I am asked from time to time what an attorney should do about their law firm business cards since they are about to get some new cards. Actually I would recommend you not wait until you run out of cards currently to think through your business card strategy. You may or may not have to throw out your current cards. That is not important. What is important is what results can you expect from your business cards. Let me list for you some guidelines for your business card strategy that will improve your results. Business cards need to be created to get you business are they not?
1. You probably need more than one type of law firm business card. One card that is conservative and is used in situations or with people you think will respond best to a more conservative card like other attorneys, court personnel, bankers, and the like. You need a more “sales oriented” card for other environments to be used in situations where you are dealing with some referral sources or with your prospective client. Particularly if your practice areas are family law, criminal law, personal injury, elder law, immigration law, residential real estate, etc. In fact if you market to an ethnic market like Hispanics then you need a third card that works for them and preferably has been done by a vendor who specializes in Hispanic work.
2. Please don’t use the templates available at your local printer or print them off your computer. Go to http://www.guru.com and hire a graphic artist to design your law firm business card. Do be sure it is readable for your market (older people need larger and easy reading fonts). Have them design a logo if you don’t have one as well. It will be inexpensive ($8 per hour and up) to hire a graphic artist type since this website is a worldwide marketplace. You can hire vendors from places like India, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, Canada or the USA and be safe since they do understand our market. The United Kingdom is expensive with respect to the US dollar currently and they tend to be overly conservative for our market. Some USA vendors are young, eager and/or want to create a portfolio so their fees are low but their skills are fine for this purpose.
3. It is probably better if your law firm business card is at least a two-color card (maybe even a four color card for some practice areas like criminal law or personal injury for instance). What I mean here is either different color inks or a difference between the color of the card and the ink. You need something to make the card more visually interesting. Always use a quality paper for the card.
4. Be sure your website address is on the card and it is a domain name you own that reflects your practice area if possible. Naturally name, address and phone number as well on the card.
5. Consider putting your email address on your law firm business card or maybe instead of putting the website address. One caution here is be sure you have an email address on your card that is your own domain name and not AOL, Hotmail, Yahoo, or a vendor at your home like Comcast, Road Runner, Bell South or the like. Why? You don’t look like someone who is a solid business unless your domain name is one you own and is business/keyword related.
6. Consider putting your “slogan” on your law firm business card. One of mine is “Guiding your practice to increased revenues while reducing your work hours as you serve your clients better than ever.” Now, clearly a bit long for a business card and you get the idea. If you don’t put a slogan at least put something that indicates your major practice area focus on the card. Also you may need different cards for different practice areas thus more than 3 different cards (conservative, sales oriented, ethnic type for each major practice area) for some.
7. A bit more daring yet effective is putting an offer for a “free report” or “white paper” offer on your law firm business card. The article title needs to be very appealing to your market. Usually the article needs to be a “how to” or “7 ways to” or “secrets of” type of title. Maybe saying on the card “call or email me for the my complimentary report on XXX” on the card or even “download at xxx.com” which also doubles as putting your website address on the card.
8. Up to this point you probably have been thinking only about the front of your law firm business card. Let’s get a bit outside the box and think about the back of the card. How about that long slogan, the quote or the complimentary report offer on the back?
9. OK, lets get even more outside the box and say put your picture on the front of the card. Research on business cards shows those cards with a picture on the fronts are noticed, kept and remembered better than other cards without a photo.
10. Having said all of the above do be careful not to have the card cluttered so you don’t have to put everything I wrote about on your card.
Now you have it. Some ideas to consider with law firm business cards. I am sure some would say this is too much and maybe so. There is much to consider in law firm business cards that really makes a difference in getting you new clients or not.
By: Henry Harlow
Posts Tagged ‘Criminal Law’
Law Firm Business Card Design That Gets New Clients
April 22nd, 2010Criminal Law : Your Constitutional Rights
December 15th, 2009Overview
Every saint has a past and every sinner a future. Criminal law takes cognizance of this universal truth and every accused is provided with ample rights while deciding whether he/she has committed any offence. Prosecution guidelines provide for certain procedural niceties to be extended to a person accused of crime. After all, the law intends to punish the crime, not the criminal. Adversarial system views crime as a wrongdoing against the state and not against a particular person. The interests of the state are represented by the prosecuting attorney. As such, law views the offender sympathetically and treats him/her as innocent until proved guilty and passes the burden of proving the case to the prosecution. The defendant has a right to be presumed innocent unless and until the State has proven each and every element of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt. Thus, for instance, if a culpable mental state is required to prove a crime, the prosecution must prove that it existed at the time of commission of the offence.
