Low Jeremy asked:


Child custody is the product of a divorce. When a couple decides to file petitions to nullify their marriage, the custody of their children (if they have) is now at stake. In most state laws, when it comes to child custody cases, mothers are considered to be the primary caretaker of the children. Thus, they have the odds of winning the legal custody of the children. However, there are also cases where the fathers are given the legal custody to the children, depending on the circumstances present. And the arguments are presented by each camp through a child custody lawyer.

If you are decided in settling your dispute between your husband or wife with regards to the custody of your children, you will be needing the expertise of a child custody lawyer. He or she will be the one who will represent you in family courts and will argue for your right of placing your children under custody based on the circumstances present. In addition, he or she will be the one who will be interpreting the family law of the state where the custody case falls. The provisions of family law may vary from state to state, which is why you need to hire a locally-based child custody lawyer.

Therefore, if your case falls within the jurisprudence of Iowa justice system, it is just wise that you hire an Iowa-based child custody lawyer.

However, the lawyer will be first evaluating your case as well as your odds of winning it. Most child custody lawyers in Iowa conduct free review and evaluation of your case which means they will be getting deeper into your story. Fortunately, just like looking for a child custody lawyer, free case review is now offered on the Internet. All you have to do is to look for these Iowa child custody lawyers’ website through major search engines.

Free case review online is very simple. An Iowa-based law firm provided you series of questions that can help them review your case as well as to determine if you have the odds of wining it. Basically, it is composed of the details of your legal case, which are as follows:

• The finality of your divorce with your husband or wife;

• Your parental relationship to your children (either father or mother);

• Where the children currently lives in prior to filing the child custody case;

• The primary care giver of the family;

• Special needs of the children (if there is any);

• The cooperation between you and your spouse on matters concerning your children like visitation;

• Court proceedings prior to the case review (if there is any), and;

• The reason why you feel that you must be awarded the primary custody of your children.

After filling up the form with the details specified above, an Iowa child custody lawyer will ran through these details together with the provisions of family law in effect within the state. Once he carefully evaluated each detail and possible consequences or implication, he will now give you an assessment of your case as well as the chances of getting the primary custody of your children.

Take this opportunity of a free case review online by your Iowa child custody lawyer. If you feel that you have the right for that custody, he will look on it and see if you can make it.

Low Jeremy asked:


Divorce cases have been arising in the state of Indiana. Child custody cases have also increased because it goes after finishing the process of a divorce. When the parents have decided to move in different states, they should consult an Indiana child custody lawyer to solve the child issues.

If a parent has moved in another state, a bigger issue arises as to which state they are going to apply and practice the jurisdiction. If both parents decide to get an Indiana child custody lawyer, it will not be a problem because they can handle cases properly and fairly.

An Indiana child custody lawyer carefully studies the situation and observes carefully the behavior of both parents. He will also have to look into the historical background of the parents because he might find some offensive behavior which is done in the past of an even bitter past.

He will also try to see which parent is psychologically healthy and is emotionally healthy. Sometimes, a psychological test is being applied to either parents or a parent who is doubted to have some behavioral problems.

An Indiana child custody lawyer also looks at the behavior of the child. He can make some research and questions to the child regarding his parents. An Indiana child custody lawyer can be able to ask the child his choice of parent. However, if the child decides to live with the mother, a lawyer will still have to look at the potential of the mother. For example – the environment that they will live in and the financial stability of the mother are looked upon. If the mother is not employed but the father is, chances will happen that the father will win the child custody case. The court will make sure that all the needs of the child is provided and that he will have a good accommodation as he grow up.

After the court decides, an Indiana child custody lawyer will fix the schedules such as visitation and also some of the relocation issues. When the child lives with the mother, the father will definitely have time for his child during the weekends or as to how long he may request to be with his child.

An Indiana child custody lawyer will look at the request and see if it can be approved depending on his reason and intent. An Indiana child custody lawyer makes sure that the child does not get abused by his parents. This is a major offense to the parent.

