Legal Talk Network - Law News and Legal Topics

Both the governor and legislature of Texas have hoped to drive more business to Texas, but previously, businesses have expressed concerns over the potential for difficulties in navigating courts across Texas’s 254 counties. Now, a centralized system of business courts will open September 1, 2024, to serve businesses in the most populous areas of the state. Judge Emily Miskel and Marcy Hogan Greer talk with Rocky Dhir in detail about how these courts will operate and what businesses and attorneys should expect.Judge Emily Miskel has served as judge of the 470th district court of Collin County, Texas, since the court was created in 2015.Marcy Hogan Greer is the managing partner of Alexander Dubose & Jefferson LLP, a nationally recognized appellate boutique firm. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When you love what you do, you are already standing on a solid work/life balance that works for you. Listen as successful attorneys at different stages of their lives and careers reflect on what has helped them find that stability. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Lawyers can’t just take a backseat when it comes to marketing, but what do you actually need to know to make sure your marketing approach holds water? Later, how do you go about marketing for two distinct practice areas in your law firm? -----Depending on your role in your firm, you may need to know much more or much less about the way the marketing world works, but you absolutely need to have some basic knowledge to ensure that your tactics/data/vendors/potential hires/etc. make sense. Gyi and Conrad talk through what you need to know to be able to hold your marketing people accountable for delivering on your law firm’s objectives. Next, if you have more than one practice area in your law firm, what’s the best way to make sure each one is marketed effectively? The guys answer a question about how to grow different aspects of your law firm with well-thought-out marketing, resource allocation, and web content.  The News: Hona succeeded in raising $9.5M, so there’s all sorts of new potential there.  Get more of Conrad and Gyi! The guys will be speaking at Answering Legal Summer Camps - July 24th and August 14. Gyi told you so on LSAs! Go listen to these episodes: Google Local Service Ads: To Brand or Not to Brand? and The Lawyer’s Guide to Conversions || Listener LSA Queries Mentioned in this Episode:The Bite - Lunch Hour Legal Marketing Newsletter!Leave Us an Apple Review Lunch Hour Legal Marketing on YouTube Lunch Hour Legal Marketing on TikTok Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Camille Vasquez joins Rocky Dhir to talk about her path to becoming a lawyer and what led to her involvement in the highly publicized defamation trial between Johnny Depp and Amber Heard. Camille offers insights into her experiences during the Depp v. Heard case and highlights the importance of crafting a powerful story during cross-examination to help bring justice for your clients at trial. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

United States Senator Ben Cardin joins LSC President Ron Flagg to discuss his perspective on access to justice as a legislator and lawyer on Talk Justice. The Maryland Senator shared about his time in the state’s general assembly chairing Maryland Legal Services Corporation, as well as the “Cardin Requirement” at the University of Maryland’s Francis King Carey School of Law and his thoughts on the justice gap. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Law firms often focus on revenue generation, client retention, and financial performance. But guest Tracy LaLone says true success is driven by the (very real) people who work at the firm. Firms that fail to engage and recognize their people, she says, can never reach their full potential. LaLonde is a corporate trainer who focuses on engagement within law firms. She has more than 30 years’ experience in corporate training and helps firms focus on the involvement, commitment, and enthusiasm workers feel for their workplace. Surveys show only 30% of American workplaces are considered “engaged.” So, there’s room to grow if you know how important engagement is to your firm’s success. How eager are employees to get to work each day? How valued do they feel? Are you focusing on billable hours at the expense of your team’s wellbeing and sense of purpose? LaLonde explains how she targets law firm burnout and underperformance through her Hierarchy of Engagement, a pyramid of workforce factors including pay, performance, and perks; work/life balance; and a shared purpose. Learn key tips you can put to work at your firm today to nurture engagement and achieve peak performance.Mentioned in This Episode:“The Joychiever Journey: Evade Burnout, Surpass Your Goals and Out-Happy Everyone” by Tracy LaLondeJoychiever Hierarchy of Engagement Joychiever Quiz: Are You a Good Manager?“First, Break All the Rules,” and other titles from GallupALMJoin The Un-Billable Hour Community Table Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Lawyers have been getting into ethical hot water over both the use and misuse of AI, failing in their duties of competence, diligence, and more, so where do we go from here? Rocky Dhir talks with Justice John Browning and Judge Roy Ferguson to learn the latest guidance on AI issues and to remind lawyers of their ethical obligations. They discuss AI’s revolutionary impacts in the legal profession and what to expect as it continues to evolve. Justice John G. Browning has been a litigator in Texas and Oklahoma for over 35 years, including as a partner in several national law firms.Judge Roy Ferguson (2013-present) presides over a five-county court of general jurisdiction covering roughly 20,000 square miles and over 20% of the U.S.-Mexico border. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Who says the best things in life aren’t free?! The State Bar of Texas partnered up with Smokeball to offer a free trust accounting and billing software platform called Smokeball Bill. If you’re a Texas lawyer, this perk is available to you at no additional charge because of your state bar membership. Tune into this episode to learn more about what it does and how to access it. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Guest Mary Smith is an accomplished attorney and the first Native American woman to become president of the American Bar Association. In addition to a distinguished career in legal leadership for billion-dollar organizations, including CEO of the national organization Indian Health Services, she is also active in many civic organizations, including the Caroline and Ora Smith Foundation, dedicated to helping young Native American women forge careers in STEM fields.Smith’s career took a long and winding path, including a stop serving in the White House and the Department of Justice, along with billion-dollar publicly traded companies. Smith said the key has been to remain curious and open to new opportunities throughout her career.Being willing to take risks and face various challenges has driven her career to amazing heights. Smith explains how she never limited herself to any presupposed direction. Sometimes, you think you’ve selected a singular path, but if you remain open to new opportunities, that path can lead you to places you’ve never imagined and take you higher than you thought possible. As Smith says in this inspiring episode: “Be true to yourself. Believe in yourself. And seek help, mentors, and others who can help along the way.”Resources:“Asked & Answered: Mary Smith, ’91, President, American Bar Association,” University of Chicago School of LawCaroline and Ora Smith FoundationAmerican Bar AssociationAmerican Bar Association Young Lawyers DivisionNative Americans: A Crisis in Health EquityABA President to Students: You Will Change the Practice of LawWorking to Ensure an Enduring American DemocracyABA Task Force for American Democracy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We talk about finding the right law school for you, and wonder how deep the SCOTUS drama goes.-----The Above the Law Top 50 Law Schools ranking is here and this year it's putting power in the hands of the users. Meanwhile at the Supreme Court, ACB tells her colleagues that not every legal problem is a job for bad history. Sam and Martha-Ann Alito release Unplugged album, and it only took a matter of days into the Clarence Thomas Transparency Era for him to get caught covering up more gifts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices