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The Pro Se Problem

08 Feb

( From “How to Win in Court” Course )
Click or Call 866-LAW-EASY Toll Free!

Why Pro Se Litigants Have a Hard Time.

Many pro se people are winning.

Unfortunately, a great number who should be winning are losing … needlessly!

Going to court without a lawyer is a growing phenomenon. Whether it’s the high cost of legal fees or growing distrust of lawyers in general, the trend is for more people to fightwithout lawyers

The American Bar Association reports nearly 1/2 of all pro se folks believe lawyers care more about their own self-interest than their client’s rights.

If you go by calls and emails Jurisdictionary receives, there’s good reason for this! Lawyers who bail at the last minute. Lawyers who don’t know what they’re doing. And, worst of all, lawyers wishing to curry favor with judges, afraid to stand up to the buffalo in the black robe and demand their clients’ rights by making timely objections and threatening appeal.

60% of pro se people say they can’t afford a lawyer.

20% say they simply don’t want to spend the money.

Nearly ½ of all court proceedings in the U.S. involve at least one pro se party … and too many of them are losing all because they don’t yet know the “rules of the game” or how to play to win!

Good people who should be winning are losing needlessly simply because they were never taught what it takes to win!

Ever ask yourself, “Why?”

Ever wonder if there might be a sinister reason nothing about law is taught to our children in schools supported by our tax dollars?

Who benefits from your legal ignorance?

You have a Constitutional right to justice.

You have a Constitutional right to go to court and win pro se!

Your rights were paid for by the blood of those who gave the ultimate sacrifice for you!

BUT, THE KEYS TO JUSTICE HAVE BEEN HIDDEN FROM YOU – UNTIL NOW!

Pro se people too often do not get justice.Learn from Jurisdictionary step-by-step

Why?

We at Jurisdictionary receive emails every day complaining there’s a judicial “conspiracy” against pro se litigants.

Let’s examine facts:

  1. Most pro se people know nothing about the official Rules of Evidence that control the judge and all parties and their lawyers.
  2. Most pro se people know nothing about the official Rules of Procedure that control the judge and all parties and their lawyers.
  3. Most pro se people have no idea what “due process” really is.
  4. Most pro se people can’t recognize the opposing lawyer’s dirty tricks.
  5. Most pro se people assume what “admissible evidence” is and don’t know what stuff isn’t.
  6. Most pro se people draft their pleadings and motions incorrectly – usually with far too many words!
  7. Most pro se people don’t know why it’s vital to write proposed orders for the judge to sign.
  8. Most pro se people don’t know why, when, or how to make effective objections in court.
  9. Most pro se people don’t understand what facts are critical to winning a case and what facts are of no consequence.
  10. Most pro se people muddy the legal waters with court-confusing insignificance.
  11. Most pro se people don’t know how to find and cite controlling appellate opinions in support of their motions.
  12. Most pro se people don’t arrange in advance of every proceeding to have a court stenographer present, so they can control the judge.
  13. Most pro se people waste valuable court time with non-essentials, fail to appreciate the needs of others who have other problems to bring before the court and, as a consequence, tend to make judges dread pro se cases and hate pro se people.

BUT!

Pro se people who know what I explain so simply in my affordable, official, 24-hour step-by-step Jurisdictionary “How to Win in Court” self-help course winning consistently and getting compliments from judges and even opposing lawyers.

It’s so easy to learn how to do things the right way!

If you and friends were playing a game of basketball, and some bystander wanted to play but didn’t know the rules … how would you feel when he or she kept fouling and arguing he or she has a right to do as he or she pleases because she doesn’t know the rules?

Put yourself in the judges’ robes!

Many years ago, after winning a motion, an older judge asked me to stay behind after the parties left. He took me aside and said simply: “I want you to know that the case before yours today was to protect a little girl who’s grandfather thinks it’s fun to extinguish cigars on her legs.” I knew what he wanted me to know, and I never forgot. Other people’s case are serious, too.