If the court finds out that a parent is beating the child, he will not surely win the custody of the child. If you are planning to get a divorce, think it out first because your children are the ones who suffer. If there’s really no way around, then get a good Indiana child custody lawyer so that your child is in good hands.

An Indiana child custody lawyer cares for the children and makes sure that they get what they deserve when it comes to love and affection. Also, an Indiana child custody lawyer sees to it that both parents have good communication with their child because it’s their right.

An Indiana child custody lawyer will also make sure that the child will have a good future by respecting joint decisions of the parents.

Henry Harlow asked:


What are these new attorney-client matching services? Who are the players? What do they cost? What is the risk to me? What is the return for me? What is the buzz on them? Are they ethical as marketing for law firms? Will they save me money and are they for me? Will they get me clients I would not have otherwise? The answers to these questions was begun in Part 1 which focused on the facts of this marketing for law firms vehicle. This article, Part II, gives you “the rest of the story” as Paul Harvey would say.

Conclusions and Recommendations on Attorney-Client Matching

Let me list my current thoughts/conclusions in this marketing for law firms niche of attorney-client matching services and from there it is up to you to make your decision:

1.This marketing for law firms vehicle clearly has some merit. This approach can deliver business to you that you would not get otherwise and get it to you now. Yes, you can do better and at least arguably cheaper for yourself through the right Internet attorney marketing strategies (see my website). However, it is not going to happen tomorrow and attorney-client matching can happen tomorrow. You can build your own systems while using these systems and then decide if you want to continue their systems or not. They will always probably get some business you would not have gotten otherwise even if you had your own online systems.

2.Unfortunately you are only “renting” the methods used to get the business you are being sent and don’t “own” the business methods used. If you had the correct Internet marketing for law firms system up you would have a salable asset in those systems and be driving traffic exclusively to you, which is better than this option almost certainly in the long run for most if not all attorneys. Additionally, as a general principle it is not good to be dependent on any one source of referrals as I am sure you know. That said I still think attorney-client matching services are a good option before you have your own Internet marketing systems and/or other marketing systems up. You may even want to continue these services after you have your own systems up. Having your own systems up makes you more secure and now you are at choice about staying with the service or not.

3.Who is this marketing for law firms vehicle for really?

a.Someone who needs more business right now. These systems have a stream of business coming right now and they can send it your way right now. Other attorney marketing systems will take some time to make happen and yield results.

b.Someone who is very, very clear they don’t want to be involved in the marketing process and are willing to pay someone else to do it for them even if it costs them more and they are “renting”. If that is you, then this is probably a good move for you. That said, you still are going to have to “close” the client they send you via email or on the phone so you are going to be involved in marketing at that level, just less marketing. You are never going to get away from that aspect unless you are an associate who does nothing but technical work in someone else’s practice (not that there is anything wrong with that).

c.Someone who is doing some attorney marketing that is not working for them or not working very effectively for them since if you stop what is not working and do this type that is working you may be able to reduce your marketing costs while increasing your revenue stream.

d.Finally, a partner level attorney who has a senior associate that has good people skills that could work this marketing for law firms vehicle and close the referred clients.

4.Who is this type of attorney marketing not for?

a.Someone who won’t attend to the referrals from the matching service most if not nearly every working day.

b.Someone who does not have fair to good “closing skills” or “bedside manner” (Note: you can get some coaching from these firms to improve this aspect if needed and/or see my website for more information on this skill set). You are not the only attorney getting the referral from the match firm so you need to “shine” well enough to get hired. There is still an element of competition involved with maybe 3 to 5 other attorneys who got the same referral.

c.Someone in a geographic area that does not generate a lot of referrals in your practice area. Like a rural area or small town or maybe an estate planner in a low-income area. So you see this marketing for law firms vehicle is not for everyone.

5.The negative information on LegalMatch and CasePost is somewhat troubling to me even though much of it is from the past and has been positively addressed. The negative information of the past on LegalMatch appears to have not troubled the Utah Bar, the Association of Trial Lawyers of America and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. This is reassuring to me.

