HireTrade Goes After Avvo?
August 30, 2007 | Filed Under New Services
Lawyer rating site Avvo made a big splash earlier this year. As legal news and as a defendant.
Now lawyer connection site HireTrade steps into the fray. As reported by John Cook of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, HireTrade CEO Neil Sandhu has a few thoughts about numbers:
We think that existing professional ratings systems, including most numerical ratings systems, result in arbitrary values as it is impossible for a numerical algorithm to really capture every single nuance of a professional’s background or decide what is the correct weight to place on different items of information such as experience, education, etc. (not to mention the fact that it appears that some of these systems merely assign higher scores to those professionals who take the time to fill out their profiles in more detail). Thus, meaningful comparisons are difficult to draw from the numerical values that result.
Furthermore, there is very little actual intrinsic value in any number generated by such a system.
Ouch!
Avvo has a bit of a head start as HireTrade builds up some momentum. The former has built up quite a number of rankings; the latter will work to expand on its hourly value concept as it goes forward.
The big part of the market for both seems to be for clients who haven’t had much experience with lawyers. Those who have could use these services for confirming information, but often rely on a personal referral in the first instance.
From GC to AG to PC
August 27, 2007 | Filed Under In the News
This morning’s news of the expected resignation of Alberto Gonzales takes him in a few years from President Bush’s general counsel, to attorney general, to private citizen.
Much of the focus on Mr. Gonzales has been over the handling (or mis-handling) of the removal of eight US attorneys. Or over a burgeoning domestic surveillance program when he was White House Counsel.
But I think it goes deeper.
One thing that makes a good general counsel is an ability to balance loyalty with independence. Other C-level executives can do this, but none of them comes at it from the same ethical and professional standpoint.
There is no doubt that Mr. Gonzales owed most of his political good fortune to Mr. Bush. While that doesn’t mean he couldn’t give the President his best impartial advice, one has to search hard to find supporting evidence. Or perhaps Mr. Gonzales has no recollection of it.
Contrast this with the performance in 2004 of then acting AG James Comey, who had to support the Constitution when John Ashcroft was sedated in the hospital and endure pressure from Chief of Staff Andrew Card and Mr. Gonzales (plus who knows who else) to expand domestic surveillance.
Imagine what that was like and consider what you would be thinking the next time you started your car.
Mr. Comey went from AG to GC with Lockheed Martin.
And the next AG put forth by President Bush will hopefully have a record of integrity. If not, confirmation could drag past November 2008.
By a Factor of Ten
August 22, 2007 | Filed Under Offshore Services
Many stories on offshore legal services lack hard data. Today, one exception.
Bloomberg reports on the experience of one Chicago company:
Bruce Masterson, chief operating officer of Socrates Media LLC, asked his outside counsel to customize a residential lease for all 50 U.S. states in 2003. The firm’s estimate: about $400,000. He rejected that price tag and hired QuisLex, in Hyderabad, India, which did it for $45,000.
Pangea3 co-CEO David Perla (whom we interviewed here) notes the two options available:
“Some firms are coming to us because in-house clients suggested it or pressured them,” Perla said. “Others want to come to the client first and offer a solution.”
I’d suggest that the proactive approach is better in the long run.
Excellent reporting from Bloomberg, who is trying to break the Thomson/West–Lexis/Nexis hammerlock on providing premium legal information services.
For Want of a Good Lawyer
August 12, 2007 | Filed Under Litigation, In the News
The Sunday New York Times profiles the litigation against Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg by the founders of ConnectU, another social networking site. Mr. Zuckerberg allegedly did some work for ConnectU at prior to starting Facebook. Brothers Tyler and Cameron Winkelvoss claim Facebook as their own, while ConnectU founders (in the other sense of the term).
Unfortunately, the Brothers Winklevoss didn’t exactly put their ducks in a row at the time:
Here are the facts that are not disputed: In 2002, when the Winklevoss brothers were juniors at Harvard, they conceived what was initially called the HarvardConnection, which was to be a social network for the college. In November 2003, they asked Mr. Zuckerberg, who was studying computer science at Harvard, to develop the site’s software and database, promising to compensate him later if the venture prospered.
The brothers contend that Mr. Zuckerberg “procrastinated” about finishing up coding to “gain a competitive advantage.” The judge is not amused:
At a hearing on July 25, he scolded John F. Hornick, ConnectU’s lawyer, over what the judge saw as his inability to provide documentary evidence, saying, “Dorm-room chitchat does not make a contract.” He gave ConnectU two weeks to prepare a better case.
One wonders if the situation was reversed, and ConnectU wildly successful, would the Brothers Winklevoss cut Mr. Zuckerberg into the venture absent an agreement to do so?
I have seen time and time again otherwise bright entrepreneurs feel like they can do their own legal work with forms off the InterWeb. They either pick the wrong form, don’t respect it in any event, and then wonder why things don’t work out when they start to get some traction.
The worst part is when they give equity with no rhyme or reason, handing out shares like potato chips at a frat house kegger.
Lawyers who know how to counsel start-ups can be expensive. Wannabe entrepreneurs who skip this step in the process can learn that that the alternative to a few legal bills is way more expensive.
Check out ConnectU, by the way. Looks like the brothers didn’t spend much on a web designer, either.
Crisis (Mis)management
August 8, 2007 | Filed Under Crisis Planning, In the News
Ask anyone who has trained for a crisis: it’s something you hope you never need.
So when Murray Energy first heard that its Utah coal mine had suffered a catastrophic collapse on Monday, trapping 6 miners 1500 feet under the ground, they presumably put their plan in action.
We saw the first phase, when Murray Energy founder and chairman Robert Murray followed Crisis 101 and rushed to the scene, dutifully taking center stage as the point man for the company.
And then he promptly dropped the playbook, started arguing with scientists as to the cause, and with reporters as to the type of mining methods used (see below):
(Here’s the link if you don’t see the video player).
The part about referring to certain people as “lackeys for the United Mine Workers” was particularly bizarre; he elaborated further yesterday about potential causes:
“This was caused by an earthquake, not something that Murray Energy … did or our employees did or our management did,” an irate Robert E. Murray, chairman of mine owner Murray Energy Corp. of Cleveland, said at a televised news conference. “It was a natural disaster. An earthquake. And I’m going to prove it to you.”
What?
I was always taught three main things to say in a crisis; and they go something like this:
1. We are saddened by these tragic events and our thoughts and prayers go out to the workers involved and their families.
2. We are very concerned about the safety of our fellow employees and rescue personnel and we are doing everything possible to bring everyone out safely.
3. We are cooperating fully with regulatory authorities, and will not comment on potential causes until we see the results of a complete investigation.
1, 2, 3. Rinse, lather, repeat.
I hope these workers manage to survive and admire the courage of rescue personnel and the fortitude required to be a family member of a coal miner.
My empathy goes out to those who are charged with advising Mr. Murray. What do you say to the founder of a company after a news conference like that when he asks: “Well, how do you think that went?”
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