I am certainly willing to talk with you further. Please feel free to call my office, or shoot me a private email – chris@davislawgroupseattle.com. Thanks.

What a pleasure to see the New Media Reality working in this dialogue between two lawyers. I hope I get to meet you both someday (not on the other side of a suit but just a friendly hello).

I love to observe how the continuing changes in the internet is affecting how business is conducted. My focus interest is on how the art of selling permeates everything that we do in life.

If either of the two of you would be willing to grant me a short phone interview for a series of blog posts I am preparing showing examples of New Media Marketing practices, I would love to include you. If so please reach out to me. Thank You.

Howard Howell aka ThatSalesGuy

Thank you for your comments. I accept your apology.

Yes, we have different views on how to use Facebook, including the use of fan pages. I can certainly appreciate your opinion. What may be unseemly to you may not be shared by others, especially to those who are not in the legal profession. There is often no bright line and reasonable minds may differ.

Please understand that I am very sensitive to how my on-line presence reflects on me and my firm. My reputation and credibility as a lawyer mean everything to me. Attorneys already have a terrible reputation for very poor advertising, especially in the personal injury field (as you know). So you won’t get an argument from me on that. The last thing I want to do is perpetuate that negative stereotype. I just disagree that the FB fan page for one of my books contributes to that negative stereotype. Others may disagree, I recognize that.

Nonetheless, we have an honest disagreement about how lawyers can use FB fan pages or other forms of social media. Social media is still in its infancy, particularly with lawyers. So anything can happen, and my views today may be different a year from now.

Again, I appreciate your comments. And yes, a beer or coffee sounds fine.

Regards,
Chris

I do stand by my views as to creating a Facebook fan page to get fans of your book. It seems at odds with Facebook fan pages, appears to be driven by achieving SEO for you, and is not something people familiar with social media protocol would do. I asked a few. As a result I do think the Facebook fan page of a book like this seems unseemly. That may be something we never agree on.

I’d create a Facebook fan page for your firm and the work you do fighting insurance companies who readily deny legitimate claims and hide behind medical experts they pay off.

You’re right. I did receive a reprimand from the bar. It is public record. The reason I got the reprimand was a result of poor judgment on my part in telling the State Bar to take a hilke when the Bar agreed the clients grievance against me did not give rise to the Bar giving me a public reprimand. Not because a case was dismissed because of my neglect.

I told the Bar’s lawyer, a very nice guy, to do what ever he wanted to do. I was not going to agree certain facts he wanted me to – they were not true. The result was I defaulted on the grievence resulting in the public reprimand.

My actions in telling the Bar to take a hike were the result of me getting too full of myself. I had just moved to Seattle to found an Internet company dedicated to helping consumers and small business people on legal matters. I received VC funding and had just hired very talented team. Rather than then respond to the Bar like any rational lawyer would do, I was just too big for my britches. I do regret that. Very much.

The case I represented the client on was not dismissed by my neglect. It was settled in an amount agreed to by my client. Ironically she was a family friend now deceased. She did not receive the compensation settled for, a very modest amount, because of problems with her claim, because the uninsured defendant filed bankruptcy. I wish I could have done more for her. I could not.

I may have got too full of myself here in taking off against you in the fashion I did without giving you a call. If so, I apologize to you and Mischelle.

Being we’re both in Seattle Chris, I would like to get together for a coffee or beer anytime so we can learn more about we’re each doing. I’m traveling much of this month and will try reaching you on my return. I suspect each of us get it more than we may know.

Thank you for your comments.

There are many lawyers in the profession who continue to look down on those of us who have embraced the internet and social media to promote our practices, as well as inform the public about various legal issues or problems that affect many of our clients.

It is these same lawyers who also think the legal profession is somehow different or above all other businesses, and that to engage in successful marketing is somehow demeaning. Perhaps Mr. O’Keefe is one of them.

I for one believe that the legal profession has a lot to learn from the nonlawyer business community. Most people have no idea what lawyers do day-to-day, or how to even evaluate whether a lawyer is a good one or at least the right one for you. That is one reason why I wrote my books – to help the public make an informed decision.

It’s nice to know that most nonlawyers and social media users like yourself do “get it.” Again, I appreciate your comments very much.

Regards,
Chris

I have to completely and utterly agree with you on this account.

Having worked daily in Social Media for years, your statement of “social media is so new, and still in its development, that no one….knows where it is going, and where it will end up, if at all” is spot on!

The simple fact of the matter is that “social media” gives the business a voice. How you choose use that voice is completely up to you!

You choose to use social media to expound the virtues of your year of experience in the market within which you practice. Enough said.

That’s what it was created and intended for.

Social Media and the channel for communication it provides is one of the many you’ve chosen use to get your thoughts, beliefs and opinions out through.

You should feel empowered by using it, not demeaned.

You’re right. This O’Keefe gentleman “doesn’t get it”.

He’s a fool. Let him live his life as a fool and believing that he somehow knows more than the next person no matter what their knowledge and experience.

I commend you for taking advantage of this channel. You and your wife have a greater understanding of what this “Social Media” is and what it can do for a business than Mr. O’Keefe could ever hope to!

Keep up the great work Chris!

You help people, while this Mr. O’keefe can only attempt to bring people down.

Who of these two is to be commended and appreciated? Let the facts speak for themselves.