Continuing Legal Education Today : MCLE for Attorneys & Legal Professionals : Faith Pincus : Pincus Professional Education : Continuing Legal Education (CLE), Public Speaking

 Earlier this week someone on Twitter asked me a question that I have often liked answering: How can an attorney get started in public speaking?

Below I put together a how-to guide, which I hope can be of use to any new legal speakers out there. For new speakers, I would also check out my Top 10 CLE Speaking Tips.

1. Decide on a specific topic you really like to talk about, and know really well.

This absolutely essential for any public speaker, which is why it’s both worthy of repeating and put at the top of the list. The subject-matter of your speeches will set you apart from so many established public speakers, but you must commit to studying this topic on an ongoing basis.

People attend speeches not just to be entertained, but to be informed on the latest trends and techniques in their industry. If you were to focus on social media in your speeches, for instance, you would be on a never-ending quest for information.

2. Decide which type of speaker you want to be: paid or unpaid.

Speaking engagements can serve different purposes. Some public speakers draw the majority of their income from paid gigs, and have done very well doing so. Many other professionals speak publicly to get referrals and clients, promote a product, raise awareness of a brand or cause.

Plenty of lawyers have transitioned from a career in practice to a career in public speaking, while other lawyers have used public speaking as means for building their firm’s profile.

3. Be prepared to speak for free. For a good long while.

It doesn’t matter if you are planning on being a paid or unpaid speaker. Beyond even honing your craft, building your speaking career can take very long before significant progress is made. By taking free speaking gigs, you can get positive testimonials from an increasing list of satisfied customers.

Speech and meeting planners with paid jobs require speakers with a proven track record of success, and a speech topic that audiences will care about. For some speakers, this process of “courting” with free speaking can take months or years but will hopefully generate long-term business.

Continue Reading...

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

Pincus Professional Education is pleased to offer a 30% discount on our 7th Circuit Boot Camp: A Beginning and Intermediate Guide to 7th Circuit Practice (IL) , valid on all new orders through the day of the program on September 24.* Individuals, for example, will save $113.

This deal is especially valuable to new attorneys or attorneys who aren't experienced with the Federal Court of Appeals, because there is no better way to learn the ins-and-outs of 7th Circuit practice. Pincus Pro Education has gathered together a 7th Circuit judge and a career law clerk at the circuit, the Illinois Solicitor General, and a handful of expert litigators. Unless you are a thirty-year veteran of the dynamic Federal Court of Appeals, you will benefit from this program's panel of experts.

For those of you who need at least 20 hours of CLE training before 2012—and I'm looking at you, Illinois Lawyers—then our 7th Circuit Boot Camp kills two birds with one stone. In addition to your CLE Credit, no other program will better prepare you to practice before the 7th Circuit: what the court expects, oral argument tips, briefing best practices, common pitfalls, and big (but easy to make) mistakes that you want to avoid at the 7th Circuit.

This program has been presented in CA and WA for the 9th Circuit for four years in a row and is a winner - i.e. great evaluations - every time!
 

—————————————————————————————————————————————————————

*How to register with the discount:

1. Visit www.Pincusproed.com or CLICK HERE to register.
2. While completing your transactions online, enter the following discount code:  7CIRC30

—————————————————————————————————————————————————————

If you like this discount, later on this month we will also be announcing a deal on our "Bankruptcy Boot Camp" Webinar. As always, we appreciate your comments whether they are discount-related or not.

Please contact info@pincusproed.com or twitter.com/pincusproed for any questions or additional information.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

The legal community at-large was a bit more skeptical of social media than the general public, as recently as a few years ago.

If you are unsure as to why this is, ask any legal professional. Social media is designed to break down divisions and privacy, which can lead to conflict when used by lawyers and judges.

A recent study by the National Law Journal found 40 percent of state judges polled to by users of Facebook, Twitter, or a similar social media platform. But of the same group polled, more than half believed any use of social media at their work would be a violation of ethics.

Besides this, an average law firm is nothing like a southern California Subway franchise. (@socalSubway) Law firms need to market to specific groups in order to cull clients, but will not dive into any means necessary—including social media—to get people’s attention.

Thanks to Kevin O’Keefe at LexBlog for discovering, and posting some interesting social media-related findings from the American Bar Association’s Legal Resource Center Survey.

For those who do not subscribe to this ABA survey, the results are of interest because they highlight the social media use among attorneys. More importantly, the ABA studies why lawyers use social media in the workplace, since American attorneys and judges appear to be adopting these platforms at the same rate as other Americans.

Here are is the data:
 

Why do lawyers maintain a presence on social networks?

