January 26, 2007 no. 447 - Vol. 5
"Diplomacy is the art of saying 'Nice doggie' until you can find a rock."
Will Rogers
"How to generate a steady flow of new clients" is the subject of today's Law Firm Marketing column
EU constitution 'is still alive'
Seventeen EU ministers are due to meet in Spain hoping to keep alive the idea of an EU constitution.
Ban Ki-Moon embraces anti-death penalty push
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon said Wednesday in response to a press question about Italy's recent push for an international death penalty moratorium that he supports the international trend towards abolishing the death penalty. Ban came under fire from human rights groups earlier this month after he told the press January 2, in the immediate wake of the Saddam Hussein execution and one day after his tenure as secretary-general began, that "he issue of capital punishment is for each and every Member State to decide." Earlier this month, Iraq executed two Hussein co-defendants over Ban's objections . Ban had released a statement "strongly the Government of Iraq to grant a stay of execution to those whose death sentences may be carried out in the near future." Ban is a citizen of South Korea, which is one of 84 sovereign states that practice capital punishment .
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Maximum fine over China pollution
A Chinese firm, subsidiary of PetroChina, is fined 1m yuan ($125,000) over a toxic spill that cut off water to millions. China's environmental watchdog has handed the maximum possible fine for a toxic river spill which cut off water to millions. A blast at its chemical plant in Jilin province discharged about 100 tonnes of the carcinogen benzene into the river.
Multi-pronged approach reinforces marketing message, generates steady flow of new clients
The main reason education-based marketing is so powerful is because prospects want information and advice, not a sales pitch.
After you develop and start marketing with an educational message, you make your message even more powerful and productive when you deliver it in several different ways.
One-prong approach: Let’s say one of your prospects heard you interviewed on a radio talk show. On that show you offered your educational materials, as you do at every marketing opportunity. If your prospect has a pressing need in your area of the law, he would likely call your office and ask for your written materials.
Two-prong approach: Now let’s say, in addition to hearing your interview on the radio, your prospect also saw an advertisement in the newspaper inviting interested parties to your seminar. Even though he might not have responded to your radio interview, he might now decide that he wants to attend your program.
Three-prong approach: Now, in addition to hearing your radio interview and seeing your seminar ad, your prospect’s neighbor shows him one of your newsletters. Even if he hasn’t responded to either of the first two opportunities, your newsletter may motivate him to action.
On top of this, someone may show him your firm brochure. Or he might visit your Web site. And so on.
The idea is to create the perception that your marketing message is everywhere -- to help prospects conclude that wherever they turn, they'll see your message again. And we hope your prospects infer that the reason they see your message over and over is because you are the respected authority in that field of law.
This is strongly reinforced if the messages they see, hear or read come through articles in the print media and interviews on the broadcast media. Nearly everyone assumes that articles and interviews are the result of reporters pursuing subjects that are important to the audience. Few people realize that much of what we see in the media -- other than breaking news stories -- is actually the result of a publicity person’s efforts.
Your bottom line: The more different ways you deliver your marketing message, the greater the likelihood that your prospects will call you and become clients.
So while you might be inclined to test one method at a time, realize that a one-time exposure, while it might compel ready-prospects to respond, might not motivate prospects who are interested but not yet ready.
When you launch your marketing program, make sure you launch at least a few different methods at about the same time so they reinforce one another. You don’t have to use every method all at once, but if you select the three or four methods your prospects will likely see, you could get a much greater response than if you start with only one method.
Consider these different ways to deliver your marketing message: Advertising, publicity, seminars, newsletters, follow-up letters, Web site, written fact kit, brochures -- plus referral sources, including colleagues, past clients and editors.
The more of these methods you use at the same time, the more new clients you’ll attract.
© Trey Ryder
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En memoria!
A casi dos mes de la muerte de Augusto Pinochet la Justicia Chilena anuló los cargos de complicidad en fraude tributario y otros que pesaban sobre varios familiares del ex dictador. La última favorecida fue Lucía Pinochet Hiriart, hija mayor del fallecido.
Papeleras
Fallo de la Corte de La Haya tensionó más relaciones entre Argentina y Uruguay, mientras ambientalistas y pobladores de Gualeguaychú retomaron las protestas el mediador de España, Juan Antonio Yañez, anunció que buscará acercar a los presidentes Kirchner y Tabaré Vásquez.
Ministros en la mira
Los cuatro ministros de la Corte Suprema que fueron posesionados por el presidente Evo Morales, en diciembre pasado, están en la mira del Tribunal Constitucional tras que este admitiera la demanda de inconstitucionalidad de dichas designaciones interpuesta por parlamentarios opositores.
Temblor político
Los políticos colombianos están que no duermen tras que la Corte Suprema de Justicia decidiera convocar a declarar al jefe de los paramilitares Salvatore Mancuso, quien debe revelar qué políticos recibieron dádivas de los grupos de autodefensa.
