Larry Bodine Law Marketing Blog : Law firm marketing, legal editor, legal marketing, attorney marketing, business development, marketing consultant, legal consultant, business development

Goulston & Storrs, a 185-lawyer firm headquartered in Boston, launched of its premiere iPhone App.  The G&S App offers a convenient way for clients to gather customized information on the most current business topics, directly from an iPhone.

Theresa Bomba, Associate Director of Marketing, remarked, “There are approximately 50 million iPhones currently in use, and with the new launch of the iPhone 4, analysts estimate there will be 100 million iPhone users by the end of 2011. This is an ideal opportunity for us to communicate on a platform which our clients are utilizing. The G&S App will provide meaningful, timely information in a format people prefer.” 

Having worked with the firm I can say that Goulston & Storrs is a very client-centered firm. They really ‘speak the language of the customer,’ communicating with clients via podcasts, client case studies, an online concierge, subscriptions to a wide variety of information – and now an iPhone App. It shows that the firm is not only tech-savvy, but also easy to talk to.

To download the free G&S App, go to the App Store on your iPhone, Keyword: Goulston.

Located in Boston, New York, Washington D.C. and Beijing, Goulston & Storrs is recognized for its quality work and unique service model across multiple service areas. 

The firm is famous for its clever award-winning marketing activities, including a Jeopardy game for in-house counsel, its “Gateway to China” campaign for mid-market firms seeking to do business in China, and its creation of a resource center on Legal OnRamp avout the attorney-client privilege.

Professional social network LinkedIn now has 70 million members, according to the company’s home page. The company hit 60 million users in February, and has been growing fast, especially in international markets. LinkedIn’s network’s CEO, Jeff Weiner, stated in a blog post last fall that half of LinkedIn’s membership is international. The company is also listing one million company profiles, which are similar to a user profile.

Weiner told TechCrunch that the fastest growth LinkedIn is seeing is in international markets. LinkedIn is expanding rapidly in the Netherlands and India.

The network has also been adding features continuously over the past six months to broaden LinkedIn’s reach across the web, adding a deeper Twitter integration, opening up an API, providing a plugin with Microsoft Outlook and enhancing sharing options.

But while LinkedIn is looking to bring its platform to the greater web, there’s a tremendous amount of potential to use the data the network has on its side to add additional functionality to both users and companies. Weiner recently told Techcrunch that data is an important part of LinkedIn’s future as a network. It’s safe to say that we will be seeing a number of new initiatives coming from LinkedIn leveraging the wealth of professional content on the network.

Nearly a quarter of households (up 38% year-over-year) have smartphones (mobile phones with advanced operating systems), making it easier for consumers to “place shift” and view the Internet wherever they are, according to the new Three Screen Report for the first quarter of 2010 published by The Nielsen Company.

This is important news for law firm marketers and partners, because it means that law firms must develop smartphone-friendly websites. These sites detect that they are being viewed by an iPhone or Android phone, for example, and direct viewers to a stripped-down version of the site that allows for easy resizing of the text, and shrinks graphics to thumbnail size.  Smartphone-friendly sites should not contain Flash, which is unreadable by existing smartphones.

As smartphone penetration continues to proliferate, consumers will be increasingly using these devices (versus PCs) to access the Internet

• With networks beginning to develop loyalty programs for their shows (via apps, etc.), social media will play a larger role in audience engagement.
• The emergence of other connected devices, including tablet computers like Apple’s popular iPad, will create additional options for media consumption anytime, anywhere.

Matt O'Grady, Executive Vice President, Audience Measurement, says "Consumers are driven by the convenience and quality that today's technology now enables... "

I just came from an in-person meeting of a local LinkedIn group I belong to. The speaker was author Gordon Miller of Dovetail Solutions in Denver.  He said if you send in a resume to get a job, your chances of getting hired are in the single digits.  Instead he said you should send a one-page business proposition document addressed to the department head or decision-maker. Skip HR.

In the pre-recession days, there were job descriptions, and people would recite their experience and education to fit into the box.  This rarely exists any more. With revenue down by 40% to 50% for many businesses, the CEOs want "fresh thinking." They can't articulate what it is, but they know it when they see it.

