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Recent Blog Posts
The Importance of Cybersecurity for Attorneys
Most people—even those who have never experienced a brush with the law in any form—are familiar with the concepts of attorney-client privilege and confidentiality. While the two are not the same, they both afford protections to a client who has retained professional legal representation. The attorney-client privilege is generally a procedural privilege which generally provides that the client’s lawyer cannot be compelled to testify or provide evidence—including notes, memos, and other documents generated as a result of being retained—against the client. Confidentiality is a broader concept and prevents the attorney from revealing information he or she received from his or her client without the client’s express, informed consent.
Over the last several decades, a new challenge has arisen for attorneys in protecting their clients’ confidential information. With more and more systems becoming digital for the sake of stability, efficiency, convenience, the likelihood of client information being hacked or stolen through electronic means has also increased.
Technology Must-Haves for Your Law Firm
If someone were to ask you to picture a typical law firm, what you see in your mind’s eye? There is a good chance that your concept of a legal practice—even if you are a lawyer—would resemble that which we commonly see depicted in movies and on television: dark wood, shelves of law books, perhaps some file cabinets on one wall, and mostly lit by table lamps or desk lights. The typical image of a law firm is one of authority, rooted in tradition, and with a more conservative ambiance.
When you open a law firm of your own, it is perfectly acceptable to create such an atmosphere with the décor in your offices. Underneath the aesthetics, however, your firm must be equipped with the technology to properly serve your clients and to be successful in the highly competitive arena of practicing the law. Your desk may be 60 years old, but your filing and communications systems should not be.
The Facebook Post That Offended Irish Sensibilities Everywhere
Over the last decade, social media has become an invaluable tool for companies to market their products and reach new customers. With a just a few clicks, you can advertise a limited-time promotion, highlight a major achievement, or announce a recent addition to your team. As you might expect, however, you must be cautious when using social media outlets to promote your business, as a seemingly innocuous misstep could draw the ire of an entire nation—even over something as simple as a badly-poured beer.
St. Patrick’s Day With a Canadian Touch
Pubs and bars in Irish communities around the world will welcome revelers for the annual feast of St. Patrick—a 5th-century missionary, bishop, and patron saint of Ireland. In many regions—particularly throughout North America—even those without Irish heritage will don their best green, become “Irish for the day,” and join in the festivities.
Law Firms Realize Significant Returns on Digital Marketing Investments
For this year’s Super Bowl, advertisers shelled out an estimated $5 million for a 30-second television commercial broadcasted to the game’s estimated 111 million viewers. Large-scale television marketing, however, is not ideal for every industry or type of business. Others rely on more personalized, audience-focused ways of reaching potential customers, and a growing number are turning to digital marketing.
Our world has never been more closely connected. The rise of computer technology has redefined how business relationships are created and maintained. While television commercials, print media, and face-to-face interactions still have their places, digital marketing—including social media, email campaigns, and content production—is crucial to the success of virtually every company.
Study Finds Emojis Increase Marketing Reach
Emojis, it seems, are everywhere these days, and not just in text messages from your children. The little icons—evolving from the ubiquitous yellow smiley face in the early days of the internet—can now be found on t-shirts, as plush toys, and even in upcoming feature film. For many people, emojis are associated with casual conversation and informal messaging, but a new study suggests that including them in your company’s mobile marketing campaigns could pay handsome dividends.
The Power of Images
The word “emoji” has origins in the Japanese language and is a combination of “e,” the Japanese word for “picture,” and “moji,” meaning “character.” You may have heard people referring to the little pictures as “emoticons,” but there are technical differences between the two, and the similarity of the two words is entirely coincidental. Without going into too much detail, an emoji is a pictorial representation of a thought, idea, or expression—such as a yellow winky-face—while an emoticon is a text-based display of an emotion—such as ;-).
New Google Software Takes Aim at Trolls and Harmful Comments
When you read a newspaper or a magazine, discussing what you have just read requires you to find another person who is interested in the topic covered by the particular article or op-ed. When you read an article or news piece on the internet, in most cases, there is an opportunity for discussion available right on the very page you are reading. The conversation usually centers around the topic in question, and you do not usually need to wonder about the interests of those participating in the discussion since they have clearly clicked the link to read the article as well. In some situations, however, certain comments and commenters may actually distract from the constructive dialogue, with some comments even including hate-filled invectives and accusations. To combat this problem, Google is launching a new technology to help web publishers manage their content and keep it safe from harmful comments and internet trolls.