Professional networking (76%)
Socializing (62%)
Client development (42%)
Career development (17%)
Case investigation (6%)

What social networks do lawyers use?

LinkedIn (83%)
Facebook (68%)
Plaxo (18%)
Martindale.com Connected (4%)
LawLink (2%)
Twitter (2%)
Avvo, LegalOnRamp, and LegallyMinded (1% each)

Approximately 56 percent of lawyers personally maintain some form of an account, or moderate presence, on an online social media platform—such as Facebook, Twitter, and the others listed above.

Two years ago, only 15 percent of lawyers were on social media sites. What could have accounted for such a dramatic change?

Continue Reading...

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

It's been a while, I know!  I am trying to get the hang of this whole blogging thing and have lots of ideas for the future. 

And while the post below might not start any hot conversation, it will hopefully help a few speakers do a better job, and help a few CLE attendees enjoy a program more (if the speakers do a better job! :-) ). 

So for right now, below is list of my top ten CLE speaking tips that I just emailed a bunch of my speakers who are teaching at my Federal Court Boot Camp in Chicago this friday (sold out!).  I thought I would share it here as well, since it is something I send out to the attorneys and judges who speak at my CLE  programs.

Here are my top ten CLE public speaking tips to help you be a hit with the audience:

1)     Spend the 20 – 30 minutes before your program starts mingling with the audience members (instead of sitting on the dias).

• Introduce yourself to at least 10 different people (more if possible). 
• Get their names.  Jot their names down if you can on a note pad/seating chart, so you can remember during the program and mention them by name (or call on them by name).
• Find out why they are there and about what they hope to learn.  I usually ask, literally, “so.. .why are you here?... what are one or two things you would really like to learn about in this program.”
• Why do all this?  It helps make you more approachable, will endear you to the audience, will give you a small representative idea of what some folks want to hear about, and if you are a practitioner, it is an excellent networking tool (even if they are associates) with people who may, down the road, refer you business.  Remember, some of these folks will also be experienced practitioners who are just new to federal court.

 

2)    Don’t read off  your outline.  Use your speaking outline to prompt your memory about what you wish to teach (have keywords/phrases about your teaching topics). 

Make sure you are prepared re: what you wish to teach, i.e. have multiple points and stories/examples written in your outline to cover re: each subject matter/topic, as appropriate. 

3)     If you are going to cite a case for any reason, cite it slowly and repeat it.  If you plan to cite more than one case and they are not in the outline, please bring enough copies of a case cite list to handout to everyone, so they have the resource and don’t have to rely on getting it down properly (think of them as court reporters).

4)     Try to know your stories/examples in advance – it is always hard to come up with them on the fly when speaking in public.  Stories and examples are great teaching techniques, as are metaphors.  Just make sure your stories are not super lengthy.

5)     Don’t let any one audience member hijack the program with questions that are off topic, too detailed/particular to their case, or too many questions about a particular case. 

The best way to handle this as soon as it starts is to tell them some version of the following, “It looks like you have a lot of questions about a particular issue/case, or it looks like you know a lot about this specific issue, can you write down your questions and see me on the break? I’d really like to discuss this further with you, but we need to move on right now.  Thanks!” 

And of course, answer their questions at the break of possible and if not, get their email to answer them later.

 

 

 

Continue Reading...

• Email This
• Print
• Comments (1)
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

Here are a few more tips from my interviews and conversations with judges, as well as from our programs:

 

Don't just grab that brief that your (or someone else) wrote and filed months ago and skim it before going in to court.  Study the facts and the cases like you're going to be taking a test on them.

That way you can respond to questions about anything in the brief, not just what you thought was important.

• Create a one page cheat sheet with issue, case cite, holding and page in brief

This allows you to respond to questions quickly, competently and professionally without having to search for cases in your brief while your judge(s) wait for you.

• Practice, Practice, Practice

A summary judgement motion is just as important as trial. Practice your argument, have someone moot you, be prepared.  A frequent complaint hear from judges is about attorneys who come in and wing it off their briefs.

And for a great short read about the other side of the coin, see "Five Oral Argument Tips - For Judges" on Howard Bashman's How Appealing.law Blog by the Hon. Michael W. Mosman,U.S. District Judge, District of Oregon on how judges could behave better when hearing oral arguments.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

Just a quick entry to say check out Carolyn Elefant's post on passion and enjoying yourself. 

Gave me a nice lift today as I find myself distracted by the (at last!) fabulous So. Cal. weather and wanting to take one of the dogs to the beach instead of working on work.

Go Carolyn and thanks for the boost!