Your resume showing your experience and degrees points to the past. However a value proposition letter points to the future. It has 3 paragraphs:

#1: Demonstrate that you know the company's business.  Start by writing, "My opinion is that your company can leapfrog over the competition in the following ways." Describe how the company makes money, its products or services and its competition. "The goal is to distinguish yourself," Miller said, adding, "do not attach your resume to this document."

#2: In three bullet points, write one-sentence specific ideas of how you can bring value to the company. This can be how to change a process, increase collections, open a new market or bring a best practice. Don't say that you are a team player, organized and work well with others. This is not value. Offer ideas on how the company can make more money.

#3: End with a call to action. Suggest a time and date for an in-person meeting. "It will make the company say, 'It's worth talking to this person. We'd like to hear what he has to say."

The idea is to create a disruption by offering creative ideas. Miller has trained 700 people on how to get a job and written business books like Quit Your Job Often and The Career Coach.  You can see a video of the talk I saw him give by visiting http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/7727159

"Adding value" is a difficult concept for literal-minded lawyers to wrap their minds around. What is known is that law firms that do add value to a client relationship will get hired over and over again. 

At the recent LSSO (Legal Sales and Service Organization) meeting in Chicago, the "51 Practical Ways for Law Firms to Add Value" came up for discussion The list of 51 tactics to add value was developed by the Law Firm Value Committee, composed of representatives from eight major law firms.  This document is reprinted from the website of the Association of Corporate Counsel.

1. Conduct a pre-matter planning session before every major matter to ensure that the attorneys and the client are aligned regarding goals, objectives, outcomes, fees, communications, updates, team members, etc.

2. Conduct an end-of-matter review with the client at the conclusion of a significant matter, or as needed during the course of a significant matter as a checkpoint.

3. Work with the firm's financial group to develop accurate and timely data to understand costs and benchmark efficiencies. Provide ongoing, real-time access to matter details such as actual cost vs. budget and work in progress. Utilize an integrated financial dashboard to analyze historical, current and planned pricing per client, matter and attorney in real time.

To see the other 48 visit the LawMarketing Portal at www.LawMarketing.com.

Who isn't sick to death about the overload of email? The helpful folks at the ABA's Law Practice Today offer some tips:

Two Folders Everyone Should Have: Outlook tools such as Rules and Alerts and add-ons may help you manage your inbox, but they need to be coupled with the right folders in order to be truly effective. These two folders can bring you a long way in helping you sort automatically a great amount of your emails:

1. "Non-urgent”: Where non urgent communications such as general announcements inside your organization or newsletters should be automatically sorted in this folder by an Outlook rule.
2. “Buffer”: A buffer zone between your inbox and the trash, to keep your inbox clean from emails that you know you will eventually delete, but that you’re scared of sending to trash too soon. This is where you would sort the conversation-like threads that don’t need to be archived in the long term. This folder is especially useful when using these Outlook add-ons that can sort both outgoing and incoming mail when replying.

Rule To Delay Sent Mail By One Minute (in case you change your mind):

1. In Outlook, click on the Tools menu . Rules and Alerts . New Rule button.
2. Under "Start from a blank rule," choose "check messages after sending."
3. On the next screen ("which conditions do you want to check"), don't check anything (you want this rule to apply to every email you send) and click the Next button at the bottom. You'll see the following dialog (click Yes):
4. In the next screen, check "defer delivery by a number of minutes," and then click the hyperlink for "a number of" at the bottom of the screen and enter the number of minutes you want to delay your email.
5. Click Next and add any exceptions (for people you don't want to delay email to).
6. Click Next, name your rule Delay and click Finish.

Rule To Keep Track of Delegated Email: Many people forward email to others to deal with but have a difficult time remembering what they delegated for follow up purposes. Here's a rule that will help.

1. First, create a folder in Outlook called Delegated Email.
2. In Outlook, click on the Tools menu . Rules and Alerts . New Rule button
3. Under "start from a blank rule," choose "check messages when they arrive" and click Next at the bottom of the dialog.
4. Under "check which conditions do you want to check," check BOTH "from people or distribution list" and "where my name is in the CC box." At the bottom of the dialog, click the hyperlink for "people or distribution list" and add your email address. We're basically creating a rule that will look for emails from you and copied to you. Click Next.
5. Under "what do you want to do with the message," choose "move it to the specified folder." Make the specified folder your Delegated Mail folder. Click Next and add any exceptions. Click Next, name it and click Finish.

