Michael Ferguson

Legal professionals are quick to dismiss social media for networking and building a name. Junk, political views, loss of privacy, fighting, ads and more are what I hear for excuses. Author, strategist and long time blogger, Euan Semple, in a post this morning labels it “pontificating about toxic social media.” Semple references a Facebook post from a mother who lost a daughter to cancer. A post so moving it moved his daughter to tears. The mother and daughter of a business colleague of mine each movingly posted to Facebook about their husband and father’s suicide. Posts that generated lengthy discussion about depression and what we can do to help peers. Hardly toxic. So much value. This potential to put our most difficult and challenging thoughts down in writing, to clarify our thinking, to open up our hearts, to create shared meaning, this is as much social media as the poisonous damaging views that also get shared. Lawyers who hardly use social media are the first to dismis

Law schools have an obligation to introduce innovation and technology disciplines into their curriculum, not just to prepare graduates for the future, but to increase access to legal services. This from Dan Linna , a professor of law at Michigan State and Director of LegalRnD – The Center for Legal Services Innovation. Talking with Ed Sohn about Linna’s Law School Innovation Index : Everyone needs to get behind solving the “access to legal services” problem. We have this stench, this terrible problem, where approximately 80% of people in the U.S. lack access to civil legal services, not to mention the myriad of problems with our criminal justice system and public defense. A huge portion of our citizens are disconnected from the law. How is that sustainable for us as a society? Acting is the right thing to do for all of us in the legal profession. I’ve tried to answer [Head of Legal Services] Jim Sandman’s call to accelerate legal-service delivery innovation and technology a

The Financial Times’ Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson’s  report from Bowling Green, Kentucky on why Americans do not trust news from mainstream journalists signals why law blogs published by local lawyers will be more trusted than other online legal information. From Edgecliffe-Johnson: According to Gallup, America’s trust in mass media peaked at 72 per cent in 1976, the year All the President’s Men hit cinemas. By last year, that figure had plunged to 32 per cent… Sam Ford , an MIT research affiliate who grew up in Bowling Green, tells Edgecliffe-Johnson that “most journalists are from elsewhere.” As Craigslist and Walmart hollowed out local business models, America’s remaining journalism jobs become concentrated in cosmopolitan, economically successful and liberal coastal cities. If you only meet a reporter when they parachute in from Washington or New York to cover an election, natural disaster…, “that changes the relationship a community has to journalism” Ford says. Local news

Time is a precious commodity, so finding efficiencies in your work is a must. Although all personal injury cases have different facts and nuances, you can streamline the process of organizing your personal injury cases with an easy checklist. A guide is helpful because it can be placed in the front of the client's file, so that each task can be checked off as completed. That way, with a quick

1. PeekYou PeekYou is the best people search engine I ever find. PeekYou is really easy to use. You just need to put the first and last name of the people you want to find or username. PeekYou collects and combines scattered content from social sites, news sources, homepages, and blog platforms to present comprehensive online identities. 2. Zaba Search 3. Pipl Pipl comes next on our list.

Every paralegal should have a library of resources, either on a bookshelf at work or as part of the paralegal home office. Figuring out which books to include in that resource can be time-consuming, however, and we all know time is not something you have much of as a paralegal. So we’ve compiled this short list of 10 must-have books for you. So you can quickly find the resources most

The New York City Bar Association’s  14th Annual Small Law Firm Practice Management Symposium is this coming Thursday, November 9. It’s an honor to be presenting for the second year in a row. Whether you are just starting out or been practicing for decades, I can personally vouch that the Symposium offers valuable guidance on both managing and growing a practice. I particularly like the open dialogue between presenters and attendees. Discussion flushes out what’s on people’s minds and you walk away with information you can put to work immediately. Unlike other bar associations, the NYCBA has no hangups about giving preference to bar committee members, authors or “non-vendors” as presenters. NYCBA is looking for top shelf and up to date information from presenters, especially on technology and innovation. In the New York City Area? Consider attending. The program runs from 8:30 – 5:00 and is a steal at $65 for members and $100 for non-members. There’s also plenty of time to networ

How would you rate your ability to estimate how long it takes you to: check your email? go grocery shopping? make appointments? complete phone calls? One skill that is essential to effective time management is to master the art of time estimation. It's this ability that will enable you to plan accordingly and leave yourself enough time for anything that is on your schedule and to-do list

Lawyer? Law student? Legal marketing professional? Legal tech entrepreneur? Forget what you may have been told. Learn how to really use blogging and social media in a strategic fashion to build a name and nurture relationships. Lawline and LexBlog are hosting a “Legal Blogging and Social Media Workshop” next Wednesday, November 8 from 5 to 6:30 at WeWork Tower 49, 12 East 49th Street, 11th floor. I’ll teach a little and lead a discussion on: Developing a strategy for blogging and social media as a legal professional Importance of “listening” and how it’s done Role of blogging to learn, network and advance the law How and why of Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook Walk away with a whole new perspective on networking online and with role model lawyers to follow Better yet, we’ll have a Beer for Bloggers (and others) a couple blocks away at Connolly’s Pub at 14 E 47th St. You can register here . Space is limited so try and come if you register so we get a good feel on attendees.