Docket The
Denver Bar Association I Vol. 33 Issue 2 I February 2011
Inside Building Your Online Profile by Mark Beese
Celebrating the Life of Jim Covino by Natalie Lucas
New Dawn Journal: Life in Iraq by Capt. Jeffrey Sherman
Well Connected
How one Denver attorney is exploring the wide world of social media
Docket The
Denver Bar Association I Vol. 33 Issue 2 I February 2011
ON THE COVER 4
The Social Media Experiment
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Building Your Online Profile
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New Dawn Journal
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Celebrating the Life of Jim Covino
FEATURES 10
Book Review: “Social Media for Lawyers: The Next Frontier”
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Eating Well at Work
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Bar Review: Rackhouse Pub
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Wrong Turn at Roswell
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IN EVERY ISSUE 26
Legal Affairs
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Dates on the Denver Docket
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Picture This
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OMISSION: Denver County Court Presiding Judge John Marcucci was mistakenly omitted from the 2011 Denver County Court Assignments in the January issue of The Docket. Marcucci is assigned to room 108 of the Denver City and County Building, 1437 Bannock St. His phone number is (720) 865-7870. The Docket regrets this error.
The Docket A publication of the Denver Bar Association. Views expressed in articles reflect the views of the author, not the views of the authors’ employers, The Docket Committee, or the Denver Bar Association, unless expressly stated. Deadline for articles is five weeks prior to the issue date; for example, February articles are due (on disk or by e-mail) Dec. 19. To advertise, call Alexa Drago at (303) 824-5313. Docket Committee: Mariya Barmak, Norman Beecher, Becky Bye, Michael J. Decker, Craig C. Eley, David L. Erickson, Loren R. Ginsburg, Robert J. Kapelke, Paul F. Kennebeck, Natalie Lucas (chair), Alicia J. McCommons, Daniel R. McCune, Douglas I. McQuiston, William R. Meyer, Eric R. Newmark, Richard L. Ott, Jr., Siddhartha H. Rathod, Gregory D. Rawlings, Frank J.
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Schuchat, Marshall A. Snider, Daniel A. Sweetser, Erica Vargas, Anthony J. Viorst, Dennis P. Walker, Elizabeth A. Weishaupl DBA Officers: Stacy A. Carpenter, President; Ilene L. Bloom, President-Elect; Daniel R. McCune, First Vice President; Kwali M. Farbes, Second Vice President; John T. Baker, Immediate Past President; Richard Strauss, Treasurer; Board of Trustees members: James G. Benjamin, Paul Chessin, Nancy L. Cohen, Michelle B. Ferguson, Valerie A. Garcia, Annie T. Kao, Vance O. Knapp, Meshach Rhoades, Anthony M. Ryan, Daniel A. Sweetser. Chuck Turner, Executive Director. Editor: Sara Crocker P.C. Editor: Chuck Turner Graphic Designer: Kate Mills
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(303) 860-1115 www.denbar.org/docket Copyright 2011. The Docket (ISSN 10847820) is published monthly, except for the combined issue of July/August, by the Denver Bar Association, 1900 Grant St., Suite 900, Denver, CO 80203-4336. All rights reserved. The price of an annual subscription to members of the DBA ($15) is included in their dues as part of their membership. Periodicals postage paid at Denver, CO and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER send address corrections to The Docket, Denver Bar Association, 1900 Grant St., Suite 900, Denver, CO 80203-4336.
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February 2011 I The Docket
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The Social Media Experiment Defriending the Notion that Lawyers Don’t Need Social Media
B y J im Thoma s
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wo years ago, my social media bio consisted of a poorly used LinkedIn account and an announced aversion to the very idea of “friending” business and community connections. Then, my wife and I allowed our eldest daughter to join Facebook and I followed suit to keep tabs on her. In rapid
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succession, the social media consultants who were brought into my firm, Minor & Brown, to help us with LinkedIn told us we needed to add Facebook and Twitter to our efforts, too. I ended the resulting blank stares and earned my partners’ gratitude by volunteering to lead our firm’s experiment into social media for law firms. Today, I’m 4,100-plus tweets into Twitter. I have Facebook friends that are my friends and many more who share my interests in business and the community. Some of my actual friends have even defriended me because they find my Facebook feed too boring—I thought I got past that when I went to law school. I blog, not only in my own blog, No Funny Lawyers (there are no funny lawyers, only funny people who made career mistakes), but also on Huffington Post and in guest posts for other bloggers. Tweets about my blog—my own and from other readers—are responsible for bringing my writing to the attention of the people responsible for getting me on Huffington and other blogs. And I still have an under-used
LinkedIn account. In theor y, my LinkedIn connections could introduce me directly to almost 150,000 people. This year, I resolve to make better use of those possibilities. Social media has even become a practice area of sorts for me. My seminars on the legal issues businesses should consider when using social media are always well attended (if only I could say the same for my more traditional topics). The greatest risks in social media, I tell those classes, are not, however, legal concerns. Harm to your business is much more likely from the mundane pitfalls of looking stupid and wasting your time. The same is true for you and me. Professional ethics add a layer of concern to our usage of social media, but we know those rules; we just have to remember to apply them. Don’t allow the informal and humorous nature of much of social media to lull you into forgetting either the law or why you are there. You are there to add value to your law practice. I admit to losing sight of the business goal on more than one occasion, but I have never forgotten the ethical overlay even
when some client stories would have made great material to share. For me, and I suspect for most lawyers, personal branding—being more attractive and memorable to potential clients—is the primary value of social media. I use social media to highlight my expertise; my commitment to certain causes and issues; and my more traditional business development activities, like speaking gigs and articles. Social media also allows you to network on an unprecedented scale. The good and bad of any in-person networking event applies to social media networking. I was certainly pleased the first time my tweet on a business law issue was re-tweeted (folks sharing my comments with their friends) multiple times. It also brought home the potential for harm. The offhand remark you might regret making at a cocktail party typically would not get too far. With social media, however, it is passed around and around, and saved on servers across the globe forever. Reduce the risk of a dumb post going viral by setting your social media goals up front and applying those goals in every tweet, Facebook comment, and their kin. Goals also will reduce the time
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or eliminate the time-wasters. Another sure way to waste your time is by making your social media all about your great legal work and why folks should engage you. That might be your goal (it is mine), but you get there indirectly and primarily by being social, which means sharing useful information (which is not limited to promoting your latest blog post) and by engaging in conversations that relate to your goals. This does not mean that how you use social media should be all business, either. Remember clients don’t hire lawyers or law firms; people hire people. Don’t be afraid to show a little of your personal life, but not too much about your kids or your vacations, please. I also learned that although my daughters begrudgingly tolerate my requirement that I be their Facebook friends, it does not mean they tolerate me actually mentioning them by name. Something on your hobbies or activities is good; several of my connections are road cyclists or photography enthusiasts, and now they know I am, too. Post even more on your community efforts. Tell us why you serve on the board or as a volunteer for your favorite nonprofits, and don’t forget to “tag” the nonprofit
Your social media profile should have a style reflective of your personality, or at least the part of it you use when you talk with clients. Will posts written like a brief or a press release engage your intended audience? Probably not.”
