Robert Ambrogi,
a lawyer
in Rockport, MA, is vice president for editorial services at Jaffe Associates and director of WritersForLawyers.

He is author of the book, The Essential Guide to the Best (and Worst) Legal Sites on the Web

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An economic incentive for lawyers to write well
A Pennsylvania judge slashes a lawyer's hourly rate for typos and careless writing, Law.com reports. As reported by Shannon P. Duffy: "Finding that attorney Brian Puricelli's courtroom work was 'smooth' and 'artful' in securing a $430,000 verdict in a civil rights suit, but that his written work was 'careless' and laden with typographical errors, a federal magistrate judge has ruled that his court-awarded fees should be paid at two rates -- $300 per hour for the courtroom work, but $150 per hour for work on the pleadings. "
posted by Robert Ambrogi at 10:16 AM :: |

 
Survey says directory listings hold more weight than Web sites
According to an announcement issued today by Martindale-Hubbell, a survey conducted by an independent research firm concluded that lawyer use of the Martindale.com Web legal directory more than doubled since 2000. The survey of more than 2,500 U.S. lawyers in both corporate and private practice found that 88 percent of law firm partners and 86 percent of corporate counsel use the directory when they are conducting research for the selection of a lawyer or law firm.

For corporate counsel and law firm partners wanting to evaluate the credentials of other lawyers and make a decision about which outside counsel to retain, 84 percent said that Martindale-Hubbell and either important or very important to the decision.

Here is what I find most interesting, and I quote the announcement: "The study found that Martindale-Hubbell is more than twice as important in the stages of final selection of outside counsel as law firm Web sites."

And then this: "Three out of four legal professionals would be either unlikely or not sure whether they would hire a lawyer or law firm that is not included in the Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory."

I find this troubling. To my mind, anyone who is relying too heavily on a single legal directory to make a hiring decision simply is not performing adequate due diligence. I mean this as no slight to Martindale. But by exploring the candidate's own Web site and by searching elsewhere on the Web for other background information, you can find out so much more than any one directory will tell you. If so many lawyers are relying so heavily on a single legal directory, they have yet to learn how to harness the power of the Web.
posted by Robert Ambrogi at 1:53 PM :: |

 
Martindale-Hubbell and American Lawyer Media sites to share data
LexisNexis today announced an online data-sharing agreement with American Lawyer Media under which its Martindale.com law directory will add to its law firm listings new links to data from LegalMarketInfo.com, ALM's service that includes data from proprietary ALM rankings such as the Am Law 200, the NLJ 250, the Global 100 and Corporate Scorecard. LMI, in turn, will incorporate lawyer and law firm listings data from Martindale-Hubbell into its law firm business reports. In addition, LMI will create a new link on the legalmarketinfo.com Web site that takes visitors directly to the martindale.com Lawyer Locator.
posted by Robert Ambrogi at 2:55 PM :: |

 
West offers new research service -- shoe leather
In an age when it sometimes seems as though if it ain't online it don't exist, there is something almost quaint about the latest announcement from West, titled: "West Now Offers Additional Method for Obtaining Documents."

The announcement sets the stage: "For those occasions when a document is not available in any of the more than 17,000 Westlaw databases, West now offers West Document Retrieval, a service that specializes in obtaining hard-to-locate federal, state and local government documents, as well as public-domain documents."

How does it obtain these hard-to-find documents? It sends people out to get them. Here's how the announcement puts it: "West Document Retrieval obtains the documents nationwide through its extensive network of staff and independent agents. Requests are initiated within 24 to 48 hours, with rush service also available."

So when online searching fails you, here's the number for West Document Retrieval: (877) 362-7387. The announcement says that, later this year, you will be able to request documents by completing a form online.
posted by Robert Ambrogi at 2:42 PM :: |