JD Scoop

Michael Jackson's Estate: Legal Implications

adrian@jdsupra.com (Adrian Lurssen) — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 14:56:32 -0800

[Updates: 7/1 - here is a copy of Michael Jackson's will, dated July, 2002. Among other things, Jackson appointed Diana Ross guardian of his three children. 6/30 - Attorney Tamera Bennett has posted a podcast interview with California probate attorney Jennifer Sawday on the process all probate cases take in California with a special emphasis on the Michael Jackson case. Listen here.]

Legal storm clouds are gathering over Michael Jackson's estate - an unfortunate but predictable turn of events.

For starters: yesterday, Jackson's parents filed a Petition in Los Angeles Superior Court proposing that his mother, Katherine Jackson, be appointed Special Administrator to the estate and guardian to her three grandchildren. Hard to imagine their father did not in fact appoint a guardian, but at time of writing that seems a likely scenario.

Today, news reports suggest that there is in fact a will - written in 2002 - and although the family is yet to see it, Jackson's longtime lawyer John Branca has produced a copy. (See the E! Online story for more.)

And so it goes. The legal complications are about to get a whole lot more complicated.

This morning we asked two JD Supra contributors to offer their opinion re: the legal implications surrounding the Jackson estate.

Candice Aiston runs a Portland, Oregon, based boutique firm dealing exclusively with estate planning for families. As she says in her JD Supra profile, she is "a Mom who understands that when parents think about estate planning, they are not just doing it for themselves. They are doing it for their kids." To that end, we asked Candice: what can we expect to see, with regards to Jackson's three children? Her response:

What will happen to the kids depends on who comes forward and petitions for guardianship. It appears that no one other than Katherine Jackson has petitioned so far, and if it stays that way, everything may run smoothly. It may turn out, however, that parties will come forward when they realize that as guardians, they will have a great deal of control over the inheritance left behind for the kids. A legal fight over the kids is a very real possibility. The biological mother of the two older kids, Debbie Rowe, may have a legal right to custody of those kids. Any of Michael Jackson's siblings could petition as well, making an argument that Katherine Jackson is unfit to parent. Katherine Jackson is 79 years old and Michael made allegations that he was abused during childhood, so there are viable arguments that can be made that she is unfit to parent the kids.

All parents should take a lesson from this. First of all, every parent should name guardians for their kids. There's no excuse for not doing this when you can do it for free at kidsprotectionplan.com. Second, if a parent has any family members who they would not want raising their kids, they should legally document that they want to exclude these parties from being considered for guardianship. Even if the parent thinks there is no way that person would actually be awarded guardianship, the reality is that they can still submit a petition and cause the estate to incur legal fees and inconvenience the parties involved. Last, parents that have any assets should seriously consider setting up a trust, so that if something
happens to them, their children's inheritance will be a private matter controlled by a trustee of the parents' choosing, and unscrupulous parties won't have a financial incentive to petition for guardianship.

...

We asked intellectual property and entertainment attorney Tamera Bennett to talk about the legal implications surrounding Jackson's body of music. Tamera represents clients throughout Texas and Tennessee in entertainment, trademark and copyright law related matters. She works extensively with “estate” clients in reclamation of copyrights under the 1909 Copyright Act and licensing of song and master catalogs.

Tamera posted a piece to JD Supra (titled Michael Jackson's Estate: What Happens Next?) in which she said:

...I would be very surprised if any “major” assets were owned by Michael Jackson personally.
The largest asset is his 50% interest in the Sony/ATV music publishing catalog reportedly valued between $500 Million and $1 Billion dollars. A check of the Delaware Secretary of State shows the formal business entity for the publishing company is Sony/ATV Tunes, LLC a Delaware Limited Liability Company. I have not confirmed, but have it on a reliable source that Michael Jackson’s interest in the LLC is held by a trust.

Most likely the asset is held in a “spendthrift trust” and shielded from creditors. In this
type of trust, the beneficiary has no control over the distribution of trust income or assets
and the corpus (big word for initial money/asset placed in the trust) and income is no
longer in the estate of Michael Jackson and could not be attached to pay his reported
$500 million debt.

If the bulk of the assets are in trust, then the public may never know the extent of his
estate. The trust documents, unless there is litigation surrounding those documents,
would never become public record. Documents would only become public record if there
is a probate of a will, will contest or other legal challenge regarding distribution of his
estate...

Additional comments from Tamera today, by email:

There are four primary intellectual property assets that may or may not be in Michael Jackson’s estate for purposes of probate: right of publicity, music publishing copyrights of songs written by the Beatles, his own music publishing copyrights, and his artist royalties.

Michael Jackson’s most valuable asset is his name and likeness, ie, his right of publicity. This right is descendible under California law. For estate tax purposes the value of his right of publicity is speculated to exceed the liquid assets of his estate.

The asset bantered around the most in the press is Michael Jackson’s 50% interest in the Sony/ATV music publishing catalog reportedly valued between $500 Million and $1 Billion dollars. This interest is held in trust so there may be very little change in how this asset is managed after his death and it will probably not be part of the probate estate.

He also owns his own music publishing catalog, Mijac Music, estimated to be worth $50 million to $100 million. The value of his recording artist royalties from the Jackson 5 and as a solo artist is undetermined but will only increase with the number of records sold after his death.

At this stage in the game legal wrangling has already started. Ms. Katherine Jackson has claimed there is no will and has been appointed the temporary administrator of the estate by the judge in hopes that by the August 3 hearing she will be appointed the Administrator. If and when a “will” shows up, the named executor of the will, and or beneficiaries of the will, need to file an opposition to the appointment of Ms. Katherine Jackson as the administrator AND file a separate case with the court requesting the court issue Letters Testamentary and accepting the executor named in the will. Most likely all of the cases will be consolidated in the same court, before the same judge. With an anticipated challenge to the will, the judge may keep Ms. Jackson on in a temporary capacity until a decision can be made on the validity of the will.

Stay tuned over the coming days as we post additional thoughts by JD Supra contributors.

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- Michael Jackson's Estate: What Happens Next?

- Petition for Letters of Special Administration: Estate of Michael Joseph Jackson aka Michael Jackson

- Michael Jackson: What Will Happen to His Kids?

- Michael Jackson's Will: Last Will of Michael Joseph Jackson

Lawyers and Legal Professionals on JD Supra: Featured Roundup

aviva@jdsupra.com (Aviva Cuyler) — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 11:20:59 -0800

Here's a look at some of the latest lawyers and law firms to be publishing their great work on JD Supra. We're thrilled to have them on the site:

	Oklahoma-based McAfee & Taft, the largest firm in Oklahoma, develops innovative legal solutions for business. In the early 1950’s, founder Kenneth E. McAfee was instrumental in registering the nation’s first drilling fund with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm now employs nearly150 attorneys. (Legal Docs)
	Commercial law attorney Thomas Grella focuses his practice on Condominium and Planned Development Planning, Exempt Securities Offerings, Entity Formation, and Commercial Leases. He is the co-author of Lawyer's Guide to Strategic Planning (ABA 2004) and past Chair of the American Bar Association Law Practice Management Section. (Legal Docs)
	A law student with experience in manufacturing and sales of building products and roll-formed steel goods, Kevin Hurt intends to apply his experience toward counseling and advocating for small and mid-sized businesses in the areas of business formation, dissolution, corporate record-keeping, labor and employment, construction law, and transactional matters. (Legal Docs)
	Business and employment attorney Jay E. Eckhaus is the author and creator of FingerTip Manuals, Employee Manuals and Employment Law Manuals. He has over 35 years of Business and Employment Law experience, representing Fortune 500 companies, national franchisees and entrepreneurial startup companies. (Legal Docs)
	Criminal and family law attorney Katie Richey provides legal services to residents of Southern California from Ventura County, through Los Angeles, Orange and Riverside Counties. (Legal Docs)
	Handling all aspects of appellate litigation in state and federal court, including brief writing and oral argument, Diana Martin provides litigation support, including drafting motions and legal assistance at trial. Substantive areas of concentration include products liability, personal injury, multi-district litigation, and consumer class actions. (Legal Docs)
	Chicago tax consultant Jennifer Crane specializes in Credits and Incentives at True Partners Consulting. She has worked with privately-held corporations and Fortune 500 companies on projects across the nation. (Articles)
	Trial attorney Frederic Abramson handles litigation for small to mid-sized businesses and individuals, and also reviews, drafts and negotiates contracts and agreements. (Legal Docs)
	San Francisco bankruptcy attorney Jeena Cho specializes in helping individuals and families in the Bay Area with filing for bankruptcy and debt relief. Her practice focuses on Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 bankruptcy, as well as debt settlement. (Legal Docs)
	Charles Gallagher has experience in both litigation and transactional matters. His current practice focuses on insurance litigation, real estate litigation, business litigation and consumer law. He has experience in both real estate transactions, probate, family law and employment litigation. (Legal Docs)
	Florida contract and intellectual property attorney Darren Heitner specializes in sports and talent contractual agreements. (Legal Docs)
	John Myers represents clients in Georgia in cases involving medical malpractice, personal injury, wrongful death, uncontested divorce, adoptions, bankruptcy, and probate: estates, wills, and trusts. (Legal Docs)

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Looking for an effective way to showcase expertise and connect with new clients, colleagues, and the media?

