The letter promised a no fees, no cost, no appraisal adjustment of my interest rate. The rate was .25% higher than what the broker was offering me.

When I told the agent from Chase about the lower rate he told me that I’d never qualify for that rate. He said that their data showed my house was underwater. And that if I didn’t agree to modify the terms of my mortgage with Chase within 4 days – I’d lose the rate forever.

I didn’t buy the fear that Chase was selling.

It turns out that my house appraised significantly higher than our mortgage. Enough so that we were able to eliminate PMI by refinancing with our broker.  Instead of being underwater we had at least 20% equity.

The agent from Chase was very pushy. Beware of Chase Bank.

Technology has the ability to change quickly disrupt and destroy disruptive forces.  Here today, gone tomorrow is the story of many tech companies.

Yesterday, I received the following email:

I found out about your law blog in the ABA directory and was wondering if you’d be interested in showcasing your services on my website.

It’s called www.Paperwell.com, and I’m trying to create a resource where consumers can get free legal documents.  It’s like Wikipedia but for law.

What I had in mind was that I can show samples of your legal agreements on my site and right alongside the agreement will be your phone and email info.  That way, you get leads for anyone who finds your agreement on www.Paperwell.com.

What I ask for in exchange is not money but rather: 1. some legal documents you use and 2. posting the link www.Paperwell.com on your website/blog.

It’s hard for anyone to compete with free. Nothing in this post should be seen as an endorsement of this or like services. The problems created by using the wrong language or wrong documents can cause great harm. Figuring out which provisions and documents are right for a client can only be done by an attorney.

Connecticut is a State that does not tolerate or codify hatred. Please come and live here or at least spend a few days here. If you’re a company, please relocate your business here. We respect all of your employees. We love families. Really, we mean it.

Don’t believe me, read Kerrigan which I linked to above. We’re not without our problems but we’re on the right side of history.

In response to our Supreme Court recognizing the rights of same-sex couples to marry, do you know what the citizens of Connecticut did? We didn’t take to the streets. We didn’t amend our constitution (even though we had the chance to). We did nothing. There wasn’t even any real controversy. As it should be, it was business as usual.

Various trade and industry groups like to rank Connecticut as unfriendly to business. And our permitting process slows economic growth. Our transportation systems need to be improved as do failing inner city schools. Those criticisms are fair.

But when I see those studies they never seek to measure things like “respect for equal rights”.  My guess is that what happened in North Carolina last night cost them business. Many young people from around the country took to twitter to boycott moving to or vacationing in North Carolina.

To which, I say, come to Connecticut. We welcome you and your family with open arms.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Parking meters are presently capped at 2 hours. Like many people heading to court, I use these meters a lot.  If I’m heading in on a short motion, I’ll opt to fill the meter ($2) in lieu of paying $9 to park for the day. Many people do this.

Clients and lawyers regularly have to leave court to feed meters. Delays are common in court.

My small idea is to bump the meters to 4 hour limits. In exchange for the added convenience, I’d happily pay $5 for a 4 hour block of time. Under my proposal, the City would net an extra dollar (likely more) and Hartford would be instantly more “business friendly”.

There’s nothing as foolish as trying to pick a 162 game baseball season.  This is the first year that I’m not predicting the Red Sox to win it all. I’m not even predicting they make the playoffs.

AL East: NYY

AL Central: Detroit

AL West:  LAA

AL Wild Cards: Texas and Tampa

NL East: Philadelphia

NL Central: Cincinnati

NL West: San Francisco

NL Wild Cards: Florida and Colorado

ALCS: LAA and NYY

NLCS: Philadelphia and San Francisco

World Series: San Francisco over LAA

AL MVP:  Albert Pujols

NL MVP: Troy Tulowitzki

AL CY Young: CC Sabathia

NL CY Young: Tim Lincecum

Cloud based apps allow for offsite storage of data. All sorts of data. Services like google apps provide for cloud based email solutions. While a service like evernote allows attorneys to take notes and have the notes anywhere there’s an internet connection – regardless of platform. Very cool stuff.

The arguments usually boil down to “it’s safe read the privacy policy v. that service will comply with a subpoena by law enforcement.” I’m not stepping into the fray of this argument. Lawyers should read the privacy and storage policies of cloud based providers and make their own determination as to whether or not any provider complies with the ethical requirements of his jurisdiction.

What gets lost in the debate is how lawyers use technology. Presently, my firm uses an onsite server. Many of the documents stored on that server wind up in the public domain as pleadings.

Let’s say a client comes to you with very sensitive information. Information that puts the clients business, liberty, and/or safety at risk. Are you going to write that information down and leave it on a notepad in your office? Where custodial staff could find it? What if you drop a folder on the way to court and the wind blows your notes away – are you going to risk that? I’d hope not.

Lawyers need to use common sense in storing sensitive data and that doesn’t change in the cloud.

One of the projects was an article for the Hartford Business Journal.  When I told my Mom that the article was published, her response was “did a copy come in the mail?” I told her that I learned of its publication through a post by Dan Schwartz on Facebook.

Here’s part of the article:

“Social media is no different than traditional ways lawyers have attracted business in the past namely through meeting and connecting with other people,” said Ryan McKeen, an attorney with Leone, Throwe, Teller & Nagle in East Hartford. “Social media is just another venue for that to happen. I can source business directly to my blog (aconnecticutlawblog.com), Facebook account, and Twitter.”

McKeen says that new technologies are changing the very way lawyers work, particularly in their ability to process and organize large amounts of information rapidly from any location — eliminating the traditional reliance on paper.

While many lawyers see social media as just another marketing tool, McKeen says it is much more.

“Marketing is the wrong way to think about how to use social media,” he said. “Be it a blog or Twitter or Facebook — it’s about connecting to your audience and them connecting to you.”

One increasingly popular way to connect is with blogs such as McKeen’s. Blog posts not only allow lawyers to reach an enormous potential customer base, but also allow them to position themselves as thought leaders.

McKeen believes firm leaders should wholeheartedly promote the sharing of ideas.

“I’m all for unstructured,’’ McKeen said. “Leadership should let its talented lawyers do great things across platforms and benefit from the results. The worst blogs are boring blogs. Rules make for boring blogs. Many lawyers write well and are uniquely situated to share insights on issues that benefit others. Lawyers should do that and firm leaders should encourage them to do so.”

click here to read more….