Dynamic Lawyers is looking for a Toronto real estate lawyer to respond to users who have made posts looking for lawyers to help them with their residential real estate transactions.  If you are or know a Toronto real estate lawyer who does this type of work, please give me a shout at michael@dynamiclawyers.com or sign up here.

written by admin \\ tags: dynamiclawyers.com, real estate lawyer, toronto real estate lawyer

I came across some interesting research online – a survey undertaken by MarketingProfs that asks, in part, does have a large twitter following make you smart? – and I wanted to share it.  A few hundred users were surveyed in April about why they follow people on Twitter.  Some of the conclusions are quite interesting.  Definitely check it out.

written by admin \\ tags: following twitter makes you smarter, large twitter following, marketingprofs

Dynamic Lawyers has just issued its latest profile report on 3rd law student and tech guru, Omar Ha-Redeye.  Omar has travelled the world, is well connected, and has lots of “Google Juice”.  He’s a great guy who I look forward to working closely with to help open up legal services to the masses – a la Richard Susskind.

written by admin \\ tags: dynamiclawyers.com, Michael Carabash, Omar Ha-Redeye

Dynamic Lawyers is pleased to announce that Legal Line has put a link on their website to Dynamic Lawyers through a “Ask a Lawyer” feature.  Recall that Legalline.ca is a great access to justice resource for those wanting to know more about Canadian law in general.  Legalline ® was founded as a federal not-for-profit corporation in 1993 by lawyer Antree Demarkos and her husband and telecom whiz, Ian Levine.  The two established a phone service, whereby everyday people could call in and, through a series of automated prompts, listen to a pre-recorded voice talking about the legal information they sought.  To get to that point, Demarkos and Levine had to enlist the service of 300 top Ontario lawyers to work for free, writing about topics in each’s area of expertise (e.g. criminal law, landlord and tenant law, business law, etc.). Over 1000 legal issues are covered in a simple question/answer and problem/solution format, which allows listeners and readers to get the information they need without the legal jargon. Next, they found people with nice voices to freely record the information.  They also began printing and distributing millions of guides (2 feet by 3 feet) to law offices, police stations, recreations centres, and (with the help of Canada Post) eventually to every home in Ontario. The guide is a directory of all legal topics that is to be used by individuals when calling the Legalline telephone service. Finally, they recruited sponsors to offset the cost of the service and maintain credibility.  Speaking of credibility, there is a very long list of people, corporations, and other organizations that endorse Legalline, and some testimonials can be found here.  In 1997, Demarkos and Levine established Legalline.ca to compliment their phone and fax services.  Most recently, with the help of lawyers and legal writers James Middlemiss (National Post – Legal Post) and Michael Crawford, Demarkos and Levine published Your Guide to Canadian Law: Answers to the Most Frequently Asked Questions in 2006.  That invaluable book (which is a Canadian best seller) was updated this year.

written by admin \\ tags: antree demarkos, ian levine, James Middlemiss, legalline, Michael Crawford, Your Guide to Canadian Law: Answers to the Most Frequently Asked Questions

So here’s a quick recap of what’s happened on the DL front over the past 7 months since officially launching in Toronto on November 1, 2009:

• Website traffic continues to increase (sometimes doubling the previous’ month’s traffic).
• Users have made over 500 posts and the average number of daily posts continues to increase.
• Dynamic Lawyers has been featured in over a dozen media spaces – including newspapers, legal trade publications, radio, TV, and journals.
• Dynamic Lawyers has researched and published a number of stats and reports about the legal services industry.
• I’ve spoken with and personally met with a number of prominent personalities in the online legal industry across North America.
• We’ve shared a wealth of free legal and related information online through the DL Blog and the new Legal Areas Q and A section (which we continue to build on).
• We’ve given presentations to lawyers, legal service providers, and other organizations (e.g. YWCA, Retirement Planners Association of Canada, etc.) about Dynamic Lawyers.
• We’ve continued to update the website by enhancing user’s experience in making posts.