Join JD Supra. Create a professional profile and start posting your legal work online today!

Twitter for Lawyers: One Benefit You Might Not Have Considered

adrian@jdsupra.com (Adrian Lurssen) — Fri, 29 May 2009 17:45:54 -0800

Twitter - what is it good for? (More to the point: what's it good for ... for lawyers and legal professionals?)

Like a bad rash that won't go away, the Twitter value debate continues - given new life this week in the legal space after a post by Larry Bodine titled Twitter Not Effective for Law Firm Marketing.

I'm not going to rehash the many responses to the original post here. If you follow me at all, you know my position. You know that I am online and talking to lawyers and law firms every day - on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, by email, even - gasp - sometimes by telephone. I'll use whatever communication tool is available to me, even smoke signals (if only I knew, re: the latter, how to say something other than "Fire!").

What I do want to say is this:

For a while now JD Supra has delivered one value to lawyers and legal professionals that involves Twitter, and you might not have considered it. But you should, because you stand to benefit from it.

Twitter as News Channel: An Audience for your Expertise

Last year, we saw that Twitter is not only a terrific conversational tool (and boy is it ever that) - it also serves as a robust and engaging news channel.

We're not alone in that thought - which is why traditional outlets such as the New York Times, NPR, the BBC, and many, many others started streaming links to their stories via Twitter. And why new news outlets used the platform to either expand their reach (Global Voices) or define their model (BreakingNews).

We began streaming legal information posted to JD Supra via subject-specific Twitter news feeds: Employment Law, Securities Law, Real Estate, Taxes, Bankruptcy, Intellectual Property, Energy & Environmental Law, Law Practice, and numerous others.

For every subject or practice field represented on JD Supra, we created a Twitter news service, aggregating all of the work and feeding it out to a willing audience. (In fact, each feed is now included in its respective Law Center on the site.) And the willing audience found it.

We noticed, from the start, that a considerable number of professionals in any given field (the very audiences many lawyers and law firms hope to reach) started following those feeds.

For example, readers of our Real Estate Law News Twitter feed (currently surpassing 2,600 people) are mostly professionals within real estate: agents, landlords, real estate investors, property managers, media services, and the like.

Our Labor and Employment Law Twitter news feed is read in no small part by human resources professionals, recruiters, and others within that field (including HR associations and, again, media outlets).

Environment and Energy Law feed? Read by numerous professionals in the green-tech, sustainability, and environment and energy space. All of the feeds are also read by fellow lawyers; a frequent source of referrals in this profession (I don't need to tell you that).

How do we measure the value? Just look at the numbers. Some of the older and more active news channels number followers in the thousands. Every day we witness the audience and exposure grow as readers "retweet" the links to their own followers - and in this way even a feed with just a few hundred followers can become an audience of thousands.

And we watch the engagement (the retweeting) daily.

What does this mean to you?

Start posting your work on JD Supra. We've grown an audience for it on Twitter. It's really that simple.

As to the conversational aspects of Twitter, that's for you to decide. Don't let anyone else tell you what to think about it - jump in and evaluate for yourself. You'll find plenty of us in Twitter ready to connect whenever you are...

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- Legal News Feeds on Twitter

- Lawyers to Follow on Twitter

- Twitter Not Effective For Law Firm Marketing - Not So Fast! (Nancy Myrland)

Legal Information Organized by Subject: Announcing JD Supra Law Centers

adrian@jdsupra.com (Adrian Lurssen) — Tue, 26 May 2009 10:50:46 -0800

Today we announced a feature that makes it even easier to find and be found on JD Supra:

Our new Law Centers aggregate by subject all of the documents and legal information posted daily to the site. Organized into four broad categories (Business Law, Personal Law, Government Law, and Law Practice) the centers cover topics such as:

(See full list of Law Center topics here.)

As we've said in this blog before, our goal is to provide maximum exposure for the lawyers, law firms, and legal professionals posting their work on JD Supra - these Law Centers are simply another step in that direction. From this morning's press release:

"It takes me less than two minutes to post my work and see it show up in the Law Center to which it relates," said Seattle-based bankruptcy attorney Marc Stern. "I am pleased to know that anyone looking for information on that subject will see my work and be directed to my entire portfolio and professional profile on JD Supra."

***

Besides featuring top news and recent articles, the Law Centers also make it easy for anyone to browse all documents on a particular subject and to browse a list of professionals and firms contributing work in that particular field:

Every Law Center also includes a list of the top contributors (by document count) for each subject and a link to the related Twitter feed. Stay tuned for RSS feeds in each Center, to be rolled out within the coming weeks.

Thank you to the many lawyers, law firms, and legal service providers who have posted the work that populates these new Law Centers - and thank you to the sponsors who helped us to launch the feature: Lane Powell PC, clio, Waste to Water LLC., and UrbanIgloo.

JD Supra Law Centers - what are you trying to find?

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- JD Supra Unveils Law Centers (Robert Ambrogi's LawSites)

- JD Supra Launches Law Centers (Clio Blog)

- Free legal online service launches today (Mitch Kowlaski, National Post)

- JD Supra Adds Law Centers (Stem Legal)

Looking for a way to be found online? Post your work on JD Supra today.

Lawyers & Law Firms on JD Supra: New Contributor Roundup

aviva@jdsupra.com (Aviva Cuyler) — Wed, 13 May 2009 11:20:14 -0800

Here's a look at some of the latest lawyers and law firms to be publishing their great work on JD Supra. We're thrilled to have them on the site:

	Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge - offers a full complement of legal services to clients worldwide from its eleven offices in Boston, Ft. Lauderdale, Hartford, Madison (NJ), New York, Providence, Stamford, Washington D.C., Wilmington, West Palm Beach, London and an associated office in Hong Kong. ... [legal documents]
	Johnston, Moore & Thompson - has successfully handled cases involving brain injury, plane crashes, stock fraud, truck wrecks, deadly exposure to negligently manufactured drugs, intoxicated or drug impaired drivers, and numerous other cases where the injuries were so severe that the person died or became totally disabled ... [legal documents]
	Daniel Cummins - partner at Cognetti, Comerford, Cimini & Cummins with 15 years of insurance defense experience. Attorney Cummins has focused his practice on defending motor vehicle accident liability cases and UIM/UM arbitration matters along with premises liability and products liability cases. Mr. Cummins is also routinely summoned by his clients to handle matters involving insurance coverage questions and insurance subrogation claims... [legal documents]
	Melina Benninghoff - a former Kings County Deputy District Attorney who provides a criminal defense to indigent clients in Kings County as well as devoting her law practice to private clients, with a strong emphasis on the trial phase of legal advocacy. Although she considers herself first and foremost a trial lawyer, Ms. Benninghoff also routinely represents individuals whose main interest is in resolving their case as expeditiously as possible.... [legal documents]
	James Haddow - representing and advocating for individual, corporate, and small business clients in matters ranging from complex litigation to estate planning, and from personal injury to land use regulation. Firm includes trial lawyers with cases at the federal, state, and appellate levels who also regularly advise clients with regard to business formation and governance, contract drafting and interpretation, real estate transactions, employment and environmental issues.... [legal documents]
	Audrey Mross - Labor and employment lawyer with prior experience as HR professional in hospitality (Brock Hotel Corp), oil & gas (Core Laboratories) and IT industries (MTech, EDS). Partner and chair of labor and employment group at Munck Cater LLP in Dallas, TX. ... [legal documents]
	Jonathan Gill - practicing in the areas of personal injury, medical malpractice and wrongful death for over 20 years.... [legal documents]
	"Peggy" Margaret Hoyt - full service estate planning practice providing family wealth and legacy counseling including wills and trusts, elder law asset protection, estate administration, small business creation and succession, real estate transactions and animal law. ... [legal documents]
	Foley Hoag - a national law firm in the areas of dispute resolution, intellectual property, and corporate transactions for emerging, middle-market, and large-cap companies. The firm helps companies in the biopharma, high technology, energy technology, financial services and manufacturing sectors gain competitive advantage..... [legal documents] Kurt Stitcher - trial lawyer and Chair of the Litigation Practice Group at LP with focus on business torts; commercial and class action defense; product liability and mass/toxic tort defense; and white collar criminal defense and corporate internal investigation.... [legal documents] Christine Wilton - a consumer advocate who helps people with their debt. Her practice is limited to bankruptcy practice, Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 bankruptcies... [legal documents] Grant Scheiner - specializing in criminal defense and handling all types of state and federal criminal cases, throughout the Greater Houston Area and across Texas... [legal documents]

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Looking for an effective way to showcase your expertise to an online audience?

Join JD Supra, build a professional profile, and start posting your legal documents today.

Labor & Employment Law Updates: May, 2009

adrian@jdsupra.com (Adrian Lurssen) — Fri, 08 May 2009 13:20:52 -0800

For your reference: a reading list of articles and alerts recently posted to JD Supra broadly covering developments in the Labor & Employment space.

These articles touch upon the numerous issues that determine how we conduct our businesses today: the Employee Free Choice Act, employee termination issues, HIPAA, EEOC, FAR rules, tax reform, swine flu concerns, immigration policies, and more...

