Lawyers Rank High in @taprootfound Study of Social Responsibility, Giving Back

Attorneys give more of themselves than do those in other professions? They may be fightin’ words.

I discovered that this past weekend, when I repeated (via Twitter and in person) new research showing that attorneys rank pretty highly in the generosity department. They came out near the top in a “professional social responsibility by professions” ranking.

First, I have to say that the findings didn’t surprise me. Most of the lawyers I know give legal services for free or at a reduced price. I can’t identify many of the many professions and vendors I deal with doing the same.

And yet, when I shared the news, many people rolled their social media eyeballs at me. And those I spoke with in person were willing to declare the study “a fraud” or “a joke.”

The study I pointed to is noted here. (And the research was done by the Taproot Foundation.) As the article notes, “This ranking is created based on US Census data on hours of pro bono services provided per member of each class of profession.”

Here is more from the Taproot Foundation on the importance of pro bono in many fields.

If you need another window into how lawyers are viewed by many, simply scroll down to the comments beneath the story. Eeesh.

Here is one of the kindest remarks I got in response: When the person saw that lawyers came out near the top of the pro bono heap, her only reaction was, “I want to see the raw data on that.”

Do you also doubt the reliability of the study? Tell me what you think.

FINALLY, while I’m on the subject, I just heard from a Phoenix connection with the following question: “I’m looking for a recommendation of a corporate lawyer who may be willing to work with a small professional orchestra (501 c3) on more of a consulting basis, i.e. pro bono if possible.”

That’s all I know about the legal needs. Do you have any suggestions? Any interest in following up?

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Guest Post: The Evolution of Google Results for Lawyer Searches

The power of the Internet to transform business has been revolutionary. And in that transformation, Google and its functionality have been leading change-agents.

Attorneys—already occupied by the law and business sides of their work—likely scratch their heads at the possibility of being “found” by anyone among Google’s billions of bits and bytes. That’s why I was pleased to hear from Texas attorney Scott Morgan, who offered a primer on the topic of getting found in Google search (more about Scott follows his great post; I’m also pleased to note that he’s a prolific blogger). And if you thought you already understood Google’s algorithm before, read on, because the math of search has changed.

Here is Scott:

For many law firms, the Internet, and particularly Google, has developed over the last several years into their primary source of new clients. Many law firms use pay per click advertising (PPC) as a way to rent online real estate for important keyword phrases. Other law firms use search engine optimization (SEO) as a way to get in front of those same searchers without having to pay every time they click.

While SEO sounds great in theory, the reality is that it is extremely changing and, as we will discuss below, constantly changing. This article will discuss how Google results for local attorney phrases have dramatically changed over the past year and what law firms can do to best position themselves.

Google’s Search Results—A Brief History

Our analysis begins with a comparison of what a Google search results page for a local phrase such as “Phoenix divorce lawyer” looks like currently as compared to as recent as 2012.  Since I didn’t have the foresight to take a picture of an old results page back, I will have to replicate it by using a phrase that won’t trigger Google’s “localization” of the results. It actually took some work to find an appropriate phrase, but eventually I came across “Phoenix divorce property division,” which looked like the old-style results.

As shown in the picture below, the results basically had some paid ads at the top and right sidebar, but the rest of the page was just the 10 highest-ranking organic results for the phrase. Under the old system, the key to ranking highly for almost any particular phrase was to get lots and lots of links pointing to your site with anchor text (the words that are in the link) that either exactly matched or were close to matching the phrase you’re trying to rank highly for.

Google search results for “Phoenix divorce property division.”

So if you were trying to rank for “Phoenix divorce lawyer,” you would get links pointing to your site with that anchor text, ideally from other highly ranked sites, preferably in the legal niche. Many professional SEO firms made a lot of money by promising (and occasionally delivering) to get lawyer websites to the top of the rankings for their desired keywords using just this strategy. While certain types of links became more and less effective with Google over the years, it was still a relatively straightforward process to get a website to rank for a particular keyword phrase.

Fast Forward to the Present

Let’s now take a look at how the Google results pages have changed over the past year using the keyword phrase “Phoenix divorce lawyer” (below).

Google search results for “Phoenix divorce lawyer.”

As you can see, the results still show PPC ads at the top and right side of the page. What is significantly different are the seven local listings that are blended in with the organic results. On this particular search there are actually three results that appear above the local listings. In many locations, the seven local listings appear above all the organic listings.

