Read/Write Web

Web of Ideas A lot of people are getting pretty excited about Social Software. Bloggers like Joi Ito and Marc Canter are writing with gusto about social software. I'm hearing lots of trendy new acronyms and phrases - FOAF, MetaBlogs, Reputation systems, "web of trust", "moblogging", "micro-content", etc etc. It's all getting to be a blur. But these are heady times and everyone is out there hunting that White Whale, the Semantic Web.

I'm going to add my own trendy phrase to the mix: Web of Ideas.

Yes I know, Web of Ideas isn't a particularly original phrase. When I googled it, I found a number of old newspaper articles and school assignments that used it. But still I want to use it myself, because it succinctly states what I have always believed the World Wide Web is all about: dissemination of ideas.

Ralph Waldo Emerson, a 19th century American writer, once said: "The ideas in every man's mind make him what he is." We're lucky to live in the 21st century. We have Web technologies such as weblogs and RSS to help us discover, create and share ideas.

I'll write more about the Web of Ideas later. For now (it's getting late and I'm starting to ramble), I want to point to an interesting development at Erik Benson's weblog. Erik is developing an idea database. Hey, good idea Erik ;-) [Read/Write Web]

I wonder if Richard knows about the Lazy Web? [Marc's Voice]

Six Reasons Why lawyers lose clients

I picked up an interesting statistic from Daniel D. Morris of the VeraSage Institute, who spoke during today's IOMA audio seminar on Law Firm Pricing. He identified why lawyers lose clients:

1% The client dies
3% The client moves away
5% The client has a friend he prefers
9% The client is lost to a competitor
14% The client is dissatisfied with the service
68% The client believes you don't care about them.

This shows that a good marketing strategy for law firms is to improve client relationships and service.
[LawMarketing Blog by Larry Bodine]

An interesting thing I picked up at the Northstar Conference this week in Chicago on "The Latest in Law Firm Business Development" is that law firms are indeed hiring sales directors.  The speakers predicted that most law firms will eventually have a Director of Sales.  To wit:

 

José E. V. Cunningham, Chief Sales & Marketing Officer, Shaw Pittman LLP, Washington, D.C. He is paid a straight commission on new business he brings in.  In most states this fee-splitting is verboten by the ethics rules, but it's OK in Washington, D.C.  This gives Shaw Pittman a huge advantage in the market.  He is responsible for the firm's global business development initiatives, including client-focused and industry-based solutions, and all marketing activities.  Jose is a sales veteran from Cap Gemini Group, Channel International, Ltd, Unisys Corporation and AT&T.

 

Gary Booth, Chief Client Development Officer, Pillsbury Winthrop, San Francisco.  Gary was well known in his prior job as Managing Partner for Global Business Development for Arthur Andersen.  His current responsibilities include management of the firm's client team program that includes "opportunity management," client selection, client satisfaction and relationship sales training.

 

Mark Cowan is the Partner with Patton Boggs in Washington, D.C.  As Head of Business Development and Marketing, he does not practice law and devotes himself full-time to new business generation.  I did a Webinar with Mark on sales, and there's an article mentioning him on the LawMarketing Portal at http://www.lawmarketing.com/publications/news/pub449.cfm.

 

Rob Randolph, Marketing Manager for Business Development, Duane Morris, Chicago.  Rob was also on the Webinar with Mark Cowan and me, and Rob wrote an article about law firm sales, which is online at http://www.lawmarketing.com/publications/news/pub388.cfm.

 

Barbara Sessions, Marketing Partner and Director of Business Development, Winston & Strawn, Chicago, IL.  Barb is an ex-LMA president and has been with her firm for 9 years.  She's one of the few marketers who went from staff to partner.  She's in charge of communications, marketing strategy, practice development (industry strategies and cross-selling), business development (RPF responses, market share analysis, research, contact management), strategic initiatives (anniversaries, events, sponsorships, charitable efforts, partner retreats), public relations and training.

 

Will marketers move into sales?  Only if the marketers have the right genetic makeup.  Cunningham said that "marketing DNA is different from sales DNA."

[LawMarketing Blog
by Larry Bodine]

It's my humble opinion that one of the most remarkable things anyone has yet managed to accomplish with a weblog is Howard Bashman's 20 Questions for the appellate judge, monthly interviews that commenced in February this year with appellate jurists from around the U.S. (and conceivably from around the world). These interviews provide invaluable insights into the appellate lawmaking process and the people who make it work. They're detailed, thorough, and utterly free and freely accessible—no one needs to know you're an Omanian octegenarian before you can take a look.

Howard is willing to keep this up as long as appellate jurists are willing to participate, but he needs to get the word out to keep the volunteers coming. If you are a lawyer, law student, judicial clerk, or anyone who from time to time breaks bread with members of the appellate judiciary, please let them know how much you enjoy Howard's interviews and urge them to participate. I for one would love to see this continue indefinitely.

More from Howard this morning: "One week from today, I will be posting online here the August 2003 installment of '20 questions for the appellate judge.' August's interviewee is Eleventh Circuit Judge Gerald Bard Tjoflat. September's interviewee will be Federal Circuit Judge William Curtis Bryson. And October's interviewee will be Eleventh Circuit Judge Stanley F. Birch, Jr. [...] I am willing to keep the monthly '20 questions' feature going for as long as there are federal and/or state court appellate judges who are willing to participate as interviewees. However, if a month were to arrive for which there is no interviewee, then the feature will come to a permanent end." Let's not let that happen. [Bag and Baggage]