you could waste. Wasted time is inevitable; staying on-goal limits the huge time traps inherent in the games, quizzes, and videos that will stream by you. I use the blocking, filter, and list features found in most social media platforms to segregate
(in Facebook include “@” before the name) so your comments can be seen by others who support it, too. My social media community knows that education reform, children’s issues, and the arts are important to me. Many of my non-social
Blog All About It More and more attorneys are turning to blogs for information or to talk about what’s going on in the legal community, from the serious to the satirical. We’ll regularly highlight a great local and national blog. Is there a blog you can’t get enough of? Send it to Docket Editor Sara Crocker at scrocker@cobar.org. In Colorado— Rocky Mountain Appellate Blog rockymtnappellateblog.typepad. com Authors: Amanda Bradley, Peter Krumholz, Aaron Solomon, Matt Spengler, and Richard Westfall. Looking for a Colorado take on cases on appeal? This appellateminded blog is published by Hale Westfall and focuses on information and cases coming out of the Colorado Supreme Court, the Colorado Court of Appeals, the 10th Circuit, and the U.S. Supreme Court. National—SCOTUSblog scotusblog.com Editor: Amy Howe, Publisher: Tom Goldstein Nobody covers the Supreme Court of the United States like SCOTUSblog. You’ll find argument previews and recaps, audio, interviews, live blogging of opinions and orders, and much more. Bonus: the blog’s newly redesigned site makes it even easier to find what you’re looking for fast. media colleagues could not say the same. Your social media profile should have a style reflective of your personality, or at least the part of it you use when Social Media, continued on page 14 February 2011 I The Docket
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Legal Marketing’s Next Frontier by M ark Bee se
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bout five years ago, I was at a Denver Press Club dinner honoring Bob Costas with the Damon Runyon Award. Sitting next to me was an undergraduate student from the University of Colorado, who also received an award for student journalism. We talked about the use of technology in college. “We didn’t have e-mail in college,” I said, dating myself. “I can’t imagine how easy it is to communicate with friends, now that everyone has e-mail.” The student shocked me with her reply. “Oh, I hardly ever use e-mail,” she said. “Sometimes I need to e-mail a teacher or my parents, but I LIVE on Facebook.” Live? Really? “Yes—I know where all my friends are, what they are doing, and I can chat with them anytime I want. I have more than 700 friends on Facebook.” Interesting. E-mail is now an old folks’ technology. Social media has replaced it, and at that point in time if you weren’t in college you couldn’t even join Facebook. A few months later, Facebook opened its doors to nonstudents and the CU student journalist was my first “friend.” Today, Facebook has more than 500 million active users and I have more than 900 “friends,” a few of whom I actually know personally. The average age of today’s Facebook user is 38 years old and more than 70 percent of users live outside the United States. The hottest topic in professional services marketing today is how to use social media for business development. Many people view Facebook , LinkedIn, Twitter, and other social media sites as frivolous, perhaps best used as a tool to trade recipes on the
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Internet. However, some attorneys and other professionals have found ways to leverage social media effectively to market their practices. Marketing Fundamentals Before we get to some strategies and tips, let’s review some legal marketing fundamentals: • Clients want help solving legal and business problems they don’t have the expertise or resources to solve on their own. • Clients seek attorneys who are experts in their area of law, give outstanding client service, and provide value for their services. • Clients tend to hire attorneys, not firms. • Clients rely on referrals and references in their selection of attorneys and they check their credentials to make sure they are the “real deal.” • Clients hire attorneys who they trust to solve their problems. Many things have changed since AOL opened the Internet to consumers in 1983, but the basics of legal buying behavior are not among them. How clients get their information to make legal service purchases has
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for recommendations for outside counsel. • GCs check the Association of Corporate Counsel’s online database of law firm performance before considering a firm. • GCs Google first, call later. When considering a law firm or attorney, in-house counsel Google the firm and the attorney’s name to see what comes up, read articles written by the attorney, visit the firm website, check out the attorney bios, and search social networks like LinkedIn, MartindaleHubbell Connected, JD Supra, and Legal OnRamp for information. If you or your firm doesn’t show up— especially on Google—you may never get the call. • GCs increasingly are looking for attorneys with high levels of knowledge and experience in very narrow specialties. If it’s clear that an attorney’s expertise is a close match with a client’s specific need, they have a much better chance of getting short-listed. Substantive Content Marketing Although law firm branding has become a trend over the past decade, lawyers have used techniques such as
Even Abraham Lincoln gave speeches for business development purposes. ...As it turns out, social media is a much more effective tool than giving speeches at the local library.
changed dramatically, and chief among these changes is their use of social media. GCs Use Google Last year, I facilitated a discussion among more than 100 chief legal officers and general counsel on their use of social media. Here’s what I heard: • GCs use social media to query peers
public speaking and writing articles to develop their reputation as an expert and trusted adviser for much longer. Even Abraham Lincoln gave speeches for business development purposes. A notice that appeared in a Springfield, Ill., paper, read, “Hon. A. Lincoln will lecture before the Springfield Library Association, at Concert Hall, Monday night, Feb. 21st,
at 7 ½ o’clock. Admission twenty-five cents.” By providing practical and insightful information that helps clients understand a legal issue or navigate a business challenge, attorneys position themselves as experts and trusted advisers. It worked for Lincoln and it can work for you! I call it substantive content marketing. As it turns out, social media is a much more effective tool than giving speeches at the local library. Google Loves Blogs According to the Pew Internet & American Life Project, 88 percent of adult American Internet users rely on search engines for finding information and 81 percent use search engines to find information about a service they may buy. Legal blogger Jayne Navarre writes in her book “Social Lawyers: Transforming Business Development” that 80 percent of in-house counsel prefer Google to any other search engine and that 60 percent of GCs are making more use of sites such as Wikipedia and YouTube. So, what’s the best way to get your substantive content in front of Googlesearching clients? Google loves blogs. Blogs are content-rich websites, have lots of links to and from the site, are often linked to a firm website, and are punctuated with juicy keywords. Plus, blogs are inexpensive and simple to set up. Blogs are SEO (search engine optimization) machines. Many companies spend thousands of dollars and oodles of time trying to gain a coveted first-page placement on a Google search. Many of the legal bloggers I know have gained that position simply by maintaining a well written blog. According to LexBlog President and blogger Kevin O’Keefe, as of November 2010, 62 percent of the Am Law 200 use blogs—a 420 percent increase from 2007. There is no accurate number of
law blogs today, but LexBlog has created more than 3,000 in the past decade. Here are some tips on creating a successful blog: • Choose a blog name and URL (Web address) that best matches the purpose of your blog to increase your ranking in search results. Think rockymountainrealestatelaw.com, not bobthelawyerguy.com. • Hire a professional designer to reflect your brand and image. If you want to been seen as an expert and a trusted professional, your blog (and website) needs to be professionally designed. • Make sure you include a disclaimer that essentially says, “Reading this blog doesn’t make you a client and I’m not giving legal advice.” • Link the blog to your firm’s website, your bio, related blogs, and Web resources. • Have a healthy mix of original content and commentary content. Original content is information that you thought up and is helpful to your audience. It may include your insights, opinions, and recommendations. Commentary content is a post that refers to a news article, someone else’s blog post, or other content that you comment on, applying an idea or insight that is helpful to your audience. Original content takes more time to write, but is often most valuable. Commentary content can be typed in a few minutes, but too much of it is boring to readers and doesn’t fully highlight your brilliance. • Post updates regularly. Set a goal of posting at least once a week. • Consider a group blog with multiple authors from your firm, legal network, or other colleagues. You share the burden of writing while benefitting from having a blog. Some of the best legal blogs, or blawgs, are jointly written, such as slaw.ca.
Connect with the DBA Online You can follow the DBA on our website, denbar.org, and Facebook at Facebook.com/DenverBarAssociation. You also can find the Denver Bar Association Young Lawyers Division, the Community Action Network of the Denver Bar Association, and Metro Volunteer Lawyers on Facebook. If you’re still looking to “like” more barrelated pages, you can connect with the Colorado Bar Association and CBA–CLE at Facebook.com/ ColoradoBarAssociation. Find us on Twitter at Twitter. com/DenverBarAssoc. Connect on LinkedIn at LinkedIn.com. Select Groups Directory under the Groups tab and enter Denver Bar Association in the Search keyword field. Still looking to connect? Follow the CBA–CLE blog , T he L earned L aw yer, at TheLearnedLawyer.com. It highlights p e ople in the Colorado le gal community and upcoming events. You also can read articles from The Docket there. Look for the tag, Docket eFile. Get the latest on Colorado Law at CBA–CLE Legal Connection at CBACLELegalConnection.com. The site offers updates, resources, and information on case law, legislation, rules, the courts, and more. Want updates delivered to you? You can subscribe via e-mail or to the RSS feeds of The Learned Lawyer and CBA–CLE Legal Connection. Legal Connection also offers RSS for practice-specific updates.
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• Liberally use keywords that relate to your practice, industry, and clients in your posts to increase traffic from search engines. • Consider your blog as a conversation with an unseen audience. The best blogs encourage dialogue through comments and reciprocal postings. Set your blog settings to accept comments after you review them (to avoid comment spam). Respond to comments, even if they disagree with you. The idea is to explore ideas, not to always be right. Read other blogs and news sources with related content and comment on their posts, encouraging dialogue. • Use images, illustrations, and graphics without violating copyright laws. Images with Creativecommons.org rights are a great resource. • Be yourself, but spell check. Develop your blog voice. Be interesting. It’s OK
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for a specific legal topic and Piche’s blog often would show up in the first page of results. Clients who wanted more information would contact him, often resulting in a new engagement. Reporters and conference planners found Piche through the same process, resulting in increased media coverage and speaking requests. Twitter: Following Micro-Blogging Effective marketers use social media tools like Twitter to drive traffic to their blogs and to create communities of like-minded people, including potential clients. Twitter sometimes is called micro-blogging because posts are limited to 140 characters. You will find that the more frequently you tweet practical and relevant information, more people will start to follow your tweets. Here are a few Twitter tips: • Sign up at twitter.com, but download
yourself to show that you have a life beyond work—just not too much. We really don’t care what type of sandwich you had for lunch. • Use Twitter to communicate and promote your published articles and speaking gigs. • Use hashtags (i.e., #employmentlaw or #whistleblower) to tag your tweets so that those who are searching for a term can easily find your posts. This way, your tweets can be effectively broadcast to an audience much wider than your followers. Facebook: Share and Be Creative The Twitter tips apply to one’s Facebook status updates, as well. In fact, you can set up your Facebook account so that your tweets show up as your Facebook status update. Commercial use of Facebook is in its infancy, but it seems as though new
The social media world is fraught with ethical dangers for attorneys, which is a topic for a different article. My advice to clients who want a social media policy is this: Don’t do stupid things.