While at first blush this may seem like a relatively minor cosmetic change in the results, it is anything but. Here is the often misunderstood part of the new localization of the results: Google uses two separate algorithms to rank the local results and the organic results.

Attorney Scott Morgan

In other words, you could be the #1 ranking site in organic but not be found at all in the local listings. The end result of this change could have been that overnight you went from having the top listing for multiple client-generating keywords to being pushed all the way to the bottom of the page by the local listings, causing your traffic and potential client inquiries to slow from a flood to a trickle.

What Should Law Firms Do Now?

So the bottom line is that if law firms want to get in front of potential clients on Google result pages without having to resort to PPC, they will need to rank highly in the local listings. While this is no small task, given the amount of potential clients that a high ranking on a good keyword can generate, it is worth it to master this new area of SEO. Here are some basic things that you can do to improve your chances of your website being listed highly in local:

• The very first thing you should do is claim your Google local listing. By claiming it you gain control over the content of the listing, including the basics such as your business name, address and telephone number, as well as more advanced features such as pictures, videos and periodic postings about your practice.
• Many other websites have local listings, such as Yelp, Yahoo local, Bing Local, Yellowpages, and Localeze. You should claim these listings as well. Not only can it generate some website visitors for you but Google looks at these listings as a way to confirm the information on your Google local listing.
• Work on getting your name, address and phone consistent across the Internet. This is probably the most common problem that websites have in getting good local rankings. If over the years you have moved your office once or twice or changed phone numbers, it is likely that the old data is floating around the Internet still. This will cause Google to have less confidence that the information they have for your business is accurate and will cause your local rankings to plummet.

Hopefully, this article has given you some insight into how the new Google results pages for lawyer searches work and what you need to do to improve your chances of getting a steady flow of clients from this very valuable channel.

About the Author

When not obsessing about his firm’s search rankings, Scott Morgan is busy representing divorce clients in Texas. He is a board-certified family law attorney and founder of the Morgan Law Firm, which has offices in Sugar Land, Austin and Houston.

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Lawyers, Other Performers Deliver the Goods in Same-Sex Marriage @8thePlay

As I sidled my way last night past the crowds into the Herberger Theater in downtown Phoenix, I must admit I was skeptical. An entire play constructed mainly of a trial transcript? Really?

Anyone who has been to a trial or two knows you would need a genius writer to make that come together into dramatic arts. And so the play “8” had one: Dustin Lance Black had whittled a trial into an evening that was provocative, funny and compelling.

I mentioned the play last Friday, and I was pleased that my family and I were able to attend. “8” tells the story of the trial over the constitutionality of California’s Proposition 8, which banned same-sex marriage.

Black drew on his mondo skills to shape a play comprised almost entirely of the trial transcript. There are a few moments that are tough sledding, especially, I imagine, for the many nonlawyers in the house. Arguing over the standard of review is often a game-changer in a case, but it’s an oddly shaped building block in crafting compelling theater.

Performers in the play 8, Herberger Center Theatre, Phoenix, May 7, 2013

There are only a few of those moments, though. The craft and the words selected were amazing. And what consistently impressed was the quality of the performances. Non-actors almost all, the cast delivered a rousing and entirely convincing play.

I know that one actor–director was cast, to fabulous results. Ron May is the founder and artistic director of Stray Cat Theatre, and his rendition of a witness was wow-inspiring. Cast as David Blankenhorn, May encapsulated eloquently the ideologue who had never been challenged to defend his beliefs before he sat in a witness chair. As he is cross-examined by David Boies of Bush v. Gore fame (played superbly by lawyer and Phoenix Councilman Tom Simplot), bluster turns to anger turns to frustration turns to near-total capitulation. As the steam escapes from Blankenhorn’s pompous world view, the state’s case deflates before the audience’s eyes. If there’s one thing we know, it’s more Ron May, please.

View from Balcony, Row EE (hint: buy tickets earlier).

The strong performing continued with the attorneys. Amazing work was delivered by Grant Woods (as Ted Olson), Nicole France Stanton (as plaintiff Sandy Stier), Terry Goddard (as trial Judge Vaughn Walker), and Bill Sheppard.

