1. Waffle batter leads to battery for Kid Rock. This week Robert James Ritchie’s lawyer, Darryl Cohen, pleaded not guilty to a charge of battery on his behalf in DeKalb County State Court. Ritchie, better known as rap/rocker “Kid Rock”, and 5 of his buddies were arrested after a brawl outside of an Atlanta Waffle-House last October.

2. George Karl, coach of the Denver Nuggets, has an attorney with a lot to say. Lawyer Bret Adams went above and beyond to stand up for his client this week by sending a threatening email to the creator of a website called firegeorgekar.com. He did this on behalf of, not his client, but himself. Here is the best part of his email: “Is your life really this boring and meaningless that you would spend the hours necessary to create such a website? As Coach Karl’s counsel I am putting you on notice that I will sue you into bankruptcy should you cross the boundaries of permissible speech.” Karl, who is not considering legal action, had this to say “It wasn’t on my request. It was on his friendship towards me.”

3. Client needs to clean it up in court. Judge Eduardo Robreno fined Aaron Wilder and his lawyer $29,000 for engaging in “hostile, uncivil, and vulgar conduct, which persisted throughout the nearly 12 hours of deposition testimony.” Attorney Joseph Ziccardi

1. Michael Jackson needs to make some cash. Fast. It’s too bad that Billboard won’t chart his re-vamped/re-release of Thriller 25, as apparently it doesn’t have enough new material on it to be considered a new album. Sony is complaining about the placement issue saying that if the album was visible on the Billboard 200 chart that it would most definitely impact sales. Why does MJ need to make money so quickly? Apparently the reclusive

1. Now that you’ve been accused of using steroids, what are you going to do next?
Probably NOT go to Disneyland.
Steroid denier, Roger Clemens pulled out of his scheduled ESPN event at Disney World in Florida. He said in a statement, “I believe my current participation could be a distraction.” Clemens’ lawyer, Rusty Hardin said in a telephone interview, “It had nothing to do with his legal situation.”

2. Sylvester Stallone jokingly said that he didn’t want to be left out when it came to testifying at the upcoming trial of Anthony Pellicano. Prosecutor Daniel Saunders issued a list of 244 potential witnesses in the Pellicano case this week. Private investigator, Anthony Pelicano has been accused of illegally wiretapping phones in search of dirt to blackmail clients. The list is littered with all sorts of juicy Hollywood players, some of who are famous, some of who are lawyers. Attorney Bert Fields, of Los Angeles law firm Greenberg Glusker, is at the top of the list, as well as Ricardo Cestero, who represents Tom Cruise (who hired Pellicano to allegedly bug Nicole Kidman’s phone). Other Greenberg Glusker lawyers on the list are: David Moriarty, Jill Cossman, and Chuck Shephard. Divorce lawyer Dennis Wasser who has represented Cruise and Speilberg, will also be called upon. Pellicano will represent himself in trial.

3. Restrain yourself, Restaino. Back in 2005, Niagara Falls Judge Robert Restaino snapped when a cell phone rang in his court room. “Everyone is going to jail,” Restaino said. “Every single person is going to jail in this courtroom unless I get that instrument now. If anybody believes I’m kidding, ask some of the folks that have been here for a while. You are all going.” When no one owned up to the cell phone, Restaino ordered the group of 46 people into custody, and eventually jail for the afternoon. Now Restaino and his lawyer Terrence Connors are appealing the decision to New York’s high court to remove him from office.

4. John McCain has hired high-profile lawyer Robert S. Bennett (who represented Bill Clinton during the Monica Lewinski investigation) to help him out of a jam. It is suggested that McCain is linked romantically with telecommunications lobbyist Vicki Iseman. McCain today said the story is “not true” and that Iseman is simply a friend.

5. Gene Simmons’ lawyer Barry Mallen has started sending out cease and desist letters regarding

Lawyer and blogger Ron Coleman suggested in a post today that we need to tweak the Avvo Rating algorithm because his Avvo Rating is too HIGH! Wow, I didn’t see that one coming. As I mention on Ron’s blog, we get a lot of calls (and sometimes lawsuits) from lawyers questioning the soundness of the Avvo Rating because, well, their Avvo Rating is too low. But NO ONE has ever called to say that their Avvo Rating is too high; and hence the title of this post.

To support the idea that his Rating is too high, Ron says:

Avvo needs to be tweaked . . . [b]ecause I know what the real, true, elite in the profession looks like. The people who are utterly focused, utterly relentless, utterly perfect. Epitomes of preparation, patience and perspicacity. And I’m not they.”

What’s interesting is that I look at Ron’s Avvo Profile and he has an impressive resume. Maybe Ron just needs some love. Here’s the link to contact him through Avvo. Maybe you could just drop him a note and let him know that you think he’s “Superb.”

Mark

In September, we released the Avvo Badge, which allows a lawyer to easily display his or her Avvo Rating on their own website for free. To display the Badge, simply visit your Avvo Profile, click on “edit your profile” and you will see the Badge right under the orange “edit your profile” box. Click on “Display this Avvo Rating on Your Website” and we will walk you through the steps for getting the Badge on your site.

It has been gratifying to watch the different Avvo Badges propagate through the World Wide Web. I have blogged previously about the different Badges popping up. Still, leave it to Seattle’s Stanislaw Ashbaugh to turn the Avvo Badge into a firm-wide opportunity.

Stanislaw Ashbaugh is an entrepreneurial, midsized firm with the great motto “Law as Results.” This motto reflects their philosophy that talk is cheap and results they deliver for clients are all that matter. Acting on this philosophy (rather than just talking about it), every Stanislaw Ashbaugh lawyer has claimed his or her Avvo Profile and put the Avvo Badge on each lawyer’s profile within the Stanislaw Ashbaugh website. Here is a great shot of David Ashbaugh’s (one of the firm’s founders) profile with the Avvo Badge.

