Marketing Opportunities

We all must market our practices to survive.  Opportunities abound:  bar associations, networking groups, service organizations.  Sometimes those opportunities present themselves completely by chance.  Yesterday I got a call from attorney Kelly Phillips Erb.  Kelly is the author of the wildly popular Taxgirl blog on Forbes.com.  Kelly was writing a piece on the mass wedding performed by Queen Latifah during the Grammys show on Sunday night.  She was looking for some law regarding the legality of such an event, and I was glad to help.  We talked, and a bit later I followed up by sending her some more information.

Kelly took that information and incorporated it into a great article.  By helping Kelly out she got material she could incorporate into her article.  As a thank you Kelly gave me a hearty mention and several quotes in the article.  I get the wonderful exposure that comes with being quoted in an article on Forbes.com.  Everyone wins.  Please click here to read Kelly's article.

Please visit hardinglaw.com for more information about Harding & Associates Family Law

#taxgirl #kellyerb #queenlatifah #grammys #Harding&AssociatesFamilyLaw #californiafamilylaw #divorce #family law #superlawyers #americanacademyofmatrimoniallawyers #Pleasantondivorce #AlamedaCountyDivorce #ContraCostaCountyDivorce #lawyers

An Open Letter To Law School Deans

Dear Law School Dean:

You are failing your students.  Here is why.

I am a small firm practitioner.  My ability to hire additional lawyers is driven by the amount of work available to keep those lawyers busy.  It is a delicate balancing act.    When our work volume gets to the point that we can start thinking about hiring another lawyer, we usually cannot afford to hire an experienced lawyer who requires no practical training.  At the same time we cannot afford to pay a brand new lawyer who does not know the process of practicing law.

I appreciate that it is necessary to know how to think like a lawyer.  That is not enough.  With the proliferation of law schools, and the superfluous number of graduates that those redundant law schools are producing, the law schools must provide practical training.  Law schools should be teaching law students how to practice law.  Law firms should not be an extension of law schools.  Coming out of law school, graduates should know what discovery is, they should know what case management is, they should know how to use Westlaw, Lexis Nexis, and other legal research tools.  Shame the law school that issues a degree to a graduate who has never seen a set of interrogatories, or a demand for production, or a request for admission.  Every law school graduate should know what a deposition is, and should have seen a deposition before showing up for his or first day of work as a lawyer.  Every law school graduate should have observed many days of a working courtroom before receiving the law degree.

Come on law schools, you have turned your institutions into gross assembly lines for the sake of profit, at least help the profession to be able to give those graduates jobs.

Please visit hardinglaw.com for more information about Harding & Associates Family Law #Harding&AssociatesFamilyLaw #californiafamilylaw #divorce #family law #superlawyers #americanacademyofmatrimoniallawyers #Pleasantondivorce #AlamedaCountyDivorce #ContraCostaCountyDivorce #lawyers

Robert Ambrigi's LawSites Blog

Robert Ambrogi is a lawyer and internet consultant (and a whole lot more ...).  He started his LawSites blog in 2002.  It is great.  I am a subscriber, and I read his blog all the time.  It is chock full of great information about law practice marketing and lawyer specific, internet centric technology information.  If yu want to keep your finger on the pulse of internet lawyer Robert's blog is a great place to start.  Please click here for a visit.

Please visit hardinglaw.com for more information about Harding & Associates Family Law

#robertambrogi #lawsites #Harding&AssociatesFamilyLaw #californiafamilylaw #divorce #family law #superlawyers #americanacademyofmatrimoniallawyers #Pleasantondivorce #AlamedaCountyDivorce #ContraCostaCountyDivorce #lawyers

This Would Be A Cool Smart Watch

Smart watches are the next big thing in mobile technology.  Think of an iPhone miniaturized and strapped to your wrist. Not only will smart watches tell time, they will also be phones, calendars, viewers, the whole shabang!  I am not sure how my old eyes will ever be able to see anything on them, but that is a different issue.

There are already a few on the market (Pebble, Sony, Pine) but their technology is infantile.  As with all things tech though, new prototypes are coming out all the time.  One of the coolest designs I have seen is from Todd Hamilton. Now, of course, these models are just that, models. No real hardware exists yet, but Hamilton's designs give us a flashy example of just how cool the smart watch idea can be.

Check out more of Todd's cool designs and ideas by visiting his blog.

Please visit hardinglaw.com for more information about Harding & Associates Family Law 

#smartwatch #Harding&AssociatesFamilyLaw #californiafamilylaw #divorce #family law #superlawyers #americanacademyofmatrimoniallawyers #Pleasantondivorce #AlamedaCountyDivorce #ContraCostaCountyDivorce #lawyers

PowerPoint Presentations On Your iPad

The iPad is a nifty tool for making presentations.  I am a big fan of Apple's Keynote presentation software (for Macs and iPads).  Others prefer to stick with the tried and true PowerPoint from Microsoft.  Fortunately, if you are an Apple hardware person wanting to use PowerPoint, you can have your cake and eat it to.

Over at the ABA's Law Technology Today blog there are a series of articles detailing how you can give PowerPoint presentations on you iPad.  Click here for a look.

Please visit hardinglaw.com for more information about Harding & Associates Family Law #keynote powerpoint






#powerpointonipad #Harding&AssociatesFamilyLaw #californiafamilylaw #divorce #family law #superlawyers #americanacademyofmatrimoniallawyers
#Pleasantondivorce #AlamedaCountyDivorce #ContraCostaCountyDivorce #lawyers

Going Big or Going Small

I was sitting in court today, talking to a colleague while we were waiting for our cases to be called.  We will call my friend Tom, because that is what his name is.  Tom had on a new, fancy exercise band watch.  I noticed it, and asked for the demonstration.  He showed me how it displayed the time, and how it displayed the number of steps he had taken that day.  He explained it did other stuff, but he only knew how to work the time and the steps.  I took his word on all of this because the display on the band was too small for me to read.  Therein lies the theme of this post -- everything is getting smaller.  I have to ask, how small is too small?

Regular followers of this blog will appreciate that I am an iPad nut.  I think it is a revolutionary device.  I am also a huge iPhone fan.  And, of course, I am a huge MacBook fan!  I am also middle aged, and my eyes are getting bad.  With the New Year I have abandoned using my iPad as a courtroom companion.  I did not go with a smaller iPad Air when it was released.  Instead I put my money into a fully loaded iPhone 5s.  I now have comparable computing power in a smaller package than is offered in the iPad line.  Since I have to put my glasses on to read the iPhone and the iPad I am going with the iPhone.  I am also starting to carry my Mac Book Pro with retina display.  Yes it is heavier than the iPad, but when I have it slung over my shoulder in my fancy leather briefcase it really isn't an issue, and I have all that computing power with a 15" screen.  It is proving to be a real advantage.

I will continue to post about the iPad, it will just be with less practical application for me.  To all of those sharp, young eyes out there, touche'!

Please visit hardinglaw.com for more information about Harding & Associates Family Law #Apple #iPad #iPadAir #iPhone #MacBookProRetina #GoingBig #GoingSmall #Harding&AssociatesFamilyLaw #californiafamilylaw #divorce #family law #superlawyers #americanacademyofmatrimoniallawyers #Pleasantondivorce #AlamedaCountyDivorce #ContraCostaCountyDivorce #lawyers