JD Supra Labor & Employment Law Updates - May, 2009

- Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Overview ... [Philip Bluestein]

- WHAT'S UP WITH THE EMPLOYEE FREE CHOICE ACT? Reports of its Death Have Been Greatly Exaggerated ... [Ford & Harrison LLP]

- The Seven Ws of the Employee Termination Meeting/ Washington Healthcare News ... [Williams Kastner]

- Department of Homeland Security Announces Shift in Focus to Criminal Prosecution of Employers That Hire Undocumented Workers ... [Duane Morris LLP]

- Obama Administration Proposes Broad International Tax Reforms ... [Morrison & Foerster LLP]

- New Tax Benefits for Investing in Small Businesses ... [Lane Powell PC]

- EEOC Charges Soar as the Economy Sours ... [Littler Mendelson]

- EEOC Issues Guidance Regarding ADA-Compliant Workplace Preparation for the Swine Flu ... [Ford & Harrison LLP]

- Preparing Your Workplace for a Potential Swine Flu Pandemic - A Checklist for Employers ... [Duane Morris LLP]

- Government Turns up the Heat on Employers ... [Szabo, Zelnick & Erickson, PC]

- State Department Publishes New Exchange Visitor Skills List ... [Littler Mendelson]

- Preparing Your Workplace for a Potential Swine Flu Pandemic - A Checklist for Employers ... [Duane Morris LLP]

- President Obama Announces Nominations to fill NLRB Vacancies ... [Ford & Harrison LLP]

- Employment Alert: H1N1 Flu Readiness: A Summary of Employment-Related Concerns ... [Mintz Levin]

- FAR Rules for Stimulus Funded Contracts: Enhanced Whistleblower Protections ... [Duane Morris LLP]

Looking for more Labor and Employment news? Three ways to stay in touch:

- Follow Labor & Employment legal updates on Twitter.

- Read JD Supra's Labor Law news in the Linked:HR and Employment Law Network groups on Linkedin.

- Read Legal News in Facebook (choose "Labor & Employment" during installation).

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Lawyers: showcase your expertise and reach new clients. Join JD Supra today, build a portfolio of legal work online. For more information see Our Services.

Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) Update: Legal Analysis and News

aviva@jdsupra.com (Aviva Cuyler) — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 10:10:09 -0800

From JD Supra's contributors, five key documents offering analysis and coverage of the latest developments relating to TARP:

Quarterly Report of The Office of the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program. This document, via Doug Cornelius, is a great resource for any one wondering where all the money has gone and what the banks are doing with it. According to Doug, "Neil Barofsky, the Special Inspector General for SIGTARP sees serious dangers in the operation of the US Treasury’s umbrella bailout plan."
The Program Formerly Known As TARP: General Information Cheat Sheet and Capital Alternatives for Financial Institutions: Treasury's TARP Capital Purchase Program. This pair of documents from Morrison & Foerster provides updated information on the TARP program generally, as well as information specifically on the TARP Capital Purchase Program (CaPP)
Out with the Old, In with the New: Manatt Table Compares the Terms of Treasury's New Capital Assistance Program with the Earlier Capital Purchase Program. An in-depth analysis fo the new TARP program terms courtesy of Manatt, Phelps & Phillips.
U.S. Announces Public-Private Investment Program to Purchase Toxic Assets. Analysis of the Public-Private Investment Program (PPIP) by Duane Morris.

Got any TARP-related articles or analysis to add to the mix. Do so now: sign up and JD Supra and build your portfolio of legal documents.

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- What Documents Should I Post on JD Supra?

What Documents Should I Post on JD Supra?

adrian@jdsupra.com (Adrian Lurssen) — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 11:42:15 -0800

Post whatever written work showcases your expertise; undoubtedly you have much to choose from sitting on your hard drive: filings, decisions, alerts, briefs, newsletters, articles, presentations, blog posts, forms, and the like.

That, above, is our short answer when lawyers and legal professionals ask for guidance regarding what to upload to JD Supra.

For a longer answer, look at what some of your colleagues are sharing. The mix is wonderfully diverse - and serves to remind that a JD Supra portfolio can help you to cast a wide net as you work to connect with prospective clients, colleagues, and the media online...

What Should I Post on JD Supra?

1. Court Filings

See for example attorney Ron Coleman's portfolio. A partner at Goetz Fitzpatrick LLP, Coleman tries "civil cases in all courts and ADR venues ... focusing on trademarks, copyrights and unfair competition, especially with respect to the use of intellectual property on the Internet." His ever-growing repository of documents is comprised almost-entirely of his own filings: decisions, pleadings, motions, memoranda, and other related work.

We've quoted Coleman elsewhere: "The most important thing – the most valuable – I have to sell is my work. It's something I take pride in and something I do very well and I have a whole career worth of it to put out there." And that's exactly what he is doing on JD Supra.

A sampling of other lawyers and firms posting filings: Debra Tuomey, Mark Bennett, Wolfe Law Group, EFF, among many others...

2. Legal Analysis

Many law firms publish legal analysis on JD Supra in the form of regular newsletters, articles, and alerts covering all subjects and industries. See for example Lane Powell's portfolio of articles and newsletters making sense of legislative developments in sectors as wide-ranging as Transportation, Securities, Environment and Energy, Immigration, Labor and Employment, and others. Other terrific and growing portfolios of articles, newsletters, and alerts: Manatt, Williams Kastner, Allen Matkins, Fenwick & West, Morrison & Foerster, and Gregory Siskind, among others.

Articles and alerts are not solely the domain of larger firms on JD Supra. We see many solo practitioners and smaller firms sharing their legal insights on all matters - everything from the implications of the recent Stimulus Bill on COBRA health plans, to smart tax saving plans, to privacy issues, to IP considerations in business strategy, and beyond. (Keep in mind: we distribute this work on your behalf to numerous targeted and growing audiences.)

See for additional examples: Leffler Marcus & McCaffrey, Candice Aiston, Jackie Hutter, Robert Matthews Jr., Kenneth Vercammen, Jason Woodward, to name just a few.

3. Legal Forms

Attorney Amy Becerra's portfolio includes numerous legal forms from her particular practice field: immigration. It's a smart online strategy built upon the understanding that substantive, useful legal documents don't replace attorneys - rather, they make for good connections with informed clients.

If your practice includes the regular completion of legal forms on behalf of clients, we recommend posting your templates online along with filings, articles, and other written material. All of this work is indexed by the search engines - and every document connects the reader to your portfolio. Use this opportunity to show a prospective client looking online for Instructions for USCIS Form N-400 that you also have much to say about the latest implications of immigration legislation coming out of Washington. Time well spent.

Are these forms popular? Indeed they are. For example, one of the most downloaded documents on JD Supra: Jim Bowman's Sample Family Trust.

4. Legal Documents of Interest

Besides posting his own writing on social networking and Web 2.0 in the legal space, attorney Doug Cornelius also uses his portfolio to collect legal documents not written by him but either related to his practice field or of interest to readers of his blog. In this way his JD Supra presence also serves as something like a social bookmarking site, where he is building a repository of material for future reference in any way that makes sense to him (emailing links to colleagues and friends, linking to/referencing documents from his blog, collecting interesting material in one place, and so forth.)

Cornelius' deep portfolio, which receives a considerable amount of traffic because of its size and content, includes many of the SEC filings in the Madoff case, including Madoff's plea allocution and his list of victims.

Bankruptcy attorney Carl Starrett understands this strategy of sharing high-profile, newsworthy documents related to his practice (he posted the Tribune Company's petition for Chapter 11 last December) - as does entertainment trademark attorney Tamera Bennett. Bennett has posted numerous related filings from high profile cases (including Jackson Browne v. John McCain).

Most recently, Bennett posted copies of the trademark applications in the OCTOMOM case, in order to reference the documents in a blog post on the matter. [Update - this strategy paid off for Bennett: her JD Supra docs were linked from ABA Journal coverage of the OCTOMOM story, and she was interviewed about the case by legal news source Law360.]

5. Repurposed Blog Posts (and Subject-Specific PDF e-Books)

Some of our contributors post articles that first saw the light of day as blog posts. See for example law firm Barger & Wolen and legal coach Ed Poll among numerous others. Many of the legal professionals who employ this strategy tell us that they appreciate the distribution reach and SEO value offered by JD Supra (again: we syndicate the work widely across the Web on Twitter, by email digest, and via third-party news services).

Lawyer, author, and blogger Carolyn Elefant organizes various posts and pieces she has written over time into PDF e-books (see for example her Social Networking for Lawyers and Motherhood, Law Practice, and the 21st Century books). Such a terrific re-use of occasional writings and excerpts on specific subjects!

Each post, covering a different aspect of a specific theme, becomes a chapter in the book. It's a terrific idea - and one that translates across the spectrum of legal practice(s).

Do you often return to particular themes or subjects in your blog posts? Do you have a treasure trove of truly substantive email discussions (on listservs, with colleagues, etc.) Do you have longer articles, even books, that might offer up on-topic excerpted material? Re-purpose the work! Include each piece as a chapter in an e-book complete with title page, table of contents, and bio.

