Shipman & Goodwin LLP has expanded its Washington, D.C. office with the addition of three attorneys — John W. Ryan, Thomas M. Haas and Rachel G. Talay — who bring considerable patent and national security experience to both the firm and its D.C. office, a firm spokesman said. The move also extends the firm’s representation of national companies in the biotechnology, life sciences and medical products industries.

“With the addition of these accomplished attorneys, we have further strengthened the firm’s ability to provide our clients with the full range of services they need to protect their valuable intellectual property assets,” said Glenn M. Cunningham, Chair of the firm’s Business Litigation and Intellectual Property Practice Groups.

John Ryan, partner, has more than 25 years of experience as a registered patent attorney and handles matters involving litigation, due diligence, licensing, infringement and validity opinions, freedom to operate opinions, portfolio management and patent preparation and prosecution. He has worked in a wide variety of technical disciplines including biotechnology, medical devices and pharmaceuticals. In addition, Mr. Ryan was an adjunct professor at Albany Law School, where he taught a course on the licensing of intellectual property.

Thomas Haas, counsel, provides a full range of intellectual property services in a wide variety of technologies. He assists clients with patent portfolio management, patent litigation, preparing and prosecuting patent applications, merger and acquisition due diligence, infringement and validity studies, freedom to operate studies, licensing and drafting material transfer and confidentiality agreements. Mr. Haas has experience with a broad range of technologies and worked as a former patent examiner in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, where he examined biotechnology patent applications with a focus on genetically engineered plants, plant genes, molecular biology and microbiology.

Rachel Talay, counsel, has extensive experience advising clients on business and corporate matters as well as issues relating to national security. She handles a variety of transactions for private companies and individuals, including mergers, acquisitions, divestitures and joint ventures and formation and start-up activities. She acts as outside general counsel on matters including governance, foreign jurisdiction management and filings, licensing, intellectual property protection, reorganizations and ownership changes. Ms. Talay assists clients with national security reviews of transactions and counsels them on unique national security and intelligence issues.

Shipman & Goodwin LLP is a full-service law firm with more than 160 attorneys and offices in Hartford, Stamford, Greenwich and Lakeville, Conn. and in Washington, DC. Founded in 1919, the firm’s attorneys represent many businesses, institutions, individuals and government entities in Connecticut, throughout New England and nationally. For more information, please visit www.shipmangoodwin.com.

The national law firm of Quarles & Brady LLP has announced that the firm’s Franchise & Distribution Team has launched Franchise Law Insider, a blog that provides news and legal developments in franchise law. This blog will keep franchisors and franchisees aware of current news and events in this area.

“Our clients look to us regarding representation and litigation involving their franchise operations,” said Daniel M. Janssen, chair of the Franchise & Distribution Team. “Our Quarles & Brady attorneys provide counsel regarding transactional and regulatory matters, to franchisors of all sizes and in all industries. This blog will serve as another way by which we can help businesses flourish.”

Andy Beilfuss, partner and regular contributor to the blog said, “Franchise Law Insider will discuss trending industry news and topics that will be helpful to franchisors and franchisees. We are very excited about this opportunity to keep our clients abreast of contemporary business issues in the field.”

The franchise team is engaged in domestic and international franchising and distribution matters. This blog, housed on LexBlog, will allow clients to get a quick snapshot of what they need to know and what questions they should ask their legal counsel. To subscribe to the blog and get the latest information, visit http://franchiselawinsider.quarles.com/.

About Quarles & Brady LLP

Quarles & Brady is a full-service law firm with more than 475 attorneys offering an array of legal services to corporate and individual clients that range from small entrepreneurial businesses to Fortune 100 companies, with practice focuses in health care and life sciences, business law, data privacy and security, and complex litigation. The firm has offices in Chicago; Indianapolis; Madison; Milwaukee; Naples, Florida; Phoenix; Scottsdale; Tampa; Tucson; and Washington, D.C. Additional information can be found online at quarles.com, as well as on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook.

Avvo has posted a complimentary on-demand webinar discussing ways to help lawyers and law firms get comfortable with the rapid proliferation of online feedback and the most effective – and ethical – ways to respond.

Josh King, Avvo’s General Counsel and VP of Business Development, is the presenter.

Avvo says participants will learn about:

• The spread of online feedback via social media and review sites, and the importance of this trend to professional services and reputation
• Why suing for defamation is the technique of last resort
• Avoid violating the ethics rules around misleading advertising and attorney-client confidences when responding to online feedback

Watch the on-demand webinar.

Corporate law departments will have a big hand in changing the legal market over the next 10 years, law firm leaders said in Altman Weil’s sixth annual Law Firms in Transition Survey, which was released recently.

Large majorities of law firm leaders responding to the survey agree that greater price competition, practice efficiency, commoditization of legal work, competition from nontraditional service providers, and non-hourly billing are all permanent changes in the legal landscape. For the most part, these are changes that have been imposed upon them from without – from more demanding clients and more competitive newcomers who are challenging the rules of legal service delivery.

When asked about the most likely change agent in the legal market over the next ten years, 34% of law firm leaders identified corporate law departments as the force most likely to lead change; 32% chose technology innovation; and, 15% selected non-law-firm providers of legal services. Only 10%of respondents believe that law firms will take the lead in reinventing the legal market.

Read the survey.

LexisNexis Martindale-Hubbell offers a complimentary on-demand webinar exploring best practices for creating and sharing your own law firm video.

The company says on its website that the webinar explains how the best use of video demonstrates your credibility and personality, helps attract new clients and grows your business, and delivers return on investment within a flexible budget.

