In a post on the website of Muse Communications, Amy Boardman Hunt points out that many law firms make little, if any, use of one of the most effective and inexpensive ways to stay in touch with clients, prospective clients and referral sources: email.

“When done well, consistent email communications with a firm’s existing network can help raise the firm’s stature and reputation as thought leaders, showcase their successes on behalf of clients, and generally stay top-of-mind with the people most likely to send them work,” she writes.

The article discusses what should be included in a newsletter, who should receive it, how to send it out, how often to send it, how to grow your list, and what kind of results to expect.

Read the article.

Special counsel Robert Mueller could have an enormous payday waiting for him at his pick of prestigious law firms whenever he finishes the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, according the Washingtonian.

Reporter Marisa M. Kashino quotes Jeffrey Lowe, the Washington managing partner of legal recruiting firm Major, Lindsey & Africa: “Firms that can pay $5 million will offer $5 million [annually]. If they can pay between $5 million and $10 million, that can be the number, too.”

Before becoming special counsel, Mueller was a partner in the DC office of WilmerHale, where he earned nearly $3.5 million, well above the firm’s average partner compensation.

Read the Washingtonian article.

The Supreme Court of Texas recently ruled in favor of the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association (TWIA) regarding attorney-client privilege in a decision that can benefit insurance companies involved in litigation, reports Androvett Legal Media & Marketing.

The justices determined that attorney-client privilege extended to communications between a TWIA employee and counsel when the employee was serving as an expert witness for the company. The case involved a dispute between the city of Dickinson and TWIA.

Dallas insurance litigator Meloney Perry of Perry Law P.C. says the ruling is significant to Texas because it aligns the state with the federal rules on expert disclosure and production. She notes it also may be of particular benefit to insurance companies.

“This ruling means that underwriters, auto damage personnel and claims handlers may serve as experts without exposing attorney-client communications, even though they are employed by an insurance company involved in litigation,” said Perry. “One side benefit is this could cut costs from having to hire an outside expert.”

Perry says an insurance carrier employee designated with expert knowledge or who signs an affidavit attesting to certain expertise will not have to produce communications with counsel when Texas law applies. However, certain work product documents may not be protected.

“Work product is still subject to being produced, so parties will need to make the determination on a document-by-document basis. If the witness is provided an investigative report which is work product that may not be protected, but the email between the witness and counsel will be.”

Perry adds that if a federal question is being litigated in federal court, the attorney-client privilege is a question of federal common law. In state court and diversity cases filed in federal court, the attorney-client privilege is controlled by that forum’s state law.

Above the Law reports on a law firm’s breach-of-contract lawsuit against an associate who wants to leave the firm.

Senior editor Kathryn Rubino describes the suit filed by the Preis PLC law firm:

The firm recently sued Jane “Megan” Daily, a soon-to-be former associate leaving after a year at the firm. The petition alleges a breach of contract and damages — the firm says it lost $10,000 by training Daily for the year because “more experienced attorneys must take time away from other tasks to supervise and mentor new hires, further costing the firm significant lost billing time.”

Read the Above the Law article.

Legal marketers can take a cue from Japanese organizing consultant Marie Kondo, whose KonMari method essentially boils down to taking stock of everything you own and then eliminating whatever fails to bring you joy, writes Bruce Vincent of Muse Communications.

That means figuring out what you’re using to do your job and getting rid of anything that doesn’t help you accomplish your firm’s marketing goals.

He begins by extolling the virtues of lists, especially contact lists. He offers some tips about how to organize and maintain those lists of contacts for maximum efficiency.

The article also discusses the value of — and methods — of organizing and maintaining digital files. It ends with a plea for avoiding distracting clutter in an office, an approach Marie Kondo would heartily endorse.

Read the article.

The discovery of hidden cameras, microphones and recording equipment in a Florida law firm has led to firings, lawsuits and the departure of a name partner, according to The Palm Beach Post.

It all started when a staffer at Steinger, Iscoe & Greene in Palm Beach County found drywall debris in her office. That discovery led to wires connected to the surveillance equipment. After police were called, it was discovered that some wires had been cut and a video recording device was missing, according to a lawyer representing the firm in an invasion of privacy lawsuit.

Two associates who were fired have sued the firm, and name partner Gary Iscoe, who reportedly received an undisclosed amount of money as part of a confidential agreement, has resigned.

“It’s very John Grisham,” said attorney Michael Pike, who is representing the firm in the lawsuit aimed at finding out who the spies were.