Pro se people who know what I explain in my affordable, official, 24-hour step-by-step Jurisdictionary “How to Win in Court” self-help course don’t waste the court’s time and get justice by knowing the rules and how to use them tactically to control the judge and opposing counsel.

Winners learn the rules and how to use them!

If you want to win, get my affordable, official, 24-hour step-by-step Jurisdictionary “How to Win in Court” self-help course.

www.Jurisdictionary.com

 

Affordable 24-hour Step-by-Step Self-Help Course Includes:

5-hour video CD simplifies the process of litigation
2 audio CDs present practical tactics and procedures
15 in-depth tutorials on a 4th CD lay out the basics
Free EasyGuide to the Rules of Court
Instant On-Line Access while CDs are in the Mail
Still Only $249 … plus $7.50 Priority Mail Shipping & Handling
Save legal fees! Control judges!
Defeat crooked lawyers!

www.Jurisdictionary.com

Ask anyone who has our course … “Jurisdictionary Works!”

Call Toll Free for details: 866-Law-Easy

 

Casey Anthony & Lawyer Know-How

05 Jul

Casey Anthony

What did the lawyers need to know?

If you believe they needed to go to law school to learn how to do what they did, you’re dead wrong!

Think!

  • They called witnesses.
  • They reviewed evidence.
  • They made objections.
  • They argued over jury instructions.

What else?

Think about it, please.

Just go over in your mind what you saw of the trial on TV. Or, if you haven’t watched, go back over what you’ve seen on “Law & Order” or any other TV show or movie that depicts trials and court proceedings.

Was any of it all that complicated?

Did any of it require a law school education?

What did the lawyers REALLY NEED TO KNOW?

The Defense was often maligned by the media, but they got the job done by raising reasonable doubt. The prosecution provided a superb closing argument, but their case did not give any real proof that Casey Anthony murdered her daughter. The explanation given by the defense that described the child drowning in the family swimming pool could not be dismissed. No matter how much the mother lied to police and her family, there was absolutely no way to show what really happened to cause Caylee Anthony’s death. Those facts added up to a not guilty finding on all of the major counts. Casey was only found guilty on multiple counts of lying to a law enforcement official, which the defense admitted to multiple times. It may have taken weeks and seemed extremely complicated, but the concepts were actually very simple.

Let me tell you.

Think!

The lawyers needed to know only the following:

  1. the fact elements of the crimes charged,
  2. the available evidence that would establish (or oppose) those fact elements,
  3. how to get evidence admitted to the record,
  4. how to question witnesses on the stand,
  5. how to object when the judge or other side went outside the rules, and
  6. how to argue convincingly.

Six things any average 8th grader can master with just 24-hours with my official Jurisdictionary “How to Win in Court” step-by-step course!

Seriously!

#1 – We all know how to find fact elements of crimes charged. They’re set out in statute books and spelled out in jury instructions. No law school education required!

#2 – Evidence is found by law enforcement or dragged out of witnesses … willing or unwilling. It doesn’t require much of lawyers other than to follow leads. It certainly does not require a 3-year law school education! It’s all simple, step-by-step common-sense mixed with a bit of work digging for the facts! Nothing complicated at all!

#3 – Getting evidence admitted requires nothing more than a passing knowledge of a few evidence rules. (Only 13 pages in federal cases and not much more in the 50 states.) Nothing that requires 3 years in law school.

#4 – Questioning witnesses requires knowing only a few rules. None of these is complex or more than an average 8th grader can understand. Here are a few: (1) you may not lead your own witness, (2) you may not ask a witness what was said by someone who is not in court, (3) you may not ask a witness to guess what someone else was thinking, (4) you cannot ask a witness to guess at facts (unless the witness is an expert). These few rules can be learned by anyone in a matter of hours … not 3 years at an expensive law school!