Other topics will be

• The Value of Video for Your Law Firm
• Why Video Speaks Volumes In Attracting Clients
• How to Create a Law Firm Video
• Which Videos Make the Most Impact with Consumers
• Video Social Sharing

Watch the on-demand webinar.

Bloomberg News is reporting that the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is investigating whether mandatory retirement provisions at Deloitte LLP violate federal employment law. The investigation could have an impact on law firms that have mandatory retirement ages for their parters.

According to Bloomberg, Ronald Cooper, a partner at Steptoe & Johnson LLP who was a general counsel of the EEOC, said that while it’s impossible to predict the outcome, “the EEOC will probably say that a giant operation that calls itself a partnership where individuals have little or nothing to say about the way the business is conducted isn’t likely to be viewed as an old-style partnership of three or four members.”

As a result, those firms could face liability under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act for forcing out partners of a certain age.

Read the story.

MyCase, developer of web-based practice management software for lawyers, has posted a free on-demand webinar about conducting cost-effective legal and investigative research.

Carole Levitt and Mark Rosch, principals of Internet For Lawyers and co-authors of six ABA Internet research books, including Internet Legal Research On a Budget and The Cybersleuth’s Guide to the Internet, are presenters for the webinar.

The webinar offers tips on how to search like a cyber-detective, gather investigative information using expensive databases for free, use databases like Casemaker and Fastcase, become an expert searcher using Google Scholar, FDsys, and PACER, and decrease research costs with free (or low-cost) Internet sites.

Watch the video and see the slide deck.

LexisNexis CounselLink offers a complimentary on-demand webinar on how to take your legal department’s performance to a higher level.

On its website, the provider says the webinar covers some of the fundamental aspects involved in getting a legal department started on the right path, including creating a clear definition and measurement metrics to match your business strategies.

The webinar also covers determining which technology “levers” will give good returns in efficiency, financial performance or collaboration with outside firms. And presenters talk about taking credit for the results achieved to set the foundation for further growth and success.

Presenters for the webinar are Dan Ruderman and Bill Novomisle.

Watch the on-demand webinar.

Above the Law and Clio present a free on-demand webinar aimed at helping lawyers improve their accounting management.

On its website, Above the Law says that, for most attorneys, time spent managing the books is a necessary evil at best. Yet it is undeniably a crucial aspect of running a successful practice.

This webinar is designed to help participants learn what it takes to streamline your accounting and get the most out of your time.

This webinar covers:

● The basics of accounting for lawyers
● How legal accounting differs from regular accounting
● Report and reconciliation issues surrounding trust accounts
● How to pick and integrate the best accounting tools for your practice
● Steps to prepare your tax return for your firm’s income

Watch the on-demand webinar.

Avvo has posted a free on-demand webinar on how to optimize a law firm’s website for mobile search and will discuss the world of mobile websites.

On its website, Avvo says it is almost impossible to buy a phone that is not “smart” today. Google estimates that in 2015 mobile devices will surpass desktop computers for accessing the Internet. We are going to cover eveything you need to know about mobile.

In this webinar, Jabez LeBret, best-selling legal technology author and co-founder of the law firm marketing agency GNGF, shows how to optimize for mobile search and discuss the world of mobile websites.

Watch the on-demand webinar.

Bridgeway Software will present a free webinar revealing several innovative ways to present data about your law department using compelling graphics. The webinar will be Wednesday, Sept. 17, beginning at noon Central time.

The webcast will cover: which data to gather, how to interpret the data, and how to use your gathered data to convey your department’s value.

Rees Morrison, principal at Altman Weil, Inc., will be the featured speaker.

On its website, Bridgeway says, “In today’s data-driven business world, every member of your organization needs to be able to use data metrics to show their personal and departmental value.”

Register for the webinar.

Attorney Digital Marketing and James Publishing offer a free on-demand webinar on the best practices of marketing a law firm in the digital age.

The webinar discusses why content should be the lynchpin of any successful digital marketing effort and the centerpiece of attorney marketing fusion. It also covers how to leverage content to target an ever-growing long tail keyword base and capture a share of local search volume.

Other topics include the types of content can be used to increase Time on Site and influence the social media sphere; how SEO in 2014 calls for a different approach to content development, one not solely dependent upon keyword density and mere replication of key phrases; how to best research keywords in the modern SEO era; why developing content that is unique, relevant, helpful, and valuable will increase the response from an attorney’s client base; what “authorship” is and why content creators are valued by Google, and more.

Watch the on-demand webinar.

Avvo will present a webinar discussing ways to help lawyers and law firms get comfortable with the rapid proliferation of online feedback and the most effective – and ethical – ways to respond.

The complimentary webinar will be Thursday, Sept. 11, beginning at 1 p.m. Eastern time.

Josh King, General Counsel & VP of Business Development, will be the presenter.

Avvo says on its website that lawyers who attend this webinar will learn about:

– The spread of online feedback via social media and review sites, and the importance of this trend to professional services and reputation
– Why suing for defamation is the technique of last resort
– Avoid violating the ethics rules around misleading advertising and attorney-client confidences when responding to online feedback

Register for the webinar.

Avvo has posted a free on-demand webinar discussing the primary ethics issues that may arise when selling or delivering legal services online.

The webinar covers online advertising and fee-splitting: A review of the first amendment considerations and limitations surrounding online referrals.

It also discusses the ethics of online Q&A: How does answering questions online from people who may be out-of-state mesh with state-based practice limitations?

Another topic is online “deals” and unbundled services: To what extent do online deals or other unbundled offers implicate ethics rules around advertising, trust accounts, excessive fees, conflicts and the duty of competence?

On its website, Avvo says the webinar also covers technology & security: What special considerations around technology and cloud-based applications are in play when serving clients online?

Watch the on-demand webinar.