Constitutional Rights
The United States Constitution guarantees a wide array of rights to the criminal defendant from the time of arrest through the trial proceedings. These include: the right to be free from any unreasonable search and seizure, to remain silent, to be tried before a judge or a jury, to summon witnesses and compel their attendance to testify on behalf of the defendant, and to confront and cross-examine any witness the State may call. The defendant in a criminal case has a right to a speedy trial and to be represented by an attorney and is entitled to have an attorney appointed by the court, if the defendant is unable to afford one. The defendant also has a right to consult an attorney or family members before pleading guilty or not guilty before the court.
The criminal proceedings begin by the initiation of a complaint by the purportedly injured person, the complainant. The police investigate about the complaint. A formal charging document called a complaint or an indictment brought by a grand jury is filed with a court in the proper jurisdiction.
The Right to Speedy Trial
The Sixth Amendment of the Constitution guarantees a criminal defendant the right to a speedy and public trial, in both state and federal courts, which means that the proceedings are to be completed within a reasonable time after the person being arrested. The defendant has a right to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation. The Sixth Amendment also guarantees a criminal defendant the right to be tried before an “impartial jury,” which will consider the evidence against the defendant and decide whether to find him/her guilty. In almost all states, the concurrence of twelve jurors is necessary in order to find a defendant “guilty or not guilty.”
Right to be Free from Unreasonable Search and Seizure
Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution guarantees the defendant the right to be free from any unreasonable search and seizure. The quintessence of the Amendment is that “every man’s house is his castle” and the rights to be secured in their persons, houses, papers, and other property, from all unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated by warrants issued without probable cause.”
Privilege against Self-incrimination
The defendant is entitled to a right under the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution to remain silent during the trial. In other words, the accused person can refuse to answer any questions or make any statements, if such answers or statements establish that the person committed a crime or is in any way connected to some criminal activity. As already mentioned above, the burden of proof of a crime is on the prosecution. However, no one including the prosecutor, the judge, and even the defendant’s lawyer can force the defendant to be a witness against himself/ herself if the person declines to do so. Furthermore, when a defendant exercises his or her right not to testify, the jury is not permitted to take such denial into consideration when deciding the question of liability. Thus, this is a prominent privilege to the criminal defendant. Nevertheless, the defendant cannot selectively answer questions that go against him/her. Once a defendant decides to testify at trial, he/she cannot ordinarily choose to answer some questions but not others. It is to be noted that the Fifth Amendment privilege does not apply when a defendant is fingerprinted, or made to provide a DNA sample in connection with a criminal accusation. Like a criminal defendant, witnesses are also entitled to refuse to answer certain questions by asserting their Fifth Amendment rights. However, this right is not extensive as that of the criminal defendants.
Conclusion
A criminal defendant is presumed to be innocent and accorded all humane considerations during the trial. Justice is not a one sided notion favoring the victim, but it looks at the accused person from a reformative angle. The punishments accorded to the criminal defendant are meant to reform the person and not a retributive measure. As such, in the pursuit of justice, law takes in to consideration, the rights of the accused.
Mr. Smith is a renowned Florida criminal defense attorney . The knowledge, experience, and killer instincts J. Layne Smith has honed over years of civil and administrative trials in insurance related cases makes him force when defending white collar crimes. Simply put, prosecutors do not have the background and depth of understanding Mr. Smith has, and he uses that advantage to the fullest extent, for your benefit.
Overview
Every saint has a past and every sinner a future. Criminal law takes cognizance of this universal truth and every accused is provided with ample rights while deciding whether he/she has committed any offence. Prosecution guidelines provide for certain procedural niceties to be extended to a person accused of crime. After all, the law intends to punish the crime, not the criminal. Adversarial system views crime as a wrongdoing against the state and not against a particular person. The interests of the state are represented by the prosecuting attorney. As such, law views the offender sympathetically and treats him/her as innocent until proved guilty and passes the burden of proving the case to the prosecution. The defendant has a right to be presumed innocent unless and until the State has proven each and every element of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt. Thus, for instance, if a culpable mental state is required to prove a crime, the prosecution must prove that it existed at the time of commission of the offence.