#5 – Learning how to object effectively requires nothing more than reading my tutorial on courtroom objections. There are only a few objections to learn. If you’ve been following the Casey Anthony trial, you heard the same ones repeated again and again – and none of them were too complicated for an average 8th grader to learn. The lawyers would have you believe it’s all too complicated, so you can hire one and pay through the nose!

#6 – Finally, how to argue convincingly is something we are either born with or can learn by arguing with family members and friends about baseball or how to fry chicken. It isn’t rocket science or differential calculus! It’s just a process of building facts one upon another until your facts outweigh those of your opponent. Law schools don’t teach this, anyway.

So? What did the lawyers need to know?

Nothing that isn’t covered thoroughly and simply-put in my official 24-hour, step-by-step Jurisdictionary “How to Win in Court” course.

Think!

If you’ve been watching the trial, you saw the lawyers call witnesses and present evidence. You saw them make objections.

What else did they need to know?

Just what I’ve said in this newsletter – nothing more!

  • Fact elements, and
  • How to get those fact elements into evidence.

THAT’S ALL YOU NEED KNOW TO WIN YOUR CASE!

If yours is a civil case, you go after fact elements of causes of action pleaded by the plaintiff or elements of the affirmative defenses pleaded by the defendant. All explained fully in my course.

If yours is a criminal case, you go after facts to show there is “reasonable doubt” as to the reliability of facts presented by the prosecution. Similarly covered in my course.

Learning elements and how to get facts into evidence is a simple, straightforward process any average 8th grader can learn in just 24 hours with my official, affordable, 24-hour, Jurisdictionary “How to Win in Court” course that will lay it all out for you step-by-step.

If you don’t already have the course, order now.

If you have the course, get an affiliate link, tell your friends, and earn easy money every month!

Protect yourself from lawyers and judges!

It’s easy, once you understand “due process”.

Due process IS your most valuable right.

Help Your Friends!
Forward this email and this link so they can get the
Lawsuit Flowchart
so your friends can see how easy it is to win.

Due process is your most valuable right, because without the ability to win in court, the rest of your “rights” are just political rhetoric, promises with no power.

The Constitution of the United States promises you the protection of due process, but it doesn’t tell you what due process is or how to get it!

Due process is a P-R-O-C-E-S-S … and you’ve been DENIED knowledge of what that process is and how to use it to protect your rights!

Lawyers have seen to that … and it’s high time YOU learned what due process is, how it works, and how to use it to protect yourself and your loved ones from any and all abuses of your fundamental God-given rights!

What good are Constitutional Guarantees if you cannot afford to pay some law firm $50,000 to work the process for you? The Constitution itself is just a piece of paper with no power whatever beyond the power of men in high places to sign papers that order other people to do “what’s right”. If you are relying on the Constitution to protect your rights, you are falling into the very trap that my profession wants you to fall into – relying on them who must be paid to protect your rights!

Fortunately, there’s another way!

For the first time in history, the mysteries of due process hidden from you and your children by lawyers all these years are now made easy-to-understand at last – thanks to the internet, multi-media technologies, and the official Jurisdictionary “How to Win in Court” 24-hour, step-by-step self-help course!

The secrets of “due process” are now revealed!

You don’t need a law degree to understand due process. Jurisdictionary simplifies the mysteries lawyers want to keep from you: pleadings, motions, depositions, subpoenas, evidence rules, courtroom objections, etc. The legal profession would have you believe you aren’t smart enough to learn what it takes to win in court, but all you have to do is read our testimonials to see how people just like you ARE WINNING!

Teaching people due process is my passion and the moral imperative of everyone who loves Liberty enough to work for Justice through our courts.

Even if you have thousands of dollars to pay lawyers to go to court for you, Jurisdictionary can help you save money by showing you in simplified teachings just what your lawyer could and should be doing to earn his or her pay.

If you can’t afford a lawyer (or don’t trust them) then this affordable 24-hour step-by-step course is just what you need to protect your other God-given rights from abuse.

Are your rights being abused?

Do you see the rights of others being abused?

Take it to the courts!

Exercise your most valuable right!