Read the Palm Beach Post article.

Personal injury and commercial litigation law firm Sommerman, McCaffity, Quesada & Geisler, LLP, announced the addition of new name partner Laura Benitez Geisler, current president of the Dallas Bar Association.

“Laura is an exceptional attorney whose skills complement those of our talented team of lawyers,” said firm co-founder Andrew B. Sommerman. “We share the same passion for seeking justice, and we are proud to add her name to ours.”

The new name partner has won recognition by The Best Lawyers in America and Texas Super Lawyers since 2015. She has earned a National Diversity Council listing among the Top 50 Multicultural Lawyers in Dallas and Top 50 Women Lawyers. In 2011, the Hispanic National Bar Association also honored Geisler with recognition as a Top Lawyer Under 40.

Read more about the announcement.

A lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas against Morrison & Foerster accuses the firm of expending “an exorbitant and excessive amount of time” running up the bill for clients, reports Above the Law.

The five plaintiffs hired the firm to handle the winding down of the entities.

They allege that MoFo had 34 different timekeepers bill 669 hours at a cost of $484,321 during a two-month period.

“The complaint also says while the firm had arranged for $625,319 to be paid to its trust account, it also “unilaterally decided to pay itself from these funds—although this was never authorized. This left $170,978 in the trust account,” according to Above the Law senior editor Kathryn Rubino.

 Read the Above the Law article.

Bloomberg Law is reporting that a former Winston & Strawn LLP intellectual property attorney can litigate—and can’t be forced to arbitrate—her pay, bias, and retaliation claims.

The California Supreme Court declined to review an appellate ruling that the arbitration agreement Constance Ramos signed as an income partner contained unfair provisions that couldn’t be separated from the rest of the agreement, according to Bloomberg’s Joyce Cutler.

Under those provisions, Ramos would have been required to pay half the costs, and she would be subject to secrecy clauses that would have prevented her from interviewing potential witnesses.

Read the Bloomberg Law article.

Houston civil trial law boutique Ahmad, Zavitsanos, Anaipakos, Alavi & Mensing P.C., or AZA, has announced four new partners for 2019.

Scott W. Clark, Ryan Hackney, Michael McBride, and Jane Langdell Robinson, are promoted to partner effective Jan. 28.

Hackney handles primarily complex commercial litigation cases. Clark and McBride focus on IP and patent litigation. Robinson is an appellate lawyer who mostly focuses on commercial litigation appeals.

Read details about the new partners.

Virginia Lieutenant Governor Justin Fairfax — accused by two women of sexual assault — faces more than just official scrutiny over the allegations; because he’s a partner in Morrison & Foerster, he’s under investigation by his firm, too.

CNN reports:

“Amid the allegations, Fairfax’s law firm told employees he is taking a leave of absence, according to an internal memo obtained by CNN. The memo states the firm of Morrison & Foerster, of which Fairfax is a partner, has retained outside counsel to conduct an investigation. ‘Justin has agreed to cooperate with the firm’s investigation,’ the memo states.”

Above the Law reports that Fairfax hired Beth Wilkinson of Wilkinson Walsh + Eskovitz after the first allegations of sexual assault surfaced.

A host of online tools are available to keep law firm marketing projects organized, automate social media posts and newsletters, and just generally make life easier and more productive, advises Amy Boardman Hunt of Muse Communications.

“If you’re looking to juice up your online presence, these tools can help save time and create a clean, professional look in all your marketing efforts. And best of all, they’re all free or very inexpensive, meaning you can easily fit them into your marketing budget,” she writes.

Some of those tools include spreadsheets, email service providers, social media management, project management, and photo sources.

Read the article.

Bloomberg Law reports that the makers of IBM’s Watson artificial intelligence tool have been in quiet, informal discussions with a small group of prominent law firms in a bid to launch an expansion of offerings for firms and to help them collaborate around AI.

Brian Kuhn, co-founder and global leader of the Watson legal practice at IBM, said the company until now has mostly focused its legal business marketing of Watson to legal departments within large corporations, according to Bloomberg’s Sam Skolnick.

Kuhn said the company is preparing for a large-scale entrance into the American and British law firm markets, adding to its existing arrangements with U.S. and U.K.-based firms already in place.

Read the Bloomberg Law article.

Three senior in-house attorneys discussed best practices for collaborating with outside counsel during a panel discussion at Ward and Smith’s 2018 In-House Counsel Seminar, with a focus on leveraging technology, controlling legal spend, and managing succession.