6.If you were reasonably sure this type of vehicle is for you I would go with LegalMatch first. I am presuming you are willing to work their system diligently and have at least low average “closing” skills (they will work with you to get your closing ratio up if you need some support in that area). Why LegalMatch? They have over 1500 members currently (a good sign I think), over 90 employees and have been in business longer. I figure that gives them an edge in knowledge, results and staying in business over time. Additionally, their “footprint” of bringing business to their members is almost certainly larger since they have more resources to drive business to their site than the others. If for some reason you are uncertain if this type of marketing for law firms is for you then I would go with LegalFish first. Why LegalFish? The LegalFish option would allow you to get into this marketing for law firms arena now with less expense and less risk than LegalMatch or CasePost. Do realize the LegalFish attorney marketing “footprint” is going to be much smaller than either of the other two services so they won’t be sending as large a volume of business your way almost certainly. Do be sure you have in your agreement with LegalFish that they will not charge you for the months they do not send you business. If you had a good experience working the referrals from LegalFish, diligently worked the system almost daily, realized a good return on your investment and you wanted to do more then I would look into LegalMatch next. Either starting with LegalMatch or LegalFish, if you find that you really liked this approach to marketing for law firms there is nothing wrong with belonging to two or even three of the services.

7.If you decide to become a member with LegalMatch, Case Post and/or LegalFish do remember your financial arrangement and term of membership are somewhat to greatly negotiable. Do negotiate a win/win agreement for yourself. Naturally, if you can get references of current members to contact from them in your practice area and in a similar type market to yours so much the better before you sign your agreement.

8.I probably would not go with Lawyers dot com at this point. Why? First, no guarantee. Next Lawyers dot com does not appear to me to be promoting that part of the site enough. Additionally, I am not sure it is worth the cost of the bio and the fee that together will run at least $2,400 for the year. I suspect this money could be better put to use with one of the “big three”. Lastly, given the consumer has a list of attorneys that could be large (search on the site for your zip code and practice areas and see how large it is for your area) you are going to be in a crowd I fear. Thus it looks like not much business and it seems no way to impact the consumers’ thinking in your direction at the point where they are selecting who to contact. An exception to this thinking is if you already have a bio listing with them (and it is delivering business to you) this add on service might be a useful attorney marketing move given you are only spending $495 more per year. That said keep good records and see if it produces you any business. If not you would stop the service of course.

9.With respect to LegalConnection dot com I probably would not go with them at this point. Why? No guarantee. I do see it as an advantage that it is a stand-alone away from the FindLaw site. For that reason alone I would favor it over Lawyers dot com, however, I don’t see LegalConnection or Lawyers dot com as being in the same class as the “big three” at this point in time.

Henry Harlow asked:


Law firm marketing is comprised of many different elements. The analysis of your firm in law practice management can be complex, however, lets begin with a key success variable – your current client base. Managing your client base is the most important aspect of your law firm marketing efforts. I suggest you begin with grading your clients.

The ABCD Solution

In looking at your client base for law firm marketing purposes, you can use a time-tested method of analysis. This is the key concept of “ABCD clients”. Service professionals of many types use this method to accurately rate and organize their client base. And for effective marketing for law firms, this method is priceless. By the way it is not just about marketing. It is also about serving your clients better than ever.

As you certainly know in schools we use the letter grading system to rank the students in order of how well they perform on papers, tests, quizzes, etc. Similarly we will “grade” our clients. So think of your client grading system for law firm marketing as summing up all the aspects of a good client.

A client who gets an “A” would be one who has reasonable expectations, follows your instructions, is grateful for the work you do as well as courteous and professional in their demeanor with both you and in particular your staff. In fact if you are ever wondering if someone is an “A” client or a “D” client just ask your staff. The “A” client sends you referrals that turn into “A” clients as well. The “A” client is never concerned with the fees you charge since they know your services are worth the cost. They pay their bills on time all the time. And finally, their cases are interesting and substantial matters. Now isn’t this the kind of client you are aiming for in your law firm marketing in the first place? Additionally, have you ever heard the old saying “birds of a feather flock together”? This means your “A” clients know a lot of other “A” clients who they can refer to you if you play your cards right.