To read and download the rest of this article, visit the Best of ABA TECHSHOW Archives at www.techshow.com/bestofabatechshow .

In-house attorneys are turning away from print sources, and now are using new media platforms to get their legal, business, and industry news and information, according to the new Corporate Counsel New Media Engagement Survey.

The social networking and new media tools that in-house counsel most frequently use for professional reasons are LinkedIn, blogs, and -- surprise -- Wikipedia.  Other highlights:

• Blogs are an increasingly preferred mechanism for obtaining business and legal industry information. Half of in-house counsel agree or somewhat agree that in the future, high-profile blogs authored by law firm lawyers will influence the process by which clients hire law firms.
• Online beats print: Corporate counsel now are getting more of their business- and legal-industry related information online than from traditional print sources. 62 percent of in-house counsel prefer to access their business and industry news online via publication web sites compared to 42 percent who prefer the print vehicle. While at first surprising data, a glance at a roomful of lawyers accessing Blackberries, IPhones, Kindles, and iPads helps put this shift from print to online in perspective.
• Wikipedia maintains strong credibility with this audience as well, consistent with its high scores in familiarity, professional and personal use among in-house counsel. This is significant given that its open, uncontrolled platform often is criticized for its inaccuracy. This finding may suggest that respondents appreciate them as a “community generated” offerings, willingly trading off questions about the validity of their data for the “open” process by which they receive their content.

Interestingly, a majority of in-house counsel never use Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Plaxo, M-H Connected and Legal OnRamp.  This exposes a mismatch between the sites where law firms devote their new media marketing and the sites that clients use to find information about lawyers.

For an analysis of how new media platforms influence business development, visit the LawMarketing Portal at www.LawMarketing.com.

The number of Americans who use Twitter at least once a month remains relatively small, at 17 million, or about 7% of the total population, according technologist Erik Sass writing in The Social Graf blog.

Separate figures from Nielsen and ComScore suggest the site has been attracting an average 20-22 million unique visitors in the U.S. in the first months of 2010. In contrast, Facebook has been online twice as long and has six times the number of unique visitors.

Twitter has grabbed the imagination of a sizeable subset of professional Americans, and it has garnered a huge level of name recognition in the U.S. population with 87% of respondents to a recent Arbitron-Edison Research study saying they were aware of the site.

"This raises the question of whether Twitter can truly go "mass market" in the same way other sites like Facebook and MySpace have. Looking at the trend lines, the answer would seem to be "no," Sass writes.  The chart below tells the story:

For the rest of Sass's insights, visit the LawMarketing Portal at www.LawMarketing.com.

Legal hiring remains a bright spot in a transitional economy, with one-third of attorneys interviewed for The Robert Half Legal Hiring Index indicating they plan to add legal jobs this quarter. Among the findings:

• 33 percent of lawyers interviewed plan to hire full-time staff in the next three months. Just 2 percent plan staff cutbacks. The net 31 percent increase is up five points from last quarter’s survey.
• 83 percent of lawyers are confident in their organizations’ prospects for growth in the third quarter.
• 47 percent of lawyers said it is challenging to find skilled legal professionals, up 6 points from the previous survey.

The new report tracking legal hiring was released today by Robert Half Legal, a specialized staffing firm placing lawyers, paralegals and legal support staff on a project and full-time basis.  You can find full survey results at www.roberthalflegal.com/PressRoom. 

When asked whether they have a virtual law office/virtual law practice (i.e., do not typically meet with clients in person, and primarily interact with clients using Internet-based software and other electronic communications software), 14% percent of lawyers surveyed responded affirmatively, according to the new 2010 ABA Legal Technology Survey Report Update.

Of counsel and solo respondents were most likely to report having a virtual law office/virtual law practice (27% and 19% respectively).

• When asked whether they personally maintain a presence in an online community/social network such as Facebook, LinkedIn, LawLink, or Legal OnRamp, overall, 56% of respondents answered affirmatively, compared with 43% in the 2009 survey and 15% in the 2008 survey.

