practicehacker

My slides for panel on Social Networks, Blawgs & Podcasts #abachicago tomorrow at 3:00 PM

View more presentations from Mazyar Hedayat.

For more information see http://new.abanet.org/annual/pages/Schedule.aspx

Follow the 2009 Annual Meeting on Twitter at http://twitter.com/abachicago

According to Carolyn “My Shingle” Elefant at Blog Watch, this cat Afif Ghannoum started a practice by staffing his office on Craigslist. According to Carolyn:

Back in the olden days, when lawyers sought to start or expand a law practice they’d place a pricey advertisement in a hard-copy legal trade publication or retain a placement firm … [b]ut now it’s possible to build a new law firm … using Craigslist. That’s how former BigLaw associate Afif Ghannoum, founder of theGhannoum Law Firm, did it, drawing on close to 500 respondents to staff his new firm’s life-science and bio-technology practice. [Read more at Legal Blog Watch].

Here’s the thing. I guess we all knew 5 years ago as Craiglist became more of a household name that someday it would be good for more than just buying and selling second-hand Ikea furtniture. So really this is more a case of teaching a new dog old tricks, right? Now if the firm were getting the bulk of its business on Craiglist that would be interesting. Or Facebook. Or Twitter. Or Avvo. You get the point. But still interesting.

Add comments to any site, anytime. Whether they want it or not. Awesome.

I was an early and passionate supporter of Avvo. I posted about them. I defended them on the nationally syndicated podcast TWiL. I interviewed company President Mark Britton.  I honestly wanted the site to succeed, and in the process to give Lexis and West a run for their money (or at least some competition).

So it was no surprise when I was contacted by an Avvo salesperson the other day. But when he started to give me the hard sell it felt like I was talking to West or Lexis, and it was just as disappointing. It seems that Avvo wants $1,500 to advertise for 3 months. Their justification is that a period of less than 3 months wouldn’t yield results. In that case why not 12 months? Why not more?

Hey Avvo: you turned off an early, stalwart supporter with your heavy-handed, pushy sales pitch. Hope it was worth it.

Now with Tweeti Goodness

Check out the Tweet buttons next to every post. See something you like? Something you’d like to read later? Something to share with your colleagues or crew? Just click the Tweet button and the post you are reading will be saved, shared, or just gain your followers (for your good taste of course). You’ll thank me later. Would I lie?

Many a lawyer has been flummoxed by the prospect of Twittering.  Should they bother? Is Twitter a fad or the next frontier in self-promotion? Sure Twitter makes it possible to waste entire days sharing our intimate moments with strangers (that’s what makes it cool, right?), but did you know that it can also contribute to your practice? It’s true. Check out the articles I wrote  for TechnoLawyer about just this subject:

• How to Win Friends and Influence People in the Recommendation Economy (Part 1)
• How to Win Friends and Influence People in the Recommendation Economy (Part 2)

If you’re still not sure how to integrate Twitter into your practice, e-mail me at mhedayat[at]mha-law.com or leave a comment with your questions. I’d be happy to get you rolling.