Google+ Will Dominate Legal Social Networking

July 8, 2011 by 2 Comments

I’ve been playing around with Google+ for about a week now.  I love it.  Please take my opinion with a grain of salt, as I’m easily amused with new toys, and once thought Google Wave was going to replace email. To quote my friend, Meghan Freed, “I’m an parishioner at the church of the now”.

Google+Back in the dark ages (prior to the Red Sox winning the World Series in 2004), I worked at a law firm that sent newsletters to its clients. The newsletters would include updates about the firm and developments in Connecticut law.  These newsletters were sent via snail mail.

I know some firms do email blasts to their clients but who reads those? I don’t.  The parish of the church of the now demands interaction with media.  When link to a blog post on Facebook, friends comment on it. When I post something that people comment on or share – I know I’ve written something that is in someway relevant.  Facebook is great for friends.

I’m not a fan of “friending” clients on Facebook for many reasons. Namely, I like to keep my personal life somewhat personal. I suspect that many lawyers feel the same way.

If I post a link on twitter – I broadcast it to the world but in terms of connection – Twitter is cold. People click on links with pictures and twitter is a bunch of short URLS. People can interact with it by retweeting or sending an @ message to me but it lacks the level of contact that Facebook provides.

If you are using LinkedIn, the soundtrack from “Top Gun” was probably in heavy rotation at your prom.  LinkedIn is for the older demo. It’s slow, clunky, and hard to navigate. I dislike LinkedIn very much and hardly ever use it.

Enter Google+.  At first glance it looks a lot like Facebook but if you look deeper it’s much more. With Google+ I can share this post with the world (ala twitter). Google+’s circle feature also allows me to target what I’m posting. For example on Google+ I have a circle for my “Red Sox Fan Friends” and I post things like “$^@* Lackey! ”.  The only people who can read that message are in my Red Sox Fan Friend Circle. No one else can see it.

I could create a group for clients and send them relevant blog posts or updates about the firm. Exactly the kind of content that my Red Sox fan friends could care less about.

The best part is that creating “circles” is very simple. It’s a drag and drop process.

The sparks feature is also really cool. It allows Google to deliver relevant articles to you. For example, I have a spark on “Connecticut Law” and when I click on it – I see news articles on Connecticut law. It helps me stay current and share relevant content with people who may want to read it.

When you put it all together,  I think that Google+ is going to change the way that lawyers interact with each other and the public online.

Filed Under: A Connecticut Law Blog, Legal Technology

Two Outstanding Law Related Podcasts

April 21, 2011 by 1 Comment

I love the podcast. My two favorite podcasts are: “NPR’s Planet Money” and “This American Life”.

If you’re looking for something to listen to, check out these two episodes:

“A Former Crack Dealer on The Economics Of Drugs”: My favorite thing about economics is that when done well it tells the truth about human behavior. In this podcast the Planet Money team interviewed one of LA’s biggest crack dealers in the 1980s and 1990s. It got me thinking about the costs of both making drugs legal and keeping them illegal. The drug dealer favored prohibition. Really good stuff.

Very Tough Love: This podcast is very rich. Ira Glass examines a Georgia drug court that he concludes is like no other court in the country. Find out how a woman who forges two checks totaling $100 ends up in drug court for over 10 years and serves 20 months in jail including a stay in solitary confinement.  The story reminds us that our justice system is human and thus imperfect. Though the podcast doesn’t touch on it directly – it also represents a failure of lawyers to bring legal challenges to the court. Lawyers should not be cowards and judges should not be elected.

So if you’re driving somewhere or going for a run this weekend – download these podcasts. They’ll get you thinking.

Filed Under: Legal Technology Tagged With: , , , ,

Save Joan’s House

April 10, 2011 by 1 Comment

Joan’s house sits at the bottom of a big hill. It’s a hill that I’ve ran up and down – hundreds of times.

Joan's House. Save it.

Sometimes, I see Joan. She may be sitting on her porch or gardening. We usually wave and say “hi” to each other.  I continue up the hill. She goes on with her life.

Throughout most of human history, we knew our neighbors well. In today’s walled and disconnected world it’s possible never to meet the people living close to us – let alone get to know them.  People could and did help their neighbors.

On the flipside we have tools like Facebook. Where we can keep in touch with lots of people who we either rarely or ever see.