Of course a client with a “B” grade would have many of the same qualities of the “A” client, but not all. A client with a “C” grade would be closer to a “D” client. A client with a “D” grade is the complete opposite of all the characteristics of an “A” client. They don’t have reasonable expectations, they pay their bills late (some not at all), try to negotiate lower fees or retainers, don’t follow your instructions (may even think they know better than you do), are rude or unprofessional, they do not send referrals (or if they do they are also “C or D” clients), their matters are not substantial and interesting, and they often complain about normal fees. Not a pretty picture these “D” clients. Let your competitors have them!

In targeting your law firm marketing, “C & D” clients are not the kind of client you want to attract. Most firms find that “C & D” clients take up between sixty to eighty percent of their time and efforts, while only bringing in twenty to forty percent of the firm’s revenue. Does it make sense to cultivate this type “C & D” business? Of course not. You need to stop taking “C & D” business and “fire” (ethically of course) any “C & D” business that you can. Even if you only begin with the “Ds” it is a beginning. Quite liberating as well my clients report to fire these folks.

Effective marketing for law firms includes a realistic look at what will bring the best benefit for the best clients. Ridding yourself of clients who are graded a “C or D” is one of the best things you can do for your “A & B” clients. Without spending all your time on the “C & D” problems and concerns, you can pour your attention into your “A & B” clients (moving their matters to conclusion faster thus you can do more of them). Thus the “A & B” clients will be even more satisfied, resulting in more referrals and more business from them. Clearly a “win/win” for all.

Another big, big advantage of spending less or no time on your “C & D” business is you can focus more time on developing your “A & B” referral network. Your increased marketing time and more focused law firm marketing will result in more quality “A & B” business.

What I have found working individually with over 500 attorneys is most of you will need to limit your practice areas to one, two or maybe (and I do mean maybe) three practice areas in order to drop your “C & D” cases. Too many attorneys are practicing “threshold law” that is defined as taking anything that comes across the threshold of your office. In selecting your practice areas try to incorporate cross-salable areas, such as wills and trusts, real estate, and/or estate planning for example. Select the most lucrative practice areas you have and then pour your law firm marketing efforts into those targeted practice areas while focusing on “A & B” clients and referral sources. This may be a bit frightening at first and in the long run you will be extremely glad you did.

Henry Harlow asked:


What do I need to know first about law firm Internet marketing?

“In modern business, it is not the crook who is feared most, it is the honest man who doesn’t know what he is doing.” Pablo Casals

There are tons of vendors out there who want to sell you websites and law firm Internet marketing services. Most are honest people who simply don’t know what they are doing. In many cases, they are attempting to sell you something that is overpriced and that won’t produce you any new clients at all, let alone good clients. The attorneys I have worked with report to me that the whole Internet marketing process confuses them. They don’t know who to believe. Some have spent considerable sums already on websites with little or no results. I aim to stop all that. So keep reading.

Do I need law firm Internet marketing?

Yes. According to Reuters News Services by 2007 there will be over nine million legal services searches done online each month. Additionally, prospective clients and clients expect you to have at least a website or think you may be behind the times if you do not. Finally, while the yellow pages are not a good attorney marketing vehicle today they are going away since people are searching the Internet and not going to the yellow pages.

What is/is not law firm Internet marketing?

Having a website is not law firm Internet marketing. At a minimum you do need at least a “brochure website” of a few pages, however, that website is unlikely to get you new business and is definitely not Internet marketing. The rest of this article (in four parts) is going to help you get clear on what Internet marketing is all about.

Where does Internet marketing begin?

