Legal Talk Network - Law News and Legal Topics

Experts discuss the vast funding gap in legal tech. LSC President Ron Flagg hosts the conversation with guests Bob Ambrogi, lawyer and award-winning legal tech journalist, and Cat Moon, director of innovation design for the Program on Law and Innovation at Vanderbilt Law School. Inspired by Ambrogi’s recent LawSites article, they discuss how tech companies, big law firms and corporate law departments could step up to help close the justice gap. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Since its inception in 2017, the Committee on Disciplinary Rules and Referenda has been charged with the examination of Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct and Rules of Disciplinary Procedure to determine rule adequacy and necessary changes. After extensive evaluation of existing rules, the committee proposed 12 new rules between 2021 and 2023 which Texas attorneys will now have the opportunity to vote on from April 1-30, 2024. Rocky Dhir talks with committee members Lewis Kinard (Chair), Judge Phyllis Martinez Gonzalez, and Scott Brumley, and former member Claude Ducloux about the proposed rules to help Texas legal professionals gain a better understanding of the purpose and implications of the suggested changes. For more information, including links to background information on each rule proposal, go to texasbar.com/rulesvote. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode’s discussions around the Community Table: We start with an attorney who wants to balance hiring and firm growth. What happens when you hire “too much” team for the work or have “too much work” for the team? It’s a delicate dance. Start with a business plan and control the one thing you can, the number of cases you accept. It’s OK to say no to a new potential client. (Plus, find out what Christopher calls a “bull$#!* plan”).  What happens when you haven’t explored new ways to market and you fall behind? No use crying over spilt milk, but honestly, get on it. You start from where you are. Understand what you’re doing, what’s working, and what’s failing. A swift kick in the pants may get you motivated. And how do you help a long-standing employee establish some metrics, mainly a minimum billable hour requirement? Be straightforward, but it’s a balancing act. Sometimes you gotta be cruel to be kind (in the right measure). Mentioned in this Episode:Empirical360BlueShark Digital MarketingWhat are LSAs? (Local Service Ads)Join the next Community Table live. What’s on your mind? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, I’m joined by Doug Reifschneider, a Fractional Chief Marketing Officer at Chief Outsiders, to discuss the benefits and strategies of employing fractional CMO services for law firms. Doug Reifschneider is a marketing veteran from the restaurant industry. During his four-year tenure with Chief Outsiders as a fractional Chief Marketing Officer (CMO), Doug has worked with home services, funeral services, franchised security services, B2B, and restaurants to prove that marketing skills are transferrable. Chief Outsiders is the largest Fractional CMO firm in the USA.Chief Outsiders stands as the largest fractional CMO firm in the U.S., offering over 110 CMOs and chief sales officers. Doug shares insights into the growing trend of fractional services across industries, including law firms, and emphasizes the importance of understanding customer needs, competition, and unique value propositions for effective marketing strategies.We get into 'The Growth Gears' methodology as a simplified approach to marketing strategy, focusing on insights, strategy, and execution phases to fuel business growth. Doug also highlights common marketing mistakes businesses make, such as lack of coherent strategy or 'random acts of marketing,' and suggests solutions like customer nurturing and leveraging operational systems for automated post-purchase engagement to keep law firms on the path to growth.Doug gives listeners actionable tips on: 0:00 Intro 2:18 How he starts a big marketing strategy for a client 4:59 Using your people as a point of differentiation 8:31 How to move your clients through "I need marketing" to spending time going through a strategy for growth 10:34 How to explain the mistakes your clients are making when they come to you 12:54 What kind of suggestions do you offer at the bottom part of the funnel 16:56 How do you avoid random acts of marketing and stay focused 18:16 Do you have metrics and reporting to assure people it's working 20:32 What's the typical timeframe you recommend for them to see results 23:25 Looking at clients as customers and why language matters 26:31 Book Review 31:50 One big takeaway Resources mentioned in this episode:The Growth Gears by Art SaxbyConnect with Doug here: https://twitter.com/Reiflman https://www.linkedin.com/in/doug-reifschneider/ https://www.facebook.com/Reiflman/ https://www.chiefoutsiders.com/profile/doug-reifschneider Connect with me Instagram Pinterest Facebook Twitter Karin on Twitter Karin on LinkedIn Conroy Creative Counsel on Facebook https://conroycreativecounsel.com  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It is important to attorneys to build a rich career, but just as important is the time they put into life outside of legal practice. Molly Ranns and JoAnn Hathaway talk with Kevin McGoff about his recently published book, Find Your Landing Zone: Life Beyond the Bar. Kevin shares his personal experiences and discusses effective ways to manage transitions both during and at the close of a legal career. Kevin believes attorneys should commit to reflection and take charge of the many fulfilling opportunities retirement has in store. Kevin McGoff is an author, travel writer, speaker and lawyer. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Creative thinking and design elements can help you elevate your legal practice and develop more meaningful solutions for clients. Dennis and Tom welcome Tessa Manuello to discuss her insights on legal technology with a particular focus on creative design adaptations for lawyers. Tessa discusses the tech learning process for attorneys and explains how a more creative approach for both learning and implementing tech can help lawyers make better use of current tools, AI included. As always, stay tuned for the parting shots, that one tip, website, or observation that you can use the second the podcast ends.Have a technology question for Dennis and Tom? Call their Tech Question Hotline at 720-441-6820 for the answers to your most burning tech questions.Tessa Manuello is founder and CEO of Legal Creatives, an internationally recognized speaker, and a leading expert in the world of legal design. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Adjusting to the new and persistent presence of AI in the legal world isn’t easy, but it is necessary. Jared welcomes brothers Justin and Luc Cary, an attorney and software engineer, respectively, to unpack the current state of AI in business and legal uses. They discuss current safety issues, emerging guardrails, best practices for research, AI in legal tech software, and more. Later on in the Rump Roast, the guys play “Brother Up”, where Justin and Luc must identify famous brothers in history and pop culture. And, should you be entering confidential information into generative AI tools? Well, there are layers, folks, but in the current AI environment, lawyers should never assume their data is secure. That being said, Jared doesn’t want to throw a wet blanket on the AI revolution, he just wants you to know the three simple things that will enable you to use these tools safely and ethically. Justin Cary is an attorney at Drummond Woodsum.Luc Cary is associate director of machine learning at Invitae._______________________________________________________Since we have the Cary brothers with us this week, here's a playlist all about siblings!_______________________________________________________Our opening track is Two Cigarettes by Major Label Interest.Our closing track is Promised Land by Brian Brown Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You own a law firm and have amazing thoughts, ideas, and stories to share. So, what’s holding you back from writing that book? In today’s episode, Stephanie talks with best-selling author and speaker Sharai Robbin about why and how you can write that book.  Links from the episode:  Freebie - 7- Figure Secret Case Study  Upcoming Masterclass - "The 3 Critical Mistakes Stopping Coaches & Experts From Getting Their Books Done" If today’s podcast resonates with you and you haven’t read The Small Firm Roadmap Revisited yet, get the first chapter right now for free!  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bond... unaffordable cash bond._________________________________Donald Trump needed to put up some cash before E. Jean Carroll can begin executed the judgment she has against him. Instead, Trump tried to argue that he was simply too rich to put up a bond. The argument was not persuasive, but it did get Above the Law mentioned on Stephen Colbert. We also discuss the Supreme Court taking up the Trump immunity case even though there's not a chance they'll endorse his theory. And when should we just let bygones be bygones with a lawyer's bigoted past? A law professor says everyone is way too hard on Thomas's new clerk just because she got fired from a past right-wing organization after racist messages came to light. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Three high-profile cases of sexual assault in 2012 followed a basic pattern: A teenage girl was sexually assaulted at a house party by one or more teenage boys while she was incapacitated by alcohol. The attacks were recorded and the photos, videos and stories were shared on social media or via texts. The photos and videos were used to ridicule the victims among their peers. Those texts and posts later became evidence in criminal cases. These incidents took place in Steubenville, Ohio; Maryville, Missouri; and Saratoga, California, and sparked national conversations about youth, technology and sexual assault in 2013.“The question gnawing at everyone, myself included, was: What were these kids thinking?” writes Anna Gjika, a sociology professor who studies crime and gender issues. More than 10 years later, Gjika has attempted to answer that question in her new book, When Rape Goes Viral: Youth and Sexual Assault in the Digital Age. She took a close look at the three attacks in 2012, but identifies a number of similar instances that have happened more recently.One of the elements the public found shocking about the cases was how many bystanders filmed or photographed the unconscious girls or the sexual assaults as they were occurring, without intervening. In talking to people involved in the cases and to teens in general as part of her research, Gjika found that the young people did not think of their social media as archival so much as “of the moment.” They filmed and posted what was happening around themselves because they were used to doing that. “Sharing an experience has become an integral part of the experience,” Gjika writes.In this episode of The Modern Law Library, Gjika and the ABA Journal’s Lee Rawles discuss her research into generational attitudes towards social media and sexual assault; the promises and pitfalls of digital evidence in sexual assault cases; how social media can be empowering or degrading for survivors; the social responsibility held by the legal community and the tech industry; and what interventions could be effective to prevent such assaults from taking place.Digital evidence like cellphone videos and texts can be extremely beneficial to prosecutors looking to prove incidents of sexual assault, particularly when victims are unable to recount their experience because they were unconscious or impaired during the attacks. But Gjika explains that this kind of evidence is not uncomplicated. The way juries perceive the evidence will still be filtered through societal expectations and prejudices. Defense attorneys do not have the same access to digital evidence from tech companies, and usually lack capacity to process immense amounts of data. The expertise, willingness and resources of police departments and prosecutors’ offices to seek out this evidence also vary widely. And the victims can be further traumatized by the use in court of images and video of their assaults, and the knowledge that the images continue to be disseminated on the internet.In closing, Rawles and Gjika discuss what actions can be taken by schools, the legal community and the tech industry to prevent such attacks or to assist victims whose assaults have been digitally documented. Gjika believes educational programs and trainings for teens need to focus on peer groups and norms, rather than emphasizing individual responsibility, and “must be grounded within adolescents’ lived experiences, rather than on adult fears and anxieties.” She also argues that adults as well as teens would benefit from “ethical digital citizenship initiatives,” where concepts like privacy and online decision-making could be discussed. And she suggests the creation of government-funded organizations to assist survivors with removing digital content from the internet. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices