YLD Photo Contest Entries Due Aug. 24; Theme is Standing Out from the Crowd

The Young Lawyers Division welcomes submissions from all members of the Bar Association for "Standing Out from the Crowd," a photography contest in which the winner and runner-up will receive great gift certificates as well as have their images featured in The Philadelphia Lawyer, the Association's quarterly magazine...READ MORE

Register Now for Bench-Bar at Revel in October and Save

Register now for the Philadelphia Bar Association’s 2012 Bench-Bar & Annual Conference, featuring 21 CLE seminars, at the new beachfront Revel resort in Atlantic City, N.J., on Oct. 5 and 6. The Bench-Bar & Annual Conference provides attendees with the opportunity to earn CLE credit while networking with colleagues and members of the bench. Hundreds of attorneys and judges are expected to attend. A total of 6 CLE credits are available. Enjoy special early-bird savings on the full conference when you register by Sept. 14...READ MORE

Construction Defect Litigation Aug. 21

Construction defect claims represent one of the fastest growing areas of litigation. Claims related to faulty workmanship and structural defects resulting in water infiltration, mold and other consequential damages pose a tremendous liability to developers, design professional contractors, subcontractors, suppliers, their respective insurers, and anyone else involved in a construction project. The faculty at PBI's "Construction Defect Litigation: Claims and Coverage" will provide step-by-step advice on construction defect litigation - how builders risk, professional liability and other policies respond to claims on Tuesday, Aug. 21. Click here for more information.

How Juries View Tractor Trailer Accidents Aug. 22

Presented in a mock trial format under Pennsylvania's new joint and several theory of liability, PBI's "How Juries View Tractor Trailer Accidents after Joint and Several," complete with judge and jury, allows you to discover what jurors really think about the case as you watch a behind the scenes jury deliberation. You will have the opportunity to see what motivates jurors to award, or not award, damages and which facts are considered most important to their decision. The program will be held Wednesday, Aug. 22 beginning at 9 a.m. at The CLE Conference Center. Click here for more information.

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YLD Photo Contest Entries Due Aug. 24; Theme is Standing Out from the Crowd

The Young Lawyers Division welcomes submissions from all members of the Bar Association for "Standing Out from the Crowd," a photography contest in which the winner and runner-up will receive great gift certificates as well as have their images featured in The Philadelphia Lawyer, the Association's quarterly magazine.

Entrants are asked to submit an image that captures the people, buildings, sites or anything else that make Philadelphia unique. Creative interpretations of this year's theme are encouraged!

One submission per entrant can be emailed to Kaitlin Picco at YLDphotos@hotmail.com in JPG format. A professional panel of judges will select the winner. The deadline for entries is Friday, Aug. 24.

Register Now for Bench-Bar at Revel in October and Save

Register now for the Philadelphia Bar Association’s 2012 Bench-Bar & Annual Conference, featuring 21 CLE seminars, at the new beachfront Revel resort in Atlantic City, N.J., on Oct. 5 and 6.

The Bench-Bar & Annual Conference provides attendees with the opportunity to earn CLE credit while networking with colleagues and members of the bench. Hundreds of attorneys and judges are expected to attend. A total of 6 CLE credits are available. Enjoy special early-bird savings on the full conference when you register by Sept. 14.

In addition to a brand-new venue, this year's event will also offer an insider's view of the 2012 presidential election, as we welcome ABC News White House Correspondent Ann Compton as our Opening Plenary speaker. Additionally, at our Saturday breakfast, we'll hear from The Philadelphia Inquirer's national political columnist Dick Polman, offering his own special brand of election insights.

Maria A. Feeley, a partner at Pepper Hamilton LLP, is chair of the Bench-Bar & Annual Conference. Molly Peckman, director of professional development at Dechert LLP, is programming chair of the Bench-Bar & Annual Conference. Jeffrey S. Gross, a principal with Batt & Gross, is serving as sponsorship chair and Jennifer Segal Coatsworth, an associate with Margolis Edelstein, is sponsorship vice chair. Regina Foley of Raynes McCarty is chair of the scholarship subcommittee.

Sponsors for the 2012 Bench-Bar & Annual Conference include USI Affinity, First Judicial District, Love Court Reporting, Robson Forensic, JAMS, US Claims Inc., LexisNexis, Round Table Thomson Reuters Expert Witness Services, Special Counsel, Applied Discovery, LawCash, O'Neill Consulting Corporation, Lien Negotiation Counsel, Iron Mountain, Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, FTI Consulting, JustLegalInc. and The Legal Intelligencer. Special acknowledgement - Family Law Section, Real Property Section and Workers' Compensation Section. For sponsorship information, please contact Tracey McCloskey at 215-238-6360 or via email at tmccloskey@philabar.org. Learn more at benchbar.philadelphiabar.org.

Marketing Corner: Leveraging the Blogosphere

By Kimberly Alford Rice

Reality check: According to the WordPress website, there are more than 327 million people who view more than 2.5 billion blog pages each month. WordPress.com users produce about 500,000 new posts and 400,000 new comments on an average day. There are 54,523,503 WordPress sites worldwide.

How can lawyers leverage the blogosphere to build a prosperous practice? Glad you asked.

• Blogging is one of the most powerful and least expensive marketing tools available – ever! A self-hosted WordPress blog site cost less per week than a Starbuck’s chai latte.

• Blogging on a consistent and persistent basis will position you as an expert in your chosen areas of practice. The possibilities are absolutely endless of the connections you can make. Hosting a blog places you on the world stage, and right in front of your targeted audiences, all at the same time.

• With thousands of people sharing content for every one person creating content, useful blog posts can spread like wildfire via social networks. There are hundreds of millions of people on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn eagerly seeking useful, interesting content to share.

• To blog regularly and in an impactful way, you need to stay alert for rich content. Blogging can make you smarter or at least better read!

• Blogging gives you a platform to shine, to become an influential voice in your profession and beyond.

• As a professional (legal) writer, blogging provides a creative outlet for you to share views and perspectives that you may not otherwise have.

• Blogs are super juice for website SEO (search engine optimization). Studies show us that blogs drive three to five more website traffic than adding fresh content alone.

• Blogs are designed to be short. Depending upon your chosen topic, a typical blog post can be 300 words or less. Unlike a well-composed brief, drafting a blog need not take a lot of your valuable billable time.

• If you commit to blogging over the long-term, this commitment will be widely noticed by prospective clients who are following you and will come to regard you as reliable and solid.

• Blogging can be a tremendous public service. In addition to posting blogs on timely and interesting legal topics, you can carve a special niche of being helpful to others. And, isn’t that why you pursued law in the first place - to help others?

Kimberly Alford Rice is principal of KLA Marketing Associates, a business development advisory firm focusing on legal services. As a law marketing authority, Kimberly helps law firms and lawyers develop practical business development and marketing strategies which lead directly to new clients and increased revenues. Additionally, Kimberly provides career management services to lawyers in transition. She may be reached at 609.458.0415 or via email at kimberly@klamarketing.net.

WIP Happy Hour, School Supply Drive Aug. 28

The Women in the Profession Committee's Public Service Task Force will hold its annual Pencils & Pinot happy hour and school supply drive on Tuesday, Aug. 28 at Ladder 15.

Bring school supplies to be donated to Philadelphia school students and you'll receive drink specials at the happy hour at Ladder 15, 1528 Sansom St. Recommended donations include composition books, spiral notebooks, pocket folders, loose leaf paper, three-ring binders, rulers, pencils, blue & black pens, colored pencils and glue sticks. The events begins at 6 p.m.

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