Exportaciones
Las exportaciones entre los países miembros de la CAN llegaron a 5,092 millones de dólares en 2006, que se traduce en un crecimiento del 12.4 % en relación al 2005.
Hartz sentenced in VW bribe case
Peter Hartz, the official at the centre of a bribery scandal surrounding car giant Volkswagen, has been given a two year-suspended prison sentence and a fine of 560,000 euros ($726,000). The former head of personnel at Europe's biggest carmaker escaped jail after cutting a deal with prosecutors. He had sanctioned illegal payments to members of VW's powerful works council. Works councils are made up of workers and management and have a strong decision-making role within major companies. Some have argued that the system is a breeding ground for corruption. The illegal payments were designed to ensure that council members kept close ties to VW's management.
Venezuela May Ask U.S. Envoy to Leave
Chavez warned that the U.S. ambassador could be asked to leave the country if he continues "meddling in Venezuela's affairs." The outspoken Venezuelan leader lashed out after William Brownfield said U.S. companies and investors must receive a fair price for their shares of Venezuela's largest telephone company when Chavez's government nationalizes it. "You are violating the Geneva agreements and getting yourself involved in a serious violation and could ... be declared a persona non grata and would have to leave the country," he said.
Varig loses routes-aviation authority
Varig, which was sold last year to avert bankruptcy, has lost permission to operate 119 of 270 domestic routes. ANAC said Varig operated only 151 routes by a January 14 deadline after re-launching operations on December 15.
EU Considers More Beef Bans In Brazil
The E.U. Commission is threatening to ban beef from more Brazilian states if it doesn't make progress on food safety and animal health guidelines set by the E.U. The E.U. is Brazil’s No. 1 beef market and accounts for 23% of Brazil’s beef export volume and 33% of Brazil’s beef export revenue. Brazil beef exporters charge that U.K. and other northern European ranch groups are bringing up food safety matters as a means to compete with Brazilian beef in the E.U.
Disputed Greek sale nets millions
A controversial auction of Greek royal treasures has concluded in London. The collection, once owned by King George I of Greece, raised $18.4m - six times pre-sale estimates. The two-day sale at Christie's went ahead despite protests by the Greek authorities who contested the ownership of the 850 items on sale. Greece asked the auction house to halt the sale, warning buyers could face legal action if it found the lots had been illegally exported from Greece. Christie's said all the items had been legally obtained and in a statement said it saw "no reason for the sale not to go ahead as planned".
SEC and others fear hedge-fund strategy may subvert elections
Private investment firms have found a simple way to profit from the workings of public companies: Borrow their shares, and then swing the outcomes of their votes. In some cases, the strategy has allowed speculators to gamble that a company's stock will drop, and then vote for decisions that will ensure that it does - without their ever having to own any stock themselves. Some outside interests have used the strategy to hide their voting power within a company until the last moment. Often, individual shareholders don't realize their own stocks, and their voting rights, have been borrowed from their brokerage accounts, until it's too late. Fueling the practice - dubbed "empty voting" - is a booming business in lending shares. Voting rights are lent along with the shares, and increasingly, that is leading to unintended consequences. Meanwhile, other shareholders often are unaware that a big voting bloc has no real ownership stake in the company - and that it may vote directly opposite the wishes of the stock's actual owners. If elections can be too easily gamed, critics fear, a basic foundation of public companies - that shareholders vote in the company's best interest - will be undermined.
Fox Subpoenas YouTube
News Corp.'s Twentieth Century Fox has subpoenaed Google's YouTube video-sharing site to unveil the identity of a user who uploaded pirated copies of recent episodes of "24" and "The Simpsons." The subpoena requests that YouTube disclose information sufficient to identify the subscriber so that Fox can stop the infringing immediately.
Meet the Clients
The recent arrest of Anderson Kill & Olick paralegal Brian Valery for practicing law without a license raises a number of questions about how the ersatz Fordham graduate could have gotten away with representing corporate clients in complex litigation -- without ever having gone to law school. The more salient question, however, is: Would it have mattered if he had? Legal education has been taking a beating recently. This month the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching issued a report criticizing the Socratic case method that dominates law-school teaching. According to the report, it does little to prepare lawyers to work with real clients or to resolve morally complex issues. Several months ago Harvard Law School announced a reform of its first-year curriculum to require classes in "problem solving," among other things. There appears to be an emerging consensus that although law schools may teach students how to "think like a lawyer," they don't really teach them how to be a lawyer. It is hard not to agree. One of the biggest problems with the current state of legal education is its emphasis on books rather than people. By reading about the law rather than engaging in it, students end up with the misperception that lawyers spend most of their time debating the niceties of the Rule Against Perpetuities rather than sorting out the messy, somewhat anarchic version of the truth that judges and courts care about. When they graduate, young lawyers rarely know how to interview clients, advocate for their positions, negotiate a settlement or perform any number of other tasks that lawyers do every day.
