Happy Friday everyone, and happy Chinese New Year to our colleagues in Asia! 

It's that time again - time for a weekly roundup of some of the great content we're seeing over on ILNToday. And even though it was a short week for some, there is no shortage of material coming from our attorneys! 

Since we did have so many interesting pieces come out this week, I'm going to give you a top ten instead of a top five (aren't you lucky?).

• An Olympic Headache for employers? from Fladgate LLP: While Londerners are excited for the Olympic games to start this summer, there are some legitimate concerns that employers need to be aware of. Fladgate investigates some of those here. 
   

• Vodafone Triumphs – SC Holds Tax Authority Has No Jurisdiction Over Overseas Transaction from LexCounsel: LexCounsel discusses the Supreme Court of India's landmark judgment, which set aside the Bombay High Court's decision that Indian tax authorities were right to assess Vodafone for Indian tax liabilities in their $11 billion acquisition of Hutchinson's 67% equity share in the Cayman Islands. 

• Gaga about the FLSA from McDonald Hopkins: Who can resist a post that references Lady Gaga? Here, Miriam Rosen of McDonald Hopkins examines the lawsuit filed by Lady Gaga's personal assistant, Jennifer O'Neill, in the light of the Fair Labor Standards Act. 

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Today, I'm bringing you another excellent rainmaking recommendation from expert Jaimie Field - put the social in social media.

Are you using Twitter? Facebook? Linked In? Google +? Or any of the hundreds of websites that are considered “social media?”

Great!

If you haven’t gotten on board yet with Social Media sites, understand this – Social media is not a fad. It is not going away. It continues to evolve as a method of meeting new people whom you may have never gotten a chance to meet any other way. I have personally become friendly with people from all over the world because of social media. I have also gotten new clients because of this medium.

Social Media can be very only useful when you learn these two basic rules first:

1. People do business with people they know like and trust: This means that you must be authentic and real even when you are behind a computer screen.
   
2. You must learn to interact with people while on Social Media: it’s not about just
   pushing your agenda and information out for the masses. That is called advertising.
   Use social media to engage with the people whom you follow/friend/”link-in”. You
   have the opportunity to get advice, information and leads from people who may
   know more than you. Additionally, you have the chance to show what you know.

Finally, getting “social on social media” also means taking it offline. Believe it or not, a lot of people pretend to be something they are not online (please read that last line with heavy sarcasm). Once you think you have a connection with someone online ask them to meet
for a cup of coffee (if they are local) or call them on the phone to hear their voice. Use social
media to invite others to events to meet you. Only then will you have the opportunity to
turn these people into prospects, referral sources or clients because only then you will
have the opportunity to find out if they really are who they say they are.

While there is much more to using social media effectively to obtain new clients, referral
sources or prospects, following these first two rules will help you get started with using social media
as a Rainmaking Method.

__________

Rainmaking Recommendations are sent the first and third Wednesdays of the month. They are bite size tips that when implemented will cause you to make rain. To learn more about Rainmaking, Goal Setting and Achieving the Life you want as an Attorney please contact Jaimie B. Field, Esq. If you have missed any of the previous Rainmaking Recommendations you can find them at www.jaimiefield.com The Enlightened Rainmaker Blog

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This afternoon, I had the pleasure of sitting in on the Legal Marketing Association's Social Media Special Interest Group's (a long name, so we shorten it to LMA Social Media SIG) first webinar.  Our presenters today were my friends Gail Lamarche, the Director of Marketing for Henderson Franklin and Laura Gutierrez, Marketing Multimedia Communications Coordinator with Winthrop & Weinstine.

Their focus? One of my favorite social media topics - LinkedIn! 

I won't recap the entire webinar, since participation in the SIG, and as a result, access to the webinars, is a benefit of membership in the Legal Marketing Association. But I did learn some great tips from Laura and Gail, which I wanted to share with you. 

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It has been one busy week on ILNToday, with some excellent contributions from our members around the world! My top five posts for this week are: 

• Intellectual Property Bulletin of Kochanski Zieba Rapala & Partners: Our Polish experts at Kochanski Zieba Rapala & Partners delve into IP issues covering the question of whether opposition proceedings in a European patent case would have an impact on the Polish equivalent patent, and single color protection as trademark protection, which considers the details of the Louboutin case in the US. 
   