In short: collect pertinent material from your body of work in ways that matter to your audience(s). Use your writings to expand reach and reinforce expertise in your field.

6. Press Mentions, Law School Papers, Print Publications, Law Practice Articles, Other Docs

Attorney Pamela Woldow, principal and general counsel at Altman Weil, uploads third-party press pieces mentioning/quoting her and the firm. In this way, Woldow's JD Supra portfolio is a repository of media coverage that helps to tell the story of her particular legal expertise. Law students Michael Gumprecht and Bradley Schaufenbuel are building repositories of work written during their time at school (includes case work, articles, and more). Nicole Black regularly posts the law practice articles she writes for The Daily Record. Indeed, many law practice consultants and professionals archive on JD Supra their articles first published elsewhere (on blogs, in magazines, at conferences). We've even noticed a growing trend to post presentations and slide decks (converted to PDF) used in various lectures or seminars.

The point: legal professionals are prolific generators of written material - and so much of it can be put to use for you online. Everything you share on JD Supra is indexed by the search engines (it becomes very findable) and we distribute it (we take it to your audiences). Equally important, everything you post links back to your professional profile. The more you post, the greater your exposure.

What are you waiting for?

How do you use JD Supra? What are you posting to your portfolio? Please tell us in the comments - with a link to your profile. Let's learn from the people who are doing it.

- Where Does JD Supra Distribute My Work?

- How Does JD Supra Allow Me to Distribute Myself?

- Showcase Your Expertise. Post Your Work on JD Supra.

JD Supra Contributors - March Roundup

aviva@jdsupra.com (Aviva Cuyler) — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 15:25:28 -0800

Here's a look at some of the latest lawyers and law firms to be publishing their great work on JD Supra. We're thrilled to have them on the site:

	Carlton Fields - handles high-stakes class action and mass tort litigation; significant mergers, acquisitions, and securities offerings; a full range of intellectual property counseling, registration, and litigation; environmental, land use, and real property representation; governmental consulting; commercial financing representation; construction advice, mediation, and litigation; and other legal counseling and business dispute resolution services... [legal documents]
	Melvin Wright, Colling Gilbert Wright & Carter 25 years in civil trial practice with an emphasis in personal injury and wrongful death, motor vehicle negligence, premises liability, trucking negligence, nursing home negligence and abuse, medical and hospital malpractice, product liability, and insurance disputes... [legal documents]
	Justin Hosie - consumer financial services attorney with experience drafting consumer agreements and disclosures, drafting joint venture agreements, and providing counsel related to various state and federal regulatory compliance matters... [legal documents]
	Pamela Walker - practice focuses on family law, including domestic relations, juvenile court and probate, with offices in the heart of Columbus, Ohio, in the Brewery District... [legal documents]
	David Sugerman - represents consumers in injury, employment and class action cases in Oregon, handling major injury cases, including dangerous products, professional negligence, and profound injury cases as well as class actions for Oregon workers and consumers since 1993... [legal documents]
	Thomas Dreves, Baker & McKenzie - business, finance and energy lawyer in Tokyo... [legal documents]
	Daniel Alexander - provide services to small and mid-size businesses such as those that are provided by an "in-house" attorney at a large corporation. GA provides its clients access to a wealth of information and experience gained as a result of over a combined twenty-five years of litigation/transactional practice... [legal documents]
	Pamela Pengelly - an Associate with Cozen O'Connor, practicing commercial litigation... [legal documents]
	Bryan Scott - litigator with the Raleigh, North Carolina, law firm of Young Moore & Henderson, P.A. Practice focuses primarily on commercial and business litigation, complex insurance coverage analysis, and the defense of medical liability and personal injury claims. He has represented companies and individuals in the areas of contract law, business torts, construction law, false advertising and products liability, as well as in the defense of personal injury, property damage and premises liability claims.... [legal documents] Howard Bailey - criminal defense lawyer, with a focus on defense of clients charged with violating the criminal law of the United States and the State of New Jersey. Among other crimes, he has represented clients charged with murder; leader of drug trafficking network; racketeering; official misconduct; drug possession and distribution; robbery; carjacking; insurance fraud; kidnapping; rape; arson; bribery; and weapons-related cases... [legal documents] Michael Gumprecht - a law student graduating in May 2010, sharing writing samples, including a Federal Appellate Brief for the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals... [legal documents] Leanna Hamill - provides estate planning and related legal services to clients of all ages, with a focus on the needs of older individuals and their families, including: Estate Planning, Estate Administration, Guardianship and Conservatorship Services, Comprehensive Estate and Medicaid Planning Evaluations and Medicaid Advocacy... [legal documents]

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Looking for an effective way to showcase your expertise to an online audience?

Join JD Supra, build a professional profile, and start posting your legal documents today.

How Does JD Supra Allow Me to Distribute My Own Work Online?

adrian@jdsupra.com (Adrian Lurssen) — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 10:19:56 -0800

[Note: this is the second of two posts on how JD Supra distributes your documents online. Part One looks specifically at the channels we use to deliver your work to target audiences across the Web.]

How Does JD Supra Help Me to Deliver My Work to My Audiences?

The broad distribution channels described in our first post require just one thing from you: uploads of relevant documents. JD Supra also offers a suite of tools to help you deliver your own documents to audiences you've built (are building) around the Web.

We cover widgets, RSS, Facebook, and Justia. File under: JD Supra self-syndication...

- "Latest Documents" Widget

You can stream your portfolio to other Web platforms using a custom widget. Today "widget" is something of a catch-all phrase that generally means: an easy-to-use, plug-and-play tool or gadget adding valuable content to what you already offer on a website, blog, or other such platform.

The "Latest Documents" widget provides links to your work on JD Supra (see examples below) - think of it as a portable table of contents offered to your readers wherever they are gathering.

How you use the widget is entirely up to you. For some attorneys, it's a way to offer access to court documents reinforcing the professional picture painted by blog posts (read: Adrianos Facchetti's Let Them See). For others, it's a primary point of entry from a website into broader listings of legal work (articles, newsletters, briefs, filings, etc.).

JD Supra widgets at use: Ravech & Roy law firm website | Crosby Group Consulting blog | Sui Generis New York law blog...

- RSS

RSS is the acronym for "Real Simple Syndication" and - indeed, it is simple. Your portfolio of work on JD Supra is RSS-enabled (see "Documents RSS feed" on your Profile or Documents pages), which means you can stream documents to any other web presence that allows a connection via this ubiquitous technology. The possibilities are endless.

Much has been written about the value of Real Simple Syndication already. For now, we offer these suggestions for extending your JD Supra work to other platforms using RSS:

- Promote the link to your portolio's RSS everywhere (in an email signature, on your website or blog, whenever you sign your name in a blog comment or discussion forum). The point: let it be known that anyone interested in you (incl. clients and colleagues) can automatically follow your work as it updates on JD Supra...

- Connect your RSS feed to Twitter using the Twitterfeed service. Every time you upload on JD Supra, the doc will be announced to your Twitter stream. A nice way to enhance the conversational strengths of Twitter with links to substantive content...

- Where appropriate, approach the moderators of Linkedin groups and ask to include your RSS feed in their "News" sections. This requires a balance between shameless self-promotion and bringing value to the discussion. However, because what you post on JD Supra is substantive content, there are plenty of examples in which it makes sense to stream your work to the subject-specific Linkedin groups in which you actively participate. True also for other social platforms, like Ning. (See my profile in the Law Marketing group for more...)

How do you promote your RSS feed(s) around the Web? Let us know in a comment.

Example: Tamera Bennett's blog, Current Trends in Copyright, Trademark, & Entertainment Law. Ms. Bennett streams her JD Supra documents to the blog using RSS.

- Facebook

We've a built an application that enables anyone with a JD Supra portfolio to stream their professional information and documents to a Facebook Profile or Business Page.

JD Supra Docs allows legal professionals to turn a spotlight to their work on a richly connective website that boasts at least 175 million active users. As with widgets and RSS, the application automatically streams your work on JD Supra to Facebook - which means: after installation, the program runs itself. Whenever you upload to JD Supra, the new document appears in the News Feeds of your Facebook connections and is listed in a running archive of work - either a stand-alone Tab or a Box. (See my previous post about Facebook - how and why to participate.)

The JD Supra Docs Facebook app at use: Wolfe Law Group LLC | Stem Legal Web Enterprises | Compliance Building ... see the "Documents" tab on each of these Facebook Business Pages.

(Numerous others stream their JD Supra work to personal profiles on Facebook. To see examples of such, you'll need to connect individually with those people. Start by connecting to me - and I'll show you where to go.)

- Your Justia Profile

Have you claimed your Justia profile yet? You should. It includes the ability to stream your documents from JD Supra to the free legal directory.

Tim Stanley and Stacy Stern's impressive directory offers comprehensive listings of not only lawyers, but firms and non-profit organizations. Legal professionals of every stripe can claim their profiles, which include contact information, practice description, experience and qualifications, and other such professional information. Included: the ability to tether your JD Supra account to your Justia listing. Like the other connections mentioned in this piece, once tethered, your documents will stream automatically from JD Supra to the "Publications & Talks" tab of your Justia listing.

