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Posts Tagged ‘advertising’
The WestSearch Straitjacket For Legal Research – Thinking Beyond The Keyword: Part I
07
Sep
Thomson Reuters – Legal (TR Legal) advertises sweeping claims for the benefits of WestlawNext (WN) at Customers. WestlawNext.com. Given the scale of the advertising blitz, these claims merit careful examination. Though it remains too early to reach a conclusion, initial…
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).
Can you Beat Your Ohio Traffic Ticket?
06
Oct
Minor traffic violations are cases that you might consider self representation. You will likely find that the cost of an attorney is not worth defending a $150 traffic ticket. In most cases, you have the option of just paying the ticket and forgetting about it, but there are ramifications to traffic violations beyond the fine including increased insurance rates and potential license suspensions for repeat offenders. Those additional costs can be even greater for commercial drivers.
You can do a web search and find an array of materials advertising how to beat your traffic ticket. Before you shell out your cash for these magic wands, you should be highly skeptical of their claims. Of course, you can take your case to trial and win under the right circumstances, but there is no magic wand to make your ticket go away. Usually, these materials are not specific to Ohio law and therefore not everything in there will apply to your case. Also, if you delve further, you will find claims like there is a good chance your citing officer won’t show up for trial and you’ll win automatically. In truth, going to court is part of an officer’s job. Often, courts will schedule all the cases that a particular officer has to appear at the same time so he or she doesn’t have to make numerous court appearances. I’m sure it worked for somebody, but taking your case to trial and hoping for the off chance that your citing officer doesn’t appear is hardly what I’d call a great strategy for success. A better strategy is one that doesn’t rely entirely on luck.
In most cases, beating your ticket means getting the charge reduced to something that you can live with. Yes, your violation was probably nothing more than a harmless error and I understand you’re upset because municipalities use traffic violations to add funds to their budget. For now, it’s time to put these feelings aside and consider your best options. So how do you proceed? More to come in future posts.
Nolo’s traffic book is a good read for one who wants to challenge their ticket. Of course, you will have to research state specific rules and how your court operates, but I think you will find the information helpful.
