The core of the Freelance Lawyering Success Packages is the Freelance Freedom recording. In this 2.5-hr. video, I answer these important questions:

• What is the most powerful way to market your services as a freelance lawyer?
• How much should you charge, and how can you make sure you get paid?
• What ethical issues arise in the freelance lawyering relationship, and how are those resolved?
• Should you obtain your own malpractice insurance?
• If you want to concentrate on legal research and writing, do you need your own Lexis or Westlaw/WestlawNext subscription? How can you get the best deal from these companies? What alternatives are available?
• How can you compete with foreign LPOs?
• What impact will the ABA Ethics 20/20 Commission’s revised initial proposal concerning changes to the Model Rules of Professional Conduct have on freelance attorneys and the lawyers who hire them?
• Why is a shaky economy good news for freelance lawyers?

This recording is chock-full of information for all types of contract lawyers—whether you want to handle depositions for other lawyers, assist with discovery or trial prep, cover court appearances, or offer legal research and writing services.

All of the Success Packages also include the Freelance Freedom Companion Guide. This unique e-book contains a comprehensive collection of ethics opinions from across the country that are relevant to freelance lawyers and the attorneys who hire them. As a bonus, you also get a sample services agreement (in MS Word format)—the same agreement I use in my own successful practice as a freelance lawyer.

Visit the LRWP products page for more information about the Silver, Gold, Platinum and Platinum Plus Freelance Lawyering Success Packages.

The New York County Lawyers Association is one of those forward-thinking bar associations. On Thursday, November 10, NYCLA will be hosting my live presentation of an updated Freelance Freedom: How to Get Started as an Independent Contract Lawyer at its headquarters in downtown Manhattan.

Here’s the complete program description:

Outsourcing is the wave of the future. But it’s not just for big firms and the staffing agencies that serve those firms. Freelance attorneys are a growing cadre of solo practitioners who, enabled by technology, work on a project-by-project basis for other lawyers. More and more lawyers—from newly-admitted attorneys who are tired of sitting on the sidelines of the legal job market to experienced attorneys who want an intellectually fulfilling legal career and work/life balance—are entering this practice area.

This program will address these important questions:

• What is the most powerful way to market your services as a contract lawyer?
• How much should you charge, and how can you make sure you get paid? What ethical issues arise in the freelance lawyering relationship, and how are those resolved?
• Should you obtain your own malpractice insurance?
• If you want to concentrate on legal research and writing, do you need your own Lexis or Westlaw/WestlawNext subscription? How can you get the best deal from these companies? What alternatives are available?
• How can you compete with foreign LPOs?
• What impact will the ABA Ethics 20/20 Commission’s proposed changes to the Model Rules of Professional Conduct have on freelance attorneys and the lawyers who hire them?
• Why is a shaky economy good news for freelance lawyers?

This 2.5-credit CLE program will be held on Thursday, November 10 from 6:25 to 8:30 p.m, following a brief networking reception that starts at 6:00. To register, click here.

On Thursday, October 7 from 1:00-2:00 p.m. Eastern, I’ll be presenting my popular program, Powerful Writing Techniques to Help You Persuade Judges and Win Clients, as a complimentary webinar.

The ability to write forcefully and effectively is critical to your success as a lawyer. In this webinar, lawyers will learn to write more persuasively by using the same powerful techniques that copywriters have relied on for years. Discover what these techniques are and how to apply them in both briefs and client-focused writing.

Attorneys who attend this webinar will learn about:

• The greatest challenge your writing must overcome to persuade readers to take a desired action
• Basic concepts underlying all effective persuasive writing—ignore these and you’re sunk
• How to write a compelling brief that the judge just can’t put down
• The role of emotion in jurisprudence and how to trigger the reader’s emotions
• The things readers absolutely hate—and how to avoid them
• How to deal with objections to your position
• Closing the deal: conclusions and calls to action

This webinar is part of a series of complimentary webinars from Avvo, a website that offers ratings and profiles for 90% of U.S. lawyers, as well as client reviews, peer reviews and attorney disciplinary records. The website currently covers all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

Once again, that’s Thursday, October 7 at 1 p.m. (EDT). To register, click here.

If you’re in the New York City area and would like to get CLE credit for attending this program, I’ll be presenting it live at the New York County Lawyer’s Association (downtown at 14 Vesey Street) on Monday, October 4 from 7:45-9:00 p.m. The program (part of a four-credit Bridge the Gap session) is suitable for both new and experienced lawyers. To register, click here.

Two more Opportunities to Learn About the Benefits Solos and Small Firm Lawyers Can Reap by Working With Contract Lawyers

If you missed last week’s How to Work With Contract Lawyers to Save Your Firm Money, Increase Profits and Get Your Life Back webinar, you haven’t missed the boat: in the next few weeks, I’ll be talking about contract lawyering both live in New York City and online.

On Tuesday, October 5 from 6:30-8:30 p.m., I’ll be co-presenting Minimize Growing Pains—Expand Your Small Firm Practice with the Help of Contract Attorneys at the New York City Bar Association, 42 W. 44th St. in Manhattan.