Moreover, Justia listings include presence in the Cornell Legal Information Institute's free legal directory - another reason to plant your flag on this terrific resource.

...

I firmly believe in the notion of planting a flag in multiple online platforms and "connecting the dots" one to the next. Others have described this as a "hub and outpost" social media strategy - create important outposts and drive your traffic to your hub. That works, too. Whichever metaphor you use, the point is: in the online landscape you're not beholden to just one solution. In fact, you can (and should!) go wherever you find an meaningful audience.

Keep in mind that on JD Supra we also have the popular "Share This" link on every page (on profiles and documents). Wherever you happen to be building an online presence you can, with a click of a button, push your work there.

Another benefit to the strategy of planting flags on multiple platforms: they tend to do well in search results. As you build out your various presences around the web, you also begin to take control of some of the top listings in your Google resume (the first page of search results). In this way, social media strategy connects with SEO...

At the heart of it: your online presence should be fueled by useful, substantive, portable content.

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- Part One: Where Does JD Supra Stream My Work?

- Expanding Your Reach with RSS and Widgets

- Justia Launches Free Legal Directory

- Stream Your Legal Docs and Info Into Facebook

- Legal Marketing: Five Things to Read about Social Media

[Ready to showcase your expertise? Join JD Supra. Build a portfolio of legal documents - connect it everywhere!]

Where Does JD Supra Distribute My Work?

adrian@jdsupra.com (Adrian Lurssen) — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 15:22:16 -0800

[Note: here's the first in a series of two posts looking at the ways JD Supra distributes your work widely online. Part two looks specifically at the tools we give you for self-syndication...]

How Does JD Supra Deliver My Work to the People I Want to Reach?

A good question, one we're often asked. Here is today's answer - in chart and list form. I write "today" because we are constantly opening new channels and see this, really, as just the tip of the JD Supra iceberg. Stay tuned...

Stating the obvious: the chart above shows what can happen after you upload even just one article, alert, brief, newsletter, presentation, decision, filing, or other legal document to JD Supra.

The list represents a mix of traditional, third-party syndication services and robust distribution channels that exist today because of innovation afforded by the extraordinarily porous online landscape.

We're pleased to distribute your work to:

Newstex - a news syndication service feeding an audience of millions. Newstex distribution partners put your work in front of a global network of academics, journalists, and leaders in the legal, business, and financial sectors. Partners include the New York Times, Amazon, Thomson Reuters, and Lexis Nexis, among many others.

complinet - provider of a complete range of risk-based compliance information and technology solutions to over 1,800 firms, large and small, in financial services, across 81 countries.

NuWire Investor - a news outlet and educational resource for investors. NuWire provides research and analysis to help investors in their due diligence and to incubate new ideas. Articles on NuWire also appear in Google News, MSN News, and Seeking Alpha.

Justia - one of the most highly trafficked legal resource sites on the web. Justia automatically streams your work to its research pages via widget, including to the Environmental, Business, and Communications & Internet Law sections. (In Part II: the site also allows you to stream your JD Supra documents to your Justia profile.)

Linkedin - just over a week ago, Linkedin started allowing moderators to tether RSS to the "News" sections of their professional groups. Now your subject-specific work streams to some of the largest and most targeted professional groups on the Web, including an Energy Sector group of over 12,000 members; an HR and employment group of over 100,000 members; and many other groups in Land Use, Real Estate, Employment, and other sectors. The list grows daily.

Twitter - the conversational power of Twitter is certain - and has changed the way we market, develop business, establish brands, and (for that matter) have fun. We've also noticed a growing trend among media outlets new and old to serve content via Twitter, meeting people where they are most engaged: "in the stream." In that context, we've been building targeted audiences for your work via numerous Twitter news channels which, daily, show themselves to be engaged and responsive. Feeds include Real Estate, Securities, Taxes, Bankruptcy, Labor & Employment, Tech, Intellectual Property, Immigration, Insurance, Law Practice, Environment & Energy, and others. (See: complete list: Twitter Legal News Feeds.)

Alltop - Guy Kawasaki's “online magazine rack” streams popular content from the around the Web into subject-specific sections. Your work currently streams to Alltop's Patents, Banking, Finance, HR, E-Discovery, Taxes, Real Estate, Crime, Environmental Health, and Law sections. (See: laundry list of JD Supra's Alltop feeds.) The list grows as Alltop grows.

JD Supra Legal Edge: E-Mail Digests - we've been building a program of monthly e-mail digests, sending a selection of the best document uploads of the month to a growing list of subscribers (currently numbered in the thousands). Stay tuned for more subject-specific monthly digests to launch during the year; today we offer two: "Legal Alerts" (a general digest) and "Law Practice" ...

Google - a distribution channel? Certainly. The search engines regularly index your portfolio of documents (and your professional profile). Google alone brings to your work a vast audience of folks heading online in search of substantive legal information. JD Supra documents and profiles tend to rank well in search - with improved ranking the more you upload...

Facebook - our newest social media offering, the JD Supra Legal News Facebook application enables anyone or any outlet on Facebook to stream and share subject-based feeds of JD Supra documents on Profiles and Business Pages.

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[Next: the tools we give you to self-syndicate, including RSS, widgets, Facebook, and more...]

- Law 2.0: JD Supra Frees Legal Content

What are you waiting for? Join the mix: showcase your expertise on JD Supra. Upload your legal work to a large audience online.

You Should Be On Facebook. Here's Why (and How).

adrian@jdsupra.com (Adrian Lurssen) — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 12:09:58 -0800

Apparently people either love the "new Facebook" or hate it - there's not much of a middle ground evident in the online chatter and media coverage.

My take? I love it. I think any professional or business heading online today to engage an audience in meaningful ways should - among other things - maintain a presence on Facebook.

More to the point: I think that the recent changes to Facebook Business Pages represent an excellent opportunity for all service professionals, including attorneys and law firms, to build and engage a responsive - and ultimately viral - network of friends, clients new and old, colleagues, and valued connections. Here's why.

Facebook Pages: Connecting What You Know and Who You Know

One of the most noticeable changes has to do with the way Business Pages (previously known as Fan Pages) now connect to the rest of the Facebook experience.

Below is a recent screen shot of my personal News Feed - three timely updates in a stream of many others from the friends, media outlets, businesses, and points of interest I've connected with on Facebook:

For some, this News Feed is one of the site's most addictive elements: an ever-changing aggregation of activity, images, videos, links, and other information particular to your own circle of friends and connections.

Addictive or not, the snapshot above reflects one of the key changes rolled out by Facebook. Updates from firm Wolfe Law Group and media outlet Mashable are included in the stream because now Business Page status updates appear in personal News Feeds. This is at the heart of the brilliance behind the new Facebook layout and functionality.

Networks on Facebook manifest in two ways. You undoubtedly know the first: friends connect with each other behind the walled garden of their personal profiles. Fan pages have for quite some time allowed the other type of Facebook connection: anyone can literally "become a fan" of any entity whatsoever that has set up a Fan/Business page on the site.

The latest changes enable the two types of networks to meet at a critical point: each individual's personal News Feed. Businesses and brands of every type only stand to benefit from this.

Becoming a Fan on Facebook: The New Opt-In

I see the act of becoming "a fan" of a Facebook Page as the new opt-in. It's the 2009 equivalent of saying: "I'm willing to hear from you." Only, now it means: "I'm willing to engage with you in the presence of all of my friends."

Page administrators have always been able to send e-mail updates that appeared as notes in their fans' Facebook in-boxes - and in whichever email in-box connects to each account. (In other words, Facebook has always quietly offered one of the simplest ways to deliver email messages to a broad base of followers.)

Now, those followers can hear from businesses in real time - again: in the rich context of the personal News Feed. And they can respond, publicly and directly.

In just a matter of days my new News Feed became my primary source for stories and links from Mashable (see screen capture above). And in fact, it was in the feed that I first saw Mashable's own coverage on this very subject: You Might Not Love the New Facebook, But Brands Should.

Apparently I'm not the only who has been engaging with the social media news outlet via Facebook:

...we’ve been using our page to share our articles, post photos from our journey to SXSW, and engage users in conversation. And the results so far have been rather stunning. Comparing traffic to Mashable.com referred by Facebook from 3/5-3/11 to 3/12-3/18 (the 7-day period before and after the new homepage rolled out), we’ve seen a 75% increase in visitors. Moreover, our Facebook Page itself is seeing 2-3x more visitors on a daily basis than it did in the previous iteration of Facebook’s homepage.

Indeed, hardly a surprise that inclusion in a data stream thus far reserved only for personal updates would lead to this kind of traffic spike. If the content is valuable, it'll get the attention it deserves.

[Critics of the new Facebook model miss a crucial point: you still get to control what your stream looks like. No longer want to see updates from a particular connection, whether it's friend or business? Click the "X" that removes them from your feed. Done.]

Your Facebook Network: Syndicated Content. Viral Engagement.

Think of a Facebook Page as a self-created syndication network - because, really, that is what it is.

You build an audience by encouraging friends, clients, colleagues, and others in your network to become fans. ("Join us on Facebook. Become a fan of our page.")

