By Brian Malcom

I realize this is a blog about young lawyers, but let's mix a little politics with the law and see what we can learn from a lawyer at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. 

Yesterday, President Obama invited Sgt. James Crowley and Henry Louis Gates, Jr. to the White House for some frosty beverages.  Oh yeah, Biden was also there.  CNN reports that "[t]he president was drinking Bud Light, Biden was drinking Buckler (a nonalcoholic beer), Gates was drinking Samuel Adams Light and Crowley was drinking Blue Moon."  Aside from Biden ordering a non-alcoholic beer at a Beer Summit, this was a politically savvy and smooth move on the part of the White House. 

Obama and the White House have been dealing with a bit of backlash from Obama's now infamous remark that the police department "acted stupidly" in its arrest of Professor Gates.  Realizing that racial tension is not what a nation clawing its way out of a recession needs, Obama took a proactive move to smooth over the entire unfortunate situation and called a Beer Summit at the White House. 

This is thinking outside the box at its finest.  Young lawyers can learn the following from President Obama's hops-filled mediation:

• When seeking settlement or resolution to a controversy, all parties should be present.
• Sometimes mediations, settlement discussions, or resolutions can be found in unusual settings.  Go with it.
• A change of scenery, especially when the White House is involved, can really help all parties relax and listen to each other.
• Don't be afraid to sit down to a meal or for a drink with an adversary.
• Getting in front of a potentially explosive controversy could save you a lot of headache and your client a lot of money.
• If you're in politics and you're ordering a beer in a very public setting, order American.
• If you're attending a "Beer Summit" and the press is recording everything you do, you're better off not ordering a beer at all than ordering a non-alcoholic beer.

Good Idea:  Wearing a little perfume/cologne

Bad Idea:  Wearing so much it sends 34 to the hospital 

Seriously folks.  For those of you not yet in the workplace, let me introduce you to the Two Squirt Maximum rule.  While YOU might like how it smells, the rest of the office doesn't need to smell you coming down the hall!

By Eileen Burkhalter Smith 

I received a summons a couple of weeks ago for jury duty.  This will be my second “service” on jury duty since law school.  My first summons arrived months after I began practicing law.  I was sure that my explanation that “I am a lawyer” would get me out of service.  As you can imagine, it did not.  It also did not get me a position as foreman of a jury for an incredibly exciting criminal matter.  Last time, I spent two days sitting at the Courthouse waiting to be placed on a jury.  I was released without even getting into the courtroom.

Nevertheless, I was surprised when another notice came a couple of weeks ago.  I know people who have never been summoned—but it just happened to me twice.  I am actually looking forward to it a little.  It will be nice to be the one making the decision instead of trying to persuade others to do so.  Easy for me to say now…

I wonder if that is how one California lawyer originally felt, who served on a jury for 40 days and then eventually broke a deadlock just to get out of there?  California disbarred him for doing so .  I guess he will not be so thrilled to receive his next summons.

By Brian Malcom 

"Bob likes to kick puppies."  "Eileen likes to wait outside ice cream shops and steal ice cream from small children."  These are the types of libelous statements that could get me slapped with a libel suit if I post them on my Twitter account (or publish them to a blog for that matter...oops).  

The question has already been asked, what's a Tweet worth?  A defendant in a defamation lawsuit could find out the hard way how much her Tweet can cost her.  According to the Chicago Bar-Tender, the plaintiff is seeking $50,000.00 in damages.   The lawsuit stems from a Tweet by the defendant that read, "You should just come anyway.  Who said sleeping in a moldy apartment was bad for you?  [The plaintiff] thinks it's okay."  The complaint alleges that the defendant "maliciously and wrongfully published the false and defamatory Tweet on Twitter, thereby allowing the Tweet to be distributed throughout the world."  According to the Chicago Bar-Tender, the defendant only had about 20 followers.  The defendant's Twitter account has been closed. 

A few things for YLB readers to learn from this situation: 

• A Tweet is a publication
• In everything you do on Web 2.0, check your privacy settings.  Twitter allows you to "lock" your Tweets.  Though any Tweet would likely still be characterized as a publication for the purposes of libel, it is still a good idea to control who views your content.  If you still insist on keeping your Tweets open, be very careful about what you decide to publish. 
• Do not use Twitter to defame others.  If you decide to publish a Tweet, you had better make sure it's true.
• Advise your clients and friends to be careful with their "Trash-Talking Tweets."
• While this suit involves Twitter, there are many other ways to "publish" defamatory statements in Web 2.0.  Be careful on MySpace, Facebook, LinkedIn, and anywhere else on the internet where you are publishing.
• A video or audio clip recorded and then published on the web can arguably get you in just as much legal trouble as a written statement. (Cough...Cough...YouTube posts....Cough...Cough...CNN iReport posts.)  Be careful with any recording of statements, especially if they're untrue. 

