is there n impasse

In m y practice, which is primaril y a C ~ f o r n i ator t law practice , one of the most e w a r d i ~ gaswell as harrowing experiences, can be a p n v ~ t eor judge mediation. Attorne ys o ~ t e ? -q u e s ~ owhen a case does not settle in mediation . Th1s ss especiall y true when the parties spent significant mone y hiring a former judge, or professional mediator, since it drains re sources thatcould b e put to better use, like hotel fees for thatfar w ay jury trial in the case at bar.

ut wh y didn't the case settle? Was there oneoutstanding reason that the partie s could notcome to an agreement? In man y cases it can bethe old adage that timing is everything, _whichmeans that whether a case settles or not m mediation can be dependent on the timing of thenegotiations. It is similar to dating. o ~ do thedance, and at some point, the stars can line up.

Much of the literature about mediation focuseson the negotiation aspect, rather than ha ving information on the timing of the negotiations between the parties that can be ke y in it being awaste of time or havi ng a successful outcome.Going into mediation with parties that belie vethere s little to lose and it will not be a real financial burden taking the ca se to court if the ylose. T hen both parties will ha ve little incenti veto seriousl y negotiate a settlement. Often this isthe case that the leo al professional who is expe -o .rienced in mediation should realize that lt ma ybe of little benefit to attempt negotiating asettlement, since it is not the right time.

John Hopkins University professor I WilliamZartman said that the parties in volved in negotiations will settle basicall y if the y are in a costl ydilemma. (1.) Taking this advice, for attorne ysin an y practice area to be successful in settlingthrough mediation, the y will need to be able to

October 2013

read the situation, and create a a situation thatfocuses on the strength s of their own case, andthe weaknesses of the other side 's claim. Onceboth sides basicall y come to detente that nei

ther caseis

perfect, we can at least get thepa r

ties to focus on being mentall y read y to resolve the claim, and come out of their trenchesunder a flag of parla y.

O f course not all of these ca ses are theRambo C2-) type litigation as described abo ve,

but when mone y s in volved, the y often are. SoI am writing thi s piece, under the as sumptionthat both sides are ego driven, sharp, and co m

petiti ve, no matter how civil the y appear to be .A fter all, to b e a high le v el litigator, in bigdollar cases, both sides have alread y beenthrough ma n y hard fought campaigns, and arenot new to disco very battles, motions tocompel, and red faced arguments and s p e a k i n ~objections that often accompan y man y deposltions and oral arguments. This can often haveboth sides in a Mexican standoff. D efensecounsel, insurance adjustor, and plaintiffs at

torne y, all wanting different things from theother, and refusing to budge.contd)

Page 8


30/35

O L T negoti tion timing

In the rt of Negotiation at Mediation,is Timing Everything? contd.J

Z artman has c_oined a phra.se Mutuall y HurtingStalemate wh1ch he says s the first thing to

evaluate. This is one o f the factor s in determining when or i f the parties are read y to reach aresolution. What this phrase relates to is whenthe parties involved are not able to come to amutual decision and instead it is to overwhelming for both sides even i f there is not the sameamount of anguish. There is the legal aspect thatshould be considered the plaintiff and defendant as to whether litigation will cause them tos ~ f f e rpain. Conducting a cost -benefit analysiswill help to determine the emotional financialand the beneficial cost there ma y be in continuing litigation as compared to a medicated settlement.

One of the times that a mediation can be difficult to have a successful resolution is when theplaintiff feels the y have a strong case again st adefendant. The y have facts and documentationthat are not able to be disputed like in a car accident case where the laws are very clear andt h ~ r ewere multiple witnesses and video tapeev1dence. I t ma y be possible that the defendanthas little knowledge about traffic violations

October 2 13

even though they know there aretraffic laws. The defendant is not sure

how he violated these laws and has ne v er hadan y legal.dealings and his or her hourl y billing

attorne y snot

being realisticabout

the overwhelming evidence against the client with theclient or the adjustor.

The client may not even realize he or she hasany personal asset exposure even though itcould be great. I f that is the case the insurance~ ~ m p ny nor the client feels the expense tol i ~ g a t e~ case would not be costl y. Havingt ~ sbelief that the cost of litigation and aver

dict cost that is low will generall y make thiscase one that mediation is not going to be suc~ e s s f u l ~until both parties realize that they willmcur s1zable economical and emotional costduring litigation.

This can change i f the plaintiff understandsthat there ma y be sizeable costs associated withlitigation that could result in a deadlock. The~ ~ f e n ? a n tmust also recognize that this type o f

l i t ~ a t o nma y cause damage to their businessthe1r personal life and have a costl y verdict.

h e n a t t ~ r n

circle of legal trust journal

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