Recession Boosts Employment Law Practice

Steve Moore, law firm marketing, marketing directorThe labor and employment practice at many law firms has risen as a result of the recent recession, according to a national overview from the Legal 500. “Employee benefits litigation has continued to grow apace, as increasing recognition of the opportunities for lucrative settlements has combined with the economic turbulence of the past two years,” the overview reports.

"Labor lawyers are in demand," the Legal 500 overview states. "Recently there has been a sharp rise in the number of reductions in force and restructurings, with companies requiring advice on how to target potential layoffs in order to avoid claims of adverse impact on any single group of employees. The need for counseling on wage and hour, whistleblower and equal employment opportunity issues shows no sign of slowing down."

“Many employees who have been separated from employment, either from a layoff or an outright termination, find themselves in a situation where they cannot become reemployed,” said Steve Moore, a partner in the labor and employment practice of Ogletree Deakins. “As a result, some have challenged their employers’ reasons for terminating them and alleged a variety of different claims including discrimination, retaliation, and wrongful discharge. This has led to more litigation work for our office in Denver.”

Specific areas seeking more legal activity include:

  • Employee benefits litigation
  • Employment discrimination based on age, race or retaliation
  • Enforceability of non-compete agreements
  • Misclassifying employees as independent contractors

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13 Internet Slangs with Unexpected Alternate Meanings

Thanks to Mashable for these ineffable internet homonyms. You may have thought you were using a three-letter acronym to say something simple, but it turns out to have a secondary meaning that you didn't intend.

 You wrote But it also means
LOL: laughing out loud Little old lady, shorthand used by doctors.

BRB: be right back

Big Red Button, an important, non-descript button associated with a power, reset, detonation, self-destruction, emergency shut-down, or ejection switch.
IDK: I don't know “Ident-A-Kid,” the largest child-identification program in the United States.
BFF: best friends forever Binary File Format, a procedure for storing computer files encoded in binary code.
OMG: Oh my God! Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs. One of the most notorious OMGs in America is the Outlaws Motorcycle Club, founded in 1935.
PLZ: please

Known in aviation as the airport code for the Port Elizabeth Airport in South Africa, which recently saw increased traffic due to the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

CYA: see ya

Cover your ass
BTW: by the way British Traditional Wicca, the Neo-Pagan religion Wicca that has origins in the New Forest area of England.
FML: F*ck My Life, a popular site for telling screwed up life stories Family and Medical Leave
DOS: disk operating system Dreaded Orange Spots, which have been plaguing soap-makers for ages, and apparently no one really knows why they show up
ROFL: rolling on the floor laughing Clan 52 of Medievia, better known as “Rogues Of the Forbidden Legion.
THX: thanks THX sound system, created by Tomlinson Holman for the third Star Wars film, to ensure optimal sound quality.
 BC: because  Before Christ
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Five of the funniest web URLs

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!

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A Holiday Greeting with "Stickiness"

Sally Crocker, Wolf Greenfield, law firm marketingWolf Greenfield, a 60-lawyer intellectual property law in Boston, has once again created a clever holiday greeting -- a sheet of flexible holiday magnets that combines marketing with fun.

Drawing on the talents of Sally (only the cops call her Sara) Crocker, Director of Client Services, and Jay Wager, Senior Manager of Business Development, the firm sent out a 7" by 9" sheet with 110 individual words that can be pulled apart and rearranged.

The sheet's arrangement already spells out their uniform selling proposition, including synonyms: "We are IP counsel in Boston and protect defend enforce your valuable new technology and innovation." Sally said the firm added the word "pony" as one of the words, to counterbalance the word "wolf," illustrating the firm's offbeat sense of humor.

It includes several industries the firm serves: "biotech chemical cleantech electrical mechanical pharmaceutical."  And there are blank rectangles where you can write in your own word. 

Adroitly, the late line of words spells out "but what a magnetic winter present you have from ... Wolf Greenfield."

Click on the picture to see it full size.

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Angry Electronic Pumpkin has me Psyched for Halloween

SymetriColour has mystically transformed this benign plastic toy into a creepy electronic jack-o-lantern with flashing eyes and creaking theremin sounds, sure to scare away those pesky trick-or-treaters. Halloween for audio-hackers never looked (and sounded) so good.

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Guerrilla Marketing with Gecko Magnets

In a delightful guerrilla marketing campaign, phone company Telus placed hundreds of gecko-shaped magnets over 18 high-traffic transit shelter ads in downtown Vancouver. The magnetic side of the geckos read "Bundle and save on the sure-footed network." All the magnets were gone the next day, as expected. Targeting young families, the amphibian campaign aims to encourage consumers to purchase their Internet and phone plans with the company.

In case you’re not from Canada, Telus picks a new animal every advertising season, and makes cute ads on a white background anchored with the tag line: The Future Is Friendly. The premise: if you bundle my services with Telus, you will be able to relax.

TAXI Vancouver created the campaign and Media Experts handled the media buy. Guerilla Marketing with Gekkos

 

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Great Lawyer Gift -- Personalized Cartoon

I just found the website of artist Richard Stergulz, who will create funny custom drawings featuring lawyers at www.yournameherecartoons.com.  You choose the person’s name (or law firm name) to be inserted into the cartoon caption.

A small cartoon unframed is $75, and the largest cartoon framed is $350. (Note: I get no compensation out of this, I just think it's a fun website).

My personal favorite is the "Mt. Rushmore" cartoon.  There are also cartoons with giant bulldogs, enormous cats and a jury holding up cards that say "10" in front of the smiling lawyer in the courtroom.  Take a look at the site and let me know which cartoon is your favorite.

www.yournameherecartoons.com

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The Dental Appliance that Sues the Dentist

From "goofs, glitches, gotchas" on the inside back cover of Consumer Reportes:

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Top 10 Marketing Blunders of 2008

From the Collateral Damage blog:

Special Jury Awards

Co-Branding That Shouldn’t Have Been

The Alpha & Omega of Over-reaching

Product Failure

The Penguins Of Irony “Oh NO You Din’t” Awards

 

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Blagojevich impersonator says, "Impeached? For being Awesome?"

Follow me at http://twitter.com/LarryBodine
For a great laugh, follow  govblago on Twitter -- the writer is pretending to be the F*%#ing corrupt governor of Illlinois - http://twitter.com/govblago

Here are some samples:

 govblago

After all of this political BS, I am thinking about becoming a Spokesperson for Mantyhose  http://is.gd/f0Gf  I do have great F*%#ing legs
 
I whooped Milt Patterson's ass in a "best of 3 series of drunken Wii Bowling", w/ a Beer Bong after each frame. He had to vote to keep me in.
 
Impeached for what, baby? For being awesome?!?
 
I am starving, and these $#^%ing interns are complaining about the snow, why they're late and why my Latte's cold! F&$%!
 
They can take my office, BUT THEY'LL NEVER TAKE MY Wii!!!!! *
 
Ok, Wii Tennis anyone? 
 
Who wants to go somewhere warm with me?
 
Didn't even get no static from the cowards, Cause just yesterday them fools tried to blast me, Saw the police and they rolled right past me.
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