Help Your Friends!
Forward this email and this link so they can get the
Lawsuit Flowchart
so your friends can see how easy it is to win.

Learn the process of due process that the lawyers don’t want you to know … and stand up for your rights effectively!

Signs, emails, pitchforks, and letters to your Congressman don’t work! Nothing changes!

Knowing how to demand due process in court works!

And, nobody makes it easier than Jurisdictionary!

Tell your friends what their most valuable right is!

Wake people up to the fact that without the knowledge of due process (or many thousands of dollars to pay lawyers) your other fundamental “rights” are just empty promises.

The man or woman who knows the process of due process and how to demand justice from the courts is truly free!

Do what Jurisdictionary teaches, and you’ll be pleasantly surprised when judges rule in your favor!

Do what Jurisdictionary teaches, and you’ll appreciate what it’s like to have rights with teeth in them!

Do what Jurisdictionary teaches, and your life and the life of your family will be much, much happier!

I’ll teach you how to draft pleadings, make motions, set hearings, object in court, handle depositions, use subpoenas, fight back with counter-claims, and discover evidence that forces the court to issue orders that protect your rights!

You can finish my course in less than 24-hours.

Learning due process is easy with Jurisdictionary!

Force the court to protect your rights … all of them!

… Dr. Frederick D. Graves, JD


 

Silencing Lawyers

22 Jun

Just a quick tip today.

Lawyers cannot “testify”.

They do it anyway.

Because people allow it!

The rules forbid it.

You can stop it, if you do what I teach!

You must stop it, if you want to win!

This mid-week Tips & Tactics can only touch on this very important point of lawsuit warfare, but do what I say here (and learn the rest in my leading, affordable, case-winning, official Jurisdictionary step-by-step 24-hour course that everyone is talking about) and you can stop the lawyer on the other side from cheating!

That’s right!

It’s cheating for lawyers to testify.

Why?

They lack “legal competence” to act as witnesses!

Lawyers lack personal, first-hand knowledge of the facts of their client’s cases. In legal terms, we say they lack the requisite “competence” to testify. The only people who can testify to facts are people who have “personal, first-hand knowledge” of the facts. (More about this in my course.)

YOU MUST STOP LAWYERS FROM TESTIFYING!

They will sneak it in whenever they can. They will do all they can to get into the record facts for which they have no witnesses, documents, or things to prove those facts.

Not only that, but they will “testify to facts” for which they have witnesses just to emphasize the facts, and this too is against the rules.

The rules forbid lawyer testimony!

Learn from me and increase your odds of winning!

Lawyers will sneakily talk about facts that they have no witness to talk about, no documents or other things to use to prove the facts they talk about. They will “tell” the court the facts they cannot prove … against the rules!

It is cheating of the highest order!

But, they will do it … if you allow it!

It is against the rules … rules that are your friend!

If you allow it, you weaken your case.

If you allow enough of it, you will lose!

Not enough time today to go into detail about this, but the next time the lawyer on the other side starts leading his own witness or telling the court what the facts are, you jump to your feet and say, “Objection, your Honor. Counsel is testifying. Counsel lacks personal first-hand knowledge of the facts to which he (or she) is testifying. Move to strike.”

If the judge allows the cheating to continue, object again!

Many lawyers are afraid of the judges, so if you hire a lawyer and pay the lawyer good money, don’t be surprised when your lawyer (who is taking your good money) fails to object when his friend the lawyer on the other side begins to testify! If you have a lawyer, insist that your lawyer objects to any introduction of facts by lawyers on the other side!

People pay lawyers to fight for them, but many lawyers refuse to fight the judge!

But, fighting judges is part of what it takes to win!

And, objecting forcibly is part of the tactic of winners!

If you don’t have a lawyer, YOU MUST OBJECT!

Now is the time to order my affordable, case-winning Jurisdictionary step-by-step 24-hour course and study it carefully so you don’t find yourself behind the 8-ball when it comes time to argue in court … at hearings or at trial.