• Far from being a time waster, nascent efforts at social networking are yielding fruit. Ten percent of respondents report that they have had a client retain their legal services as a result of use of online communities/social networking.

Technology has even invaded the courtroom:

 • The percentage of respondents who report using PDAs/smartphones/BlackBerrys in the courtroom has increased in the 2010 survey to 71% from 60% in the 2009 survey.

• Respondents report using their PDAs/smartphones/ BlackBerrys in the courtroom to check for new e-mail (64%, compared with 52% in the 2009 survey), followed by sending e-mail (60%, compared with 49% in the 2009 survey), and calendaring (46%, compared with 39% in the 2009 survey).

The 2010 ABA Legal Technology Survey Report is presented serially in downloadable PDF format as six separate volumes for $350.

These slides were just shown at the LSSO RainDance conference in Chicago, during the general counsel panel "Leverage the Relationship and Grow the Revenue."

How can you tell if a client team is working? Key indicators are:

• A satisfied client.
• An increase in the number of relationships at the client.
• More revenue from the client.

This was the considered view of a panel of in-house law firm business development experts speaking at the Legal Sales and Service Organization (LSSO) annual RainDance conference Chicago. They included:

• Mike Duffy, Director of Client Services at King & Spalding. He works exclusively on client team management
• Linda L. Fleming, Esq., former Director of Business Development at Buchanan Ingersoll.  She is the firm's key account training professional.
• Kelvin Chin, a sales director at Womble Carlyle.  He has been at the 500-lawyer firm only 9 months, but has sold to GCs for more than 20 years in other jobs.
• Patrick Fuller, Managing Account Director for Hubbard One, who moderated the panel.

Fleming and Chin said that the key measurement is client satisfaction.  Chin said Womble will conduct 100 client surveys in 2010 -- 40 done personally by the firm's chairman. "It's difficult to get the chair to find the time, but we're committed to it," he said. "I'm a results-oriented guy.  I will ask 'is the client really happy?' "Are we bringing in more work from them?' and 'Is the client willing to go to bat for us and give us a really good reference.'  That would be a signature of success."

To measure success, Duffy meets regularly with the relationship partner on a client team and delivers a complete financial report with an analysis: revenue growth, revenue per lawyer, write-offs, the number of practice groups and offices serving a client and more. "We also track whom we know at the client, create a relationship map (connecting a lawyer with a person at the client) and I ask if we're touching each one regularly."

Duffy also establishes client pursuit teams to go after prospective clients. He asks each practice group leader to name five prospective clients, and narrows the total down to 35 clients. The firm appoints a partner to head up the team to pursue them from 18 to 24 months -- or even longer.

Rewarding client teams for their successes is difficult.  Business developers have no way to change the firm's compensation system or alter existing compensation credits. But the panelists said they had found a more effective reward the money: recognition.

Duffy said, "I always ask, 'how can I make the team members look good?'" Fleming agreed, saying, "having a team publicly acclaimed for what they did is more valuable than anything else you could do for them.  She recommended that business development professionals read the book Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us by Daniel H. Pink (about $16 on Amazon.com).

The speakers agreed that client teams will continue to be a key part of business development for years to come. Duffy said, "First, the results prove the value of client teams. Second, clients want them." Chin agreed, saying, " Clients are demanding that more attention be focused on them."

"Our  client interviews have led me to conclude that it's good to give clients good service, but they are also looking for something extra -- creativity and innovation.  Without a client team, you can't achieve that."

Do you have at least mild glossophobia—the fear of public speaking? Lawyers may be less daunted by it than most people because of the nature of our profession. Yet the prospect of speaking to a group of people can raise the heart rate. A 1993 survey identified public speaking as the number-one subject of nightmares.

Imagine you want to attract more clients in a new practice area. Effective presentations that illustrate your experience and services can reach people who will refer business to you.