Attend this program to learn how contract lawyers can help you achieve work/life balance by providing a safety valve when you’re swamped with work, increase professional satisfaction by enabling you to focus on those legal tasks you find most rewarding and increase profits without adding to your firm’s overhead.

The program will be moderated by Alla Roytberg, Director of the NYC Bar’s Small Law Firm Center. I’ll be joined on the panel by Edgar De Leon of De Leon & Associates, PLLC, who will discuss his experience working with contract lawyers.

A wine and cheese reception from 6:30-7:15 will be followed by the program from 7:15-8:30.

Once again, that’s Tuesday October 5 from 6:30-8:30 p.m. To register, click here.

Not in the New York City area? Listen to Law Firm Staffing Alternatives: Contract Lawyers on Total Expert Radio, on Friday, October 15 from 1:00-2:00 p.m. (Eastern). Outsourcing is the wave of the future. But it doesn’t necessarily mean sending work overseas, and it’s not just for big firms. Solos and small firms can garner many benefits by outsourcing substantive legal work to independent, US-based contract (a/k/a freelance) lawyers. Join us to learn how to use contract lawyers in your law firm to fill both long-term and temporary staffing needs.

The live, Q & A format show is part of a series of shows about the hottest topics in law practice management from Total Attorneys, a technology-enabled service provider dedicated to assisting with every aspect of small and solo law firm practice management, growth and development. Although pre-registration is not required, you may want to bookmark the show page so you can quickly return to it on October 15.

Outsourcing is the wave of the future. But it doesn’t necessarily mean sending work overseas, and it’s not just for big firms. Solos and small firms can garner many benefits by outsourcing substantive legal work to independent, US-based contract (a/k/a freelance) lawyers.

Topics covered in this course include:

• Benefits of outsourcing work to a contract lawyer
• How to find a contract attorney to work with
• What a good contract lawyer should bring to the table
• Ethical issues in the outsourcing relationship

This program will carry 1 CLE credit. (CLE accreditation will be supplied for Florida lawyers. A certificate of completion will be provided for lawyers in other states. Click here for information about obtaining CLE accreditation for this course in your state.)

The webinar is part of a series of complimentary practice-building and legal productivity webinars from RocketMatter, the leading online legal practice management and time tracking software solution for small to mid-size law firms.

Once again, that’s Thursday, September 23 at noon (EDT). To register, click here.

This program teaches lawyers to write more persuasively by using the same powerful techniques that copywriters have relied on for years. Topics covered in this course include:

• The greatest challenge your writing must overcome to persuade readers to take a desired action
• Basic concepts underlying all effective persuasive writing—ignore these and you’re sunk
• How to write a compelling brief that the judge just can’t put down
• The role of emotion in jurisprudence and how to trigger the reader’s emotions
• The things readers absolutely hate—and how to avoid them
• How to deal with objections to your position
• Closing the deal: conclusions and calls to action
• And more . . . .

CLE accreditation (for 1.5 hours in 50-minute states and 1.8 hours in 60-minute states) is pending.

You can register for the program at the ABA’s website.

As our library of program recordings has grown, more and more new members have expressed interest in obtaining access to previously recorded programs, instead of attending upcoming live programs.

You asked for it, you got it!

Instead of live monthly programs, the LRWP Gold, Platinum and Platinum + memberships now include program recordings of your choice (Gold includes any three recordings; Platinum and Platinum + include any six recordings). In order to give you time to implement the lessons taught in each program, one program is delivered each month for the initial membership period.

Don’t want to wait for monthly program delivery? We’ve created the Gold Turbo, Platinum Turbo and Platinum + Turbo memberships just for you. All of the program recordings included in each of these memberships are delivered within 24 hours of the time you join LRWP.

Of course, our Gold, Platinum and Platinum + memberships (and their Turbo versions) still include the exclusive Contract Lawyering Success e-book and Freelance Freedom audio recording. These items are delivered as soon as you purchase any membership (even if it’s not a Turbo membership).

You can find complete descriptions of all of our memberships on our products page; this handy-dandy chart compares the features of all of the memberships side-by-side.

Finally, all of the supplemental programs are still available individually for $97 each, and I still offer private consultations as well ($197 for one hour; $297 for two hours).

If you have any questions about the new LRWP membership structure, please feel free to comment below, contact me privately, or call me at 914-595-6575.

Stuart is a lawyer and a professional legal educator. As the country’s only CLE performer, he teaches Critical Lawyering Skills to attorneys throughout the country for continuing legal education providers and conducts training seminars in law firms. He’s also an Adjunct Professor of Law at Rutgers School of Law in Camden, New Jersey (where he teaches Professional Responsibility) and an instructor at the Rutgers University Professional Writing Program. His law practice focuses on sophisticated real estate and business law, and he’s also a civil mediator.