As your audience builds, you stream in all of the content you are creating and delivering to audiences elsewhere. Do you have a blog? Tether it to your Facebook presence. Every time you write a new post it will appear as a status update. Same with JD Supra (in fact we have an application, JD Supra Docs, that streams your work to Facebook every time you post it on JD Supra.)

Wolfe Law Group's Facebook page is a rich collection of content from multiple sources, including: at least three of the firm's blogs (see the "Boxes" tab), their JD Supra portfolio of legal work (see "Documents"), as well as misc. photographs that open a human window into the firm. Much of the work pours automatically into this page - such is the nature of the current online landscape and what we mean when we talk about "connecting the dots" between various platforms in which you've decided to plant your flag.

Yes, today Wolfe Law Group's collection of Facebook fans only stands at 36 - but with time and effort it could reach the hundreds, or even thousands. (Mashable boasts over 9,000 fans at time of writing.)

Each new fan, each small engagement, includes a viral element that can make a difference both in terms of brand awareness and organic growth. When I become a fan of a page, all of my friends by virtue of our connection see it. Likewise, when I comment on someone else's status update, my friends see that, too. (A quick glance at the 9,000-strong page for outdoor sports and adventure store REI should show the viral strength of this type of connection. Every fan of REI broadcasts their love of the company not just on REI's Facebook Page, but also on the News Feeds of every one of their own friends.)

...

I have always been a fan of Facebook Pages, excuse the pun. In the simplest terms, I believe that any firm's online strategy should include two broad objectives: 1. to own your Google resume (to take possession of as many of the top-page search results as you can, when people search on your name or your brand); and 2. to meet your audience(s) where they are gathering.

In many cases, a Facebook Page succeeds on both counts - it can rank well in Google and it happens to be hosted on a platform that boasts 175 million active users. On this second point I know there are a number of people who like to generalize about who, exactly, is using Facebook and why they are using it - but, really, can we generalize about 175 million people? The sheer size of the site makes it worthwhile to plant a flag there and see what type of traction you are able to muster.

Last fall when we were rolling out our first Facebook application I heard by e-mail from a legal professional who uses the site:

... I put some business-related info on my Facebook profile and mentioned it to a few key people in my personal network. A friend contacted me online and said he had spoken with one of his Facebook connections that day that may be in need of my services. Long story short, the prospect reviewed my personal page/info, liked what he saw, and sent a project less than 24 hours later.

The opportunities made available to legal professionals by Facebook Pages are well-described by attorney and early tech adopter Doug Cornelius recently in a blog post about social networking:

...your lawyer listing, articles, cases, news, and people connections would be all linked together in one place... you could show your expertise through the stuff you write, the cases you work on, the transactions you work on and the news about you. Then you tie that all information to a central profile and connect with the people you know.

Sound familiar? Sound compelling? Start a Facebook Page for your professional service. Here's how in five easy steps:

Create your Facebook Business Page here. Begin with basic corporate information.
Connect your blog to your Page's "Notes" feature for automatic updates.
Connect your JD Supra portfolio to your Page, for an automatic stream of professional information and legal work
Announce your page to your current network, ask people to connect by becoming fans.
As you become familiar with the page and its functionality, start playing with other features (like events, photos, video, and the like).

Do you have a Facebook Page for your practice or firm? Include it in this entry's comments field. We'll start building a list of which legal professionals are leading the way on Facebook.

(Here is ours: Join us on JD Supra's Facebook Page - become a fan, spread the word!)

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Further:

- You Might Not Love the New Facebook, But Brands Should

- Law 2.0: JD Supra Frees Legal Content

- Stream Your Legal Docs and Information on Facebook

- Facebook apps: JD Supra Docs (for legal professionals) | JD Supra Legal News (for everyone)

- Please: Digg This if you dig it.

[Note - One benefit of a JD Supra premium account: we will build a Facebook page for you. Want to participate but don't have the time or knowledge to do it? Call 1-866-757-8772 and we'll help you to get up and running on both sites in no time at all.]

Legal Anaylsis: Impact of the Stimulus Bill (on Cobra, HIPAA, and more)

aviva@jdsupra.com (Aviva Cuyler) — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 11:57:03 -0800

Here's an index of documents recently posted to JD Supra that look at legislative changes brought about by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (aka Stimulus Bill) and related programs.

Many of the documents deal with changes in healthcare and healthcare coverage (especially related to COBRA and HIPAA) while others touch upon everything from immigration to banking to executive compensation, and beyond. Check back as we update this reading list with new, related documents.

Legal Analysis - the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009:

- American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009: Implications for Financial Institutions ... Lane Powell PC

- Projects Await Stimulus Funds; Recovery.gov Tracking Flow ... Duane Morris LLP

- Details on the New Federal Financial Stability Programs: CAP replaces CaPP, Stress Tests and amended TLGP ... Morrison & Foerster LLP

- Besides COBRA: What Does the Stimulus Package Have for Employers ... Littler Mendelson

- Stimulus Plan Provisions for Favoring U.S. Workers Before Hiring H-1B Foreign Workers: Focus on Financial Institutions ... Lane Powell PC - Immigration Law

- Employee Benefits Alert: Executive Compensation Significantly Restricted by Economic Stimulus Package ... Mintz Levin - Employment, Labor & Benefits Section

- China Update: First M&A Loan Activity Under New CBRC Guidelines: What Does the Future Hold? ... Morrison & Foerster LLP

- New Federal Programs Support the Banking System - Step One is the Capital Assistance Program and Economic Assessments ... Morrison & Foerster LLP

- The Obama Administration: Will “Change” Include a Change in Antitrust Enforcement? ... Williams Mullen

- Qualified Transportation Benefit Increases ... Ford & Harrison LLP

- Sweeping New Whistleblower Law May Cover All Employers Who Receive Stimulus Funds ... Morrison & Foerster LLP

COBRA...

- COBRA Changes Effective Immediately/ Williams Kastner Labor & Employment Law Alert ... Williams Kastner

- COBRA Subsidy Provisions of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (general highlights of ARRA’s COBRA provisions) ... Fenwick & West LLP

- COBRA Provisions of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 ... Morrison & Foerster LLP

- COBRA Subsidization Under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to Take Effect March 1, 2009 ... Ober|Kaler

- Stimulus Bill Includes Immediate Changes To COBRA Continuation Coverage Rules ... Allen Matkins Leck Gamble Mallory & Natsis LLP

- Stimulus Bill Includes Significant COBRA Changes ... Duane Morris LLP

- Stimulus Package: An In-Depth Look at the New COBRA Subsidy in the ARRA ... Littler Mendelson

HIPAA...

- Economic Stimulus Act Impacts HIPAA Requirements ... Ford & Harrison LLP

- Stimulus Bill Expands HIPAA Privacy and Security Rules to Business Associates: Impact on Group Health Plans, Benefits Brokers/Consultants, and Third-Party Administrators ... Mintz Levin - Employment, Labor & Benefits Section

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- JD Supra Searches: Cobra | HIPAA ...

- Law Twitter feeds: Labor & Employment | Banking & Finance | Bankruptcy Law ...

We thank our contributing attorneys and law firms for posting this important work. Got something to add? Join JD Supra: showcase your expertise, build a profile and publish your legal documents.

JD Supra: One Year In

aviva@jdsupra.com (Aviva Cuyler) — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 10:00:53 -0800

The past year has been exciting, exhausting, and everything we'd hoped. Most of all, it is the positive feedback we've received from our contributors that keeps us going.

Thanks to all of you who take the time to do that - directly to us, on Twitter, on your blogs and to the media. Here's a look at some of this feedback, which keeps us inspired and moving in the right direction:

Ronald Coleman, of Goetz Fitzpatrick LLP:

JD Supra is almost tailor-made for me. The most important thing – the most valuable – I have to sell is my work. It's something I take pride in and something I do very well and I have a whole career worth of it to put out there. JD Supra helps people understand exactly what kind of lawyer I'm going to be by showing them my work ... the [Facebook] application makes perfect sense for how I envision expanding the marketing of my practice in the years ahead...

Paul Jahn of Morrison & Foerster in the East Bay Business Times:

… the content comes from us and is associated with us. If we can find a place to deliver a marketing message that allows us to show what we can do, that is a good channel.

Lori Foleen, Director of Marketing and Client Relations, Lane Powell PC:

We were one of the first law firms to contribute legal articles to JDSupra, and we've been very pleased with how it helps us reach a wider online audience. Now we can also add profiles of practice groups and individual lawyers: It's just one more way to make it easy for clients to connect with us.

Mark Kindall, partner at Izard Nobel, on why the firm is on JD Supra (in the Connecticut Law Tribune):

Advertising [just] in Hartford isn't necessarily going to be of huge assistance to us. We need people to recognize us in Houston, Bakersfield and Tallahassee...

Mitchell J. Matorin, esq. in The New York Times:

The site puts solo practitioners like me on an equal footing with huge law firms, providing exposure that would otherwise be nearly impossible to get. People can read samples of actual work and then make an informed judgment.

ICBC Claims Lawyer, Erik Magraken, on Twitter:

Quickly seeing the legal marketing benefits of JDSupra. Give Content, Get Noticed.

and...