Here's how to become a good public speaker:

• Listen to great speakers. Study not so much what the speaker is saying, but how he or she was saying it. Notice all the things the speaker is doing to capture the attention of the audience.
• Hire a speech coach.  You'll learn that great public speaking is a skill to be learned, and not necessarily an in-born talent. A coach can show you simple techniques, videotape you so you can see yourself and give you support.
• Use PowerPoint to illustrate -- not be -- your presentation.  After you have made a big point, hit the letter B. That will blank out the screen. Now the audience has nothing to look at except you. Now is the time to ask questions of your audience and engage them. When you are ready to move on again with the slides, hitting the space bar will bring the screen back.
• Handouts and downloads. Never give out a copy of your slides in advance if you can help it. Without handouts, people will be less distracted. They will look at you and will see your slides in context, under your control.
• Reach larger audiences with a web seminar.  The technology is simple -- if you can make a slide show, dial a phone and click on a computer screen, you have all the skills you'll need. You'll present by speaking into a phone and advancing slides on a website.  You can even do a webinar in your pajamas.
• Follow up after the speech. You absolutely must follow up with your audience. Ask the event organizers whether you can get a list of the attendees’ names and contact information. If you are not given that information, have a bowl near the entrance to the room. Invite your audience to drop their business cards into the bowl if they would like to receive an article or some other information on your topic.

For more details, see the excellent article by Wells H. Anderson, JD, a veteran legal technology consultant, who runs Active Practice LLC

 

The Internet is the top source of information by decision makers in seven industries -- more so than print trade publications -- according to a recent Starch Information Sources Study. The research was sponsored by The Canadian Business Press to measure the effectiveness of specialized business publications versus other information sources.

Recognizing that Canada is generally a microcosm of the U.S. marketplace, the data developed in this study should guide market and media planning in the U.S.

The study included combined unduplicated circulation of the 58 major individual publications serving seven industries:

• Manufacturing
• Retail
• Automotive & Trucking
• Information Technology
• Construction
• Agriculture
• Travel/Tourism

Business and professional publications provide reliable, industry-specific news and information as well as being repositories of knowledge on the industries they cover and are the ultimate targeted medium.

As a business-to-business information source, the Internet has shown spectacular growth in influence since first evaluated in 1996. The Internet showed a significant 23 percentage point gain since 2004, which launched it into the top position. Trade shows have shown a gain of 11 percentage points since 2004, and are tied in their overall rating with Specialized Business Publications. Conventions/Seminars showed a gain of 6%.

For additional information, please visit the CBP online.

There are dozens of poorly thought out web addresses, largely from companies who naively slurred their innocent-sounding names into a single word without noticing the resulting double entendres.

One example of what can go wrong when choosing web addresses is Big Al's bowling alley in Vancouver, which presumably did not notice when naming its site that "I love Big Al's" with spaces removed could equally be read as "I love bi gals".

Andy Geldman, author of Slurls: They Called Their Website What? said, "In a world without spaces we mentally insert out own. And you might not stick yours where I stick mine."

Among the 150 web pages featuring in the book are Pen Island's home page, www.penisland.net, and Les Bocages, a British firm of tree surgeons working in France who are named after the French word for "groves" but also have the unfortunate web moniker "lesbocages".

The potential for amusement has also led to a number of spoofs, notably the website purporting to be the Italian home page for energy company Powergen – powergenitalia – which is really unaffiliated with the company.

For the firms affected, however, the errors are not always taken lightly. A spokesman for Choose Spain, a holiday company found at choosespain.com, told the Sunday Times: "It was too late to change it once we realized."  ("Chooses pain")

Experts Exchange – a site where programmers can trade advice – is found at www.expertsexchange.com

La Drape – a British company selling high-end quilted bedspreads – is listed at www.ladrape.co.uk

American Scrap Metal – a scrap metal recycling firm – has its website at www.angelfire.com/alt/americanscrapmetal  ("Americans Crap Metal")

Speed of Art – a collective or art designers – are online at www.speedofart.com

Therapist Finder – a directory for therapy services – can be located at www.therapistfinder.com

Have you got any more? Submit a comment please!

Here's a twist: the recession has clobbered big firms, but it's actually helped drive Fortune 500 clients to small, midsize and boutique law firms, according to a new study by Robert Half Legal, a recruiter of lawyers for law firms and corporate legal departments.

"Although all law firms have suffered to some degree in the economic downturn, many small and boutique firms were able to turn adversity into opportunity. Because of their lower overhead and operating costs, small firms can offer the same legal services for significantly less than large firms. This makes both new and established small firms attractive to cost-conscious clients," according to the report, "Future Law Office: Delivering Maximum Value in a Cost-Conscious Legal Era."