In the words of Joe Campos, the Stanislaw Ashbaugh partner spearheading their marketing efforts, “We’re a different firm and we believe that the more light that is shown on our firm, the more successful we will continue to be. That is the whole idea behind “Law as Results.” Wow. How great.

To be clear, Avvo is not paying Stanislaw Ashbaugh in any way or vice versa. There is no agreement regarding publicity, marketing or anything else between the two of us. This is a simple story of an entrepreneurial law firm embracing the idea of consumers having more information, rather than less. I am impressed and humbled all at the same time.

Stanislaw Ashbaugh, I take my hat off to every one of you. Keep up the great work. May your commitment to results and transparency continue your firm’s success. Thank you for supporting Avvo and joining us in bringing true innovation to the legal marketplace.

Law as Results . . .

Mark

I’m hijacking this weekly column for the self-serving purpose of introducing the legal players on the Browne v. Avvo case which was recently dismissed by a federal Judge Robert Lasnik here in Washington. Two Washington attorneys, John Henry Browne and Alan Wenokur filed a proposed class action claim against Avvo alleging that various parts of Avvo’s business were corrupt. Steve Berman of Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro represented Browne and Wenokur in the case. The defense was led by First Amendment superstar, Bruce Johnson of Davis Wright Tremaine. Stephen Rummage and Ambika Doran of DWT and Jim Savitt of Savitt & Bruce also contributed their bright legal minds to the case.

For more detail on the case and its outcome, you can read all about it in Avvo’s Track Record, Browne v. Avvo. You can also access Judge Lasnik’s Decision on Avvo’s Motion to Dismiss in its entirety.

Now, back to the work of helping consumers find the right lawyer . . .

For the MILLIONS of you that were listening to the Webinar “Getting Found on the Web: How Lawyers Can Leverage User-Generated Content and Other New Internet Tools to Attract Clients,” you heard us talking about Carolyn Elefant’s new book, “Solo By Choice: How to Be the Lawyer you Always Wanted to Be.” Well, according to Carolyn’s website, MyShingle, it is finally here. Click here to preorder your very own copy, to be delivered in early January. A big congrats Carolyn – what a big accomplishment. I look forward to what will certainly be my favorite chapter, “Avvo: Why it is Carolyn’s Favorite Website for Solos to Set Themselves Apart and Attract New Clients.”

Go Solos!

Mark

This week, the newswire has been inundated with jail time updates. In a 7-2 decision, the Supreme Court gave judges discretion in crack cocaine possession sentencing which could lead to the early release of some 19,500 crack convicts. Not expecting early release? Michael Vick, who scored 23 months from US District Court Judge and dog owner, Henry E. Hudson.

In more sentencing news, Conrad Black, will be spending the next 6 1/2 years in the slammer for looting millions from his company Hollinger International. His co-defendant and former GC at Hollinger, Mark Kipnis escaped time in the cell thanks to the work of his lawyer, Ronald Safer who called Kipnis a “modern day George Baily.” Nothing like invoking the Christmas spirit in the defense of white collar crime.

Speaking of NOT being in jail, Scotter Libby who is definitely NOT in jail courtesy of George Bush, has dropped his appeal, despite the assurances of his lawyer, Ted Wells, that “we remain convinced of Mr. Libby’s innocence.” Yes, me too.

I’m returning after a two week hiatus, due to Thanksgiving and our recent move, which kept me too busy to keep up with this column.

1. Trademarks Gone Wild – You will be among a minority of web users if you haven’t seen the clip of the NFL’s Dennis Green after the loss to the Chicago Bears, in which he states emphatically of the Bears, “they are who we thought they were”, during a ludicrous meltdown that became the basis of a mocking Coors Light ad. Well, seems that Mr. Green has hired attorney, John Alspaugh, to trademark his verbal gaff.

2. Dickie Scruggs is losing co-defendants like he’s Michael Vick or OJ Simpson. Tim Balducci has reached a plea agreement that includes cooperating with the government in their case against Scruggs (pictured below), who allegedly tried to bribe a state court judge with $40K regarding the split of $26.5 million in Katrina related legal fees.

3. Barry Bonds failed to score the services of $900/hour John Keker and is now trying to woo Cristina Arguedas to his legal team, which also includes Michael Rains and John Burris.

4. The alluring Teri Hatcher has been accused by Hydroderm for violating their $2.4 million endorsement agreement and hired Alan Wertheimer in her defense.

5. Florist Fights Back – Remember Elena Elbogen , the lawyer/bride who sued her florist over the specific shade of her flowers; we wrote about her here. Well, the florist is fighting back asking for sanctions against Elbogen for filing a frivolous and malevolent lawsuit.

What constitutional law junkie can’t get excited about the Supreme Court taking up for only the second time (and first time since 1939) a Second Amendment case? At issue in the case, D.C. v. Heller, is Washington D.C.’s 31-year old handgun ban, which the D.C. Circuit Court found unconsitutional.

Representing the District of Columbia are Thomas Goldstein and Christopher Egleson of Aiken Gump and Walter Dellinger, Matthew Shors, Mark Davies and Geoffrey Wyatt of O’Melveny & Myers. A whole bunch of the folks in the District’s AG office are also on the brief: Todd Kim, Linda Singer, Alan Morrison, Edward Schwab, Donna Murasky and Lutz Prager.

Representing Dick Heller, the D.C resident challenging the ban, are Alan Gura, Robert Levy and Clark Neily of Gura & Possessky.