These worlds collided late last week. Bill Childs, Associate Dean at Western New England School of Law and a fellow alumni board member – posted a link urging his friends to “save Joan’s house. Bill’s a good guy so I clicked on the link. The person who needed help, was Joan, my neighbor.

A few hours later, the Dean of the Hartford Blogosphere, Helder Mira posted the same link on Facebook. Joan has good friends.

It turns out that Joan was out of work for more than a year and fell behind on her mortgage. She has a job now, however, needs help in making up the $6,000 deficit.

Click here to read more about Joan and her situation. If you enjoy this site, and Joan’s cause worthy (which I trust you will), please give something to help her out. Any amount would be greatly appreciated. I’ve got miles to run. I hope to be waving to Joan for year’s to come. I ask you to help my neighbor.

Filed Under: A Connecticut Law Blog, Foreclosure, Law School, Legal Technology, Real Estate Tagged With: , , , ,

Jepsen On AT&T – T-Mobile Merger

March 30, 2011 by Leave a Comment

“A merger of this magnitude, especially in an already concentrated market, will naturally be scrutinized for competitive ramifications. I have no doubt that the Department of Justice and the Federal Communications Commission will be investigating the deal for its competitive impact. We will be in communication with the federal government, and with any state undertaking a review, to ensure to our satisfaction that the matter is being appropriately investigated and the interests of Connecticut consumers are protected.”

Filed Under: A Connecticut Law Blog, Legal Technology, Litigation Tagged With: , , ,

My Groupon Twitter Lesson

February 8, 2011 by 1 Comment

Sunday night while watching the Superbowl, I fired off a few tweets about Groupon’s ad mocking ethnic cleansing in Tibet.

palden gyasto

Palden Gyastso

Frankly, I’m a little more colorful on twitter than I am on this site and I’m not sure why. Here are the tweets that I fired off:

Hey @groupon, you suck. I don’t care what the deal is – you lost my business.

RT That Groupon commercial may actually inspire the Dalai Lama to give up a lifetime of non-violence to kick the CEO in the nuts.

I’ll bet @groupon placed a call to google tonight and asked if that 6 billion was still on the table.

It shows that @groupon is amateur hour. A real company wouldn’t think of airing those ads.

I fired those tweets off pretty quickly. I was angry. I’ve had Tibetan food. I like it. I’ve eaten Tibetan food with, Palden Gyatso,  a Tibetan Monk who had his teeth knocked out with a electric cattle prod in a Chinese prison. The next morning when I got my groupon emails I cancelled my account.

Yesterday, I got an email from a reporter at the Chicago Tribune. She had searched twitter for people’s reactions to the groupon ad and decided to contact me.  She asked if I’d be willing to be interviewed for an article she was working on. I agreed to the interview.

In today’s Chicago Tribune, I’m quoted in a story about Groupon.

Ryan McKeen, a 30-year-old from Connecticut, tweeted his disdain and unsubscribed from Groupon in protest. “I sat there and watched the ad and I was just stunned,” he said.

The lesson in all of this for lawyers is that people will read your stuff if you put it out online. Even after all I’ve been through with this site – it still surprises me when I get a reaction to something I write which happens fairly frequently. When I started this site, I assumed no one would ever read it. I never assumed it would have any impact.

Especially when you start blogging or using twitter it’s important not to think that you’re writing in a vacuum.

Filed Under: Legal Technology Tagged With: , , , , ,

Westlaw Next Now Allows Cases To Be Sent To Your Kindle

January 5, 2011 by Leave a Comment

I don’t own a Kindle…….yet.  Some day, I’ll get one if for no other reason than moving books is not my favorite job. My wife owns one and it’s really cool.

Amazon KindleMy firm just upgraded to Westlaw Next and overall I’m impressed. The other day, I went to print a case, and the drop down menu gave me the option of sending it to a Kindle. That alone is almost reason enough to purchase one.

I hate carrying large briefcases to court. The idea that I could have lots of relevant law for a case available at my finger tips excites me.  As does the idea that I could download a lot of cases and read them later without having to carry around a paper folder.

The future is paperless. Now all I have to do is convince my wife or my firm that the Kindle is another gadget that I absolutely need.

Filed Under: Legal Technology Tagged With: , , , ,

The CT Practice App

August 19, 2010 by Leave a Comment

by Ryan McKeen

Earlier this week, I got an email from Greenwich Attorney Hilary B. Miller.

