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Former LegalMatch CEO takes the reigns at Casepost.

I didn’t blog about Randy Wells’ departure from LegalMatch (covered here by Kevin O’Keefe), but Randy called me this afternoon and told me he is taking the CEO position at Casepost.  Frequent readers of this blog know my original opinion of LegalMatch, but Randy extended the olive branch to me, and because of him, I have gotten to know a lot of the fine people at LegalMatch.

Now that Randy has gone to LegalMatch’s chief competitor, it is going to be a very interesting time in the lawyer-client matching industry.  I don’t know enough about Casepost to offer an opinion, but I like Randy and wish him the best.  He asked me to share the full press release so here it is:

Download immediate_release_7.29.05.pdf

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Five by Five Redux: Kirsten Osolind

First up in the Five by Five this week is Kirsten Osolind, the CEO and "Kinda Cool Chick" of re:invention, inc. re:invention offers marketing services for women-led businesses. Kirsten writes the re:invention blog, "a fun, flippant BLOG with points of interest about women & small business."

Now, for Kirsten's amazing answers to my first Five by Five questions:

What are the five worst mistakes a lawyer can make when marketing to a potential female client?

1. During your first encounter, suggest your inspiration and role model is Arnie on ”L.A. Law” or Reese Witherspooon in “Legally Blonde.”
2. Don’t bother sharing the possible adverse consequences if her case is lost.
3. Be “time stingy” and only allocate 5 minutes for her initial consultation (time IS afterall, money).
4. Forget to market to her in her world (i.e., don’t attend women’s events or write columns for women’s publications). Avoid all “gals only” networking events and media because they make you squeamish. Eeew!
5. Be openly inflexible about your billing or refuse to return any unused portion of her retainer (i.e., Be like Daffy Duck. “It’s mine! Mine! All mine!”)

Alternatively, what are the five best things a lawyer can do to secure a female's LONG-TERM business?

1. Identify a problem, suggest a solution, and show her examples of how it will work.
2. Promise to work hard for her, even if you can’t promise or guarantee you will win.
3. Make her feel comfortable during her first appointment and reserve plenty of time to discuss the details of her case.
4. Be a good teacher and take the time to educate her about the legal environment of her business. She’ll know you have her best interests at heart.
5. Explain your fee arrangements (no hidden fees) and give her a “freebie” every now and then. Heck yes I said a freebie. A freebie every now and again will keep her coming back for more.

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Grace at Two and a Half

Whenever I run into someone who reads my blog, their first comment is almost always, “You’ve got to post more pictures of your daughter.”  Well, here you go.  The first is from a few weeks ago in Santa Barbara.  The second is at Legoland on the Fourth of July.

Grace in Santa Barbara

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To the Moon, Alice!

Check out Google Moon on this, the anniversary of the first manned moon landing.  If you think the folks at Google haven’t lost their sense of humor, go ahead and zoom all the way in on the map for the highest level of detail. 

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Don't Do This, Do This Instead ...

I was reading this fascinating summary of the SENG Conference over on the Eide Neurolearning Blog.  The post’s author collects some great advice for parents of gifted children, though much of the advice is equally applicable for all parents.  One piece of advice from Dr. Paul Beljan really struck me:

Don't just say, "don't do this" - give children a positive alternative - "don't do this, do this instead..."

Now, replace the word “children” with “clients” and you’ll start to see what struck me.  Lawyers are often thought of by clients as deal breakers.  Next time your client is about to do something unwise, give them an alternative.  Show them you are thinking about making their businesses better.  Tell them, “Don’t do this, do this instead …”

And for parents, the entire post is worth a read.  The other great pieces of advice from Dr. Beljan I know I’ll be trying with Grace are:

[T]he 'Zen of Bean Sorting' - Children are given a calming and pleasant sensory task when they lose control or can't regulate their impulses. Privileges are suspended until the beans are sorted.

For time-outs, don't use a clock. Use the same words every time. "When you're quiet, you can come out."

