Nolo's Lawyer Blog

Strategic Online Partnerships

In our efforts to provide more exposure and online visibility to Nolo member attorneys, Nolo has partnered with a few key legal websites to form the Nolo Legal Network.

Meet Justia

Former CEO and co-founder of FindLaw, internet legal guru Tim Stanley now heads up Justia, providing premium web sites, blogs and online marketing solutions to law firms. Justia also works with organizations like Nolo that provide free legal information to the online community.  All Nolo member attorneys receive a free enhanced placement listing on Justia's lawyer directory as well as a 'verified by Nolo' badge. Through Justia and its strong web affiliations, Nolo is able to connect its member attorneys with some of the best legal sites on the web.

Cornell University's Legal Information Institute (LII)

The leading provider of free public legal information, Cornell created the Legal Information Institute, the first legal website on the Internet back in 1992. Known for listing all opinions handed down by the United States Supreme Court since 1992, together with over 600 earlier decisions selected for their historical importance, Cornell also lists attorneys--including Nolo member attorneys--as a service to members of the public with questions about the law.

OYEZ - US Supreme Court Multimedia Archive

"Oyez aims to be a complete and authoritative source for all audio recorded in the Court since the installation of a recording system in October 1955. The Project also provides authoritative information on all justices and offers a virtual reality 'tour' of portions of the Supreme Court building, including the chambers of some of the justices" (from the Oyez website).

These are just a few examples of the growing list of leading legal information providers that Nolo proudly calls its partners. Find out more about becoming a member of the Nolo Lawyer Directory today!

Please introduce yourself: where are you from, where did you grow up or go to school, are you married, any kids, pets?
I grew up in Chicago and attended Francis W. Parker School for 14 years. Went to school in California but then back to Chicago, where I worked at a progressive rock radio station. I then moved to CA in 1986 and am now married; our teenaged daughter is a dedicated softball pitcher.

Tell us a little about your sales background? Any previous experience that lends itself to talking with attorneys?
After 35 years of selling media, including radio, print and internet, I have an excellent grip on marketing. I've worked with major retailers, professionals, event advertisers and food brands. Marketing is universal - how to best reach your target. That's why I'm happy to be working with Nolo's Lawyer Directory.  It's so amazingly focused. I have forsaken all other media for internet because it is the marketing of the present and the future.

What are the most important things an attorney can do to get the word out to generate more clients?
Besides a Nolo profile, networking with other attorneys is important. Also, do a good job so that your clients will send you referrals. Make sure someone is answering your phone. Put good content on your website!

What do you like the most about working here at Nolo?
I love the environment and the casual atmosphere. I strongly believe in Nolo's mission - informing people about their legal problems - and it's easy to sell a product that you believe in, in which you have confidence.

Tell us something about yourself that most people don't know or wouldn't know?
Besides being a softball Mom, I love the end of the day when I get to walk my dog Rocco, a jumbo dachshund, in the beautiful Oakland hills.

What do you like to do when you're not working? Personal interests, hobbies, secret obsessions?
I play golf with my husband; I like going to movies and reading the New Yorker cover to cover, and love long novels. I'm a subscriber to the Berkeley Rep and am always amazed by their creative stage work. I've traveled a lot and seen many beautiful places, but my favorite is the tiny hamlet of Inverness in West Marin.

NACBA 2010 - San Francisco

This year's annual NACBA -- The National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys -- meeting will be held in San Francisco starting on April 28, 2010. Nolo will be out in force for the show and will also be taking a small group of Nolo-NACBA member attorneys out to sea on a sunset bay cruise aboard "Adventure Cat 2",  a luxurious 65-foot catamaran.
NACBA bankruptcy attorneys attending the San Francisco meeting are invited to join Nolo, Captain Hans and his crew aboard the beautiful Adventure Cat for this hour-and-a-half long sunset cruise.  Our cruise will take us around Alcatraz and under the Golden Gate bridge (check out this cool video)!