Constitutional Rights
The United States Constitution guarantees a wide array of rights to the criminal defendant from the time of arrest through the trial proceedings. These include: the right to be free from any unreasonable search and seizure, to remain silent, to be tried before a judge or a jury, to summon witnesses and compel their attendance to testify on behalf of the defendant, and to confront and cross-examine any witness the State may call. The defendant in a criminal case has a right to a speedy trial and to be represented by an attorney and is entitled to have an attorney appointed by the court, if the defendant is unable to afford one. The defendant also has a right to consult an attorney or family members before pleading guilty or not guilty before the court.
The criminal proceedings begin by the initiation of a complaint by the purportedly injured person, the complainant. The police investigate about the complaint. A formal charging document called a complaint or an indictment brought by a grand jury is filed with a court in the proper jurisdiction.
The Right to Speedy Trial
The Sixth Amendment of the Constitution guarantees a criminal defendant the right to a speedy and public trial, in both state and federal courts, which means that the proceedings are to be completed within a reasonable time after the person being arrested. The defendant has a right to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation. The Sixth Amendment also guarantees a criminal defendant the right to be tried before an “impartial jury,” which will consider the evidence against the defendant and decide whether to find him/her guilty. In almost all states, the concurrence of twelve jurors is necessary in order to find a defendant “guilty or not guilty.”
Right to be Free from Unreasonable Search and Seizure
Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution guarantees the defendant the right to be free from any unreasonable search and seizure. The quintessence of the Amendment is that “every man’s house is his castle” and the rights to be secured in their persons, houses, papers, and other property, from all unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated by warrants issued without probable cause.”
Privilege against Self-incrimination
The defendant is entitled to a right under the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution to remain silent during the trial. In other words, the accused person can refuse to answer any questions or make any statements, if such answers or statements establish that the person committed a crime or is in any way connected to some criminal activity. As already mentioned above, the burden of proof of a crime is on the prosecution. However, no one including the prosecutor, the judge, and even the defendant’s lawyer can force the defendant to be a witness against himself/ herself if the person declines to do so. Furthermore, when a defendant exercises his or her right not to testify, the jury is not permitted to take such denial into consideration when deciding the question of liability. Thus, this is a prominent privilege to the criminal defendant. Nevertheless, the defendant cannot selectively answer questions that go against him/her. Once a defendant decides to testify at trial, he/she cannot ordinarily choose to answer some questions but not others. It is to be noted that the Fifth Amendment privilege does not apply when a defendant is fingerprinted, or made to provide a DNA sample in connection with a criminal accusation. Like a criminal defendant, witnesses are also entitled to refuse to answer certain questions by asserting their Fifth Amendment rights. However, this right is not extensive as that of the criminal defendants.
Conclusion
A criminal defendant is presumed to be innocent and accorded all humane considerations during the trial. Justice is not a one sided notion favoring the victim, but it looks at the accused person from a reformative angle. The punishments accorded to the criminal defendant are meant to reform the person and not a retributive measure. As such, in the pursuit of justice, law takes in to consideration, the rights of the accused.
By: Layne Smith
RI Criminal Law:Is a Nolo Contendere Plea an Admission of Guilt? Is it a Conviction?
December 6th, 2009Nolo contendere means a person is not contesting the charges. When a defendant takes a nolo plea in Rhode island, the defendant is indicting that he does not want to contest the charges but is also essentially admitting to the charges.
What is the difference between a guilty plea and a nolo contendere plea in RI? There is a huge difference! A guilty plea is always a criminal conviction under RI law. A criminal conviction has major negative implications especially when a person applies for employment. A plea of nolo may not constitute a criminal conviction. It is only a conviction in RI if there is a sentence of confinement (such as the ACI or home confinement), a suspended sentence or a fine imposed.
For example, A plea of nolo contendere with a sentence of probation and a contribution to the violent crimes indemnity fund or court costs will not constitute a conviction under Rhode Island law! For example, A plea of nolo contendere with a sentence of a filing and a contribution to the violent crimes indemnity fund (vcif) will not constitute a conviction under Rhode Island law.
However, anything with a fine attached to it will be a conviction under Rhode Island law. Therefore, it is important that the defendant gets either no fine or a contribution to the victims fund or court costs rather then a fine.
All misdemeanor plea agreements in Rhode lsland (RI) should be nolo contendere with court costs or a contribution towards the victims indemnity fund rather then guilty pleas!
By: david slepkow