Who wants to predict where the next libel suit will come from?  Let's hope it's not YLB.

Fall is approaching, the bar exam is underway and a brand new class of associates is about to start at firms all over the country.  Business development is a skill you must focus on and master as early as possible in your career.

How can you learn these skills when you are right out of school?  As a junior associate, your most important clients right now are the partners and associates you work with on a daily basis.  By treating these internal contacts as clients, you will learn valuable lessons for how to interact with clients when it is your responsibility to bring in new business. 

• Learn about the firm’s business.  Read your firm’s website and Intranet.  Both should contain valuable information about the firm’s practice and client base.  There is no excuse for you NOT to know all of the practice areas of your firm and the senior leaders of those groups.  Translation to real clients:  You should know your client’s business inside and out.  Read their 10-K, annual reports and website. 
• Learn about your firm’s top 10 clients.  Who are they?  Who developed those relationships? Don’t be afraid to ask attorneys questions about the history of a client relationship.  You will have to develop business one day, so you may as well learn now how it has been done in the past.  Translation to real clients:  Learn about your client’s clients.  Who do they do business with? 
• Be accessible and return phone calls and e-mails timely.  Change your voice mail daily and let your assistant know where you are going when you leave your office.  Return your messages the day they are received, even if just to say you will have an answer at a later date.  Translation to real clients:  should be clear on this one!
• Be responsive.  Develop an understanding for the sense of urgency.  Set and meet or beat deadlines.  If you will not meet a deadline, let people know immediately.  Surprise is never a good thing in this case.  Translation to real clients:  again, should be clear on this one!
• Develop and use your “elevator speech”  Learn to describe what you do so that a layperson can understand.  Litmus test:  Can your mom describe what you do to someone.  See this article from Businessweek.com.
• Update your bio regularly.  It’s the number one most-read area of the website.
• Stay in touch with law school friends. They could be a General Counsel or referral source someday.  Using social media (Web 2.0) is a great way to stay in touch, but do so responsibly.
• Do great work!

By Brian Malcom

Many of our readers are sitting down for the first day of the Bar Exam today.  Good luck. I remember the experience well . . .  

I remember not leaving my house much for the month of July.  I remember many nights of half-sleep, while my mind raced with worry and study plans for the next day.  I remember very poor eating habits and finding relief through exercise.  I remember staring at my dog and wondering if he would ever have anything this stressful in his life.  Then, I remember knowing I was going insane, because I was staring at my dog and wondering if I could switch bodies with him.   I remember thinking: It's not too late to go to dental school.  I do not remember the drive back after the last exam session.  That is a blur.  What I remember the most, though, is learning that I passed.   

In that regard, aside from the usual kidney stone analogy, I genuinely think the bar exam may be the closest I get to childbirth.  It was challenging.  My eating habits changed.  I definitely had cravings.  I did not want to be seen much in public.  I was moody.  The process seemed to last forever.  The three-day test was one of the most painful and laborious exercises I can imagine.  But, when it was all over, I felt a deep sense of satisfaction and wanted nothing more than to go to sleep for 24 hours straight.  Now that I have my results, I am glad I did it.  

One thought kept me sane, focused and confident: I do not have to know it all, but I do have to know most of it.  Let's face it, there is a lot of material to go through when you are preparing to take the bar exam.  While one certainly could go through all the materials provided by a certain bar exam test preparation company (as if we don't all know who I am talking about, since they seemingly have a monopoly on the industry), most do not.  It is too late to offer studying advice, since most are sitting for the bar today.  So, I say this not as a how-to guide for preparing for the bar.  I say this as a comfort in the event that you were in the 99% of bar examinees that did not thoroughly review the entirety of the test preparation materials. 

