Over the past year I have been serving on the Executive Committee of the North American South Asian Bar Association (“NASABA”) as its Treasurer. I am pleased to announce that I will be serving as Treasurer on the Executive Committee of NASABA for one more year.
Congratulations to all of the new Executive Committee officers who will serve NASABA for the 2010-2011 year!
On May 1, 2010, Michigan will become the 38th State to ban smoking in public places.
The law, which is known as the Dr. Ron Davis Smoke-Free Air Law, was passed by the Michigan legislature on December 10, 2009. It was signed into law by Governor Jennifer Granholm on December 18, 2009. The law applies to most public places including, but not limited to, restaurants, bars, shopping malls, bowling alleys, concert halls, arenas, museums, mechanic shops, health facilities, nursing homes, education facilities, and child care centers. It does not apply to cigar bars, tobacco specialty retail stores, and the gaming floors of Detroit’s three casinos. The law also does not apply to Native American land, including the Indian casinos.
In order to comply with this new statewide law, here are the top 5 things that businesses in Michigan should know:
Businesses must clearly and conspicuously post “no smoking” signs or the international “no smoking” symbol at each entrance and in other areas where smoking is prohibited under the law.
Businesses must remove ashtrays and other smoking paraphernalia from anywhere where smoking is prohibited.
The business owners and operators must inform individuals smoking in violation of the law that they are in violation of state law and are subject to penalties.
The business must refuse service to an individual smoking in violation of the Smoke Free Law.
The business must ask an individual smoking in violation of the law to refrain from smoking and, if the individual continues to smoke in violation of the Smoke Free Law, ask him or her to leave.
The burden is on the business owners and operators to ensure compliance with the Smoke-Free Law. If you have any questions or concerns regarding compliance with the Smoke-Free Law, please feel free to post a comment or contact me.
Today marks the 10th Anniversary of World Intellectual Property Day and the 40th Anniversary of the entry into force of the Convention establishing the World Intellectual Property Organization to encourage creativity and innovation around the world.
This was previously posted on the Tech Savvy Lawyer’s Blog and I am re-posting it here:
Have you seen this on the various websites you visit:
And thought “what is that?”
It’s the logo for RSS. RSS stands for “Really Simple Syndication” and is a means of aggregating published works on the web such as blogs, news headlines and videos in a standardized format.
An RSS feed is an RSS document that includes the full or summarized text of the published work. RSS feeds benefit publishers by allowing them to syndicate website content automatically, and they benefit readers who either want to subscribe to updates from favorite websites or be able to aggregate a number of feeds from many different websites in one place.
How do I read RSS Feeds?
RSS feeds can be read using software called an RSS feed reader, which can be web based or desktop based. A commonly used feed reader is Google Reader. You can read about Google Reader on The Lawyerist and The Social Media Law Student blogs. Another feed reader is Feedly, which is the preferred reader of Niki Black. I don’t use a feed reader. Instead, I use Microsoft Outlook. Microsoft Outlook 2007, and newer versions of Outlook, have an RSS feed reader built into the inbox.
Once you have a reader, all you have to do is subscribe to RSS feeds by clicking on the RSS icon whenever you see it on your favorite websites. Your feed reader will automatically update your RSS feeds whenever with the updates from that website.
How does RSS work in Microsoft Outlook?
An issue I have heard from many attorneys is that they don’t want to have to open one more window on their desktop, which makes using Microsoft Outlook a good choice for an RSS feed reader. Since I use Microsoft Outlook for my e-mail, I use it as my feed reader as well so that I get everything all in one place in one window.
The RSS feeds that you subscribe to is just another mail folder, with subfolders for each feed, and it’s automatically updated just like your e-mail. You can see new updates just like you see new e-mail and read them just like you read your e-mail.
For more information on using Microsoft Outlook to subscribe to RSS feeds, read how to add an RSS feed to Microsoft Office Outlook 2007.
Why are RSS feeds Important?
Lawyers, like many other professionals, are very busy people and we don’t always have time to visit the many different websites that we need to in order to read the latest news and blogs or keep up with changes in the law. But if you subscribe to RSS feeds from these various websites then your feed reader will automatically collect and organize these feeds for you so that you can read them when you have time.
If you use Outlook, once you read a feed then it will no longer be bold, just like when reading an e-mail message. If you like a feed that you want to come back to later, you can flag it in Outlook. Once you have read it and no longer need to see it again, you can delete it, just like deleting an e-mail message. You can also forward it like an e-mail message so if you can read something that may interest a client, you can forward it directly to your client.
RSS feeds are not just for keeping up with news articles or blogs, but can also be used for job-hunters. Most job search websites will allow you to subscribe to an RSS feed for the job search you entered.
The Wall Street Journal, which is read by many attorneys, has RSS feeds for each area they cover.
Attorneys can and should use RSS feeds for keeping up with the law and with your clients. Check your clients’ websites to see if they have the RSS icon. With RSS feeds you will not only be able to stay on top of the law, but also on top of your clients.
This was previously posted on my Tech Savvy Lawyer’s Blog and I am re-posting it here:
Google Alerts are e-mail or RSS feed updates of the latest relevant Google search results based on your search query.
Are you using Google alerts? If not, you should, and here’s some reasons why:
Keep up-to-date on what you are saying on the Web and what is being said about you and/or your company on the Web
Stay current with the law, your competitors and the industry/ies in which you practice
Be informed on what your clients are doing
Get the latest job postings
Monitor news stories
It’s really easy to set up a Google alert and the results can be sent to your e-mail or to your RSS feed. Here is a great video on How To Set Up Google Alerts.