to have an opinion, as long as it doesn’t present an ethics problem. Don’t just report; show why an issue is important to you and your audience. Just don’t forget to proofread. Does it work? Ask Greg Piche, who started the Healthcare Law Blog in 2003 while working for Holland & Hart (Piche now practices under Singularity Health Law, PLLC and you can follow his blog at singularitylaw.net), Piche stuck to a regime of four original posts a month, sometimes more. Within a few years, more than half of his new clients found him through his blog. Where most of his work prior to blogging came from Colorado, new clients originated from Pennsylvania to Hawaii. Clients searched
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a free application like TweetDeck to use the service efficiently. Choose a Twitter name that reflects you or your practice. • Search for people you know (and respect) in your legal or business market, scroll through their followers and add those you would like to follow (and have them follow you). • Tweet regularly, but not too much. A couple of times a day is not too much. • Tweet about and link to your blog posts, relevant news items, legal trends, court decisions (unless they involve your clients), legislation, and other bloggers’ posts. Use your tweets to reflect your insight and knowledge. • Be real. Reveal some things about
applications are launched every day that could be helpful in marketing your practice. Tips for using Facebook: • Make sure that anything you post on Facebook—from your profile to pictures—reflects the image you want to portray to the world. Don’t reveal anything that might be offensive or compromise your client relationships. • Manage your privacy settings carefully. Facebook reports that only about 20 percent of users customize their privacy settings. Don’t assume that anything you post via social media is or ever will be private. • Take ownership of your firm’s Facebook page. Edit the page appropriately,
including its privacy settings, and monitor the “wall” to assure that the visitor posts are appropriate. • Consider starting an interest group and invite clients, potential clients, and thought leaders to participate in online discussions. • Use your or your firm’s updates to communicate with your audiences about changes in the law, speaking events, firm events, and related industry or business organization events. Use your status updates for announcements, such as new attorney and partner promotions. Communicate your firm’s pro bono and community involvement, as appropriate. • Leverage and promote blog posts through status updates. Link your blog to your firm’s Facebook page. • Find innovative ways to use Facebook to provide original content and insights. For example, consider starting a monthly 10-minute YouTube broadcast (a video blog, or vlog), and post a link to the video on Facebook. In Colorado, Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck has done an outstanding job using these and other techniques to promote the firm on Facebook. Jim Thomas from Minor & Brown is a rock star with Facebook – friend him. LinkedIn: Connect with Pros LinkedIn has more than 85 million users. It is considered the premier business online networking site that allows users to connect with and seek introductions from people they know. LinkedIn provides the savvy social networker with a slew of business development opportunities: • Spend time to create an accurate profile. A descriptive profile not only will help people find you but is also a strong personal branding tool. Write a compelling summary that reflects your practice, the type of clients you serve, the industries
and markets you know, and what makes you different. LinkedIn profiles are indexed by Google and other search engines—it’s like putting your résumé online. • Connect with people you know. With 85 million users, you’re bound to know a few. Search for people that you know, scroll through their contacts, and add those who know you. LinkedIn is a numbers game— the more connections you have, the wider the network available to you for introductions. For example, today I have 1,500 first-level connections, giving me access to 9.4 million people for introductions and searches. • Write recommendations for others, and ask for recommendations from those you serve. • Join or create groups that correlate to your client’s industry and interests. • LinkedIn is constantly creating new ways to integrate other content into one’s profile, including streaming your blog feed, connecting to your Martindale-Hubbell listing, linking to your documents on JD Supra, and previewing PowerPoint presentations on slideshare.com. Explore how you can leverage your original content on LinkedIn. Legal Networks: Social Networking for Attorneys There are a number of legal social networking sites, each offering a unique twist or benefit. Martindale-Hubbell Connected is a “gated community” for lawyers and in-house counsel. Many private practice lawyers have found a connection to in-house GCs through MHC’s interest groups. JD Supra and Legal OnRamp provide attorneys a channel to post articles, newsletters, form documents, and other content to a
searchable repository. Check them out to see if they work for you. Caution and Challenge The social media world is fraught with ethical dangers for attorneys, which is a topic for a different article. My advice to clients who want a social media policy is this: Don’t do stupid things. The list of stupid things an attorney can do online is long, and can include violating ethics rules by posting information about clients, expressing an opinion contrary to a client’s interest, posting embarrassing photos or statements, revealing private information, and saying false or negative things about your firm. The challenge of social media and law firm marketing is to find new ways to communicate with your audience, provide value to your clients, and strengthen your reputation and brand. The tools are constantly changing, creating exciting opportunities and creative channels for marketing. D Mark Beese is president of Leadership for Lawyers, LLC. He helps lawyers become better business developers and leaders. He blogs at leadershipforlawyers.typepad.com, tweets @mbeese; is on FB at facebook.com/ mark.beese; and can be found on the Web at leadershipforlawyers.com. Contact him at mark@leadershipforlawyers.com.
Mark Beese’s Resources to Learn More about Social Media • Introduction to Social Media (Video): commoncraft.com/videosocial-networking • Social Media Revolution 2 (Video): vimeo.com/11551721 • ABA Journal Blawg 100: abajournal.com/magazine/article/ aba_journal_blawg_100 • Real Lawyers Have Blogs: kevin.lexblog.com February 2011 I The Docket
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Book Review
Covering New Ground in the Digital Age
R e v ie w ed by N icole M. M und t
A
s someone who considers herself fairly adept at social media, I anticipated “Social Media for Lawyers: The Next Frontier” to be a bit of a yawner. I was pleasantly surprised (and humbled), however, to see how much I didn’t know about social media. Despite being the first of my friends on Facebook and authoring my own blog, I can admit that I learned a lot from this book and have made it a goal to expand and improve my social media presence, both personally and professionally.
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This book, by Carolyn Elefant and Nicole Black, is tailored to the entire spectrum of Internet users—from those who are just getting the hang of e-mail to those who have blogs and accounts with Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. At the outset, my recommendation would be to think about what you hope to achieve after reading this book and use the very helpful table of contents to narrow your focus. The book is divided into five parts: (1) Overview of Social Media and Its Role in the Legal Profession; (2) Tools of the Trade; (3) Implementing Social Media; (4) The Nuts and Bolts of Setting Up Social Media Profiles and Engaging in Social Media; and (5) Ethical and Legal Issues of Social Media. What the reader hopes to gain from reading this book determines which portion of the book will be most practical. No matter your goal, this book should not be read in its entirety in one sitting. Because there is such an abundance of information, it could be daunting for social media newbies. Part One will be most helpful to those who are either very new to or very skeptical of social media. Elefant and Black do a good job of convincing the reader why it is important to have
an online presence, and they adeptly introduce the many options for developing that presence. After all, they should know: Elefant is the creator of MyShingle.com, the first blog and online resource for solo and small firms; Black is the founder of lawtechTalk.com and is of counsel to Fiandach and Fiandach. I personally enjoyed the chapter on “Busting the Legal Profession’s 10 Myths of Social Media.” As the authors negated the clichéd excuses, such as “There’s no point in using social media in my practice because none of my target clients use it” and “My teenager can teach me everything I need to know about social media,” I found myself feeling somewhat vindicated on behalf of Generation Y. Part Two provides a more detailed introduction to the different avenues for social media, looking at directories such as LinkedIn, information disseminating tools like Twitter, and community sites like Facebook. I learned about Avvo (avvo. com), which is basically a rating website for lawyers. My initial reaction was that the site would be a cross between “HOT or NOT” (a website for rating the looks of men and women who upload their pictures to the Web) and LinkedIn; however, after a quick search, I realized how use-
ful (and a lot more like Yelp.com) the site really is. Part Three discusses factors to consider when choosing a social media outlet, provides advice to enhance the “networking” aspect of social media relationships, and discusses branding yourself and your practice. This section is particularly interesting to someone like me, who primarily uses social media for personal expression but hopes to branch out and market herself professionally as well. Part Four provides the “how to” on creating (or expanding) your social media presence. This section would be most helpful for the attorney who is familiar with social media, yet intimidated by it. The authors provide a great deal of help for the type of person—ahem, a lawyer— who wants to know the rules for creating a profile, starting and maintaining relationships, managing Internet time, and ensuring that his or her firm accepts the use of social media. Part Four provides a good segue into Part Five regarding ethical considerations of social media. Despite the authors’ early disclaimer that this book will not detail the ethical considerations
associated with social media (and refers the reader to a source that does), the authors ultimately conclude that ethical considerations in social media are like ethical considerations anywhere else: be aware of the rules and follow them. Just as a lawyer shouldn’t make deceptive or misleading statements at a cocktail party, he or she also shouldn’t make them on a blog or Facebook page. The authors conclude in the same manner in which they started, by saying that technology and the Internet are here to stay and the lawyer who avoids them does so to his or her detriment. In a way, some might find this book reassuring, as it confirms what many lawyers have been doing for the last couple years (whether intentionally or not): developing a brand. Elefant and Black do a nice job of keeping the reader engaged by including “factoids” every chapter or so. For example, “More than 1.5 million pieces of content (Web links, news stories, blog posts, notes, photos, etc.) are shared on Facebook…daily.” Further, the appendices provide easy breakdowns for basic social media tasks, such as 10 steps to starting a blog, a mini Twitter glossary,
and profile creation tips. At the end of the day, social media is like anything else: it will be what you make of it. “Social Media for Lawyers: The Next Frontier” provides a wellrounded guide for anyone looking to create a social media presence, expand into other online forums, or who believes social media to be too risky or a waste of time. Regardless of your social media goals, Elefant and Black provide the tools to make the most out of your online endeavors. D “Social Media for Lawyers: The Next Frontier” By Carolyn Elefant and Nicole Black Published by the American Bar Association Law Practice Management Section. Price: $79.95; $47.95 for ABA Law Practice Management Section members. Available at ababooks.org; enter title or product code 5110710. Three copies of the book are also available through the CBA Lending Library. Contact Lauren Eisenbach at (303) 8601115 or lauren@cobar.org to arrange to borrow materials.
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12 The Docket I February 2011
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McGraw-Hill will charge the appropriate tax rate based on point of delivery. Orders being shipped to any of the cities in Colorado listed below will be charged the tax rate listed. Arvada: 8.06%; Aurora: 8.10%; Boulder: 8.16%; Colorado Springs: 7.4%; Denver: 7.72%; Lakewood: 7.15%; Thornton: 8.25%
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Orders shipped to any other city in Colorado will be charged 2.9% tax.
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Directories will NOT be shipped until full payment is received. Provide credit card information below, or mail this form with your check made payable to “Colorado Legal Directory” to the address at the top of this form. ❑ American Express ❑ Discover ❑ VISA ❑ Mastercard Credit Card #: _______________________________________________________________ Expiration Date: ______________________ __________ Signature: _________________________________________________________________________________________________
SHIPPING INFORMATION: Company: _________________________________________________________________________________________________ Attention: _________________________________________________________________________________________________ Address: __________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ City:_____________________________________ State: ______________________________ Zip Code : ____________________ Phone : _____________________________________ Fax : _________________________________________________________ February 2011 I The Docket
13
Announcing MLM’s new website: MyLawyersMutual.com™.
MLM brings you the end of policy paperwork.
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www.mylawyersmutual.com
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800.422.1370
14 The Docket I February 2011
Minnesota Lawyers Mutual Insurance Company (MLM) was one of the first and still one of very few lawyers’ professional liability companies to have a completely online insurance application. Then we launched Practice Assets™ where our policyholders could access our knowledge library online and have access to educational materials and forms for running their practice. Now with our new website for policyholders, MyLawyersMutual.com we are introducing Electronic Policy Delivery. No more waiting for your paper policy in the mail, once you’ve retained coverage, you will receive an email with your login credentials informing you your policy is ready for viewing within your own secure “My Policy” page. Better yet, we re-designed and relaunched Practice Assets as My Practice Assets™ all within MyLawyersMutual. com. It still has all the same helpful forms, letters and documents as before, but with a more friendly interface and simpler navigation. Imagine being able to manage your policy online from anywhere, at anytime.
Paperwave - Denver Docket 2010
Social Media, continued from page 5 you talk with clients. Will posts written like a brief or a press release engage your intended audience? Probably not. No Funny Lawyers was started on the whim that if I could bottle the non-technical and sometimes funny (or at least attempted) explanations of business law I give my clients, then maybe some other business owners might find enough value in them to pick up the phone. A word of advice on blogs: There are a bazillion blogs, but few are on topics and updated regularly enough to be relevant to your potential clients (and the search engines they will use to find you). Be intentional in your decision to blog—pick a subject, a voice, and an audience, and make a commitment to set aside the hours it will take to post good content regularly. My blog posts, like my other social media posts, are a mixture of law, business, and community concerns. People who follow me online and eventually connect with me in person and folks who know me who eventually join me online, tell me the same thing: I provide useful information. Folks can understand my concerns and me. I engage in conversations and invite others to do the same. Sometimes, I am funny. All of that helps me create stronger relationships that, in turn, result in referrals I might have missed before. The mix of social media, and the time spent in each platform, might change—I mentioned this is an experiment—but social media is a permanent part of my business development plans. Lawyers follow clients, and our clients and referral sources, whether they be individuals, businesses, or governments, are using social media in increasing numbers. Social media will rarely be the only reason a client engages you, but it can be a valuable part of the client development process. D Jim Thomas is a business lawyer and a director of Minor & Brown, P.C. He is open to discussing social media with readers over a coffee or a beer, especially if you are buying. You can reach him at jthomas@minorbrown. com or read his blog at NoFunnyLawyers.com.
Wellness Brief
Eating Well at Work? Preparation is Your Weapon
B y G illi an Walsh
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h en your weekly to - d o l i s t l o o k s nearly as long as Craigslist, making healthy food choices might not find its way onto your daily agenda. Temptations in the break room, vending machines in the hallway, and candy dishes on your colleague’s desk certainly don’t make things any easier. It may seem like a healthy diet and a busy schedule just don’t mix. However, there are a lot of facets of a hectic schedule that can make for a very healthy diet when a little planning and hand-tomouth consciousness is involved. The on-the-go lifestyle often means, for example, that you are eating smaller and more frequent meals throughout the day instead of sitting down for a larger “square” meal. By simply swapping your pre-board meeting candy bar for a healthful granola bar, or that bag of chips for a baggie of homemade trail mix you prepared over the weekend, you can save yourself from the mid-morning crash, mid-afternoon drag, and eventual mid-life spike on the scale. With all the things you need to accomplish in your day, keeping a food diary probably doesn’t seem too appealing. There’s no denying it will help you
become more aware of the things you put into your body, but adequate planning over the weekend or the night before a day in the office will accomplish the same thing without the tedious food logging. Plan each day to include five or six small meals that are convenient, quick, and easy to make. Plan your dinners for each night of the week, making sure each one takes less than 30 minutes to prepare. Most healthy recipe websites, like cookinglight.com, have quick meal categories with healthy and budget-friendly options. Beverages can quietly sabotage an otherwise healthy diet. Try to stick to water and limit the coffee drinks, sodas, and juices. You should be drinking 64 ounces of water each day, plus an extra eight ounces for every 15 minutes of physical activity. Have a water bottle with a printed measure on your desk and keep track of how much you drink. Think about your colleagues who work with you. Chances are, with the same or similar occupation, most of them are just as busy as you are. Enlisting others in your quest for a healthier diet can make things easier and a lot more fun. Host weekly healthy meal lunch groups and explore the cafés and restaurants near your office that have healthy choices. Get together for “walking meetings,” where you can discuss
business while you’re getting your body moving. Get your board meeting catered by a custom salad store instead of the old reliable pizza place. Transform your desk and the office fridge into your own personal health zone, equipped with plenty of foods to support your health goals. Keep in your drawer nutritious snacks such as almonds, dried no-sugar-added fruits, and whole grain, fiber-rich crackers. Stock the fridge with pre-cut, no fuss fruits and veggies, low-fat yogurts, or a healthy pasta salad you made over the weekend that you can portion into a mug for an easy and delicious snack. Keep your glove box stocked with protein-andfiber packed granola bars that you can turn to when you’re bumper-to-bumper on I-25 or running late and can’t make that healthy breakfast you had planned on. Preparation is the key to keeping the foods healthy and nutritious during the week when you don’t have space on your to-do list to include thinking about calories, carbs, and their effect on body fat. Set some time aside to plan, enlist friends and family, and create weekly diet-related goals that are attainable, sustainable, and measurable. When you’ve accomplished your weekly goal, monthly goal, or the overall healthful renovation of your diet, be sure to reward yourself with something special you can’t find at a grocery store or on a restaurant menu. D Gillian Walsh is a personal trainer and nutritionist at the Colorado Athletic Club Tabor Center location. Wellness Brief is a monthly column that will look at all aspects of health and living well and offer tips on how to bring well-being to your daily life. Is there a topic you would like to read about? Please e-mail suggestions to Docket Editor Sara Crocker, at scrocker@cobar.org. February 2011 I The Docket
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JAG Capts. Jeffrey Sherman and Brian Azevedo outside their Containerized Housing Unit.
n e w
d a w n
j o u r n a l
Making a home at FOB Warhorse B y C ap t. J effre y S he rman Editor’s Note: This is an occasional column by Jeffrey Sherman, who will share his experiences as a deployed Reserve Officer as part of Operation New Dawn in Iraq. This column delves into deployed life.