Law firm Internet marketing begins with you becoming an educated consumer and then keyword research. Researching your practice’s best keywords will tell us what words your prospective clients are using to search for legal services on search engines, what legal services your prospective clients are the most interested in, what your prospective client is thinking, how to attract these prospective clients to your site at the search engine instead of going to your competitors site, what your competitors are doing/not doing, what content to write for each of your top keywords (recommend writing a page each to at least the top 20 keywords), what are the words to use for PPC law firm advertising and how to begin search engine optimization. If you have not adequately completed keyword research using software tools like Wordtracker you have not done adequate keyword research and are likely to fail at your law firm Internet marketing.

You mentioned, “…what content to write for each of your top keywords…”. What are you talking about exactly?

I am talking about what is known as the CTPM model of Internet marketing developed by Ken Evoy M.D. in 1997. This model works because it is in total alignment with how the Internet works. The C is the first part of the model and it stands for Content – create in demand content (you determine what is in demand from the keyword research). The T is Traffic – attract targeted traffic. The P is for pre-sell – pre-sell the targeted traffic (using such things as newsletters, RSS feeds, free downloads, e-books, autoresponders, audio, video, and teleclasses). The M is Monetize – this is where you convert these pre-sold prospective clients to clients easily.

You mentioned, “…tools like Wordtracker…” with respect to keyword research in law firm Internet marketing. What is Wordtracker?

Wordtracker is a software tool that can be used to thoroughly research your keywords. Wordtracker is at least arguably the best keyword research tool in the marketplace and there are others. You can go to http://www.Wordtracker.com to get all the details. Your vendor can use this tool easily and should use it for keyword research to put your law firm internet marketing on the right track from the beginning if at all possible.

You also mentioned “…how to begin search engine optimization.” What is meant by search engine optimization (SEO) and exactly what is it and how does it fit into law firm Internet marketing?

There is no mystery in SEO in particular and law firm Internet marketing in general so don’t let anyone bamboozle you on that one. As I said earlier SEO begins with appropriate keyword research. If you have not done that you are dead in the water since this is the foundation of everything that comes after in law firm Internet marketing. The next step is the “C” or content mentioned earlier in the CTPM model. You will need to write “keyword optimized” content to each of your top 20 keywords or another way to say this is writing your content in the way that search engines want to see it so they rank you higher than your competitors. Your content needs to fit together in a site plan (the term site plan refers to in what order your pages will appear and how they link to one another) that has an appropriate pyramid type structure. This pyramid type structure includes your home page (the peak of the pyramid) themed keyword phrase being supported by all the tier two pages (the next layer of the pyramid) and their tier three pages (usually the base of your pyramid although you could go deeper) support them resulting in higher rankings for all of your pages. There are some technical aspects to SEO as well like the use of clean HTML, heading text, meta tags, alt tags, site map, etc., however, mercifully I won’t go into those since they should be known to your technical person. The bottom line is put nothing in the way of the search engines spiders (spiders are sent out from the search engine to “read” the sites on the Internet) being able to “read” your site like fancy flash pages get in the way big time for instance. To know more in depth about keyword optimization you can go to http://www.Wordtracker.com where they have a really fine Keyword Research Guide if you want to know more of the details. All of what I just told you is known as “on site optimization” strategies for law firm Internet marketing. There is also “off site” optimization as well involved in SEO. Off site optimization means getting one-way links from high-ranking pages of other sites that are related to your top 20 keywords (there we are again with that keyword research being vital) that link to your site. Search engines see these links like a “vote” for your site. The more high quality “votes” you have the higher they will rank your site. The term “link popularity” is used to describe this process in law firm Internet marketing. The royal road to high quality links is having (here he goes again) keyword researched and keyword optimized quality content on your website. You get these links from website directories, article directories, online forums, press releases, etc. I left out reciprocal links because most SEO authorities think they are no longer worth the effort since they are difficult to get and don’t really contribute much (or can even hurt) to your page ranking.

We have completed the first part of law firm Internet marketing at this point. In part two we will go into Google Page Ranking, dealing with your competitors, RSS, the factors surrounding costs of law firm Internet marketing and more. I am committed to you being a master of law firm internet marketing at least to the point you will get new clients from your efforts and not get taken to the cleaners by vendors who may not know any better.