No shock there, as the topic was something related to lawyer marketing.
It wasn't about the most popular Google search that fills the list of who comes here: How to make money as a lawyer, it was about the ethics of a lawyer marketer.
I wrote below about a lawyer marketer who claimed not to bad mouth lawyer marketers in his quest to be hired by those who want to "double their income." You can get the rest of the details below.
What happened after the posting was a typical and total meltdown. See, lawyer marketers who never had a long-term successful practice, don't like to argue or debate - it disturbs their message. It rattles the thin cage, a thin cage on a weak foundation.
Lawyers are no different than clients, they want to hear what they want to hear. If there's someone out there telling them they can double their income, then by default, they are of interest. No details required.
In defending his non-existent commitment to not bad mouthing the competition, he lashed out at me, and told me I didn't know what I was talking about.
And here's the kicker.
Ready?
He sent an email to the lawyer marketer he assumed I was talking about. He didn't send an email to 2 or 3 lawyer marketers, just one. It was a blathering rant, copied to me, about how he didn't bad mouth him and "let's have dinner again soon." It was nothing short of an attempt to make me think he and the recipient were "close buds," and an admission. It was sad, and pathetic, and typical. If he didn't bad mouth this guy, why the multi paragraph email? Why even send him an email? He didn't bad mouth anyone, right?
Failed lawyers who are looking for lawyer dollars are doing so because they aren't lawyers anymore - because they can't argue a relevant point, because the debate is beyond them. This was proven again yesterday.
Successful lawyers don't quit to become lawyer marketers, so why are you hiring them? Why? And if you are going to hire them, why aren't you asking more questions? If they say they made millions in private practice, why aren't you asking for tax returns? They brought it up - why not kick the tires? Are you so starry eyed that the issue is less important than your hopes and dreams of making money?
This lawyer marketer claims to have passed the Florida Bar in 1998, failed in private practice, then become successful, and then closed up said successful law practice to go work for The Florida Bar in the law practice management department.
Let's review:
Passed the Bar - 1998
Failed, immediately.
Became successful and profitable - after that.
Closed up shop and went to work for the Bar..... I don't know, but I do know they gave him an award in 2000.
So the longest period of time he was in successful private practice?
2000 minus 1998 minus failure period - ???????
And then another kicker.
No, really, there's another one.
On this lawyer marketer's blog, he names a disbarred lawyer who he "compliments" occasionally. The lawyer was disbarred for various trust account violations, including stealing money from a trust fund for children. When this disbarred lawyer ventured into the lawyer marketing world, he lied about why he left the law. He said it was because he loved blogging so so so very very very much. It wasn't true, but few cared. Those that did, were "mean."
What's interesting about that, is that this lawyer marketer is on a big campaign to give away trust account advice. He refers to this disbarred trust account thief as having "made mistakes."
No, as I tell my clients, taking money from a trust account is not a "mistake." It's theft, it's a crime, and it's a recipe for a quick disbarment.
This lawyer marketer responded by using the lawyer marketer script and calling me a "bully" for posting a comment to his blog about it. If lawyer marketers didn't have the word "bully," they'd have nothing to say.
He eventually asked me to stop posting comments to his blog - obviously the desperate lawyer looking for a quick fix to a failing practice is not going to like reading our back and forth. It's very anti-marketing.
Former lawyers turned lawyer marketers don't like to discuss the truth. It gets through the smoke and mirrors too easily.
And lawyers looking to make money, and the marketers looking to make money off of them, like a lot of smoke, and a lot of mirrors.
Located in Miami, Florida, Brian Tannebaum practices Bar Admission and Discipline and Criminal Defense. He is the author of I Got A Bar Complaint.
3 comments:
Do these self-proclaimed internet experts never talk to each other?
If his blog were closed, he wouldn't have to ask you to stop posting. Open, close, open, close. See how easy that is?
How would you answer the following questions:
1) Are really really really excited about an opportunity and you can't wait to share it with me?
2) Do you use buzzwords, get excited by new trends, wet the bed thinking about Twitter, etc.?
If you answered yes to either question, then you are selling snake oil to desperate lawyers.
Bonus points if you can come up with a web themed neologism for "snake oil."
You might want to consider doing a repost on this series. I found what you wrote, so true.
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