W
hen I learned that I was deploying with the Army Reser ve, I knew life would be different from my life as a corporate and securities lawyer at Faegre & Benson. I knew I would temporarily replace my state-of-the-art, 31st floor office looking out at Long’s Peak and Coors Field. I also knew that I
16 The Docket I February 2011
would no longer be able to frequent the wide variety of downtown restaurants I love so much. Still, I don’t think I really knew just how different my life would be. I arrived at Forward Operating Base (FOB) Warhorse in late September. FOB Warhorse is located approximately 35 miles northeast of Baghdad, in the Diyala Province of Iraq, near the city of Baqubah. Diyala was one of the deadliest regions of Iraq for Coalition troops serving during the surge of 2007 and 2008, and it still trails the rest of the country in basic services such as sewage, water, electricity, medical care, and public safety. It is a region where U.S. forces have a tremendous opportunity to help the Iraqi
people and contribute to lasting stability. After in-processing with the 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team (now temporarily known as the 2nd Advise and Assist Brigade), 25th Infantry Division, I moved into my new home: a Containerized Housing Unit (CHU) that I share with another JAG Officer, active duty JAG Capt. Brian Azevedo. Our CHU is a rectangular aluminum box measuring approximately 15 feet by 20 feet and 8 feet tall. It boasts one door, no windows, and no lavatory. We placed a row of wall lockers down the middle, giving us a modicum of privacy. During thunderstorms, the CHU is deafeningly loud—its acoustics would be the envy of
many opera houses. There is a local Iraqi vendor that sells Wi-Fi Internet service for our CHU. It is very expensive ($80 per month) and very poor service—it reminds me of the old days of dial-up ISPs. My roommate and I are trying to set up a satellite dish to connect to the Internet (for an even heftier fee), but so far, no luck. My roommate Brian is a super-smart Oregon Law grad and a prior enlisted soldier; he served on an Explosive Ordinance Disposal team (think “The Hurt Locker”). He has tons of Army experience and has been in-country for several months. I’ve been fortunate to benefit from his accumulated knowledge, and it has shortened my learning curve considerably. In addition, he is able to fact-check the episodes of “Burn Notice” we watch in the evenings. Surrounding every building are 15-feet tall “T Walls,” which are thick concrete walls that look slightly like inverted Ts because their bases are deeper than the rest of the wall. They provide protection from small arms and indirect fire attacks such as mortars or rockets. The downside to the T Walls is that they make it very hard to navigate the FOB when you first arrive. The façades they create make every building look identical. Except when taking part in missions, we spend all of our time on the FOB. There is no informal entry or exit to the FOB, which is enclosed by fences, concertina wire, and armed guards. Official convoys enter and exit through checkpoints, but we cannot grab a Humvee and drive into Baqubah for dinner or a movie. The FOB is truly the centerpiece of our lives. Fortunately for me, FOB Warhorse has one of the best-known dining facilities (DFACs) in all of Iraq. It is famous
From left, Capt. Jeff Sherman, Lt. Col. Thomas Anderson, Capt. Brian Azevedo, and Lt. Col. Roger Gelperin eat in the Louis Armstrong room, one of the themed dining rooms at FOB Warhorse. for its elaborately themed rooms, including a Louis Armstrong room, a Stevie Ray Vaughn room, a sports bar (no beer, but sports on American Forces Network TV), and a movie bar with a different DVD every day. The DFAC serves four meals per day (breakfast, lunch, dinner, and midnight chow)—almost like a cruise ship! The food choices are wide-ranging and quantities are virtually unlimited. We even have crab legs and lobster tails on special occasions. They say that during a deployment, a person either becomes a hunk (from exercising) or a chunk (from the unlimited supply of desserts and ice cream). The jury is still out on my fate. I work in one of the two buildings that make up the Brigade Headquarters. My building is an old aircraft hanger than has been retrofitted with plywood dividers to create offices. The Brigade Legal Section consists of four lawyers and five paralegals. I sit in a 4 feet by 3 feet space under a wooden shelf. As you can imagine, it is difficult to main-
tain client confidentiality under these circumstances, so we keep a Conex container out back for meetings with clients. All things considered, I have it pretty good. I have plentiful food, shelter, and a warm bed. I am able to call and e-mail home. Compared with the troops today who are risking their lives fighting in the rough terrain of Iraq and Afghanistan, and the troops of the past who braved brutal conditions in Europe, the South Pacific, North Africa, and Southeast Asia, I feel grateful indeed to be stationed at FOB Warhorse. D Jeff Sherman practices corporate and securities law at Faegre & Benson LLP in Denver. He is serving as a Judge Advocate with the 2nd Stryker Advise and Assist Brigade, 25th Infantry Division at FOB Warhorse, Iraq.
February 2011 I The Docket
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Remembering Jim Covino, 1946-2010
Attorneys Celebrate the Life of ‘Tireless Defender’ tion of his commitment to service of the indigent and to the community. He enjoyed mentoring younger lawyers and would often take them under his wing. Outside the practice of law, Covino was known for his love of music, philosophical conversations, and good pie. He also was devoted to his family. When he passed away in April, he was survived by his wife and his daughter. More than 300 members of the Colorado Bar and the judiciary attended his memorial service. On Feb. 19, a celebration in remembrance of his life will be held at
by Natalie L uca s
W
hile some may remember Jim Covino as the lawyer in the wheelchair, many more will remember him as a champion for the less fortunate. Although confined to a wheelchair since the age of 19, Covino never let a wheelchair confine his goals. After obtaining his law degree from the University of Denver in 1988, Covino worked in the public defender’s office and later served as a Denver District Court Magistrate. Covino dedicated his career to the pursuit of justice for children and juveniles. He was a founding board member of the Colorado Office of the Child’s Representative. He served on the state’s Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Council. As a private practitioner, he continued his commitment to assisting the criminally accused and abused and neglected children. In 2006, he was awarded the Colorado Criminal Defense Bar Gideon Award, in recogni-
18 The Docket I February 2011
“
nity.” Skeet Johnson remembers Covino’s love for life. Covino and Johnson were fellow band members in Joe’s Garage. Covino served as the sound man for the band. “You would often find him dancing in his wheelchair rather than at his station,” Johnson said. Johnson added, “He was a friend to many. He was dedicated to the defense of the indigent and juveniles. He was a zealous advocate for the representation of juveniles in the criminal arena.”
Quite frankly, he was an inspiration,” said friend Boston Stanton. “His battle and his courage gave me strength.”
the Mercury Café. The proceeds will benefit a college fund for his daughter. Boston Stanton, who attended law school with Covino, remembers when they both entered the race for class president their first year. Stanton and another classmate were elected co-presidents their first year, and Covino was elected president their second year. Law school politics did not hinder their friendship; they remained friends throughout the remainder of law school and their careers. “Quite frankly, he was an inspiration,” Stanton said. “His battle and his courage gave me strength.” Stanton added, “A quote that comes to mind when I think of Jim is: ‘It is not what you achieve, it is what you have to overcome to achieve.’” Lisabeth Castle, who also went to law school with Covino and came up through the ranks of the public defender’s office with him, said, “He never let his disability stop him. He was well-respected by the District Attorney’s Office. He was a tireless defender, and he did it with dig-
The celebration will be held on Saturday, Feb. 19, at 7:45 p.m. at the Mercury Café, 2199 California St., in Denver. Phoenix Rising, an offshoot band of Joe’s Garage, will perform. Tickets are $20, available at the door or by contacting Natalie Frei at (303) 620-4999, ext. 1165. There will be a silent and live auction. The proceeds will benefit a college fund for Covino’s daughter. For updates and more information about this event, please visit Scri.be. D Celebrate the life of Jim Covino on Saturday, Feb. 19, at 7:45 p.m. at the Mercury Café, 2199 California St. Phoenix Rising will perform. Tickets are $20, available at the door or contacting Natalie Frei at (303) 620-4999, ext. 1165. For more information, visit Scri.be.
Dancing with the
Bar StarS
2011
for MVL
Barristers Benefit Ball
Coming April 30, Grand Hyatt Denver t $3,250—Patron Table for 10 guests (includes preferential seating and recognition in the dinner program)
t $275—Patron Ticket
(includes recognition in the dinner program)
t $165—Individual Ticket t $120—Judicial Ticket t $100—Young Lawyer and Non-Lawyer Ticket Contact Dana Collier Smith at dcolliersmith@cobar.org or (303) 824-5318 to purchase your tickets. February 2011 I The Docket
19
State Judicial makes plans
Save the Date!
Lexis Nexis® File & Serve.
2011
In 2009, the Colorado Legislature authorized the Colorado Judicial Department to build a new, inhouse e-filing system to replace LexisNexis File & Serve. During the summer of 2010, the Department’s Judicial Business and Technology Services Divisions Integrated Colorado Courts E-Filing System or ICCES. Small claims cases will be available through the new ICCES system in early 2011. The Department will transition all other case types currently available through LexisNexis File & Serve to the new ICCES system by January 2013. Progress toward complete migration to
DU Law Stars Dinner Wednesday, September 21, 2011 Hyatt Regency Denver at Colorado Convention Center 5:30 PM – 9:00 PM
court’s website, www.courts.state.co.us/Administration/
All questions and requests should be directed to Reba Nance at reban@cobar.org to be relayed to the ICCES team.