Be careful how you talk. Be instructive with requests - "Put this in your room", not "Can you pick this up?"

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Pleasing None of the People None of the Time

In this post Kathy Sierra, who writes the tremendous Creating Passionate Users blog, explains why “featuritis” is so bad: 

… continuing to pile on new features eventually leads to an endless downhill slide toward poor usability and maintenance. A negative spiral of incremental improvements. Fighting and clawing for market share by competing solely on features is an unhealthy, unsustainable, and unfun way to live.

Though Kathy is talking about software and other consumer products, I think the lesson is a valid one for professionals.  You can’t be everything to everybody, so stop trying. 

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Electronic Discovery in a Nutshell

After spending some time on the vendor floor of LA LegalTech, I realized I couldn’t swing a dead cat without hitting at least five competing Electronic Discovery vendors.  There is a reason for all of this money being spent in the sector, of course, because if you attend a seminar on electronic discovery you will be scared shXXless.  Talking to a few vendors, I was reminded of this recent post on Engadget about the lovely cycle that keeps some of these companies in business:

Usher’s posting is sure to set off a wave of panic among nervous execs who will in turn hassle their IT managers, who will in turn hire high-priced consultants to come in and upgrade their network security, which will in turn be broken by bored teenagers in Russia, which will be reported on by us and other blogs, which will then be repeated by the mainstream media in a tone of nervous excitement, setting off a wave of panic among nervous execs who will…

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Some Great Questions for (and from) Managers

Jeffrey Phillips writes about change in his Thinking Faster Blog and suggests a great question we all should be asking ourselves:

What would happen if in your yearly or quarterly review the "boss" asked you the following question - "What changes have you made to the way you work, and the way the organization works, to make it and you more productive?"  If change is no longer thrust upon the individual but becomes an expected action and is compensated appropriately, the pace of change will increase dramatically. 

Each of us needs to identify the areas of our work life where real change is possible and begin working everyday to make the incremental improvements which will help ourselves - and our companies - become more productive.  If you manage people, be sure to ask them - what are you doing differently today to become more productive?  If you work with business partners or vendors, ask them - what can you do to help us become more efficient and productive. 

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A Brilliant Idea to Make Meetings Better

Jeffrey Phillips, writing in his Thinking Faster Blog, has a great idea to make meetings better.  He calls it Just in Time Meeting Attendance:

Rather than show up for a meeting and sit through the entire thing, demand that the meeting have an agenda and that the facilitator or leader of the meeting stick as closely to the agenda as possible.  When the parts of the meeting you need or want to attend are complete, get up and leave.  I know this may sound a bit rude, but is it really worth your time and your sanity to simply continue to sit in meetings where stuff is being discussed that a) is not relevant for you b) you don't have anything to add to or c) you could care less about? 

Many of us stay in meetings where there's little left for us to do simply out of fear that leaving will be interpreted as lack of interest  or for fear we'll get assigned stuff if we are not there to defend our turf.  But that's not the best use of your time, now is it?

Imagine holding a meeting where the agenda was tight and you could enter or leave as you were needed.  Imagine being confident that you could enter a meeting 30 minutes after it started, show up just in time to deliver news or listen to the part of the meeting you needed to, and then leave when there was no real reason to remain.  That would be true just in time meeting attendance.

I absolutely love it!

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The [non]billable hour is looking for an office.

I miss my office.  While I’m in California (where my wife has taken a year-long job assignment), I’ve been working from our apartment.  While I knew I’d miss the social interaction, I never thought I’d miss having a “place” to go to work. 

Well, after two months, I realize that working in the corner of our small apartment’s living room isn’t cutting it.  I need an office — if just for three to four hours per day.  So, if you have a bit of extra office space (or know someone who does), and are located in the Burbank area, let me know.

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Legalmatch and Me

Of all of the amazing things that have happened to me because of this blog, perhaps the most interesting (and hardest to explain) is my relationship with LegalMatch. 