A report on the discussion is posted on the Ward and Smith website.

Ward and Smith attorney Paul Fanning moderated a panel featuring Brian Holland, General Counsel for Global Knowledge, Kelly Clay, Global eDiscovery Counsel and Head of Data Governance at GlaxoSmithKline, and Ken Hammer, Senior Vice President and Chief Legal Officer at Toshiba Global Commerce Solutions.

Read the article.

A Charleston, WV attorney’s law license has been suspended for three and one-half years after attempting to raise funds via Go Fund Me in exchange for legal advice, reports the The West Virginia Record.

As treasurer of the Kanawha Valley Soccer League, lawyer Mark Allen Glover allegedly transferred money from the league’s checking account to his personal checking account, writes the Record‘s Kyla Asbury. The newspaper reported finding documents showing that Glover diverted approximately $12,000.

He lost his job after the diversion was discovered. Glover then set up a Go Fund Me fundraiser, seeking funds to help in his attempt to transition to being a solo practitioner. He offered free legal advice to those who donated to him. The state Supreme Court suspended his license for 42 months.

Read the WV Record article.

RFP Advisory Group will present a complimentary webinar where attendees will learn best practices and obstacles to avoid when issuing a request for proposal (RFP) to law firms.

The webinar will be Wednesday, Feb. 16, 2019, beginning at 1 p.m. EST.

RFP Advisory Group says that RFPs can allow a legal department to:

* Identify how many, and which law firms are the best fit for your business goals
* Incorporate the latest technology and innovations into your legal strategy
* Negotiate rates that will ensure that you are getting the most value for your dollar
* Convert your billing structures to alternative fee arrangements (“AFAs”)
* Increase diversity of the lawyers working on your companies matters
* Create a consistent set of outside counsel guidelines

However, RFPs can be labor intensive and a disaster to manage when done incorrectly, especially when done by general counsel with no legal operations or procurement staff to support the process, the RFP Advisory Group says. This webinar is ideal for general counsel who have been considering issuing an RFP but need to learn more about the latest trends and best practices.

Register for the webinar.

General counsels and chief legal officers at more than 170 companies have signed an open letter telling law firms they expect their lawyers to “reflect the diversity of the legal community and the companies and the customers we serve,” reports the ABA Journal.

“The letter was drafted after an online photo of 12 new partners at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison drew attention because it appeared to show 11 white men and just one woman,” writes the Journal‘s Debra Cassens Weiss. “The firm later said the partnership class also includes one Latino and one LGBTQ partner.”

A New York Times article on the subject said that more than 20 women and people of color described obstacles to achieving diversity at Paul, Weiss, with many saying that opportunities to be groomed for partner are harder to come by for women and minorities.

Read the Journal article.

CNN tells the story of Steven Wall, managing partner of internationally renowned law firm Morgan Lewis, who almost saw his career and his marriage destroyed by his alcoholism.

His drinking started in high school and continued into his work life as a lawyer, including one time with a boozy business lunch that resulted in a blackout. CNN’s Jeanne Sahadi tells how Wall largely gave up drinking for several years, but then the cravings became too strong for him to resist.

“Wall attributes his alcoholism to three factors: his heredity, his personality and how he handled the enormous stress of his job,” Sahadi writes. “He said he often felt the need ‘to turn off my brain and to release the intensity and the pressure of what we do.'”

Read the CNN article.

The rules governing legal advertising for Texas attorneys and law firms are scheduled for some significant changes in the coming months, writes Bruce Vincent of Muse Communications in an online summary of the revised advertising rules to help legal professionals prepare.

In his post, he discusses the Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct rules governing lawyer advertising that are up for revision and the substantive differences compared to the status quo, including rules on trade names, verdict amounts and specialization, prohibited solicitations, submissions to ad review, and exempt communications.

Read the article.

Volkswagen AG is paying out $175 million to plaintiffs’ attorneys in the $10 billion settlement over the “clean diesel” litigation. But many who say they worked on those cases won’t be getting any money, according to Bloomberg Law.

“Only attorneys chosen as class counsel in the consolidated litigation, and attorneys working on assignments from class counsel, are entitled to attorneys’ fees, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit said Jan. 22,” reports Bloomberg’s Martina Barash.

“That means numerous attorneys who worked on suits before the appointment of class counsel won’t get paid,” she adds. “That includes for work they did filing complaints, attempting to negotiate early settlements, and fielding calls with clients and other attorneys.”

Read the Bloomberg Law article.