Articles

Restricting the use of social media – Is the ABA on the right path?

There is a great deal of heat generated thus far over the ABA looking into the issues of internet marketing/advertising/promotion … They have not overtly yet taken a position, only solicited commentary for the ethics commission to consider.

Yet, many bloggers and commentators believe that the ABA is seeking to destroy the marketing advantage gained in the social media by sole and small firm practitioners.

The mood of the country, as seen in the recent election, appears to be that less is more. (Though I believe that that is true only as an electioneering slogan — just wait until "they" get into power.) Translating that feeling, though, into the legal world and we want fewer rules to regulate our conduct.

Yes, there are enough rules already on the books to protect the innocent and govern the "guilty." But, new technology does require a new look … perhaps even a loosening of the current ad hoc rules. Frankly, I’d rather have the ABA review these issues than the many states who tend to take a far more restrictive stance than does the ABA.


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Reduce Legal Fees Without Discounting Legal Service

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Balloon Festival

Here are additional photographs from the Balloon Festival. It was a spectacular event.

 

     

  

 


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Life Balance – Knowing when to fold ’em

We spent two weeks traveling 2500 miles with our Airstream trailer. Our ultimate destination was New Mexico and Albuquerque’s Balloon Festival, I believe the largest of its kind in the world. This year, there were 550 balloons in the area. See six photographs taken by my wife as we enjoyed the R & R.  During our travel to and from the Festival, we saw Arizona’s Canyon de Chilly … and Twisters, a throw back to the 1950s with its absolutely fabulous malted milkshakes in Williams, AZ on Route 66.  A great time!

    

 


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Life Balance – Knowing when to fold ’em

We spent two weeks traveling 2500 miles with our Airstream trailer. Our ultimate destination was New Mexico and Albuquerque’s Balloon Festival, I believe the largest of its kind in the world. This year, there were 550 balloons in the area. See six photographs taken by my wife as we enjoyed the R & R.  During our travel to and from the Festival, we saw Arizona’s Canyon de Chilly … and Twisters, a throw back to the 1950s with its absolutely fabulous malted milkshakes in Williams, AZ on Route 66.  A great time!

    

 


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How do you know if your fee is too high?

The press will fixate on this lawyer’s hourly billing rate. But, that is not why he was disbarred. Rather, he was disbarred because of his wild and bizarre conduct.

There is no prohibition to charging a high hourly rate so long as at least 3 factors co-exist: 1.) The client receives value commensurate with the charge; 2.) The client perceives he/she has received value commensurate with the fee; and 3) There is sufficient communication between the lawyer and the client to confirm that the client understands what the charges will be … and the client is sophisticated enough to accept or reject the engagement agreement and fee being proposed.

The difficulty with fee disputes is that they are always "Monday morning quarterbacking," usually being determined by people who are using outdated standards of evaluation. The only real issues are 1) Did the client understand the fee structure and 2) Did the client receive sufficient value (not time) to justify the fee.


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