YouTube Personality Shut Down Over Controversial Content
Over the last few years, online marketing has started expanding its focus to include videos published on YouTube, Vimeo, and other video-sharing services. For many companies, the world of online video may seem like an alien environment—a entire subculture that has garnered a varied, yet extremely large following. The trend toward streaming video has also created a completely new group of celebrities. For the most part, these are individuals whose success is the direct result of creativity, hard work, and the platform to reach millions of people each day. Those who push things too far, however, may quickly find themselves on the outside looking in as one of the world’s most popular YouTube personalities has discovered.
Faces of YouTube’s New Premium Service
In late 2015, Google repackaged its YouTube Music Key as YouTube Red, allowing users to pay a monthly fee for increased access to YouTube content without advertisements. The idea behind YouTube Red was to compete with other streaming services by offering original shows and movies. To help promote the new service, Google and YouTube relied on the popularity of “YouTubers” such as PewDiePie, the irreverent creation of a Swedish internet star, and Rhett and Link, the pair behind a daily YouTube talk show known called Good Mythical Morning.
Savvy Social Media Marketing Capitalizes on 11-Year Old TV Joke
To the uninformed, the world of social media seems to be dominated by viral videos, political rants, and so-called “trolls” looking for a fight. In short, social media often feels like it is filled with noise. But, as with most things in life, social networks can also offer unique marketing opportunities for those with the knowledge and patience to sort through the veritable jungle of posted opinions and images. Sometimes, openings can arise through the actions of others, making it possible to capitalize on the opportunities they present—if you have the knowledge and skill to act quickly.
More Than a Decade in the Making
Back in 2005, NBC’s mockumentary television show The Office was just beginning to attract attention and was in only its second season. In one of the series’ more famous scenes, Pam Beesly—a shy, reserved receptionist at the time—drank too much during a company awards ceremony and caused a scene at a Chili’s restaurant. Near the end of the episode, the manager of the fictionalized Chili’s informed viewers that Pam was banned from the restaurant chain.
Web Chatter Suggests a Google Algorithm Update in the Works
When you need information about a restaurant, business, or a current event, chances are you start your search using a device connected to Google. You are not alone—Google’s search engine processes 3.5 billion queries on an average day. In determining what results to show you, Google uses a complex algorithm to “guess” which websites are most likely to provide the answers you need. The exact formula of Google’s search algorithm has never been released to the public, but it uses a large number of factors both about the websites it displays as results and the user conducting the search.
Webmasters and digital marketers are constantly in a race to optimize their sites to rank higher in search results so as to increase traffic to their sites and those of their clients. Therefore, when Google updates its algorithm, the changes can create a domino effect across the internet. Sometimes, such updates are rolled out with a great deal of fanfare and media attention; other times, they are kept much quieter. According to various forums and webmaster outlets, an algorithm change may be on its way right now.
Marketing Your Firm: Four Words You Should Never Use and Two You Should Use Carefully
As with any business, your law firm must take proactive steps to inform the general public of its existence. If a prospective client has no idea that you even have a law practice, how will they ever consider hiring you? In the world of advertising and marketing, we are accustomed to pitchmen, billboards, and television ads making extraordinary claims about the quality of a particular product or the reliability of a certain brand—and we usually see such messages as full of exaggeration and hyperbole.
Rules of Professional Conduct
In the legal realm, however, attorneys must be very careful about how they market their firms. When a lawyer is admitted to the State Bar, he or she agrees to always abide by that state’s Rules of Professional Conduct. Every state except California has adopted a set of rules that is based on the Model Rules of Professional Conduct set forth by the American Bar Association. California still maintains Rules of Professional Conduct, but the format is rather different. These rules address concerns in lawyer advertising which include the possibility of misleading clients, misrepresenting a firm’s services, and creating unrealistic expectations. As such, wherever you practice, there are some specific words you should avoid when creating marketing materials and others you must be very careful when using.
