A recent law.com article highlights the fact that attorney e-mail addresses are considered public records in Florida – and that a number of attorneys in the Sunshine State are suggesting that public access to these records be limited. As Florida lawyer Stephen Teppler puts it:

“The question becomes ‘what’s a public record?’ A database compilation is not a public record, at least not a public record that is contemplated by the statute. . . What would happen to this data if it weren’t on a computer? You would have 85,000 records. It would be of limited use to a purchaser.”

Um, actually, Stephen, that’s EXACTLY what’s contemplated by the statute (“An agency must provide a copy of the record in the medium requested if the agency maintains the record in that medium.” Fla. Stat. § 119.083(5)).

Advocating that the state purposely make its public records more difficult to access is totally out of line. State governments across the country have an embarrassing record of making public records inaccessible. Foot-dragging, non-responsiveness and the kind of shenanigans suggested by Mr. Teppler are precisely the reason every state has enacted expansive open records requirements.

At the federal level, the backsliding on open access during the Bush administration is what prompted one of President Obama’s first official acts – a memo to the administration essentially requiring agencies to look for reasons to comply with records requests, rather than technical reasons to hold public information back.

Here at Avvo, we’ve made no secret of our fights with recalcitrant states over attorney licensing data. Unfortunately, we still see state courts deploying Bush-league tactics in an effort to avoid transparency of attorney licensing and disciplinary records. Florida is a model for how states should make this information accessible. While attorneys can question whether email addresses are properly part of the public record (although I see no reason why they shouldn’t be), any efforts to place barriers in the way of access to public records should be strongly and loudly resisted.

Check out Mark’s inaugural post on the intersection of business and law.  Mark will be contributing fortnightly to Legal Technology.  Talk back to him in the comments – he likes it!  A peek at his first commentary on what else . . . Twitter:

Twitter is bigger than any social event you could ever attend in person (bigger than the biggest legal conference, cocktail party or charity event). But instead of having to don your best suit with an anvil-grade stack of business cards, you can join the Twitter party from anyplace at anytime (most often your desk, but it could also be the breakfast table or even a ski lift).

On the subject of twitter, you can follow @avvoblog @corporatetool @conradsaam or @Mark_Britton.

We are kicking off our 2009 Free Webinar Series For Lawyers this Friday.

SEO for Lawyers
The premier webinar will be on Friday January 30 at 1:30 pm PST focusing on SEO Practices for Lawyers (Register) and will be presented by Conrad Saam, our Senior Marketing Manager.

Here at Avvo, we have been fielding calls and emails about SEO best practices and have decided to put together best practices into an hour long presentation. The webinar is an introduction to SEO for the solo and small legal firm delivered in (mostly) non-technical jargon. The hour long session will:

• Review SEO fundamentals
• Uncover challenges and opportunities unique to the small law firm
• Highlight common mistakes
• Reveal unethical practices which may get your site penalized
• Cover free and easy to use tools vital to SEO success
• End with 10 things you can do in under 10 minutes to improve your site’s SEO performance

Today’s “Most Read” article on ABA News is “Law Dean Says Schools ‘Exploiting’ Students Who Don’t Succeed”.  Richard Matasar, Dean of New York Law School, had this to say at a recent Association of American Law Schools Conference:

We should be ashamed of ourselves.  We own our students’ outcomes. We took them. We took their money. We live on their money to pay to come to San Diego. And if they don’t have a good outcome in life, we’re exploiting them. It’s our responsibility to own the outcomes of our institutions. If they’re not doing well … it’s gotta be fixed. Or we should shut the damn place down. And that’s a moral responsibility that we bear in the academy. It’s a leadership responsibility that each of us has. And damn the U.S. News if it affects our rankings. The kids are not gonna show up. Do you know that LSAT registrations are flat to down this year. That students’ applications to law school are flat to down in a substantial number of law schools. That’s never happened in a downturn in the economy before. They’re catching on. Maybe this thing they are doing is not so valuable. Maybe the chance at being in the top 10% is not a good enough lottery shot in order to effectively spend $120,000 and see it blow up at the end of three years of law school. [Via TaxProf]

Matasar was commenting on a recent article in Forbes that detailed the plight of Joel Kellum and Jennifer Coultas, two students who met at Case Western School of Law and incurred $194k worth of loans by the time they graduated in 1995.  They married but divorced last year – due in part to the strain of the huge debt load.  According to Kellum, “Two people with this much debt just shouldn’t be together”.

