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Lawyers in virtual offices can use LinkedIn, blogs, and Twitter for marketing

An article in the Puget Sound Business Journal provides a list of suggestions for lawyers with virtual offices. From "The rise of the virtual law firm":

— Use online resources. Attorneys operating a virtual law firm often lack a dedicated marketing professional. Marketing or public relations consultants can be helpful if the budget allows. If not, marketing and business development can be daunting for a novice, but many online resources have made the process easier.

LinkedIn is an easy-to-use social networking site for professionals. After creating a profile, attorneys

Lawyers and social media: Some "enjoying early-adopter advantage"

This from "Increased cost-consciousness spurs rise in mediation" (Baltimore Business Journal):

Lawyers, often partial to the herd mentality, are beginning to embrace social networking and are noticing some returns.

Cutting-edge legal practitioners say they are using social networking sites such as Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn in three main ways: to market themselves, to better communicate with clients and to gain an understanding of their clients’ business relationships.

Glenn Manishin ... has been involved in social media “on an intensive basis” for more than two years. At least half a dozen clients have retained him based upon getting to know him through social media.

“I have clients and potential clients that never e-mail me any more; they only send me direct messages through Twitter,” he said.

Blog Glob: "World's Top Places To Play Golf"

Excerpt:

Golf has been called a nice walk ruined, and the vistas enjoyed from the fairway--or the rough, as it may be--certainly contribute to the playing experience.

Chances are that the views at your local course don't quite compare to what you'll find at ... .

Click to read the rest of "World's Top Places To Play Golf" (Forbes).

Blog Glob: "Tech-savvy lawyer is connected"

From the article:

To borrow from an old Oldsmobile ad, Nicole Black is not your father's lawyer.

But she very well could be the lawyer of the future, a tech-savvy, well-connected professional who uses online tools to build and grow a business, communicate with prospective clients and share the latest research and case law with other lawyers.

She works for the law firm of Fiandach & Fiandach, but you'll more likely find her at one of the Pittsford Starbucks, working from her lap-top.

Click to read the rest of "Tech-savvy lawyer is connected" (Democrat and Chronicle).

Nearing deadline for early-bird rates for Contemplative Lawyers retreat in Santa Fe

Our pioneering retreat will be held at the beautiful Ghost Ranch Santa Fe on November 13 - 15. More information here:

http://www.ReflectiveLawyer.com

Or here:

http://ContemplativeLawyerRetreats.com

Or here:

http://www.ReflectiveLawyers.com

We'll soon be adding even more information at the Contemplative Lawyer Retreats Web site. Today I just wanted to let you know about the looming deadline for early-bird.

Please pass the word along! This retreat will be an unforgettable experience for all. Thank you.

Free conference at U of Chicago: "How the social brain experiences empathy"

From the About page:

Why empathy?

Empathy, the natural capacity to share, appreciate and respond to the affective states of others, plays a crucial role in much of human social interaction from birth to the end of life. Empathy is thought to have a key role in motivating prosocial behavior and providing the affective and motivational bases for moral development. These are just a few reasons to be interested in empathy. For a very long time, empathy has been a focus of speculation in philosophy and in the empirical investigations of social psychology and developmental science. But in the past decade, empathy research has blossomed into a vibrant and multidisciplinary field of study, which includes cognitive psychology, evolutionary biology, and affective neuroscience.

What are some of the questions that will be addressed?

Research shows that empathy is not specific to humans. This social skill has evolved with the mammalian brain. How does empathy develop in young infants and children? What is the

A new blog focused on humanizing legal education with a bonus: A coloring book for lawyers

Susannah Pollvogt, team leader of University of Denver's Bar Success Program, has launched the blog Thriving in Law School. From the About page:

Individuals thrive when they have a general sense of well-being, both physical and emotional, are connected to themselves and others, and experience themselves as capable and effective.

That being said, very few law students or lawyers would would describe themselves this way.  In fact, many aspects of traditional legal education and the legal profession seem designed to discourage law students and lawyers from thriving.

Why is this the case and can it be changed?  Should it be changed, or would disturbing the traditions of legal pedagogy and practice diminish professionalism and ethics in the practice of law?

On the other hand, would change enhance professionalism and ethics, as well as supporting greater personal satisfaction?

Linked to at the blog is the lawyer coloring book [pdf]. A page from the book is above. Got your crayons?

More about your brain from Harvard's zombie expert

As regular readers may recall, Dr. Steven Schlozman is an expert on zombies. In teaching people about zombies, he also teaches about the human brain. I see he now has a book deal. That book, I cannot wait to read! From "Steven Schlozman, zombie expert" (Courier-Journal):

Steven Schlozman is an instructor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and a child psychiatrist at Massachusetts General Hospital. He's also the world's preeminent scholar on the neurology of zombies.

Yes, zombies. The ghoulish re-animated dead that obsess with nothing besides eating the brains of the living.

Schlozman stumbled into this role after volunteering, half-jokingly, to give a lecture on the neurology of zombies during a film event in Cambridge, Mass. The next thing Schlozman knew, he was a psychiatrist with a zombie book deal.

...

So, in a nutshell, can you explain zombie neurology to me?

I tried to figure out if there were zombies — because I like zombie movies a lot — what would zombie brains look like, and what regions of the brain would be especially doing well, and what regions of the brain wouldn't do well. ... [T]here's something wrong with their cerebellum because they walk like they're drunk. The cerebellum is the region of the brain that allows for balance, allows for you to walk with a normal gait.

Past posts on Schlozman and our brains:

• All you need to know about your brain can be learned in NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD
• A fun and very novel way to learn about your brain

Note: (Added November 13, 2010): More about how we can learn from zombie brains about our own

Senior associate pens and sings song "Skadden, You Gladden My Heart"

Hear Stacy E. Kray sing her song by clicking here. What's the story behind the song? She wrote it in response to a challenge by Ben Hallman. From "Skadden, You Gladden My Heart" (Am Law Daily):

Hallman came up with the song challenge after writing last week about Skadden's win on behalf of Jon Bon Jovi and other parties who stood accused of stealing someone's song. You can read the full story about the case here and read Hallman's interview with Kray here. Hallman also helpfully shares the full lyrics, which include this gem:

Skadden, don't be angry with my song.
I penned it with time off the clock.

She has a nice voice, don't you agree? I like her song much better than Nixon Peabody's (see notes at that link for the NP song and lyrics).

Meditation: It's not just done with your mind

Your body is involved, too, or it should be. Here's an article about the body's involvement: "Meditation starts with your body" (Shambala SunSpace). Although written from a Buddhist perspective, I think anyone interested in meditation will get something from reading. The sentence I will remember is a quote from Roshi Pat Enkyo O’Hara.

I once heard Roshi Pat Enkyo O’Hara from the Village Zendo in New York say when she was giving meditation instruction, “The first thing we do is start with that part of our minds that we call our body.”

Yes, the part of the mind we call our body. Nice way to see body, don't you think?