At a minimum, you should set a Google alert on your name and on your company’s name so that you monitor the Google search results on your name to see what web pages show up on your name and company name.
I also recommend every once in a while to do a Google Imagesearch of your name to see what pictures show up when someone does a Google search of your name. You may be surprised to see what pictures and images pop up in the search results.
This was previously posted on my Tech Savvy Lawyer’s Blog that I am re-posting here:
I posted this blog on Martindale-Hubbell Connected website in the Social Media Policy Forum today. Since Martindale-Hubbell Connected is a closed network for attorneys who have joined, I thought I would post it here as well.
All Attorneys have a bio, which is essentially your profile, but when you get into online social networking, your profile is much more than just your bio on your law firm website.
If you are not already on social networking websites like LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter, I suggest that you first decide what you would like to accomplish and for what purpose are you getting onto these websites. Having that defined strategy will help you to create and set up your online profile.
There are two major issues that attorneys should be aware of when it comes to their online profile: (1) the substance of what goes into your profile, which are the different fields on the various websites that you fill out to create your profile, and (2) attorney ethics rules that come into play with your online profile. It is the second issue that I will highlight in this post to start a discussion among attorneys on the ethical issues with your online profiles.
Here are some of the attorney ethics rules that apply to your online profile:
Communication: ABA Model Rule 7.1 prohibits false or misleading communication about the attorney or his services.
Advertisement: ABA Model Rule 7.2 regulates attorney advertising.
Solicitation: ABA Model Rule 7.3 prohibits, among other things, real-time electronic contact to solicit professional employment from a prospective client.
Specializations: ABA Model Rule 7.4 regulates how attorneys can communicate their fields of practice and specializations.
Your profile on LinkedIn has historically just been your online resume and your contact list. With the changes to the LinkedIn website that have occurred over the year or so and even in the past month, your LinkedIn profile has become more than just your online resume.
Answering questions on LinkedIn poses potential ethical rule violations for attorneys. Attorneys respond to questions on various legal issues every day, but you have to be careful to not create the appearance in the mind of the person asking the question of an attorney-client relationship. I see many attorneys using disclaimers in their answer, but is a disclaimer enough? What are your thoughts?
Responding to a request for legal assistance may invoke the no solicitation rule. There are ways to respond to a direct request for legal assistance without violating the solicitation rule. What are some methods that you use?
Recommendations pose potential legal issues, but they also present potential attorney ethics issues. Under some States’ ethics rules, a recommendation on LinkedIn could be considered advertising, which may have further rules depending on the State.
All of the same ethics issues that attorneys face on LinkedIn they face on Facebook, but Facebook presents some unique ethical issues.
I suggest that you decide whether you are going to use Facebook professionally or purely social and to be conscious of what you put on Facebook based on that decision. Even if you use it as a social site in the traditional meaning and set your privacy settings on Facebook as strict as possible, I suggest that you put a professional profile picture of yourself on your Facebook page because that picture can still be seen by anyone looking up your name online.
A big issue is deciding who to “friend” on Facebook. There have been other posts in this forum about “friending” but be aware that there are ethics rules to be aware of when it comes to who is your friend on Facebook, even if you use it purely as a social website.
Unlike LinkedIn, Facebook gives you the ability to create your personal page as well as a fan page so you may consider having both.
You don’t have to have an iPhone to download and use many of these apps since they are available on most smartphone app stores like the BlackBerry App World and Palm App Store. The name, prices and functionality do change depending on your smartphone so be sure to visit the app store for your smartphone for details.
You can also check out this blog on the Legal Edge app from the Lawyerist.
LexisNexis also has its very first iPhone app called “Get Cases and Shepardize” and its free. The app does exactly what it says, you can get cases from Lexis.com and Shepardize the cases. In order to access and use this app you must have a current account and valid password with Lexis.
To learn more details on this iPhone app from Lexis, check out the Martindale.com Blog.
New Rules Affecting Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertisements
Do advertisements like this sound familiar?
“I lost 30 pounds in 1 month using XYZ product!”
*Your results may vary.
You will no longer hear or see these types of advertisements under the revisions to the Federal Trade Commission’s (“FTC”) Guides (“Guides”) Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising, which went into effect on December 1, 2009.
The Guides address endorsements of products and services by consumers, experts, organizations and celebrities and how such advertisements must comply with the FTC Act regarding use of endorsements and testimonials in advertisements. This is the first time that the Guides have been revised since 1980! With the Internet and the explosion of social media, the new FTC Guides are long overdue.
It is important to note that the Guides are administrative interpretations concerning the application of the FTC Act and are not law. Therefore, compliance with the new Guides does not mean that you are complying with the law. And non-compliance with the Guides does not mean that you are violating the law, which would subject you to fines and penalties under the FTC Act.
Needless to say, the Guides do provide important guidance on how best to comply with the law regarding use of endorsements and testimonials in advertisements. One of the biggest changes in the Guides is that you can no longer use the “your results may vary” safe harbor disclaimer in your advertisements. Another big change is that you must disclose any material connection between the advertiser and the endorser.
The Guides also incorporate specific requirements for bloggers. Bloggers must now disclose whether they receive any compensation (gifts or money) in return for blogging about a product.
There are many articles and blogs on the Internet that explain the FTC Guides and provide advice on how advertisers who use endorsements and testimonials can comply with the law. The publication found at FTC Guides provides many examples that may address your specific situation.
Also, Creative Business Lawyer, Kevin Houchin, has a great article on his website. However, the best advice I can give is to contact your attorney to ensure that you take the appropriate steps to comply with the rules.
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