When you send messages, send messages to those people who are interested or have opted to hear from you. Don’t not randomly catch strangers!

If you fish online to find your demographics (clients), build a connection and relationship of trust with potential clients before using your marketing hook. Befriend them or help them or provide them with value. If your story represents value to others, they will find you.

And even if you have a mutually beneficial relationship with prospects, make sure they are open to hearing about you, your services, or event. Attract them and be accurate, brief and clear! Deliver what you promise and promise what you can deliver.

There are several advertising tools that your firm can use to attract people to use your legal services. One of the most cost-effective ways to market your services once you have a website is to publish press release regularly as it can help you to be in the news. Your newsworthiness draws the attention of people and the media simultaneously!

There was a victory for immigrants facing automatic deportation in the U.S. Supreme Court this week. 

The case was of an immigrant who had lived in the US since he was five, and had been deported after possessing one tablet of Xanax and serving a ten day sentence for the offense. The drug possession offense was his second after possessing marijuana a year earlier and serving a 20-day sentence.

Although the second offense had been ruled by the government as putting the man in the deportation category, the Supreme Court ruled that this was not what Congress had meant by automatic deportation for an immigrant convicted of an aggravated felony. Justice John Paul Stevens wrote the opinion for the case, and affirmed the decision by defining what Congress intended.

“We do not usually think of a 10-day sentence for the unauthorized possession of a trivial amount of a prescription drug as an ‘aggravated felony,’ ” Stevens wrote. Immigrants who break the law should receive the chance to plead their case before an immigration judge rather than face automatic deportation, he said.

This will mean immigrants can ask judges to take into account other factors besides the case when deciding whether or not to deport offenders, but illegal immigrants will most likely be automatically deported regardless. The court also allowed second chances in the case Holland v Florida, where a man was denied a review of his sentence for killing a police officer because his lawyer missed the filing deadline. The court said this was negligence by the law, and the defendant should not lose the opportunity to have his sentence reviewed because of his lawyer’s mistake. Justice Scalia wrote the dissenting opinion in the Holland case, and said that deadlines are there for a reason, and the petitioner was just plain “out of luck.”

I haven’t read the new Arizona law that is causing so much controversy, but I have seen and heard the fallout.  Whatever side of the issue you fall on what I am proud of is the ability of Americans to take a stand and publically voice their opinion.  The Nation has to face up to an issue that involves the lives of untold millions of people in the country that are undocumented.  There are husbands, wives, children involved and the issue cannot simply be ignored.  Arizona’s new law may push the issue to the point where reasonable minds get together to discuss the problem and to come up with an answer.  Sweeping the issue under the carpet wont make it any better.  What do you think?

Your communications through emails are part of your overall brand.

If you are receiving and responding to emails from referrals, general inquiries, clients and service providers, respond to all messages within 24 hours. Use specific reference in the subject box and begin with greeting and salutation. Remember that recipients of your reply may be using hand held devices: help them by writing concisely. Don’t use negations lightly: avoid closing with “don’t hesitate to call.” Include your contact information with signature.

And remember your abc’s: you should write accurately, briefly and clearly!

A sea change is taking effect when the Census Bureau sends out the 2010 Census. No longer will Latinos have to request a Census Form in Spanish, the Bureau is now to provide the form in Spanish! The Census Bureau has reportedly undercounted minority and immigrant communities, who are harder to reach because of language barriers and distrust of government, this according to experts. Latino advocates hope the bilingual forms will help show their strength in numbers to underscore their growing political influence and garner more in federal funds that are determined by population. Automatic mailing of the bilingual forms debuts in 2010. Approximately 34 million people reported speaking Spanish at home in the United States in 2007, more than all the other languages combined except English.

Your friends do say something about you! Myspace? Facebook? LinkedIn? Which do you choose? Where will we migrate next in the virtual world? Social networks have allowed us to be more connected. Yet 120 seems to be number of effective social connections we may manage online. Facebook and other social media know it.

Online social networks are useful for all lawyers: they allow the medium to be a part of a marketing plan. Yet part of your branding is to control your message in a medium where all information is potentially accessible. Social networks can raise important concerns for lawyers: disclosure, confidentiality, solicitation, inadvertently establishing attorney-client relationship.

Use privacy features to maintain a limited profile for professional contacts who will not be able to see photos, updates, fan pages or group memberships. Use friend or connection requests carefully. Refer clients to connect through more professional sites.

Use social media as an investment in time to create more meaningful connections and interactions.

Dime con quién andas y te diré quien eres. ¿Myspace? ¿Facebook? ¿LinkedIn? ¿Cuál elegir? ¿Adonde emigraremos en el mundo virtual? Las redes sociales virtuales nos han permitido conectarnos más. No obstante 120 personas parece ser el número ideal de las conecciones sociales que podemos sostener en el mundo virtual. Facebook y otros medios sociales lo reconocen.