Please mark your calendar and plan to join us! Visit us online for more details at
www.law.du.edu/alumni
DENVER BAR ASSOCIATION
PLACEMENT SERVICE l
Full-Time
l
Temp
l
Time-To-Hire
Attorneys l Secretaries l Paralegals l Receptionists l Accounting l Administrators l Office Services l
Serving the Legal Community since 1986 Mev Parsons / Barb Allen (303) 894-0014
NOW PLACING ATTORNEYS!!! 20 The Docket I February 2011
Bar Review
Rackhouse Pub Serves Up Whiskey and Comfort Food B y S a r a C ro cke r
W
anting to warm ourselves with a pint or a few fingers of holiday cheer, the Docket Committee paid a visit to the Rackhouse Pub instead of the DBA offices for its December meeting and holiday party. Nestled in the south Baker neighborhood, at 208 S. Kalamath, Rackhouse Pub cozies up to Stranahan’s Colorado Whiskey Distillery. There, local is the name of the game—whether it’s the beers, the spirits, the ingredients for their gourmet pub fare, or the art on their walls—their aim is to be “as hardcore Colorado as our neighbors,” according to the pub’s website. Rackhouse Pub has an open, warehouse-like frame lined by whiskey barrels. There are tables and booths throughout that you can seat yourself at, as well as a long bar. Copper, cherry woods, and granite highlight the barrels
and cedar beams. Becky Bye, Heather Clark, her son William, Natalie Lucas, Kate Mills, Greg Rawlings, James Garts, Marshall Snider, and I straggled into the pub on Dec. 7, thanks to the construction on Alameda Avenue and Kalamath Street. We opted for proper pours of Stranahan’s (which are $1 off during the daily happy hour) and Colorado beers (drafts are $3.50 for happy hour). We also dug into a sampling of appetizers: street tacos, a giant pretzel, hot bean dip, and sticky wings. Some also tried the selection of sandwiches. All in all, we agreed the food was exceptional. Typical bar offerings like pretzels and wings were taken to a different level: the pretzel was the right combination of chewy outside and fluffy inside. The beer cheese and spicy mustard dips were wonderful compliments. The wings, though baked instead of the traditional fry, were great too, pairing a sweet glaze with a spicy wasabi cream sauce. The
service was swift and the pub filled out but wasn’t unreasonably stuffy. Those who imbibed the local brews enjoyed the selection, which ranges across the state from Denver locals Great Divide and Wynkoop to Boulder’s Avery and Fort Collins’ New Belgium and Odell breweries. The jury was out on Stranahan’s whiskey, getting roses and thorns from the Docket crew. Snider described the whiskey as average. “It was special only in that it is made in Colorado,” he said. Bye said her husband, Garts, has been hooked on Stranahan’s ever since. “He says it’s his ‘thing’ now,” she said. D Rackhouse Pub Local libations and upscale bar fare. 208 S. Kalamath St., (720) 570-7824 rackhousepub.com
February 2011 I The Docket 21
Vote Yes on Initiative 300.
Or else.
22 The Docket I February 2011
From the Docket News Desk: Wrong Turn at Roswell by G reg R aw ling s
W
hile the failure of Initiative 300 (which would have established an Extraterrestrial Affairs Commission in Denver) didn’t occasion more than lame jokes at the local water coolers on Nov. 3, the failure has been taken far more seriously elsewhere. In Roswell, N. M., home to the ET Linguistics Division of the U.S. Air Force, strange sounds emanating from UFOs have sent scientists chair-dancing away from their supercomputers. For years, ETs have been using the plumbing fixtures in the International Space Station to evade the usual laws of time and space and communicate from afar with the Roswell linguists. Staged 300 meters beneath that testament to all that is kitsch—the UFO Museum— linguists, philosophers, hackers, and the occasional stray ET work assiduously to interpret the innumerable outer space languages into Earth languages and vice versa. What shocked this jaded crew about Initiative 300’s failure was a lengthy (for a planet whose years are the equivalent of 13 Earth days) diatribe emanating from Gliese 581c, an exoplanet located 20.5 million light years away from Earth. One of the few exoplanets capable of supporting human life due to a pleasant atmosphere, water, and, well, gravity, Gliese 581c’s inhabitants have long seemed some of the most peaceful in the known universe. They even have a word for peace in their language, though it is unpronounceable with human vocal cords and not amenable to anything resembling spelling. It’s been a pet project for many of the Roswell gang to translate and interpret this alien “tongue.” Imagine, if you will, a language consisting of sounds quite similar to the
sawing of crickets constructed atop the vast roar of a Blue Whale spouting seawater. A sometime-visitor to Roswell, a Glieseian commonly called Allen the Alien (or AtheA), for his remarkable resemblance to longtime “Candid Camera” host Allen Funt, was broadcasting what seemed to be a screed, which included what sounded suspiciously like words that were the polar opposite of his planet’s words for peace. Chuck Taylor, founder and scientist-in-chief of the subterranean crew, sensed a major tonal change in the cricket sawing and whale spouting even before his supercomputer, PAL, began translating these distinct phrases: Denver, Denver, Initiative 300, Initiative 300, Declaration of not-peace, Declaration of not-peace. Not good, decided Taylor, who opted for immediate action. After clearing the usual tangled web of security measures, Taylor called up then-Denver mayor and now Gov. John Hickenlooper, who at first refused to believe that a government bigwig was calling him from 300 meters below the UFO Museum. Finally, Taylor (whose security clearance would be legendary if anyone else was allowed to know about it), with a sinister cast to his voice, whispered “BooBoo,” which caused Hickenlooper to gasp in despair. That someone calling from 300 meters below the UFO Museum knew the pet name of his first teddy bear was almost too much to fathom. “So, you’re telling me that a
planet—” “Exoplanet—” “Twenty million light years away—” “Twenty point five million light years away—” “Has declared war on Denver?” “Yep.” “Well what am I supposed to do about it?” “Within one Earth week, 128 barrels of Wynkoop St. Charles ESB must be delivered to me, care of the UFO Museum,” Taylor said. “But I don’t own brewpubs anymore. I’m the elected governor of a fine American state. Clean energy, telecom, many a military base…” “Boo-Boo,” responded Taylor, who hung up the phone and awaited his beer. It is well known in both planetary and exoplanetary circles that the only thing the Glieseians prefer to the poached SLtc from CoRo-T-7b is a good Colorado microbrew. So, as far as this humble reporter can tell, crisis averted. But the word (in clicks, hisses, cricket saws, and whale spoutings) is, if a certain initiative isn’t revived and then passed in 2012, microbrew will not be enough to save our fair city. So vote yes. Or else. D
February 2011 I The Docket
23
Denver Bar Association CLE Upcoming Programs
DATE February 1 February 3 February 4
PROGRAM TITLE Investment Banking Prognostications: What 2011 Holds for M&A —
Submitted for 1 General Credit (live in Denver/webcast)
Insolvent Estates — Submitted for 5 General Credits (live in Denver/webcast) Preventing Legal Malpractice — Litigation Practice — Submitted for 4 General Credits,
including 4 Ethics (live in Denver/webcast)
February 4
Medical Marijuana Issues Facing Colorado in 2011 — Submitted for 6 General Credits, including 1 Ethics (video replay in Grand Junction, Colorado Springs & Denver)
February 9
Quiet Title Actions — The Basics Plus Selected Advanced Topics —
Submitted for 7 General Credits (live in Denver/webcast)
February 10
Processes & Procedures in Probate & Guardianship/Conservatorship Matters —
February 11
Greattalk! For Lawyers — Submitted for 3 General Credits (live in Denver/webcast)
February 11
3rd Annual Private Equity Conference — Submitted for 7 General Credits
February 17
Preventing Legal Malpractice — Transactional Practice — Submitted for 4 General Credits, including 4 Ethics (video replay in Grand Junction, Colorado Springs & Denver)
February 17-18
Family Law Basic Skills — Submitted for 9 General Credits (live in Denver/webcast)
February 23
Limited Liability Companies in Colorado — Submitted for 8 General Credits,
February 23 February 24
Submitted for 3 General Credits (live in Denver/webcast)
(video replay in Grand Junction, Colorado Springs & Denver)
including 1.2 Ethics (live in Denver/webcast)
Insolvent Estates — Submitted for 5 General Credits (video replay in Grand Junction, Colorado Springs & Denver) Practicing with Professionalism — Submitted for 6 General Credits
(live in Denver/webcast)
For a complete listing of programs in February, please go to www.cobar.org/cle
Colorado Bar Association CLE
1900 Grant St., Suite 300, Denver, CO 80203-4303 Phone: 303-860-0608 • Toll-Free: 888-860-2531 • Fax: 303-860-0624
www.cobar.org/cle 24 The Docket I February 2011
REG ONLI ISTER CALL NE OR TODA Y!