Here are a few things that helped me get through the three-day exam process:

• Breathe.  For the love of Pete, breathe.
• Exercise right after the last exam period of the day.  This helps your mind rest, your body work, ease your stress and really helps you fall asleep at night.
• Sleep.  You can undo a lot of good studying from the month or so prior to the exam by staying up all night during the exam period and not being sharp/fresh for the exam itself.
• Eat Well.  Eat healthy and filling foods, but nothing "dangerous".  Do not eat foods that will make you sick or might make you sick (i.e. - oysters or bad Chinese food).
• Do not sit around for hours with your friends and relive the day's exam period through the "what did you put for ___________" questions.  It is ok to talk about a few that bothered you, but do not waste your time or increase your stress by indulging in such a masochistic exercise during the exam days.
• Socialize.  Talk about something OTHER THAN the bar exam for a few minutes each day.  Remind yourself that you are human. 
• Be quiet in your hotel.  This will help create a calm atmosphere.  Plus, others might be cramming (which I don't recommend, but everyone's different).  Your neighbors will appreciate the show of respect.  On the flip-side, they will never forget you if you are the guy/girl that wakes them up in the middle of the night during the bar exam screaming, "I'm the king of the world" on the hotel balcony. 
• Drive safely home.  Your mind will be putty and you will be exhausted.  Please be safe driving home from the bar.  It would be a shame to waste all that effort studying for the bar, only to receive your admission posthumously.

Good Idea: I can't even come up with a good idea for this one.

Bad Idea: Trying to stab a process server with a large hunting knife when you are a member of the state bar.

No one likes getting sued.  No one likes getting served with civil court papers at home.  However, in the unlikely event that you find yourself getting served with civil court papers,  (I cannot believe I have to say this) do not stab the messenger.

In the Santa Ana lawyer's defense, the idiom is "don't shoot the messenger."  No one ever told him not to try to stab the messenger.

Well, I am telling all you young lawyers out there: Do not try to stab the messenger.

By Robert Chapski 

We have all been there.  Sometimes the judge rules against you even when you spent days working on the fool proof brief and know the law better than anyone could (or should).   One lawyer learned the hard way, though, that it never pays to show your disdain for the Court. 

Who really knows what happened in the case of a Georgia lawyer who was found in contempt after what the Court perceived to be a disrespectful reaction to a ruling. 

Nevertheless, better to err on the side of caution and take whatever ruling a court hands down with a poker face.  There are other venues and other battles to fight. 

"Asked for the ABA’s 2009 Legal Technology Survey Report whether they personally maintain a presence in an online community or social network such as Facebook, LinkedIn, LegallyMinded or Legal OnRamp, 43 percent of respondents answered yes, almost triple the 15 percent positive responses in the 2008 survey." 

Law firms, ever the pioneers, are also starting to catch the wave.  "When asked whether their firms maintain a presence in an online community or social network, only 12 percent of respondents said yes, up from 4 percent in the 2008 survey." 

Here is a graph showing the growth from 2008 to 2009, using the ABA data:    

The most significant growth was in firms with 10-49 lawyers, which jumped from only 1% in 2008 to 7% in 2009. In short, lawyers are on the rise in social media and law firms are not far behind.  YLB asks, Why? 

Here are some reasons Lawyers might enjoy social media: 

• The practice of law is a relationship-based industry, and maintaining old and new relationships is facilitated by Web 2.0.Lawyers spent a lot of time in school, and, hopefully, made a few friends a long the way. 
• Web 2.0 is a great tool to keep up with old school friends.
• Lawyers, and definitely litigators, are often social people that like to interact with others.
• Cheap advertising. 

Here are some reasons Law Firms might need to be on social media: 

• Cheap Advertising.  We are in a recession people.  While advertising budgets get trimmed, Web 2.0 is taking off.  An online presence and a bit of viral marketing can go a long way in getting a firm's name out there.
• Big Brother.  That's right, folks...law firms may be establishing pages to monitor the profiles of current employees, attorneys, and possible recruits.  Everyone knows it, we here at YLB are not afraid to say it.  It makes sense, too.  A law firm's name is its brand and it has to be protected.  If you don't like it, fix your privacy settings.
• Enhanced Client Communication.  While Web 2.0 is not the place for confidential information relating to actual cases or controversies, it is a nice medium for sending out client bulletins, legal alerts, and commentary on recent caselaw.  Clients always like free legal work.  Loyalty is the firm's reward or new clients, if it's lucky.
• Cheap Advertising.  It's so nice I will say it twice.

Web 2.0 is growing in the legal community.  You have been warned. 

Good Idea:  Hiring a divorce attorney, when seeking a divorce.

Bad Idea:  Hiring a divorce attorney that has been reported to the bar numerous times for failure to do legal work…oh yeah, and hiring a divorce attorney that is charged with soliciting his own wife's murder, false imprisonment and spousal battery.