This program will be presented as a “tele-webinar.” In a tele-webinar, you call in to a conference call line to receive the audio portion of the program. If you have access to your computer, you can follow along with a Power Point presentation as well. There is no need to install any software on your computer. If you will be calling in from outside the office, don’t worry: you can view or print the slides before the program, if you wish.

Join us for this tele-webinar on Tuesday, October 20 at 3 p.m. Eastern (noon Pacific).

Your registration includes participation in the live tele-webinar and copies of the audio and video program recordings. To register, visit our Products page and add a Silver Membership to your cart.

This program will provide proven strategies to help you:

• Expand Your Network
• Raise Your Profile
• Harness the Power of Social Media
• Build Stronger Relationships

Ari Kaplan is the author of the Amazon.com bestseller, The Opportunity Maker: Strategies for Inspiring Your Legal Career Through Creative Networking and Business Development. He practiced law with large firms in New York City for nearly 9 years and has been recognized in the Miami Herald, the New York Post, the ABA Journal, Above the Law, the National Jurist, the Chicago Lawyer, GP Solo, the California Recorder and other publications. He provides business development training, career guidance, ghostwriting and individual coaching.

Join us for this program on Thursday, September 17 at 3 p.m. Eastern (noon Pacific).

Your registration includes participation in the live teleseminar and a copy of the program recording.

This program is also included in all Gold, Platinum and Platinum Plus memberships purchased before September 17.

Posse List members receive a 15% discount on all orders from Legal Research & Writing Pro; just enter the coupon code POSSE during checkout

Distinguish Yourself in the Downturn
Price: $97

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Visit our products page to learn more about how Legal Research & Writing Pro can help you transition from a job as a contract attorney to a career as an independent contract lawyer.

On Thursday, October 8, social media and legal technology maven Nicole Black and I will be presenting The 6 Things You Need to Know About Social Media as part of two-part program on social media for lawyers. In this program, lawyers will learn about six important principles, applicable across social media platforms, that will help them use social media to promote and market their practices, showcase their areas of expertise, and network with other attorneys

The program starts at 8 a.m., and is followed by Twitter for Lawyers. The second session, on October 14, features programs on Social Media-The Vulnerabilities and Liabilities and Blogs, Facebook, Linkedin For Lawyers. Registration is available for one or both sessions, and a total of 6 CLE credits will be available (pending accreditation). The program is sponsored by and will take place at New York Law School, 57 Worth Street in Manhattan.

Nicole and I will be reprising our social media presentation at the ABA GP|Solo Division’s National Solo & Small Firm Conference at the Millenium Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles on Friday, October 16, under the title Social Media for Lawyers: Six Important Principles for Effective Participation. It’ll be another early morning, with the program once again starting at 8 a.m.

On Saturday, October 17, I’ll be co-presenting Powerful Writing Techniques to Help You Persuade Judges and Win Clients with Hon. Gerald Lebovits. This program teaches lawyers to write more persuasively by using the same powerful techniques that copywriters have relied on for years. Topics covered in this course include:

• The greatest challenge your writing must overcome to persuade readers to take a desired action
• Basic concepts underlying all effective persuasive writing—ignore these and you’re sunk
• How to write a compelling brief that the judge just can’t put down
• The role of emotion in jurisprudence and how to trigger the reader’s emotions
• The things readers absolutely hate—and how to avoid them
• How to deal with objections to your position
• Closing the deal: conclusions and calls to action
• And more . . . .

This program runs from 1:15-2:15 p.m. (thank goodness!).

I look forward to seeing you at these exciting educational programs!

In this raucous program, Sean Carter, America’s foremost Humorist at Law, will show you how to add a spark of “lawghter” to any presentation. He’ll demonstrate:

• Why humor sells better than anything else (including sex)
• Why humor is always welcome
• How to find “the funny” in any topic
• How to blend humor with practical and useful information
• Tricks of the humor trade

Sean Carter is the founder of Lawpsided Seminars, a company devoted to solid legal continuing education with a healthy dose of laughter. Since 2002, Sean has crisscrossed the country delivering his Lawpsided Seminars for state and local bar associations, law firms, in-house corporate legal departments and law schools. Each year, he presents more than 100 humorous programs on such topics as legal ethics, stress management, constitutional law, legal marketing and much more. He’s the author of the first-ever comedic legal treatise, If It Does Not Fit, Must You Acquit?: Your Humorous Guide to the Law. His syndicated legal humor column has appeared in general circulation newspapers in more than 30 states and his weekly humor column for lawyers appeared in the ABA e-Report from 2003 to 2006.

Before becoming the country’s foremost legal humorist, Sean practiced for ten years in the areas of corporate securities and mergers and acquisitions.

Since August is all about vacations, we’re giving our live teleseminars the month off. The teleseminar recording will be available starting on August 20. Everyone who purchases a Silver Membership before then will receive, as our gift, a free copy of If It Does Not Fit, Must You Acquit?: Your Humorous Guide to the Law.

To register, visit our Products page and add a Silver Membership to your cart.