 

 

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

In the spirit of David Letterman's Top Ten... here are the top10 ways to ensure you are not invited back to speak at an event:

10.   Spend the entire time you are on the panel eating snacks.

9.     Interrupt the other speakers and monopolize the program (when on a panel).

8.    Spend so much time reminiscing with your war stories you don't cover all, or even most, of your topics.

7.    Come unprepared and wing it.

6.    Bow out of an event after committing to the program, without providing a replacement speaker of equal credentials and quality.

5.     Present a canned Power Point that you use all the time, but doesnt really fit your topic.

4.     Arrive at the event a few minutes before you present with a Power Point presentation without having made any Power Point arrangements in advance.

3.     Read your outline or Power Point to the audience.

2.     Present on a topic other than what was agreed upon.

And the number one way......

1.     Show up late.

 

 

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

     This is the first in a series of Top Tip posts I’ll be making on litigation and presentation skills, culled from Pincus Professional Education CLE programs by judges, staff attorneys and practitioners, as well as the public speaking and oral argument courses I teach.

Improving your Oral Argument, Part I:

Presentation skills are critical to the success of any attorney. We need to be good at presenting in the board room, the court room, the office and even in the community, because that is what the job demands.

And, the better one is at public speaking, in any context, the more that person is perceived as an expert and a leader and the more that person advances in her or his career.

Below are five quick tips to improve your public speaking skills in the court room – but I could go on forever, and will provide more later on. These tips come straight from judges and court staff attorneys.  

1. Find out who your audience is and meet their needs: in this case – the judge(s) or Justice(s)

Make sure your presentation is right for your audience – your trial or appellate judge.  Who is the judge and what is her or his (or their) approach on the bench? Should you expect a lot of questions, a quiet judge, a hot panel? Instead of approaching the argument from your perspective, approach it from theirs.

How do you do this?

•  ask around;

•  most importantly, take the time to go see your judge(s) / justice(s) in action, on multiple days;

•  think you don’t have time for a and b above?

You really do, you just have to give something else up – one less lunch, one less day at the gym, or a few less billable hours that month … whatever it is you have to give up, it is worth it to not be surprised the day of your argument.

And you will be amazed at how much you learn just by watching other attorneys do well, or not so well.

For a quick post on finding out more about your judge, regardless of where the court is located, see "Well, You’re Better Than You Look.” by Eileen Burkhalter Smith on the Young Lawyers Blog for more ideas on this topic.    

2. Organize, Organize, Organize

One of the biggest problems attorneys have when presenting is being disorganized. That includes trying to cover too much. 

In an oral argument, you have time to cover, at most, 3 important issues. Pick your top three issues, and practice arguing them in any order possible.

For an excellent, detailed post on the how to organize, the judge's perspective, and what to expect, see Andrew Frey's article, "Preparing and Delivering Oral Argument" on Mayer Brown's Appellate Net site. 

3. Don’t read your brief or your presentation.

First rule of oral argument: never read your brief. Assume the judge and her lawclerks have read it. 

Second rule, don’t write your presentation out word for word and read it. I know some of you love to do this, but it is a habit you have to learn to drop.  

Oral argument is your opportunity to have a conversation with your judge(s). 

It’s one of the most exciting, rewarding parts of litigating (really!). This is your chance to engage on an intellectual level with your judge and it’s their chance to get their questions answered (see #4 below) and learn what they need to learn to decide the case.

None of that happens if you read a presentation. On top of that, it really annoys judges.

I once heard a 20+ year career staff attorney for an appellate court describe oral argument this way:

“the most effective advocate imagines he or she is a law clerk in chambers explaining why a judge should go a certain way. They are not argumentative; instead, they focus on having a conversation about why judge should make the desired ruling.”
 

Many courts provide tips on their website and also post post oral arguments for you to learn from.  For example check out the Florida Supreme Court's information, "Information about Oral Arguments."

 

Continue Reading...

• Email This
• Print
• Comments (2)
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

It’s time to update my mobile technology, so I decided to read a few posts on the latest options. I recommend this post by Ryan McKeen and Finis Price at the ABA Law Journal comparing the Droid v. the IPhone. 

That does it, I’m getting a droid! 

Lawyerist has a quick post about how an attorney can put an IPad to use.  I'm not convinced it's enough reason to buy one, but he has a few good ideas.

On the other hand, the ABA is talking about publishing an interactive version of my upcoming public speaking for attorneys book in a IPad platform - complete with links to video and audio samples of public speaking and oral argument do's and dont's.  If a lot of publishers go that route with their books, it makes the IPad a lot more interesting.

 

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link