A marvelous moment occurred after the play and during a brief audience-question session. One man (whom I couldn’t see from the nosebleed section) rose to praise Grant Woods. The speaker said that when he was a young Assistant Attorney General 23 years ago, he had serious concerns about being a gay man in the large public agency. But he said that Woods had told him that all he would ever be judged on in that office was merit, the quality of his work. That compelling memory led to a standing ovation for the former Attorney General, which grew to include his own fellow performers.

(Years ago, I had the chance to appear on the Herberger stage in a father–daughter performance with our wonderfully ever-patient Willa. I thought I had turned in a pretty good show. But then I saw Grant Woods get a well-deserved standing ovation, so I think I’m done.)

Grant Woods gets a standing ovation, Herberger Theatre Center, May 7, 2013.

My family and I greatly enjoyed the show. And I must add what especially struck me (caution: lawyer moment approaching):

It was remarkable to see, via the true-to-life transcripts, the power that an actual trial may have. In an age when trials are rarer and rarer and they are derided as the ultimate failure of negotiated resolution, it’s worth remembering that truth often peeks out of that ancient construct. Outside the courtroom, lying, puffery, bullying and rants may win the day. But seated in that witness chair, required to endure a series of simple questions, those resting on a crumbling foundation often founder. Except for the sociopathic, misstatements and worse cause discomfort and anxiety when one is required to raise a hand and utter an oath.

Not such a bad message to learn, for lawyers and nonlawyers alike.

Congratulations to all who participated.

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Talented Staff of @AZStateBar Serve the Public on @UnivisionAZ Call-In Program

State Bar employees Mirna Lerma, Ayde Gutierrez, Sulema Bucio and Mabel Ramirez at the TV studio for A Su Lado.

I regularly share updates from my State Bar of Arizona colleague Alberto Rodriguez, especially as they relate to the Lawyers on Call program. That is a call-in program through which thousands of Arizonans have had their legal questions answered.

Mabel Ramirez interviewed during A Su Lado.

Last week, the Bar offered a twist on the lawyer call-in approach. Instead, on April 24 a team of terrific Bar employees answered questions that they are adept at answering. Congratulations and thanks to the four wonderful women who responded to the calls. Here is Alberto’s description:

The State Bar of Arizona and Univision 33 hosted a special edition of A Su Lado (On Your Side) on Wednesday, April 24. Univision 33 kicked-off their sweeps period with a special consumer protection phone bank and news story that featured the State Bar of Arizona and members of the Resource Center team. Resource Center Supervisor Mabel Ramirez was interviewed during the 5 p.m. newscast and offered helpful tips to help guide viewers in finding a lawyer, verifying lawyer membership, and filing a Bar/UPIL complaint.

The following is a recap from the public service program:

Date: April 24, 2013

Topic: State Bar of Arizona’s Consumer Protection Services and the Law Day Legal Aid Clinic

Phone Bank Team: Sulema Bucio, Ayde Gutierrez, Mirna Lerma and Mabel Ramirez

Summary: The RC team answered an impressive 85 calls during the two-hour phone bank focused on the Bar’s consumer protection services. The following is a small sample of the questions that were received:

• Does the Bar offer free legal advice or referrals?
• How can I file a complaint against an attorney?
• Can you verify if the attorney I’m working with is an actual attorney?
• Can you tell me more about the Law Day Legal Aid Clinics?
• Several callers were asking for legal advice and were referred to the Law Day Legal Aid Clinics.

The Resource Center team members were first-time participants. They were satisfied with the quality of the questions overall and were excited to have participated in the A Su Lado public service program. Calls were consistent from 5 to 7 p.m., which led to another successful phone bank.

State Bar Resource Center staff take callers’ questions during A Su Lado.

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Lawyers of @AZStateBar Offer Free Legal Information Saturday – #shareplease

Here is a challenge I offer to you today: Share a law-related item via social media or email.

Whoa, pretty easy, right? I bet you thought I was going to ask for some major heavy lifting. Instead, it is a simple click, share, send, done.

The item is connected to a topic I covered before: a State Bar of Arizona Law Day event that will offer free legal information to those who need it.

Really, truly, honestly free. The information will be provided by generous Arizona attorneys who know that the gap between legal services and people who need them is too, too wide. Those volunteers are offering their time pro bono to help shrink the gap just a bit.