We will be departing from Fisherman's wharf at 6:30 p.m. sharp on Saturday, May 1, 2010.

There is no cost for qualified attorneys to participate, but space is limited so sign-up today by calling 1-877-NOLO-LAW or email Tom Foley directly at tfoley@nolo.com.

Nolo Member Attorney Interview with Blackie Burak

Nolo catches up with busy Walnut Creek, CA DUI attorney Blackie Burak on why he became an attorney, best practices for lawyers just starting out, as well as tips on what makes a good DUI lawyer.

Blackie Burake Interview_edit.mp3

While we enjoyed speaking with all of the NACBA attorneys that stopped by Nolo's booth, here are just a few of the things that some of our member attorneys had to say.

"We don't track our advertising too closely but I'd say we've received at least 20-30 clients from Nolo over this past year. Our Nolo advertising paid for itself within the first few months" Holley & Peter Bricks, Atlanta - Georgia








"It was an honor to meet your colleagues. I did not expect to meet one of the author/editors of your Chapter 7 book, which I use on a regular basis.
 
I have a great deal of respect for Nolo, not just for the quality products, but for the ultimate goal that I have seen Nolo carry through the years of educating the public about the otherwise intimidating legal process. I try to serve this goal as well with my clients on an individual basis.  I consider it an honor to have my firm associated with Nolo." Kurt W. Wolfgang - La Plata, Maryland

"I've had so many phone calls and I haven't even completed my Nolo profile!" Selwyn Whitehead - Oakland, California

(Since then, Selwyn has completed a fantastic profile!)

Tom and I arrived in Tucson, AZ via Las Vegas to clear & sunny blue skies with a slight breeze out of the southwest and an outside air temperature a lovely 92º. After dropping the top down on the Sebring and rolling through a few off-the-beat-and-path construction zones on the southeast side we finally headed west and up into the rolling hills of the Tuscon desert and arrived at the JW Marriott Star Pass resort for the start of the 2009 National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys (NACBA) winter workshops.



More than 500 attorneys attended these Continuing Legal Education (CLE) seminars and workshops on topics ranging from better practice management to the finer points of filing a Chapter 13. Approximately 150 attorneys, many of them Nolo members, stopped by our booth for their free books and to let us know how their directory profiles were helping their business. The response from our Nolo attorneys was overwhelmingly positive and over 90% of our attorneys said they were more than happy with Nolo partnerships!



After the conference ended, we headed for the hills, Mt. Lemon to be exact and drove up to 8,000'. If you've never been to this part of the country, this desert, these Saguaro cacti, it's a must see, in our humble opinions.

The Nolo Road Show in Full Effect

It's 1:30PM PST here in Vegas and the attorneys have just departed for the day. Three Nolo team members - Kay, Kimber and Greg - hit the ground running here at Caesars Palace in lovely Las Vegas on our quest to find the best attorneys that we can to represent our consumers nationwide. We are reaching out to DUI / DWI attorneys attending the 13th annual 'Defend with Integrity' conference. Approximately 550 participating attorneys are here to receive their CLE's for DUI specific areas of their Criminal Law practices.

Our intial response by attorneys has been overwhelmingly positive as we have some of the biggest crowds out of all the exhibitors. Many other exhibitors have stopped by to validate this as well (read - pat on our own back). Our Nolo legal guides for consumers are also very popular with attorneys, FREE for qualified attorneys that will give us five minutes of their time to tell us a little about their practice.

We'll be back at 6:30 PM for the first (of a few) schmooze & booze cocktail hours. Actually, Nolo will be hosting our own informal get together tomorrow night at the Voodoo Lounge on the 50th floor of the Rio hotel - members only. 

Nolo is always looking for great attorneys to help meet our growing consumer demand. Recently we have been seeing a dramatic increase in the number of consumers visiting our lawyer directory looking for Criminal Defense attorneys.

