Advocating for change can be difficult. My 1995 experience at the National Archives illustrates a couple of lessons:
In 1995 few federal agencies had robust Internet presences. Most had none.
As a lawyer with the National Archives and Records Administration, my duties did not include technical matters. I drafted some
Part I: Who Is Carole Levitt?Jerry Lawson: I’m pleased to talk today with Carole Levitt, one of the country’s premier experts on Internet research, both legal and investigative. Her most recent book, coauthored with Judy Davis, is the second edition of her treatise Internet Legal Research on a Budget. Thanks for taking
Available from Amazon in paperback or Kindle versions, as well as directly from the publisher (paperback and ebook).
Ann Walsh Long has a message for lawyers:
Over the last five years, legal artificial intelligence tools such
Here’s a draft article I’m working on for intended publication at LLRX.com in July. The issues we dealt with on the eLawyering Task Force concerning the use of technology to better provide legal services to consumers have continuing relevance. I welcome reactions/suggestions from entrepreneurs who are still struggling today with similar issues in the fields of AI and other cutting edge technologies. I’d love to include quotes from those on the current front lines:
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Sometimes you have to know where you’ve been to understand where you are.
The American Bar Association’s now-defunct e-Lawyering Task Force is dead, but not forgotten. The purpose of the Task Force was to smooth the way for lawyer entrepreneurs to better use the Internet to provide legal services to consumers. Several factors, including the success of Jack Newton’s book The Client-Centered Law Firm, are drawing new attention to the Task Force’s goals. Marc Lauritsen, Kat Moon and Dennis Kennedy Twitter discussed the Task Force’s results (or lack of results) on Twitter:
Note to Cat Moon: I was a rebel and I was allowed to be on the committee. It didn’t work out all that well.
I was a member of the ABA’s e-lawyering Task Force from around 2000 to about 2003. My experience may have some relevance. Sometimes you have to know what happened, good or bad, to steer a better course in the future.
Continue Reading DRAFT Article–The ABA’s eLawyering Project: Lessons Learned
Conrad Saam’s Own the Map: Marketing Your Law Firm’s Address (ABA 2020) is an intriguing new book that will cause many lawyers to think about marketing in new—and better—ways. Many, especially lawyer marketing service vendors, will find Saam’s ideas controversial.
Saam’s primary thesis is that most lawyers should concentrate appealing to
Conrad Saam writes in his new book Own the Map; Marketing Your Law Firm’s Address that “[I]n general, social media as a direct-to-consumer marketing channel for the legal industry is ineffectual.” He explains that this is primarily because social media marketing requires building personal relationships with potential clients. Most lawyers lack the time or skill
Stephen Terrell’s article in ABA’s Experience magazine has good advice on self-publishing, a topic discussed here previously. An excerpt:
What does it cost to self-publish a book? The surprising answer is not much. To actually publish a book both in print and ebook through Amazon’s KDP Publishing, there’s no up-front cost except for
I’m pleased to have known Kevin O’Keefe since way back when.
He made his first big splash on the Internet with Prairielaw, an innovative website based on the concept of lawyers networking directly with consumers of legal services. Conventional legal businesses that wanted to co-opt a potentially dangerous competitor bought him out. It was just
Successful Innovation Outcomes in Law: A Practical Guide for Law Firms, Law Departments and Other Legal Organizations, by Dennis Kennedy. 212 pages. Kindle and paperback versions are available.
The late World Chess Champion Bobby Fischer liked to say “When I play the Ruy, it’s like milking a cow.” What he meant was that when
I loved Dennis Kennedy’s new book Successful Innovation Outcomes in Law and I hope my review at LLRX.com conveys this. It deserves a wide audience. I received a free PDF copy to review but liked it so much I also bought a hard copy.