Denver Bar Association CLE Books The Portable Green Book, 2010 Edition, with CD-ROM David K. Johns, Managing Editor The 2010 Portable Green Book will now be released every year in the soft-bound format with accompanying CD-ROM. You no longer need to replace pages or worry about whether your book is current! And, the cost of this book does not exceed what it typically costs for the annual supplements. (The loose-leaf edition of the Green Book will no longer be supplemented.)
David K. Johns Managing Editor
There were many legislative updates and other changes in 2010 — the 2010 Portable Green Book includes: • Updates to Colorado Probate Code’s UPC III, enacted in 2009 • Full text of the revised Colorado Medical Treatment Decision Act (Article 18 of Title 15) • New directives concerning Medical Orders for Scope of Treatment Act (also known as “MOST”) • Updates to the Colorado Real Estate Title Standards • Miscellaneous statutes relating to estate practice • The 2010 Select Legislative Summary has also been updated to identify areas affected • Updates to the Trial Court Resources Manual, Probate Section (formerly known as the Clerk’s Manual) • Updated JDF forms, current through October 2010 • A CD-ROM companion with all of the materials in the book, as well as the JDF forms and Instructions in Word, WordPerfect, and PDF formats. • The CD-ROM also contains a fully linked and bookmarked PDF of the complete book • Plus, the index has been updated to reflect all current changes!
CBA-CLE Books 2010 Edition CLE Item Number: ZTPGRB10B CBA Member Price: $60.00 Non-Member Price: $70.00 ISBN: 978-1-930993-79-2
Note: The Probate Forms have been updated as of October 1, 2010. The Colorado State Court Administrator’s Office is continually revising the JDF forms, and practitioners are advised to monitor the Colorado Judicial Department’s website for the latest changes to probate forms subsequent to publication of this Supplement.
FIVE EASY WAYS TO ORDER! MAIL TO: ONLINE AT: CALL: FAX TO: STOP BY:
CBA-CLE, 1900 Grant Street, Suite 300, Denver, CO 80203-4303 www.cobar.org/cle/pubs.cfm IN DENVER 303.860.0608 TOLL-FREE 888.860.2531 303.860.0624 Our office and save on shipping!
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$10 S&H plus sales tax are applied as follows: Denver, 7.72%; RTD, 4.1%; rest of Colorado, 2.9%.
The nonprofit educational arm of the Colorado Bar Association and the Denver Bar Association 1900 Grant Street, Suite 300, Denver, Colorado 80203-4303 February 2011 I The Docket
25
Legal
AFFAIRS GOOD THINGS Amy L. Miletich has been appointed the Vice Chair of Employment Law Committee of Defense Research Committee. The Miletich Defense Research Institute, also known as DRI, has more than 20,000 member attorneys, and is the nation’s largest group of defense lawyers. The Colorado Managed Care Collaborative (CMCC), a non-profit organization focused on advancing the professional practice of managed care, welcomes Cindy Pechon, attorney at law, as its legal advisor. Sheridan Ross intellectual property attorney and shareholder Bradley Knepper has been appointed to Colorado Knepper Photographic Arts Center board of directors. Founded in Denver in 1963, the center was the first venue in the region to foster the art of photography and continues to be a vital force through its ongoing exhibition programming. At a school-wide assembly, attorneys and staff from the Denver office of Patton Boggs LLP delivered 350 books and 350 pairs of mittens to Denver Public Schools School Partner: Garden Place Academy (GPA). For the fourth year in a row, the employees of the law firm have donated time and money to purchase supplies needed by the school. Through bake sales and other fundraisers, Patton Boggs works with GPA year-round to help fund Reading is Fundamental book fairs, field days, and holiday gifts. This year, in addition to these efforts, the employees donated 350 books for the library.
Rothgerber Johnson & Lyons LLP is pleased to announce that associates Jaclyn K. Casey and Kristine L. Poston Casey have been selected as Fellows of the Colorado Bar Foundation. Selection as a Fellow is recognition of a lawyer as one whose professional, public, and Poston private career has demonstrated outstanding dedication to the welfare of the community, the traditions of the profession, and the maintenance and advancement of the objectives of the Colorado Bar Association. Anton L aw Group is pleased to announce that Emanuel N. Anton has been selected by his peers as the recipient of Anton the Colorado Bar Association Young Lawyers Division 2010 Gary McPherson Award for Outstanding Young Lawyer of the Year, for his professional accomplishments, commitment to civic leadership, and inspiration to others. CHANGES Rothgerber Johnson & Lyons LLP is pleased to announce that Mark G. Grueskin has joined the firm as partner in its Denver office. Grueskin’s practice Grueskin focuses on state and local governmental relations, public sector ethics, election and campaign finance law, agency regulations, and the drafting of legislation and ballot measures in a variety of areas. The Denver office of Kutak Rock LLP
recently hired Pardis O. Farrokhyar, an associate, to join the national public finance practice group. She will provide counsel to Farrokhyar issuers and underwriters in both tax-exempt and taxable financings for school districts, municipalities, and airports. She is fluent in Farsi and is admitted to practice in Colorado. Semple, Farrington & Everall, P.C. is pleased to announce that Anna Burr, formerly with the Chicago firm of Ripes, Nelson, Baggot & Kalobratsos, P.C., has become associated with the firm. The Denver-based trial law firm of Wheeler Trigg O’Donnell LLP is pleased to announce that Miko Brown and LaMar Jost have been named partners effective Jan. 1. Brown focuses her national litigation practice on defending product designers, manufacturers, and retailers in product liability and commercial matters. Jost handles product liability, mass torts, medical malpractice, and commercial litigation cases at the trial and appellate level in federal and state courts. Fleishman & Shapiro P.C. is pleased to announce the addition of Amanda R. Pfeil, to the firm’s legal team. Pfeil focuses her practice in the areas of personal injury, Pfeil civil litigation, and domestic relations. Prior to joining Fleishman & Shapiro, Pfeil clerked for Hon. Jerry N. Jones at the Colorado Court of Appeals. She is licensed in Colorado. With the addition of Denise D. Hoffman and S. Kato Crews as Partners, Mastin Law Firm, PC, is now Mastin Hoffman & Crews PC. Hoffman has a master’s in taxation from New York
If you are a Denver Bar member and you’ve moved, been promoted, hired an associate, taken on a partner, received a promotion or award, or begun service on a new board, we’d love to hear from you. Talks, speeches, CLE presentations, and political announcements, due to their sheer number, cannot be included. In addition, The Docket cannot print notices of honors determined by other publications (e.g., Super Lawyers, Best Lawyers, etc.) again due to volume. Notices are printed at no cost but must be submitted in writing and are subject to editing and space available. Send all notices to Kate Mills at kmills@cobar.org by the 5th day of the month.
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University School of Law, and represents individual, nonprofit, and corporate clients in all aspects of tax planning and controversy resolution. Crews is a litigator and represents clients in a range of civil and commercial disputes. Rothgerber Johnson & Lyons LLP is pleased to announce Nicole R. Nies has been named partner with the firm. Nies Emily C. Teel has joined Mastin Hoffman & Crews PC as an associate attorney. Teel earned her J.D. from the University of Denver in 2010. Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart, P.C. (Ogletree Deakins), welcomes David D. Powell, Jr. to the firm’s Denver office as a shareholder. Before joining Powell Ogletree Deakins, Powell was a shareholder in the Denver office of Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, LLP, for more than eight years and served as chair of the firm’s employment practice group. Faegre & Benson is pleased to announce Marc C. Levy, Mary V. (Mindy) Sooter, and Daniel D. Williams have been named partners. Levy practices in the intellectual property group in the firm’s Denver office. Sooter practices in the intellectual property group in Boulder. Williams practices in the litigation group in Boulder. Faegre & Benson also announced it has promoted Roberta Hanson from associate to special counsel. Hanson practices in the intellectual property group in Denver. Four associates likewise have joined Faegre & Benson. Katie Gray, Gordon Hadfield, and Caroline Lee have joined the firm’s litigation group in Denver. Brandan Oliver has joined the firm’s finance and restructuring group in Denver. Denver-based full service law firm, Robinson Waters & O’Dorisio, P.C. has
added Kimberly A. Bruetsch and Timothy M. Shea as shareholders. Br uetsch will continue to focus her practice Bruetsch in the areas of commercial litigation and arbitration, appeals, commercial transactions, and employment law. Shea will continue to Shea focus his practice on real estate, banking, and commercial transactions. BRICKS & MORTAR Dorsey & Whitney is pleased to announce its move to LoDo at 1400 Wewatta St., Suite 400, Denver, CO 80202. Machol & Johannes, LLC is pleased to announce its move to the Johns Manville Building at 717 17th St., Suite 2300, Denver, CO 80202. In honor of obtaining his license to practice law 25 years ago, attorney Brad Friedman recently launched The Friedman Group, LLC to help attorneys, CPAs, Friedman and other professionals enhance their online presence, build their social networks, and generate revenue. For info visit friedmansocialmedia. com. The law firm of Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck is expanding its presence in the West with the opening of a new office in Phoenix. Its new address is 40 North Central Ave., 14th Floor, Phoenix, AZ 85004. Douglas R. Griess is pleased to announce the opening of his new law practice, The Griess Law Firm, at 1512 Larimer St., Suite 600 in Denver. The practice emphasizes business law, nonprofits, real estate, intellectual property, and litigation/arbitration.