One important way that we reach out to new attorneys is by attending national legal association meetings. Getting to meet face to face and talking to lots of lawyers one-on-one helps us to better understand what kind of struggles attorneys face running their practices and how they overcome those challenges on a daily basis. We also get to share a little about who we are and what we are looking for in qualified lawyers to help our consumers.

This fall, Nolo plans to attend the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL) along with the National College for DUI Defense's (NCDD) 13th Annual DWI - Defend with Ingenuity seminar in Las Vegas, October 8-10, 2009. This will be our first time to reach out to these Criminal Defense attorneys at one of their annual meetings.

You don't need a Criminal Defense attorney that focuses on DUI's until you or someone you know lands themselves in jail after one too many before getting behind the wheel. Laws differ from state to state which is why local representation can be very important if you find yourself asking questions about DUI's and DWI's. Soon we'll talk with some Nolo attorneys that specialize in DUI's to find out more about what makes a successful DUI practice.

You mean like Nolo Contendere?

"Yeah, I've heard of Nolo, you guys publish those self-help legal books, right?" Right, we hear that a lot from attorneys. However, the 21st Century Nolo helps people in a whole lot more ways than just publishing our popular and well-written plain-English legal guides.

Since 1971, Nolo, derived from the legal term Nolo Contendere from the Latin meaning "I do not wish to content," has been publishing legal information and resources for consumers to help them with their legal issues. Nolo products are now found in almost every bookstore, library & office supply store across the country. We are also mentioned more than 2,500 times per year on average, in the mainstream press and our Nolo authors are regularly called upon for expert legal commentary on current consumer issues.

Today, more than 15 million consumers & small businesses visit Nolo.com each year and our full service legal center provides everything to help them including articles, podcasts, blogs, forms, software, legal dictionaries & encyclopedias and now a directory of consumer-focused attorneys nationwide.

So why did Nolo start working with Attorneys?

Even though all of our books always state that for many legal issues you will need to consult an attorney, we had no where to send people looking for the consul of a good local lawyer. The decision to create the Nolo Lawyer Directory was obvious.

Due to the rapid growth of visitors to our online resource center - a 300% increase just in the past 12 months - and the overwhelming requests from consumers seeking legal consul beyond our website, we responded to that demand and deemed it was high time that we began working with qualified attorneys in specific areas of law across the country and created the Nolo Lawyer Directory. Now with over 2,500 member attorneys in the directory, we continue our search for qualified lawyers to become Nolo member attorneys as our growth in on-line visitors continues to be phenomenal.

What is a qualified attorney?

Glad you asked. For 38 years, people have turned to Nolo to help them with their legal needs. The New York Times says, "In Nolo you can trust," and now we are looking to partner with attorneys that we can trust to handle our consumer's needs. Our extensive interview process that we conduct with each and every attorney helps to ensure that all of our Nolo member attorneys meet certain basic criteria including taking the Nolo pledge.

Highlights of the Nolo member attorney qualifications include:

• Nolo attorneys are client-focused and have room in their practice to take on new client matters
• Nolo member attorneys value an educated client and will respect clients efforts to further educate themselves on their specific legal issue
• Nolo member attorneys have a clean bar record. We run a background check on ALL member attorneys before we bring them aboard
• Nolo attorneys enjoy their work and bring passion and integrity to what they do

What does this mean for Lawyers?

For many lawyers looking to increase the quality and volume of their current client base or who are looking at expanding their presence on the internet, or both, the Nolo Lawyer Directory is a great option. Check out one of our in-depth profiles and see how we position our member attorneys to the Nolo consumers. If you're an attorney looking to expand the quality and volume of your current client base, learn more about the opportunity to work with Nolo's consumers by telling us a little about your practice.

Stay tuned for regular updates here at Nolo Lawyers to see how Nolo helps thousands of attorneys grow their practices each day and keep them informed in the exciting Web 2.5 environment. Nolo - now helping connect consumers with qualified attorneys since 2005.

Continue reading "Have YOU heard of Nolo?" »