Lay and six other Enron defendants dismissed from class action shareholder suit
US District Court Judge Melinda Harmon on Wednesday granted a motion to dismiss seven defendants from the Enron shareholder derivative lawsuit, scheduled to go to trial in April. The lead plaintiff in the case, the University of California Board of Regents, has already negotiated settlements with Lehman Brothers, Bank of America, Citigroup, JP Morgan Chase, and CIBC, for a total of over $7 billion in recovery. Those defendants dismissed from the case include the estate of former Enron founder Ken Lay; Lou Pai, former director of Enron's energy division; Joe Hirko, Ken Rice, and Kevin Hannon, all former executives of Enron Broadband Services; Lawrence "Greg" Whalley, a commodity trader; and the law firm of Vinson & Elkins, counsel to Enron during court proceedings. The UC Regents moved to dismiss Pai in December, shortly after requesting the dismissal of Vinson & Elkins. The Board of Regents moved to dismiss the other defendants in January. Lay, convicted in May of fraud and conspiracy charges for providing investors with false and misleading financial information from 1999 up until Enron filed bankruptcy in late 2001, died suddenly of a heart attack in July. The remaining defendants include Merrill Lynch and Credit Suisse First Boston; former CEO Jeff Skilling; former CAO Richard Causey; former Chief Risk Officer Richard Buy; former Treasurer Jeff McMahon; and former investor relations chief Mark Koening.
Africa
Review face-off as Mass action starts
East African Standard, Liberal daily of Nairobi, Kenya
NPP's Patriotic Youth charges again
Ghanaian Chronicle, Independent, published in Accra, Ghana
GUINEA: Strike spells more hardship
Integrated Regional Information Networks (United Nations), Nairobi, Kenya
ANC Youth League in crisis
Mail and Guardian, Liberal daily of Johannesburg, South Africa
Couple faces more woes
The Sowetan, Liberal daily of Johannesburg, South Africa
State works on normalising ZCMT ops
Times of Zambia, Government-owned daily of Lusaka, Zambia
Americas
BIG WINNER:
Barbados Advocate, Independent daily of St Michael, Barbados
Pension fund switching to be allowed
Buenos Aires Herald, Liberal daily of Buenos Aires, Argentina
Cricket hurting business - Businesses near Sabina Park to lose millions
Jamaica Gleaner, Centrist daily of Kingston, Jamaica
Calderon struggles to stabilize tortilla prices
The Guadalajara Colony Reporter, Independent weekly of Guadalajara, Mexico
Asia Pacific
Govt to keep corporate university ban / Ministry finds problems in schools
Daily Yomiuri, Conservative daily of Tokyo, Japan
China hopes six-party talks to be resumed before Lunar New Year
People's Daily Online, Pro-government daily of Beijing, China
Officer will be charged over death
The Sydney Morning Herald, Centrist daily of Sydney, Australia
Two-Million Hectares Reforestation
Tempo, Independent weekly of Jakarta, Indonesia
Mukherjee Gifts 15 Ambulances on India's Republic Day
The Himalayan Times, Independent daily of Kathmandu, Nepal
Vice in Banting's jungle
The Sun, Independent daily of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Europe
European, not Bilateral Issues, on Merkel's Prague Agenda
Deutsche Welle, International broadcaster of Cologne, Germany
Kazakhstan plans to complete WTO accession talks in 2007
Interfax, Government-owned news agency, Moscow, Russia
Overworked doctors put lives at risk, says Drumm
Irish Examiner, Centrist daily of Cork, Ireland
Putin Clinches Reactor Deal
The Moscow Times, Independent, English-language daily of Moscow, Russia
UN dossier 'ends all climate-change doubt'
The Scotsman, Centrist daily of Edinburgh, Scotland
The 'ghost brides' of China
The Times, Conservative daily of London, England
Finance Ministry probe reveals moles in tax data processing
Turkish Daily News, Independent daily of Istanbul, Turkey
Middle East
Land of fire and smoke
Al-Ahram Weekly, Semi-official, English-language weekly of Cairo, Egypt
Kingdom, China to Boost Cooperation in Oil Sector
Arab News, Pro-government, English-language daily of Jidda, Saudi Arabia
Livni, Peres, Abbas Share Visions for PA State at World Forum
Arutz Sheva, Pro-settler publication of Israel
Curfew clamped on Beirut
Gulf News, Independent daily of Dubai, United Arab Emirates
PM pushes open ballot, backs Peres for president
Ha'aretz, Liberal daily of Tel Aviv, Israel
Khatami calls for calm heads in nuclear row
Islamic Republic News Agency, Government-owned news agency of Tehran, Iran
Olmert throws his weight behind Peres for president
The Jerusalem Post, Conservative daily of Jerusalem, Israel
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