Back in April 2004 I wrote a short post titled Why I’ll Never Use LegalMatch, in which I took the company to task for its sales tactics.  I’d been writing this blog for a few months and thought nothing of the post or the title.  The post attracted (and continues to attract) dozens of comments about LegalMatch — some positive, but most negative.  I followed up the original post with several more, including some interesting give-and-take with LegalMatch executives.  Ultimately, I received an offer from LegalMatch CEO Randy Wells to meet him in New York.  The result of that meeting was this Apology from LegalMatch posted on my blog. 

LegalMatch next asked me to come to San Francisco to visit their offices and meet with their people.  I got a peek inside LegalMatch’s technology, met some of the company’s people, and extended an invitation to Randy Wells to come to LexThink. 

After LexThink, Randy asked if we (my LexThink partners Dennis Kennedy, Sherry Fowler and I) would do a “private” LexThink event for LegalMatch in lieu of their traditional management retreat.  We agreed, and I facilitated their management retreat last weekend.  LexThink, Inc. charged LM $5,000.00 for the event.

At the retreat, I saw forty LegalMatch managers brainstorming about how to make their company better.  I also engaged many of them in (sometimes heated) discussions about how their methods had alienated folks like me and countless other potential customers.

Gullibility Break:  Look, I know my post and the resulting comments have cost LegalMatch hundreds of thousands of dollars (this figure comes from someone outside of LM).  Just Google LegalMatch, and you’ll understand why, though I’m a bit concerned because at least once a week, someone Googles “LegalMatch” over and over and follows each link back to my blog posts — perhaps to keep my year-old post high up on Google’s first page?

I’ve also learned that many of the internal policies (and people) that led to the things I complained about have changed.  If my experiences with LegalMatch are part of some sort of “grand plan” to sucker me in to coming over to the LM “dark side,” I’ve got to admit that it has been masterfully planned, acted, and executed.

Starting today, I’m changing the title of my original post to “Don’t Sell Like This.”  The comments will remain active, and the content won’t change.  The titles of the rest of my LM posts will stay the same, and I’ll keep the LegalMatch category alive.

Full Disclosure Break:  While a part of me thinks I’m an idiot for not demanding that LegalMatch pay me $XXX,000.00 for removing all of the LM posts from my blog, I’ve not gotten anything personally from LegalMatch for writing this post or doing what I’m doing.  The only compensation I’ve received from the company is the value of two airplane flights, a few nights in a hotel room, a couple of lunches and two dinners for the meetings in NYC and SF.  I’ve received no promises and have no expectations. 

I’m ultimately doing what I’m doing because I think it is right, and because I’ve gotten to like a lot of folks at LegalMatch.  Will I work with LegalMatch in the future?  Possibly.  Will LegalMatch be involved with LexThink in some way?  Maybe.  Is this some horrible violation of blogger ethics?  I’m sure you’ll tell me so.  Thanks for your time, and now back to regular blogging.

 

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LexThink in a nutshell

 From Fast Company’s Blog:

"I don't know who discovered water, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't a fish." -- Marshall McLuhan (1911-1980) Media critic & writer

Something to consider:  Just like a fish can't see the water it's swimming in, you can't see the world immediately in front of you. It takes someone with a different perspective to point it out. These people can see opportunities that you can't see. They can see pitfalls that you can' t see. They can see them, ironically, because they aren't staring at them every day.

Some great tips after the jump.

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Your Typeface on the Blog is Awful, and Your Mom Wears Army Boots

Got a nice note yesterday with the above subject line (except the mom and the boots part).  Well, it really wasn’t a “note” exactly — there wasn’t any text in the message at all — just the “Awful” subject, a signature, and link to the critic’s blog.

Well, thank you, I guess. I’ll see what I can do.  In the meantime, get that audio doubleclick add off off your blog.  It annoys the hell out of me. 

Matt

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What a great week (except for last night)

I’m still recovering from LexThink, Techshow, and the Illini’s loss last night.  Techshow was great as always, and LexThink was amazing.  The Illini?  Well that’s another story all together.

I have an entire day of LexThink stuff to do today, so look for a recap tomorrow. 

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