Welcome to ILN-terviews, a series of profiles of ILN member firm attorneys, designed to give a unique insight into the lawyers who make up our Network. For our latest interview, we chose ILN member, Joe Guarino of our member firm, Epstein Becker & Green in New Jersey!

In one sentence, how would you describe your practice?
I have a busy and diverse practice representing U.S. and multi-national clients from many different industries.

Who would be your typical client?
My typical client is in-house counsel for a mid to large sized business.

What would you like clients and potential clients to know about you?
My practice emphasizes the representation of management and employers in labor & employment matters, including both preventive counseling & litigation. I also regularly litigate commercial matters in which I represent companies in securities fraud cases, false advertising claims, shareholder disputes, non-compete matters, broker dealer litigation, provider claims, third-party administrator suits, hospital/network disputes & ERISA class actions. My client base has a national & international presence and primarily conduct business in the healthcare, dietary supplement, transportation, retail and financial services industries. I have been fortunate to have been named as one of the state’s top litigators by the New Jersey Law Journal for the past several years. The goals of my practice are to provide world-class legal representation at an affordable price and to be available to serve my clients on a 24/7 basis. I never bill my clients to speak with me about anything that is on their mind. I only expect to be fairly compensated when I add value. My team and I know that our clients represent business units with budgets and other constraints. Thus, we strive to obtain optimal results by proactive counseling, alternative resolution or, as a last resort, litigation.

What has been your most challenging case? Why?
The next one that comes in the door!

What has been your proudest moment as a lawyer?
My proudest moments are when a client shakes my hand or gives me a hug and says “thank you.” That’s what it is all about.

What do you do when you’re not practicing law?
My wife and I are the proud parents of a seven year old daughter (Ava) and an “active” two year old son (Riley). Since we both have busy careers, we enjoy our time as a family doing simple things such as cooking family dinners, playing sports, watching movies, reading books and visiting with family and friends.

What would surprise people most about you?
That I subscribe to a paleolithic (caveman) diet and practice daily meditation. I was also an All-State outfielder at St. Peter’s Prep and at the University of Scranton.

What has been your most memorable ILN experience?
Meeting Lindsay Griffiths!

What career would you have chosen if you weren’t a lawyer?
I would have been a carpenter.

If a movie were made of your life, who would you want to play you?
Gerard Butler. Someone once said that I looked like him and I took it as a compliment!

How would you like to be remembered?
I would like to think that the script is still being written. But, if people thought of me as an ordinary person who did extraordinary things, I would be happy.

 

As you’re probably aware, unless you’ve been hiding under a rock, yesterday and today are important days in the US Supreme Court – yesterday, the Justices heard oral arguments in the challenge to California’s ban on same-sex marriage, while today, the Justices will be hearing arguments about the constitutionality of the federal Defense of Marriage Act. 

My Facebook feed, as I’m sure is true for many others, has been full of profile photo changes to an equals sign, on a red background, in support of same-sex marriage, and status updates relating a connection’s thoughts, one way or the other. 

I, too, have very strong opinions on the subject, along with a number of other hot-button social and political issues.  But you won’t see me changing my profile photo any time soon, or adding my two cents. Why not? 

 

Continue Reading On Why You Won’t See Me Change My Profile Picture

Last week, we had the pleasure of welcoming my friend, Gina Rubel, of Furia Rubel, as our webinar presenter for the ILN’s marketing group. Gina had a fabulous presentation dedicated to the topic of integrated approaches to law firm marketing and public relations, and the attendees agreed that it was excellent. 

I won’t do my usual lengthy recap here, because Gina will be using some of the same insights in her upcoming panel presentation at the LMA’s 2013 Annual Conference (and I’m attending her session, so I’ll recap it then).  But I do want to give all of you a taste of what’s to come, to encourage everyone who’ll be at LMA13 to see Gina’s panel at 11am on Tuesday, April 9th. (ILN members and marketers can email me directly for a copy of the presentation)

Gina noted early in the presentation that when marketing a law firm, there are several fundamental questions to answer, regardless of the size of the firm – these surround topics such as goals, audience, messaging, tactics and ROI. 

Continue Reading Integrated Approaches to Law Firm Marketing & Public Relations

A year really flies, doesn’t it? 

Once again, it’s time for us to put together the list of Twitter attendees for this year’s Legal Marketing Association Annual Conference – in Vegas! 

The LMA’s Social Media Special Interest Group, for which I’m a co-leader, will be talking about some very important tips for how to tweet (and use other social media) responsibly when you’re attending a professional conference (particularly in Las Vegas), but for now, let’s take a look at the list of those who will be attending and tweeting! 

We’ll have designated tweeters for each conference session, and we’ll make those public once the schedule is fully fleshed out – if you’d like to tweet and are attending the conference, please let me know. Stay tuned to the LMA listserv also for more information on our annual Tweet-up/Meetup! 

Without further ado: 

Continue Reading LMA13 Attendees – The Twitter Edition!

Four years ago today, I wrote my first post here at Zen & The Art of Legal Networking. 

Before I launched Zen, I really didn’t think I’d have much to say – I’m sure those of you who read this blog regularly are chuckling, since you know I’m definitely one of the more wordy legal bloggers out there. But after joining Twitter in April 2008 and connecting with people in the legal community, I was often inspired by them and realized I had more to contribute to the conversation than 140 characters would permit. So Zen was born. 

What have I learned over the last four years? 