• International Litigation in London: Paul Howcroft of Fladgate is best known for his commentary on art law, but here, he gives us his litigation roundup for 2011 in London. 
   
• The Government of India has on January 10, 2012 relaxed the Foreign Direct Investment ("FDI") policy to allow 100% FDI in single brand retail trading activities: An excellent update from LexCounsel in New Delhi, India on the latest news in Foreign Direct Investment in India.
   
• Here we go again: IRS reopens voluntary disclosure program for offshore accounts and assets: McDonald Hopkins addresses the details of the IRS' latest voluntary disclosure program, including the requirements and penalties.
   
• The So-Called "Rule of 10": A Myth about OSHA's Lack of Jurisdiction Over Small Employers: Epstein Becker & Green's Eric J. Conn and Amanda R. Strainis-Walker dispel the myth that OSHA does not have jurisdiction over employers or workplaces with fewer than 10 employees and goes through the list of partial exemptions. 

It was difficult to choose only five posts this week, so I highly recommend that you take a look at ilntoday.com to see what else might be of interest to you  - our attorneys have authored content on everything from employment law, to intellectual property to health law, and more! 

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In 2012, we're starting a new category of post here on Zen - the roundup! We've got a LOT of fabulous content coming in from our attorneys over at our main site, and I'll be giving you the highlights weekly.  Normally, I'll be doing these on Fridays, but I took the day off last Friday to give myself a three day birthday weekend, so you're getting TWO posts this week instead! 

• NLRB again delays union rights posting requirement (McDonald Hopkins): McDonald Hopkins reports on the National Labor Relations Board's second delay for the posting date of the new notice that advises employees of their rights under the National Labor Relations Act. The new dates is April 30, 2012. 
   
• Ohio Supreme Court Attorney-Client Privilege Ruling (McDonald Hopkins): McDonald Hopkins discusses the Ohio Supreme Court decision in The State ex rel. Dawson v. Bloom-Carroll Local School District, which holds that attorney-client privilege extends to communications between an insurance company and the counsel for the insured. They cover the facts and reasoning underlying the case, as well as the implications of the decision. 
   
• Employment Law Trends that Will Affect Financial Companies in 2012 (Epstein Becker & Green): Epstein Becker & Green's John Fullerton III talks about five employment trends that may be hot button issues in the financial industry in 2012. 
   
• Top Legal Issues for the Hospitality Industry to Watch in 2012 (Epstein Becker & Green): Epstein Becker & Green's Matthew Sorenson breaks down five issues that may impact the hospitality industry in 2012, as well as what lessons hospitality employers can take away from these. 
   
• Labor: Developing formal orientation programs for new employees (Arnstein & Lehr): Arnstein & Lehr's E. Jason Tremblay talks about the why and how of setting up formal orientation programs for new employees. 

Happy reading! 

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WIth the end of the year wrap-up, and still recovering from the stitches in my finger, I'm sharing another post from my friend and rainmaking expert, Jaimie Field, esq.  In 2009, she published this post, "What Santa Claus Can Teach You About Being a Great Rainmaker." 

So without further ado...

That jolly ol’ white-bearded, chubby guy in the red velvet suit with the fur trim is a better Rainmaker than you.  While his clients, children, may not be your target market, if you acquire his characteristics and take some on his abilities to bring in new clients and make them advocates for life, you can become the Rainmaker he is.

Santa Claus is everywhere:

Turn around after Thanksgiving and you cannot help but run into Santa or his image.  He is on street corners, in malls, on TV; you just can’t help seeing the guy everywhere you go.   Everyone knows who Santa is when they see or hear about him.  

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Never fear, Zen readers, I have not forgotten about our Twitter tutorials! However, I had a minor mishap with an exacto knife and Christmas gifts the other night, which has left me with five stitches in my left index finger, making it rather painful to type long posts! So between all of my recent travel and my latest clumsiness, you'll have to wait just a bit longer for the latest installment.

In the meantime, I'd like to bring you another tip from my friend and Rainmaking expert, Jaimie Field of Marketing Field. You can see her previous rainmaking recommendations here or you can sign up to receive them right in your email inbox on the first and third Wednesdays of the month. I highly recommend doing that - they're always excellent!