All of the pertinent details are here. If you share nothing else, send this link to anyone you know who may be able to use it. As the State Bar says:

“The 2013 Law Day Legal Aid Clinics will serve as a free legal resource where members of communities from across the Valley and Tucson can attend information sessions on a variety of legal topics.”

“The information sessions will be conducted by volunteer lawyers and will last 90 minutes. Lawyers will provide guests with a presentation on a specific legal topic, as well as reserve time for a question and answer period. Guests can participate in one or more sessions at one of the five partner locations.”

Are you connected via social media or email to any groups that could benefit? Send it their way. Post it on your Facebook timeline. Share it on your neighborhood association listserv. Ask your firm administrator to post it prominently.

Your sharing news of Saturday’s event can help guarantee its success. Possible attendees have to be informed about the locations, the topics, the opportunity on offer. Success of the event, as measured by attendance and questions answered, will help ensure that it can be done—again and again.

For at least a part of the morning, I will be at the event staged at Phoenix’s Burton Barr Central Library. I want to hear some of the information offered, and I want to thank the lawyers who are offering it—and their Saturday.

I hope to see you and your friends there. And if you missed that link, here it is again.

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Eatery, Bookstore, More To Occupy Former Beef Eaters Space in Phoenix

Longtime lawyer eatery Beef Eaters Restaurant, about to be reborn via Venue Projects

Here is a Friday Change of Venue story that really goes above and beyond. Let me explain.

Change of Venue is my casual Friday, where I divest myself of the pressing need to remain focused on law and law practice. I mean, give a guy a break!

Today’s story is a little far afield. But as I examined it, I realized how lawyerly it was. (Just when I think I’m out, they puuuull me back in!)

The story relates to an announcement just yesterday. The shell of a former restaurant is being transformed into a space that will house three diverse businesses.

So right away I spot a problem. This story has “adaptive reuse” scrawled all over it, and there are few land-use topics that are more lawyer-heavy than that one.

Making it worse is the name of the former restaurant: Beef Eaters, in Phoenix. That venue was a prime eatery of lawyers when it operated from 1961 to 2006. So as much as I want to give you an attorney-free, protein-rich blog post today, I’m afraid I can’t do it.

Who remembers lawyer meetings at Beef Eaters? I do!

The wood-paneled restaurant near the intersection of Central and Camelback was often lousy with lawyers back in the day. At yesterday’s press conference, a speaker pointed out that Beef Eaters was a site where many of the business deals that shaped the Valley were hammered out (and a few lawyers got hammered).

I recall quite a few State Bar of Arizona Section meetings being held there. It was always a pleasure to walk into the banquette-filled dining room. (Ironically, because Sections always watched their pennies, we never ate beef while we were there; we were chicken-only diners.)

Anyway, in case you’re wondering, here is what is slated to move into the refurbished digs by November 1:

• A restaurant being developed by Justin Beckett, the culinary mind behind the award-winning Beckett’s Table.
• Another branch of Changing Hands Bookstore, the first outside Tempe of the nationally recognized independent bookseller.
• A collaborative office, work and meeting space, called The Lively Hood (say it slow; you’ll get it.)

The project is being conceptualized by Venue Projects, the folks who adaptively reused numerous other spaces in town, including the restaurant now known as Windsor/Churn.

Lorenzo Perez of Venue Projects said, “We’re salvage-hounds,” as he waxed poetic about the walnut floors, antique chandeliers and masses of clear oak they discovered on the property.

Even the seats for the press conference speakers—described by City Councilman Tom Simplot as “Austin Powers chairs”—came from the property, and will likely find a revised home in the new space. (See the fantastic chairs below.)

L to R: Shannon Scutari, Kimber Lanning, Phoenix Councilman Tom Simplot, Mar. 28, 2013.

Other speakers were builder John Kitchell, Local First AZ founder Kimber Lanning, and Shannon Scutari, of the Sustainable Communities Collaborative, which had pointed out that the Light Rail-adjacent parcel could be eligible for a significant amount of transit-oriented development funds (there I go with the legal stuff again). The architect on the project will be John Douglas, FAIA, who has designed, among other things, the Phoenix New Times building and the Heard Museum.

In honor of the Beef Eaters longtime owner Jay Newton, the project is called “The Newton.” And in synch with the project’s nostalgia, Lorenzo said he would like to hear people’s Beef Eaters stories. What events, happy or otherwise, did you attend there? Do you have photos of events and family gatherings? How about business (or Section) meetings?