Para los abogados, las redes sociales son útiles al integrarse a un plan general de mercadeo. Aún, parte de su marca es poder conrolar su mensaje en un medio que todo tipo de información es potencialmente acessible. Varios elementos pueden surgir de dichas redes sociales para el abogado: revelación de información de la relación entre abogado y cliente, confidencialidad,  las reglas de conducta sobre como el abogado obtiene clientes y establecer una relación abogado-cliente inadvertidamente.

Utilice los paremetros de privacidad permitidos por la red social en uso para crear un perfil para sus contactos profesionales los cuales no tendran acceso a sus fotos, información corriente u otras páginas. Responda a solicitudes de amistad o de conneción con cuidado. Recomiende a sus clientes de conectarse por medio de redes más profesionales.

Utilice los medios sociales en el internet como un inversión laboral para crear conneciones e interacciones más profundas.

Learning new skills paves the way for a brighter tomorrow: your professional skills as a lawyer or your personal skills as a global citizen. Electronic learning, which includes all types of distance and web-based learning, is powered by digital technology. E-learning is an experience that must be coupled with making a real connection, which is the product of information exchange and solid relationship building.

Ask yourself when e-learning will offer you breakthrough interpersonal moments – with client and other individuals ‑ and act on them!

Aprender nuevas capacidades es un camino hacia un futuro mejor: ya se en la via professional como abogado o el la via professional como ciudadana global. El aprendizaje electrónico (e-learning), incluyendo el aprendizaje a larga distancia or por internet, se basa en la tecnología. E-learning es una forma de experimentar y debe culminar con una conexión verdadera, la cual es el producto del intercambio de ideas e información y relaciones sólidas.

Preguntése cuando e-learning le ofrecerá momentos claves para su desarrollo interpersonal, ya sea con clientes u otros individuos – ¡y tome acción!

Hay muchas razones que las parejas en unión libre podrían citar para no casarse. Algunos dirán que ellos no necesitan un “trozo de papel” para probar que se aman y que existe un compromiso entre ambos. Otros eligen vivir juntos sin casarse para evitar los enredos legales que surgen cuando la relación termina. Las parejas que basan su decisión en esta última razón deberían tener en mente que aun cuando las relaciones en unión libre se disuelven de manera muy simple, ese no es siempre el caso.

Tal vez el ejemplo más notorio del pantano legal en el que puede sumergirse una unión libre que llega a su fin es el caso de Lee y Michelle Triola Marvin. Lee Marvin, el famoso actor, y su pareja, Michelle, vivieron juntos durante varios años. Cuando decidieron separarse, Michelle demandaba su derecho a ser mantenida y a una división equitativa de los bienes adquiridos durante la relacion, pero el actor no estaba de acuerdo.

Michelle aseguraba que ella y Lee tenían un acuerdo oral en el que establecieron que “debido a que vivirían juntos, combinarían esfuerzos y ganancias, y que los bienes acumulados producto de dichos esfuerzos y ganancias (ya fueran individuales o conjuntas) los compartirían equitativamente”. De acuerdo a Michelle, el acuerdo también establecía que sus contribuciones serían en forma de servicios, tales como “compañera, ama de casa, y cocinera”. Michelle buscó ayuda en las cortes de California para que se cumpliera con el presunto acuerdo, de manera que ella tuviera derecho a la mitad de las propiedades que la pareja había adquirido.

La primera corte que escuchó el asunto falló a favor de Lee Marvin. Michelle apeló y la corte de apelaciones estuvo de acuerdo con ella, al menos en teoría. Concluyó que los adultos que viven juntos son tan competentes como otros individuos para hacer contratos sobre sus ganancias o propiedades. El hecho de que un contrato no esté por escrito no necesariamente quiere decir que no es obligatorio. La corte estableció que aun los contratos implícitos pueden hacerse cumplir.

Una vez que la corte determinó que un contrato implícito relacionado con los derechos de propiedad de los cohabitantes es también obligatorio, consideró, en un proceso por separado, si había o no un contrato válido en el caso en particular. La corte, una vez más en una decisión de apelación, concluyó que Lee Marvin no había acordado mantener a Michelle o compartir sus bienes con ella, y por lo tanto ella no tenia derecho a una “pensión alimenticia”.

Aunque pudiera parecer que Lee Marvin salió muy bien librado en este caso, esa libertad le costó más de cinco años de litigio y gastos significativos de dinero, tiempo y energia. Si la corte hubiera hallado un acuerdo oral, el resultado habría sido aún más costoso para Lee Marvin, aunque posiblemente más justo para su cohabitante.

Hay una lección que aprender de esta historia. Tal vez la mejor manera de evitar el tipo de situación que enfrentaron los Marvin es llegar a un acuerdo de cohabitación antes de mudarse a vivir juntos. El acuerdo puede establecer de manera obligatoria las expectativas de las partes, de tal manera que una de las partes no termine con una carga financiera no anticipada; o por el contrario, a la parte que se le prometió la manutención a futuro, se le cumpla dicha promesa. Un abogado experto le puede ayudar a escribir un acuerdo de cohabitación que proteja sus derechos e intereses, y le puede aconsejar cómo manejar los asuntos en cuanto a dinero y propiedades.

Recurso: FindLaw En Espanol

Tags: cohabiltacion, ley de cohabitacion, matrimonio

By Andrew Bell.

Attorneys who have been practicing law for many years on small firms are aware of the growth and development of the Internet is consistently changing not just the trading industry but the legal marketplace as well. While most of the small firms around the United States are heavily dependent on the referrals from other lawyers and previous legal-seeking clients, there are just few who have survived without any additional new clients. With the popularity of the Internet among people, the use of Yellow pages is not as effective as what it used to be during recent years.

As a result, the use of Yellow pages is constantly declining while the use of Internet continues to climb. In fact, a research conducted by the Internet World Stats confirmed that nearly 70 percent of the American population uses Internet nowadays. Moreover, a separate research study also confirmed that lawyer-related keywords are among the most-searched keywords from over 180 search engines during the last 12 months of 2005. Some of these highly-searched lawyer keywords were as follows:  Personal injury lawyer(s); · Criminal attorney(s); · Bankruptcy attorney(s); Tax attorney(s); Accident lawyer(s); · Divorce lawyer(s); Construction lawyer(s); Real estate attorney(s); Probate lawyer(s); Malpractice attorney(s); Patent lawyer(s); Trial attorney(s); Trademark attorney(s); Business attorney(s); Employment lawyer(s); and Securities lawyer(s).

There are several thousands of searches related to these layer terms are performed every month on over 180 search engines on the Internet. Moreover, some of these areas have an average of 100,000 searches performed every month.

That is how popular Internet is used in locating attorneys across the United States. It is good as saying that individuals who are looking for attorneys to represent them in various legal battles are searched from the Internet than the yellow pages and other existing resources.

That is why there now exists the Internet marketing for attorneys. There are many Internet marketing firms that are encouraging attorneys of different expertise to join the Internet marketing industry and advertise their services on the Internet. Many law firms nowadays have already plunged to the industry, getting steady to massive flow of targeted and qualified traffic from different search engines, particularly those major ones such as Yahoo and Google. This targeted and qualified web traffic will be translated to additional new clientele, boosting the revenues that Internet marketing attorneys earn every month.

There are various ways of marketing law firm’s website on the Internet. They may use any of the flowing marketing methods:

· Search engine optimization (SEO) – the pages of a certain law firm’s website are optimized by reorganizing the web page content and infusing highly-searched lawyer terms on the Internet. This will provide higher visibility during search engine page results related to legal matters.
· Pay per click (PPC) advertising – just like an ordinary Internet marketer, attorneys can also enroll their sites on PPC advertising, allowing online advertisements posted to their sites. They will be able to earn additional income once a site visitor clicks on any of those online ads.
· Legal directories – it works just like the conventional yellow pages wherein a client can find the law firm’s site based on the geographical location and area of expertise. Websites are categorized under such groupings.
· Legal blog marketing – writing blogs is one of the effective ways of getting targeted traffic to websites. Attorneys can write blogs about the cases they have handled as well as provide initial yet useful information about legal matters that are commonly disputed in lower or even in higher courts. They will provide some hyperlink back to their websites that will be clicked by the readers in case they want more information about the topic discussed in the legal blog.
· Email marketing – attorneys will keep a list of potential subscribers who are willing to receive regular newsletters in the form of emails from them. It is one of the effective ways of building new clientele base
· Multiple domain names – more sites, much better. However, other sites must also be registered on its own domain name that will affirm the credibility and reputation of the website owners as law professionals.

Internet marketing for attorneys is the latest trend for those law professionals who are still looking for additional new clientele. Why stick to the Yellow pages if Internet is far more effective.

If you are looking to expand your services to the Hispanic community, a site like myLatinoLawyer.com can help adds Hugo Lembert, VP at Lawz Marketing Services, Inc. myLatinoLawyer.com members are free to add and edit content and 24/7/365, all members have access to the blog and enjoy customer service support.  According to recent studies, the Hispanic population sector is the fastest growing segment of users on the internet.

Tags: advertising trends, business development, client development, Hispanic marketing, internet marketing, legal marketing