22 Tweets from 22 Blawgs: Blawg Review #257

April 4th, 2010

22 Tweets hosted Blawg Review #257 last week, and put together a special version of Blawg Review: each blawger whose post was listed was interviewed. A one-question interview. In a tweet.

The responses received have been compiled below to create 22 Tweets’ first 22-lawyer twitterview:

  1. @charonqc What would you say is the most significant issue facing the legal profession today? Can it be resolved? How?
    @22twts Survival in a rapidly changing legal services market is major issue and pricing – as crime barristers are finding. Adapt or die?
  2. @chinahearsay What’s the legal story behind the Google pullout of China? Will there be a public dispute? Who has the upper hand?
    [response not yet received]
  3. @danharris Can foreign companies doing business in China expect short-term repercussions from Google and Rio Tinto?
    No repurcussions for biz FROM Google & Rio Tinto, but should put them on their guard.
  4. @smbayard How important are safe harbors for ISPs to the development of emerging economies in general and the BRIC economies in particular?
    [response not yet received]
  5. @jayshep Do you ever turn down work because a potential client just doesn’t get value billing? How do you convince the ones on the edge?
    In 3+ yrs, only 2% of prospects expressly chose hourly billing vs going with our fixed fees. Clients get it, want it.
    Convincing clients about fixed fees = educating them about value to them of solving problem, not amount of hours or work
  6. @cruiselaw You represent a diverse group of people in your practice. What is the single most important legal issue affecting your clients?
    Blawg Review #257 http://bit.ly/cJn6lU Most important legal issues for cruise law clients?
    most important issue for crew members is liability for ship injuries and bad medical care . . .
    . . . . otherwise cruise lines abandon sick and injured crew in Jamaica, Trinidad, Honduras, India.
    Most important issue for cruise passengers is liability for sexual assaults, overboards, and other crimes . . .
    . . . justice is fleeting for victims on foreign flagged cruise ships in international waters after cruise line cover up.
  7. @PaulBKennedy You blog about a diverse range subjects. What are your objectives for your blog? Are you meeting them? How have they evolved?
    My blog is a creative outlet for me. If a prospective client wants to know what I’m about — they can read my blog and find out.
    When I first started the blog there were some marketing goals — but as the blog evolved, so did my idea of what I wanted out it.
    As long as I enjoy putting material out there, the blog is serving its purpose.
  8. @jonathanturley How do you decide which client representations to take on? Are you attracted to them by the legal issues or the people?
    [response not yet received]
  9. @lawandbaseball Why did you become a lawyer? Have your views changed since you’ve been practicing?
    I became a lawyer because I thought I could help the many people I saw getting screwed by the judicial system. That hasn’t changed.
  10. @RonColeman What’s the next big battlefield of intellectual property law? How will it help define the next decade?
    Big issues in each of TM, (c) and patent. “IP” is an artificial category.
  11. @loweringthebar Was it hard to convince your firm’s leadership to let you blog? Are there ever editorial conflicts? How are they resolved?
    I would probably not have been able to convince them had I actually asked for permission first. Strongly recommend not doing so.
    Once established, reveal blog existence, point out world has not ended. Success of strategy depends on not doing anything stupid.
    In the case of a humor blog, being relatively funny helps a lot. Editorial conflicts mostly avoided by common sense/self-censorship.
    Have usually been successful at this. (Tourette’s a real problem though.) Also, law firm not mentioned much at first. Build slowly.
  12. @bmarler Will the Health Care reform legislation have any impact on victims of food-borne illnesses? On the regulation of food producers?
    Good Questions – Answer – http://bit.ly/azL93X
  13. @btannebaum What will the legal ethics landscape look like in 10 years? Will the profession be struggling with the same issues it is today?
    in 10 yrs state Bars will have realized overregulation of social media failed & we’ll have one rule for all lawyer communication.
  14. @turkewitz You’re an active Web 2.0 participant. What specific impact on business, if any, have you see from your online activities?
    Does Blogging Bring Clients?http://bit.ly/9QJ74V @lancegodard#sm
  15. @lawbaron You review law schools on your site. What advice do you have for people going to law school today?
    At times you may feel you are the dumbest in class. You are not. Well, technically someone has to be the dumbest. Maybe it is you.
    I encourage law students to enroll in your school’s clinic programs. It will give you a wonderful advantage.
  16. @popehat You’ve been blogging for a long time, on a very wide range of topics. What drives your blogging? Does it make you a better lawyer?
    I blog because I enjoy the community, particularly with my co-bloggers and regular commenters.
    Also, because it’s an opportunity to be creative, be more genuinely expressive, and be satisfyingly blunt. Can’t do that in a brief
    I suppose I do it because I don’t have the time or the guts to write a book. Plus, I just want attention.
    Does it make me a better lawyer? Well, I think it sharpens my writing and analytical skills, when done with care. Also…
    … it exposes me to issues that I might not otherwise read about. Sometimes those are useful in making creative arguments.
    Finally, it helps me meet very smart lawyers I can learn from. But no clients. I blog semi-anonymously, very much on purpose.
  17. @RickHorowitz What can society do to help kids like your client whose mental health issues land them in jail? More funding? Better training?
    I’ll drop everything to get to your unsolicited request for pro bono consultation as soon as I handle the stuff I wanted to do.
  18. @gideonstrumpet What would you say is the most difficult aspect of being a public defender?
    Lucky enough not to have the more popular PD problems: funding, excessive caseload, etc.
    Most difficult aspect, then, is fighting the presumption of guilt that most criminal defendants “enjoy”.
    Not content with answering that in 140 chars, I wrote a bit more: http://bit.ly/bi133Y
  19. @ScottGreenfield What’s the most significant challenge facing lawyers today? How is it changing the profession? Is there a fix?
    Deal: Most significant problem is downward ethical spiral of marketing, putting lawyers in hotpants.
    Fix is backlash against scorched earth marketing, resurgence of dignity, integrity, excellence and honor.
    If enough lawyers stand up for professionalism, we can stop the race to the bottom and earn back the public’s respect.
    Lest we forget this vision of the future. http://bit.ly/1hcZKr
  20. @prutschi Tell us about one of the more significant client representations you’ve had. What was it about? Why was it important?
    I recently acted for a former NFL player (now runs a children’s charity) wrongly accused in a gun case. Reputation meant everything.
  21. @MarkWBennett The SCOTUS stay is clearly a win for Skinner, but what does mean for the rest of us? Why is it a “triumph of civil litigation”
    It’s a triumph of civil litigation because civil litigation achieved something in a criminal case that criminal litigation couldn’t.
    For the rest of us, Skinner’s stay is a reminder of the role of the Law of Requisite Variety in the practice of law.
  22. @stephkimbro You must meet many potential clients who worry about VLO security. What’s the one thing that convinces them to hire you?
    I let clients to my VLO know that their homepage uses same tech banks & govt. agencies use to encrypt & secure data.

Comments are closed.

    TWEN·TY-TWO TWEETS

    \twən-tē tü twētz\ (noun)

    1. live Twitter interviews with practicing lawyers who tweet
    2. a forum where lawyers tell their stories, one tweet at a time
    3. the hottest legal marketing mash-up on Twitter

     

    4th Annual ABA Journal Blawg 100