For all lawyers considering signing up with JDSupra I can confirm that the customer service at www.jdsupra.com is first rate!

Wolfe Law Group, on their blog:

Our firm is so confident in our services that we're happy to provide our clients, prospective clients and other attorneys with samples of our work. Each week, we're posting new court documents to our JD Supra profile for anyone to download and view. The documents are streamed on our website through the JD Supra "widget" on the right side of this page, and you can also subscribe to our JD Supra RSS Feed. It's also available on our JD Supra profile, or our Facebook page.

California Defamation Attorney, Adrianos Facchetti, on this blog:

I stumbled across JD Supra about a couple of months ago . . . somehow I knew it was a good thing and so I gave it a shot. I posted a couple of documents to the site. I also set up an RSS feed of my documents from JD Supra to my blog. Less than a week later, a prospective client told me: "I like the fact that you have samples of your work on your blog. It gave me a chance to look at your work firsthand before I talked to you." I got it at the moment. The client wanted to see my work before he hired me. Clients like transparency. They like to see things before they buy them...

Texas Rio Grande Legal Aid on their blog:

JD Supra allows for organizations and individuals to post legal documents that are easily accessible and available for download. There are even RSS feeds where our followers can track our latest postings as they happen!

Nicole Black, of Fiandach & Fiandach:

It’s a great way to extend your online presence – particularly if you’re someone like me who writes frequently. I’ve already seen that JD Supra Docs will allow me to centralize all the various content I’m generating and bring it together in one place...

Doug Cornelius on his blog:

I’m a huge fan of the connectivity between online communities. It creates much more value by republishing information in different ways so people can access and find the information they need in a way that works for them, which is exactly what JD Supra’s new [Facebook] application allows me to do.

Jason M. Woodward, MS, JD:

JD Supra is a great outlet for creating an online body of professional work. I really like the Facebook application and many other features. I am looking forward to many more contributions. Thank you...

Tamera Bennett, Bennett Law Offices, on Twitter:

Your staff was great in answering my questions on what/how to post to jdsupra.com Thanks!!

Deb Dobson of Spencer Fane Britt & Browne, on Twitter:

Thanks for having such a great company to work with at www.jdsupra.com.

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Are you on the site yet? Showcase your expertise to a wide audience: create a professional profile and post your legal documents on JD Supra. Jump on board today...

- JD Supra Content Syndicated Globally via Newstex

- Seven Ways to Enhance Search Visibility with JD Supra

- Stream Your Legal Documents from JD Supra to Facebook

- Expand Your Online Reach with RSS and Widgets

- JD Supra Digest: Legal Documents by Monthly E-mail

Cases in the News: Hot Filings on JD Supra

aviva@jdsupra.com (Aviva Cuyler) — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 12:42:22 -0800

We've seen a number of newsworthy Hot Documents on JD Supra over the past week. Here's a sampling:

- Brown v. McCain:

Decision refusing to dismiss Jackson Browne's copyright infringement, Common Law Right of Publicity, Vicarious Copyright Infringement and Lanham Act claims against McCain and The Republican National Committee. The Court stated "Plaintiff needs to show a mere possibility of success on his claim" and that the defendant "has not shown that political expression's broad First Amendment protection bars, as a matter of law, all actions based on allegedly improper use of a person's identity in campaign-related materials." (Posted by Tamera Bennett...)

- InfoMedia Inc v Air-O-Matic Inc:

Complaint by InfoMedia, Inc., developer of iFart Mobile, against Air-O-Matic, Inc. in Colorado Federal court, seeking a ruling that the phrase “pull my finger” is a common, descriptive phrase not protected by Federal trademark law. (Posted by Kevin Houchin...)

- In the matter of Cohmad Securities Corporation:

Exhibits 12-16 to the Complaint, showing wire transfers to Ruth Madoff of $10 million and $5.5 million on December 10, 2008. That is just before the scheme collapsed and Madoff turned himself in. (Posted by Doug Cornelius, along with many other documents related to the Madoff fraud...)

- National Cable & Telecommunications Association v. Federal Communications Commission and United States of America:

Federal appeals court decision upholding telephone privacy regulations that require phone companies to obtain affirmative, opt-in consent from customers before they disclose personal information to outside corporations. The decision rejects an industry challenge to the rule. (Posted by Electronic Privacy Information Center...)

- Showing Animals Respect & Kindness v. Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association:

Settlement Agreement & Mutual Releases, protecting the advocates' right to publicize their critiques and creating a new model for handling takedown notices. (Posted by Electronic Frontier Foundation...)

...

[See JD Supra's Hot Docs section for a steady stream of noteworthy court filings, decisions, alerts, and other legal documents. The Hot Docs stream is also available via RSS and on Twitter @Legal_News.]

Lawyers, law firms, and legal professionals: showcase your expertise to a wide online audience. Join JD Supra today. Build a profile and post your legal work.

JD Supra Contributors: February Roundup - Savvy Women in the Law

aviva@jdsupra.com (Aviva Cuyler) — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 11:00:09 -0800

This month, our roundup showcases the wonderfully diverse group of super-savvy women in the law who have recently joined JD Supra. We're thrilled to have them on the site, and look forward to seeing more of their work:

Danialle Riggins - an attorney, and principal at Riggins Law Firm, handling employment law cases, family law,personal injury, Social Security disability, and criminal cases.... [legal documents]

Pamela Woldow - principal and general counsel for Altman Weil, which provides management consulting services exclusively to legal organizations. Clients include law firms, law departments, governmental legal offices and legal vendors of all sizes and types throughout North America, the U.K. and abroad.... [articles]

Sheri Abrams - founded her own law firm in 1995. Since that time she has concentrated her law practice to the areas of Social Security Disability Law, Wills, Living Wills, Powers of Attorney and Special Needs Trusts. Ms. Abrams regularly handles cases in Virginia, Maryland, and the District of Columbia.... [legal documents]

Joy Levy - focuses on representing financially distressed companies, both in and out of court. In addition, Joy represents financial institutions, private lenders, trustees, and creditors committees in loan restructurings, workouts, and commercial litigation. Ms. Levy is the author of “The Impact of Substantive Consolidation in Bankruptcy” which appeared in the September 2004 edition of the Los Angeles Lawyer Magazine, as well as chapters in a number of other Bankruptcy publications.... [legal documents]

Trace Rabern - an appellate writer for thirteen years. In 1997 she began writing as judicial clerk for the late Justice Dan McKinnon on the New Mexico Supreme Court. For eight and a half years, Ms. Rabern was proud to be an appellate attorney with the Appellate Division of the New Mexico Public Defender Department, and litigated over a hundred criminal appeals. She now runs a solo specialty criminal law writing practice in Santa Fe... [legal documents]

Allison Shields - president, Legal Ease Consulting, which
helps lawyers attract the kinds of clients they want by creating effective marketing messages and realistic marketing plans customized to the firm and its lawyers. Skilled at identifying competitive advantages and unique benefits - and selecting marketing and business development activities best suited to a firm and its lawyers.... [articles]

Marta Chadwick - provides a holistic approach to family law matters. Full representation, divorce coaching, parent coordinator, mediation. Also specializes in representation in domestic violence cases: restraining orders, criminal matters, victim representation in hearings and representation for domestic violence organizations. Training and consulting also available for domestic violence issues, specializing in identification and interventions in high risk domestic violence cases ... [legal documents]

Angela Scarlett - a Canadian lawyer who practices Immigration law and provides legal research and drafting. Ms. Scarlett is also President of OPIN Americas, Inc. a relocation firm that caters to businesses seeking to move employees to Canada from within the Americas i.e., North, South, and Central America and the Caribbean... [legal documents]

Elaine Martin- managing partner at the Law Office of Elaine Martin, a full service immigration law firm providing experienced and skillful services to businesses and individuals nationally and internationally. The firm advises companies of all sizes on strategies to attract and retain valuable foreign nationals. They also work with individuals in preparing family and employment-based visa petitions, and applications for US citizenship... [legal documents]

Jayne Navarre - a leading Internet marketing strategist with over 14 years of legal-industry marketing and business development service, Ms. Navarre applies sound, ethical and creative strategy to Web communications --including law firm web sites, social networking, content optimization, search marketing and social media tactics. Helps clients achieve success by bringing insight and intelligibility to the rapidly changing Internet landscape... [articles]

Angela Reyes - managing partner, Heygood, Orr, Reyes, Pearson & Bartolomei, a law firm that focuses its practice on representing plaintiffs in personal injury, business litigation, dangerous prescription drugs, product defect and wrongful death lawsuits... [legal documents]

Lindsy Doucette - practicing real estate law, corporate law, and estate planning at Lieben, Whitted, Houghton, Slowiaczek & Cavanagh, P.C., L.L.O. a mid-sized boutique firm in Omaha, Nebraska which represents individual and corporate clients in all areas from family law and estate planning, to corporate formation, litigation, dissolution and everything in between... [legal documents]

Natasha Phillips - a non-practicing barrister working for pressure groups like Justice For Families, which combine political and legal policy proposals with a view to reforming the Family Justice System. Natasha is the founder of 'Divorce Manual' in England, a project which focuses on encouraging pragmatic reforms within the English Family Justice System... [articles]

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Looking for an effective way to showcase your expertise to an online audience?

