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Avvo Top Blogs

Wednesday, December 15th, 2010

By Maryland Injury Lawyer Blog, Maryland Injury Lawyer Blog.

The Maryland Injury Lawyer Blog is now ranked #61 on the Avvo Top Legal Blogs.

Okay. This is an honor that will be hard to put on a t-shirt. For lots of reasons. But if you look at the 60 blogs ahead of us, there are few personal injury related blogs. So, I'm pretty pleased about that.

This news is particularly sweet because I get snubbed every year by the ABA's list of top 100 legal blogs. My goal in writing this blog is to develop a readership base, not to develop a client base. So I don't need to win an Oscar, I'm thrilled to win the People's Choice award. (Note to ABA Blog People: I don't really mean this. Pick me next year. Please.)

Avvo simply uses Alexa to compute the rankings. There is no doubt that Alexa's ability to rank legal blogs and other websites is somewhat flawed. But I do think Alexa is a decent barometer. If you look at the 60 blogs ahead of the Maryland Injury Lawyer Blog, you will see they are mostly very good blogs.

So there.

Originally posted at Maryland Injury Lawyer Blog. Please visit http://www.marylandinjurylawyerblog.com/.

Refer Your Personal Injury Cases to Us. Seriously.

Thursday, December 9th, 2010

By Maryland Injury Lawyer Blog, Maryland Injury Lawyer Blog.

The Insurance Journal reports a rise in legal malpractice claims. Incredibly, there has been no hand wringing about increased malpractice rates for lawyers or fears that lawyers will no longer be able to keep their practices open as their insurance rates rise. We have never had a legal malpractice claim yet our rates continue to increase. No one cries for us.

A part of the rise in the number of legal malpractice claims is countersuits against lawyers who are suing their clients to pay their bill. But I think the larger problem is what the article calls "door law," a phrase I have never heard before but I really like. Door law is when lawyers take any client who walks through the door who might generate a fee. When law firms step outside their areas of expertise, bad things are going to happen.

Originally posted at Maryland Injury Lawyer Blog. Please visit http://www.marylandinjurylawyerblog.com/.

The Sports Guy and Torts

Wednesday, November 10th, 2010

By Maryland Injury Lawyer Blog, Maryland Injury Lawyer Blog.

In his ESPN column that I regularly read, Bill Simmons, a.k.a. the "Sports Guy" writes about the controversy that ensued when a basketball player, Charles Villanueva, claimed that another basketball player, Kevin Garnett, called him a "cancer patient" while trash talking during an NBA game. Villanueva suffers from a condition that does not allow him to grow hair.

The Sports Guy praises in a sidebar to his column (an opinion piece that is oddly sponsored by Miller Lite) the reaction of former NBA player television analysts who candidly said that trash talk is ubiquitous in the NBA and they have heard a lot worse on the court. The gist of the Sports Guy's opinion was it is good to hear insiders telling it to us like it really is as opposed to trotting out the usually trite and politically correct answer.

Originally posted at Maryland Injury Lawyer Blog. Please visit http://www.marylandinjurylawyerblog.com/.

Maryland Bar Exam Results for 2010 on the Way

Friday, November 5th, 2010

By Maryland Injury Lawyer Blog, Maryland Injury Lawyer Blog.

The results for the July 2010 Maryland Bar Examination will be posted here at 4:30 p.m. today. Good luck to everyone taking the exam.

Originally posted at Maryland Injury Lawyer Blog. Please visit http://www.marylandinjurylawyerblog.com/.

Men and Women in Law School

Wednesday, October 20th, 2010

By Maryland Injury Lawyer Blog, Maryland Injury Lawyer Blog.

Concurring Opinions has a blog post today on how women are less likely to speak up in class than men in law school. I have been teaching law students at the University of Baltimore School of Law for 13 years, teaching three semesters a year - spring, summer and fall - for the last 8 years. I can honestly say that I have never noticed that men are more likely to speak up than women. Whether I'm perceiving it wrong or whether our school is for some reason immune to this phenomenon, I have no idea.

Originally posted at Maryland Injury Lawyer Blog. Please visit http://www.marylandinjurylawyerblog.com/.

Listen Up Clients: One Law Firm’s Approach

Friday, October 8th, 2010

By Maryland Injury Lawyer Blog, Maryland Injury Lawyer Blog.

Above the Law provides an interesting link from a South Carolina family law firm that I can bet you is experiencing a real spike in web traffic. The firm lays down the law to its clients on its website, warning them to wait patiently for return calls (they are busy), not to call on weekends, stop by unannounced, or even to expect that they won't make mistakes.

I have never handled a domestic case in my life. I couldn't. I would never be able to bear the bitter pettiness that comes with domestic battles. I deal well with people who are suffering from an injury - including emotional injuries that stem from a physical injury or a death. Pain, physical limitation, loss of someone you love? I can get my mind around that. Your bitterness because your husband cheated on you? Day in and day out, that has to be a tough road to hoe. But there was a sign-up sheet out for family law lawyers and these folks signed-up. The job description would seemingly include dealing with a lot of stressed out clients who are going to be upset when you make a mistake and may want to talk to you at odd times.

This blog post is not intended to criticize this firm. Any law firm can set any policies for client expectations that they want. I am more interested in the answer to this question: would you ever hire this firm? I have no problem with their policy of not working on the weekends or with some of the other boundaries they set (except for their mistakes policy, which I will get to in a minute). But the brazen tone and tenor with which they announce these policies does strike me as odd.

You are going through a tough divorce. You think you need someone who is really in your corner. What are the chances this firm is going to go the extra mile for you compared to Firm B? Maybe they would. They might be spectacular lawyers who fight to the end for their clients. But given the limited amount of evidence you have when looking for a lawyer on the Internet, what are the chances this firm, given this introduction, is going to be your choice?

