UPDATE: We’ve added a  link to the Total Attorneys complaint section.  Check it out to read the opposing viewpoint.

Your weekly brief has landed, with the best of the web from the last seven days on marketing, productivity, legal news, and business management advice.  As with the last few weeks’ editions, we’ve formatted the links to open in a new tab/window. Please let us know if you prefer them to open in the same window.

Also, we’re adding a new feature — subject headings for each entry or group of entries. We hope it’ll make it easier for you to find the stuff that interests you.

Grab a latte and read on!

Blawg Review

UPDATE: It’s up right here. Not up yet, but Joel Rosenberg will be publishing it at some point today at Windy Pundit Twin Cities Carry Journal.

Total Attorneys Disciplinary Complaint

The legal blogosphere was burning up last week with news of disciplinary complaints being filed in 47 jurisdictions against Total Attorneys and Kevin Chern, its head honcho.

If you don’t know what Total Attorneys is, a brief explanation: it’s a marketing/referral service whereby lawyers in various practice areas sign up for referrals from the TA website, and pay TA a flat fee for each referral. Some of those referrals are just folks kicking the tires and looking for free advice — the consumer doesn’t pay anything to ask for information from a TA attorney — but some are ready to hire, and so the theory goes that you’ll make up the money you pay for weak referrals from the fees from those who hire you.

A Connecticut lawyer named Zenas Zelotes has filed versions of a 303-page (yes, you read that right) disciplinary office complaint against Total Attorneys in 47 states, alleging the “pay per play” model adopted by TA sites is basically impermissible fee splitting. Not surprisingly, Kevin Chern disputes this strongly.  In Connecticut, there are five attorneys who are being prosecuted for participating in this program. And here’s why TIS is interested in this, beyond the web-based-marketing angle: they’re all solos.

I’ve been following this with interest, and here are the best takes on the story from across the web:

• Carolyn Elefant/MyShingle: Why Isn’t Anyone Speaking for the Five Solos Targeted by the Connecticut Disicplinary Counsel’s Attack on So-Called Referral Services?
• Josh King/Avvo Blog: Connecticut Takes a Swipe at Attorney Advertising
• Robert Ambrogi/Legal Blog Watch (Law.com):  Is Total Attorneys Complaint a Total Joke?
• Larry Bodine/Law Marketing Blog: Zany 47-State Legal Attack on Total Attorneys.com
• UPDATE: Zenas himself (at least I presume it’s the real deal) suggested we include this post from Simple Justice on the “other side” of the issue  – Who Stole Kevin O’Keefe’s Brain?

Home Offices

Lifehacker: Selling Homes and Scrapbooking: A Compact and Organized Office — complete with pictures of one example of how to set up a home office in a smallish space. Use it to trigger some creative thinking about your own space at home.

Google Stuff

Randall Ryder/Lawyerist: Optimize Google Voice

MG Siegler/TechCrunch: A Big Google Chrome Extensions Push Is Imminent

Two excellent posts from great bloggers about the evil empire our benevolent Google OverLords and their ongoing plan for world domination exciting new products.

OK, OK, I kid, but truthfully, I really like Chrome – it’s a fabulous browser. But the reason I like it is that it’s trimmed down, no extraneous fluff. I love Firefox too but sometimes, with all these toolbars and add-ons it can seem and act rather bloated. If you haven’t tried Chrome yet, give it a whirl.

I don’t know much about Google Voice, to be honest, but after reading the Lawyerist’s post, I’m intrigued.

Social Networking and Marketing

Marshall Kirkpatrick/ReadWriteWeb: Obama: “I Have Never Used Twitter” — Why Twitter is important and why the White House needs to stop putting it down.

Sonia Simone/Copyblogger: The Seven Harsh Realities of Social Media Marketing — You need to read this one, and each of the links Sonia provides in this post. I know we’re all “yay! Twitter!” here at TIS, and for good reason, but that doesn’t mean we don’t go into it with eyes wide open. You should, too.

Smart Passive Income: The Blogger’s Guide to Facebook — an interesting personal case study that’s worth a read. This isn’t the only way, by the by. Your use of social marketing tools is limited only by your imagination and your willingness to act.

Blog Traffic and Stress Management

Rob McPhillips/Problogger: Why Stress Can Kill Your Success or Help Your Blog Succeed Wildly — McPhillips suggests a new way of looking at stress — not as a global killer but a signal that you’re working at your capacity. I’m not sure about this one, but it’s an intriguing thought.

Business Finance

Seth Godin: Debt, Equity, and a Third Thing That Might Work Better — Seth always has interesting thoughts on business stuff. If you’re bottom line ain’t what you’d like it to be, give this a read. I’m not sure how this would work with lawyers, but someone out there can surely figure it out.

Website Copywriting

Men With Pens: Is Your Website Copy Too Excited? — Aw, there’s NO WAY I’m giving up the occasional use of caps and exclamation points! But that’s me. And I’m not a lawyer, so it’s different. You professionals out there should give this one a read, though.
That’s it for this week! Enjoy. Don’t read ‘em all at once — you’ll get a tummy ache.