Last week, Above the Law broke the story of the mock New York Craigslist job posting advertising a $30k attorney job at a private 20 attorney firm in Manhattan – that ended up receiving over 100 resumes, the vast majority of which were in earnest.  All of this points to an information mismatch – if non top 30 law schools were forced to disclose to applicants that only top students could be expected to get six figure jobs and that the rest may struggle in finding a legal job, would law school students choose to enroll, knowing that the average law school debt is $100k?

I was inundated with requests from blawgers legal bloggers at the end of last year, begging for votes and nominations for what seemed an ongoing litany of “best of legal blogs” blogs. We were offered nothing less than beer and backrubs for our online vote.

Well, if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em. But in true Avvo fashion, we’re applying criteria objectively – using Alexa rankings to generate a list of the most widely read legal blogs. Yes, we know Alexa data is far from accurate. Yes, we know the list doesn’t include all blogs (with the exception of blogger platforms, Alexa can’t isolate subdomains or folders for blogs hosted as part of another site.) Without further ado or disclaimers, you can find the auto-updating list on our Top Legal Blogs page.

What a monumental day. No matter whom you voted for or what shade your voting blood may be (mine runs purple – a combination of blue and red depending on the issues and the candidate), today is a great day for America. Even if you voted for McCain and feel that Obama is nothing more than a well-oiled marketing machine, it is time for all of us to look at the bigger picture.

Before I get on my soapbox (and, believe me, its coming), you can check out Barack Obama’s Avvo Profile and Michelle Obama’s Avvo Profile by clicking on each of their highlighted names.

OK, now the soapbox . . .

Our Founding Fathers and every U.S. President thereafter found it incumbent on our great country to be a leader for fledgling democracies around the world. Now, we can debate the ways this “democratic beacon” ideology has been manifested and received. Some see us as a vanguard, others an imperialist. But, whatever the case, striving to be a beacon for the rest of the world is the right thing to do. Why? Because we owe it to ourselves and the world to be all that we can be – to build a nation that is a better mousetrap, that increases everyone’s standard of living, that is the most transparent, innovative, competitive and caring nation on the planet. If we do it for ourselves, then others will follow. It’s funny, we pursue such lofty “beacon” goals at the corporate level everyday, but when considered in the national or global context it is dismissed as a pipe dream.

In Barack Obama I see a man who has the IQ and desire to take the United States to a higher level. Through leading by example and exploring the moral high ground, I think we have found a president who will constantly ask himself, his staff and the country, “What is the right thing to do?” He won’t always get it right, and as President and as a country we will continue to make many mistakes. But as long as we always try to do the right thing, we will have succeeded.

And, in a way, Barack already has a head start. He has a country that wants to do the right thing – to build a better place. His own election could not be more emblematic. To have at least half of the country – most of whom are not African American – elect someone who does not look like Marcus Welby M.D. is radical shift in American democracy. Such a shift only comes from a collection of people who are focused on issues, rather than skin color. Wow – now that is a country I want to be part of.

Congratulations to President Obama on running one of the most well-executed campaigns in history. It was a level of execution that would make even the most seasoned CEO proud. Congratulations also to my former co-worker and friend Julius Genachowski who President Obama appointed as Chairman of the FCC. Julius has the smarts to truly take our communication infrastructure into the 21st century.

What a great day.

Mark

1. Anthony Ottaviano of New York, NY rose to the top of the list due to tragic circumstances.  As the New York Post recounted, David Krieg killed Mr. Ottavio, a staff attorney at Paul Weiss because he was obsessed with Mr. Ottavio’s girlfriend Edythe Ma.

credit: PatrickMcMullan.com

2. William C. Head of Atlanta, GA,  on the other hand, is a regular here at TVL – due to his extraordinary contributions to Avvo (both in terms of Videos and Legal Guides).