There is a really nice state-of-the-art car wash near my house that I would love to use. But when you pull up, the first thing you see is a huge laundry list - in all caps - of my obligations to them, followed by a clear statement that they have no responsibilities towards me, even if one if its employees comes up and socks me in the face. I'm fine with the terms actually. And it might be a great car wash and the car wash owners may be very reasonable people who just feel compelled to lay out the rules clearly and unambiguously. But I just can't stand that they are shouting at me before my car touches an ounce of soap. Sadly, my car stays dirty.

Originally posted at Maryland Injury Lawyer Blog. Please visit http://www.marylandinjurylawyerblog.com/.

Personal Injury Lawyers and Blogging

Wednesday, October 6th, 2010

By Maryland Injury Lawyer Blog, Maryland Injury Lawyer Blog.

Personal injury lawyers' blogs are proliferating the web like Lindsay Lohan's legal problems. It is hard to find a malpractice or accident lawyer now without a blog.

I think a lot of personal injury lawyers see this and think that the door is closed and that it is too late to build up a readership base and develop a quality presence online. But I think there is lots of room for quality blogging on personal injury related issues. In fact, I think the quality personal injury lawyer blogs of 2011 are going to include bloggers who have not yet written a single post. Why? Because most of what is out there is complete junk. There is a real demand for good, quality personal injury related blogs. If you are writing one, tell me about it because I'm always looking for new blogs to read.

Originally posted at Maryland Injury Lawyer Blog. Please visit http://www.marylandinjurylawyerblog.com/.

Facebook

Thursday, September 23rd, 2010

By Maryland Injury Lawyer Blog, Maryland Injury Lawyer Blog.

We now have 700 Facebook Fans on our Miller & Zois facebook page. If you are not yet a fan, click on the preceding link.

Originally posted at Maryland Injury Lawyer Blog. Please visit http://www.marylandinjurylawyerblog.com/.

Moot Court Resources

Wednesday, September 8th, 2010

By Maryland Injury Lawyer Blog, Maryland Injury Lawyer Blog.

We have started a moot court resources section of our website to help student mock trial competitors get ready for competitions. My wife coached a moot court team at Severna Park High School a few years ago that made it to the state semifinals. She has some good ideas on items we can add to make the site more useful. We will be posting additional information in the coming weeks. If there is anything you believe we should add, let us know.

Originally posted at Maryland Injury Lawyer Blog. Please visit http://www.marylandinjurylawyerblog.com/.

Top 10 Stories of Today

Wednesday, August 25th, 2010

By Maryland Injury Lawyer Blog, Maryland Injury Lawyer Blog.

  • Above the Law provides us with what will be a Maryland Injury Lawyer Blog Top Ten Nominee for craziest lawsuit of the year. (Ignore the fact that there is not such a list.) I can't believe Overlawyered has not picked it up yet.
  • The 11th Circuit wants experts to cite every study they have relied on in forming their conclusions. The Drug and Device Law Blog views this as a big win for defendants. But defense experts in any case - particularly in medical malpractice cases - love to cite unnamed studies and literature.
  • A former medical malpractice lawyer in Maryland (Montgomery County) is sentenced to 5 years in jail for stealing $1 million from his clients. He has to go to jail for this. But it is a sad story. The insane part of the whole thing is how he got caught, falling for one of those email schemes that I get about 10 times a week. The lawyer is asked to collect on a non-existent claim for a contingency fee, he receives a big settlement check, and then sends the client a check. If the lawyer does not wait until the check clears and the scammer gets his portion of the check, the lawyer has made a disbursement on a phony check. In this case, his IOLTA account had a bounced check which sent off alarms that lead to his downfall. Think about it: this lawyer steals $1 million from his clients while handling malpractice cases (and I can't even figure out the scheme), gets away with it for years, and goes down by falling for an insane email scam that seemingly fools no one. It can't be easy for a malpractice lawyer to steal a million bucks. It would be like beating Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal in tennis only to lose in straight sets to my 3 year-old son. I feel bad for the guy, I really do. But if he gets out in 15 months when he is eligible for parole, he is actually getting off pretty lightly for stealing $1 million. This case is also historic because it is the first good thing to come from spam email in human history.
  • Unemployed lawyer goes on a hunger strike. Gets lots of attention. One minor detail: she is not going hungry and she is not unemployed. Setting these details aside and the fact that the whole thing was inane to begin with, she is a real American hero. But I love how the Huffington Post identifies her law school in the first paragraph as a "fourth tier" law school. The article never elaborates as to why it was relevant to the story or who designated the school as "fourth tier." It had to be U.S. News & World Report, right? Are these rankings such an infallible gold standard that they need no introduction? The irony is - and I subscribe to and enjoy U.S. News & World Report - I bet they would be out of business by now without this ranking of schools gimmick they came up with that seemingly everyone agrees is flawed (yet impossible not to read).
  • Ford Rollover Verdict Overturned (citing myself)
  • Scott Greenfield at Simple Justice reports on bartenders getting criminally charged for pulling stunts with fire. It is a good thing that Brian Flanagan and Doug Coughlin did not try to pull this stuff.
  • Popehat points out that Laura Schlesinger has no clue what the First Amendment does. I don't have a link, but Jon Stewart also very comically did the same thing last night.
  • Eric Turkewitz rounds up the legal round ups.
  • Everyone loves a Top Ten list. Chris Earley provides one for why he likes arbitration as a means of resolving disputes.
  • To get us to ten, I link back to my story on judicial elections in Anne Arundel County.

Originally posted at Maryland Injury Lawyer Blog. Please visit http://www.marylandinjurylawyerblog.com/.