“In-house counsel of bigger clients have become more cost sensitive, and will opt for a smaller firm that can deliver what the clients need at a lower cost,” Yee-Yoong Yong, a partner at Epps Yong & Coulson in Los Angeles, told Robert Half.

Providing large-firm expertise at small-firm rates has become even easier because many small and midsize firms have picked up talent that was unavailable to them before the recession. This has helped arm boutique firms with the capability to serve middle-market companies that can’t afford big-firm rates.

“114 partners left The AmLaw 200 to start or join small practices, up from 70 in the previous 12-month period,” the report says. "Five former Clifford Chance partners, for example, launched a boutique firm that focuses on international arbitration, reinsurance and commercial litigation. In an article in the New York Law Journal, Nate Raymond notes that the new firm, Chaffetz Lindsey, is 'able to bill up to 20 percent to 30 percent less than [the founders] did at Clifford Chance.'”

Small firms also are appealing to emerging companies in sectors such as technology and life sciences. Some small firms have been able to pick up business that larger firms had to pass up because of conflicts of interest. A small handful of boutique law firms in Boston that specialize in business bankruptcies, for example, has kept busy throughout the downturn.

A recent study by Nielson indicates that 30% of smart phone owners are actively using the internet via their phones. This number will surely grow as sales of smart phones exceed sales of computers. It is more crucial than ever that law firms respond proactively.

A mobile website, or “mobi,” offers the user an abbreviated version or your main website that responds quickly and efficiently to their needs and interests, such as blog post, bios, case studies and core capabilities.

Moiré Marketing Partners this week became the first full-service "professional services marketing" agency to launch a mobile website. Jeff Roberts, president and creative director of Moiré, said, “We want our clients and prospects to find information without the obvious issues commonly seen on other sites while searching the mobile web. We believe that the need for a mobile website is so crucial to your brand, that we have integrated them into all website projects we are engaged in. It should not be an option, but a necessary element in any brand.”

2008 there were 131 million smart phones sold worldwide. By 2013, the number of smart phones sold annually is expected to exceed 1.1 billion, according to the Parks Associates industry research firm. At that point, pretty much every man, woman, and child in the Western world will own a smart phone.

There are many mobile websites already developed and running. The LawMarketing Portal has had a mobile-friendly website online since June 2009. Other examples include mobile websites of CNN, Domino’s Pizza and ESPN. They are all similar in that they offer a unique user experience that is easy to navigate with quick precision.

With offices in Washington, DC and Long Beach, CA, Moiré Marketing Partners is a strategic branding and communications agency specializing in the success of professional service firms. Core services include branding, brand strategy, positioning and messaging, website design and development, mobile and micro sites, search engine marketing, advertising, brochures, annual reports and copy writing.

For more information contact Jeremy Hoders at (202) 822-0100 or at jhoders@moiremarketing.com.

Lateral hiring in the legal profession increased 28 percent from April to May — the highest percentage growth since the turn of the calendar year, according to Law360.

In May, a total of 202 partners, shareholders, of counsel, special counsel and managing partners moved to new firms, as compared to the 158 lateral moves in April. This is important an important tactic in business development, because the primary reason a firm hires a lawyer laterally is for the book of business they bring with them.

Lateral movement grew 1.5 percent in March over February, to a total of 202 lateral moves. The slight increase came after a 15 percent rise in February, which followed a 153 percent spike in lateral moves between January and December, according to Law360.

Among the big law firms:

• Baker Donelson Bearman Caldwell & Berkowitz PC was the big winner in May, scoring 11 laterals.
• DLA Piper and Reed Smith closely followed, snagging 10 and nine laterals, respectively.
• Greenberg Traurig and Jackson Lewis both brought on seven laterals in May
• Foley & Lardner and White and Williams lured six laterals and Hunton & Williams brought in five.
• Jones Day, Mayer Brown and Shipman & Goodwin each snagged four laterals.
• The firms adding three laterals were: Baker & McKenzie, Eckert Seamans Cherin and Mellott, Hogan Lovells, K&L Gates, O’Melveny & Myers, Reinhart Boerner Van Deuren, Taft Stettinius & Hollister, White & Case and WilmerHale.