Winning is easy if you learn what I teach in my course!

I know what it takes to win. I practiced law nearly 25 years. I can help you, if you’re willing to learn from me!

Pro se people often do not get justice.

Why?

Let’s examine a few facts:

  1. Most pro se people don’t know the rules.
  2. Most pro se people don’t know how to prevent the lawyer on the other side from playing tricks with the rules.
  3. Most pro se people make assumptions about what is “admissible evidence” and stuff that isn’t.
  4. Most pro se people don’t know how to draft their pleadings or motions properly.
  5. Most pro se people don’t know why it’s important to write proposed orders for the judge to sign.
  6. Most pro se people don’t know why, when, or how to make effective objections in court.
  7. Most pro se people don’t understand what facts are critical to winning a case and what facts are of no consequence but only muddy the waters with court-confusing insignificance.
  8. Most pro se people don’t know why it’s so vitally important to cite controlling appellate cases in support of their pre-trial and trial motions.
  9. Most pro se people don’t know how to arrange for a written transcript to be made of all proceedings before the court, so they can control the judge.
  10. Most pro se people waste valuable court time with non-essentials, fail to appreciate the needs of others who have their own problems to bring before the court and, as a consequence, tend to make judges dread pro se cases.

Pro se people who know what I explain so simply in the official Jurisdictionary step-by-step 24-hour course are winning and even getting compliments from judges and even opposing lawyers … because they do it right!

Read the testimonials at right!   ⇒

Not all judges are “against” pro se people “just because they are pro se”. Most of the judges I knew in my 25 years were good people who cared about other people and did their best to guarantee justiceaccording to the rules.

But! You must know how to protect yourself!

Pro se parties who know the rules and how to use them to protect themselves from courroom corruption the way my Jurisdictionary step-by-step 24-hour course makes so easy-to-understand don’t let crooked lawyers get away with their smoke-and-mirrors tricks!

It does no good to complain after losing.

The difference between winners and losers is the fact that winners learn how to win!

If you want to make it complicated and muddy the pond with all kinds of nutty arguments, you can do so, make the judge angry, and lose when your “evidence” isn’t admitted because it isn’t “admissible evidence”, etcetera.

You can demand your Constitutional Rights, instead of learning about causes of action and their elements that win lawsuits, and you will lose.

You can refuse to learn the rules of evidence, the rules of procedure, and the tactics and strategies my course is so popular for making easy to learn, and you will lose!

But!

If you want to win, get my affordable Jurisdictionary step-by-step 24-hour course now and master the case-winning strategies and tactics I used for 25 years as a case-winning lawyer in state and federal courts.

There is only ONE “Official Jurisdictionary” course!

If you’re paying a lawyer, know what your lawyer should be doing to earn his fee and win your case.

If you don’t have a lawyer, know what you must do to force the judge do what’s right and prevent the lawyer on the other side from cheating.

It’s that simple.

My affordable, popular, official Jurisdictionary 24-hour step-by-step lawsuit course will show you how to prepare orders, write powerful pleadings, draft and argue motions, object in court, get admissible evidence into the record, prevent the other side from getting lies into the record, do legal research, compose your legal arguments, and much, much more.

You’ll learn how to avoid filing an answer by moving the court to dismiss or strike the complaint or require a confusing or poorly-worded complaint to be re-written.

You’ll learn how to use effective discovery tools to force the other side to produce facts that may lead to admissible evidence.

You’ll discover how to move the court and demand that the judge enforce your legal rights.

In short, you’ll learn how to save money, maximize your winning power, and resolve conflicts peacefully and profitably … according to the rules!

_______________________________

Once you master the simple concepts I teach, you’ll be more powerful than most lawyers I met in 25 years as a licensed lawyer in state and federal courts as a licensed bar attorney!

Click HERE to learn more!

Of course you cannot learn all you need to know about what it takes to win by waiting for my Tips & Tactics each week. You need to learn the case-winning tactics in my affordable Jurisdictionary course that will show you what it takes to win, step-by-step in just 24-hours.

