So, you want to hire an unpaid intern?

It certainly shouldn't be difficult to find one.  These days, with the slow hiring in law firms, there are many young attorneys out there who are trying to get some experience.  There are also several law schools that host clinics, where students get class credit to participate in unpaid internships. 

With the need for small firms to tighten their belts, it might be smart to hire an unpaid intern. 

Before you decide to hire an intern, you do need to be aware of certain rules and restrictions.

And, you also need to be aware of the fact that strategically, the hiring of an unpaid intern might not be as easy as it seems. 

Unless you have been spending the bulk of your time on the International Space Station lately, and even then, you have heard a great deal about the recent Supreme Court decision in Citizens United v. FEC. That ruling, overturning decades of legal precedent and the bulk of the McCain Feingold Act will, most agree, send cannon balls of corporate money whizzing at high speed toward the election process, with potentially devastating results.

David Klasing, owner of Tax Law Office of David W. Klasing, and Sally Janavicius, Senior Client Development with FindLaw, will co-host an upcoming webcast for attorneys titled "The Basics of Marketing Your Firm Online."

The free webcast, held Thursday, Jan. 14th, 2009, at 9 a.m. PST and 1 p.m. PST, will discuss how the Internet has transformed law firm marketing and provide strategies lawyers can use to connect with more clients online.

Register here (http://event.on24.com/r.htm?e=183307&s=1&k=B4ABAF56021C10844C3C78660C2A6BB8) for the 12PM EST/11AM CST/ 10AM MST/ 9AM PST time slot.

Register here (http://event.on24.com/r.htm?e=183310&s=1&k=6D95EA3D5D214F549A3B840D5E5E625E) for the 4PM EST/3PM CST/ 2PM MST/ 1PM PST time slot.

Online marketing is an increasingly key client-development tool for law firms. Three out of four Americans now use the Internet regularly. According to a 2008 Marketwire study, Search engines, like Google and Yahoo, have pulled ahead of printed yellow pages as the leading source for local business information.

The webcast will examine how consumers search for attorneys online, evaluate the marketing options available to law firms and indentify the critical components of a winning Internet strategy.

It's almost like a lawyer joke, but slightly less amusing. The recession, said to be dying down, is still affecting jobs to the point where even those with years of schooling and the stamina to work an 80 hour week are out of work. To wit, lawyers. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, the number of unemployed lawyers jumped 66 percent last year, to a total of 20,000. In New Jersey, the state has come up with a good solution for keeping those out of work attorneys busy and off the street corners: be an attorney volunteer for the AG.

Looking for more and better qualified clients than your current client development strategy is producing? Search engines like Google and Yahoo! have pulled ahead of the printed Yellow Pages as the leading source for local business information. Three out of four Americans now use the Internet on a regular basis. Join a free webcast next Thursday, November 12, to learn how your firm can create an effective Web presence.

The one-hour webcast will show you how to develop your firm's Web site into a valuable marketing tool that will drive more well qualified clients to your firm. Topics to be covered include:

• How consumers are searching for legal help on the Internet
• How to identify and leverage critical components of a Web site
• An evaluation of the different marketing options available and their return on investment

Two highly qualified speakers will provide their insights and practical examples on how to maximize your firm's marketing efforts:

• Caroline Curry Lewis of The Brad Hendricks Law Firm in Little Rock, AR
• Kevin McDugle, a FindLaw Senior Client Development Consultant in Tulsa, OK

"The Basics of Marketing Your Firm Online" is a FREE one-hour webcast and will take place on Thursday, November 12, 2009.

It will be accessible from any computer with internet access.

Register here for the 12PM EST/11AM CST/ 10AM MST/ 9AM PST time slot.
Register here for the 4PM EST/3PM CST/ 2PM MST/ 1PM PST time slot.

Myth #10: Finally, with the banking and mortgage mess, we've had a crisis that won't be blamed on the lawyers.

As evidenced by emergency warning from the California State Bar, it appears that more than a few of the less scrupulous members of our profession have found ways to prey on those in desperate need. Who says lawyers are blood-suckers?

Myth #9: Legal ethics forbids many romantic relationships with clients, but sleeping with a client's spouse will probably not lead to problems.

Respect for the profession, combined with ethical rules barring relationships that create conflicts of interest, seem reason enough to abstain. If not, perhaps a $1.5 million jury verdict on tort and contract claims will make it crystal clear.

