Leap Legal, an Australian software company that sells LEAP (an integrated accounting and case management suite), recently released a video on YouTube about a lawyer who cannot find a file while an client impatiently waits on hold. The video is well acted — the guy playing the lawyer truly looks frazzled. Strangely, however, the video does not mention the product at all. Take a look (click here if you don't see the video below).
Perhaps the company felt that not mentioning the product would enhance the video's chances of becoming viral. But what good would that do? In my experience, mentioning a product has nothing to do with an online video's popularity. What does matter is creativity and talent. Advertising can entertain and sell at the same time. Case in point — Smirnoff's "Tea Partay" video, which despite mentioning the product several times during the video has nonetheless garnered more than 1.7 million views. Check it out (click here if you don't see the video below).
About TechnoEditorials
A TechnoEditorial is the vehicle through which we opine and provide tips of interest to managing partners, law firm administrators, and others in the legal profession. TechnoEditorials appear first in TechnoGuide, and later here in TechnoLawyer Blog. TechnoGuide, which is free, also contains exclusive content. You can subscribe here.
Janine D. Geraigery, an enterprising young (25 years old) intellectual property lawyer with a solo practice in Cambridge, Massachusetts, recently produced a cute promotional video and uploaded it to YouTube (it may have also aired on local TV). Take a look (click here if you don't see the video below).
Meanwhile, down in North Carolina, Lee Rosen and his colleagues at the Rosen Law Firm have embraced online video in a big way. The firm is also a leading advocate of virtual visitation rights using online videoconferencing. We managed to dig up a report by video production company Network News Crews that discusses its work for the Rosen Law Firm. Read and download it for discussion at your firm.
About TechnoEditorials
A TechnoEditorial is the vehicle through which we opine and provide tips of interest to managing partners, law firm administrators, and others in the legal profession. TechnoEditorials appear first in TechnoGuide, and later here in TechnoLawyer Blog. TechnoGuide, which is free, also contains exclusive content. You can subscribe here.
Is your local courthouse dark and depressing? In this video, Steven Holl of Steven Holl Architects walks you through his design for the 335,000 square foot Denver Justice Center Courthouse, a $99 million project that will also include a post office, detention center, and jail. I especially like all the natural light, which most courtrooms lack in my experience. Take a look (click here if you don't see the video below).
About TechnoEditorials
A TechnoEditorial is the vehicle through which we opine and provide tips of interest to managing partners, law firm administrators, and others in the legal profession. TechnoEditorials appear first in TechnoGuide, and later here in TechnoLawyer Blog. TechnoGuide, which is free, also contains exclusive content. You can subscribe here.
Truth is stranger than fiction thanks to YouTube. In this remarkable video, a criminal defense lawyer shows up to court late looking a little peaked. The judge gives him an earful and and orders him to take a breathalyzer test, which reveals a blood alcohol level of .075.
About TechnoEditorials
A TechnoEditorial is the vehicle through which we opine and provide tips of interest to managing partners, law firm administrators, and others in the legal profession. TechnoEditorials appear first in TechnoGuide, and later here in TechnoLawyer Blog. TechnoGuide, which is free, also contains exclusive content. You can subscribe here.
Earlier this year I proclaimed 2006 the year of mobile video. Well, uhm, I think was off by about five years. Maybe ten. Instead, I should have proclaimed it the year of YouTube, the site that finally delivered on the promise of online video — for both filmmakers and their audience. One aspect of my prediction has come to pass, however — lawyers using online video as a marketing tool. For example, Allison Margolin, a criminal defense lawyer in Los Angeles, created a 3:35 minute film about her work and uploaded it to YouTube. So far it has garnered 1,751 views.
About TechnoEditorials
A TechnoEditorial is the vehicle through which we opine and provide tips of interest to managing partners, law firm administrators, and others in the legal profession. TechnoEditorials appear first in TechnoGuide, and later here in TechnoLawyer Blog. TechnoGuide, which is free, also contains exclusive content. You can subscribe here.