Whether plaintiff or defendant, you cannot hope to win if you don’t know what my course teaches.

These tips should convince you to order my complete course … whether you’re a plaintiff or defendant.

If you don’t know what opportunities you have in court, you don’t have much of a chance of winning!

Let me urge you to order my course today (if you don’t already have it) so you won’t make the common mistake of assuming you already know everything you need to win!

Remember: Winners are people who know how the game is played to win — whether plaintiff or defendant.

– – – – – – –

The essential tools and elements are explained in the video you can watch right now by clicking the judge.

Click the Judge to learn more.

You won’t believe me, but most lawyers (and nearly all law school professors) don’t have a clue what it takes to win. Many law schools don’t teach “causes of action” or the elements necessary to prevail. It’s true!

Many law schools don’t teach how to use your five (5) discovery tools or why you must be courageous and fight the judge and demand your right to get evidence in the record using your discovery tools.

Many lawyers are afraid to upset judges, so they let things slide. They don’t object. They don’t “instruct” the judge on the law. They just lay back, take their hourly fee, and let their clients lose … and those who pay lawyers yet don’t know what Jurisdictionary teaches about winning are led to the slaughter by their own lawyer.

Sad, but true!

I know what it takes to win. I did this 25 years!

My Jurisdictionary will show you how in just 24-hours, step-by-step!

The Jurisdictionary Method wins lawsuits!

Watch my video and see for yourself how easy it is to use knowledge, stealth, and wisdom to win in court!

See what’s important, what’s not, and how to focus all your energy where it belongs: getting court orders!

If you gain from watching my video, please forward this newsletter to ALL YOUR FRIENDS by hitting “Forward” on your email program now.

Or use this link to send an email to all your friends. You probably know people who need to knock down judges and overcome crooked lawyers and their dishonest tricks. They will thank you for turning them on to this!

Or, do both! Forward this newsletter AND send emails to friends fighting in court who desperately need to know how to win!

Most lawyers never learn what Jurisdictionary makes so easy-to-learn. People have been telling me since I started Jurisdictionary in 1997 that, “Your course should be required in first year law school.” But, of course, that’s not likely to happen, because what Jurisdictionary shows you isn’t politically correct! I teach you how to control judges, instead of bowing to them, I I teach you how to overcome crooked lawyers and their all-too-common sneaky tricks!

Political correctness prevents justice too often!

Winning lawsuits is a brutal axe fight!

Jurisdictionary is your axe!

Read the testimonials in the right column ⇒

Thousands of people just like you are winning with my easy-to-learn 24-hour step-by-step course. Ask anyone who has my course.Everyone loves it!

If you don’t know what my course teaches, you lose!

End of story!

Winners do what Jurisdictionary makes easy-to-learn and don’t wait until trial to get justice!

Those who learn my affordable 24-hour step-by-step Jurisdictionary self-help course win … no matter how high the odds are stacked against them!

Winners know how to fight to win!

Losers believe internet fables. Losers get their legal education at the barbershop or on websites or expensive weekend seminars run by people who never practiced law, never went to law school, and don’t know mud from sand about rules or how to use them to control judges.

Too many good folks believe mythological silver-bullet easy solutions to their legal problems and, as a result, are losing when they would be winning if they knew what I make so easy-to-learn in my Jurisdictionary course!

The internet is infested with hare-brained schemes that sound too good to be true … and, like the old adage says, “If it sounds to good to be true, it probably isn’t.”

Remember: The most dangerous falsehoods are ones we most want to believe!

Why not learn from a real lawyer with nearly 25 years of case-winning experience?

My course is not expensive!

People who finish my course say an average 8th grader can learn it all in a single weekend.

Please read the testimonials in the right column ⇒

If you have a lawyer, you will save thousands in legal fees by knowing what your lawyer should be doing, and at the same time you will maximize your chances for success by making certain your lawyer does what should be done, instead of taking you for a ride to the poorhouse – as happens to too many good people these days.