IN MEMORIAM Attorney Emily Ann Berkeley died from a serious skydiving accident on Dec. 19. She was 38. Berkeley, a fourth generation Coloradan, attended Denver schools and graduated from Lake Forest College in Illinois. She then traveled the world and lived in Athens, Greece, for two years, came home and graduated from the University of Colorado School of Law. She and her husband, Lee Hamilton, shared a passion for skydiving. Berkeley had more than 1,400 jumps and was prorated. Berkeley is survived by her husband, parents LeRoy and Theresa Berkeley, sister Elizabeth (Brian Crain), grandparents Robert and Gloria Berkeley, many aunts and uncles, and cousins. A service was held on Dec. 23. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests memorials to the Max Fund or any charity that benefits animals in need.
Troubled by Rude and Unprofessional Attorneys? The following lawyers are willing to take calls on a confidential basis, for guidance, tips, and strategies for dealing with opposing counsel.
Panel Members
Pam Mackey: (303) 831-7364 Karen Pearson: (303) 814-7121 Dave Furgason: (303) 861-8013 Rich Hennessey: (303) 839-1204 the
Sponsered by DBA Peer Professionalism Assistance Committee February 2011 I The Docket
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Dates on the
DOCKET DBA EVENTS
FOR THE PUBLIC
All DBA meetings are scheduled at 1900 Grant St., Ste. 900, Denver, unless otherwise noted. Call Melissa Nicoletti, (303) 824-5321, to schedule committee meetings, so they will appear in this calendar.
To volunteer for the DBA Public Legal Education programs or for more information, unless otherwise indicated, contact Meghan Bush at (303) 824-5303.
Feb. 1
Lawline 9 — General Law 4–6:30 p.m.
Denver Access to Justice Committee Meeting Noon–1:30 p.m. Call Meghan Bush, (303) 824-5303.
Feb. 2
Docket Committee Meeting Noon–1:00 p.m. Call Sara Crocker, (303) 824-5347.
Feb. 3
Democracy Education Noon–1:30 p.m. Call Meghan Bush, (303) 824-5303.
Feb. 7–11
CAN Toothbrushes for tots drive Call Kate Mills, (303) 824-5312.
Feb. 9
DBA/YLD Council Meeting 6:30–8 p.m. Call Amy Sreenen, (303) 824-5311.
Feb. 10
DBA Board of Trustees 7:30–9:15 a.m. Call Dana Collier Smith, (303) 824-1115.
Feb. 15
Community Action Network Monthly Meeting Noon–1 p.m. Call Kate Mills, (303) 824-5312.
Feb. 2
Legal Night At El Centro De San Juan Diego 2830 Lawrence St. 5:30–7 p.m. call 303-295-9470.
Feb. 8
U.S. Bankruptcy Court 721 19th St. 1:30–3 p.m.
Feb. 9
Lawline 9— Probate Law 4–6:30 p.m.
Lawline 9— Accident/Injuries Law 4–6:30 p.m.
Feb. 17
Collections Clinic 1515 Cleveland Place 11 a.m.–1 p.m.
Feb. 23
Lawline 9 — Reserve Night for Real Eastate Section 4–6:30 p.m.
Join a Committee!
If you are interested in joining a committee listed here, call (303) 860-1115 with questions. For a full list of DBA committees, visit www.denbar.org.
Feb. 15
Small Claims Clinic 1515 Cleveland Place 11 a.m.–1 p.m. Pro Se Family Law Clinic Office of Economic Development 1200 Federal Blvd., Room 1018 5:30–7 p.m. Call (720) 944-2594. Legal Night at Mi Casa 360 Acoma St. 5:30–7 p.m. Call (303) 573-1302.
Feb. 16
Pro Se Divorce Clinic 1437 Bannock St. Courtroom 22 Noon–1:30 p.m.
Write for
The Docket DBA members are encouraged to send story ideas, photos, tips, and fun articles for The Docket Committee’s consideration. Our goal is to have a newsletter that’s an outlet for prose by Denver attorneys, featuring stories about members and about matters of interest to our members. We want to include both the sincere and the satirical! Send member announcements, ideas, or content t o E d i t o r S a ra C ro c k e r a t scrocker@cobar.org.
All meetings are scheduled at 1900 Grant St., Ste. 900, Denver, unless otherwise noted. Activities for the Denver Bar Association are listed on this page. Call Melissa Nicoletti, (303) 824-5321, to schedule committee meetings, so they will appear in this calendar.
28 The Docket I February 2011
Judge Kicks Off Lecturer Series with ‘Sin, Liberty, and Law’ by Wick D ow ning
W
hat’s a better way to spend your lunch hour than to be royally entertained, earn one CLE ethics credit, and gain deeper insights into some of the classics of literature? The education and entertainment will come courtesy of Judge John Kane on March 1. When he feels passionately about a subject, he can’t help himself. Once he gets started on a topic that lights him on fire, he will entertain. The general subject of banned books and censorship—of sin, liberty, and law—is one that can turn him into a torch. His lecture will consider the following topics: Why have societies in all periods of history banned or restricted works of the
imagination? Are challenges to fiction, drama, and school textbooks increasing in the United States today, or does it just feel that way? What is the legal justification for censorship? The traditional grounds are social, sexual, political, and religious, but are those grounds subtly being expanded? Is there really a conspiracy afloat that, as some would have it, “to regulate those who seem to threaten the social order?” Kane will be the lead-off lecturer of an eight-week course offered by The Academy for Lifelong Learning. This and all Academy courses are held at the Wellshire Presbyterian Church, 2999 S. Colorado Blvd. The lecture will take place from 12:15 to 1:15 p.m. at The Chapel, an auditorium in the church. No food is allowed, but attendees may bring bever-
ages in cups with lids. Registration for the eight-week lecture series is not required in order to attend the opening session. Advanced RSVP is likewise not required. Simply show up, but be mindful of where you park. No parking is permitted directly in front of the building; please park in the lot to the north. For information about the Academy, call (303) 770-0786 or visit AcademyLL. org. D
weDneSDay, March 2, 6 p.M. The University of Denver Sturm College of Law, Moot Cout Room 165
RSVP: 303-860-1115, ext. 727 or e-mail lunches@cobar.org, include name and “DBA-YLD Legal Film Night” in e-mail. This event is open to the public. Food and parking are free of charge. Two CLE credits, including one ethics, have been applied for. presented by DBA-YLD and the DU StUDent BUSineSS Law Society
February 2011 I The Docket
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Picture
THIS
Monica Márquez Sworn In as Colorado Supreme Court Justice Monica Márquez, deputy state attorney general, was sworn in as a Colorado Supreme Court Justice on Dec. 10. Márquez was sworn in by her father (below), former Colorado Court of Appeals Judge José Márquez. Monica Márquez is the state’s first Latina and the first openly gay jurist to serve on the high court. Márquez replaced Chief Justice Mary Mullarkey, who retired on Nov. 30. You can read an interview with Márquez and Chief Justice Michael Bender from the January Docket at denbar.org/docket. Photos by Jamie Cotten.
30 The Docket I February 2011
DBA Happenings Solo Small Firm Holiday Party The Solo and Small Firm Section hosted its annual Networking and Holiday Party on Dec. 13. The celebration included door prizes and a luncheon.
CBA Solo Small Firm section chair James C. Duve speaks at the section’s holiday party.
Community Action Network Committee Holiday Party The Community Action Network Committee of the Denver Bar Association held its holiday party on Dec. 14 at the Uptown Tavern. The CAN Committee provides an opportunity for members to reach beyond the legal community to the Denver community at large and provide valuable legal, educational, social, and civic assistance to those in need. Ongoing programs include addressing the issues of the homeless, education, and encouraging attorneys to serve on boards of nonprofit agencies. If you are interested in joining this committee please contact staff liaisons Heather Clark, (303) 824-5350 or hclark@cobar. org or Kate Mills, (303) 824-5312 or kmills@cobar.org. Clockwise from left, Chair Nike Fleming, Patrick Thiessen, Karen Spaulding, Chair Jennifer DiLalla, and Kalisha Chorba. February 2011 I The Docket
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samuEl Gordon, Esq.
hon. TErri s. diEm
shEldon E. FriEdman, Esq.
hon. richard d. TurElli
hon. JamEs s. millEr
hon. harlan r. Bockman
410 17th Street, Suite 1600 • Denver, CO 80202
ElainE a.WohlnEr, Esq.
hon. John P. lEoPold
colliE norman, Esq.
303.534.1254
Experience Counts…
Mediators,
Arbitrators,
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