3. Parag Yogesh Shah of Atlanta, GA debuts on the list due to his contributions to Avvo Answers and Legal Guides.

4. Sheldon Sorosky of Chicago, IL surfaces on the list, due to his co-representation of Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich.  Edward Genson of Chicago, IL is the other attorney representing the embattled Governor.

5. April Carrie Charney of Jacksonville, FL debuts on TVL – based on her #1 ranking for those searching for Jacksonville Foreclosure Lawyers.

6. Margery Ellen Golant of Fort Lauderdale, FL continues her reign on TVL – due to her strong contributions to Avvo Answers.

7. Wade Rowland Sanders of San Diego, CA was an adviser to California’s lieutenant governor and served in the Clinton administration, plead guilty to a charge of possessing child pornography.

8. Henry M. Aronson of Seattle, WA is a distinguished attorney who has been actively involved in local community issues such as the anti-monorail campaign and advocating that Washington State change its reliance on a fixed depreciation schedule to assess car tab fees.  Also looks a little like Jack McCoy from Law & Order – don’t you think?

9. Thuong-Tri Nguyen of of Renton, WA.  Thuong-Tri has been a top-viewed lawyer on Avvo since June 2008 – due to his heroic contributions to Avvo Answers.  To date, he is in the only attorney to have reached the vaunted heights of Level 8 Contributor.

10. Blair Frederick Paul of Seattle, WA.  Mr. Paul’s deceased father, Frederick Paul, was an attorney who helped engineer the landmark Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971.  We are not sure why Mr. Frederick Paul turned up on TVL – specualtion in the comments is welcome.

Reading the ABA Journal’s article today about the Supreme Court’s decision in Herring v. U.S. (limiting the exclusionary rule in cases of police *ahem* negligence), I was struck by this comment to the post, by one Asia Simms:

Hi! I am in the 5th grade and i want to become a corporate lawyer when i grow up so i was just wondering if there is any information that you can give me or is there any camps or programs for children who want to become lawyers

A corporate lawyer? Doesn’t she want to be a scientist, or a vet, or Britney Spears’ assistant or something? Hasn’t she heard about the ongoing meltdown at BigLaw? If anyone has any suggestions for summer camps for aspiring attorneys still in elementary school, please add them to the ABA Journal blog comments . . .

Kevin O’Keefe, the CEO of LexBlog and an influential thought leader in online legal marketing was queried on Twitter earlier today regarding his thoughts on Avvo.  The question came from Chris McKinney, a Texas employment lawyer: “Kevin -Have you posted anywhere about Avvo? I’d be interested to hear your thoughts on it as I consider what approach to take”.  Here is Kevin’s response: “My take on Avvo? Very worthwhile for consumer & small business lawyers. Lawyers have personally told me of success“.

A few weeks ago, Vincent Shrum, an internent marketing consultant for solos and small firms, advised his blog readers to follow the example of Cynthia Henley and claim their Avvo profiles.

Mark is speaking as part of a panel on the topic of “Attorney Lists and How to Increase Your Odds of Being Recognized”.

Where to Register: http://www.lawcatalog.com/january15

When: January 15, 2009 at 12 – 2 pm EST

Cost: $299

Description: A list is a powerful attention-getter, whether its the AmLaw 100 or a Chambers ranking of top attorneys in a specialty. Making a list can boost the reputation of a lawyer or law firm, enhance marketing efforts, and aid in associate recruiting and lateral hiring.

But getting noticed by list compilers is not easy. “Sorry, maybe next year,” is a phrase heard all too often by firms vying for these sought-after spots.

This webinar offers a unique insider’s perspective on how to improve your chances of being selected. Topics include:

• Tips for getting on the lists from publishers
• Tips on writing and submitting nominations from in-house marketing staff
• Qualifications lists are looking for
• Nomination forms and submitted information
• How many candidates from one firm can be accepted and which lawyers to choose
• When to send your nomination and extensions
• Backing up your claims with quantitative facts