If you don’t have a lawyer, you’ll know how to stop the opponent’s crooked tricks and control the judge!

To learn more, go to: www.Jurisdictionary.com

Click this link to watch VIDEO again.

========================

My affordable 24-hour step-by-step lawsuit self-help course includes:

  • 5-hour video CD simplifies process of litigation
  • 2 audio CDs present tactics and procedures
  • 15 tutorials on a 4th CD go beyond the basics
  • Free EasyGuide to the Rules of Court
  • Temporary online access while CDs in Mail

Control judges!

Save legal fees!

Defeat crooked lawyers!

www.Jurisdictionary.com

Ask anyone who has it: Jurisdictionary Works!

Call Toll Free for details: 866-Law-Easy

Get your competitive edge before the price increase.

Force judges to enforce the rules, instead of allowing the lawyer on the other side twist the law against you!

You cannot win if you don’t know how to control the judge and all the lawyers (including your own lawyer, if you can afford to pay one to go to court for you)!

You’ve heard the horror stories from others.

Don’t let it happen to you!

Order my course now, if you don’t already have it.

Know the rules and how to force everyone to obey!

Know how to draft proper pleadings, how to get your own evidence in the court’s record, how to keep the other side from getting their evidence in, how to move the court to enter orders favorable to your cause, and how to use your Jurisdictionary legal know-how and case-winning strategies to control the judge and win your case!

My self-help course is presented in such an easy format people tell us an 8th grader can learn it in just 24 hours!

Know what you must know to win!

Stop courtroom corruption!

I’ll show you how in just 24-hours … step-by-step!

Control judges and lawyers – or lose!

My “Tips & Tactics” newsletters are only introductions to the complete course you need to win. If you don’t already have my 24-hour step-by-step self-help course, go to my website and order now!


www.Jurisdictionary.com

As Woody Guthrie used to sing, “This Land is our Land,” and that includes every courtroom and every courthouse from San Diego to Bangor, Maine. Why let lawyers control our lives with trickery? Why let judges destroy our lives by letting lawyers get away with their trickery?

YOU CAN WIN!

Forward this newsletter to ALL YOUR FRIENDS!

If you aren’t involved in a lawsuit or threatened with one today, learn what my course teaches and help others who will be destroyed by all-too-common courtroom corruption if YOU don’t help them learn what it takes to win!

There are more than 150 lawsuits filed every minute in the United States – nearly 100 million each year. Try to imagine how many thousands of good, honest people will be destroyed in the next 7 days just because they have no idea how to protect themselves and have nobody they can trust (or afford) to help them win!

Urge everyone to get my affordable 24-hour course!

Do it for your nation … and for your children!

Dr. Frederick David Graves, JD

Jurisdictionary

 
 

Nolo is Acquired by Internet Brands as Part of Legal Roll Up

01 May

After 40 years of leading the self-help law movement, Nolo, is being acquired by Internet Brands an advertising driven Internet company. Nolo was created by two frustrated legal aid lawyers, Charles (Ed) Sherman and Ralph (Jake) Warner, who wanted to figure out a way to help the thousands of consumers with their legal problems who could not afford an attorney and were turned away by legal aid because their incomes were too high.

Based in Berkeley, California, the center of the counter cultural revolution of the 1960’s, Nolo assembled a group of radical lawyers, editors, and writers who were determined to do something about a broken legal system where 90% of the US middle class were priced out of the legal system. Championing legal reforms that would make the U.S. justice system accessible to everyone, the company has seen these reforms become mainstream in the US.

Courts now offer their own automated self-help legal forms, legal aid agencies publish state-wide legal information web sites and also distribute automated legal forms, legal form web sites give away legal forms for free as a way to generate traffic, small claims court limits have been raised in many states, and lawyers are delivering "unbundled legal services" and creating virtual law firms,  figuring out ways to deliver legal services online for a fixed and affordable fee.