Myth #8: The smoking gun email I inadvertently produced can't hurt my client because it's privileged.

Although Rule 502 of the Federal Rules of Evidence attempts to reduce the waiver of privilege through inadvertent production, it won't help you if you don't take reasonable steps to prevent disclosure and promptly attempt to rectify the error. It also can't help you if you are in state court unless the disclosure came in a federal proceeding. Unfortunately, once the black cat is accidentally let out of the bag, it will often bite you.

Myth #7: In my brief, I can minimize any bad facts or contrary law by putting quotation marks around them.

It is tempting to believe that the written equivalent of air-quotes might neutralize bad facts, contrary rulings, or even ideas with which you simply disagree. But as "disbarred" anti-video game activist Jack Thompson taught us, the technique does not always prove "effective."

Myth #6: Even judges can be held to account for taking kickbacks for each juvenile they send to private detention centers... right?

Perhaps not. It looks like judicial immunity might protect Luzerne County Court Judge Mark "Cash for Kids" Ciavarella, along with others, from private suits stemming from what some have called "one of the largest and most serious violations of children's rights in the history of the American legal system."

Professional-services consulting firm Hildebrandt International has released its Law Department Survey for 2009, providing a new set of benchmarking data related to how companies in the U.S. and worldwide are using both inside and outside counsel. This year, 231 companies of all sizes in a variety of industries participated in the survey.

Predictably, the recession of the past year has affected the way companies hire and use outside counsel. However, despite slight declines in spending measured as a percentage of revenue, overall spending on outside counsel grew in the past year. And firms willing to to negotiate alternative billing arrangements might find their way to more outside-counsel work.

Some highlights from the 2009 Hildebrandt Law Department Survey:

Trying to figure out how to make your firm's website stand out? Wondering how to attract qualified clients online? Join a free webcast next Tuesday, October 20, to learn more about standing out from the crowd.

The one-hour webcast will show you how to make more out of your online presence, attract more clients and grow your practice. Topics to be covered include:

• Best practices for creating a powerful law firm brand and differentiating your firm from the competition
• Finding highly qualified clients that match your firm's specialty
• Options for leveraging the latest trends in search engine optimization
• Print directories and the shift to online search

James H. Chalat and Linda J. Chalat, of Chalat Hattan & Koupal, will lead the seminar. Read more, and register, using the links below.


Beyond the Basics -- Standing Out From the Crowd

• FREE one-hour webcast
• Accessible from any computer with internet access
• Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Register here for the 11AM CDT time slot

Register here for the 3PM CDT time slot

So maybe it can't save all the BigLaw jobs, or address the crazy debt law students are taking on. But the ABA is at least trying to put a little positive spin on the recession with its "Legal Rebels" project.

Subtitled "Remaking the Profession," the project is part website, part social-media experiment, and part participatory recognition program. Run by the ABA Journal, Legal Rebels has begun posting on its website profiles of 50 legal professionals who it says are remaking the industry, helping along the "fundamental changes" being wrought by the current recession.

The first ten or so profiles are already up at the Legal Rebels site. Those profiled so far include a pioneer in using the internet to deliver legal services; the dean of Northwestern's law school; and the founder of a service that aims to place law students into contract clerk positions at firms.

The project also promises a Legal Rebels Tour starting later this month, which will include lots of Twitter and Facebook updates, live webcams, interviews and podcasts, and more content from personal visits to some of the selected Rebels. The ABA is also encouraging nominations for people to fill out its list of 50.

Adding to the participatory fun: a "manifesto" on which all attorneys are invited to place their digital signature, allowing them to declare their own legal-rebel-ness. We're not sure to whom, exactly, you would be declaring this, but perhaps some clever attorney somewhere, with clients who would appreciate the help of a self-declared "rebel," can figure out a useful marketing spin.

The Federal Trade Commission is on a mission to control identity theft. But the American Bar Association says that it is overreaching and bringing new and unwarranted federal regulation down upon lawyers, and it has filed a suit to try to stop the enforcement of new FTC rules.

The FTC has been planning for some time to implement the so-called "Red Flags Rule," which will require covered businesses to put in place certain safeguards against the theft of their customers' identities. The underlying legislation, and therefore the FTC rules, mandate that "creditors" be subject to the rules.