I’m a trial lawyer for injured people and businesses at The Beasley Firm, founded in 1958. Our clients have been awarded over $2 billion through hundreds of verdicts and settlements in excess of $1 million. We’re listed in Super Lawyers, Best Lawyers in America, U.S. News’s Top Lawyers, et cetera. The [...]
Doing The Best You Can As A Writer (Thoughts On The ABA Journal’s Blawg 100)
On Monday, the ABA Journal released its 6th annual “Blawg 100,” this time including your’s truly’s little home on the Internet. It is, to use the term I used two-and-a-half years ago to describe the benefits of writing a legal blog, “more pie,” and I’m always happy to receive more pie. If you’ve found my blog useful in your practice in the past, or just an interesting read, I’d be much obliged if you stopped over there and voted for me in the “Trial Practice” category. (As an aside, Pennsylvania lawyers cleaned up in the Trial Practice and Torts categories — four honorees combined, ... Continue Reading
Ethics, Civility, And The Aggressive Lawyer
You don’t have to go far to find a lawyer referring to himself or herself as “aggressive” or “tenacious” (though I have yet to see ads for a “bellicose” or “obstinate” lawyer). It’s not as common to see animals known for aggression (like the Honey Badger) since the Florida Supreme Court said it was an ethical violation for a law firm’s television commercials to make reference to pit bulls in The Florida Bar v. Pape, but there are still plenty of "bulldog lawyers" out there. It's not hard to see the intent behind self-described “aggressive” lawyers, who tend to ... Continue Reading
The Black Swan Solo Practice Business Model That Will Bankrupt You
There is no shortage of information on the Internet about how to start a solo or very small law practice, perhaps because there are too many recent law graduates unable to find firm jobs and so become “suddenly solo” young lawyers, and I don't mean to add more general advice to that big pile. I’ve never been a solo practitioner; I am, however, responsible for my own cases and accountable for my own revenues and expenses, and I have also seen my fair share of other lawyers who struck out to be solos and then, well, struck out. In ... Continue Reading
The Lawyer As Ambulance Chaser
Few insults draw the ire of personal injury lawyers like “ambulance chaser.” Unlike “trial lawyer,” which business interests have been trying to turn into a slur for years — despite the fact that the term means little to non-lawyers and, among lawyers, can be a compliment for both plaintiff’s and defendant’s counsel — “ambulance chaser” is unambiguously derogatory, implying a mixture of greed, desperation, and exploitation. The term is doubly insulting because it strikes at the part of our work that is the most emotionally challenging and is the source of our greatest pride: the fact that we are trying ... Continue Reading
Horace Hunter And The Sham Lawyer Advertising Disclaimer
The legal blogosphere spent a good deal of time discussing Horace F. Hunter last October, when the Virginia State Bar sanctioned him for the terrible ethical violation of truthfully describing his own successes — which were all a matter of public record — on his blog. Said the Washington Post: Bar authorities contend the blog constitutes advertisement and should include a disclaimer saying it’s an ad. Hunter argues the blog is news and commentary, and the bar’s attempt to get him to tack on a disclaimer is a violation of his First Amendment rights. At least that's what all of ... Continue Reading
How To Excel At The Basics As A Young Litigator
A year ago, I posted the Young Lawyer’s Guide To Legal Marketing. My thoughts haven't changed, i.e., find a mentor and then "build your practice the way you’d built a cake store or a plumbing business: through superior quality, exceptional customer service, making calls and wearing down your shoe leather. Get your name out there and make sure it’s associated with quality." And be generous with your time. Within that post I quoted another article with ten lawyer marketing tips for young attorneys, which began with "#1 - Excel at the Basics." Let's elaborate on how young litigators improve their "basics." 1. What Not To Work ... Continue Reading
The Benefits Of Being Generous With Your Time
Yesterday, a pizza. A few weeks ago, a bouquet of flowers. A few months ago, a pound of yerba mate with a calabash gourd and a bombilla. And a bunch of thank you notes. As a lawyer, I like to think that my work solves people's problems or at least makes things a little better, but the pizza, bouquet, and yerba mate were all gifts I received from people whose problems I did not solve. There's a nice take-out-only pizza and hoagies around here, and one day a few months ago the owner asked me, you're a lawyer, right? I ... Continue Reading
Chamber of Commerce Swings And Misses At Plaintiffs’ Lawyer Advertising
Just when I was going to write a substantive post about a recent New Jersey Supreme Court opinion, the leading propagandist for the Fortune 500, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, came in and released a new report about online advertising by trial lawyers. Tort reform and lawyer marketing in one article? I can't miss that. (An aside: don't kid yourself that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce cares the slightest bit about small business. The Chamber is the most anti-free-market lobbying group in the country, an organization dedicated to ensuring the biggest corporations in the country stay that way, squashing small ... Continue Reading
The Real Risks Of Writing A Legal Blog
Over at the North Carolina Law Blog, Jim Dedman, proprietor of Abnormal Use (and friend of this blog) writes about a perceived risk of writing a law blog: that your opponents may take the things you write and use them against you in court. I agree with Jim entirely that there isn’t much reason to worry about that, not least because of the low odds that you will actually say something your opponent could really use against you in court. I believe in what I do as a lawyer and so my thoughts expressed on this blog are usually consistent with ... Continue Reading
Susan G. Komen, March of Dimes, and Corruption by Branding
[Update, February 3, 2012: The Komen Foundation reversed its decision. That's of course the right decision; the question now is if they will publicly explain how they came to make such an obvious mistake, and why they dishonestly denied the influence of politics in making the decision.] If by chance you read this blog but live under a rock, earlier this week the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, Inc., cut all grant funding for Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Inc. For some reason the Susan G. Komen Foundation claims the decision wasn't political even though, of course, it was. This isn't ... Continue Reading