Its ironic that Nolo is being acquired by  Internet Brands, for an amount rumored to be in the range of $20,970,000, by an advertising company that is focused primarily on generating leads for law firms through their directories and advertising properties. How does self-help law fit into this business model?

The amount being paid is little more than one times revenue — not exactly a premium.  Although, Nolo  publishes Willmaker and several other excellent web-based legal software programs, it is still primarily a book publisher. In its hey day, before the Internet penetrated almost every household in America, Nolo self-help law books were the primary source for accurate do it yourself legal information and forms.

As the web expanded hundreds of legal information and legal form web sites also emerged, plus national brands such as LegalZoom. These web-based alternatives also provided  legal solutions without the need to use a lawyer — the same need that Nolo was meeting. Except that instead of reading a 200-300 page book in order to get to a legal solution —  web-based applications delivered a legal solution more efficiently, faster, and at less cost.

Nolo has migrated many of its legal forms online, too little and too late, and except for a few major products, non-automated forms. Here is another example of a print publisher whose business, despite the excellence of its product, has been eroded by the Internet.

It is well known that Nolo’s book business actually declined during this recession and growth has been flat. The fastest growing area of Nolo’s business is their Lawyer Directory. This is ironic for a company that prided itself in developing self-help legal solutions that don’t require the assistance of an attorney.

The challenge for Internet Brands will be to figure out how to unlock the assets buried within Nolo’s vast collection of self-help law books and turn these assets into web-based applications that can be distributed over the Internet. It remains to be seen whether the quality of Nolo’s self-help legal content will deteriorate under the management of an advertising-driven company that measures results in page views and unique visitors.

Internet Brands, previously a public company, was recently taken private private when it was acquired by Hellman & Friedman, a private equity firm, based in San Francisco,  in December, 2010. Internet Brands has acquired over 70 vertical web sites in areas ranging from travel to cars to real estate. Internet Brands derives more than 70% of its revenues from advertising on its portfolio of web sites.

In December, 2010 Internet Brands also acquired ALLLAW.com , a consumer legal information portal and AttorneyLocate – an Attorney Directory Service. Both of these web sites are relatively weak properties. Compete.com shows that in March, 2011 Nolo had 498,769 unique visitors ( an 8% decline for the year), ALLLAW.com  had 190,069 unique visitors, (for the of March, 2011); AttorneyLocate.com was especially weak with only 18,277 unique visitors (for the month of March, 2011). Internet Brands also owns ExpertHub, which in turn manages web sites in verticals markets such as dentists, plastic surgery, accountants, tummy tuck, and of course lawyers. The ExpertHub site for lawyers only generates 96,289 unique visitors a month (March, 2011), so I wonder if that level of traffic is high enough to support their advertising rates.

There is irony in the fact that LegalZoom, a company that prides itself on offering  legal solutions from a non-law firm generates more traffic than any of the sites mentioned above at 889,762 unique visitors in March, 2011, trailing only Findlaw and Lawyers.com, (both of which offer similar services as the Internet Brands properties).  With the traffic that LegalZoom gets, maybe LegalZoom should consider creating their own lawyers directory for consumers who need just a bit of legal advice to go with their forms to keep them on the right track? I wonder what solos and small law firms would think if LegalZoom moved in that direction?.

It will be interesting to see how Internet Brands integrates these legal properties to leverage the assets in each acquisition as its tries to compete with the likes of Findlaw and Lawyers.com . It will also be interesting to see whether the quality of Nolo’s self help legal content deteriorates under the management of an advertising company that measures results in impressions, clicks, and unique visitors. If Jake Warner, the present CEO stays involved, I am sure the quality of Nolo’s products will remain "top of class."

It’s an odd mix, –the best in class self-help legal book publisher with an excellent reputation, with some less than best in class lawyer directories and a legal information web site. Only time will tell whether this combination will work. (Although Internet Brands may intend to run each of these properties as separate brands, which would help Nolo maintain the quality of it self help legal content).