We had no idea that Dynamic Lawyers would be received by the general public and the legal industry as well as it has been.  There’s lots to do to improve the website and we’ve got lots of ideas that will take Dynamic Lawyers to the next level.

written by admin \\ tags: Dynamic Lawyers

Dynamic Lawyers continues to expand its free Q and A section of the website, this time by answering 15 common Qs and As about Trademark law in Canada.  If you have comments, questions, or concerns about trademark law in Canada, I’d encourage you to contact me directly at michael@carabashlaw.com or make a post on Dynamic Lawyers.

written by admin \\ tags: trademark law in Canada

Dynamic Lawyers is looking for a Kitchener bankruptcy/Insolvency lawyer to respond to the following public post (and hopefully get a new client):

I owned a small business and accountants’ advice was to “walk away”, so the assets were taken by the bank. The business is incorporated. I owe CRA, GST, PST, WSIB among other…but was unable to pay or sell business. I did everything I could. I filed for personal bankruptcy.Now I need to know whether I have to pay the government or my staff their wages owed. I own very little…my car and my house are not paid for…and I have no money.What is the next step? The Ministry of Labour has just sent me claims.

This person has indicated that their budget is $2,000.

To view the full public post, just click here.

If you are a Kitchener bankruptcy/insolvency lawyer or know of an Kitchener bankruptcy/insolvency lawyer who can deal with these issues, I’d encourage you to register on Dynamic Lawyers (only $50/month for the first year) by going here.

written by admin \\ tags: Dynamic Lawyers, kitchener bankruptcy/insolvency lawyer, kitchener lawyer

So I’m not usually a negative person.  And my dealings with Yellow Pages haven’t been all that bad.  They are very professional and try their best to understand your business and offer solutions that will help.  But, plain and simple, the idea that people are turning to the Yellow Pages to find information is a dying phenomenon.  When is the last time my generation grabbed that heavy yellow book to find something?  It’s big, heavy, takes up space, and is not user friendly.  The information contained inside only shows you who had the money to spend on a big ad.  Is that how the public is supposed to find out who is the best service provider – or in my case, lawyer – for them?  What’s the point of having a small one-liner in the Yellow Pages with my name, address and contact info.  Will anyone actually just randomly call up a lawyer and ask what their area of expertise is, how much they charge, etc.?  It’s all very impractical.  The book is dying and for good reason.  Yellow Pages may still work for older generations who are used to it, but that will not be the case very, very soon.  What about the lawyers who are thinking about spending thousands of dollars on an ad?  My experience, and my conversations with lawyers who have done so, have convinced me that spending money on Yellow Pages doesn’t work.  I haven’t gone through with the process myself (in fact, I cancelled our Yellow Pages deal after realizing it wasn’t working and definitely not worth the $13,000 we were going to spend on the entire year-long contract); but, I’d rather spend money upgrading Dynamic Lawyers, coming out with a new report, and sponsoring a networking event than spending it on one-way communication that won’t produce dividends at the end of the day.  So there’s my rant…

written by admin \\ tags: Yellow Pages

Dynamic Lawyers is looking for an Ottawa family law lawyer to respond to the following post (and hopefully get a new client):

I need a lawyer to try to convince the x spouse to mediate the issues. I do not want to go to court. Property and custody involved.

To view the full public post, just click here.

If you are an Ottawa family law lawyer or know of an Ottawa family law lawyer who can deal with these issues, I’d encourage you to register on Dynamic Lawyers (only $50/month for the first year) by going here.

written by admin \\ tags: ottawa family law lawyer

So I’ve returned from Cuba and Parastou and I had a fantastic time (as we always do).  Since I’ve been gone, we’ve had a lot of new posts come in to Dynamic Lawyers and I’ve been playing catch up.  Here’s the latest public post, wherein someone is searching for a Toronto corporate lawyer to help them with their corporate dissolution:

Myself and a partner own a corporation (less than one year) to which I have been completing the bulk of the work. I would like to dissolve the partnership, however not sure what needs to be done and whether buying her out and keeping the corporation would be an option or to just dissolve the entire corporation and have myself start from scratch. The nature of the business is software programming and we both have invested time and money.

If you would like to see the full post, click here.

If you are or know a Toronto Corporate lawyer, then I would encourage you to register on Dynamic Lawyers as a lawyer (the fee is a modest $50/month for 1 year) to respond to this and other posts as they come in.  As always, future posts matching your City (e.g. Toronto), Legal Area (e.g. Business) , and Matter (e.g. Partner/Shareholder Dispute) will be automatically emailed to you.

written by admin \\ tags: Dynamic Lawyers, new public post, toronto business lawyer