Despite all the energy devoted to collegiality and professionalism, lawyers too often confront aggressively rude, even hostile behavior in opponents. So what do you do about it? Helen Gunnarsson has the story in the August Illinois Bar Journal.
Practice News
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July 29, 2010 |
Practice News
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July 29, 2010 |
Practice News
By Peter LaSorsa Each week, I get several requests from people I don’t know asking me to put a link of their website on my website and in return they will do the same. They usually contact me via email and state that this cross-link will help both of our websites. The general answer to that statement is: wrong. There are instances where cross-links help your website with rankings and many more instances where the cross-link will hurt your website rankings. Website rankings are very important in that if your website does not show up on the first page of a search, chances are your website won’t be viewed by the searcher. Search engines like Google and Yahoo use secret algorithms to determine the ranking of websites that are displayed based on a given search. Basically, the search engine is trying to return the most relevant website for any given search term or set of terms. Even though the exact formula utilized is unknown, both search engines rely on the content of the website, how often it is updated and how many other websites which are relevant have links to your website. Having another website which the search engines rank high link to your website is a positive -- however the opposite is also true. So if your website shows up ninth on a return for search terms “Chicago personal injury lawyer”, linking to a website that shows up 20th for search terms "New York personal injury lawyer” will not help your ranking. In fact, it may lower it. Additionally, if you have a company with no relevance to Chicago or injuries or lawyers and they link to your website, the search engines may punish your website.
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July 28, 2010 |
Practice News
You got a bad ruling from an agency and you want another bite at the apple, this time in front of a trial judge. What do you do? Well, you'd do well to start with Julie Ann Sebastian's short but nonetheless information-packed checklist in the latest ISBA Administrative Law newsletter. It comes complete with a chart listing official Circuit Court of Cook County forms for various administrative review actions.
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July 28, 2010 |
Practice News
Asked and Answered By John W. Olmstead, MBA, Ph.D, CMC Q. I am having problems with effective client development. I believe that I need to do more networking and become involve in professional organizations. Suggestions? A. Definitely. However, here are a few ideas and guidelines.
- Have a real interest in the organization you are joining.
- Attend meetings regularly. Miss three monthly meetings in a year and you might as well have skipped them all. Get on a committee and into a leadership position. This lets you establish credibility with prospects and referral sources.
- Evaluate the culture of the organization and confirm that networking and marketing is acceptable within the group.
- After a few years there will be a point of diminishing returns and that is when you should move on and start the process all over.
- Don’t just join legal organizations – join a trade that your client belongs to and become active in the group.
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July 27, 2010 |
Practice News
Robert G. Gibson was sworn in on Monday as a Circuit Court Judge for the 18th Judicial Circuit Court in Wheaton. He will assume his duties on Aug. 2. Mr. Gibson will be assigned to the Chancery Division where his call will consist of Forcible Entries, non-commercial foreclosures and other matters as assigned. Mr. Gibson graduated from the University of Illinois Law School in 1983. He was a partner with the law firm of Dommermuth, Brestal, Cobine and West for 27 years.
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July 26, 2010 |
Practice News
The Administrative Office of the Illinois Courts announced today that John M. Madonia, received a majority of the votes cast by the circuit judges in the Seventh Judicial Circuit and is declared to be appointed to the office of associate judge. Mr. Madonia received his undergraduate degree in 1994 from the University of Illinois in Urbana, and his Juris Doctor in 1997 from the University of Illinois in Urbana. Mr. Madonia is currently engaged in solo practice in Springfield, Illinois.
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July 26, 2010 |
Practice News
The Administrative Office of the Illinois Courts announced Monday that the Fifth Judicial Circuit judges voted to select Derek J. Girton and Karen E. Wall as associate judges of the Fifth Judicial Circuit. Mr. Girton received his undergraduate degree in 1988 from Pennsylvania State University in University Park, and his Juris Doctor in 1993 from Ohio Northern University in Ada. Mr. Girton has been affiliated with Acton & Sndyer, LLP in Danville. Ms. Wall received her undergraduate degree in 1994 from Illinois State University in Normal, and her Juris Doctor in 1997 from John Marshall Law in Chicago. Ms. Wall has been affiliated with Spiros & Wall, P.C. in Danville.
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July 22, 2010 |
Practice News
By Peter LaSorsa Most attorneys by now have a web presence of some sort. The range in the complexity of a firm’s presence on the web is enormous. Some attorneys have a basic one page website while others incorporate video, links and hundreds of pages of content. My website has hundreds of pages of content as well as around 15 videos. Another thing my website has are links to both of my blogs. I believe having a blog is as important as having a website and mandatory if you expect to achieve a high Search Engine Optimization (“SEO”). Basically, one goal of a website is to show up in the first page of an Internet search a prospective clients does on your area of the law. Whether your website shows up in the first page or 50 pages later, depends on your SEO and your SEO depends on many factors. One factor I will discuss in this article is a blog and how it can help your website achieve a high ranking. Search engines like Google and Yahoo rank WebPages using algorithms and those algorithms take into account how often the content is updated and how relevant the content is to the subject matter in the website. So if you are an attorney with a heavy practice in criminal law, a corresponding blog on criminal law which is updated daily and linked back into your website will rank higher than a website with static content. Many attorneys mistakenly view their websites as an electronic brochure and don’t take full advantage of the interactive and information sharing nature of the Web 2.0.
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July 21, 2010 |
Practice News
"Have you found yourself wishing you could easily pull up a statute or case on your iPhone or iPad?" asks IBJ legal research columnist Tom Gaylord in his forthcoming (September) column. Good news -- ISBA partner Fastcase has a "free-to-download application that provides free case law and statutory research via Apple’s mobile devices." As a special treat for Illinois Lawyer Now readers, here's Tom's column a month ahead of schedule.
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July 21, 2010 |
Practice News
Asked and Answered By John W. Olmstead, MBA, Ph.D, CMC Q. I am a partner in a 21-attorney firm in Northern California. Our partnership has been discussing the need to do a better job of “cross-selling” and referring clients to others in the firm for different types of matters. We have had limited success. Any ideas? A. My experience and our surveys of our clients and their clients has shown similar results. Cross-selling is talked about a lot and seldom implemented. Cross-selling can be an effective strategy - but it is not easy and it requires trust, commitment, communication, hard work, dedication and organizational alignment. Here are a few ideas for improving the odds: No. 1: Stop giving cross-selling lip service - if you are serious - put in place organizational systems that will facilitate the process. No. 2: Ensure that firm communication systems support cross-selling initiatives. No. 3: Ensure that the firm compensation system does not encourage hoarding of work and discourage a cross-selling program. No. 4: Foster a culture of "giving to get" in which professionals in the firm uphold a "firm first" attitude and are willing to invest the time and effort to foster relationship building and cross-selling efforts. No. 5: Find ways to create, foster, and support trust building in the firm. No. 6: Provide relationship management and client service training to all attorneys in the firm. No.