David Cardon, a lawyer at Cardon & Goodman in Hampton Roads, Virginia, has produced and released a short 4.5 minute film entitled Billable Hours. A spoof reminiscent of the cult classic Office Space, Cardon's film depicts large law firm lawyers as boorish middle-aged men more interested in gossiping about attractive coworkers and plotting free lunches than their work. The highlight of the film consists of a summer associate interview in which two partners ask a series of psychological questions approved by the hiring committee. Some people will find Billable Hours offensive. Locker room humor abounds — don't show it to your kids and don't play it at work. A more experienced filmmaker might have provided a moral compass by making the partners even more cartoonish and preposterous. However, to his credit, Cardon does provide one grounded character — the law student — onto whom we can project our own sensibilities. As someone who conducted countless law student interviews during my tenure at a large law firm, I found Billable Hours amusing. I applaud Cardon for taking a chance (comedy is not easy), and hope his film inspires other lawyers to create their own films about law practice.
Update: If the above link no longer works, you can watch the video on Cardon's MySpace page.
About TechnoEditorials
A TechnoEditorial is the vehicle through which we opine and provide tips of interest to managing partners, law firm administrators, and others in the legal profession. TechnoEditorials appear first in TechnoGuide, and later here in TechnoLawyer Blog. TechnoGuide, which is free, also contains exclusive content. You can subscribe here.
Thinking about redesigning your Web site or other marketing
materials? Before doing so, watch this video, which criticizes
Microsoft for its tendency to add features at the expense of usability
(aka feature creep). Ironically, Microsoft created the video. Kudos to
Microsoft for engaging in this bit of self-criticism. Watch the video.
About TechnoEditorials
A TechnoEditorial is the vehicle through which we opine and provide
tips of interest to managing partners, law firm administrators, and
others in the legal profession. TechnoEditorials appear first in TechnoGuide, and later here in TechnoLawyer Blog. TechnoGuide, which is free, also contains exclusive content. You can subscribe here.
Supposedly, 2004 was the year of the blog and 2005 was the year of the podcast. I believe that 2006 will be the year of mobile video.
Online video has existed for years, but only recently has it gone mobile thanks to Apple's video iPod. As usual with the iPod, Apple wasn't the first to market, but it was the first to create a user experience likely to attract a mass audience.
Never underestimate mobility. What the BlackBerry did for email and previous iPods did for audio, the new iPod will do for video.
Many people have already discussed one important development of the iPod — portable, space shifted television shows. I'd like to discuss another — small business videos.
The stage is now set for law firms and other small businesses to take advantage of video. Thanks to a confluence of software, hardware, and online venues, virtually any business can create and distribute engaging videos with decent production values at almost no cost.
I don't know exactly how this development will play out in the legal sector, but it would not surprise me to see the following:
Law firm Web sites and blogs with videos. How about video lawyer bios featuring interviews, footage of speeches, television appearances, courtroom performances, etc. Stream the videos on the site, and offer iPod-compatible downloads as well.
Engaging CLE videos that finally make use of the medium as opposed to the recorded lectures of old. Forget streaming and sell downloads instead so that lawyers can watch them anywhere.
Deposition videos for your clients to download so that they can see you in action rather than read a dry transcript.
To demonstrate why I believe we're about to witness an explosion of portable video content in 2006, I've put together an iPod-compatible video for you.
Below you'll find a link to Victoria's Secret Kitchen — a short cooking show I produced featuring my grandmother's secret recipe for Eggplant Frittata (despite its name, it does not contain eggs).
I filmed all the footage (34 different clips) on a still camera (no joke), and edited it using iMovie HD on a Mac. In other words, it cost me nothing to produce a coherent video with unique content (you won't find this recipe on the Food Network).
Just imagine what your firm could do with one or two camcorders, quality microphones, and Final Cut Express (Mac) or Adobe Premiere (Windows) — less than $2,000 in equipment and software.
About TechnoEditorials
A TechnoEditorial is the vehicle through which we opine and provide tips of interest to managing partners, law firm administrators, and others in the legal profession. TechnoEditorials appear first in TechnoGuide, and later here in TechnoLawyer Blog. TechnoGuide, which is free, also contains exclusive content. You can subscribe here.