On to her recommendation! 

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During this holiday season, we can easily get caught up in the hustle and bustle of trying to find the right gift, baking as many cookies as possible, and saying yes to every party invitation we receive.  But recently, I've seen a lot of posts about gratitude and how to spend the holiday season helping others, and that reminds me of what I like best about Christmas (which is what I celebrate; for you, it may be something else!) - slowing down and thinking about what I'm really thankful for as this year winds up. 

Of course, there are many things in my personal life that I'm thankful for - the birth of my newest niece, and becoming her godmother, getting to spend so much time with my nieces that the oldest one gives me hugs for no reason, welcoming a new puppy into my home, which had the extra effect of calming my older dog's anxiety, having a roof over my head, food in my home, and a job to go to every day. 

But there are also some professional blessings I'd like to take a moment to share with you today - and I'd love to hear about your gratitude lists in the comments! 

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I've been preparing for (and am now away for) our 2011 Regional Meeting of the Americas here in Newport Beach.  I'll be writing more on that soon, but while I'm otherwise engaged, I wanted to share with you an email that I got this morning from my friend and Rainmaking expert, Jaimie Field of Marketing Field. You can see her previous rainmaking recommendations here or you can sign up to receive them right in your email inbox on the first and third Wednesdays of the month. I highly recommend doing that - they're always excellent!

On to her recommendation! 

Rainmaking Recommendation #46:  The Reasons You aren’t becoming a Rainmaker

There are only two reasons why you aren’t becoming a Rainmaker.

1.        You don’t know what to do

If this is the case there are many things you can do:

·         Take a class,

·         Read a book,

·         Ask a mentor,

·         Hire a Rainmaking Coach

And

2.       You aren’t doing the things you need to do on a constant and consistent basis.

As with many of my clients, I suspect this is the main reason. 

If this is the case there are things you can do:

• Create a plan and stick to it,
• Schedule your rainmaking activities and make them inviolable appointments

with and for yourself.

Rainmaking requires that you are constantly doing the things you need to do to create relationships with others and turning those relationships into new business. 

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We have looked at a LOT of information about Twitter this week, and we'll finish out the week with our final post on the anatomy of the home page.  

Yesterday, we continued our conversation about the left hand column, which focuses on the tweets in your stream, replies, retweets, searches, and lists (which I'll cover in a later post). So today, we're going to take a look at the right hand column.  

The right hand column serves as a sort of Twitter snapshot for the day, from your perspective. 

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Today, we continue with examining the anatomy of the Twitter home page. Yesterday, we focused on the tweet stream, and how to post a tweet. 

Now, we'll look at the other tabs in the left column. 

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So now we've got our profiles set, and we're building our followers.  I'd like to talk about engagement as we did during the LinkedIn series, but first, I think it's important to understand the Twitter home page.  Because Twitter does seem to have a strange language all of it's own, I want to make sure that it's all understandable as we move through the tutorials.  One of the best recommendations I can give you though, is to play around with Twitter as much as possible - with all of the various social media platforms out there, I've found that diving in is one of the best ways to learn what Twitter is all about. 

But along with testing out Twitter on your own, let's check out the home page now that we have some people we're following. 

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Now that we've got our Twitter profile ready for it's debut, it's time to start following people.  Yes, this sounds a bit stalker-ish, and it is, a little, because you're subscribing to whatever someone else wants to tweet.

But although there are people out there tweeting about everything they ate for breakfast, you don't have to do this - there can be some use in tweeting if you've eaten out at a great restaurant, but we'll cover subjects to tweet on in a future post! 

So let's begin by logging into our home page again.  If you left the box checked yesterday to keep you signed in on Twitter, going to twitter.com will automatically take you to your home page. Otherwise, you may need to sign in again. 

Because we didn't follow anyone yesterday, we've still got a lot of options listed for getting started, thanks to Twitter. 

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Happy Halloween everyone! Since Halloween is my second favorite holiday (after Christmas), I had to take a time out to say "enjoy!" and share a photo of my little "spooks." 

But back to the task at hand - let's get started with Twitter. To create your profile, we're going to start by going to Twitter.com. 

As you can see, Twitter says that using their service, will give you "instant updates from your friends, industry experts, favorite celebrities, and what's happening around the world."  

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