Write to me at arizona.attorney@azbar.org.

To prime your interest, take a stroll over to the website of Modern Phoenix, where they have captured the leather-bedecked interior, pre-construction.

Have a great weekend.

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Some Work by Arizona Lawyer-Artists

Our 2013 call for artists. Winners of the annual competition will appear in the May 2013 issue of Arizona Attorney Magazine.

Today’s a bit of a visual traipse (terrific for those who are almost done with words for the week).

In the April issue of Arizona Attorney Magazine, we featured an article that examines how and why lawyers make time to be artists on the side (or vice versa). Written by Oriana Parker, it opens:

“Many attorneys refuse to be defined simply by their legal careers. As Roza Ferdowsmakan says, ‘There’s no need to feel boxed in. Simply cut holes in the box to add windows, or just turn it into a convertible.’ Her own office speaks to this sense of creative freedom, with some of the oil paintings she has painted over the years adorning the walls.”

“Of course, escaping a box is more difficult than it would appear. Law practice can be arduous, and free time may be scarce. How do some individuals manage to achieve high levels of success in their chosen art form, as well as in law? And what drives them to combine the two pursuits into a satisfying life?”

The article explores how approximately six lawyers answer those questions, and how the answers affect their lives and law practices.

A URL listed in the story promises more works of art by those lawyer–artists. So I’m pleased to offer a few here (click on any image to launch the slideshow). These and more are posted on the magazine’s Facebook page.

Autumn Moon by Leon Silver

Cover of poetry volume by Roza Ferdowsmakan

Photo by Don Peters

Painting by Jose Robles

Painting by Kirk Hays

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Lawyer-Artists Gather for Our Annual Photo Shoot

In the annual cycle of Arizona Attorney Magazine, an event in early March has become one of my favorites.

That is when we schedule the photo shoot for the winners of the lawyer arts competition.

We publish those winners and their art in the May issue, and so the shoot occurs in March.

Art Director Karen Holub, left, and photographer Karen Shell collaborate at our creative arts photo shoot.

To achieve that, Art Director Karen Holub must wrangle about a dozen busy people to all congregate at the same time and the same place. Once she’s done that, she and photographer Karen Shell can work their magic. (Me? I attend merely to meet the winners, if I don’t know them, and to nosh a bit on the finger foods we offer; that’s my complete contribution.)

Here are a few of my own poor cellphone shots from the shoot (click any of them to view as a slideshow), held at the beautiful and hospitable Tempe Center for the Arts. All of the truly stellar work will appear next month, in print and online.

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Writer Sought To Cover @PhxLaw Lawyers as Peacemakers Conference

You are: Planning to attend a noteworthy legal conference, but would like the opportunity to use your writing and reporting skills to share a follow-up with Arizona’s legal community.

We are: Arizona’s legal community, eager to share your story on the magazine blog.

The Phoenix School of Law Lawyers as Peacemakers and Healers Conference runs this Friday night through Sunday. Currently, it appears no one here at the magazine will be able to attend this remarkable gathering. But if you’re planning to be there and would like to write a story, with attribution, we would like to talk with you.

Ideally, likely writers will be unaffiliated with the conference except as an attendee. Lawyers and law students who have an interest should contact me at arizona.attorney@azbar.org.

Here is the website for the Lawyers as Peacemakers and Healers Conference, which runs February 22 through 24. And you can Like it on Facebook here.

For background, click here for last year’s program.

And as a great service to the legal community, event organizers have posted video recordings of all presentations from last year.

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Seeking the Legal Heart of Valentine’s Day

Justice has never been so sweet.

Short and o so sweet today, just to remind you that it is Valentine’s Day, and to be sure to love the one you’re with. And if that someone is a lawyer, here are a few messages that may help you on the path to legalistic bliss.

First, head over to the occasionally cheeky Washington State Bar Association “Sidebar.” There, you will spy a few ideas that may put you in the canoodling mood.

OK, perhaps the object of your affections can resist your offer of a chocolate gavel, or collar stays etched with sweet nothings.

If their resistance is firm, then snark may win the day. At least, that’s how it works with journalists. I hope you enjoy some of the humorous paths to the heart as crafted by reporters and editors. (Yes, one of them says, “You’ve scooped my heart.” Don’t judge.)

Enjoy your evening. Here’s hoping you decide to sleep in on Friday.

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