Corporate finance and securities, which saw 37 laterals switch firms, were the practice areas that experienced the most movement. The area of intellectual property saw 25 laterals change firms, and 22 insurance laterals moved.

The employment and energy practice areas both had 17 laterals pack their bags. Other practice areas with a lot of shake-ups included real estate, which experienced 13 moves; health, which had 12; and financial services, which had 11 lateral moves.

What do Michael Jackson’s mistakes, Marlon Brando’s mess-ups, Frank Sinatra’s faux pas, Jerry Garcia’s gaffes and Leona Helmsley’s lapses in their estate planning have to do with yours?

“Everything,” explain husband-and-wife legacy attorneys Danielle and Andrew Mayoras, co-authors of the entertaining and enlightening new book, Trial & Heirs: Famous Fortune Fights (Wise Circle Books, $19.95).

It’s a great book for estate planning lawyers to give to clients to illustrate the disasters that will happen without good legal advice.

Of course, the same estate errors that millionaire celebrities make when divvying up their wealth before they die also apply to the rest of us. They can divide the intended heirs for years, and wreck the loved one’s lives during prolonged probate battles that could have been completely avoided with proper planning.

• Lady Di left a detailed will, but also a separate letter expressing different wishes. The letter was ignored.
• Former Chief Justice Warren Burger left a 176-word will. It failed to give his co-executors the power to sell real estate and pay taxes.
• Michael Jackson left a will, but it included an unfunded family trust. This meant the estate had to go through probate, leading to a nasty fight over who would administer the estate.
• Martin Luther King died without a will, leading to lawsuits filed against each other by his three children. As a result a movie about his life was never made.

"Our goal is to use celebrity stories to get families talking about the sometimes uncomfortable subjects of wills and trusts, and to motivate them to do this critical planning," said Danielle B. Mayoras, a renowned estate planning attorney, educator and gerontologist.

“Estate fights don’t just happen to the rich and famous,” said Andrew W. Mayoras, a successful probate attorney and author of the poplar probatelawyerblog.com. “As a litigator, I’ve seen firsthand how families are torn apart due to poor or incomplete planning on the part of their deceased relatives.”

The authors  hope to spark a national conversation from Sunset Boulevard to Main Street by explaining the basics of wills and trusts, discussing the importance of having a good attorney, and starting family discussions about well-publicized celebrity cases.

Florida lawyer Mark P. Stopa says he now has 350 clients in foreclosure, each of whom pays $1,500 a year for a maximum of six hours of attorney time. “I just do as much as needs to be done to force the bank to prove its case,” he said.

His solo practice generates $525,000 per year. With offices in Tampa and Orlando, he sends out letters — 1,700 in a recent week — to homeowners who have had a foreclosure suit filed against them by a lender. Even if you have “no defenses,” the form letter says, “you may be able to keep living in your home for weeks, months or even years without paying your mortgage.”

It's true. The average time it takes for a homeowner who stops paying on a mortgage to actually get evicted has increased 75% since 2008, according to the New York Times.

• In New York, the average property spends 561 days foreclosure -- one year and 6+ months.
• In Florida, the average property spends 518 days in foreclosure.
• The average borrower in foreclosure has 438 days before actually being evicted, up from 251 days in January 2008, according to LPS Applied Analytics.

Smart real estate lawyers who used to handle only closings are now adapting their practices to include foreclosure defense.

On Stopa's website http://www.stayinmyhome.com, he takes payments via PayPal from $100 to $3,000 depending on which of 11 options a client choose during an initial interview. "Some of you reading this may be unemployed (with few or no job prospects)," states on the site. "Others may have a six-figure salary but can't afford the mortgage on your six-bedroom, waterfront home that's decreased in value by half in the past three years.   Whatever your situation, if you're facing foreclosure, we're confident we can help."

In practice for eight years, he launched his own practice in 2008 in litigation, appeals, and commercial disputes. As the economy worsened, more and more clients approached him with foreclosure problems.  

Many mortgages were sold by the original lender, permitting a homeowners’ lawyer to force the lender to prove that they actually own the loan. In one client’s case, Stopa filed a motion to dismiss on March 17, 2009, and the case has not moved since then. He filed a similar motion for the son of the client last December.