Members of the Sports & Entertainment Law (“SEL”) section found the following recent third party articles to be of potential interest to the section. Feel free to reach out to the SEL section communications chairs (Kelly Ryan and Amanda Whorton) if you would like to submit either personally written pieces or other third party articles found that would be of interest to the entire SEL section members.
https://ncbarblogprod.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Blog-Header-1-1030x530.png00SportsandEntertainmenthttps://ncbarblogprod.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Blog-Header-1-1030x530.pngSportsandEntertainment2020-03-02 16:15:202020-03-03 16:08:03Sports & Entertainment Law Section Articles of Interest (February 2020)
Imagine this scenario: You are an employee who uses your personal cell phone for company purposes to send and receive business-related text messages. Litigation ensues and you, as part of your employment, receive from the company a preservation notice or litigation hold notifying you to preserve and not delete communications relevant to the issues raised by the litigation. Text messages are included within the definition of communications for discovery purposes. A discovery request is served on the company seeking all communications relevant to the litigation, which requires the company and you, as someone with responsive information, to produce your text messages. Only then do you discover that your cell phone has certain retention settings, and is set to automatically delete text messages after thirty (30) days. While you had responsive text messages that should have been produced in litigation, you no longer have those messages because your phone automatically deleted them. Your deleted text messages not only place you in violation of your company’s preservation notice and/or litigation hold, but could potentially result in the company being sanctioned in the litigation for destroying or failing to preserve relevant evidence. Sound farfetched? It’s not.
https://ncbarblogprod.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Blog-Header-1-1030x530.png00Litigationhttps://ncbarblogprod.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Blog-Header-1-1030x530.pngLitigation2020-03-02 15:38:572020-03-02 16:52:45E-Discovery Pitfalls: Cell Phone Retention Settings Can Lead to Sanctions for Spoliation of Evidence
An ugly truth of private practice, especially in a small or solo firm, is that marketing is a must. You might argue that you didn’t graduate cum laude from law school to hang out at cocktail parties and write blogs, but if you don’t take steps to promote yourself, no one will. The good news is that with a little guidance, focus, and discipline, you should start to gain clients, work on more interesting cases, and enjoy a thriving practice in less time than you think. Below are some simple steps to put together a relatively painless individual marketing plan that you intend to accomplish over the next 6 months.
Define Your Practice
I meet many lawyers from solo or small firms, whose strategy is to take any business that comes in the door. One week, a lawyer wants to put up a billboard targeting traffic tickets, while the next week, that same lawyer wants to hold estate planning seminars at the local Ruth’s Chris. While billboards and seminars can be perfectly fine strategies if executed correctly, you must be consistent in your messaging and marketing to successfully grow your practice. Forcing yourself to clearly define your practice and narrow your focus is going to help you gain expertise and credibility, and create lasting relationships resulting in more lucrative work. While you may be qualified and willing to do multiple types of law, I recommend focusing on marketing one practice area at a time.
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