  • Blogging and social media can lead to some of the most interesting professional (and personal!) conversations, and connect you to people you’d never imagine meeting. 
  • If you can’t write a short post (ahem), break it up visually with headers, lists, images, and other formatting options. 
  • Don’t just hope people will find your content – share it! 
  • Keep your titles short, or they’ll eat up too many characters when people try to share them socially – so they’ll just give up. 
  • Use a photo for visual impact – it makes people more likely to read your post, and nowadays, it allows people to pin it on Pinterest. (But when using a photo, make sure to use a paid site like istockphoto so you won’t have any copyright issues)
  • Some of your best content will come from things you’re already getting paid to do – repurpose your notes from conference and webinar sessions, presentations you’re giving and conversations you’ve had, to share with your audience. 
  • Never stop learning – this is a life lesson for me, but it’s applicable for blogging too. There’s always something to learn from those in your profession, and those outside of it for that matter. Don’t stop growing. 
  • Stats don’t matter – you don’t want to connect with the MOST people…you want to connect with the RIGHT people. (Though I only check my stats about once a year, I did take a peek this morning, and I am tickled to see that I have over 27.5 thousand for this year!)
  • Social networking is awesome…but you’ve got to take those relationships offline. Meet local connections for coffee or lunch. When traveling, reach out to people in those cities that you know online. Use social media to connect in person with people at the conferences you’re attending. You’ve still got to do the face to face – and speaking as a shy introvert, I promise you that social media makes that much easier, so don’t be afraid to do it. 

Social media, and Zen in particular, have introduced me to some of the most brilliant, wonderful people in my industry (and beyond) and have given me some truly incredible professional and personal opportunities. Thanks to everyone who has helped me along the way – I appreciate it more than you know. 

I’ll leave you with a fun fact – in looking for something else in my files yesterday, I came across the list of possible blog names I was working on before I settled on Zen. The list had me chuckling, but my favorite runner up was "I Love Lawyers More than Brussels Sprouts." How’s that for a blog name?

How many of you are producing content? Raise your hands. 

(Extra points if you actually raised your hand while reading this). 

That’s great – these days, I’m seeing so much valuable content out there, so many smart and talented people sharing what they know. But as the saying goes, if a tree falls in the woods and there’s no one there to hear it, does it make a sound? 

Similarly, if you write an article or blog post, but you forget to share it through your social networks, is anyone reading it? 

Continue Reading Social Sharing: Are You Missing Out?

Arguably worse than those commercials that are bad and ugly are those that are forgettable. If a commercial airs during the Superbowl and no one remembers it, does it make a sound? (A la, if a tree falls in the forest…)

There were definitely a few forgettable commercials during the Superbowl this year – so forgettable that I either don’t remember seeing them at all, or have only a vague recollection of them after seeing them included on the list of aired spots. Let’s look at a few, and in particular, how they could have been more memorable, and why law firms don’t want to fall into the same quagmire of forgettableness. 

 

Continue Reading Superbowl Commercials – The Forgettable 2013

Welcome to ILN-terviews, a series of profiles of ILN member firm attorneys, designed to give a unique insight into the lawyers who make up our Network. For our latest interview, we chose ILN member, Tom Carsten Troberg of our member firm, Okland & Co in Norway!

In one sentence, how would you describe your practice?
I work in a mid-size law firm, focusing on all aspects of Norwegian business law.

Who would be your typical client?
Small and mid-sized companies with a minimum of intellectual property basis, like IT-firms, private investors etc.

What would you like clients and potential clients to know about you?
That I am really good at finding good solutions, not always based on a strict interpretation of the applicable legislation.

What has been your most challenging case? Why?
That was back in the 90’s, when the US decided that all fishing vessels had to be US owned, throwing a lot of Norwegian ship owners into great trouble. Selling, restructuring and negotiating internationally for two years, travelling around the world. Great fun.

What has been your proudest moment as a lawyer?
I really do hope that is yet to come.

What do you do when you’re not practicing law?
I try to keep in good shape, cycling, running and skiing when I can. I spend a lot of time with my daughter and her horse, and the rest of the time I spend with family and friends.

What would surprise people most about you?
Probably that I am pure working class – the first in my family (both sides) to go to college.

What has been your most memorable ILN experience?
No doubt, that was the kitchen escape in Madrid, when we had to go through the internal corridors of the Westin in order to avoid the demonstrations.

What career would you have chosen if you weren’t a lawyer?
Actually, law was my third choice. I always wanted to be a naval officer, but my colour sight did not meet the Navy’s requirements. Then I wanted to become an archaeologist, but that did not seem to offer a very well paid future.

If a movie were made of your life, who would you want to play you?
John Travolta. Remember, I was young when the 70’s hit the 80’s

How would you like to be remembered?
As a person who could be trusted.
 

Now that we’ve looked at what lessons the good commercials had to offer us from the Superbowl, it’s time to look at the bad and the ugly – almost as much fun to review! 

It took me a while to choose which commercials to include in this post because there were FAR too many on my list of bad and ugly. I’ve managed to narrow it down to ten, so let’s do a countdown! 

#10 Volkswagen’s Get Happy

I didn’t like this commercial, but it’s not for the reason you’re thinking…

https://youtube.com/watch?v=9H0xPWAtaa8

 

Continue Reading Superbowl Commercials – The Bad & the Ugly – 2013

Yesterday’s post sparked some great conversations on social media with regard to what everyone thought about various commercials – in particular one that I’ve included in today’s "pretty good" category.  It’s been great to hear legal marketers weigh in on these, so let’s keep the conversation going! 

I’ve got five commercials on today’s "pretty good" list, and I’ll both go into why I like them, and why they don’t make it to the "really good" list.

Continue Reading Superbowl Commercials – The Pretty Good 2013