Attorney Miller informed me that he created a CT Practice Book iPhone App. The app is available in the App Store by searching “CT Practice Book”. The App retails for $5.99 and is updated through December 31, 2009. Attorney Miller told me he plans to update the app as changes are made to the Practice Book.

I asked Attorney Miller if he planned to create an Android or Blackberry App and he said that he had no plans to do so at this time.

If you’re like me, you always lug the practice book to court because you never know when a procedural question will arise. Now, for the price of a fancy drink at Starbucks the entire practice book is available on your phone.

More space in my briefcase and less paper is a win-win.

Filed Under: A Connecticut Law Blog, Legal Technology Tagged With: ,

Using Google Voice To Source Your Business

June 29, 2010 by 1 Comment

by Ryan McKeen

I love Google Voice.

I work in a small firm. We do very little in the way of any sort of advertising. We’re also not so great at tracking where exactly our business comes from.  I suspect we’re not alone.

We’re a little old school in that respect. Our days are spent practicing law. Technology tends to be very expensive and all too often time consuming.

I’m always on the look out for free technology that requires little effort and works. I can think of few things that are free and more useful to a small or solo practice than Google Voice.

I’ve written posts about using Google Voice as a quick and dirty transcription service, to allow office staff to contact me free of charge via text, and as a tool to keep in contact with clients.

Today I’m writing about using Google Voice to source business. Say I want to place an ad in a local paper to inform the public about my growing real estate practice.  Traditionally, I’d have my firm’s number placed in the ad. That’s fine but a little short sighted.

When you get a Google Voice number you can make it ring at your office phone. A caller would have no idea that he was calling a google voice number. Office staff would also not have a clue that the caller dialed a google voice number. To both staff and the caller it would be as if the office number had been dialed.

The cool part about Google Voice is it operates like an email account. It keeps track of calls, the dates and times they were received and the phone number the call was placed from.

If I only used my Google Voice number to promote my real estate practice in a newspaper – I would have some idea of the effectiveness of the ad. Doing this would not add cost to my firm’s overhead  nor would it create work for staff.

Again, I love Google Voice.  Do you use Google Voice in your practice? If so I’d love to hear from you because I’m sure there are really cool uses that I haven’t thought of.

Filed Under: Legal Technology Tagged With: , ,

Another Way Google Voice Can Impact Your Law Practice

June 23, 2010 by 1 Comment

by Ryan McKeen

I’m having my assistant Ruth sign up for Google Voice this morning.

One of Google Voice’s cool features is that it allows a user on a computer to send a text message (free of charge to the sender) to a cell phone.

Presently when I’m out of the office, I have Ruth send me emails. Sometimes there’s a delay in me getting the email. Other times, I don’t notice the email right away because of the settings on my phone.

Text messages are more intrusive than emails and less intrusive than phone calls.  When in court it’s hard to talk on the phone. If Ruth has something important to send to me out of the office she’ll now be able to text me free of charge to her.

Ruth is good at making me look good. With Google Voice in her toolbox, I think she’ll be even better at making me look good.

Filed Under: A Connecticut Law Blog, Legal Technology Tagged With:

How Opening Google Voice To Everyone May Impact Your Practice

June 23, 2010 by 1 Comment

by Ryan McKeen

In my practice, I represent people from all walks of life. Some of my clients are very wealthy, some are very poor, and most our middle class.  This is probably no different from a lot of lawyers who represent individuals.

One of the great problems I have from time to time is communicating with some of my clients that don’t have money.  They almost never have land lines and their cell phones always change.  They often have prepaid phones.

Sometimes my clients move without telling me. In talking with other lawyers, I know I’m not alone.

Yesterday, Google opened Google Voice to everyone. Before yesterday, one could only obtain a Google Voice account through an invite. Now it’s open to everyone.

The basic feature of Google Voice is that it’s one number. You can give that number to someone and have it ring on the phone of your choice either a cell phone, a work phone or a home phone.

Thus if you give someone your Google Voice number it doesn’t matter if you change your cell phone number so long as you let google voice know that you’ve changed your number. The person trying to call you would never know that your number has changed.

Of course, the problem is that if someone’s cell number changes and they do not update that information with Google then it’s all for not. Which is likely to happen because people with lower incomes tend not to have access to the internet. Though through libraries some do.

While it’s not a game changer, a client with Google Voice just may be easier to find and that’s a good thing.

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