Join JD Supra, build a professional profile, and start posting your legal documents today.

Social Media Perspective: Be a Lawyer

adrian@jdsupra.com (Adrian Lurssen) — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 11:08:11 -0800

I think that this endlessly fascinating conversation we're having about lawyers and social media needs perspective.

And the perspective goes like this: you went to school to be a lawyer, not an online strategist. So: be a lawyer. No one should be telling you otherwise.

Which is not to say that advice like "You are your own brand" or "Self-marketing is the key to your longterm success" or "online participation is an essential part of business development" is necessarily incorrect. (It isn't.)

Nor is it wrong to listen to the numerous intelligent marketing and biz dev professionals out there who are leading the way with their insights. Listen and read all you can.

But: one defining characteristic of the communication tools defining our contemporary online landscape is that they create a lot of noise. I fear that in the noise we too easily lose perspective.

Some of us network at cocktail parties; yet, as a consequence there has never been a requirement to learn how to tend bar or mix drinks. (That skill comes from too much time in grad school?)

Some of the best business development occurs over lunch; but that's not why we learn how to cook, or - for that matter - why some of us do time as waiters or restaurant sous chefs.

The fact is, most legal professionals don't have time for this. At least, the ones I talk to are burning the practice candle on both ends. Barely keeping their heads above water, they don't have time to turn themselves into social media strategists, or...

Perspective: at a basic level this is all about communication, just as the telephone and email is about communication. You should assimilate these new communication tools into your professional and personal life, as needed, in ways that make sense to you. No more, no less.

Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, blogs, websites, RSS, JD Supra, widgets, SEO, social media, social networking - ignore the labels and brand names for now. Start with the point of view of a legal professional with a business to run. Take from the mix what works.

- Does the tool help me to communicate with people I want (or need) to communicate with?

- Does the tool help me to show more people what I'm really good at, what I was trained to do?

- Does it help me to get meaningful attention?

- Does it make my life easier?

These are the types of questions you should ask as you vet the tools available to you.

There are of course many other questions. Hopefully readers will broaden the perspective by including them in the comments field of this post...

7 Ways to Enhance Your Search Visibility with JD Supra

aviva@jdsupra.com (Aviva Cuyler) — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 09:45:41 -0800

Here are seven ways to quickly (and easily) increase your visibility in the search engines using JD Supra.

Keep in mind: search engine algorithms are extraordinarily complicated; what most of us understand of them is just the tip of the iceberg. However, after close observation we have seen again and again that the more of these steps you enact (and the more often you do so) the more you stand to benefit in the rankings.

(These tips - along with many others! - will be included in an upcoming "Resources" center on JD Supra.)

Seven Ways to Enhance Your Search Visibility with JD Supra:

1. Use your name (or firm name) in your profile URL

JD Supra profiles tend to rank well in search listings for contributor names. Profiles rank well (more often and higher) when the URL matches the contributor name, whether firm or individual. So, for your JD Supra URL use the name for which you want to be found: yours in full, or your firm's name. Examples in Google: Lane Powell, Morrison & Foerster, Doug Cornelius, Kristen Patty, Ober Kaler, John Pentz, Alicia Butler ...

2. Include your most valued keywords in document titles

Words in document titles, and their order within those titles, have an impact on visibility. The engines give titles their own particular weight when they index them, so use keywords that matter to you (and are descriptive of the document) - and put the most important words up front. Cute titles may be good at getting people to click on a link - but if the doc is not listed in the results in the first place, there's nothing to click! Here are a handful of examples of documents that have received good exposure via "Search" where key words are right up front in the titles: Letter of Representation, Madoff criminal complaint, constructive possession of drugs, sample family trust, IRS Notice 2008-83, i-9 handbook for employers ...

3. Link keywords in your document(s) to relevant pages in your website or blog

When you link words within your JD Supra documents to related pages on your website or blog, you help the search engines identify your site as an authority for searches on those key words. For example, if you are an intellectual property attorney and upload an articles on trademark law to JD Supra, make the word "trademark" in your article a live link to your blog or website (or the page on your website discussing trademark).

4. Upload lots of documents and do so regularly

The more documents you upload, and the more regularly you do so, the more weight the search engines give to both your documents and your profile (all documents lead to Rome, so to speak). Content is king & volume matters: it's really that simple. Examples of high-ranking profiles of contributors who regularly upload documents and have, over time, developed a rich collection: Ronald Coleman, Littler Mendelson, Manatt, Phelps & Philips, Jason Woodward ...

5. Include direct links to your website, blog, etc. in your profile.

As the contributors above illustrate, when you upload more documents, a significant amount of "link weight" pools in your profile. (Among other things, all of the documents link to your profile, and your growing collection of links - to documents and profile - are propagated throughout JD Supra and the web). This means that links out from your profile, in particular, benefit the search visibility of your website, blog, and other URLs.

6. Promote your JD Supra profile and docs as you upload them.

The volume of traffic and links coming in to your profile and documents from other sites also impacts their search ranking (and subsequently the value of links from them to your own site(s)). So promote your JD Supra profile and docs wherever you have a web presence: on your blog, website, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Delicious, Stumbleupon, and directory listings such as Justia, etc.

7. Create a Facebook Page with the JD Supra Docs application.

Facebook business pages are well-ranked by the search engines. Our JD Supra docs application imports your professional profile and automatically streams documents you upload to JD Supra. This regularly updating, keyword-rich content not only increases the search visibility of your Facebook page, but adds to the search visibility of your documents (Tip #6, above). (Example: ICBC lawyer Erik Magraken's Facebook page.)

See this page's ranking for the prime key word - icbc claims - and note how this, combined with his JD Supra documents (Tip #4) with keyword rich titles (Tip #2), has impacted his visibility on the first page of search results for his specialty.

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JD Supra Legal Content Syndicated Globally via Newstex

adrian@jdsupra.com (Adrian Lurssen) — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 08:53:38 -0800

We're pleased to announce that JD Supra has now partnered with Newstex, a premier provider of real-time news to millions of industry leaders and media channels.

Newstex will distribute JD Supra's content (your content) to a global audience across numerous business sectors.

As we said in this morning's release:

Our partnership with Newstex enables us to expand our distribution network and put our contributors' content in front of millions of people in the legal, business, financial and other sectors, who subscribe to Newstex's syndicated content.

It is also an acknowledgment and confirmation of the high quality and value of the legal content being shared on JD Supra.

Now, the documents you share on JD Supra - connected to your professional profile - will reach more people than ever before.

How can you achieve the greatest benefit from this partnership?

If you're not yet posting documents on JD Supra, start now. Build a profile, post your legal documents;
Upload new documents to JD Supra regularly;
Write clear and compelling document titles and summaries; and
Make sure your profile is complete and up-to-date, with full contact information and links to your website, blog, or other webpages.

Please contact JD Supra's VP of Business Development, John Christiansen, if you have any questions, or would like more information on how to make the most of your JD Supra membership.

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- JD Supra's User-Generated Legal Content Syndicated Globally Through Newstex (PRWeb)

- Showcase Your Expertise. Reach a Wide Audience. Join JD Supra Today.

Help JD Supra to Design a T-Shirt, Win an iPhone!

adrian@jdsupra.com (Adrian Lurssen) — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 10:11:20 -0800

Did someone say "Wit t-shirt contest?"

No, that's not a typo - and yes, we are willing to resort to awful puns to reach out to our community. File under Friday fun:

Here's the scoop. We want the official JD Supra t-shirt to be like JD Supra content: user-generated. And so, an improptu contest:

What do you think our new JD Supra t-shirt should say? Make a suggestion. If we pick it, we'll buy you an iPhone.

That's it! Please post your suggestion in the blog comments field, and spread the word. Deadline is next Friday, January, 30th (by 5pm PST). We'll make our decision next weekend.

A couple of pointers:

- if you have an idea, post it soon. We'll honor the first (time-stamped) version of any repeat suggestion.

- the shirt will be white, with the JD Supra logo ("tastefully placed") on the front; writing on the back.

- we're asking: What would you write on the back?

- if you think that's lame and have an entirely different suggestion: go for it.

- we love humor, but if you think of something serious that you believe in: suggest it!

- our tagline is: "Give Content. Get Noticed." (Be the first to recommend that in the comments, and if we go with it, you win an iPhone.)

- you can enter as many times as you want.

- whichever tone you go for, here's what we are trying to capture:

JD Supra helps legal professionals to showcase expertise by publishing, distributing, and promoting their documents online. Build a professional profile; post filings, decisions, briefs, articles, alerts, newsletters - all in the service of free, substantive legal information that connects back to its contributor. (Give Content. Get Noticed.)

- have fun!

- if you're the competitive type and need to do further research read some of the "In the News" media coverage located here.

- for more background read some of the archived pieces in the Content Marketing, Law Firm Marketing, and JD Supra Updates sections of this blog.

- please do make your suggestion. Afterall, this is all about user-generated content!

Good luck - and thanks for participating.

What do you think the new JD Supra should say? Make a suggestion in the comments field. If we pick it, we'll buy you an iPhone!